The beginnings of the adventure.

Hello from Salamanca!


I figured I should finally get my act together and create a blog, so here goes. My first one and a half weeks here in Salamanca has been quite up and down already. The initial culture shock hit me a lot harder than I expected, and the first couple of days here were really difficult, as I was freaking out about being fully immersed in Spanish, I was utterly exhausted, wasn't following anything people were saying to me and feeling incredibly isolated. But its picked up heaps since then!


The student residence I'm staying at is really great, but I was a bit frustrated when one of the directors got me to move rooms yesterday. Its probably for the best though, as the corridor I was in had the majority of the residence's party boys who had no problems with being noisy until 2am... And now I have neighbours who DON'T play crappy reggae music on repeat and who DON'T smoke weed and make the corridor hazy! The downside is, this new room is next to the road, and is a hell of a lot colder because my view is now a pine tree, whereas my old room got more sunlight and had a view out over the quadrangle to the other block of dorms.



People-wise, the first few Spanish students I met here at the student residence on my first day were quite standoffish, and weren't very patient with my language difficulties, which wasn't very helpful and made me feel pretty crappy about my Spanish. I suppose its the same wherever you go - some people are keen to help and will slow down and repeat what they've said, but others can't really be bothered. But the directors here at the residence are fantastic, really lovely and funny, and very helpful with everything. I've also connected with some of the other international students who also live at the residence - a fantastic French girl, two Japanese girls and two German girls. And a couple of days ago, Katrina, the other girl from UQ, arrived so its been really great having friends around to do things with, instead of being on my own. Katrina introduced me to a number of Spanish girls who have been really nice and invited us to a fiesta tomorrow night! Having friends to talk with has made a huge difference to my confidence in speaking Spanish as well, as with the other internationals I speak only Spanish, and they understand exactly the position I'm in. Trina and I are the only new international arrivals this semester, as the others are doing a full year here which started in September, so they get how I've been feeling. While its exhausting feeling my brain getting stretched with each conversation, my Spanish is improving HEAPS and I can understand a lot more, even when they speak faster!


Apart from that, I've found myself in a couple of funny situations since I got here. There was a bit of drama with my computer which is all fixed now, but at the IT shop, it was settled by typing into Google translator across the counter with the assistant! And last week, I decided to go to a restaurant for dinner, and I went SO red after realising my hilarious mistake in speaking with the waiter. I thought he asked how many people at the table, and I said 'estoy sola' (I'm by myself), but I only realised after that he had asked 'what can I do for you beautiful'... 
'Estoy sola' also means I'm single. Woops, sorry Eddie!!


And now I'm going to the gym here at the residence. Don't be too surprised, I'm trying it out! :)