=)

Well the past few days have been quite good... Had exams on Monday and today (tuesday), and they all went fairly well... haven´t really gotten results back, but I feel pretty good about most of them (one not so sure about... but we´ll see).

I also am now planning on taking Tae Kwon Do here in Salamanca. There´s a really good looking class just 10-15 minutes from my house, and its not too expensive... Went and watched a class on Monday and it looked pretty good, so I think I´m planning on going back and starting to take classes on Wed (three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday).

Also, Kevin finally found a job, so thats super exciting... a YMCA Camp in the blueridge mountains of South Carolina. It sounds beautiful!! I´m actually kind of jealous=) Hope that works out, I´m sure it will... he´s just happy right now though, just to have a job=)

Ferias de Toros!! Awesome!!!!

Wow. Yesterday was soo amazing. I went to see the last bull fight, the one with horses... and it was just sooo cool. The horses were some of the best horses that I have ever seen... They were doing western reigning tricks (including some that I´ve never even heard of before, like the horse would rear and leap forward off its hind legs... it was just amazing), but while fighting/being chased by a raging mad bull. The riders were soo cool. I totally wish that they had more bull fights. It was just too cool.

I can´t even hardly explain how cool... one horse seriusly spun in circles while being chased by the bull... it was incredible. I´m uploading what pictures I have just now... they´ll all be up soon on smugmug, though I don´t really have any super cool pictures as I was just too amazed to even take pictures of the coolest stuff!! It was, seriously though, some of the best riding that I have ever ever ever ever seen.

Then last night I went out with friends and had a blast... didn´t spend hardly any money, but had tons of fun. We met some old tourist guy from Chicago who was just traveling around Spain for 10 days taking pictures and such. He was really really cool... I think he was mostly thrilled to meet people that he could talk to... Not that many people here speak english.

But yeah. I´m still amazed whenever I think about the bullfights yesterday... the riding was just soo spectacular. So, oh so so so awesome, and amazing. If only I could see more =) But, alas, only one of those fights here in Salamanca per year =( But, at least I got to see one...

Ferias de Toros 2

Ugh. Well, I currently feel like crap. Didn´t even goto class today... throat hurt like all hell, though I think its mostly cause´ its soo frigging dry (and also cause´ the weather changes here, more, faster, than anywhere I´ve ever been. Seriously. Yesterday it was like 50 degrees. Today? Its like 80.)

Anywho... Went to my second bullfight yesterday (where I froze, since when I left it was nice-ish and the temperature proceeded to plummet like 20 degrees while I was sitting watching... ::grumble::), which was, once again quite cool. The people sitting on either side of me broke out awesome looking sandwhiches about half way through. What genious. Bring food. Who woulda thunk it?? Awesomely though, guys here in spain are super nice.. and one of them gave me like half his =). Anyhow though, theres more pictures up of the bullfight... and if I can remember my tripod password I´ll upload the couple of movies too in the next couple of days.

Fiesta, Bullfights, Circus

Well wow, its been a while since I posted on here.... Just been a pretty crazy, exciting week.

I´m learning a lot of spanish right now... we´re moving along pretty quickly in classes, and so its kind of hard, but mostly just lots of fun. I´m still hanging out mostly with the kids from my class, although I´ve been trying to go out by myself again so that I meet spanish people and speak spanish... its very helpful to have a buzz while speaking a foreign language - somehow you just don´t feel nearly as stupid=).

Went and saw a bullfight on Thursday, it was pretty cool... I kinda couldn´t (and still don´t) believe just how much I really, truely liked it... but yeah. I´m going again tommorrow, but I got a better seat this time (not looking straight into the sun, thank god=).

The Fiesta seems to have mostly ended on Thursday with one final blowout concert, though there continue to be random other events going on (like the circus performing in the plaza for an hour, totally randomly at 1pm just after I got out of class... 3 elephants in the plaza!! Just standing around!!=)... So it will be interesting to see what Salamanca´s like when its not a huge week-long party going on.

I spent a good hour or two online yesterday uploading bunches of new pictures (mostly of the circus... which, I´ll be honest... mostly means elephants, and the bullfight). So go check´m out.. http://emilyrose.smugmug.com !!

Fiesta de Salamanca!! WOOHOO!!

Yesterday was incredible. Thats all I can say. It was the first day of a two week long festival. Which meant that at one point shortly after posting yesterday, like every guy between 8 and 18 in all of Salamanca was LITERALLY running down the street!! There was also a band and a bunch of guys in huge masks hitting at them... it was pretty insane.

Then last night there were fireworks which were actually very very good. And then we went and drank beer in the Plaza Mayor and listend to some band from either France or Hungary (no-one´s really sure... some programs say hungary some say france...).. and then we went dancing untill like 5am when everything finally closed.. and then we went and found food. Which meant that, by the time I got back to the house and went to bed it was at least 6:30am. What a crazy night it was. Absolutely crazy. But tons of fun.

Oh. And I´ve decided that I really want to go to Austria and learn Austrian/German. Because I´ve met soo many people from there, and they are all SOO cool. I really really want to go to Vienna. Definetly going to have to go there sometime. Just cause´.

Pictures!!

Well everybody I finally have pictures up online... http://emilyrose.smugmug.com so go check´m out!! School´s still going pretty well... Planing on going out tonight with Stephanie and Kristine as well as some guy from Pakistan who´s in our class too. He´s pretty cool... works for there ¨ministry of foreign affairs´or something like that... so he´s here for 9 months learning spanish. Should be fun... tonight I expect will be a huge night for partying as nobody has class tommorrow (tis the Fiesta de Salamanca)... so yeah. Should be lotsa fun. Sposed to be fireworks tonight too. Plus they built yet another gigantic stage (the 2nd one this week!! Built one for last Saturday/Sunday, then tore it down and painted a chessboard on the plaza... then got rid of that, and started putting up another stage!! Tis crazyness!!)

Sup

Well, still lotsa fun here in Salamanca. Started classes again today, went fairly well. Also found out just how much we´re being totally overcharged by API - by about 3 thousand odd dollars!! 1 month at the university costs a total of 450 euros. Plus another 400 for the host family per month. So yeah. Basicly... I could stay for another 6 months for half what we paid for 4. Makes me sick. Especially since I´m totally *not* happy with API at this point at all. Between the director being a bitch to me, and them just really doing absolutely nothing other than setting everything up for you... yeah. Kinda sad. Oh well though. Might try and come home for christmas and then come back (but just through the university) for another few months. It´d be no more expensive thats for sure!!

Anywho though... Planning on going out tonight with a couple of super cool Austrian girls - they said that they´ll teach me some german/austrian while we learn spanish too, so its quite cool!!

Classes, Salamanca, partying... fun-ness!!

Well, today is saturday and in a little while I´m going to go to some play-type-thing (i think thats what it is anyhow... ´teatre animado´) about Don Quiote (sp?)...

Yesteday was also our first day of class, and it went pretty well. I´m in the ´beginner´classes, of course, but thats Ok. Theres a couple other girls from the US (though they came via different programs or whatever, so I didn´t know them beforehand), as well as two girls from Vienna, Austria who are super super cool.. meant to meat up with them last night, but it just didn´t happen. Theres also one guy from Norway, two from Japan and another guy from somewhere else (can´t member where exactly... somewhere in europe, I think).

Spain is also, apparently, one of only two countries in all of europe (the other being france...), where like nobody speaks english (or at least, refuse to do so..). The girls from Austria speak EXCELLENT english, and were super surprised that nobody here does.

Mostly having a blast though... I think I´ll bring my camera to the plaza on monday (when I have my backpack with school stuff), and take some pictures, then try and get them online for everyone to see.. My classes are all in the same building and its beautiful, gold colored sandstone with all kinds of crazy ornate stuff around it. But yeah. Lots of fun...

Salamanca

Yesterday was our first full day in Salamanca and it went quite well.. we had a tour of the city and then time to hang out and do whatever.

Last night we all ended up going out together around 11:00pm... The bar we went to, was absolutely awesome. Thats all there is to it...

Girls drank for FREE all night long - "open bar" - at least as far as beer, sangria and some other drink were concerned. None of us planned on getting wasted... but man, we just couldn´t pass up free alcohol. As for the guys, they had to pay a whopping 4 euros (about 5 bucks), and then drank as much as they wanted too. I couldn´t believe it, none of us could. And, whats more, this is apparently the case at this bar EVERY tuesday and wednesday!! So yeah, we all now know when we´re going to be getting totally wasted... ::grin::

Then this morning at 8:30am we had our placement test... don´t know how it went, but will find out here very shortly (like 15 mins actually...)... I´m guessing I´ll be in the "beginner" class. But, yeah. I still can´t quite believe I drank so much (had at least 8 drinks) for FREE. Pure crazyness. I wonder if other bars have the same deal on other nights... God bless Salamanca, god bless spain... where beer is cheaper than frigging water!!