Cherishing Our Last Moments in Salamanca

!Hola es Sarah y Alexis!

Here is a list of what we have been thinking about:

1. We only have a couple days left in this beautiful city..
2. Donde está la Heladéria (Gelato Shop)?
3. Qué hora es?
4. How in the world did Ms. Hellman’s phone drop in the street drain..?
5. Do they sell Gelato at Kroger?
6. Can we have siestas during the school week in the U.S…?
7. Is there a Plaza Meyor anywhere in Tennessee?
8. Why are we mumbling to eachother in Spanish?

As we are approaching our last few days in Spain, we are trying to spend every moment wisely. We never new how fast time would fly. WE just sat down for one of our last dinners with Lola ( our “mom”). All of these moments are bittersweet! We definitely do not want to leave!

This morning we woke up and headed to school. Today in class, we reviewed all the subjects we have been working on for the past two weeks. Mostly in grammar we have been working on the past tense. All past tenses, including imperfect, preterite perfect, and present. We also reviewed the differences between haber/tener. This is just a few things we have been doing in class. We asked questions about the content, because we have an exam tomorrow at 1.

In our conversation class, we learned about physical traits of a person. It was very interesting to learn that there are so many adjetives…Then we learned all of the opposites. An example would be ugly to pretty (feo–>bonita) or calm to nervous (tranquillo–> nervioso). It is difficult to tell everything we have been learning in class, because of the amount of content. We are learning new things each day, and we are not just saying that. We have learned most of the history of Spain (in Spanish), but Lourdes helped us out and translated. Outside the classroom is even better. Just the small interactions we have each day. For example: We will sit down for dinner with Lola and Llys (student from belgium) and just have a vocab quiz around the room. We try and name everything and then if we don’t understand Lola explains. However, we usually ask Llys for help with the translations. Tonight we sat down for dinner and sang every vocabulary word in the room, and then went on Lola’s balcony and sang Feliz Navidad. Just the funny things, but they are definetly helping us to get closer to Lola. Whenever we all laugh together, we are learning at the same time. Whenever we walk into the room Lola asks if we need anything food or drink and always calls us Guapas! She has definetly made us feel at home.

After our daily classes, we went back to our host homes (Lola) for lunch. Our lunch was simple, but tasty. Lola made us noodles with olive oil and chopped fresh veggies. We also had a side of carne (meat). We have eaten so many new foods here. Lola is an AWESOME chef! Trying new food is one of the highlights of this trip that we will all never forget.

Everyone took a wonderful power nap before we met under the clock at 4:30. Once everyone was together, Lourdes took us to the Towers of Salamanca. We walked up about 300 stairs that took us to this breathtaking view of the wonderful city. Amazing. Sinking in how blessed we all are to be here. Seeing the skyline of this beautiful country is very eye opening, and feels very good inside.

Once we took pictures and enjoyed our view, we walked back down to the streets and headed to the Plaza. Of course, we all enjoyed yet another gelato at our favorite place in the square (Novelty). It has become apart of our daily routine to purchase a cone of delicious gelato. We all ate gelato then went straight to our cooking class. We had class in the same restaurant we ate at the first night. Once we all washed our hands, we went straight to work.

Half the group chopped tomatoes and decorated them, while the other group stuffed potatoes.  The dish we created was an apetizer (tapa). Tomato topped with goat cheese and a hand-made crouton on the side. Everyone loved the croutons we made. Sarah, Drew, and Chloe topped the tomatoes. While Alexis, Kyle, and Blake made the potatoes. The dish was a stuffed potato with mayonaise, lemon, garlic sauce, topped with cheese and small slices of ham. It was so delicious and different. It ended up being a very good experience to be able to cook in a well-known restaurant in Spain (Don Mauro).

Today was another memory-making day in Spain. We all had a very good time cooking and experience gorgeous views! However, we are very sad that tomorrow is our last full day in Salamanca. We are definitely cherishing these blessed moments.

Love and miss everyone!

Sarah Buechner and Alexis Margaritis