Fourth Week in Salamanca

On Monday, I went to a different park and read for a little bit and then went shopping (however, my mission for a dress or skirt is still incomplete). I love that Salamanca is full of beautiful parks to walk through and relax in. Later that night, I went out with the twins (Lauren and Allison) and our friend from New York that we met in Salamanca, Caitlin. Caitlin had met these two Spanish guys, Roberto and Jorge (not my instructor Jorge) and they tagged along too. It was pretty fun and it was cool because we had to talk in Spanish because neither of them knew English, so a very good practice. We went to a few fun bars around the city. There is this one bar here named Jacko and it only plays Michael Jackson music and all the drinks are named after things in his songs or things he would do in concert, like Thriller and Black or White. It is pretty funny. The other places we went to were O´haras and La Perla Negra (The Black Pearl), which were both fun.

On Tuesday, I went exploring in Salamanca because there is still a lot of the tourist stuff that I haven´t done yet. I found another beautiful cathedral and I found this free art exhibit that displays pictures of Salamanca from 100 years ago. It was really neat, and the Plaza Mayor, which is already so awesome, was even cooler 100 years ago because it had a garden in the middle with a gazebo in the center of that. And there were Christmas lights outlining all of the Plaza, but I still love the Plaza Mayor here. Seriously, it could be one of the most beautiful plazas ever. At 7:00, a group of us went to a soccer field and played. It was a mixture of people from my program as well as others and a few of the instructors that some people have for the cursos classes. My team totally dominated, which had very little to do with me as I have realized that I am a better soccer player when I play with children, not people my size and bigger. Despite my poor soccer skills, it was really fun. That night, I met up with the same people from Monday night and we had sangría in the Plaza, and since the Spanish boys were there, we were forced to speak in Spanish. FYI, Roberto is really cute and Jorge not so much.

On Wednesday, I was really tired so I took an amazing siesta. It was awesome. When I woke up, I went to a different park and wrote a paper for class. While I was there, this cute 13 month old named Laura was there with her grandma and she toddled over to me and wanted to watch me write. She was really cute. Later I talked to Becky and Ethan on Skype. I swear, my nephew gets cuter every day.

On Thursday, I bought my bus ticket to Madrid on the 1st of August, when I will be leaving Spain. I can´t believe it is so soon! At 6:30, my señora´s brother (so my host uncle?) took me to a few places around the city. First we went in the New Cathedral and then the Old Cathedral and then we climb up to the roof and saw the city from above. It was awesome. After that, we went to a museum called Museo de Art Deco y Art Nouveau Casa Lis. It was pretty cool, too. He wanted to take me to this car musuem, but it was closed, so we might go later next week.
That night I went out for a little bit with Lauren W., Maria, Lauren F., Allison, and Cailin. We went to a few places and then I left them a little after 1 because I had a train to catch at 5:30 the next morning. I packed and went to bed for 3 hours. On my way to the train station at 5 am, I ran into Lauren W. and Maria walking home from their night out. It was funny because the last time I walked to the train station in the morning before the sunrise, I ran into them too.

Anyway, next stop: Zaragoza to stay with Paco´s family!