Classes and Salamanca

Hey, y'all. So I thought I would just give a quick update because these kinds of things get me excited, so you should be as well! :)

Anyhow, I had my meeting today about registering for the upcoming semester (which usually begins on the 11th of February). I was, both unfortunately and fortunately, one of the last students to register. It was fortunate because I could see who from my program I could expect to see in my classes while at the same time it made the whole process very simple, as all of the grunt work of looking up courses, meeting times, and syllabi was already done for me. However, it was unfortunate because I wanted to know right away what my schedule was going to look like. At any rate, I have my schedule for next semester set up and I am pretty stoked, while at the same time I have some reservations. I am taking:

Hispano-Arabic Culture
Modern Spanish History, 1939-Present
Geography of Spain
Methodology of Teaching Spanish Language

The first three were courses I really wanted while the fourth one was one that I had thought very little about, only being aware of its existence just before I went to register. However, it came highly recommended by the director of my program, and I thought that it might be a good course to have since I am doing so many different intercambios and also because I might want to be a Spanish professor or teacher some day. I think it should be a fun semester because of the good classes that I got. And to top it all off, I only have class three days per week, with a super extended weekend!! I start my week at 10 on Monday and am done before lunch (2pm) on Wednesday!! Pretty stellar, if I do say so myself!! My weekends are going to be four days!! While this is really attractive, I have to put myself into the same mindset I had last semester when I only had classes two days per week. I am worried that I am going to have too much free time and I am going to get bored. I am going to try to force myself not to get bored by writing more (hold your groans of agony, because you may not see all of it), exploring Salamanca, and maybe doing some more intercambios. Other activities will also take place, for sure, but I do not want them to involve vast amounts of money, as my funds are not infinite.

After I had my meeting at 5pm, I decided that I was going to go on a walk since it was such a nice day out and was actually sunny for the first time in four or five days. The Roman Bridge is just in the back yard of the building where ISA is, so I headed in that direction. I arrived there and thought that it might be a cool idea to walk across the bridge, to the side of the city on the other side of the river. So I walked over there and about halfway through, I turned back to take in the awesome view of the cathedrals dominating the skyline. I took many pictures (available on Facebook), and then continued across the bridge.

Once on the other side, the side I had never been to before, I noticed that there were a lot of soccer pitches and playgrounds, as well as a wide walking path. I walked along the path, taking pictures as I went, until I came across this cool looking church. I stopped to take some pictures, then continued on my way. The river slowly began to appear through the branches of the trees lining the shore, and it was an awesome sight. One of the modern bridges into the city was ahead, so I stopped to grab some pictures of it. As I walked along farther, I went on the other side of the modern bridge to get a picture of the south side of Salamanca. Man, was it worth it. Given the relatively warm and sunny winter day, it was a stupendous sight. I could have stayed there forever, and there were benches to help me in this desire, but I decided that it might be better to get home, work on some homework, and then visit again some other time.

I thought that maybe I would go back there tonight, as I am sure that the view is even more astounding when the entire city is lit up. I would also assume that the city is really pretty during the spring and summer time. I cannot wait for that time to come so I can snap some even better photos. Be on the lookout!!

I got home, and have been working on homework (and of course this blog post) since. I do not know why, but I am super tired, so I do not think I will be going back to the river tonight. I am glad I experienced it though, as it was truly a great sight that has been permanently etched in my memory and on my Facebook.