Estoy aqui!

Buenos Tardes!
its about 4:30 here in Salamanca, and my roommate Caroline and I have just finished eating Almuerzo (lunch) with members of our host family. The eating schedule is a bit different in Spain, but so far I feel no major inconveniences. Lunch is a bit larger, breakfast is quite small, and dinner is pretty late in the evening (anywhere from 9:30 to 11ish.) The appartment I am living in is tiny, but very fashionable and clean. There are 3 bedrooms, a bathroom, a small kitchen and a quaint living area. All of the bedrooms are off of the main hallway, so basically immediately inside the front door, you encounter my madre Capilla's room. My roommate and I have had sort of an interesting experience so far with our host family. We were picked up in Salamanca by a youngish woman who we assumed was our "madre". She told us on the walk to the appartment that she in fact was not, but was her sister. She offered no explanation for this. When we came home we assumed we'd meet our madre there, but she was nowhere to be found. Her sister proved accomidating and quite nice. Later in the day we met yet ANOTHER member of our Madre's family...her rather old but very sweet mother, Manuela. We ate dinner without having met Capilla once, and both being quite exhausted, went to bed.

It was only this morning (Saturday) that we finally met our elusive hostess. Bearing a striking resemblance to her sister (at least initially), I didn't question her presence and she offered no introduction until a bit later. She is in her forties or fifties, pleasant but not necessarily nice, and very active. As she was not there for our arrival, she was not given maps to give us (although every other host family seemed to have them) and she offered to walk with us to the plaza this morning, but only if we hurried. For the entirety of breakfast she paced up and down the small living room, claiming "estoy nervioso" After a brisk walk to the Plaza, and a hurried goodbye, Caroline and I were still a little perplexed. We have not seen our hostess since, and are assured that she will be back in the evening, though she is supposed to be in the house today to meet our program director, but we were told that she is in class today. I feel very out of the loop in a time when I was hoping to feel slightly more encouraged. This is all very confusing, and would be much clearer if we could speak just a littttle ingles!

Regardless of this strange turn of events, I've had a really lovely time thus far (2 days!) Today we all met at the Plaza Mayor, which is beautiful and quite old. There is a street called La Calle Toro that is strictly for pedestrians, and its littered with great stores. Some I've never seen before and am excited to poke around in, but there are also familiar names such as Sephora, The Body Shop, H&M, and of course, Mcdonald's. I'll have to post pictures of the Plaza, it truly is beautiful. It is a giant square surrounded by large buildings with the busts of famous Spaniards on the walls. There is a giant reloj (clock) with a big bell that rings every 15 minutes and on the hour, of course. The entire group walked over to the Universidad de Salamanca (10 minutes or less from La Plaza) and although I didn't get to see the Universidad in its full, it seems quite beautiful. The buildings are very old, and there is very intricate, almost caligraphic writing on most of the buildings that lets you know what they are. We met with our program director (Jesus) who explained to us how classes will be held during the semester. Tomorrow is our tour of the edificios importantes de la Ciudad (the important buildings in the city!!!) I'm very excited for that.

So far, I am pleased to say my group members seem really friendly and I really like our program director. I was also very excited to discover that we can connect to free wireless internet from our house, which is QUITE a hot commodity among our peers. Caroline and I are trying not to gloat, but it makes things much more convenient. We start our intensive spanish communication class on Monday, and it goes for two weeks. After that I hope to be speaking spanish much more coherently (though I'm doing ok so far) Sometimes I have trouble understanding my madre's sister and her mother...but they have been extremely patient with me.
There are more anecdotes and I'm sure there will be even more soon, but I think I'll save them for next post.

Besos!
Lindsay