AIFS in Salamanca – Notes from Campus
Summer Photos
Summer in Salamanca
Spanish Cities to Visit
Trip to Segovia
Tapas
Salamanca in the News!
Intercambios!
Thanksgiving in Salamanca
AIFS Students in the News
Cultural Activities
Chocolate con Churros!
AIFS Fall 2009 Memory Book
Summer Photos
The AIFS in Salamanca summer students have been busy! Here are a few pictures from their trip to Portugal.
Summer in Salamanca
The AIFS summer group is having a great time in Salamanca! Activities from the last couple of weeks include:
- Football game, Spain - Germany: You can watch this game on TV. As you saw last Saturday, the city will be crowded of terraces with TV screens. There is one large screen near El Corte Inglés, and Camelot also has a big screen inside.
- Story-telling at the Casa de las Conchas.
- Free Social Activity - POOL: We are having a swimming-pool afternoon! Bring towel, sun cream and bathing suit.
- Flamenco show: Las Noches de Fonseca start tonight with the first of their shows: Carmen Cortés brings a unique flamenco show in the Colegio Fonseca.
- Free Cultural Activity: Sports day! Meet Roberto at 4:30. We will play sports such as soccer, basketball…Come by the office to sign up and form the teams.
- Free Cultural Activity: “Open air jazz concert” Meet the staff to go to an impressive concert in the Patio Chico, just behind the Cathedrals. Tonight: GADJO, a multicultural band.
- Professional guided tour around Salamanca: We will meet at Plaza Mayor to learn the history of the most important places of the city: the Old Cathedral, the historic University building, the Shell’s House, etc. Also, you will listen to all the stories about famous people who studied here or the place where Cristopher Colombus got acceptance to start the journey to discover America.
- Free AIFS excursion to Segovia: The bus will take us to Segovia, declared “Wold Heritage City” by the UNESCO. We will see the ancient Acueducto Romano, impressive monument built by Romans 2000 years ago. It is the longest and best preserved in the world. We will also visit the Alcazar, the castle in the top of the city. Don´t miss the chance to see the castle which inspired Walt Disney´s Sleeping Beauty castle! After that we will visit La Granja de San Ildefonso, the magnificent royal summer residence surrounded by beautiful gardens and fountains in Versailles style. We will be back in Salamanca for dinner.
- Riverboat ride: Today we will spend the afternoon in the river! We will have a boat ride in the river Tormes which crosses the town. From the river there is a wonderful view of both Cathedrals and the old area of Salamanca. Remember to bring a sandwich and a drink with you to have on the boat the “merienda!” Also your camera to have the best picture of Salamanca from the boat! The ride on the boat is for an hour going toward the higher part of the river, up to the bridge.
Spanish Cities to Visit
Take advantage of Salamanca’s location and visit some of the beautiful cities nearby, such as Ávila, Zamora or Ciudad Rodrigo. Ask us for suggestions!
Madrid: You have already been in Madrid, but if you want to see more of it, you can still go back and enjoy the capital of Spain! Coaches leave every hour from the Bus Station and you can also go by train.
Zamora is the closest town to Salamanca (45 minutes). There you can see their Plaza Mayor, Cathedral, La Calle de las Tres Cruces and its 24 Romanesque churches of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
Ciudad Rodrigo is another good choice; it is a Cathedral village between Salamanca and Portugal.
Avila: Located between Salamanca and Madrid, Avila is well known for its marvellous medieval walls surrounding the town. The train is a good option to get to Avila.
Cáceres is in Extremadura. The city was founded by the Romans in 25 BC. The walls contain a perfect medieval town setting with no outward signs of modernity, for which reason many films have been shot there.
Oporto is Portugal's second city and capital of the Norte region. One of Portugal's most internationally famous products is Port wine. Porto is home to a number of dishes from traditional Portuguese cuisine.
Trip to Segovia
The city of Segovia, like Salamanca, has been declared by the UNESCO division of the United Nations as belonging to the “Heritage of Mankind.” The three most representative monuments of Segovia are the Acueduct, the Cathedral and the Alcázar Castle.
The Acueduct – This symbol of the city of Segovia was built around
50 BC by the Romans to transport water from the Sierra de
Guadarrama up the hill to the capital. The two tiers of 163 arches,
which run for two-thirds a mile and reach their greatest height of
95 feet in the Plaza del Azoguejo, are built of massive blocks of
granite, and no mortar was used to hold it all together. Amazing to
think that it was still used up until recently!
The Alcázar – This castle was used as a royal residence during the 15th
century. There’s a breathtaking view of Segovia from the top of
the torre de Juan II (it’s a climb of 156 stairs).
The Cathedral – This monument was built during the Renaissance and is of gothic style. It’s similar to Salamanca’s New Cathedral, as it was built by the same architect, Gil de Ontañon. Dramatic 17th century Brussels tapestries are displayed, most of them designed by Rubens.
La Granja – In the 18th century the Reyes Borbones had this palace
and gardens built to escape the heat of their habitual residence
in Madrid. Located 12 kms outside of Segovia in the Sierra de
Guadarrama, the style of the gardens imitates the French
Versailles. The palace overlooks the splendid gardens that stretch
to the horizon past a series of fountains that provide about the
best waterworks display you’ll ever see – BUT the fountains only run
on certain weekends in the spring and summer.
Tapas
Tapas are essentially snacks. In many regions of Spain they are often included in the price of drinks (beer, wine, not soft drinks or spirits) served in bars. In this case, they can amount to as little as a few olives, a piece of cheese, or something more substantial like a pork stew. Bigger portions that are ordered to make up part of a meal are called raciones.
Tapa means "cover" in Spanish. While there exist various explanations for the etymology of tapa, a commonly cited explanation is that an item, be it bread or a flat card, etc., which would often be placed on top of a drink to protect it from fruit flies; at some point it became a habit to top this "cover" with a snack. Equally popular is the theory that it "covered" the appetite between finishing work and eating the evening meal, usually sometime after 10pm.
In the northern Spanish city of León, and in parts of southern Spain (Andalucía), when you go to a bar and order a drink, you get a tapa for free. This happens mostly in the province of Jaén, Granada and Córdoba, but it is not very common in the rest of Andalusia, where you have to pay for both the drink and the tapa. They are also called pinchos/pintxos, because many of them have a pincho, or toothpick through them. This is used to keep whatever the snack is made of from falling off the bread it has been attached to. Another name for them is banderillas (diminutive of bandera "flag"), in part because some of them resemble the colorful skewers used in bullfighting.
It is very common for a bar or a small local restaurant to have 6-8 different kinds of tapas in warming trays with glass partitions covering the food. They are often very strongly flavored with garlic, chillis or paprika, and sometimes swimming in olive oil. Often one or more of the choices is seafood or mariscos, often including anchovies, sardines or mackerel in olive oil or squid or others in a tomato based sauce, sometimes with the addition of red or green peppers or other seasoning. It is rare to see a tapas selection not include one or more types of olives, such as manzanilla or arbequina olives. One or more types of bread are usually available to eat with any of the sauce-based tapas.
Common tapas include:
- Chorizo al vino - Chorizo sausage slowly cooked in wine.
- Rajo - Pork meat seasoned with garlic and parsley.
- Zorza - Rajo with added paprika.
- Queso con anchoas - Castilla cured cheese with anchovies on top.
- Ensaladilla - Mixed boiled vegetables with tuna, olives and mayonnaise.
- Tortilla - De patata (potatoes) or paisana (mixed vegetables and chorizo).
- Allioli - Very strong garlic paste, sometimes simply garlic mayonnaise, served on bread.
Links with lots more info about Tapas: www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/spain/tapas.htm www.arrakis.es/~jols/tapas/index2.html
Salamanca in the News!
The Washington Post recently featured an article, titled "In lively Salamanca, Spain, even the architecture is animated," about the art and beauty of Salamanca. To read the article, visit www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/25/AR2010022505166.html.
Intercambios!
An intercambio is a language
exchange. A Spanish student trying to learn English gets together with
you and both of you take turns speaking in each other’s language to
practice and gain fluency! You can meet with an intercambio to go
tapa-hopping or to an exhibit or out for coffee. It’s fun to have more
than one, too! It’s that simple… and it's free!
Notes about the Intercambio information exchange:
- We will introduce you to Spanish students studying English (former students of Carlos Cabrera) and you will need to exchange phone numbers and/or emails with them to arrange to meet at another time... so know your cell phone number!
- You might want to write their phone numbers down the old fashioned way - with pen and paper - because we've had students lose their cell phones and their intercambio phone numbers with it!
- You should try to get a couple of different phone numbers at our meeting. Don't feel that an intercambio is "taken" because they already have another AIFS student's phone number... you can have several intercambios just like you have several friends!
- Don't come too late as this little get-together is only to exchange phone numbers and will not last that long!
Thanksgiving in Salamanca
On Thursday, November 26, AIFS held a Thanksgiving dinner for students in the restaurant of the Hotel Catalonia Salamanca Plazaa. A photo of the AIFS group at Thanksgiving dinner was published in the Salamanca newspaper La Gaceta!
AIFS Students in the News
After an excursion to a bull ring, some AIFS students were featured in the local newspaper with the following caption (translated):
Upon leaving the bull ring we were informed that four Gracigrande
bulls did not pass their inspection for lack of charm. Here is a
solution: pure charm!
Cultural Activities
Jeronimus Tower
AIFS would like to invite all of you to go up the Jeronimus tower of the New Cathedral – where the view is gorgeous! Remember that Salamanca has TWO cathedrals and that is very unique! Viewing it from above is a spectacle. (So bring your cameras!) We will meet at the base of the tower with the clock (the one you see when walking on the Calle Rua Mayor) of the New Cathedral.
Spanish Cooking Session
We will meet you at 8:05 pm under the clock in the Plaza Mayor. You will *watch* how to prepare the following things: Paella, Gazpacho, Tortilla Española y Sangría. After everything has been prepared, you get to eat it! Yum! (This activity is free.)
Chocolate con Churros!
The weather will MOST LIKELY turn chilly soon so AIFS would like to invite you to do something really Spanish: go out for chocolate con churros!!
Bring us the receipt (up to 6 euros per person) and we will reimburse you for it in the office!
Here are a few suggestions of where to go (though there are many others):
* VALOR - on Calle Libreros
* NOVELTY - in the Plaza Mayor
* LAS TORRES - in the Plaza Mayor
AIFS Fall 2009 Memory Book
Each semester AIFSers put together a type of “memory book” where everyone contributes a poem, a story, a drawing, or anything they’d like. We also include a list of everyone’s home/permanent address. We need contributions and the more, the better! Here is an example from a past AIFS student who wrote about her study abroad experience.
Amy D’Amore (Providence College)
I lived across the street from a church that was built in the 12th century. I took a class in the faculty of a convent where Christopher Columbus once lived and studied. I opened, with my own hands, a trunk that Queen Elizabeth used for traveling in 1477. I ate paella. I drank calimocho. I froze my toosh off at a Real Madrid game. I made myself a warm cup of Cola Cao. I watched a couple of flamenco performances. I saw RHCP in a bull ring. I bought beer from a vending machine. I met under the clock. I took a seista. I took some photos. I took another siesta. I bought an umbrella at the Rastro. I bargained for it. I went for tapas. I gave everyone I met dos besos. I swam in the Mediterranean. I played a lot of futbolín. I had tea in an Arabian tetería. I went down to Morocco for a day to buy some bongos. I wrote in my journal. I sent postcards home. I studied in a coffee shop. I stood six inches away from a Picasso (how many centimeters is that?) I saw a demonstration in honor of Francisco Franco. I held a book that was written over 500 years ago. I bought castañas. I converted dollars to pesetas and Fahrenheit to Celsius. I learned the theme song for Compañeros. I was upset when they changed it. I stayed in a hostel with no heat. I danced with a live salsa band. I visited palaces. I had a glass of wine in the Plaza Mayor. I had a bag lunch at the top of a castle. I felt at home in Salamanca. I experienced a sense of the past. I absorbed culture through every pore in my body. I will always love Spain.
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