My Return to Spain
In the spring of 2003, I received a letter from the Spanish Embassy in Washington DC informing me that I had been accepted to the Master's program in Spanish Language and Culture of the University of Salamanca. It was a special Master's program for Spanish Language teachers as well as Teachers in Spanish Bilingual Programs from Grades K to 12 in the United States and Canada.
I had traveled to Salamanca twice before while I was living in Madrid back in the late eighties. Had I been told that I would one day be a graduate of Spain's most prestigious university, I would have laughed and brushed it off. It all seemed so surreal.
Thanks to Marc's encouragement and moral support, I did pursue my application and traveled back to Spain to begin the course's first phase in the summer of 2003. I must say, on the first day of school, I honestly asked myself what I was doing in the program given that 99% of my classmates were from Latin America who had Literature backgrounds. Mine was Spanish language and culture. I didn't doubt my knowledge of Spanish as I spoke the language well. It was my knowledge of Spanish Literature which was practically NIL.
During this summer, I studied liked I had never studied before. I only slept five hours a night all because of the novels I had to finish reading before our following day's classes. It was then I had to immerse myself in the different literary movements. I must confess, I enjoyed every minute I spent in Salamanca that summer despite how tired and haggard I looked towards the program's end. It was a dream come true. I know it would not have been possible without the help and support of my parents right when I began studying Spanish in Ateneo and the Almighty, of course.
Here I am back in Salamanca's Plaza Mayor. I must say, I was quite homesick for home, San Francisco, at the beginning of my stay. I didn't know anybody yet in school and I missed walking everywhere with Marc. We do that all the time in San Francisco, you know.
By the course's end in August, Marc joined me in Salamanca. It was Marc's first visit to Spain and I was more than happy to tour him around the country which was once my home for over three years from the late eighties to the early nineties.
Marc at the beautiful Plaza Mayor. This is a must see in this central Spanish city especially at night. Besides the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, the one in Salamanca is my other favorite. It is all lit and pretty at night.
Another view of Salamanca's Plaza Mayor. This place by the way gets quite full of people at night especially during the weekend.
The TUNA, a male only singing group which sang Spanish classical songs and music.
The city's main drag replete with local and foreign tourists. Salamanca is a university town and it is the place many American college students go to in the summer to study Spanish. While I am very partial to the Spanish spoken in Madrid, Salamanca's Castillian is said to be THE Castillian to learn and speak. IT is classic, as many people would say.
My professors were mainly from Salamanca, and they did speak Spanish a bit differently from the rest of Spain. The LL which in Madrid and the rest of Spain is pronounced like the Y, in Salamanca, it is pronounced like LY.
The Cathedral of Salamanca
An astronaut on the façade of the Cathedral of Salamanca
A gargoyle eating an ice cream cone on the façade of the Cathedral of Salamanca
El Palacio de Anaya, a site owned by the University of Salamanca. This is where I had Spanish language and culture classes during the first phase of my Masters studies.
The Cathedral of Salamanca was just a hop and skip away from the Anaya Palace where my classes took place.
Another view of the Cathedral of Salamanca in a different light
The main façade of the original and main building of the University of Salamanca
El Convento de San Esteban
A view of one of the intricately decorated entrances of the Cathedral of Salamanca
Another view of the same side of the cathedral
Two of the cathedral's towers
Standing next to the Cathedral of Salamanca
Casa de Lys, a museum
The Roman Bridge
A view of the Palacio de Anaya one late summer afternoon. I actually took this picture while I was on my way back to the dorm after the closing ceremonies of my master's program's first phase last 2003.
At Plaza de Anaya after attending the closing ceremonies of the first phase of our Masters studies at Spain's most prestigious university
My dorm room. It's incredible how a small room can actually fit two single beds. My tiny dorm room even had its own on suite bathroom and shower.
El Colegio Fonseca