Salamanca

Where is the frog?

View more photos 

At 8:30 am we had to be at the bus station in Segovia to go with the group to Salamanca y Ávila for the day. By this point we have all had our share of Cathedrals and stone buildings...but this is a part of the hours we have to get in for our classes... And in all honesty ít´s really amazing and incredible that this is how we are studying Spanish.

BUT, Salamanca is pretty much like Segovia just not as pretty.

The one thing that I really enjoyed about Salamanca was the Universidad de Salamanca which is one of the oldest in Europe. And it was a completely different thing than we had done before. The first thing we did was stand in front of the entrance of the school and our tour guide Edo, (he takes us everywhere on our excursions) told us that there was a frog on the building somewhere and that the students believe that it brings good luck on exams...especially finals. So our goal was to find it...and let me tell you...it took a while! But after much looking and confusion we found the tiny little frog. He´s on the far right column on the head of a skull...so hopefully this luck will last me until finals.

The group on the steps in Salamanca

View more photos 

We also went inside where we got to see different classrooms. My favorite room in the University was the room where students would take their final exam to graduate. And it´s a large room with a tomb in the middle and a piece of glass on top to serve as the table...at the head of the table is a chair for the student to sit in and around the entire room, the walls are lined with benches where all of the professors would watch the student take the exam. There is a huge door that is closed when you take it and a small window where all of the students would watch and discuss how they thought you were doing! At the end of the exam if you passed you would come out and everyone would yell "Victor!" but if you didn´t pass they would yell ugly words at you! What pressure!

Those who were victors would write their names on the wal in blood and so that was an interesting element of the school as well.

Catedral de Salamanca

View more photos 

After the University we went to the Catedral de Salamanca which was built by the same architect as the one in Segovia...they are very similar...so it was kinda weird. (He should have stopped while he was ahead with the one in Segovia).

By this time we were all starving and so we went to the Plaza Mayor and all sat down and had lunch. Salamanca is kindof dirty in some ways...it´s different. And there are a lot of people that will come up to you and beg for money or whatever and it´s really uncomfortable because they are really forward...and it makes things interesting. I was glad we went because of the university but other than that...we were ready to leave.

So we got on a bus and headed to Ávila...about an hour drive from Salamanca...