Burgos, 28.7.07

Our first excursion in Spain! After surviving the first week here in Salamanca very well (apart from a lack of sleep…), we decided to visit one of the many other beautiful cities of Spain. First we intended to go to Leon, but unfortunately there are no direct trains and the whole trip would have been way too expensive. So we chose Burgos and got tickets for the first train in the morning and the last at night to come back. Carol and I met Dan, a guy who’s in her class at school, at 7.30 in the trainstation and after an agreeable 2h train journey we arrived in Burgos.

Already the first sight of the city centre was breathtaking, the entrance through that arch and behind it the huge and magnificent cathedral – wow!
We spent the first hour walking around a bit and going inside the cathedral (only as far as we could without paying : ) ) and then took the tourist train around the city to get an overview. There are several really old churches, Carol was over the moon about it because they don’t have anything so “antiguo” in Brasil!
When we got back to the centre, we found a cute little restaurant for lunch and then had the fabulous idea to have siesta next to the river. Seemed perfect, if only there hadn’t been so many insects… I’m still suffering from that siesta! ;)
Afterwards, we looked at the Plaza Mayor of Burgos, which is the exact opposite of the one in Salamanca: round and not square, very modern and all the houses have different colours (unlike Salamanca, where everything is this special gold-brown) – I liked it a lot!
All the little streets, mostly pedestrian zones with cobblestones and cute little coffee shops and restaurants, were the perfect setting for a great day! (we heard only afterwards that it was almost 40 degrees in Salamanca that day, whereas we enjoyed warm but not too hot 28 degrees!)
Just for fun I need to put that picture online as well: may I present you the one and only “helado cannibal”:
We were having Ice Cream when Dan suddenly noticed that the helado-statue in front of the restaurant was eating an Ice Cream as well – the discussion began whether this is funny or mean, because it is eating another member of its own species… well, to make a long story short and since the discussion was held in Spanish, this cute guy on the picture is our darling Helado Cannibal! :)

Actually we should have left Burgos at 9 pm, but we got to know the Spanish way of living with regard to public transports: our train left at 10.30 – which was good as it gave us time to go back to the centre and eat something! In the train we all fell asleep because the night before had been a little too short and it was a full day – but I can only recommend this city to everybody who comes to Spain! It’s not big, perfect to visit in one day, but has some real nice spots!

Just a short note to let you know that I'm still fine, I did not get lost in a Pijama contest or something - to be honest, we did not go out for long that night after all, because we finished having our first Paella around midnight and then just went to a bar/club right next to the restaurant :)
Yesterday aswell, we went out for dinner and had our first real Spanish tapas, it was delicious!
Today we cooked in our apartment, it was the last evening for some of the girls we've been together with a lot (Lavinia already left this afternoon) - it's weird to say goodbye to some people already, but it will be that way every weekend because the classes are constantly changing (I will have all new classmates next week, all the others are leaving now!), and it's the same for the apartments. I'm so curious who will be our new flatmates.... I'll let you know!

Tomorrow, we are going to Burgos - we'll have to be at the station at 7.30, oh my god! But it was the only city more or less close to Salamanca that we could visit in only one day and that is not too expensive (we originally wanted to go to Leon, but it was way too expensive!)... I'll be back with pictures and in the meantime wish you all a great weekend!

Already almost at home

Welcome to Salamanca! This is likely to be the most typical picture of this city, but there is good reason for it, this place, the Plaza Mayor, is the most beautiful spot I've come across here so far! It is huge, all the streets around it are pedestrian zones and there are a lot of people there at all times of the day.
"El Reloj", the watch in the middle of the main building you see here, is the meeting point for all students at night before going out. You never have to ask, the answer will always be "nos encontramos a las once y media debajo del reloj" ("we meet at 11.30 underneath the watch") - or later! I have not yet really gotten used to the rhythm of life here (coming back from school around 3.30 pm, have "lunch", do homework, maybe sleep a little, have dinner around 10 and go out hardly ever before midnight - not to speak of coming back really late and having to get up around 8!), but I like the relaxed attitude they all have here!

I have to apologize if my English is a little weird at times, it's so hard to focus on English when you switch languages every

couple of minutes! I'm speaking Spanish, French, German, Swiss German, English

and any possible mixture of all these throughout the day and have the impression that I'm losing my German and English without even improving my Spanish! ;) But it is precisely this extremely multicultural and international atmosphere that makes it all so exiting!

Yesterday evening we had dinner with the other students in our building again, we bought Fajitas and everything to put in and we all sat at a huge table, Brasilians, Swiss, Germans, Belgians, French, Dutch, Portuguese...

Tonight might be fun, there is a lot of talk about what we could do, there's karaoke somewhere, a pijama contest somewhere else (who dresses up in the funniest way wins 50 Euros..), a Mexican Night in again another club - and the greatest thing is, you never pay entrance fees, so it is no problem to change clubs and bars 5 times a night! I'll keep you up to date...

First Impressions

Let me just say: Salamanca is great! The apartment is great! My flatmates (compañeros de piso) are great! The school is great! The food is great! The weather is (almost) great! Only my Spanish is not that great… :)
okay, don’t worry, I’ll stop! :)

At the moment I’m sitting in a coffee shop (have finally found one with wireless connection after about one hour of walking around with my heavy computer bag…), enjoying a coffee “cortado” and am talking to one of my roommates, Carolina from Brazil. She and a German girl, Mimi, will be staying with me in the flat during my entire stay here. The other two, another girl from Germany, Lavinia, and Felix, a guy from Macao, are leaving this Friday. I really like our apartment, its nice and clean, we have a great balcony, the kitchen is pretty modern, the rooms are rather big, and apart from the bed, which makes weird sounds whenever I turn around, I’m perfectly comfortable!

The trip yesterday was long, but everything went very well, the plane was on time and my luggage arrived, which was what I was most worried about… I got picked up at the airport and the driver brought me right to the apartment (total gentleman, even carried my suitcase upstairs!!). There, I thought I was alone at first, because all the doors were closed but then one door opened and a girl came out in pyjamas (at 2 pm!!), starting to excuse herself that normally she doesn’t look like that and that she had been sleeping because Sunday is the only day she can sleep since every week day there is school and going out… it was so funny and I liked her straight away! That was Lavinia, and one hour later I already went to the public swimming pool (which is really nice!) with her and a friend of hers! In the evening we were invited to dinner in the other students’ flat in our building – it was so funny, we were about 12 people speaking English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese all at once!!! Once again I was confirmed in why I love languages and different cultures, it is so interesting! Still, I had to go to bed “early”, right after dinner at 11.30 pm because I was so tired (I hate getting up early, and 5 o’clock yesterday morning definitely was too much for me…) – I have to get used to the Spanish rhythm of life first!

This morning, it was raining – great, the others had told us only yesterday that it never rains in Salamanca and what happens on our first day? ;) but it was no problem, the school is not too far from our flat (about 15min walking) and we arrived there only 5 minutes late, which here in Spain is more than on time! For me as a typical “Swissie”, it will take some time to get used to that – but perhaps it was a sign that this morning my watch stopped and I need to get a new battery first… :)
The school is very nice, located in the building of an old Convent, but the classrooms are very modern and comfortable. First of all, we had to take a level test and I was so surprised to hear that I’m already in the class for B2, which is the level I will need at the beginning of my Spanish studies at university! I also realized one hour later that it is hard for me to keep up with them – but then again, it’s my first day here and apparently (from the test results) I instinctively already know quite a lot… My classmates are also very nice, but unfortunately all of them are leaving this Friday, so I will get new compañeros next week!
I have 6 lessons a day, and they are from 9 am to 3 pm with only 5 minutes break between them – typically Spanish, lunch has to wait until 3! :) I guess it will be pretty tough to be at school that many hours everyday, but I’m positive that I will learn a lot during the next 6 weeks! Although it is hard to keep up the Spanish with so many people around me who speak either German or English… :)

Well, I guess I’ll have to stop here, there are people who already threatened that they won’t read my blog if the posts are too long! But this was important, and its my first post from Spain… so I hope you’re all well and am looking forward to hearing from you! (pictures will follow soon… :)

Paris

Two weeks ago, I went to Paris with my grandparents. It had been their present for my 20th birthday and the first days of my semester break seemed the perfect time to go there. So we took the new TGV at 7 o'clock Sunday morning and arrived in Paris already before noon. It's really amazing to reach such a beautiful city in only four and a half hours!

Already the first afternoon was full of interesting discoveries - as we went from one place to the other almost exclusively by walking, we saw so much: beginning in the "Quartier Latin", where our hotel was (did you know that the name for this area comes from the times, when the university students had to speak Latin? this is where the main buildings of the university are!), we went to look at the Ile de la Cité and the Ile St.Louis. Here are the origins of Paris and it's a beautiful area! Before we went to the famous NotreDame to listen to a concert, we had Ice Cream at "Berthillon"'s - the best Ice Cream in the world, I swear! (yes, despite being a Mövenpick-Fan!;)) In the evening, we had dinner in one of the oldest and most traditional restaurants of Paris, "Le Procope" - it is said that Napoleon and several other famous people used to go there! :)

Monday took us all the way to the modern, almost futuristic district of "La Defense", which impressed me a lot! I could not stop looking at the Grande Arche, which is a true miracle of architecture! And also all the other office buildings with a lot of glass, reflecting every sunbeam...

From there, we walked down the Champs Elysees until we reached the Arch de Triomphe and from there further along this straight line to the pyramid of the Louvre.

In the evening, we went on a roundtrip in one of the cruise ships on the Seine - unfortunately it was raining like mad, but it was still very impressive to see all the monuments from the river (this is why the above picture of the Eiffel Tower is slightly blurred - there was rain on the lens!).

Tuesday was dedicated to the Palace of Versailles. What we did not know was that the famous Galerie des Glaces had only just been renovated and reopened the day before - which with hindsight explains why we had to queue for hours.. still, it was definitely worth a visit!

In the evening, another biig highlight: a visit to the Moulin Rouge!!! After dinner we joined the queue (yes, it was the day of queuing! :)) and then experienced one of the most colorful (and full of diversity!) and lively things I've ever seen! We hardly knew which part of the stage to pay attention to, the movement of the dancing was so fast and all the costumes were overwhelming! If you ever get the chance to see where Baz Luhrmann got his inspiration from, go to a show at the real Moulin Rouge, it is really worth it!!! :)

To end an amazing trip, Wednesday was reserved for shopping. It was just the time of the big sales and the huge shopping malls "Printemps" and "Galeries Lafayette" were more than crowded - but still, just to have seen this was amazing! No comparing these malls to anything we have in Switzerland... After having bought everything we needed (or not needed, but wanted ;)), we returned a last time to our lovely hotel. Before we went to the train station, we stopped at a restaurant to have Crêpes (which I have learned to make myself in the meantime! Thanks Grandmaman, that was fun! :)) and also bought some sandwiches for the way home on the train.

Oh, and I totally forgot to mention that part of the deal was that we would only speak French from the moment we crossed the frontier - can you imagine??? well, I did my best, but especially in the beginning, it was really hard for me - I had not spoken a word of French since I finished High School and was so focussed on English (and Spanish)! In the end, however, it was certainly a great opportunity for me not only to improve my French, but also to get to know a wonderful city - and most of all, to spend 4 days alone with my grandparents! This is something we had never done before and I must say that I enjoyed it a lot! So, if you two read this now, I can only thank you once again from the bottom of my heart, it was amazing!!!

Footprints

Wow, it's already summer (although the weather here in Zürich at the moment does not necessarily give that impression)... the first half of this year is over and I have not come round to telling you all about it! Well, I'm not going to go into details, it will have to suffice to say that my life has been crazy, but in a very good way! Those who need to know, know...! ;)

The first year at university has already come to an end and I'm glad to be able to say that I think I've chosen the right subject and am still happy with my English studies! It's not always been easy and seeing so many of my fellow students drop out in the course of time was quite frustrating - but I know that I will not lose touch with those I got to know a little better and that is what matters, right? This is also the most important aspect of it all for me: the people I've gotten to know! Of course I'm proud of my achievements and I can say that, so far, I've been rather successful with my work, but that would not mean anything to me without the great people I've met! All the girls with whom I have shared so many boring lessons (and who made them less "dauntingly and excrutiatingly tedious" by drawing things into my notebook or imagining professors stagediving....), have exchanged work and tipps and also spent a lot of free time,... , each of them has become an important part of my life.

I guess during the last two years (to be more precise, I would say ever since I finished High School), I have learnt the true meaning of the saying I've always liked: "Many people walk in and out of your life, but only the important ones leave footprints in your heart."... there were so many people around me during that time, first my classmates in High School, then the team I worked in at UBS, all the people I met in England, the roughly hundred students in my year at the English department and others I've met here or there - some of them seemed really important at the moment, but it is only much later that I am able to see who really matters and who (sadly) didn't. The footprints they left in my heart are not equally deep, but I realise that they have nothing to do with how often I see someone or how long I've been together with a person - to give just one extreme example: although I spent only 3 months in Cambridge and have never seen Olga again ever since (this is so sad, Olg, hope we can change that soon!!!), this time is always very present in my memory and it happens so often that I think something like "this reminds me of the day when we did this or that in Cambridge" or "ooooooh, that song! that's sooooo Cambridge! I want to dance!!!"...

It's funny that my best friends now - apart from the bunch of girls from university - are all people who went to the same high school as me but with whom I only got in touch much later! Now they have become my second family and I enjoy every second I spend with them, be it holidays, parties or simply a cosy get-together to exchange the latest news. We all have our very different lives, study completely different things but still we somehow have a similar attitude to life (well, almost.. ;)) and it's always great fun to meet them! Guys, I'm gonna miss you while I'm in Spain! :)