Intensivo, Intensivo

Buenos Tardes from Salamanca!
As the week begins here, I feel like I am starting to adapt to the interesting Spanish schedule, and am in the process of creating a schedule of my own. On Monday the JMU group went to La Universidad de Salamanca to take placement tests for our 2 week "intensivo". For the next two weeks, we will only have one class, four hours a day (with a small break in the middle), in order to heighten our conversation skills. After we took the test we were seperated into two groups of equal size, and began class immediately! I already feel a bit more confident about speaking, and really enjoy my classmates and my ruggedly dashing professor, Javier. Our class focuses on understanding cultural and colloquial terms for the most part, so we spent the entire day today comparing insults and curse words...as well as some rather useful conversation fillers. We had a fun class full of laughter and not a little immaturity.

Yesterday, 3 girls from my group and I attempted taking a jog around Salamanca. It was an extremely interesting experience. Running through a crowded street in the middle of "tapas" hours is the perfect way to proclaim that you are American...no one runs for exercise here. I had to run by myself for a few blocks to meet up with the other chicas, and I think I was probably quite a sight to see... Una alta rubia (tall blonde) darting through old men with canes and fast-paced madres with strollers. We had a good time and got a chance to discover a park that is really quite beautiful, so even though it was a little bit embarassing, I think we are planning on making a routine of it. I am excited to have some regularity and familiarity in my schedule.

Things are very different here and it is still a little bit hard to adjust. The eating schedule is what is most strikingly different, and it is extremely pervasive, as most activities during the day depend upon when you eat and when you will next eat..etc. Our madre, Capilla, proves to be a pretty good cook and we've had a pleasant amount of variety. We have fruit at lunch and dinner, which is lucky for us because we have heard that not everyone here has been able to get fresh fruits and vegetables.

This weekend we have Monday off, so about 20 of us have decided to go to Lisboa, Portugal. I am very excited because this will be an entirely new experience for me (as if living in Spain isn't new enough!) We will have a relaxing time and hopefully get to know each other better. Maybe pictures soon!

I miss you all very much!

Besos,
Lindsay