Thus, the summit of the mountains of notes, slides and handbooks was finally reached. Smiling back at 2 of my best youth years so far with an aftertaste of 365 pils, it was time to set foot on a cheapo Ryanair flight from Charleroi to Madrid on that Tuesday morning 10th of September. I hadn’t slept because I still had to pack my bags after we came back from emptying my kot at 11PM the night before. Kind of reminded me of when I was leaving to Australia, only this time I was just tired, not hung over. And obviously excited. (by the way, fitting 5 months of stuff in 15kg demands quite some skill and Ryanair experience)
So the flight and bus from Barajas to Salamanca didn’t go all too smooth, but in the end I got there and was greeted by Derek Segebarth, American philology student/fellow metalhead who would be my couchsurf host for the next 3 nights. We didn’t lose any time and got straight into Tapas con Cerveza with his friends and another couchsurfer. That week was the week of Ferias de Salamanca, party week where the entire city was full of little typical food and drink stalls, concerts, street performances and 100% top Spanish atmosphere. After seeing the beer prices in bars and the nature of the company, it became clear my first night would be a big one already. The city was love at first sight. It’s not too big but has all the facilities you might want, you can easily get around by foot, it’s full of (hi)story and old buildings, you can start talking to any random person in the street and go have a beer with them, everything pretty much revolves around the university and student life… In short it’s as if they dug out Leuven in its entirety, dropped it on the Iberian plateau and added a touch of Spanish easy going-ness. And lowered the cost of living. Me gusta!
Apart from being a super nice guy, Derek is pretty much the Godfather of couchsurfing in Salamanca. I think he has hosted 7 or 8 people in the few weeks, some of which are also on Erasmus and are now becoming my friends. He also took me to the Rocodromo or climbing hall, which seems to also be the meeting place for alternative people in town. I found my new hobby! To be honest, after all the speleo/canyoning/tree climbing rope stuff we’ve done, it would be a shame not to try my hand at actual rock climbing.
The academic year only starts here this Monday, but as usual the engineers get the tough life and apparently start a week earlier than the rest. However, my first 5 days were devoid of classes and allowed me to get enrolled at uni and find myself “una habitación en piso compartido”, or a room in a flat. I found one quickly, it’s pretty small but pretty cheap and has a cosy living room. My flat mates are a German Erasmus dude and a Spanish dude (good for learning Spanish), and there’s still 1 free room. My prime goal here is to learn Spanish, seriously. I’m already keeping a vocabulary list, set my pc, browser and phone in Spanish and I’m even watching David Attenborough with Spanish subs. Another one is becoming a worthy cook, following the footsteps of grandmaster Emile “ElNomnomnom” Arinaga. So far: tortilla tradicional, tapas con mel y queso de cabra, lasagna, churros y Gazpacho. Great success! Third I want to do some more photography. The last goal is to get a feel of the Spanish ways and culture, make friends and to party it up. Oh! And to study, yes, of course. That’s one big difference with my last exchange, got to remind myself of that. The other main difference, fortunately, is a massive freedom (feels great not having to censure the word “beer” in my blog posts) which is only limited by our Erasmus grant. And I found out that one is bigger than I thought, so we have already been giving many toasts to the health of the European Union!
Whether it be on the streets, in a park, in bars, at the hairdresser’s, with friends of friends… I think I’ve socialized and/or partied with a good 60 people in a week’s time. There have been 2 meeting by ESN, the Erasmus activities organization which is becoming widespread over Europe, and each one was followed by afterparties around the city. Really fun and all, but now it’s time to get to actually know some more of those people, I reckon. That is why I am going on an excursion to the mountains of Salamanca tomorrow, and I am now going to bed!!! More about the university side of things… next time. Hasta lluego muchachos
PS I realised most pictures of me hanging/partying with other people so far have been taken by others, so for now you get pics of food and buildings. N-joy!
