Briannah's Adventures Abroad : De Vuelta en Salamanca

Last weekend I returned to Salamanca, Spain for the weekend to visit the incredible city that was my home last semester. In some ways nothing had changed, but on the other hand, it seemed like everything had changed. Even though I'd already lived there for 5 months, in my weekend there, I got to see new places and meet new people. I also got to stay with my host family and visit some of my favorite places (i.e. La Croissantería).

Change is inevitable...

The butcher shop, Hipercarne, on the Villamayor (street I'd walk home on) is now a Vodaphone. The fast food pizza place next to McDonald's is now an ice cream place.
My neighborhood is the best neighborhood in the world because it is filled with amazing street art. But they tore down the building that had my favorite painting on it... :(
Goodbye favorite painting, but hello new installations made out of bike tires and miniature gardens made by school children.
Sara's door (i.e. Villamayor 40). My best friend Sara lived a few blocks down the street from me and would always be waiting for me outside her door to walk into town together. They'd been doing construction on the interior of her building previously, but now the door is completely different!
In the plaza between the cathedrals and linguistics department, there's a new Henry Moore sculpture exhibit.
My host mom has another dog. While she was mostly very friendly, she also was very protective and did not like it when I was home alone and tried to do outrageous activities like peel an orange or pour myself a glass of water.
There's a vegan tapas bar! And get this... Spaniards (including my host family) actually go to it. The tapas were incredible and we even went there twice.
There's a new statue with a digital screen counting down the days and hours till the 800th anniversary of the university (in 2018).
My friends are gone... Walking around the city made me miss the people who made the place so special. Most of them have scattered across the world to their homes in America, Germany, and New Zealand. It was odd to walk down my street and know that Sara would never be waiting for me there again. I'd never walk to the croissantería with Áine again. I wished more than anything they could've all been there too, but time brings change and we all had new places to go and homes to return to.

Some things never change...

LA CROISSANTERÍA PARÍS. Did I mention that I love the Croissantería? Well the first time I went over the weekend, the person working there was someone I'd never seen. The second time I went (to buy 3 croissants for the road) the owner who is usually working was there and he recognized me! He remembered me and my friend coming in every Monday and Wednesday afternoon after class.
The study abroad center is still filled with all the lovely staff and professors. It was nice to see them all again and see that things are still happening as usual there.
The Plaza Mayor is still looking grand as ever, and the ice cream places have reopened for spring.
The cathedrals are still standing and looking a bit more lively with tulips in front.
The days in Spain are still somehow way longer than elsewhere. You don't eat lunch till 2:30pm, so it's as if you have an entire day before lunch. Then, you don't eat dinner till 9:30pm, so the day just keeps going and going!
There's still some holiday at least once a week. Saturday was the 'Day of the Book', which, naturally, celebrates books. There was a nice outdoor market in the Plaza Mayor filled with books from every local bookshop.
All the buildings from the 15th century are still so much the same that they are using Salamanca as the setting for a new American TV series, "Still Star Crossed". Over the weekend they were setting up for filming to make Salamanca look like Verona. One of the streets was entirely covered in sand and they had old market stands set up. On Monday they started filming and they had lots of horses, riders in armor, extras wearing clothes from the period, and trucks filled with swords to be used as props. Now just to wait for the show to be released.

Obviously in my time living there I had enough of a routine that I noticed even the slightest changes upon returning. Even with all I got to do last semester, there were still many new adventures over the weekend. In Salamanca, there's a cupcake shop run by a woman from California and I finally went there! I had an amazing carrot cake cupcake and spoke in English for a while with the owner. Not only was the cupcake delicious, but it was nice to have some homemade "American" food and speak with someone with the same language and accent as me... filled my carrot cake and American accent void all in one. I also got to meet my host mom's best friend, Lola. I felt like I knew her already since she and my host mom were on the phone with each other practically every day! As it turns out, she is also a bit of a linguistics nerd, which of course meant we somehow ended up talking about case marking systems in various languages.

When I left Salamanca in December I knew I'd be returning to visit sometime in Spring. I knew it truly only was an Hasta Luego ('Until Later') as they say in Spain instead of goodbye. This time I left knowing that it may well be a very long time till I return. I hope it's still just hasta luego as I know Salamanca, the people I met there, and my Spanish host family will always hold a very special place in my heart.

Hasta Luego Salamanca