Gary Simkus's reflections on his semester abroad.

Being in Salamanca, for about six months has been amazing. I have really enjoyed my time living with a host family and making friends. I have been training with a soccer team in a pueblo about 15 minutes outside of Salamanca, taking salsa lessons, going to traditional bullfights, and enjoying Spain’s beautiful architecture and interesting history. It has been an amazing time. I love being able to pick up a Spanish conversation as I walk by a group of people. However, when I got off the plane in January I was not sure if I would ever be able to catch onto the language. Poco a poco I started developing an ear for the language.

One important object that I brought with me has made me a lot of friends whenever I walk through the street. It is my soccer ball. Last weekend, I was waiting for some soccer players under the clock in the Plaza Mayor. If you ever go to Salamanca, I imagine that you will end up meeting some people under the famous clock. As everyone started arriving, some workers on break asked us if we wanted to play soccer volleyball over a portable fence. We started with 3v3 but the teams grew as everyone started jumping in to play. It was a good time. (Side note: if you can not fit a soccer ball in your bag make sure to pack a pump. It comes in handy).

In Salamanca, everything is in walking distance. However, my judgment of a long walk has changed. I use to think that walking from the Delta House to the Fine Arts Center was long, which takes 5 minutes, but now I have a good 30 minute walk to class everyday. Also, when I want to go to the park it is about a good 20 minute jog. It took awhile to get use to all the walking but I like it now. Here, I can spot an extranjero or foreign person from a mile away by the speed they are walking. All the extranjeros seem to be in a hurry compared to the Spanish people.

In Spain, I have gotten use to all the stores, schools and businesses being closed during siesta which is usually between 2pm – 4pm. However, not everyone takes a nap at this time like a thought before I came. This is the usual time everyone eats lunch and gets to take a 30 min nap if they are lucky. Also, dinner is not until 9:30pm. A typical dinner is eggs, meat, and hash browns which we usually eat for breakfast. In Spain, they eat a very small breakfast and a large dinner. I am not sure why everyone is skinny but I think it is because they walk everywhere in general.

It is great being a Real Madrid fan. Yesterday, they won the league! However, it sure did not look like they were going to pull out a win the first half. I have attached some pictures from yesterday. I took my host brother to a bar that had the Barcelona game on one TV and the Real Madrid game on the other. The two teams were tied in points for the league championship, and Madrid needed the win to keep the title.