July 29th, 2011

Mis Cumpleaños!! It does not feel like my birthday today – it is very weird not waking up and being with my family. However, this is probably the only time I will spend my birthday in a foreign country so there is nothing to complain about!!

Today was our last day of Cursos Internacionales, so we said our goodbyes to Miriam and Dunia. In Andy’s class we discussed our final projects – they are going to be so sad! For mine, I am making a movie/slideshow about our time here in Salamanca. I cannot believe how time has flown by. It is incredible. I am excited to go home to see my family and friends (and to eat healthy meals again haha) but I also will be very sad to leave. I have gotten very comfortable living here. I know my way around and the people that I see everyday. I have found my niche in this new culture and I have a feeling when I return to the States I am going to experience culture shock again.

Anyways, back to my birthday festivities!! After my siesta, Jenna and I went for a run before my birthday dinner. Of course I took everybody to Devinos for Huevos Rotos con Ferinato!! My favorite!! We all had a blast and enjoyed a ton of food. There were fifteen of us and our bill was under 50 euros! I also am definitely going to miss the cheap food here.

After dinner we went to the plaza for frozen yogurt. At this heladeria they had every topping you could ever imagine – and of course I had them all. My favorite topping was the pistachio glaze. From here we all went out to Camelot. This has to be my favorite night out in Spain thus far… We all got up on the stage and danced the night away. But when the YMCA came on, everything changed. I literally felt like we were performing on stage and everyone was cheering us on. The entire club was our audience and they were taking pictures and doing the dance with us. It was a blast!!! Probably the closest I will ever be to a rock star.

I feel so lucky and blessed for the awesome time I am having here.

Mucha amor,

Katherina

July 28th, 2011

We have a new goal to achieve in Salamanca – eat at the Crossainteria. Apparently they are little warm, gooey, flakey pieces of heaven. And I haven’t been able to stop thinking about them. Apparently Mark and Sarah get one twice a day! I believe we are going every day we possible can next week because we don’t have class until 11:00 so I will update you on the savory sweets then.

So today was my birthday night! I am not really sure how it works when I am 6 hours ahead of my real birthday but I just see it as 6 extra hours of birthday celebrations! Sydney, Jenna and I met in the plaza and shared a pitcher of sangria at my favorite outdoor café. It was so fun just to sit and laugh with them. I feel so lucky to have had such a great group of kids on this trip. I have made so many best friends. They all are such a blast, but even more importantly everyone is very respecting of everyone else.

From there, well, lets just say we went to several more bars, ended up at Cubic to dance, and I got to bed by 4:00 a.m. Successful night.

Ciao!

Katherina

July 27th, 2011

You will be happy to know that I woke up in time for class today! Unfortunately not early enough to grab my café Americano from my amigo at Pan Cake though… No pasa nada. Oh good news! Choni bought new fruit! We now have pears and peaches! I tasted a pear last night and it was super soft unfortunately. However, I have been averaging about three peaches a day, they are so good!

Now that exams are over classes are super tough to get through. Miriam has been showing movies on Picasso and I think its safe to say more than half hour class slept through it.

At night I decided to just relax so Mena, Allie and I went to Café y Té to skype and get some work done. I headed home early so I could watch the movie I rented – Tangled! It was SO good! I highly recommend it, another Disney masterpiece.

Buenas noches!

Katherina

July 26th, 2011

Exams are done!!! However, they were completely different than I expected… Art History was a breeze (I already found out that I got an A) and Culture had quite a few curve balls. I still think I did alright on Culture I just know for sure I had no clue on some of the matching ones where we had to pair the province with their specialty food.

After class I came home for lunch and then went running with Jenna. At 8:00 our Foodie Practicum met for tapas!! This time tapas was right down the street from my house! We were divided into three teams and we were given 50 euros. Each team had to go to three tapas restaurants and record what was their favorite tapa/tapa bar. On my team we had Aaron, Linda, Sarah M. and Carla! Andy also may be considered an honorary member of our team because he ate at nearly every bar with us. Aaron was in charge of making a blog post, Sarah was in charge of the money, and the rest of us were supposed to take turns being the waitresses and ordering at every place.

At the first restaurant we stopped at I had salpicon mariscos (one of my favorite tapas), Sara had potatoe salad in pork rinds, and Linda had patatas bravas. Aaron tasted his favorite tapa so far in Spain – mushrooms and olives I think?? It was all mixed up in a type of gravy, very delicious. Carla, being the native Spaniard (from Extremadura to be exact), knew exactly what to order. She had the morcilla (blood sausage) and it was unbelievable. I know it sounds scary but it is so tender and scrumptious. Here I also had my first Caña con limon! It is beer from the tap mixed with fanta limon – so refreshing.

At the second restaurant Andy joined us. At this restaurant I was the waitress and ordered everybody’s drinks and tapas. I had the artichokes, Carla and Aaron had the tigres (croquetas with mussels), Linda had stuffed pepper and Sarah had mussels. Fabulosa.

At the third restaurant, Devinos, I am thrilled to announce that I tasted my favorite food in Spain thus far! It blew me out of the water people. The horrible part is that it is only served in Salamanca!!! It is called huevos rotos con ferinato (broken eggs with ferinato). Ferinato is this terrific meat from pigs blended with bread. It is then reformed into a sausage and sliced up. The meat is so soft and tender, not tough at all. They combine this, with sliced potatoes into a frying pan filled with olive oil. Then, they top it all off with an egg over easy. I think I died and went to heaven. We ordered two! I could have stayed there all night to stuff my face, which is why on Friday everyone is returning there to celebrate my birthday and eat more ferinato!

I had such a blast tonight. It was so awesome talking to Carla and Andy and learning about them. Carla’s Camino de Santiago that she took with her GIEU students is now on my bucket list. I also have Carla to thank for introducing me to ferinato – she says she always eats this on her last night in Spain before she heads back to the United States.

After Tapas we all went out for MaryCarina’s birthday! It is always bound to be a great night when everyone goes out. As it happens, we had so much fun we didn’t come home until 3:30… Nearly all of level B was out this late and honestly I am really looking forward to seeing everyone in class tomorrow looking like death haha.

Me encanta Salamanca!!

Katherina

July 25th, 2011

Happy Camino de Santiago! There are not a ton of festivities in Salamanca today, I guess the huge fiesta is up in Santiago, but during our run Sydney, Jenna and I saw some action in the Plaza. A fire truck was hoisting up a flag and weather vane of a black toro and a lot of the citizens were taking pictures and videotaping. A band of trumpets was playing and fire works were going off. Too our disappointment the fireworks weren’t actually colorful, and it was broad day light so they really were just loud booms, but it still reminded us of a sort of Fourth of July.

After lunch was study time. Our entire class met up at Café & Té and pushed through a four-hour study session for art history and culture. Slightly painful, but we had a lot of good laughs over the lunatic Salvador Dalí, not to mention all of the inside-jokes left over from the weekend (como un amante… jajaja).

I went home for dinner and then spent the rest of the night skyping my mom and studying for my exams.

Alright, gotta get some rest for my tests tomorrow! Wish me suerte!

Katherina

July 24th, 2011

Ahh Domingos en España – el mejor. (Ahh Sundays in Spain – the best). I think I slept in the latest today I have this whole trip. I could have slept later too but at 11:00 Sydney called me to go running haha. At 12:00 Sydney, Jenna and I went for a run and then afterwards I headed back for lunch. The plan for the day? Pool. What a great day to lounge and do nothing. Tomorrow is a national holiday in Spain – El Camino de Santiago – so we don’t have school! “Nothing to do, nowhere to be, a simple little kind of free” – John Mayer. I feel like I am getting really close to everybody here. I am learning so much about all the kids on our trip and everyone is such a blast.

I went home for dinner at 8:00 and then headed back to the Plaza to again sit and relax with everyone. Boy do the Spaniard know how to lead stress-free lives. Earlier we had decided at the pool that we were going to teach Jenna (the Jersey Shore native) how to play Euchre! Unfortunately we had no cards, but no worries, we made our own. Jenna lost interest pretty quickly but the rest of us had a fun time playing! Next time we are bringing real cards though… we were having some difficulties.

We ended the night with some scrumptious gelato. Ahh viva la vida en España. (That’s two song lyrics for ya in one journal entry!)

Con cariño,

Katherina

July 23rd, 2011

Today started at 6:25 a.m. (after several hits of the snooze). After breakfast I met Jenna to painfully trek the 2 miles to the bus stop. Somehow we were there early for once (usually I am the last one)! At 8:00 we departed for Segovia! We were all really excited, we knew it was going to be a great day – the bus was nearly filled with Michigan students.

Segovia is breathtaking. As soon as you drive up, the aqueduct makes you feel that you’ve stepped into a time machine. It dwarfs you and humbles you. No mortar was used to build it – they used keystones to support the arches. The Romans were geniuses. Our guide then led us to the Casa de los Picos. It is the palace of the fifteenth century and was home to the ruler of the city – Juan de la Hoz. The decided to decorate it with the curious design of diamond points. The house is located in a small plaza popularly known as the barrio de las brujas. During this time it was where the artesanos, obreros y moriscos lived. We also saw the statue of Juan Bravo, The convent of Corpus Christi, the neighborhood of the Canonjías, and of course the Catedral!

After our tour of Segovia we had a couple hours of free time before our next stop. Of course we had to go and get some of the best Cochinillo Asado (fried baby big) in Spain! The restaurant was great. It sits right below the aqueduct and has a ton of character. In Andy’s class we had seen a video of “On the Road Again” and the people had gone to this restaurant. The meat is so tender they slice it with a plate and serve it to you. And the skin! There are no words for how wonderful that fatty skin tastes…

After our lunch we took a short bus ride over to La Granja. I didn’t know we were going here, so this was a wonderful surprise. On the drive over we passed several fields filled with sunflowers. Everything was so green and covered in flowers I didn’t feel like we were in Spain anymore. Here we went to the spectacular palacio de la Granja of San Ildefonso. It has been compared to the palacio de Versalles if that says anything. Originally a summer getaway for the royal family, it is now host to a beautiful collection of tapestries, paintings, sculptures, and crystal chandeliers. My favorite part though was the gardens. I could have spent all day exploring them and taking pictures. Jordan, Katie, Addy and I all snuck into one of the fountains and waded around! The fountains and flowers go on forever, and the back of the palace is even more beautiful than the front.

We got back home to Salamanca a little after 9:00 and then we all met up in the plaza to go out. Time to bar hop. The first place we went to had an interesting drink – agua de Valencia. It is a liter of vodka, champagne and fanta. Don’t worry, Sydney and I shared a liter. Then we went somewhere where we got caramel shots (they taste like candy!) and free long Islands. Our next stop was the Chupiteria (Chupitas=shots in Spanish) and we all got the house drink! Okay listen to this – a wafer shot glass lined with chocolate, filled with coffee liquor, topped with whipped cream. It was like a dessert.

Another great day studying abroad!

Katherina