David: Spain Trip - Day 11

Inside the cathedral in Salamanca

Sorry everyone, but I didn't take many pictures today. I'll try to explain everything with the few pics I have though.

To start, we walked around downtown Salamanca and checked out the cathedral, some of the monuments, and the university. The tour was okay, but it was very windy and kind of cold this morning so it was kind of a distraction when we were outside. It seemed like we had stepped into our 50th cathedral while we've been on this trip too since I've seen or been in so many. Besides the cathedral, the monuments, and the quick stop outside of the university though, we stepped inside a cafe where we ate churros and drank hot chocolate. Definitely the highlight to my morning that's for sure.

Another picture inside the cathedral

After our morning festivities Manu, Connor, and myself, met up with a friend of mine who I met on a bus named, Kata. She's also here for an exchange program with a group of American students, but she'll be here until June... so she'll definitely be 10 times better at Spanish by the time she leaves compared to me haha. All of us met in Plaza Mayor and went to a bar for a little bit. We hung out and talked and just chatted about whatever happened to come up. We also started the beginning celebrations for Connor's 18th birthday. After the bar Manu, Connor, and myself had to head to our friend Fermin's house who was having people over. Everyone from the exchange was there and once again I ate way too much to handle. It's been such a struggle over here when it comes to food haha.

The birthday boy Connor enjoying his 18th

After Fermin's Manu and myself went downtown to meet up with Kata again for a quick second. We were only able to walk around for a few minutes before we had to go though. We ran home... and by the way TKFV readers I recommend you never run in two jackets, a t-shirt, skinny jeans, semi dress shoes, and a beanie in low 50 degree weather. I felt like asthma when I got back. And since I still feel like asthma I'm going to get some sleep. I've never been so tired in my life haha. Goodnight!

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David: Spain Trip - Day 7

The Americans at Pedro Nieto's ham factory

Today, Manu's sister, Claudia, accidentally set the alarm an hour earlier than we were supposed to get up... 6 o' clock. Manu woke me up at 6:40 after he was done getting ready thinking it was 7:40 and told me to hurry up, so without thinking I threw on some clothes and right as I was about to brush my teeth my alarm went off telling me it was 6:40... A great start to the day. Luckily I had plenty of time to get ready today though haha. 

When we got to the school, all of the American students had a class for one hour about Salamanca and the districts surrounding it. Since I got up so early today I was a little tired, so I had a little trouble keeping my eyes open. Plus it felt like that class was taking forever. After the class we got on a 45 minute bus ride, where I was able to sleep for awhile, and arrived at our friend Luis' family ham factory, Pedro Nieto (also the name of Luis' dad) in Guijuelo. We had a long tour around the factory and learned the whole process of what goes through making the meat ready to sell and eat. It takes almost 3 years for one single ham to be ready. After our tour we had some food that was prepared for us and then went to Candelario, a village about 20 minutes down the road.

Some ham and I

The meal prepared for us after the tour

Chorizo

Ham

Matt

Fermin

In Candelario we just walked around and ate lunch. Nothing too special, but we enjoyed the warm weather and the scenery that it had to offer us.

After Candelario we went back to the school to get picked up and Manu and myself went downtown to meet up with Luis, Connor, and our friends, Becca and Beth. We finished the day just hanging out in a bar downtown chatting and having a good time. We had other things planned, but unfortunately those plans didn't work out. Hopefully tomorrow everything will go a little more smooth. But for now I am extremely sleepy so I'm off to bed. Ciao!

Connor & Manu

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