Been here for a month.

So as the title suggests, I’ve been in Salamanca for a whole month! The question is, what have I learned so far and how have I improved? Frankly, I don’t think my Spanish has improved, so that’s pretty much my fault. But I’ve been learning lots of things and realizing that it is my job to make things happen!

The funny thing about going abroad is coming face to face with your extranjero-ness, or being a foreigner. I’ve been considering the pros and cons of the US, and have been noticing that Spain is not as perfect as I would like to think. The Catholic church here is still prominent and one of my teachers implied that the US had a better, secular (laico) system of separation of church and state (which obviously depends on where you live because Indiana would have you think that you must be Christian). I think people are liberal here, but not as liberal as I would like (Kate says yes!). Although there is gay marriage, there still is a lot of controversy over the 2005 decision and a new reform of the abortion law is coming up (which is why there was a recent visit of the Catholic bishops in Spain). People here don’t really entertain in their homes because they’re usually small and people like it to be private or theirs, which makes me sad because house parties seem like the best idea ever. Women here are also much more self-conscious about the way they look, and children learn from a very young age that clothes matter here. Spaniards have also suggested to me that Americans have more national pride for their country. Pride here revolves around one’s province (like a state), but it seems Americans do have a higher capacity to be proud of their state, but more over, their country. Another interesting fact is that Spaniards have mostly been friendly when it’s revealed that I’m an American - they seem to think that it’s amazing I would come this far to learn their language. Enough of this American pride stuff - ew!

So I went to Valladolid this past Saturday, which is about an hour/hour and a half northeast of Salamanca. Andrea, Amanda and I looked at a sculpture museum with some freaky religious scenes (I’ll put some pictures on Facebook later), a museum of Valladolid with old tools and Roman money, looking at the cathedrals, etc. It was a nice day and there was a carousel in the Plaza Mayor! I wanted to ride it, but it was for kids only. I would say Valladolid is charming, but I’m so happy I’m in Salamanca because it’s much bigger and has a lot more students.

I had my first Intercambio yesterday, where I met Marta in the Plaza Mayor and then went to a smoky bar to chat in Spanish and English. We talked about everything, mostly me making silly cultural differences comments, but it was nice. I’d like to meet again with her. She’s an English major, and although her English isn’t very good (it felt so weird to have to speak slowly and not use particular words - I had to explain what nerd meant…), she’s reading Shakespeare and Chaucer (Nick!)! She even invited me to her hometown with her some weekend if I’d like to go! IES is having an Intercambio night tonight, so I hope I can meet some other people.

A bajillion observations (bear with me):
1) Chocolate, or a version of hot chocolate, is huge here! Kids have cereals with chocolate, cookies for breakfast and Cola-Cao as a hot drink. It’s pretty wild.
2) I think kids are more spoiled here. Well it depends. Not only are parents obsessed with spending ridiculous amounts of money on their kids to dress them like little adults (many little girls here look like they’re from the Victorian age - bonnets, boots, wool coats, etc.), they give them whatever they want! I’ve seen my host mom feed her grandchildren when they are perfectly old enough to feed themselves. The parents also let them have more candy and open their Kinder eggs early (chocolate eggs with prizes inside).
3) There are a ton of peluquerias (haircut places) here, and haircuts look pretty cheap.
4) Library organization does not exist here! No Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress system! How do people do research and find books? They are arbitrarily placed in themed sections. I have yet to really look around, but I’m a little frightened. What do librarians learn here?
5) PDA is perfectly acceptable here. People kiss and touch all over the street, and no one cares. One of the program directors was saying that when he went to the US he didn’t understand why someone told him to get a room when he kissed his girlfriend at a party, ahaha.
6) There is a higher prevalence of the balding gene among Spanish men. I have seen so many youngish guys starting to bald!
7) The news here is NOT censored like it is in the US in terms of graphic images. I have seen dead, bloody people in Madagascar with the recent events, some guy in a motorcycle accident, people in Gaza, etc.
8) I have huge feet here. A 40 (size 8 in US) usually is the biggest size for women that a store carries. There’s a guy on my program with big feet, and he can’t find shoes in his size anywhere!
9) Last night while walking to the Plaza Mayor, I saw a large group of gathered older women who looked like clones of each other! Fur coats is all I have to say. Older woman in Spain? You have an ankle length fur coat.

PS I had paella, and it was wonderful.