Summer's Here!

    

Raindrops on the window pane

I'm getting settled into the life of a college student, or at least my version of college life (from grocery shopping and preparing my own food to snoozing my alarm as much as feasibly possible). It's nice to also feel my language skills getting settled back in. Some of the vocabulary of different subjects is still going over my head, like electrophysics and period specific history jargon to some extent, but I am finding my classes very interesting and feel like I'm already learning a lot.

Interestingly enough the classroom environment almost strikes me as being similar to my experience with the middle school system in the US. The students all seem exceptionally bright and even very intellectual in what they talk about but there are a lot of loud conversations going on between students sitting on desks and sometimes a lot of static noise from conversations going on throughout the lectures. My classes are all somewhat different in this regard but as a generalization it has a "middle school" quality difficult to precisely describe. It's interesting to get this perspective on a system that strikes me as being in some ways very similar to my background and in some ways distinctly different.

For the last week or so the temperatures have been hanging around the sixties and nearly into the seventies (twenties in Celsius), sometimes dropping near freezing at night. Looking at the online forecast there are nothing but golden yellow suns for the next week straight and I can't help feeling a little bit like it's already summer.

   

Birds out my window

I've also been getting in touch with some people and thinking about my travel plans for this summer. It's a little preliminary I know but I'm just stoked on life and it's nice to think about seeing so many new things and seeing people again under different circumstances. At the moment one idea that has popped into my head is to fly or train or bus to Barcelona and then make my way west and south, maybe stopping along the way to see an exchange student friend of mine, ending up in Morocco if time permits.

Thanks for reading!

Tully

Late Once Again...

   

Cathedral of Salamanca at night

It's been a few weeks now and I finally have my schedule in order and am starting to have a better impression of what my semester will be like. Honestly, a couple of the classes I'm taking may be a bit over my head, particularly in Spanish but I'm trying to approach this semester more as simply a learning experience because I think it is going to be easier to handle it and live on my own if I'm not under too much pressure and stress. That being said, I'm looking forward to this semester and I will be making my best effort to be as successful and learn as much as I can.

 

Cathedral of Salamanca

The other day I went out to shop for some groceries that didn't seem to be available at local stores. It wasn't more than a few mile walk to get across the river to a couple larger supermarkets which were located literally next door to one another, throwing a bit of a loop in the idea of competition. To give an idea of setting, so far I've experienced an interesting variety of weather here. Anything from blue sunny skies and summery temperatures to patchy clouds dropping gentle motes of snow to get caught on a piercing, wintry wind. My grocery outing was characterized by a third type of weather much more closely resembling the dreary, fairly temperate, drizzle of the American Pacific Northwest. Being a gluten free vegetarian there is still a surprising selection of options for me here in the grocery stores. In a local one just a couple blocks away there is actually a small gluten free section and I was able to find things like gluten free flours and sauces during my visit to the larger supermarkets.

A look across the center of town

Although nothing like the beach towns of Mexico or Thailand, Salamanca definitely has the air of being a tourist town, not surprising considering the history and culture that I have already experienced in the span of a mere three weeks. Tour groups can be seen fairly frequently making their way through the historic part of town surrounding the university. With this being said, it is interesting to experience this less from the perspective of another tourist, as I have for much of my other travels, and more as a resident student.

Thanks for reading!

-Tully

Bridge over the river running through Salamanca

Spain

The plane from Dallas-Fort Worth to Madrid

Update number three! I am writing this from my dorm room in Salamanca, Spain. My classes start this Monday, in three days. I am finishing up my second full day in Spain and so far it has already been a wonderful experience. A little stressful at times and definitely a transition but Salamanca is a truly beautiful place. My Spanish is still warming up but I'm sure it will soon get into gear.

 

Cranes overlooking Salamanca

Starlings in the sky in Salamanca

There is a lot of beautiful architecture around and the center of town is very European with winding pedestrian streets and the few motor streets primarily driven by small cars many of who's logos aren't immediately recognizable to the average American. The University of Salamanca itself is approaching its 800 year anniversary and it is visible in many of the building façades looking out onto cobblestone alleys and courtyards. Although I have not yet really taken my camera out with me, the main plaza is gorgeous, as are many of the other plazas and historic buildings sprawled across town. There is, however, a fair amount of restoration going on and some buildings are shrouded in netting and scaffolding. My first full day here was comprised primarily, after taking care of some university arrangements, of wandering the enchanting streets and hidden alcoves and plazas as a few snow flakes fluttered down through the sky between the patches of blue.

  

The view from my window in Salamanca

As a bird nerd I've been enjoying seeing some "exotic" species. There is a nesting colony of white storks on the roof of a historic building in town and I have seen various locally common birds from black redstarts to a European robin and various others.

So far I cannot complain. Beautiful weather, lovely people and an enchanting city have made my future prospects look promising.

Thanks for reading!

-Tully

Another Update, Finally...

   

Squamish, BC

Far from being a weekly update I wanted to finally fill everyone in on where I am at. I am registered for classes in Spain (Physics II, Discrete Math. & Optimization, Statistics and History II) and leave the day after tomorrow. Thankfully I will have a few days to get settled in before classes start once I get there. Hopefully I will soon be including some photos of beautiful Spanish architecture, cityscapes and whatever else I can find.

This past Thursday I returned from a visit to the Pacific Northwest to tour a couple colleges (University of Puget Sound and Quest University Canada). Unseasonably beautiful weather for the majority of the trip made the experience even more enjoyable.

Bridge outside of  Vancouver

I will be doing my best to be more regular about my updates, whether they are simply pictures or if there is anything to report.

Thanks for reading!

-Tully

My Blog & Spain

I will be flying to Spain in less than a month. I will be spending the semester there studying at the University of Salamanca. I will be trying to keep this Blog updated at least weekly with photos and anecdotes from my time in Spain and may very well continue it during my future travels.

40 degrees and sunny in Fort Collins

In recent news, registration for my classes in Spain opens in about five days. Several people have asked me if I'm excited or nervous but in many ways I am neither of those things. Of course I am looking forward to what will undoubtedly be an incredible experience but it simply seems like a logical continuation of my life up to this point.

For anyone interested in studying abroad, whether it be in Spain or not, I would warn you of the bureaucracy involved. Although once the paperwork was submitted the process went surprisingly quickly, visa application was continually more and more convoluted along the way, with new requirements popping up unexpectedly sometimes weekly. Tourism in Europe is generally fairly straight forward as a US citizen but work, study or more permanent residence can be a very complicated and frustrating process.

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions or want me to include anything in particular in my future posts.

Thanks for reading!

-Tully