I flew from the Madeiras back to Porto, where I had two nights before heading over to Salamanca where I'll spend just over two weeks. I've been suffering a bit from a gimpy groin pull (what else?!!) so I stayed close to my Porto hotel and caught up on old episodes of Lewis and Vera on TV. Luckily few shows are dubbed here, unlike Spain, just subtitled, so I had quite the number of crime dramas to choose from! I've no idea what church that is pictured above but it was right outside my Metro station and it's the only picture I took in Porto!
There isn't a direct way to get to Salamanca from Porto, the easiest was a one transfer bus ride: Porto-Viseu, Portugal; Viseu-Salamanca. If any of you have taken a long-distance bus ride in Europe, I'm sure you'll agree that it is no hardship - comfy chairs, wifi on board, toilet (if you dare), and my 2nd leg even included a free 3-course buffet lunch! No kidding! We pulled into gas station/rest stop and the driver passed out vouchers and said we'd be here 40 minutes. That seemed like an outrageously long bathroom break but it turned out the voucher was for a meal so we all trooped off, stood in line and had a nice repast. Not bad for 40€.
The 'why' re: spending 2 weeks in Salamanca is that I registered for a Spanish Immersion language class. I've been taking a once-weekly class during the winter and I thought I'd try to keep up with it, if not improve it and Salamanca apparently has one of the more neutral accents in Spain. I opted to share an apartment with other students but after being shown my apartment I'm not so sure that was necessarily the best choice. There's 5 of us altogether, 3 are full-time university students (female), and the other is a Asian-Russian male with one week left at my Spanish school who seems to not want to do his share of cleaning. Not that I could tell that anyone cleaned at all.... At least my room was spotless, if basic.
After a run to the grocery store I tackled the kitchen counters, cabinets and sink and my shelf in the fridge; then my shared bathroom (with Fei, the Asian guy). I'll leave the living room to the girls, they've been here almost a year and if that's how they want to live; "hay no problema", I've lots of room in my little room.
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