Foreign families

Salamanca, Spain - Home of the oldest university in the country, capital city to the region of Castile and Leon, and definitely a place to forget yourself, has some of the most evocative and inspirational architecture in Spain, and a nightlife that will make you flip. I had the pleasure of a weekend experience in the capital city while visiting my cousin Emily.

You have two options in reaching Salamanca from Logroño: One is taking a bus to Burgos, then catching an alternate one from there (different ticket as well) towards Salamanca, then repeating this process to return. The second is to take a train straight from Logroño to Salamanca that leaves you with more money in your pocket, less chaotic Burgos bus station drama, and less travel time. You get three guesses and the first two don't count regarding which form of transportation I took. The suns' last rays were lost before I arrived in Salamanca.

                                                                                                                                                                                         tapas

I utilized my new account on Couch Surfing to establish housing for the weekend, but this was a royal mixup that was out of my hands the entire time. However, I made good use of the contacts and always had a bed to sleep in, which was all I could have asked for. The first night, me, Emily, and her friend Leah hit up the most bangingest tapas for super duper cheapworld stylez dinero, then went to cloud 9 (metaphorically speaking). I slept on a cushion-bed-thing on the floor of a Brazilian guy named Almir's room, and had to wait about 30 minutes with Emily and her friend Leah for him to get to his house in the freezing cold so I could get in, but the cold was beyond my senses at that point. What led to my absence of senses were the the phenomenally low prices to do awful, horrible things such as drink as much beer or liquor you want  for 4€ or a similar bewildering price, and the succession of such activities at all bars in the city. The second night I slept in a hotel/hostel thing that Emily friggin paid for out of the blue because she felt bad that I was sleeping on floors of random peoples' places, this was actually my plan and I wasn't too happy about the change, but whatever. Since Emily got me the hotel, I did not sleep in the house of  a Spanish girl named Sara, but instead attended a lunch at her hippy friends' house during the day. It was a spectacular feast with three random girls who were fabulously good company, and more open than sesame. The third night I did not sleep, but rather went out until my train left at 6 a.m., slept on the train, and then collapsed into my bed when I got back to Logroño.
                               Me and Em                                            

                                                   Almir and myself

In between the nights, I had the pleasure of seeing a tatoo convention, the beautiful cathedral, university, casa de conchas, roman bridge, and plaza mayor. The 18th century plaza mayor was amazing during both day and night, and I even saw it in the snow during my last night there. The 16th century cathedral was monstrous and gothically decorated with flying buttresses and ornamental drip castle deluxe fantasy spires. The university had a beautiful facade with a tiny frog on a skull that apparently symbolizes good luck for Salamancans. The casa de conchas is something that I just completely didn't read about, but here is my guess about its significance: since the shell (concha) is used to represent the Camino de Santiago here in Spain, I believe this house to have been a monastery used to house and teach those on the righteous path. How's that sound? The Roman Bridge was long and rocky, as was made of rocks. The tattoo convention stained my mind with ideas and images possibly suitable for my body, but none were realized.
Cathedral                                                                                                                                                                      Casa de Conchas

                                                Plaza Mayor
                                          Tattoo Convention

birdland

^

old friends

Friends Conor Mchugh and Dave Mchugh came from the U.S., while Lily Mchugh came from the Andalusian city of Sevilla where she studies, so we had a grand time gallivanting around the town and touring the night scene on my last night. I'd not seen close friends such as these since Jack came and visited in late 2009, and it was really a treat to give a good hug to those close to me. Emilys' friend Kenya, who was hilarious and from Greensboro, had her brother and parents to visit, so the company was plenty and merry. Royal blue skies dotted with clouds during the day, and bone-cutting cold at night made Salamanca all the more appetizing somehow. We went to cool bars like Birdland - a jazz bar dedicated to Birdland Jazz Bar in NYC, where famous musicians like Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie played, parks all over the city, and I also met Emily's host family. We had a finger-lickin'-good-yall lunch with them, and I later listened to the family dispute over family things awkwardly from the the couch. I would love to return sometime to Salamanca, it was a city to remember (or not)

Emily's host family

Lose yourself there soon.

*Listening to : Up against the wall - Peter, Bjorn and John