Grant Gussman ´09 - Well, I´ve survived the first week, and having finally adjusted to the time difference, I feel I can write a coherent blog. 

It´s actually a remarkably exciting time to be in Spain, especially in the world of sports. Since I´ve been here, Pau Gasol (a Spaniard) has played in the NBA finals AND Rafael Nadal won his 4th straight French Open. It was pretty crazy here for both events. The Spanish are proud of their countrymen. On top of that, something called the Eurocopa (EuroCup) is this summer. I don´t know much about it, but I bet soccer fans know what I´m talking about. It´s a major international fútbol competition that takes place every 4 years. It´s staggered against the World Cup so that one occurs every 2 years. España has a team, but the people here have told me that they won´t win. Apparently these European countries know how to play some soccer. They better, considering I can´t even walk through the streets without having to kick a soccer ball back to some kids. Actually, it´s probably more accurate to say that I try to kick it back to them... usually it ends up on a roof somewhere or I trip over it. Like I said, I´m not a big soccer fan... At any rate soccer is waaay more popular here than in the US. (On a related note, there are no outdoor basketball courts here like in the US... just outdoor soccer fields on concrete. ¡Es loco!

I plan on having some pictures up here as soon as I can, but my camera broke LITERALLY the first day I got here. I have no idea what´s wrong with it, but it won´t turn on. When I push the power button, it makes this really annoying clicking sound. I´m going to look into getting a disposable one until I can get mine fixed. Until then, my rambling descriptions of the scenery will have to do, which is a shame because it´s absolutely beautiful here.

I´ve been through 1 week of classes now. They´re pretty easy. I have 30-45 minutes of homework most nights, tops, so that´s a relief from Wabash. It´ll probably get harder though. My Spanish Language class is moving SO quickly. We´ve already covered like 7 verb tenses, including one that I had never used before. At this rate, I could probably learn an extra language in the 2 months I´m here. 

As strange as this sounds, one of my biggest challenges here is finding ways to fill my time. I get out of class at 1:15, after which I eat lunch. But from 2pm until dinner (usually 9:30), I don´t have much to do. I usually try to knock out my homework early so I can have time for myself, but today I found myself wishing I had MORE homework. I can´t believe I just said that. So I went for a 3 hour walk around the city. It was good to get a feel for where certain landmarks are relative to the streets I know... I´m a lot more comfortable walking by myself now. I think I could find my way home from almost any part of Salamanca. 

One last thing that is important enough to report on... All this week, there´s a festival in town. In the Plaza Mayor (See the image I stole from Google below), there´s a huge concert stage set up for free concerts every night. Most of the bands are unknown (at least to me), but this Wednesday at 11:30, Rufus Wainwright is playing a free concert! If you´re unfamiliar with him, you might recognize his cover of Leonard Cohen´s ´Hallelujah´ that was in Shrek. I think it was a scene where Shrek was walking around being lonely or something. So that´s pretty cool.

Hey while I´m at it, here are some other pictures I stole from Google.

Above is actually right next to where I have my first class. If you were to turn directly around from where this photo was taken, that´d be where I have Lengua Española. This is el Edificio de las Conchas (The Shell Building). Those dark spots all over it that you can´t quite make out are all stone sculptures of shells, and they completely cover the building.

Below, I´m fairly certain, is this absolutely ENORMOUS church right next to the building where I have my other class (Cultura Española). It´s completely covered in intricate stonework.

 Well that´s all the blogging I can handle for one day. Using other people´s pictures to document your own trip is tiresome work. I´ll write again soon. ¡Hasta luego!