Random Musings #1

The last few days haven't been terribly exciting so this post is just my observations so far and some thoughts (plus really random pictures) :)

• In Spain, Tuenti (pronounced like twenty) is the popular social networking site. Facebook is more for international people.

• There are a lot of roundabouts in Salamanca. Everywhere.

Can someone tell me if they've seen this in Canada??

• This "siesta" business can be frustrating. The Spanish siesta is a time of day, generally somewhere between 2 and 5 in the afternoon, when businesses, stores, government offices, etc., close up shop and head home for lunch. So for about 3 hours every day, things are closed. Places like convenience stores and some restaurants stay open, but most take a siesta for an hour or two earlier in the day, after breakfast. This whole process can be really frustrating when you have class from 12-2, so when you finish class everything is closed. Then class starts again from 4 or 5 until 8 or 9, when things close again for the night. And then everywhere is closed again on Sunday. Except for that one supermarket, 30 mins away. I guess it will take some time to get used to, and it seems the Spanish highly value their late afternoon lunch time, but to most of us international students it is just a hassle.

• Skinny jeans are the fashion. No flared jeans up in this place, it seems. Oh, and sweatpants are a no.

• Backpacks don't seem as popular here as they would on campuses in Canada. Most girls just carry small bags and either hold their books in their hand, or have bags just big enough to carry them. But then again, the use of textbooks don't seem that popular either (at least in my faculty).

• Mid-calf leather boots = all the rage. Gotta get me a pair.

• Regular lined paper is realllllly hard to find. Most of the notebooks or loose leaf papers here used grid sheets, like how what we would use for math. The only lined notebook I have been able to find so far looks like the picture on the left (and it is a bit confusing trying to figure out how to write on it).

• Facial piercings are EXTREMELY common here. Not that they are uncommon in Canada, but they are in abundance in Salamanca. The most frequently seen would be regular nose piercings, the bull nose piercings and lip piercings. Another interesting thing is that the nose jewelry for a regular piercing is a bit different. I tried to find a picture on google but all the pictures that were coming up were grossing me out. Imagine a lip piercing, in a nose. Hopefully that helps...


• English music is everywhere. I barely hear Spanish music when I'm in a store or restaurant. A friend and I were in a fifty's type diner and they had a classic 90s channel on the television that played such good songs. We were just singing along the whole meal.

• 9 McNuggets is an option. For only 3.50 euros! (which is 4.51 Canadian as of today.) And McFlurries are only 2.50 euros! (But I don't really like ice cream. I'm a gelato sort of girl - and that is in abundance)

• Cartons of orange juice on sale for 0.63 euros!! I've been drinking orange juice like a mad woman. It's brilliant. 
 

• It is hard to be a vegetarian in Spain. For example, at a Chinese restaurant the other day, I ordered a spring roll. First of all, this was not some small, dainty spring roll I'm used to. This thing was big - like 3 in one and really fried. And lo and behold when I start eating it, I discover there is ground beef inside! Ground beef in a spring roll!?!?! Meat is everywhere. Most days at meals on res, I don't even know what exactly I'm eating but I eat it. I paid for it. Might as well. 

The Spring Roll

The Roman Bridge in town

On the way to school (it's not usually so vivid - it is just the camera setting)

That's all for now!