What's new Buenos Aires?

I arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday. The trip went seamlessly except for the ending, in which I decided to attempt to save the US$35 dollar cab fare from the airport to Buenos Aires by taking the public bus for 2 pesos or 50 cents. Big mistake. The hostel had been very helpful in giving me directions and noting it would take over an hour and a half. I asked the information desk where to catch the bus. The lady wrinkled her nose, which should have been an indication. The crowded and unheated bus took nearly 2 hours and went through some rather interesting areas of Buenos Aires. And missed my stop, resulting in me having to drag my 70+ pd luggage 12 blocks in 40 degree weather.
The hostel wouldn't let me check in until 1 pm but kindly let me store my suitcase.
I went to get lunch at a cool cafe that looked straight out of SoHo in NYC. I have been worried about finding vegetarian food but they had over 10 things on the menu that were vegetarian, and 3 that were vegan, which is more than most American resturants. They also had good coffee and Argentine jazz music in the background. The whole meal was 48 pesos, or roughly 12 dollars. I am quickly falling in love with Buenos Aires...

Espana wins El Mundial!

I am so grateful to be in Spain when they won the world cup for the FIRST TIME. The streets were filled with Spaniards celebrating.

I watched the game with Holly, Jenny, Andra, and Julia. Here we are waiting for the game to start.

Spaniards celebrating in the Plaza Mayor of Salamanca.

Me with vuvuzela... which created a constant buzz on the TV and were super annoying when blown nearby

Ávila/Segovia- Of Alcázars and Aqueducts

On my last weekend in Spain and the day of the world cup final between Spain and Holland, I went to Ávila and Segovia with friends from school, some Turkish girls and a Belgian.
Ávila is a medieval city with one of the best preserved walls from 1090. We were able to walk along the walls and see the city, which probably had more tourists than residents. The wall is so well preserved you can easily pretend you are back in the medieval period.












Next we went to Segovia. First we went to the Aqueduct, which was amazing as it was built sometime in the 1st century by Romans without any mortar and is nearly 100 ft tall. This is a reminder of the variety of Spain's heritage, from Romans to Moors, who damaged it in their bid to invade Spain. It functioned until recently to bring Segovia water.





Next we toured the city, nearly all of which is brutally historical.
This is Asli and me at the Cathedral











Finally, Segovia's Alcázar is notable as this was the where Isabella was living when she was proclaimed queen. It looks straight out of central casting for a castle for a Disney movie.
pretending to be a princess...

Alveiro, Portugal

Yesterday I went to Alveiro, Portugal. It was really pretty. The city is near the Atlantic Ocean and has lots of canals. The houses are very colorful. I really like Portugal as a country. The people I talked with were very welcoming and spoke English, which is kind of surprising considering Spaniards often really can't be bothered even though they get loads of tourists whereas Portugal doesn't get quite the same volume. The Europeans I was with keep attributing it to television, as in Spain, shows are dubbed (rather badly), whereas in Portugal and the Netherlands they are in English with subtitles. I'm not sure how accurate this is but most have American accents so there may be some validity.
The streets are all mosaics, which really makes the city very pretty.
We had breakfast in a bakery with traditional sweet quiches made with cheese and coffee (1.35 euros total). Needless to say, I really liked Portugal after that. The waiter also taught me some Portuguese; obrigado: thank you, olá/oi:hello.








Many of the houses had tiles on the front of the themand if they don't then are painted bright colors so the whole city is very colorful.













and lastly, la playa....

Toledo

Today I went to Toledo with my colegio. Toledo is an ancient city that was conquered by the Moor and was a commercial center with Christianity, Judaism and Muslims coexisting. The city is gorgeous.




In the morning a professor from the colegio gave a tour in Spanish and we saw one of El Greco's most famous murals. We also went to several churches and an old synagogue, which was interesting considering Spain's history.



In the afternoon I wandered the city with some friends from school.


Toledo has a reputation for being very hot and the city didn't fail to uphold its reputation. Fortunately, much of the city have canvas shades over the streets to keep it cool.

El Mundial/ World Cup

Today is the first game for the US in the World Cup. We are playing the UK. This will be the first time we play the UK in the world cup since 1950 (we won then in a massive upset). Currently, I am in a cafe watching Argentina v Nigeria. I'm quite excited to be in a country that feverishly watches "futbol". Also, it's great that the United States is in the World Cup. Tomorrow, I am going to Toledo with some friends from school.

Museo del Reloj

Salamanca is definitely a good place to study Spanish as most of the local people don't speak English but are patient with you when you butcher their language. This is very helpful as I've discovered my Spanish is truly terrible, instead of passable. However, due to some cramming day of, I placed into low intermediate Spanish. I like the school that I am studying at Colegio Delibes, as they don't just have low-med-high but have around 10 levels. Thus I'm actually on level 4. I have four hours of class per day, from 10 to 2. We have 2 hours of grammar and 2 focusing on communication.In my class (of five people) there is a mix of international students and no Americans. The material is pretty fast paced so I hope I can improve a lot.

Salamanca has a lot of history since the University of Salamanca was founded in 1225. The location of my apartment is ideal because it is directly in the old center. Thus it is less than a five minute walk to any museum or the lovely Plaza Mayor.


In the picture with me is Julia, who is my British flatmate. In my piso (as apartments are called here) everyone else are Spanish students, which in theory sounds good but in practice is pretty useless as they are busy studying for their classes and aren't too interested in American exchange students. Also, I really can't understand what they're saying because they use so much slang and speak so quickly. I can better understand my landlady, Ana. We have meals twice a day, at two and nine at night. There is both a cook and maid, which is different for me. Thankfully, a vegetarian option is made for me, which I really appreciate. The apartment is very nice.
On Wednesday, I went to the Art Deco Museum, which was really good.
















There was a great selection of art deco perfume bottles and statues. I also met a fellow student who is a Chinese graduate student learning Spanish. She asked me if I wanted to go to the Museo del Reloj, which translates as the Museum of the Clock. I assumed I had translated wrong or that it was simply a name but no, it was a museum of just clocks. They were really old and were really ornate. They had one of the first alarm clocks as well as a huge selection of grandfather clocks.