First Impressions

Just in case you didn't know, I'm studying in Salamanca, Spain this year with IES, and I will hopefully learn lots of Spanish and meet lots of rocks.

I've only been here for 5 days, and so far, I've mostly been really busy getting to know the city and other important things. The weather's been lovely, mostly in the 20's (C) although we had one day get up to 40! Salamanca has an arid climate (they average ~3cm of rain in September (wunderground.com)) because of the mountains, but we did get a couple drops of rain yesterday. Today there's been a nice, refreshing breeze from the southeast (the direction of the closest mountains).

As far as adjusting to being in a new place, as of today, I have:
1. Mostly figured out how to use the grocery store (I still don't know how to buy fresh fruits and veggies).

2. Discovered the location of the Plaza Mayor (I feel like I spend nearly all of my time trying to get to or from the Plaza), the post office (we found this completely by accident), Anayita (the building where languages classes are taught), Cursos Internacionales (International Student Center; the official name is Edificio de San Boal), the grocery store (I've been shopping in four different ones so far), the police station, my dorm (I have a single, which is much nicer than any of the dorms at LU. However, I'm on the first floor, so my window is right on the street, and there are no screens, just something that resembles metal blinds, and it is unbearably hot if the window isn't open, so I get dust and plant debris on my desk from the street when there's a breeze), the IES Center, and la Facultad de las Ciencias.

3. Gotten lost 3 times. Luckily, although Spaniards a sort-of brusque, they are very nice about giving directions. The last time I got lost, we just followed the crowds and ended up back in the Plaza Mayor. Getting directions is kind-of tricky, because all of the buildings have names rather than street numbers, streets have arbitrary names and there are plazas all over the place, and everyone just tells you to go to a specific plaza. There also aren't many streets going into the old city, so it's sometimes tricky to get to most places from my dorm, which is on the newer part of the city.

4. Tried Spanish omelets, which are egg and potato (and, of course olive oil and salt), mixed together and baked like in a pie plate. They are very good, and like the rest of the food, very greasy. I heard today that Salamantinos have three main food groups: olive oil, salty meat, and potatoes. Since I'm vegetarian, I've been skipping the salty meat, but I can vouch for the tremendous amounts of olive oil that everything is cooked in. At most grocery stores, they even have an entire aisle devoted to olive oil. Also, at the comedores, every course is served with French fries, so I think there are probably a lot of potatoes in Spanish cooking.

5. Been distracted by giant feldspar crystals in the sidewalk. They don't really have much concrete here, and in the newer parts of the city, the sidewalks are paved in tile, but in the old city, the sidewalks and streets (there really isn't a difference, most of the streets seem to be for both cars and pedestrians, although some streets are clearly intended for vehicles) are all stone. Most of the paving stones are porphyritic diorite and granite, and there are plag. crystals that are more than 8cm in diameter, and some are beautifully zoned and have lovely inclusions. In the really old paving stones, most of the mafic minerals have weathered out, and some of the feldspars are starting to succumb to weathering also. Most of the building are made of a fairly soft sandstone that is mottled with iron staining, and a lot of the graffiti in the city is from people carving stuff into the walls of buildings. There is a ton of decorative stone in the buildings (in class, I sit next to a wall of ooitic marble), and I've seen rapakivi, travertine, marble breccias, and larvikite on the front of stores. Spaniards are also very clean (although a lot of people are litter bugs), and on the way to class in the morning, I pass people who are scrubbing the ground in front of their stores. On the streets, there are little clean squares in front of all of the buildings. People walk really fast and sidewalks are really narrow, so it´s hard to take pictures, but I have a few:

A typical street paved with stone.

A plag crystal with zoning and inclusions. This is about 5cm, and about 1/2 of the size of the largest ones.

The courtyard in the oldest university building. A lot of buildings have courtyards, and a surprising number of places have grass, but it is strictly forbidden to walk on or sit on the grass (one wouldn't really want to sit on the grass because grassy areas are kept swampy).

A wall on the historic university building. The red paint is from the good old days in Salamanca when anyone who got a PhD could daub their initials with a "v" in animal blood on any old building. Now the tradition is a bit tamer, but PhD recipients can still write their initials in red paint on some walls in the city.

This is "la rana" the famous frog of Salamanca. You can see it on top of the skull near the center of the picture. There is a superstition that if you can see "la rana" without any trouble, you will have success at the University (I saw it the first time I looked at the edifice, but I'm not sure if that shows that I'll do well in school here, or if it means I read too many "I Spy" books as a child).

A lot of the plazas are paved in these really smooth river stones. Unfortunately, the stones are always falling out, and every day since I've been here, I've seen people in some plaza or another replacing them.

El catedral nuevo. This "new" cathedral of Salamanca is still older than the United States! They have replaced some of the carvings since it was built, and by the back door, there is a carving of an astronaut. They also have a tradition on the first of November to remember the big earthquake that happened in Lisbon in 1755, where a man climbs on the outside of the church to the highest steeple and plays the flute and the tamborine.

Some of the sandstone that Salamanca is famous for (and my attractive hand). To the right of my hand, there is a line that was scratched into the sandstone, which is really soft.

Mottling in the sandstone.

So far, my relationship with Spain is reminiscent of the relationship I had with the ice cream machine at LU for the first couple of terms. I´m a little bit afraid of everything, but hopefully, as I get to know how things work, it will get better, and maybe how I feel about Spain will come to resemble my current love for the LU ice cream machine.