WEEK 5 !!! Wifi & Fiestas!

Laurie, me, Kayleigh and Sam at the 'Language Exchange'

Kayleigh, Sam and me

Well it’s been an entire week since I last blogged- so I think it’s just about time for an update on my Salamancan life! I’m now halfway through my 5^th week here, but it honestly feels like I’ve lived here all my life! I have to almost stop and remember sometimes that I haven’t always been here, and that I’ve only known some of my what seem like life-long friends for only a matter of weeks! Everything really is going well though, and I’m having a fantastic time (when not being stressed out by Uni modules) haha but we’ll come to that in a bit!

I think the first part to mention in this blog entry is that WE NOW FINALLY HAVE WIFI IN THE FLAT!!!!! This means that for once in 5 weeks I’m not sat in a cafe writing this blog stealing the wifi! I’m actually in my own room, sat on my own bed --- honestly when you haven’t had internet access for over a month, you realise that when you do have it, it IS a luxury! Now.... actually getting this luxurious wifi wasn’t as easy as you all might think! After weeks of waiting for the wifi box to be sent to us, and weeks of it not turning up, on Friday we decided to finally phone the postal company to ask where the hell it was! They then informed us that they’d been trying to send it to us, but they’ve had the address wrong so they couldn’t deliver it! I asked when they would be able to next deliver it... and they said after the weekend which Laurie and I weren’t happy about.... so we decided to go and pick up the parcel from the postal company itself! (Only this really wasn’t that simple!). I tried asking for the address of the headquarters over the phone, but it was impossible for both Laurie and I to understand what the lady was saying. We then decided to look on the internet for the address, and it came up with a street in a town called Villares de la Reina just north of Salamanca by about 20 minutes. At 2pm after I finished my Spanish lesson, Laurie came to meet me in the centre and we set off to get the bus to Villares de la Reina to get this wifi box! The bus journey was as I said, about 20 minutes. When we arrived in Villares de la Reina we got off the bus and asked a girl the directions to the ‘Plaza Mayor’ and then we started walking to the centre. It took only a few minutes as the town was so tiny..... and when we arrived on the Plaza Mayor we couldn’t believe it as it was so tiny and shabby, and what made it even funnier was that no one was around! It was honestly a ghost town! We tried having a look for the street we were meant to be looking for, but it clearly wasn’t there.... and after asking a man in a cafe, we realised we were in totally the wrong place, and that the office for SEUR (The postal company office) was actually SOUTH of Salamanca and not NORTH! Hahaha. After hearing this information, we were both determined to finally get to the office... so we started walking back the way we came, and began looking for a bus stop! The only problem was that we didn’t see any..... and Laurie was becoming more and more convinced by this point that we were stranded and would have to sleep rough in this dead-town where there wasn’t even a shop, let alone a hotel! But fear not, as we eventually made it back to the bus stop where we had originally arrived at, and within 20 minutes a bus arrived and soon we were back in Salamanca where we started our journey- but having wasted 3 hours of our lives. We then found the correct address for the SEUR office, and after having a drink in a bar, began walking south towards the river. After about 40 minutes walking in the right direction, we were really only halfway to the SEUR office which was located on an industrial estate! We then spotted a taxi, and asked the driver to take us to the office! When we got there, we were so relieved that the office was open, and after showing a few documents we finally had the wifi box in our hands! Hallelujah!!! Then we caught a bus back to the flat and finally managed to set up the wifi, only it didn’t actually work as we were informed on a letter that we had to wait for the ‘line to be activated’ by Orange which could take up to a week! :O however after playing around with it, we managed to get it working and both of our laptops connected to the wireless network! YESSSSS!!!! (Stupid Orange and their ideas about the line needing to be activated!) I think i’ll always remember that moment as one of our most triumphant in Salamanca.... Laurie and I sat on our hall floor with eyes wide open and the grins that spread across our faces when we saw the little wifi symbol go green on our laptops! So yeah, that’s the story of our journey to get our wifi sorted! Let’s just hope it continues to work well as I’m not sure I can cope with any more wifi-related stress!

Map of the region showing Villares de La Reina north of Salamanca!

 

Moving on to the rest of the weekend and the week- The weekend was pretty relaxing really (I needed it after the stress of the week!) and we just slept, enjoyed our wifi, watched a few DVD’s and had a shopping trip in the centre! I also went to the cinema with Kayleigh and Samantha and we saw ‘Crazy Stupid Love’ in Spanish which was pretty good fun! Kayleigh said she actually finds films funnier in Spanish than in English as she feels happier when she gets a joke! I think I agree with her as you’re usually so chuffed with yourself that you actually understand it! Afterwards we went to Montaditos (a cafe/restaurant) in the same complex where Kayleigh decided to tell the staff that her name was ‘Javieta’ as they call out your name when your order is ready! I actually took a photo of the receipt as proof- see below haha! Oh funny times! We then went to a Language Exchange in the evening with Laurie as well. 

The 'Javieta' Montaditos receipt ! ! !

Fiesta Britanica poster !

Sam and me

Kayleigh, Sam and me

Me, Kayleigh, Rachel and Sam

Monday night was a fun evening as it was the British party at Medievo, and a few of us went to have some drinks and a dance for the night! We also went out Tuesday night as Wednesday (today... well technically yesterday as I’m writing this blog at 2am!) was the 12^th of October which is the Día de La Hispanidad! It is basically the anniversary of when Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas in 1492, and every year on this day is an official holiday for Spain when no one works, and no University classes are held! Lots of processions take place around cities in all of Spain, and indeed in countries all around the world and people go out drinking the night before as of course no one has work, school or University the next day. We went out on Tuesday evening, however the city was so busy with people, and most clubs and bars had queues which were miles long to get in! We had a few cocktails in a bar called Gatsby, and overall it was a fun night!- Although I have to say I prefer going out when it isn’t a national holiday the next day, as normally we don’t have trouble getting into clubs/bars.... and when you are in them you can actually get to the bar for a drink, as well as have room to dance! The celebrations on the Plaza Mayor today were fantastic though, and the atmosphere was very festive! There were hundreds of people out in the 30 degree sunshine watching various groups of acts dancing and also there was a junior circus/samba group who were juggling to music and dancing. I took a few videos on my phone which I have uploaded onto my facebook wall, so check those out! There are also a few photos below of the best acts. After the event finished at around 7, we decided to go for a drink as we were gasping and the weather was so hot! 

Rach, Elizabeth, Sam, Kayleigh and me on the Plaza Mayor

Katha (my German friend) and me :)

The floklore dancing from Bolivia!

The Dominican Republic girls!

 

The last bit of news for this blog update is that I finally have the correct number of credits! I have been stressed over finding my modules now for about 4 weeks, and I’ve been to so many classes and changed my timetable more times than I’d like to count! I now have though 4 modules which I think will be approved by Leicester (fingers crossed) and they are Beginners French, Italian Language, Italian history and culture, and Spanish of the Americas. I haven’t been to the Italian history and culture class yet, nor the Spanish of the Americas, however I’ll go this week and next week to try them out before I have my registration date next week! Speaking of trying out these new modules, Steph has just reminded me that the Spanish of the America’s module is for 2 hours tomorrow morning from 9-11am UGHHHHHH! And it’s 2am now. Great. That’s 6hours sleep for me tonight! And on that note, I’ll say Buenas noches! I think a siesta will defiantly be in order tomorrow afternoon! xx