Last week, Tuesday to be exact, we went to Salamanca and Ávila on an excursíon. We were supposed to meet up at La Loba, which is this wolf statue right next to the Aquaducto. I was up and ready to go...it was just that my madre was not so enthusiastic about my having to leave so early in the morning. She was packing my lunch, and I had to wait to leave until she finished. If I was late, the bus would leave me, and I would have to find my own way to Salamanca...this didn't seem to bother her too much.
So, I finally grabbed my lunch and ran out the door. The bus ride took around two or so hours. We ALL slept. I feel like none of us have been getting enough sleep lately, and the siestas -well maybe this is just me- are not holding over too well.
When we got to Salamanca, our professors, Edu and Paco, were our personal tour guides. They know so much about the history of Spain and everything within it. It blows my mind. Maybe it's just because they are teachers...but they are really, really smart.
We visited a lot of old buildings and stuff in Salamanca, none of which really got my attention...the city is just big and open...nothing like Segovia. Maybe I am being partial. So, we went to the University of Salamanca...it is the oldest university in Spain...crazy! Salamanca is referred to as the city of students, because so many of the people in the city attend the university. Edu kept telling us some pretty crazy stories about Salamanca. Some of them are pretty awesome. Here are a few:
1. Salamanca used to be an all boys college back in the day, not to mention the oldest University in Spain. So...there was never fear of doing something in front of a girl that would embarrass someone...that being said...the bathrooms were kinda far from the class rooms...Edu says that the boys would just leave the classroom quickly, and go and pee on the walls in the hallway. (Don't forget this University is like ancient...now imagine peeing on the walls of something built by the Romans.) Then, they would run back to class. In an effort to stop this behavior, the administration began to have picture of Saints painted along these same walls, thinking that students would NOT pee on a Saint's face...I guess they thought wrong. The students would just try and scratch the paint of the walls so they didn't feel so badly about peeing on them.
2. In the winter, it gets really cold here. There was no heating systems back years ago to heat up the room before class. This is not to say that the students and staff at the University of Salamanca were not cleverly wise in figuring ways to keep heat in the classrooms. Edu told us that before classes would start, the poor students (barely able to pay for school) would get paid a little bit of money to just run circles in side the classrooms. Their body heat would stir up within the classroom enough to make it hot for the entire class period. Now that is what I call innovation. (Just be glad that today we receive scholarships, not runningships.)
3. Graduation from University is a very big deal here. When students graduate college, their friends throw them a series of parties that seem very much like bachelor or bachelorette parties. They are made to dress up and go out at night with the group of friends and act extremely silly. They have to get pictures with random people and they really just look like fools. It's awesome.
The boy graduates from days past used to go out and kill a bull and write VICTOR on the inside walls of the school in bulls' blood. They would have a VICTOR symbol and write things in latin just below it.
4. Desks were not always in the classroom. Most of the time we take things for granted, but I never assumed something as simple as a desk would be that important. Before desks were used in the class rooms, the students at U of S used to have to stand for the entire duration of the class. That meant no writing or taking of notes...the professor just repeated himself a lot. I guess you really had to pay attention back then. Not to mention, there was no Google to double check your information. Good luck on your tests, hope you hear correctly!
5. To say the least, these people were superstitious. Before exams, they would go to different parts of the University where this one dead guy was buried. There was a carving of his body on top of his tomb. Right next to his feet there sat a chair...the students used to sit in the chair, place their feet to rest upon the feet of the dead guy, and believe it gave them good luck. And all I do is study and pray hard!
No comments:
Post a Comment