Day Eight: First Impressions

1. Was today a good or a bad day? Why? It was overall a really good day, but I spent a lot of it not feeling very well and resting.
2. What was something new I tried? I tried two different tapas that I didn’t have the other night. One was salmon and shrimp on toast and the other was some kind of meat (maybe turkey?) and a sauce in between two pieces of bread. I liked the first one a lot but the second was very messy and not my favorite so I didn’t finish it. We also went to the bullfighting museum and learned about the history and practice of bullfighting. I don’t want to form an opinion too quickly because I’m not from here and I haven’t actually been to a fight yet, but so far I don’t think I like it. The man who runs the bullfighting museum said that he likes it because he thinks of it as an art rather than a sport or a game and because the bulls have the chance to spare their lives if they fight well. I’m going to a fight soon so I’ll talk more about it then, but for now I’m just interested in hearing the different opinions/perspectives on it. I did enjoy seeing the art and artifacts at the museum, and I thought some of you may enjoy seeing them so I’ll post the photos below!
3. The high: Today was someone’s birthday in our group so we went out to celebrate with tapas at a few different places. It was nice to hang out as a group again and try new foods, and we explored some fun places to go in the city! (I also finally tried coffee ice cream here and I am in love.)
4. The low: My stomach hurt for most of the day so I had trouble focusing in class (plus these intensive classes are very long and early), but I took a long siesta and felt better by dinner time.
5. Quote/word of the day: I’m actually going to put a homework assignment I had to do for a class here. The assignment was to write our first impressions of Spain/Salamanca in Spanish:

Mis primeras impresiónes de España comenzó en el aeropuerte de Madrid. Yo me di cuenta que la primer lengua en el aeropuerte fue español y la segunda fue inglés. Me importa mucho porque en Estados Unidos otras lenguas y culturas que inglés no son muy respetas.

En Salamanca, me encanta la actitud de “no pasa nada” y “tranquilo.” Tambien, me gusta la arquitectura, la comida, y la gente. Mi Señora de mi casa es muy simpática y me gusta mucha. En todos, mis primeras impresiónes de Salamanca son muy buenas.

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