¡Salamanca!

This last Saturday we went on another school excursion – this time to Salamanca. It was about an hour and a half bus ride to the city. When we arrived there, we started out separating into groups and taking a tour with our professors. It’s always the same professors that take us on the excursions. The tour lasted about an hour. We saw a few historical buildings (I wasn’t really paying that close attention so unfortunately, I couldn’t tell you most of what we saw) and the outside of the University of Salamanca. The outside entrance of this building is so intricately sculpted, like most Spanish buildings, but everything that is shown in the building is symbolic. It is divided in thirds, the upper third representing the father, the middle third shows the symbol for Carlos V, and the bottom third representing the “Reyes Católicos,” Fernando and Isabel. While in the region of Castilla y Leon (which is Valladolid, Salamanca, and Segovia’s region), you can’t really go anywhere without seeing something representing Fernando and Isabel somewhere. They are very much worshipped here. The building is also divided vertically in two sides. The left side represents good. It displays heroes like Hercules and many other good things. The right side represents bad. It shows Venus and skulls to symbolize death and other things to symbolize lust. There is also a frog hidden somewhere on the right side and many people believe that if you can find it, you will have good luck. For example, if you find it before a test, you will pass the test. However, I just learned in my Art class today that it does not actually represent good luck, but sex. Very interesting. There are two doors, one on each side, which represent the choice to walk into good or bad.

Anyway, after the tour, we were let go for three hours of free time, during which my friends and I ate our lunch, then ice cream, checked out a really neat bar, and hung out in Salamanca’s famous Plaza Mayor and soaked up the sun. While sitting in Plaza Mayor, we saw many very interesting characters. We probably saw ten bachelor/bachelorette parties, most of which the bride or groom was dressed in a full costume. There were also just a lot of random people dressed up. We also saw a marching band type thing parading around there and much more. It was really interesting. We noticed that Salamanca has a much bigger younger population than Valladolid. Both Salamanca and Valladolid are college towns but it’s much clearer in Salamanca.

After a while, we were due to meet back up with the group. When everyone was there, we went and had a tour of Salamanca’s Cathedral. I feel like I’ve seen twenty cathedrals since I’ve been here, and the only one I can clearly remember was Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia. Right now I’m a bit cathedraled out. Spain, though, could never get sick of its cathedrals. There are probably a thousand cathedrals in this country. So, I’ll probably see a few more before my time here is up. The outside of Salamanca’s cathedral was pretty cool. I was a bit unimpressed with the inside, though. It’s probably because of how many cathedrals I’ve seen now. After the cathedral, we had 45 more minutes of free time, during which we got more ice cream. There’s definitely no such thing as too much ice cream. Later, we met back up at the cathedral and got on the bus to head back to Valladolid.

Salamanca was not quite as great as I had hoped. I really think they need to pick more interesting cities for these excursions, but oh well. It was still a fun trip. In two weeks, we will have another excursion to somewhere naturey. That is really all they’ve told us about that excursion. They still haven’t told us where it is. I’m hoping for a national park or something but knowing Castilla y Leon, it could easily just be looking at fields or something boring. I’ll keep hoping for the best, though. I’m starting to get a bit of cabin fever since I’ve been in Valladolid for three weekends in a row and will be here still for the next two weeks, not including the excursions. I think, though, that once spring break comes around in three weeks, it’ll be an explosion of traveling. I’ll be traveling for two weeks for spring break, then the next weekend we have an excursion to Santander, which I’m really excited about, then the next weekend is the weekend before finals, and then Latvia! I can’t wait!

We only have two months left now. I feel like time is flying by way too fast – it’s slipping right through my fingers and before I know it, I’ll be back home. I really don’t think I’ll want to go back home in May. It’s kind of a scary thought. I’m making the most of my time here now. I don’t want to leave Spain with any regrets.