ZARAGOZA VISIT & START OF WEEK 11 !

Salamanca to Zaragoza --- 6 hours!

The Basilica during the day

Today was the start of my 11th week in Salamanca! (I thought it was only week 10, but I just checked the calendar and I arrived 11 weeks ago today!) how incredibly fast the time is going eh! Well anyway, this weekend just gone I went to visit Lidia and her family in Zaragoza! The train was 6 hours and I had to leave at 6.10am on Friday, but it was okay as I just slept for the majority of the journey and then woke up around 11ish with only an hour to go! Friday afternoon was really nice as we had lunch with Lidia and her family, and then in the evening we just relaxed and I had plenty of time to practice my Spanish (and take advantage of the wifi- no, we still don't have wifi in the flat in Sala!) but it was great to just be able to send emails, use viber to chat with people and read the news too! Oh how I miss the Internet. Saturday was also a relaxing day in Zaz and we started off being lazy by not waking up until 11! Then we just watched the tv, chatted and did nothing requiring any energy whatsoever! But in the evening we went for a walk around the centre and down to the plaza del pilar where the basilica cathedral is. It was all lit up and very pretty so we took some photos! We then met up with Lidia's friend called Carmen and went to a bar for a drink and then back to Lidia's for a meal . Sunday I had to get my train at 2.40 in the afternoon, so there wasn't really much time to do anything Sunday- like i said it was a flying visit just to say hello and get in some cheeky Spanish practice! But we went for a visit around to Lidia's aunt and uncle's flat to say hello, and then back for a lunch at Lidia's before in had to get the train! It was a nice weekend, and great to just 'be at home' and relax for once and I definitely enjoyed all of the speaking practice and even learnt some colloquial phrases such as 'me voy a dar una vuelta a la manzana' which means I'm going for a short walk around the block! Oh I do love their language hahahaha! The train journey back seemed to go quite quickly as well as I was reading a magazine on my iPad (god I love iTunes- the possibility of still reading my glossy mags abroad! - perfect for train journeys like this one!).

Lidia on the plaza

The main street leading from the Plaza del Pilar

The plaza

Lidia and me =]

Yesterday nothing much really happened; I just did a stock-up in Carrefour, then went to my French class in the evening! Then in the evening I had a good old chat with Mum and Gemma using the free wifi network at Cafe y Té in the train station before getting a few hours sleep. I woke up quite early today at 8ish (yes- that's early for me!) and ambled along to my historia y cultura Italiana class from 9-11 (although our teacher Fabrizia still hadn't started the class when I turned up 20 minutes late! Oh I do love the Mediterranean mentality sometimes! *when it suits me*) the class was pretty good- better than normal anyway as we were working through our folder work and listened to an Italian song and then did all of the comprehension activities in the folder. She's actually given us homework for tomorrow's class as well- shock horror! Haha (Spanish have no idea what homework is, or class prep or anything like that!) anyway after the class I had a bit of time to grab a bite to eat and then I met up with Laurie to go to the Orange shop about our wifi contract! We argued as best as we could in Spanish, but the lady was sadly extremely unhelpful and said we need to wait for a call from Orange to activate the line again or something along those lines- basically more waiting around....... Haven't we waited long enough? It's been about 8 or 9 weeks now! So hopefully they will call this week, but I'm not holding my hopes up as to be honest I don't think it will happen- and in which case the lady told Laurie and I to return to the shop this Friday to see her again when she will call head office again....... Basically let's face it, we're not going to get wifi in this flat. Spain is so incredibly unorganised... and everything takes 10 X faster here than in the UK! As said previously, my best advice to any future Erasmus students is to make sure you get a flat with an Internet connection already installed! I shall certainly be hunting for a flat in Italy with wifi, or it'll be halls of residence for me! (awful I know- but at least they have wifi). I’ve just been to Italian Language which was pretty good- but we have 4 hours of it tomorrow as Fabrizia isn’t here for next week’s classes- so tomorrow is a class recuperation! So tomorrow I have 9-11 Historia y Cultura Italiana, 11-1 Italian Language 5-7 Italian Language! Fabulous! OK, I’m going to go home now after posting this blog as I’ve been robbing Elizabeth and Irene’s wifi! Muchas gracias to you both! xx

Lidia and Carmen

La plaza

Lidia by the fountain

View of the basilica from across the river on the bridge