¡Hola España!

Well, I made it! I am in Spain and I am exhausted (a hazard of a transatlantic flight). The flights were pretty uneventful - we had a lot of turbulence, but it wasn't too bad. We landed in Madrid a little early (HUZZAH!) and got all the luggage stuff squared away and headed out to our first stop on the Orientation tour - Salamanca (with a pit stop in Ávila).

The scenery was beautiful on the way to Salamanca (pictures to come - I'm low on battery and without a charger).

As I mentioned above, we took a lunch/merienda break in Ávila - this fabulous city that still has a very medieval look to it (complete with a stone wall surrounding the perimeter). I think I have found my dream city to live in. We didn't spend too much time there, so I'm basing this all off of looks, but it looks like a charming place to be.

After our lunch, we continued on our way to Salamanca. We arrived in the late afternoon and we're staying in this wonderful hotel. It's gorgeous - again, pictures to come. After settling in, my roommates and I walked around the city, just walking down any street that looked promising. Salamanca has this wonderful old world charm to it, but at the same time, there are very modern (and very American) chain stores occupying these old style buildings. It is interesting to see this mix of old and new.

There are also quite a few churches (our hotel is across the street from this beautiful cathedral - I believe it's in some sort of Gothic style), which are all gorgeous. I think they, as well as other historic landmarks, give this city the traditional vibe that it has despite the chain stores.

After wandering around, we decided to do what all people in my generation do, get on the internet! The gorgeous fancy shmancy hotel charges a daily fee for use of the internet, so we decided to head to a little cafe/bar and take advantage of their WiFi and chocolate clásico (or hot chocolate). Let me tell you something, this is not just ordinary hot chocolate the way we Americans think of it (thank you, Swiss Miss). No, this is basically chocolate melted down and served hot...well, at least that's what it tastes like. I have no idea if there is any liquid in it or not. It is quite possibly the best hot chocolate I have ever had (although, I do love Mexican Hot Chocolate, which is a brick of chocolate melted down and served hot). It was so rich and delicious. It might also prove the perfect pick me up to get me to last to a decent hour so I can adjust to Spanish time!

All in all, I am loving it here! The one complaint I have is that Europeans (and Spaniards) LOVE to smoke. It's commonplace here to smoke inside almost any establishment. So far, it's the only thing I don't like about Spain.

Well, my battery is quite low now, and this post is quite long, so I will sign off. I promise that once we get to free WiFi in the hotel rooms, I will post some pictures!