Salamanca

Salutations from the Peninsula, 

This week has been a little emotionally up and down, but fun. I know I'm not supposed to complain but Four year anniversaries and Valentine's without your boyfriend in sexy Spain can get cha down. 

Saturday my class got in a bus at 9:30 am for Salamanca. The bus ride was only about two hours. Salamanca was very pretty, much prettier than Valladolid. The sandy-red stone, the cathedral, and the plaza were stunning. Plus, the weather was great so me and my classmates enjoyed some much needed relax-time in the sun, sipping some sangría. Salamanca is a university town and has one of the oldest universities in Spain. The tourist kitsch is this frog sitting on a skull on the front architecture of the university, so all the shops sell these goofy skulls with frogs on top. I guess the symbolism here is (according to Sergio) is that the green frog represents lust, and so in order not to fall into sin/death the idea is that we must devote ourselves to our studies (okay?).  I did not buy one. The other spectacular site was the Church of San Martín which had some pretty incredible ceilings and paintings (more on facebook album).

Currently I'm sitting at my desk enjoying a lazy Sunday in Spain. It's really nice out so I might go for a run. Although, I get really annoyed with all the strange looks. I would love to kick a ball around, but there is no space, no ball, and no one to do it with. Mom sent me this great/kinda silly Zombie War book called "World War Z" that is way fun. Nice change from the intensive Hemmingway, Faulkner load in school. It's well written, it's not supposed to be ridiculous necessarily, I just get a huge kick out of the gory zombie "war" scenes. 

I'm really pumped for Amsterdam this upcoming week. It'll be great to get more than a weekend, like Paris, to explore the city and the sights. Also, I'm close to booking my spring break which  is going to be a week and a half split between Lisbon, Seville, and Granada. It's hard watching my money dissolve into thin air at an alarming rate, but I do think it's worth it. Sometimes I need to live a little. 

Ciao! More to come..