One Week Anniversary

I’ve now been in Salamanca for one week, but it seems like so much longer than that. We’ve started our orientation intensive language classes (four hours long!), and real classes begin next week. I’m having so much fun – I guess I’m still in the honeymoon stage on the culture shock curve (I think I’ve sat through at least five presentations of the stages since January…). There have been a few frustrations so far – I had to buy an electrical adaptor since the plugs are different here, but it was a hassle finding one. The first one that I bought didn’t end up working. We don’t have internet access in the homestays, so everyone is having difficulty staying in touch with family and friends – we were all counting on being able to use Skype… The Plaza Mayor has free wifi (pronounced wee-fee here), but it isn’t very reliable. We can access the internet at the IES center and in university buildings, but the hours are limited and we can’t really Skype in public places. Also, the University of Salamanca website is the most confusing thing in the world. We’ve all been trying to find classes to take at the university, but it’s been so difficult. A class will be listed on one schedule, but not in the department course descriptions (or vice versa). There are two IES academic advisors and two professors from the university who have been helping us, but even they have difficulty navigating the site.

Lots of small things that you’d never think about are different in Spain – light switches, paper sizes (closer to 8 x 11½ than 8½ x 11), electrical outlets, toilet flushers, etc. The cultural differences will take some getting used to. The Spanish home is considered a private space, so socializing takes place in public areas outside the home. I miss the informality of hanging out with people in our houses, but it’s really cool how alive the city is with everyone strolling the streets and meeting at cafes. I’m working on getting used to Spanish meals. The food is really good, but it’s hard to wait until 2:30 to eat! In Spain it’s customary to have the TV on during lunch. This really surprised me at first, but I’m starting to like it. The news is on at midday, and it provides interesting topics for conversation. It’s also fun seeing American shows dubbed in Spanish and also Spanish versions of American reality shows. Generally, the TV serves more as background noise than the focal point of the meal. David , from the IES staff, says Spaniards really don’t like awkward silences during meals, so the TV helps avoid them. Once I’m finished eating, my host mom always tells us to eat more (“Come más, come más”). Almost everyone in the program has had this experience. It’s kind of awkward to keep saying no when I’m full, but David assured all of us that declining the offer/command isn’t considered rude in Spain like it might be in the US.

Guns are illegal here and murder rates are low, but apparently theft is a really big problem, particularly in Madrid and Barcelona. Theft of anything worth less than 400 euro isn’t punished as severely and is considered an infraction rather than a crime (or something along those lines – I don’t remember the details). David says that the government is in the early stages of changing the laws since it’s such a big problem. He also talked about how shocked he was the first time he went to the United States and saw Christmas yard decorations and Fedex packages sitting on front porches without being stolen. Graffiti is a much bigger problem here than in the United States, although (luckily) people seem to leave the historic buildings alone… for the most part.

Our two orientation advisors are in their 20s and they took us bar hopping a few nights ago. It was so weird being able to buy a drink! The bars are really fun, aside from the cigarette smoke. (I actually haven’t noticed significantly more smoking here than in the US, except in the bars.) The last place we went was a dance club – a “discoteca.” It was pretty funny because almost all the songs were American pop songs. In fact, I think the only song in Spanish was one that Amanda and I requested from the DJ! It was really weird when “Party in the USA” came on – we’re not exactly in the states anymore….