LIVE in Spain...Don't just be here.

Salamanca is a college study abroad student's dream come true: there are countless opportunities in this city to become friends with the local bar owner, chat with the ticket vendors that eagerly meander through the crowds of people in the Plaza Mayor at night, and immerse oneself in all aspects of the Spanish language. However, as enjoyable as this study abroad experience is, there are certain risks that we all take as foreigners learning the customs of a new country and the habits of its people. Let me begin with a video example of something we are all especially vulnerable to in public places:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9toPUlUoqzw

As you can clearly tell from this video, the Plaza Mayor can be a thieves’ paradise: there are countless numbers of tourists carrying several items on them at one time. It is extremely easy to forget one of your belongings on a bench, or a chair, or a table at which you were sitting, and even if you move away from your valuables for a few seconds, you may be surprised to find it missing the moment you return. One excellent piece of advice that Andy, our class B professor, gave us was that the afternoons (2:00pm – 6:00pm) may seem like the safest times on the streets because everyone is either inside their homes or working, but in reality, it is one of the most dangerous periods of time to wander the streets, simply because it is that much more tempting to put down your guard.

One common trend with the host mothers, or señoras, here in Salamanca is that they all lead very clean, disciplined lives. I would not normally consider myself a messy person, but I do tend to slack off sometimes when it comes to folding worn clothes and hanging them back up in the closet. During the first week, I would leave my socks sprawled across my bed and my jeans hanging from the nearest chair onto which I could fling them, and had a little taste of a tapa I like to call…karma. Milagros, my host mom, scolded me for three days and kept giving my room dirty looks every time she passed by it, claiming I was living like a “Gitano.” So, my advice to you would be to force yourself to fold your clothes and hang them up, and put your dirty socks and t-shirts in your laundry bag, no matter how late you come back from a night out and no matter how tempted you are to throw yourself on your bed and succumb to a deep sleep. If you don’t, you will be faced with an embarrassing lecture over the dinner table, this humiliation enhanced if you have housemates sitting with you listening to your chastisement.

Regarding the restaurants’ bathrooms here in Spain, the master rule is, if you use it you must pay. This does not mean that you must directly pay the restaurant owner to use his or her restroom; it simply means that if you have an uncontrollable urge to go, and you end up running in to the closest café or bar you can find, it is essentially an unspoken rule of etiquette that you should purchase something from the menu. I usually buy a Coca-Cola (I love drinking coke straight out of the glass bottles) or a small portion of food (a “pincho”). If you fail to purchase an item off of the menu, you will receive several uncomfortable glares from the workers, and you may even be called back in and awkwardly asked if you would like something. Another unspoken rule of restaurants is that you should never sit in one of their seats without ordering something. Again, if you use it, you must pay: sitting in one of their seats is considered a service here, and failing to compromise a restaurant’s service is also a very rude action.

BATHROOM ACCESS TO CLIENTS ONLY!

Also on the topic of restaurants, if you see a group of people already sitting at a table with a few empty seats, please do not sit in those seats...they may be saving them for other friends, and in Spain, once people have claimed a table, that table is theirs. There are probably many more seats available in the vicinity:

THAT IS THEIR TABLE

On the topic of spending money, during the month of July, the major stores in Salamanca have "rebajas" or sales. For the first week, prices are reduced slightly, but as the weeks pass, these rebajas become ever more tempting as prices are cut even lower (think Walmart rollbacks multiplied over and over). DON'T, if you are able to, buy anything in June; wait until the last couple of weeks in July to go crazy and buy twice the amount of clothes, jewels, and souvenirs with the same amount of money you would have spent a month prior. Even the Corte Inglés, a superstore which usually sells everything at twice the price but at a much higher quality than its competitors, has rebajas during July, and is an excellent place to shop for that posh European polo you've eyed all month.

Regarding the nightlife here in Salamanca, I personally would NOT recommend going to the Irish Rover. My friend Maurice went to the Irish Rover on July 4^th, and he lost the keys to his apartment during a dance competition there. I saw a girl get pushed by an intoxicated guy jumping off from the stage, her arms bloodied and bruised. I seem to get a headache every time I enter the club. So far, it has seemed as if the malignant aura surrounding the Irish Rover has swamped us all. It is also very difficult to dance in this club: the main floor is basically a narrow aisle filled with foreign study abroad students, and the DJ has absolutely no sense of timing when phasing songs in and out from one another. My recommendation would be to hit up Cum Laude, a great club with comfortable seating arrangements and quick service; Atahualpa, perfect for Thursday and Friday nights; and Gatsby (I’m actually biased towards this last place as I made friends with Frank, the ticket vendor to this club, in the Plaza Mayor one night). Nonetheless, you will have much more fun in these clubs than you will in Irish Rover…trust me.

¡QUÉ HORROR!

DO NOT just stay in Salamanca every weekend… TRAVEL as much as possible! In the words of Milagros, and of Coldplay, “¡Viva la vida!” Since you are in Spain, one of the most beautiful and historic nations in the world, take advantage of the paid excursions and indulge in as many trips as you like! Yes, Salamanca is a fantastic city and there is much to see, but six weeks in Spain without taking a trip to another region might be the worst choice one could possibly make while studying abroad here. Studying abroad does not just mean attending classes and receiving an A on every exam: it means putting yourself out there…see, do, travel! My favorite trip of all was the Andalucía excursion: I have always been fascinated by the strong influence that the Arab world has had on southern Spain, and the tours we took in Andalucía helped me quench this thirst for knowledge. We toured the historic Alhambra, had the chance to see Christopher Columbus’ tomb (I cannot wait to see the look on my history-buff-of-a-sister’s face once I tell her this), and the tombs of the kings and queens that dominated Spain’s history. I had always detested history class during high school, but seeing these powerful figures and buildings with my own eyes was such an awakening experience for me. If you spend all your time in a cyber-café chatting with your friends on FaceBook or Skype, you will be missing the precious opportunities you will have to see and do the things that will make this experience most memorable!

So to sum it all up, I would like to end with my favorite quote of all time: “Everyone dies, but not everyone lives.” LIVE in Spain, don’t just be here.