I'm sorry I have not written a post for a while but I have been very busy settling in to my new classes for the new semester. I have not visited as many places in February and in this month so far. In February my family came to visit me for a few days because I had a week off between the 1st and 2nd semester. I would have written about the trip I made to Salamanca in February but I was very ill while my family were here and I have been so busy since that I have not found time to write about it until now. I decided therefore to do a summary of all the things I have done since February up until now and my progress with Spanish.
Despite my illness while my family were here I did enjoy seeing Salamanca very much but when I went in February is was freezing in Salamanca. The week my family were here it even snowed a bit in Valladolid (which I am told is not something that happens usually in Valladolid).
Here are some photos of some of the places I saw when I was in Salamanca:
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I really liked Salamanca despite it being very cold. On Valentine's Day I went out with a friend of mine and two of her flatmates for a meal at this really nice restaurant-there was a girl who was from Austria and the other girl was from Gautemala but they both spoke English very well. I had the first steak I have had in Spain and it was delicious. I have attached some photos of the people I was with-2 of who I met for the first time on Valentine's Day and I a photo of my steak to show how nice it looked:
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| Me and Rebecca from Austria (The 2 Rebecca's!) |
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| Me, Rebecca, Sharon and Vandria |
Yesterday I went to the theatre to see a classic Spanish play called 'Donde hay agravios no hay celos' as part of my course on 17th century Spanish theatre. I really enjoyed the performance despite not understanding some of the jokes in Spanish. The basic plot went something like this:
-Sancho, who is Don Juan's servant accidentally sends his portrait instead of Don Juan's to Don Juan's fiancee Dona Ines. Therefore they have to go and try and make amends-however when they arrive at Dona Ines' house (where she lives with her father Don Fernando) they see her cousin Don Lope trying to win over Dona Ines (as he is love with her). Don Juan in his jealousy decides that he and Sancho (his servant) will switch places so he will be Sancho and Sancho will be Don Juan, so he can watch Dona Ines in secret. However this ends in disaster when Dona Ana arrives at Don Fernando's (the father of Dona Ines' house) as she has lately been disgraced by Don Lope, who later recognises 'Sancho' who is Don Juan in disguise as her brother. Dona Ines falls in love with Don Juan (whilst he is disguised as Sancho). Sancho makes a disaster out of being disguised as Don Juan as he cannot speak the courtly gentlemanly language that Don Juan uses and this makes Dona Ines and his future father-in-law Don Fernando dislike him. In the end, Don Juan challenges Don Lope over him making Dona Ana lose her honour (but he gets his servant Sancho-who is dressed as Don Juan to fight initially and then he turns the lights down and sneaks in to take over the fight)-in the end Don Juan reveals himself at the end of the fight with Don Lope and the truth about the disguise of Sancho and Don Juan is revealed. This leads in the end to Dona Ines marrying Don Juan, and Dona Ana ends up marrying Don Lope ( as that is the price Don Juan asks of Don Lope to restore his sister's honour.
14th March:
Today I spent the morning outside on the patio of my student residence as it was a very sunny and warm day with a slight breeze. In the afternoon I went to Colegio de San Gregorio-Museo de la Escultura with my Basque friend Nahikari. I have attached below some photos of the Colegio de San Gregorio. After we visited the Colegio de San Gregorio we went and had chocolate and churros of which I have attached a photo of my friend with the churros so you can see what they looked like. Overall I had a really good day.
Summary of my time so far in Valladolid:
I have really enjoyed the time I have spent studying in Valladolid so far and my Spanish has improved greatly. I now have a lot more confidence with my speaking than before. Although I have not been able to do a spanish course while I was here to help me I do not think it is necessary to help my Spanish at the moment as I am learning a lot of new things from the courses I am doing. This semester I am doing 3 Spanish literature modules: 2 on the baroque period-where I have to read all of Don Quixote (which is a funny parody of novels about knights and chivalry), 1 on literature in Hispanic America; and I am also doing a module on History of Art of the 20th and 21st century which I am enjoying very much. As part of this History of Art class I also will have a trip to Madrid after Easter to some art galleries in Madrid. Next Friday until Sunday I have a trip to Granada and Toledo so after Easter you can read all about my experiences in Granada and about my day trip to Toledo with the Erasmus society. I am really looking forward to going to Granada next week (or as they say in Spanish 'Tengo ganas')!
Hope you are all well and I will write again in a few weeks so you can find out how I got on in Granada,
Becky
