HOLA!!!
I made it to Salamanca, and boy, did my heart sing. This was my first night train and we almost slept past our stop!! Oops. Thankfully, I managed to overhear some Spaniards remind the overly chatty backpacking foreigner behind us that Salamanca’s stop was next and I frantically woke up Mom. We made it, so all is good. And since then we only had the best of luck, as the hotel let us check in at 5 am (unheard of) and Mom and I got desperately needed showers and rest after being on a train for almost 10 hours.
Like true Españolas we slept in until 10 and stared adventuring around 11. How I’ve missed this city!! I can’t even begin to tell you. It’s so weird because it’s familiar, I mean I lived here for 6 months, and yet foreign. I’d forgotten the streets and landmarks like certain shops I’d recognized to tell me where to go had disappeared. So I ended up having to pull up Google maps a few times, I know I know, I can’t believe it either.
This is a picture of me in front of the cathedral (the new one to be exact. The new and the old cathedral and literally right next to each other because instead of tearing down the 14th century one, the city just shared a wall and built the 16th century one to the left of it.) Every morning when I went to my linguistics class I would walk past here. Sometimes I’d have a pan de chocolate in my hand, other times I’d dawdle after class to listen to the street guitarists or watch the tourists as if I myself had always been here.
Here is the library, Casa de las Conchas, and while I’d like to say I spent a good amount of time here, I didn’t. I was to enamored with the coffee culture. And my host Mom was great so I’d study at home or read a book on a patio in the plaza.
Welcome to La Plaza Mayor!! The main city center. I went to a summer concert here with my host Mom. And in the right archway is a little gelato stop where I literally got an ice cream every single sunny day on my way home from classes. I had a kick butt hill and a 25 minute walk so I wasn’t feeling too guilty about the calories. Then when it was cold and rainy 24/7 the gelato shop switched into a chocolate and churros shop. So I switched to hot chocolate too :). Let’s just say I never went hungry living here.
We moseyed for a bit until it was an appropriate hour to call on Espe, my host Mom. AND THEN WE WERE REUNITED. It was so wonderful, and she was so excited that she couldn’t finish a story because she wanted to tell us so many. She was flouncing from room to room showing us new trinkets or pictures her other girls had sent her, or changes that she had made to her apartment in the four years. There were lots of tears from all three of us, as no one could believe that we were all actually here and seeing one another again.
This is my old room!!! And ironically this is the only part of the house she didn’t change. It was weird, I almost expected to see my luggage’s stored under the bed and open the closet to find my clothes hanging there.
We sat in the dining room while Espe took out her nice glasses and cups and prepared a late lunch. I tried to help her, but ended up mostly distracting her instead, hahha. So after an hour I decided that if we ever wanted to eat I should probably let her do her thing.
And just look at the feast she prepared!!! I made the salad and cut the Manchego cheese hehe. We had fresh bread, veal, Russian filets, and French fries (not pictured). She always was the best cook and we dined like kings haha. It also helped that we were eating lunch at 4 pm aka the hanger was real.
After that, we turned Spain’s game on and chatted while turning our heads every 10 minutes or so just to check the score. She had very strong opinions on Pique’s penalty which allowed the Russians to score. For the penalty kick off we held our breaths and sat together on the edge of our seats only to be disappointed by Spain’s performance. Alas, so close and yet so far. The next World Cup we’ll get it, I’m sure. For now I’ll just have to settle for supporting FC Barcelona (or Real Madrid if I’m in front of my host Mom, she's from Central Spain and therefore I couldn't possibly like any other team but that one).
We strolled through the plaza and ordered Salamanca’s finest chocolate and churros at 9 pm. The best part about Spain? This literally counts as a dinner there since lunch is their main meal. I’m still dreaming about them, they were that good.
I’m getting kind of tired of saying goodbye. This trip was too short...and even though I’m excited to be on my way to Florence, it feels as thought I’m leaving a little piece of me behind in every city I’m traveling to. I guess I’m lucky, in that I have so many people who love me all around the world. But man, it’s hard when you can’t be everywhere at once. Mom and Espe said goodbye and as we parted ways we turned around every few steps for a last wave. I think we had at least 7 last waves and the people watching from the cafe across the street must have thought we were crazy. Either way, I know that I’ll be back and it’s nice to know I always have a home across the ocean.
Thanks for following along, promise I’ll get less sappy for the future posts haha.
Love you lots,
Carolyn
I made it to Salamanca, and boy, did my heart sing. This was my first night train and we almost slept past our stop!! Oops. Thankfully, I managed to overhear some Spaniards remind the overly chatty backpacking foreigner behind us that Salamanca’s stop was next and I frantically woke up Mom. We made it, so all is good. And since then we only had the best of luck, as the hotel let us check in at 5 am (unheard of) and Mom and I got desperately needed showers and rest after being on a train for almost 10 hours.
Like true Españolas we slept in until 10 and stared adventuring around 11. How I’ve missed this city!! I can’t even begin to tell you. It’s so weird because it’s familiar, I mean I lived here for 6 months, and yet foreign. I’d forgotten the streets and landmarks like certain shops I’d recognized to tell me where to go had disappeared. So I ended up having to pull up Google maps a few times, I know I know, I can’t believe it either.
This is a picture of me in front of the cathedral (the new one to be exact. The new and the old cathedral and literally right next to each other because instead of tearing down the 14th century one, the city just shared a wall and built the 16th century one to the left of it.) Every morning when I went to my linguistics class I would walk past here. Sometimes I’d have a pan de chocolate in my hand, other times I’d dawdle after class to listen to the street guitarists or watch the tourists as if I myself had always been here.
Here is the library, Casa de las Conchas, and while I’d like to say I spent a good amount of time here, I didn’t. I was to enamored with the coffee culture. And my host Mom was great so I’d study at home or read a book on a patio in the plaza.
Welcome to La Plaza Mayor!! The main city center. I went to a summer concert here with my host Mom. And in the right archway is a little gelato stop where I literally got an ice cream every single sunny day on my way home from classes. I had a kick butt hill and a 25 minute walk so I wasn’t feeling too guilty about the calories. Then when it was cold and rainy 24/7 the gelato shop switched into a chocolate and churros shop. So I switched to hot chocolate too :). Let’s just say I never went hungry living here.
We moseyed for a bit until it was an appropriate hour to call on Espe, my host Mom. AND THEN WE WERE REUNITED. It was so wonderful, and she was so excited that she couldn’t finish a story because she wanted to tell us so many. She was flouncing from room to room showing us new trinkets or pictures her other girls had sent her, or changes that she had made to her apartment in the four years. There were lots of tears from all three of us, as no one could believe that we were all actually here and seeing one another again.
This is my old room!!! And ironically this is the only part of the house she didn’t change. It was weird, I almost expected to see my luggage’s stored under the bed and open the closet to find my clothes hanging there.
We sat in the dining room while Espe took out her nice glasses and cups and prepared a late lunch. I tried to help her, but ended up mostly distracting her instead, hahha. So after an hour I decided that if we ever wanted to eat I should probably let her do her thing.
And just look at the feast she prepared!!! I made the salad and cut the Manchego cheese hehe. We had fresh bread, veal, Russian filets, and French fries (not pictured). She always was the best cook and we dined like kings haha. It also helped that we were eating lunch at 4 pm aka the hanger was real.
After that, we turned Spain’s game on and chatted while turning our heads every 10 minutes or so just to check the score. She had very strong opinions on Pique’s penalty which allowed the Russians to score. For the penalty kick off we held our breaths and sat together on the edge of our seats only to be disappointed by Spain’s performance. Alas, so close and yet so far. The next World Cup we’ll get it, I’m sure. For now I’ll just have to settle for supporting FC Barcelona (or Real Madrid if I’m in front of my host Mom, she's from Central Spain and therefore I couldn't possibly like any other team but that one).
We strolled through the plaza and ordered Salamanca’s finest chocolate and churros at 9 pm. The best part about Spain? This literally counts as a dinner there since lunch is their main meal. I’m still dreaming about them, they were that good.
I’m getting kind of tired of saying goodbye. This trip was too short...and even though I’m excited to be on my way to Florence, it feels as thought I’m leaving a little piece of me behind in every city I’m traveling to. I guess I’m lucky, in that I have so many people who love me all around the world. But man, it’s hard when you can’t be everywhere at once. Mom and Espe said goodbye and as we parted ways we turned around every few steps for a last wave. I think we had at least 7 last waves and the people watching from the cafe across the street must have thought we were crazy. Either way, I know that I’ll be back and it’s nice to know I always have a home across the ocean.
Love you lots,
Carolyn
No comments:
Post a Comment