Wednesday:
So this morning we met up at the school at 10:30am to visit San Esteban church and convent. It was huge and gorgeous and dedicated to Saint Stephen the martyr in Acts. (That took a while to connect in my head, oops!) The place was huge and had more italian architecture influences than Spanish and it took so long to build it you can see all types of styles in the church. It's also the place where Christopher Columbus stayed when he came to petition the university for money for his travels to the new world.
As one of our assignments, we were supposed to track down and interview a nun. Well that's awkward... so instead we decided to go to the convento de las dueñas and buy some home-made nun cookies! Apparently, nuns in Spain are all about the sweets, I don´t blame them :)
So we talked to the sweet nun selling us some almond flavored cookies and called it an interview.
Of course later in the day we had to go to school. After that we made our way out to the huerto de Calixto and Melibea. This comes from the Spanish novel La Celestina which means match-maker. Apparently this is like the Spanish version of Romeo and Juliet. This garden is where Calixto and Melibea used to have their secret meetings and now is where all Salamanca brides have their wedding pictures taken. Also, if you put a lock with your names on it on this well, it signifies committment to that person. How sweet!
After the slightly sickeningly sweet garden, the group went for some Mexican food at a hole in the wall restaurant behind the plaza. It was some of the best guacamole I´ve ever had! (Don´t tell dad...)
Thursday:
On Thursday we slept in!! Almost unheard of with our schedule. So after some good rest and a nice walk, we ate a heavy lunch as usual and headed out for school. We treated ourselves to some much deserved ice cream in the plaza and then headed home for a great dinner of tortilla, salad, and pudding. Wow, I guess all we did on Thursday was eat...hmmm.
After dinner, we all met up in the Plaza Mayor to listen to the Tunas. I know, i know, it´s a horrible name but they are groups of university students that play guitars and sing. Mostly for the ladies of course. But they were fantastic and the ambiance was perfect as the plaza lit up and we listened to live Spanish music. Fabulous.
Did I mention that they wear traditional medieval outfits with tights and all?
Friday:
Today we slept in again! It's a good thing too because I stayed up late watching a crazy and strange Spanish movie called "Women on the edge of a nervous breakdown." I should've known it would be out of control. I had to chuckle a few times because it was hysterically typically Spanish. The main character's name was Pepa and the climax involved her throwing some spiked gazpacho in the face of the enemy. That would happen in a dramatic Spanish film.
Anyways, we started our day out at the pool, stuffed ourselves sick at lunch and headed off to school. Our madre today told us she likes us because we eat a lot. Great, not sure if that's a compliment from a Spaniard or not. So after drifting through school we went souvenir shopping and returned home for dinner of gazpacho (our fave), empanadas de jamon y queso and home-made flan. It was a small celebration for Saint Carmen's day (our madre's name). Everyone and their brother called the house to day to wish her a Happy Saint Carmen's day.
Tonight we're preparing for Portugal in the madrugada. We leave super early so it's off to bed soon!
Yay for nun cookies!
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