Happy December everyone! I am in a very good mood, so please forgive me if I seem super exuberant. As it is after Thanksgiving (more on that in a moment), it is officially the holiday season, and I am so excited. I love all festive wintery things and Salamanca does it big- there are Christmas lights strung across almost every street in the city! It’s quite beautiful.
This Thanksgiving was my first without my family. Our program director had set up a dinner for us, but she kept issuing warnings: “This is the Spanish version- it’s not going to be like you’re used to. Please don’t have expectations, I don’t want you to be disappointed.” Naturally, I was a little worried. But our director completely tricked us! We sat down in the restaurant, and they brought out two glorious turkeys! And mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes, and really delicious gravy! And since no one else knew how, I got to carve the birds! (Maybe this is not exciting for y’all, but I was quite pleased; hence, the excessive use of exclamation points.) So although it was not the same as my usual feast, I did get to celebrate, and it tasted great.
Then, extra spectacular, my family arrived last weekend! Their stop in Salamanca was great because it reopened my eyes to the charm of my city. This is not to say that I had become immune to it, but seeing their complete appreciation of its beauty made me pause and really savor where I am. I know I’m guilty of doing this at Amherst too- when projects and finals are looming over my head, it’s easy to complain about the work and forget about how lucky I am and how stunning my surroundings are.
I’m really grateful that this reminder came when it did, because this weekend marks the 2-weeks-left point and I want to enjoy every moment to the fullest. The last 16 days are going to absolutely fly by and there are still so many things to do on my Salamanca bucket list. My friends and I are planning to cross off karaoke this coming Wednesday. I’m secretly hoping that there will be a Britney Spears in Crossroads “I Love Rock and Roll” moment. I’ll let y’all know how that goes.
I have to go because I’m on a high-speed train to Barcelona right now and we’re about to pull into the station. I’ll show you guys photos next week!