siguiendosalamanca: 2011

lunes, 12 de septiembre de 2011

Back to reality.....

So today was the first day of the third week back to school after what seems like a 9 month vacation of traveling the world and speaking other languages. It has taken me all of these two weeks to get used to the people around me speaking English and for me to not feel like English is the foreign language when I’m speaking. I still get a little frustrated in my Spanish and French classes when others don’t understand and the professor has to speak to them in English, or at least speak a lot slower than they already are; but at least for me I know that the language isn’t my battle, but the content, so I feel lucky to not have to work as hard just to understand the material.

I’ve heard that a lot of people upon returning from study abroad end up spending a lot of time looking at their pictures when they get back. For me, I printed off a bunch of my best pictures and put them in an album to show people. When I went off to Middlebury for French immersion I didn’t take the album with me so I never looked at them. I even have the pictures here in my blog, on Facebook, and on my computer; but other than the few times I showed them to people in the few weeks after my return I hadn’t spent much time looking at them. That is until the first week of school when I pulled at that album and wanted to cry as I looked at all the photos. Being back at school and realizing how much I hate it in comparison to being in Spain made me miss Spain even more. And of course it didn’t help that the second week of school happened to coincide with feria in Salamanca.

I lived there for 4 months and fell in love with the city and the Spanish way of life; but I feel like I’m missing out on so much by not still being there. I’m sure the Castilian heat is nothing like I’ve experienced before, and the parks in Salamanca must have been gorgeous this summer and in full bloom. The weather would have been nice enough for a kayak trip down the Rio Tormes and for once I would have enjoyed how cold the Cathedral always is. During the day, the city would have sparkled from the sun reflecting off the gold sandstone. I’ve always loved summer nights back home, how much more awesome would they be when there’s actually something to do past 9pm? And now the summer is ending, turning into fall, which will slide into winter along with Christmas and New Years that I never got to experience Spanish style with huge family dinners, 12 grapes, and gold in the champagne.

I can’t wait to go back; which I will be doing! Hopefully in time for Dia de los Reyes Magos :) I don’t even want to imagine how hard this would be not knowing when I would ever return to Spain again. In the meantime, it helps having friends who are living the same “hell” as I am; and of course having the friends I left behind back again. For as much as I complain, I know I am incredibly fortunate. I thank God for the blessing that is my life; past, present, and my whole future ahead of me to travel more and return to those places where I’ve left a piece of my heart.

viernes, 8 de julio de 2011

Experiment de langues: Partie 2

Cela fait 2 semaines maintenant que je suis ici, à l’école française, à ne parler que français. Comment le cerveau réagit'il à cela quand il y a un mois qu’on vient d’arriver aux Etats-Unis après avoir vécu en Espagne ? En plus du choc culturel, il y a le choc linguistique. Pour le choc culturel, ce n’était pas assez mauvais que ce que j’avais pensé. Bien sûr il y a des choses d’Espagne qui me manquent, mais j’essaie d’être assez objective et de ne pas penser que l'Espagne est le meilleur pays du monde. Quant au "choc linguistique," je crois que je viens d'inventer l'expression… Je pense en 3 langues maintenant ; il y a un mélange d’anglais, d’espagnol, et de français dans ma tête ; mais j’ai signé l’engagement d’honneur qui dit que je ne peux que communiquer, dans n’importe quelle forme, qu'en français. Je vis donc en français.

Quand je suis arrivée ici, je sentais que je n’étais pas capable de parler en français ; la langue me semblait tellement étrange sur la langue, je faisais beaucoup d'efforts pour trouver les mots. Je pensais qu'après une semaine, ce serait mieux, que ce serait plus facile de parler, que je trouverais tout de suite la fluidité que j’avais dans cette langue il y a 2 ans. Mais après une semaine je sentais que je ne pouvais parler aucune de mes langues, je restais sans mots dire, rien à dire, sans rien dans la tête sauf la conscience que mon français n’était pas revenu et qu'il était interdit de parler l’anglais et l’espagnol ; j’étais donc seule, isolée, en termes linguistiques.

En cette deuxième semaine, petit à petit, j'arrive à faire des progrès. Mais chaque jour c’est une lutte pour me forcer de seulement penser en français, à trouver les mots, à m’exprimer.

La lutte continue…..

jueves, 23 de junio de 2011

How Spain has changed my life in terms of food….

Where to begin? Many people, myself included, thought I would have issues in Spain eating; because, as many people say although I disagree, I am a picky eater. I know many a pickier eater than myself. I’m always willing to try new things, I’m not opposed to having to pick out the things I don’t like and set them aside, and I know that if I don’t like what is being served in my house that I go without and I’m fine with that. However, there are just some foods out there that I don’t like, or at least thought I didn’t.

Water. I know it sounds silly, but I’ve never liked water that much and would only drink it as a last resort. I drank at least 2 glasses of water almost every day I was in Spain. I came to the US with the intention of keeping up this good habit only to realize that tap water here is still as disgusting as always. It’s a work in process but I’m drinking more water than I used to while home, so it’s a start.

Coffee. Aside from super sugary iced coffee drinks from McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, or Minerva’s Café at my home campus library, I didn’t really ever touch coffee. That has changed. I drank a fair amount of coffee in Spain, either from the vending machine, a café, or at my boyfriend’s place. In fact my first week home from Spain I had a cup every day in the morning. Now not so much, as I’m realizing that the coffee here isn’t as awesome as it is and Spain and no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to make it the same way as my boyfriend. So I’ve kind of given up on my once a day habit of coffee, but still drink it more than before.

In fact as far as beverages (non-alcoholic, of course) in Spain, I lived off of water, coffee, orange juice, and Coca-Cola. It was nice. And most of the time I just drank water so I was always super hydrated and not consuming pointless calories; which I assume contributed to my weight loss, or at least the appearance of weight loss….

Oranges. I was never a huge fan of oranges as a kid, or rather any citrus fruit with orange color. I didn’t even like orange juice, but that has changed over the last few years. So while in Spain I decided to give the little orange like things in the fruit basket a try; and I love them. In fact, upon returning to the US I requested that my mother buy me a box of clementines. She was shocked, but I ate them all. And I’m pretty sure my 2 a day habit in Spain helped boost my immune system. I only got sick once in Spain, and as you may recall, it was my fist week there.

Onions. I’ve never been a huge fan of onions. I’d eat them finely chopped in hamburgers or in my aunt’s macaroni salad, but that’s about it. Then I discovered the glory of the Spanish onion which is a little sweeter than the one’s in the US, and onions just don’t seem that bad anymore. I eat them a little more than I used to and nearly every time dream of Kebab….

Beans. My idea of beans used to consist of green beans, wax(yellow) beans, and lima beans (all of which I like) and then baked beans, kidney beans, red beans, and jelly beans (all of which I don’t like). So generally I tell people I don’t like beans. But in Spain, I decided not to tell my host mother of my unusual taste buds so I would have to try new food. Well I tried beans. Alubias. Big white ones...they’re ok if seasoned properly. Then in some Brazilian food I tried this other time of bean that I don’t know what the name of it was, but they were delicious. So now I tell people I like beans because I have come to the conclusion that there are so many kinds of beans out there you may as well try them all and decide from there.

Lentils. I had never had lentils in my life until about a week before leaving for Spain, and once I got to Spain I ate a lot more. Needless to say I like them.

Ham. If you get the right kind, its better in Spain. Example- Jamón Ibérico= Delicious. Jamón Serano…well, good luck getting past the smell… Jamón York= Standard deli ham same as here in the US but seems kind of lousy after you've had the good stuff.

Cheese. I always ate it melted in Spain, just like home in the US. But it Italy I did have some uncooked mozzarella on a Panini and in my dinner with the mafia I tried some that wasn’t that bad either. I still don’t think I’ll be able to eat raw cheese (aside from cheese curd) in the US. The majority of it is way too processed to be good without melting it first.

Things with tentacles and large shrimp.

You don’t taste bad, but you creep me out.

I’m still going to avoid eating you.

Tomatoes. I still don’t like them raw. End of story.

Faith’s Butterfly….

I should have explained this sooner, but it has come to my attention that every time I show my pictures to people I get asked “What’s with the butterfly?” I can only assume that those of you who have seen my pictures here in my blog were thinking the same thing. Long story short, the day before I left for Spain I stopped by my Dad’s house to drop something off for him and upon seeing me my adorable 5 year old sister exclaimed:

“Allonah I have something for you!”

“What is it Faith?!?”

“I made you a butterfly. Do you like it?”

“It’s beautiful Faith. Do you want me to take it to Spain with me?”

“Yeah!”

I didn’t know what I was going to do with a popsicle stick butterfly in Spain, but I brought it with me anyways. I figured at the least I could show it to her while talking on Skype to prove that I had it with me. Almost a month into the trip it occurred to me that this butterfly could be used like a Flat Stanly and I decided to take pictures of it in Spain. Eventually, I will put all of those pictures into a scrap book album for Faith. But for now I’ve just decided to reminisce a little and share some of my amazing pictures of Spain with Faith’s Butterfly.