You mean I'm not here just on vacation? ...classes.

Sorry for the lack of picture & the excessive words. Hope you enjoy reading my update, nonetheless!

VOLUNTEERING
IES works with many different organizations around the city to coordinate volunteer opportunities for us. Yesterday I went to Salamanca Acoge with the volunteer coordinator at IES, Yolanda. It was a half hour walk from IES (though only 15 minutes from my house), but I enjoyed talking with her about Spanish culture and the like. The organization we went to offers a variety of programs to immigrants in Salamanca, such as language classes and assistance in job searching. We met with the volunteer coordinator & discussed both of our expectations for the volunteering and my availability and a very brief introduction to the organization. I'm hoping to maybe pursue this organization more and start volunteering there shortly because the semester is going to fly by! I can't believe I've already been here for 4 weeks...!

CLASSES [warning: this may have too many details than you want, but I wanted to give an image so that you know how frustrated I was with the USAL system]
Last week my 4 IES classes started. They are all taught by professors from the University of Salamanca but only with the students in my program. I don't think I've ever walked into a classroom in college where I already know every person (even at small town Gettysburg College), so that was kinda odd - I think it definitely has its pros & cons to it. My first class is Literature & Cinema in Contemporary Spain, which I love. The professor is young and super animated & passionate about what we're studying, which I already learned a brief overview in a class I took at Gburg, so its nice to already have the basics down. Next I have my basic grammar & culture class, which is with the same professor as our intensive week-long Spanish class. I enjoy this class, even though we meet 4 days a week, because it goes by pretty quickly and my professor is easy-going and very knowledgeable. In the afternoon, I have my Art & Avant Garde in Contemporary Spain, which is definitely interesting but I have zero background. I have to take an art class for Gburg anyways, so I figured this would be the best place with field trips and all! My last IES class is Comparative Religion (which I already spoke about a bit with our project of interviewing Spaniards). I'm still loving the class, even though we're just looking at historical religions, because I find it really interesting to see the continuities of religious practices today with those of the past.

This week classes at the public university began. Oh boy - where do I begin? Well, IES tells us to choose a couple courses that seem interesting to you and that work with your schedule and just try them out the first week. So I did - I chose 2 and would eventually only register into one class. Yesterday was a bit of a nightmare and made me really appreciate Gettysburg College. My first class, La Lengua Española, was supposed to begin at 11:00. I got there a bit early and actually met a few people, including one who offered to teach me to cook Spanish food! [I just happened to run into another girl I had met before this class on the street later on yesterday when I decided to take a super long way home and wander while not using my map to get home, trusting my instincts. I did make it home in good timing, just to be clear :)] There was some major confusion about where this class was going to take place - apparently they had to change rooms because of an unexpected large number of students in the class (probably at least 70). After some great confusion of going up & down stairs to different rooms, we waited in a huge crowd outside the supposedly correct room. The professor didn't show up until 11:25 when we all filed into the seminar room. While others filed in, I asked the professor about my final exam date. [The semester for Spaniards ends in February, but my program ends in mid December - I already have my flight for December 16th to fly home. As a result, we have to talk to the professor to see if they'll be accommodating and let us take the final exam before the normal date.] She told me she wouldn't allow anything before December 20th - a matter of 5 days, I don't know how much of a difference it would make other than, for me, a couple hundred dollars to change my flight. Regardless of this rejection, I continued to sit in the class, which now would only last a half hour and was mostly going over the syllabus with a brief introduction to linguistics, which really interests me but clearly this isn't the class God has in mind for me, right?

Apparently it is customary for the classes at USAL to start 10 minutes late. I have class until 6 and another USAL class that I was going to try out (El Lenguage y las Lenguas) begins at "6:00." Another girl in my earlier class was going to try out the same one, so we more or less sprinted/jogged from one building to the other, probably looking quite ridiculous & American. We had some trouble finding the classroom but once we arrived, there were only about 7 other students, 3 of which were other IES students. I found it kind of odd, but nonetheless found a seat & began to chat with some girls that were sitting near me who were from Britain and Germany. 20 minutes after when the class was supposed to start, a couple people went downstairs to the secretary & checked the course listings - sure enough, there was a change in the schedule & we didn't know it. Funny how there were no Spaniards in the classroom, as if they knew to check the always-changing schedule before going to class. Of course, the new time of this class is the same as one of my IES classes, so another one (2 of my 2 that I chose) to cross off my list!

A couple of us frantically looked at the class listings to see what else we should try to take. There happened to be a class starting at 7:00 right nearby so we decided that we'd go to just check it out. It was absolutely horribly boring. I don't know how else to describe it (Intro to Literatura Hispanica) but I just have zero interest in reading literature of many many centuries ago that I would struggle to read in English. The students were even a turn off because they weren't very respectful of each other and talked over one another while answering questions (answers to which I had no idea - more assumed cultural things of Spain, I think). While I could understand the professor just fine, I don't want to put myself through something that feels like torture for a semester that should be incredible.

After leaving this class, I was feeling kinda hopeless and overwhelmed - I did try to sort it out with God, putting my trust in His plans, but I was getting so frustrated with every option getting turned down one after another in the same day. When I got home after a long day of disappointments, sure enough I had an email waiting for me from a professor of a class that some of my friends told me about called Gramática Enseñaza Español, which is essentially about how to teach Spanish grammar to people with Spanish as a second language. It sounds very interesting to me & he said I can still register, even though I missed the first day of class this week. PLUS he told me that I can take my final exam before Dec 16 so I don't have to change my flight home! Wow - gracias a Dios for pulling through, once again, even as I failed to put all my trust in Him!!

INTERCAMBIO
The University Orientation Service offers this great program which is essentially like an online dating service but better. You send in your basic information: name, age, gender, native language/country, what language you want to practice and email address or cell phone number for people to contact you. Within a matter of two days of having my info posted, I have received many many emails from a variety of people - at least 10 from 30 year old men who are students here in Salamanca but also from some girls around my age. I asked someone from IES and apparently it is totally fine to not answer every request you receive - don't worry, I'm not going to meet up with 30 year olds...not what I would consider a fun or comfortable situation. You essentially set up a time and place to go practice speaking (for example, I would meet up with someone who is a native Spanish speaker who wants to practice their English). I decided to set up an "intercambio" with Laura, who is a 20 year old from Colombia. We made plans to meet up at a certain part of the campus after both of our classes got out at 6:00PM. She brought along her friend/roommate who is from Brazil and I think 24 (if I remember correctly...). At first we talked only in Spanish, but then Laura began talking in English. It was really entertaining & beneficial for both of us because we weren't afraid to make errors when talking - I would respond in Spanish while she would speak in English. We literally just sat in the center of the Plaza de Mayor where there were tons of other students just hanging out after a full day of classes. We've already decided that we're going to get together again, which doesn't always happen with intercambios, so I lucked out! Also, I love how there are always so many people out!!! (I know I say this a lot, but it just always seems to come up every day in my life here. I apologize for the repetitiveness!)

FERIA DE BIENVENIDA A USAL
This afternoon was a big welcome fair for all the students at the University of Salamanca. They had a lot of tables set up with a variety of organizations & student clubs in a big open gym, distributing lots of information. I found a couple Christian groups that I'm going to pursue more because it was hard to tell exactly what they do together and what type of people attend the gatherings and such. No such luck with dance groups :( BUT I've heard there are places to take classes that have student discounts, so hopefully that'll happen someday. Outside of the gym was a huge open green space where there was a concert & cheap bocadillos (sandwiches) for sale. Teresa had packed me 2 bocadillos the night before (one with ham & cheese - not too exciting - but the other with spanish tortilla of eggs, cheese and lots of veggies, no potatoes this time, but was absolutely delicious to have it IN a sandwich!). We simply basked up the sunshine surrounded by many many other students. Quite relaxing!

EL CEMENTERIO DE SALAMANCA
My religion class went to THE cemetery of Salamanca, which is on the outskirts of the city. There used to be only one, but they recently built one on the other side of the river because they need more space, even though the tombs are so very close in this cemetery. Also, fun fact: there are MANY cats that wander the cemetery and it is totally acceptable.

It was pretty interesting because I had never really thought of a cemetery as such an integral part of culture, but what my professor told us made it seem very important. Tombs are a way to continue to show one's social status and to show your deceased loved ones that you continue to care for them - some are large buildings, some have more decorations, more flowers, more words, fancy embellishing while others are very simple and quickly abandoned by the family. One of my favorite stories that he told us was that back in the day when those cards that play music when you open them were actually in style in Spain (he told us it was obviously before they existed in the US), he came to the cemetery and heard an odd unclear and muffled noise. As he approached various tombs, he found these greeting cards open with the music continually playing until the battery would completely die. Oh, Spaniards!

Teresa told me that her father, who passed away fairly recently, is buried in the newer cemetery. She also said she doesn't like visiting it alone because of the trip over there, but that she wants to take me there someday to see the difference between the two cemeteries and visit her father's tombstone.

Here's some more pictures from the cemetery, which has a great view of the city from the top. (This picture doesn't do it justice...)