Weekend of Oct. 15

Friday when I got out of class I had my second test. I had the worst headache but I pulled through, and think I'll do well on the test.  When I was finished, I was so excited to go home and take a nap. I was just going to take a little one then do other things, but that didn't happen. I started to nap at 3.... 3 hours later I forced myself to get out of bed since I knew if I didn't I might stay there all night. I went out and walked around for a bit to expel some energy so that I could fall asleep again that night. Not an issue. I slept like a baby that night. I was catching up on all the sleep I had missed throughout the past 2 to 3 weeks.  It was wonderful.

Saturday morning (well almost afternoon) I relaxed while doing some homework.  I also did some yoga which was nice and relaxing. After that I took a long relaxing shower. In order for this next part to be fully understood we need to return to the summer and my last day on Seabrook Beach. *magical sounds of being transported back to the past*

A sunny day on Seabrook beach. Mid-august. Late afternoon. Everyone else had gone up except for madre and I. We heard some kids speaking Spanish. Mother being herself had to go up to them and talk to them like a creepy lady. So she asked them in Spanish where they were from. After they looked at her for a minute like she was a total creeper they told her they were from Spain. Where in Spain she asked. From Madrid they said. Que suerte! (How lucky!) So we ended up talking to the mother of the children. She spoke in Spanish 900 miles a minute so I understood about every tenth word.  But she asked me for my email address and told me when she returned to Spain she would email me. About 4 weeks later I got an email from her asking for my phone number which I happily gave to her. Then the Friday I went to Morocco she called me. Unfortunately I missed the call and took a little while to call her back because I was so busy. But finally I called her back and we planned a little get together for Saturday.

Back to present time (or last Saturday if you will) so after my shower, I got ready to go out with her. She told me she would pick me up in her car because she lives pretty far away from me though it is still considered to be Madrid. We had a little bit of difficulty finding each other because a lot of the streets in Madrid center where I live are pedestrian only so she couldn't drive down them. Finally I met her on Gran Via. We went to VIPS (a local chain restaurant) with her two boys ages 7 and 10 because they had been so patient as we tried to find a place where she could pick me up. After that we went back to her house where I met her husband. She invited me to stay for dinner but I didn't tell Loli that I wasn't coming home for dinner that night, so I politely declined and told her that another time I'd love to. She told me she wants me to meet her niece who just started in the university here in Madrid and she'd love it if I practiced some english with her older son.  Of course I agreed to all of this. Finally she took me home.  When I got home I ate with my family, then Sara (the 3 year old granddaughter of my senora) and I watched a movie together (Madagascar 2) and in Spanish! After that I really had to go to bed because the next morning I had a 8:45 am train to Salamanca.

Plaza Mayor

Sunday I woke up soo early (for me here, in Spain) and by early I mean I woke up at 7:20. That's earlier than I wake up to get ready for school. Anyway, I took toast to go and jumped on the metro since I had at least a 20 minute metro ride to Chamartin Train Station. I was afraid I wasn't going to make the train when I exited the metro station (since most bus or train stations are attached to the metro station so you don't have to leave the station). Eventually I found the train and my seat. I half slept half read Doña Perfecta on the way to Salamanca. When I was almost there I started to panic because there were two train stations in Salamanca and I had no idea which one to get off at. So I got off at the second one which wasn't really a train station but more of a platform. Needless to say, there was no tourist information center at the train station. So I had to ask a few locals where I could find the Tourist Info Center (Plaza Mayor) and how to get there. Finally, I made it to the plaza, got a map, and asked the woman for suggestions on what to do. She named a couple of things that were situated along a pre-planned tourist path.  The first thing I did however was get a coffee (since it was very chilly from the wind) and decided how I should go about seeing these things. Once I came up with a plan I headed out on my journey.

Library at the University

My first stop was the University of Salamanca, which is the oldest university in Spain and one of the oldest in Europe.  It was a really cool building, and it's amazing you can still take classes in a building that old.

After that I went to an exhibit in the towers of the Old Cathedral. It was cool because you could climb up into the towers and walk around the outside of the church which had some amazing views. I even conquered the scary spiral staircase at the end of the tour.  People really need to realize those things do a number on people with zero depth perception.

View from Roman Bridge

After the towers I attempted to find the deco art museum. I got a little turned around but ended up on the Roman bridge so I wasn't complaining since it was a pretty neat bridge. Finally I was determined to find this building since I was convinced I was staring at the back of it forever and just couldn't find the entrance. FINALLY I found it. It was interesting to say the least. They had an entire room full of dolls, scary looking porcelain dolls. But hey, that's deco art for you.

View of Cathedral from the Towers Exhibit

Main Gate in Plaza Mayor.

Organ in New Cathedral

After that I was really hungry and everything was closed for about 2 hours for the siesta (Salamanca really has their priorities in order).  So I went to this restaurant that had a little bit of everything. Then my Americanness overcame me and I decided to order a hamburger. It was a good decision. Content, I left the restaurant and walked around the plaza Mayor for a while. It about 20 million times better than the Plaza Mayor in Madrid. Then I decided to head back toward the New Cathedral which was my next destination. Along the way I found a place that made homemade icecream so of course I had to stop and get some (especially since it cost about half the amount it does in Madrid). When I finished my ice cream I toured around the new cathedral (and don't be deceived, it was still really old). After that I intended on finding this old house that was a museum, but I really couldn't find this one though I was convinced I was in the right place.  So I decided that it was probably time to start walking to the train station since I didn't know how long it was going to take for me to walk there.  I caught the 5:55 pm train back to Madrid and enjoyed a lovely dinner with my family before going to bed. Needless to say it was a great weekend!