When Spain wins the EuroCup, it´s like the Jayhawks winning the NCAA tournament...

Hi Guys,

I forgot to tell you that yesterday on the drive to Salamanca, a rock from a passing truck smashed the outside window next to Tammy. Luckily there were two panes of glass, because it instantly spider-webbed, then started to break off. It made a huge noise like a gunshot, so I immediately thought of the movie “Babel.” It was pretty strange.

It is a lot harder to get around in Salamanca than in Madrid, even though the population is only 160,000 compared to almost 4 million. The streets don’t run straight, and change names almost every block. If you get even one block over, it’s super easy to get lost. We watched Spain in the Eurocup in the Plaza (they won 2-0) and ran around Salamanca with all the Spaniards celebrating afterwards. Kelsey and I bought wine for only 3.60 euros and sandwiches for dinner. I was still pretty full from that amazing lunch. I realized today too that the Plaza de Mayor is the setting for the beginning of Vantage Point.

After the game I went back to the hotel with Mel and Kelsey. We got lost of course and had to ask for directions 3 times. We actually made an entire circle before we oriented ourselves, but we came back to the room to drink a little wine and relax before going out. We were so busy chatting that we forgot all about celebrating the victory until 3:30 AM. It was actually a really deep conversation about religion, which didn´t end until 5 AM. Most of the girls on this trip are a bunch of whiny, spoiled sorority girls, so I don´t know what we would all do without each other. They are rude to the Spaniards, complain constantly, and think that everyone conform to their American ideas of life. I am embarassed that they are representing the U.S. to these people. We didn´t start hanging out with Mel until yesterday, but we are starting to form our own little circle of friends within the entire group.

Today we did a walking tour of Salamanca. We saw the church of Jerónimos (amazing, I will upload video later), the Ursula monastery, and the University of Salamanca. The church was built in the 1300s and has the forearm of a martyr for its relic. There are tombs below the floors, and we were able to sit in the same chapel used by monks and priests more than 800 years ago. The University is the oldest in Spain as it was founded in the 1200s. There is red writing all over the walls in Latin from victorious bullfighters who mixed the bull´s blood with olive oil for paint. Pretty crazy stuff! We leave for Burgos tomorrow morning. I uploaded some pictures to the other blogs if you want to check those out.

Hasta luego,

Becca