Here I am no longer a teenager, having spent my 20th birthday in Spain. I couldn't have asked for a better day though. Here are some of the highlights: Sunny and 45 degrees, mid-day coffee with friends, an afternoon run (which turned out to be 5 miles--about 3 more miles than I'd hoped since I haven't ran in about 3 months. Also, apparently seeing a person in shorts when it's 40 degrees out is unheard of because I had plenty of stares and people shouting things like, "Hombre, hace frio!" = "man, it's cold out!"), anyways, other birthday events included a cerveca with the only two guys in our program, and a 3 course dinner with all of my friends. Overall, I had a great time and am glad I got to spend my birthday in Spain with my new friends (who apparently can't even pose for a picture).
I also spent the last weekend in Madrid where I met up with Isaac. It was my first time traveling alone and so I had a few nerves. But it all ended up going smoothly, thanks to the luck I had by choosing the 2 correct metro train directions (I had no clue how the metro system worked--even in the US).
Ike and I wandered around Madrid and on Saturday we took a tour of the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, home of the Real Madrid futbol team. It was a pretty amazing stadium and really cool being on the field. I don't know the first thing about "soccer" but just by being in that stadium you get a sense of how important "soccer" is to Spain and how much tradition is there. I guess I'll have to learn a little about futbol.
We also went to El Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia where they have some of the famous artworks of more modern artists like Picasso, Dali, etc. I really enjoyed this museum just because a lot of the surrealism was so radical and different and also the fact that a lot of the art spoke to the political and social aspects of 20th century Spain. I was really looking forward to seeing Picasso's Guernica in person, and it was as amazing as I thought it would be. I even got to sneak a photo by waiting until the 3 guards were off preventing other people from taking photos (It was actually kind of a rush, I was nervous). 
Ike and I were walking around El Retiro (I like to call it the central park of Madrid) and were walking by the pond and had to stop and listen to these kids. They were very intrigued by the fish in the pond and we enjoyed listening to their spanish phrases like "Eso es el mas grande de todo el mundo!"
Ike and I then went to a nice restaurant and had some paella, and then did some shopping and hung out the rest of the night. Overall it was a very enjoyable trip and I think a good "warm-up" for some of my bigger trips coming up.
Otherwise I've still been enjoying every minute of living in Salamanca. I really have come to like the city and the university.
And I guess the time has also come for many students to begin planning trips. I feel a little overwhelmed with everyone trying to plan different trips on different dates and everyone asking where I'm planning on going. I have a slight idea but at this point, I can't say where I'll be headed in the next few months besides the planned trips with our program.
What I do know is that this weekend I'm heading to a city very close to Salamanca with about 50,000 people called Avila. It's known for it's medievil city walls, which are absolutely beautiful. It should be a good day trip for Saturday.
In two weekends I'm planning to travel to Porto, Portugal with 5 friends. Porto is the second largest city in Portugal and is internationally known for its production of "port wine". The planning process is still in the beginning stages but plane tickets have been purchased--I'm pumped!
That is all for now.
I miss you all,
Nico
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