i'm baaaaaack!

Hey strangers, it's been awhile!

I apologize for the huge gap in posts, the last few weeks have been busy and I also have a sneaking suspicion that someone out there hit the big cosmic fast-forward button, time has been flying! Tomorrow will mark week 8 of this 15 week program, over halfway! Cripes.

The last three weeks were a little more tranquilo (calm) than the previous few weeks, I spent nearly all of the time here in Salamanca, going to classes, enjoying some cultural events, having intercambios, continuing my quest for a church (which was successful!), etc. I went to go see the play Todos eran mis hijos (All my sons - Alfred Miller) one day with some other IES kids which was an experience, it is such a heavy story, if you haven't already I would definitely recommend seeing it if you ever get the chance. During some downtime I went exploring in Salamanca and also took a tour of la Catedral Nueva which was cool.

 some fun graffiti in the street. 

 they have such cool drain spouts here!

 more fun graffiti, the bubble next to its head says 'smile.'

 your guess is as good as mine. 

 the tower of la Catedral Nueva.

 the view of the city of Salamanca from the top of the tower.

this picture shows both of the cupolas of the cathedrals, la Nueva in the upper right and la Vieja in the center left.

In addition to exploring Salamanca a bit more, I also went with Allison two weekends ago (the 15th) to Alba de Tormes, a small town (pueblo) about half an hour from Salamanca by bus, to explore and see la Fiesta de Santa Teresa. While there we saw the castle that at one time was the seat of power for the Duke of Alba, the San Juan de la Cruz museum, the museum and basilica dedicated to Santa Teresa (not to be confused with Mother Teresa), la playa (beach!), and sort of accidentally became part of a parade (desfile) for children. 

 beaches! little bit sketch..

 La Basilica de Santa Teresa - it was never completed, that's why it looks sort of half-done.

 La Torre de Homenaje - what is left of the castle.

 The view of the surrounding country from the top of the tower.

 That right there, is the pointer finger of San Juan de la Cruz (b. 1542)- you may know him as Saint John of the Cross.

 This is the beach! haha.

 And this lovely specimen is the heart of Santa Teresa de Ávila (b. 1515)

And this is her arm. Apparently Franco kept the other one next to him while he slept because he thought it would protect him from death. 

 I couldn't get a very good picture but this is the parade we encountered. There were guys dressed up with giant masks on (they call them cabezudos which basically means 'big heads') who threw candy and hit the children (relatively lightly) with sticks during the parade.

The shrine of Santa Teresa. 

As I mentioned earlier, my quest for a church/christian community has finally been successful! Two weeks ago Allison and I went together to a new church and it was so welcoming!! We met a whole bunch of Spaniards as well as other foreign exchange students from the US, Germany, and South America. One of the girls from the US told us about the group she's here working with which happens to be a Christian fellowship group for students called En Vivo. They have various events throughout the week but so far I've been going to the ones on Tuesdays and Thursdays, one is a youth group type of meeting with music and worship and the other is a time to hang out and speak English haha. Anybody that wants to come and speak English is welcome and we basically chill and drink hot chocolate/coffee and help people become more familiar with the language. So that has been exciting! 

The other big news of the last couple weeks is that my hard drive crashed! :(  So I was about a week without a computer which was really stressful because it's kind of my lifeline here, my connection to friends and family back home, my planner, my means of doing homework... I took it to a computer shop near my house and everything is all straightened out now, but wow, was that an experience! Maybe a topic for another blog post, we'll see. Anyway, I think that's all I've got for now! 

Hope you all have a great Wednesday! ¡Abrazos!

A parting picture, la Plaza Mayor en rojo? Not sure why but it's cool!

catholics, caballos, and coffins

Well hello everyone, welcome back!

It's been a little while and there is so much to tell! I'll start with last weekend, more or less where I left off in the last post.

So last Friday and Saturday weren't very eventful, mostly I just went to classes, chilled out, and did homework. Saturday was the first day in a while that I could relax a little, take a deep breath, and just enjoy a chill routine day here in Salamanca, so that was really nice. Sunday was an all around good day, I got to sleep in a little bit and then a handful of us IES students went to mass in La Catedral Nueva which was cool, we got to hear the priests and deacons singing in Latin before the mass started, but it's still missing something. From my personal experiences and what we've talked about in my Comparative Religion class thus far, practicing Catholicism in Spain seems to be very different from the practice in the US. When we go to mass here in Spain there are no books (I can't remember the official term for them) to read along with the priest or lectors, there is no singing (besides the Gloria and Hallelujah), and we were the only people there under the age of 60.  The mass feels very mechanical, as if everyone checks out and goes on autopilot the minute they hit the pews (los bancos); it's a far cry from the celebration that I've always been taught the mass should be.

I'm starting to get a taste of the relationship the Spaniards have with the Church, and it's very different than I expected. If Spain and the Catholic Church were in a relationship on facebook, the status would most certainly be "it's complicated," and within reason! Do a little bit of research into the Spanish Civil War (or the reign of Los Reyes Católicos) and it's easy to see why there are some issues going on here. Maybe I'll dedicate a post to this later on, but for right now this is heavy stuff so let's move onto something a little more fun...

Horseback riding! On Sunday afternoon we drove about 30 minutes to a farm (finca) outside of Salamanca where they raise horses (caballos), bulls (toros), pigs (cerdos), and oh yeah, toreros (matadors/bullfighters!). The farm is called Picadero Valverde if you want to check out their website. We spent about an hour and a half riding through the farm which reminded me a lot of the American Southwest. Check it out:

It was really hot and there were a lot of flies but the landscape was austerely beautiful and we got to see lots of animals, including an adorable dog taking a bath in what I think was supposed to be a drinking trough for the cows (las vacas). Mostly all of the trees we saw were a type of oak native to Spain that are pretty important because they produce acorns (bellotas) which are the main food source for los toros. It was so relaxing to just chill out on a horse for a couple of hours, but too soon it was over and we headed back to Salamanca smelling like a farm and some of us feeling like we had just done some serious butt and thigh workouts.

Monday started an important week - our first week of classes at the University of Salamanca! This week was a little frustrating as many of us had to make repeated class changes after discovering that a) the class schedule had been changed, unbeknownst to us and/or b) the professor was unwilling or unable to change the final exam date to accommodate our need to you know, fly back to the states at some point before January. However, after much ado, most people figured out their schedules and once again all is right with the world. I had some issues with one of the classes I wanted to take, but (thank God) the class that I most wanted to take, la Historia de las Relaciones de Genero (History of Gender Relations), works in my schedule and the professor is awesome! I was really nervous at first because I knew I was the only americana in the class, but the professor made me feel really welcome and she even said she was excited that I am taking the class because we are going to talk about the differences/similarities between women's movements in the US and women's movements in Latin America and Spain (EXCITEMENT!). I am really excited about this class, I can't wait for this week!

This week was also eventful for my IES classes, we're really starting to get into the subject of the classes, rather than just introductory material, and we even took a field trip in my Comparative Religion class. Guess where?

Cementerio Municipal San Carlos Borromeo

The cemetery (el cementerio)! I could probably go on for ages about this because I thought it was so cool; my professor took us on a tour of the cemetery and gave us the low-down on some funerary customs, burial practices, etc. In Salamanca there are two cemeteries, the municipal one that we visited and a smaller cemetery that was started about eight years ago to handle overflow and a growing population of non-Catholic residents (the municipal cemetery if officially designated a Catholic cemetery - someone asked the prof if there were more and he basically said it was more or less unnecessary to have another because at the time when this cemetery was built everyone was Catholic, at least by tradition if not by religious preference). If you want to be buried here you have to purchase a plot (tumba), a mausoleum (panteon), or a space in the wall (nicho).  Here are some examples of all three:

 nichos - these usually fit two bodies, but we saw some that had as many as eight! 

 your average tumba - these are made for a single person but can fit just about as many as a family wants

and the panteon - the Lexus of the afterlife

Anyway, so you pay for a tomb and everything is cool right? Well, maybe. If you start paying for your spot but after five years you still haven't finished they dig you up and move you to what our prof described as just a big hole in the ground with a bunch of bones, no grave marker, no pretty flowers, nada.

The whole waiting period of five years is pretty important, it is the length of time that a body must be left undisturbed in the tomb before it can be moved or other bodies can be added. So, potentially after you've been snuggled in your tomb for five years, all comfy and used to the space, if you have a family member who dies it's likely that they'll gather up all of your pieces, stuff you in a bag or a small box, and the next thing you know you're sharing your 2x6 space with (at least) one other body for the rest of eternity. Check out these guys, packed in like sardines I'm sure: 

All of those people are in that one single tumba.

We also got to see some tombs of some gitanos (gypsies) which usually have tons of flowers, lots of decorative stuff on them, and a bench to sit at. Los gitanos still practice el luto, a mourning ritual in which, after the death of a person, all of the women in the family dress in black from head to toe for a minimum of one year. They also visit the tomb of the person who has died and sit there to be with the person (hence the benches near the tombs). There are other customs that go along with luto as well, no attending parties or getting married or anything like that. Additionally the gitanos believe that the house (tomb) after death should be just as or more comfortable as the house you lived in while you were alive so they decorate the tombs elaborately, here are some examples:

Also in the cemetery there are a lot of cats, cats everywhere! Our professor told us it's because the widows and widowers (viudas/viudos) come to spend time at the tomb of their spouse and they often bring food to feed the cats so they just keep multiplying haha. Anyway, I don't want to bore you anymore with stories about the cemetery, but I thought it was really cool.

The rest of last week was mostly uneventful except for the welcome fair at the university (very much like the activities fair we have at Gettysburg) and that was useful because I got some good information about some clubs and stuff. However, Friday morning we left bright and early to spend the weekend in Andalucia, in Sevilla and Granada! That is for my next post however, ¡hasta pronto chicos!

:)

busy, busy, busy

¡Buenas tardes a todos!

First of all, I apologize for the gap in blogging, but I hope this one is sufficiently interesting to make up for the time lost. :)

 So many things have happened since I last posted! First of course was September 11th and all of the memorial activities that went along with it. It was an odd experience to be out of country on such an important day. Usually the news stations here in Spain show a lot of US news anyway, but the 11th was a little different, it seemed that nearly every news station was showing video footage of either the plane crashes or the memorial events going on at Ground Zero. My host parents told us what they were doing when it all happened back in 2001 and asked us if we remembered what we had been doing.

For some cultural background, the TV is always on during mealtimes here, whether it is on news or sports or De Buena Ley (literally "Good Law," it is a show that is a mix of Judge Judy and Jerry Springer). That took a little bit of getting used to, but the TV is directly in front of the dining table so it is what it is. Anyway, coincidentally enough because Salamanca is 6 hours ahead of NYC, when the first plane crashed at 8:46am (2:46pm Spain time) most Spaniards were sitting down to la comida (usually at 2:30pm or so) watching the news as per usual. Nati and Fausti told Katie and I that they thought their normal programming had been interrupted by a movie or something, they couldn't believe that what they were seeing was actual footage. They said this is the same reaction that they had heard from other Spaniards as well. It was really eye opening to see how much the world pays attention to the goings-on in the US and to see that there are people in other countries who really do share our pain from that day. There was one Spaniard killed in the attacks and they held a memorial service for him here somewhere in Spain. Also when Nati and Fausti talked about it all they kept saying was how sad and painful and useless it all was. Although I got to see some of the activities that went on at Ground Zero and I got to see pictures from the activities at Gettysburg, it was something I would have much rather been home for, to share in the remembrance and patriotism of the day.

On a much happier note, on the following Wednesday (9.14), a group of 12 of us IES students along with David and Barbara (IES staff) left at 8:30am to embark on El Camino de Santiago, specifically the rua Frances. Here is a map of the route we took; I've marked the cities we stopped at with a bright green dot and our route (more or less) with a darker green line:

Probably most of you have already seen my pictures on Facebook, but if you haven't here is the link:
¡Vamos! ¡Venga! ¡Animo!
Additionally, our guide Enrique, posted all of the pictures he took on a Picasa page which you can access here: El Camino de Santiago Picasa

El Camino was incredible..it is hard to describe it in words so I hope you check out the pictures to get an idea of what it was like! I can't remember if I already posted something about it on here, so if not here is a brief description: El Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage route that leads to Santiago de Compostela where it is believed (and recognized by the Catholic church) that the remains of James the apostle of Jesus are kept in the cathedral there. The first written account of the pilgrimage was finished around 1140CE, and today thousands of people from all over the world hike El Camino every year for a whole slew of reasons, not just religious motivations.

We walked between 20 and 28kms ( 12.5-17mis) per day up hills and down hills and through mountains, forests, farmland, and villages. It was a perfect preamble to the start of classes, we all got time to just chill out and be with only our thoughts or God or whoever/whatever you wanted for about 6-7 hours a day. I definitely felt refreshed and ready to start classes by the time we got back!

We returned from El Camino around 11 on Sunday night and bright and early Monday we all started our IES classes! It's only been three days, but I really like all of my classes so far and I can't wait to start classes at the University of Salamanca. With IES I am taking four classes: Literature & Cinema in Contemporary Spain, Spanish Language/Grammar, Regionalism in Spain, and Comparative Religion. I am going to try out two classes at USAL, History of Sexuality and History of Gender Relations, but I will probably only end up taking one; those classes start next Monday.

Now time for the fun part of the blog! Or what I think is fun, some more cultural tidbits and other interesting quotidian things I've discovered.

First, SO MUCH WALKING. Salamantinas (I think that's what they call people from Salamanca) walk a lot. At minimum I would bet that the average person spends at least 1.5-2 hours walking each day. With my schedule, I'm going to spend at minimum 2 hours walking every day, just to and from class and my casa! Yay being healthy and having calves of steel!

Second, there are no public restrooms. If you need to use a restroom in a bar or restaurant or store or whatever you are expected to by something, even if it is as small as a pack of gum. Also many of the bathrooms we've seen on our travels have cost .20 euros or so to use. Apparently bar owners here really dislike American students/tourists because they come into use the restroom and don't buy anything!

Third, the news and television programs here are much more explicit than at home! It is pretty common to see naked people of all shapes and sizes on the news and TV shows. For example, today on De Buena Ley there was this guy who was suing his boss for the right to streak and/or strip tease as a form of protest. This is not an isolated incident of some crazy guy who just wants to get naked in public, apparently strip teases and streaking are both relatively common forms of protesting against the crisis here. Anyway, they showed footage of all of these naked guys who made a video at their workplace (it looked like some kind of construction company) to protest all of the firings! 

Fourth, interesting feelings about Franco/democracy. So you know how we're all more or less brainwashed into thinking that democracy is the only way, political freedom and liberty for everyone, blah blah blah, well, I thought that I was a little more open minded than to believe that one single political system should work for every country, but I was very surprised to find myself bristling at my host parents talking about how democracy doesn't work in Spain. I always kind of thought that Spaniards on the whole had been glad to be rid of Franco and his dictatorship (because let's face it, we're taught to abhor any kind of political system outside of democracy), so it was kind of shocking to me to hear my host parents speaking with nostalgia for the days under Franco and with annoyance and frustration towards the current political system (parliamentary democracy/constitutional monarchy). But, as I listened more, it was easy to understand why they and many other Spaniards are fed up with the current government. I'm not sure if many of you are aware, but Spain is in a crisis right now, and I don't just mean that figuratively. Every news station, every day, shows stories of "La Crisis" and footage of people (mostly young adults) protesting the government programs that they believe are related to La Crisis. The main issues are that there are no jobs for young people (or older people for that matter), prices are rising and wages are of course pretty stagnant, there is a lot of discontent with the Euro, and the education system is in tumult. Actually what is happening with the education system is similar to what is happening in the US.

The whole education issue is very interesting to me, so pardon me while I take a minute to explain the deal! So here, the public high schools (colegios) and universities (universidades) are more or less free for Spanish citizens and are considered to be of the highest quality, if you want a degree that will get you somewhere you go to a public university. The private high schools and universities are very expensive and, according to my host father, are all affiliated with/controlled by the Church. Spain is getting ready to hold general elections on November 20th and the party that is more or less slated to win is Partido Popular (PP) (People's Party), which is a far right party that serves the interests of the rich (so says my host father). Part of this party's platform is to privatize the education system, thus destroying the option of free public education for many people. This has teachers, professors, parents, and students alike frustrated and, frankly, pissed.

Anyway, back to sentiments about Franco, according to my host parents, during the dictatorships there were jobs for everyone and people didn't go hungry because they couldn't find work. I asked about the other bad things that happened under Franco (Gernika, political and religious oppression, etc) and even with these things it seemed that they thought life under Franco was better than life under the democracy. It seems that the price of jobs for political freedom is a bit too steep after all.
*As a disclaimer, these are only the opinions of one couple in Spain, and certainly shouldn't be taken for the sentiments of an entire country. 

Ok, sorry for the long winded history/current events lesson, but I think it is really interesting! Also sorry for the lack of pictures, but I hope you'll check out my facebook album and the picasa album!

I hope everyone is staying warm and dry across the pond, I heard it's been rainy and cold. It's been sunny and in the 80s here...haha.

Until next time, ¡hasta luego! ¡besos!

Part II: Cultural Differences

Or, in España, Las Diferencias Culturales 

Hello again!
So this is the blog post that I've been wanting to write since before I even left the states. As soon as I knew I was going to Spain I started thinking, What is it going to be like? What will the differences and/or similarities be? Will I be able to adapt to, learn from, and feel comfortable in a culture that, while Western, is still very different from my own? But before I get into it, let me just say that this post is about differences, not things that are worse or better in either culture, as much as possible I am trying to be value free!

Well, after a whopping ten days here I have started to answer these questions and boy, my brain is running overtime. There is so much to think about! This is obviously a huge topic, so I'm just going to briefly (hopefully) tell you about some of the ones that I've noticed the most. I apologize in advance as this post is going to have fewer pictures than the others, but hopefully it's interesting enough that you can read on. ;) I'll include some random photos to keep your attention. :)

 Windmills on a hill on the bus ride from Madrid to Salamanca. There are electricity generating windmills and fields of solar panels everywhere!

En la casa (In the home):  First things first, DON'T WASTE WATER. I don't think there is a significant water shortage here in Spain, but Spaniards are very careful with how much water they use out of the faucet. The first day I moved in I needed to wash my hands (I got plane grease on them from the bottom of my suitcase) so I asked my señora (Nati, my host mom) if she had any grease cutting soap and she assisted me to the sink. I of course carelessly turned the faucet on all the way like I would at home and she immediately turned it down to a trickle. As far as I've noticed, most people don't shower daily, more like once every other or every two days. My host sister and I of course still shower daily, but I try to take military showers (I turn off the water when I'm shaving or soaping or whatnot). At meals we always have bottled water; I'm not sure if that is to save money on utilities bills or because the water from the faucet is undesirable (I've consumed the water from the faucet multiple times and haven't gotten sick so hopefully it's ok). Also it seems like they drink much less water in general here, my señora usually has wine with meals and I don't see anyone except the other American students walking around with nalgenes or drinking water between meals. Along with water, mi familia is very conscious of conserving energy; the very first day I arrived Nati told me to always turn out the lights when I leave a room. Also I've returned to my room a couple of times to find the lamp or my laptop unplugged after Nati has cleaned.

Second, your feet should always be covered when in the house. Our IES pamphlet says that it is considered rude to walk around barefoot, but my señora said (this is a very common phrase among all of the IES students..) that if you walk around barefoot you will catch a cold! When I asked David about this he said that they are all taught from a very young age that if you walk around barefoot you will catch a cold. Remembering to put slippers on is a little bit more difficult for me than remembering to save water, I've been scolded a couple of times for going barefoot haha.

Third, mom is the master of the house and she takes care of everything! Nati has started letting Katie and I help clean up after la comida and la cena but not much else. Also the new buzzword among the IES students is ¿quieres más? ¿quieres más? (do you want more?) It seems as if our señoras are always asking this during meals! This is because of another difference, you are expected to turn down the food offered the first and second times and then accept on the third! Also it is considered annoying to be continually saying por favor (please) and gracias (thank you) for everything in the home. Katie and I are both very polite so this is a little bit of an issue for us haha. Like I noted in a previous post, mealtimes and meal sizes are a bit different here than in the US (refer to my previous post, whirlwind, for a description of the meals).

 A girl's tuna (musical group) from Portugal playing in La Plaza Mayor.

 Churros con zumo y chocolate! Best breakfast ever!

En la calle (On the street): So the first thing that I immediately noticed is that semi-aggressive PDA (Public Displays of Affection for those of you who aren't aware) between couples is completely acceptable and even expected! Walking down the streets or sitting in La Plaza Mayor or even at a children's puppet show (yes, it happened), there are couples sucking face (I mean this quite literally) and groping  each other right out in public. I do recognize that we Americans definitely have issues when it comes to sex/physical affection (for example, it is unacceptable to make out w/ your significant other in public but it is totally acceptable to pretty accurately imitate the act of sex on the dance floor), but this piece of the culture here was a little jarring to me.

The second thing I noticed is how much more prevalent smoking is. Just recently (January of this year) smoking was banned in restaurants, bars, and some other public places, but in the streets there are still a lot of smokers, and a lot of them are people my age. It has been difficult to stifle my ingrained passive-aggressive reaction to not-so-discreetly cough or clear my throat when someone is smoking near me like I would do at home, but I'm working on it!

Something else of note is that Spaniards seem, as a whole but not a rule, to be concerned with dressing appropriately if they are going to be out and about. On the streets, in La Plaza, and even in the supermarcado (supermarket), men and women alike dress for the occasion. Most women here wear tacones (high heels) when going anywhere outside of the house. Flats are also very popular, I've especially noticed that Roman style sandals are prevalent; almost no one wears flip flops. Guys wear nicer casual clothes; I have only seen a handful of men wearing regular cotton tshirts and most of them appeared to be heading to the gym. In this respect a lot of us Americans in our flip flops, shorts, and tshirts stand out pretty obviously in a crowd of Spaniards.

Spaniards also tend to stand and walk much closer together (even with perfect strangers) than Americans would. I read about this before I left for Spain so I was prepared but it is taking a little bit of getting used to. Both guys and girls alike here seem to relate much more often in a physically affectionate manner than their counterparts in the US would. When two guys are meeting for the first time it is common for them to grab hands and have a sort of bro hug. When a guy/girl or girl/girl pair meet for the first time it is customary to give two kisses, one on each cheek. I experienced this for the first time last night while we were playing soccer; Manuel, one of the USAL students who is helping us with orientation, brought a couple of his guy friends to play soccer with us and when he introduced us they hugged the guys and gave us girls kisses (one of them was named Alejandro, no joke, eat your heart out ladies ;) ).

Additionally, Spaniards seem a bit brusque and less polite on the street than Americans. If you bump into someone they don't usually say anything and it is considered strange (or a come-on) if you smile at someone after making eye contact on the street. David told us that when he first studied in the US he thought it was really cool that all the people were smiling at him on the street all the time; he thought all the girls were hitting on him! haha. This is also a little difficult to adjust to, I'm very accustomed to saying 'I'm sorry' kind of excessively and smiling at random people on the street.

Oh ya know, just chillin' near a grape field.

Miscellaneous: Obviously the language is a major cultural difference, but with a different language comes different sentiments and a different way of viewing the world. One difference is a lack of an equivalent word in Spanish for our English word/sentiment, "awkward." Imagine a world without the concept of an awkward situation, interesting huh?

Time also runs a little differently here; everything is a bit later and a bit less punctual than in the US. For example, our university classes all start on the hour but the orientation helpers told us that it is normal for a class to start 10 or 15 minutes later than schedules. As an intriguing side note to this, none of the appliances in my host family's kitchen have a clock on them. I am used to being able to look at the stove or the microwave or the coffeemaker to see the time but none of those appliances have clocks here! I'm not sure if that is common to all families but it is true for mine. Also time is written in what we think of as military time in the US, i.e., 7:00 = 7:00AM, 19:00=7:00PM.

Ok, this is getting pretty long so I'm going to leave you with that. I will probably revisit this topic in a later post as I spend more time here and encounter new things! Perhaps a later post will include similarities (there are a lot) as well as differences. I hope you've enjoyed reading about this, I've really enjoyed discovering all of it!

I hope all of you on the east coast are staying dry and safe from the rain!

¡Abrazos!

Part I: Toro & Zamora

¡Hola chicos!

I apologize for the gap in blogging, today is the first time since my last post that I've had some time to sit down and write anything! But today's posts should make up for it, you're in for a twofer, first about our excursion to Toro & Zamora today and second, the one I've been itching to write, about cultural differences. ¡Vamos!

So today we took a trip to the cities of Toro and Zamora, located here in relation to Salamanca: click here to see the map!

Toro is a small town where we visited a bodega, or winery. The winery, Bodegas Monte La Reina, is relatively new, it was established in 2004 and in addition to being a winery they also have a vegetable farm, a castle-turned-hotel, and a gorgeous venue for las bodas (weddings). We took a tour of the winery, got a brief overview of the wine-making process, and at the end we had a wine tasting. I'm not so much a big fan of wine, it was a little strong for me, but I'm told by my compañeros that it was of good quality. This particular winery doesn't export much to the US, but what they do is called "Face to Face."

 This was a castle built relatively recently by (I think) a nobleman that the winery bought and turned into a hotel. I believe it costs around 200 euro/night, but it's got an amazing view! 

 Next to the castle there is a small field of these trees, probably for wedding photoshoots. The grass was impeccable!

 And here is where they hold the weddings/receptions. This terrace has an amazing view of the surrounding area.

 Part of the view from the winery; a field of grapes (uvas) and corn (maíz).

 Our guide explaining the fermentation process to us.

 This is part of the machine that bottles and caps the wine. Our guide stressed that literally every part of the process is mechanized, even harvesting the grapes.

 A store of white whine.

 Here the higher quality wines are stored in barrels (barrils).

 And here was the wine we got to taste. Our guide even taught us the proper procedure for tasting wine!

I relaxed in the grass a little while we waited for everyone to get through the gift shop. :)

After we finished our morning in Toro we took a short trip west to the town of Zamora, which happens to be the hometown of one of the IES program staff, David. Zamora is a college town much like Salamanca, it is home to the Zamora campus of the University of Salamanca, but it is significantly smaller. While the Salamanca campus has around 30,000 students, the Zamora campus has a little over 2,000. Zamora is known for its Semana Santa (Holy Week) celebrations, Romanesque churches (it has 24), the remnants of murallas (city walls) built by its Christian occupants in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries, the house of the famous El Cid, and its location on the important Spanish river Río Duero. David took us on a short walking tour of the city and showed us a few churches/cathedrals and the remnants of a medieval castle! We also spent some time wandering around the streets and the Plaza Mayor of the city. 

 It is kind of difficult to see but this is a billboard on one of the streets advertising the Semana Santa.

 This is a Romanesque cathedral, it has a unique scaly dome and is one of only 3 of its kind in Europe.

 This is what is left of the medieval castle.

 The moat!

 Remnants of what I can only assume were rooms at one time.

 These two photos (top and bottom) are the view from the top of the castle of the city of Zamora and the surrounding countryside.

 Gettysburg represent! On the top of the castle.

 This is a bit of decoration on the rear entrance to the cathedral. There is a fun story related to the decoration in the upper small square that kind of looks like a head. The official history says that it is a carving of the head of a Muslim conqueror placed there to symbolize the victory of Christianity over Islam. However, the Zamoran myth is much more fun. The myth says that a thief ran into the cathedral to steal the chalice that holds the sacred blood. When he tried to exit the church he jumped through that small window and God was so angry at him for stealing from His house that he closed the stone around his neck, thus killing and imprisoning the thief there forever!

 This is the house of El Cid.

 The River Duero.

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 No, this is not some kind of European KKK, this is a statue commemorating the celebrations of Semana Santa. There are various brotherhoods in the city that dress in this fashion and parade around the city during Holy Week.

On most of the towers and steeples of the churches and cathedrals you see these giant masses of sticks, turns out they are stork nests! (nidos de cigueñas)

After leaving Zamora we of course had to have la comida, so David took us to this awesome restaurant in the middle of nowhere (el campo) near Zamora called Los Yugos. This, ladies and gentlemen, is not your ordinary restaurant. Another thing Zamora is kind of known for is its underground bodegas, used in antiquity as wine cellars. Some of the remaining ones have been converted into storage, family homes, and restaurants. Yes, we ate lunch UNDERGROUND. It was so cool! The restaurant walls were covered in all kinds of strange things, pictures, a mace, a scythe, several yolks, various weapons  (Brian Denu I hope you're reading this because you're about to get really excited).

The restaurant specializes in carne asado, which is basically any type of meat roasted or grilled, so our comida menu consisted of this: agua and vino (wine) to drink, delicious bread, and a simple salad of greens, tomatoes, and onions. Course #1: chorizo asado (roast sausage, Spanish chorizo is a little salty and a little spicy). Course #2: costillas asados (grilled ribs, ¡muy delicioso! definitely my favorite course). Course #3: I don't know the name for it, but it is the same cut as bacon, but much thicker, much fattier, and much more grilled (it was a little fatty for me, but still good!). Dessert: a Dove chocolate and almond Magnum ice cream bar. After lunch: shots of some kind of herb alcohol (I did not try it, but those that did said was exceptionally strong), green mixed drink supposedly called semen del toro (I'm sure you can guess what that meant. It was actually ok, it was sour green apple flavored), and a red cherry flavored n/a drink. Apparently Spaniards don't mess around with their after dinner drinks haha. After all that, I am STILL full (llena), 8 hours later! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the food, but here is a picture of the entrance to the bodega and all the stuff on the walls where we sat: 

 This is the entrance to the restaurant. Un poco sketchy.

 "Singing Prohibited. It disturbs others." A sign in the restaurant. If you had eaten there you would understand why, the food almost moved me to sing.

 Here are the entrances to a bunch of other bodegas. David said that some are abandoned but some are still used as storage, etc. It looks basically like a bunch of shacks out in the middle of nowhere but it is actually an underground city!

So, ladies and gentlemen, there you have our lovely trip to Toro & Zamora. Other than the unfortunate fact that I am going to be working off that meal for about a week, it was a really great day, great food with good friends in an awesome place. :) 

Stay tuned for Part II: Cultural Differences!

¡Besos!