Salamanca
My first ever trip on my own, to Spain. A language course, so I could communicate with the locals as well. When I left home I was nervous, excited and also curious. Curious because I didn't know how it would all turn out, was I gonna miss home or have the time of my life?
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A lot of preparation went into this trip. Especially because one week before I left I turned 18, so all the papers for my trip needed to be fixed within a week. I was happy when we succeeded to do that.
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On 16 July 2017 it was time for me to leave The Netherlands and go to Spain. The evening before, on Saturday, I packed my bags and early in the morning the next day I went to the airport. My parents dropped me off, said goodbye and I was all alone untill I would arrive in my apartment and meet my housemates. I knew where I needed to go on Schiphol Airport because I had been there some times before and with the signs it was easy to find.
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After a flight of three hours the plane thouched down in Madrid. That wasn't the end of my trip, from there I needed to take the bus to Salamanca, a two and a half hour drive. At home, when I booked my trip, I also included a transfer from the airport to my apartment which meant that I would be picked up and brought to the busstation so I didn't have to figure it all out myself. The busride to Salamanca was really nice because I had Netflix and could sleep a bit.
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When I arrived in Salamanca someone was waiting for me to pick me up and bring me to my apartment. It was a 10 minute drive with the taxi. At that moment I didn't know any Spanish so it was hard to communicate with the driver but when I arrived at the right place he showed me where I needed to go and gave me the keys of my room. I unpacked and got to know one of my housemates, from China. She showed me the supermarket which was near. I went to bed early to prepare for the next day, my first day of school.
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The next morning I was expected at school at 8:00 to do a test, but because I didn't know any Spanish I automatically started at level A1. The walk to school was pretty nice, I passed Plaza Mayor and the sun was already shining bright. My classmates were really nice, they were also Dutch and one of them was British. During the upcoming weeks the class changed every week because of new people arriving and going. Throughout the course I met a lot of new people from all over the world. I joined a cooking class to see more people from school and have some fun.
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In my free time I loved to walk around and explore the city, meet new
people and study Spanish. Especially at Salamanca Coffee I met a lot
of students who came there to study and meet up. One day I decided
to go to the old stadium of the Football Club of Salamanca. It was an
hour walk but the road to the stadium was beautiful to see.
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During my stay my parents made a roadtrip through Spain and they would stay for a weekend when they were in Salamanca. We met and I took them to the best places in Spain and showed them my apartment. They showed their hotel and the view from there was beautiful. I went back there to take some pictures and to walk around.
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After five weeks it was time for me to leave on August 19. I did my final test on Friday and received my certificate the same day. I went to get some coffee for the last time with friends and went home to pack my bags. The next morning I went to the bus station to go to the airport. Luckily I already had my ticket for the bus because we fixed that when my parents were here. After a flight of again three hours, my parents and sister were waiting for me to pick me up and go home.
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In short, it was an amazing experience for me and I've made memories that I will never forget. Three things I will also remember were the music group I met at a restaurant and invited me to come to their perfomance, a local who invited me to a traditional dance at Plaza Mayor and a music group who performed in front of The Irish Theatre. Those traditional things made my trip special!
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I made a short video of my trip which you can check out:
