Buenos dias from a chilly but bright Salamanca! 

The office is rather quiet today, as Andy is making his way with 11 students and Lorraine over to Portugal for the weekend.  They should by now bearriving in Lisbon after enjoying a guided visit of Coimbra, Portugal's oldest university town.  It is a great contrast to Salamanca and I'm sure the students enjoyed exploring the colorful, winding streets.  Tomorrow they have a guided tour of the capital to look forward to, as well as entrances to the Calouste Gulbenkian museum, home to one of the world's largest private collections of art, sculpture, tapestry, jewellery... the list is endless!  Sunday will see a stop in Porto on the way home, where again they will have a guided tour of the town, before returning "home" to Salamanca early evening.

A skilled photographer, Andy will be taking lots of pics to share when we write next week, but in the meantime, please read on to see what everyone has been up to this week!

In this week's Life & Culture class, Ines Criado returned to enlighten the group on the Spanish diet, regional delicacies, and the Iberian love affair with the pig! 

All of the students have indeed noticed that it is rare to find a dish served without a sprinkling of ham, (the most famous/expensive of which is the acorn-fed jamon de bellota), which can be a bit of a drag for our vegetarians, but it means they soon master the phrase "I'm a vegetarian.  No, no chicken, thank you.  No, nor ham.  No, not even tuna...." after having to repeat it on a regular basis! 

Ines explained how each region's speciality dish was directly affected by geography- the nearer to the sea, the heavier the focus is on fresh fish, seafood (mariscos), whereas a central, land-locked region will focus more on meat and stews, which helps to explain why Madrileños love their cocido so much!

Naturally, after spending two hours learning about Spain's mouth-watering dishes, it was only fair to take the students on a Tapas Tour!  Fresh in their new knowledge, the group ventured out, accompanied by Ines, Andy & Carlos to sample something new.

First stop was Baviera, an firm favorite of AIFS staff members past and present, a relaxed bar just beyond the Plaza Mayor and the Market building.  Students were armed with vouchers that would get them a drink and a tapa of their choice, and descended upon the bar staff with new found confidence to try before asking, letting their taste-buds make the decision rather than their head!  This was a gamble, but a successful one, and we soon had students sampling chorizo, morcilla, mejillones, ensalada rusa, empanadas and much more!

The second stop was Las Caballerizas, a well loved bar located in the arched cellars underneath the Palacio de Anaya which faces the Cathedral.  Hugely popular with Salmantinos, the students wrestled their way to the bar and were rewarded with a bocata (small crusty bread roll) filled with succulent jamon, which was devoured at a great pace, both due to its deliciousness and the small fact that there was a soccer game to be watched...

...for the uninitiated, the clasico describes the meeting of Spain's most powerful and successful soccer teams; Real Madrid (boo!) and FC Barcelona (woo!).  No prizes for guessing where our allegiance lies! 

The students did the same as every soccer fan in the country, gathering around a big screen and watching nervously for 90 minutes, gasping, shouting and dare we say it, muttering a few choice words as events unfolded at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona. 

Alas, we Barca fans were left rather dejected as our boys lost 3-1 to Jose Mourinho's squad.  Out of the Copa del Rey for this season, but there is still the race for the Liga and the Champion's League trophies to come... and if this intense game piqued an interest amongst the students then they won't have long to wait, as there is another Clasico tomorrow, this time at Madrid's Bernabeu starium for the Liga! 

It's been a busy week, and next week will bring yet more adventures.  The SLC class will be discussing Contemporary Spanish History, no mean feat in two hours, so guest lecturer Keith Payne will have his work cut out!  On Wednesday the cultural calendar sees us inviting the students to test their confidence and footwork at a Salsa class, and then Friday it will be an early start to head over to the royal palace at El Escorial, and then the medieval walls of Avila, for the first of the SLC daytrips.

As always, thank you for your continued support of the program, and please do get in touch if you have any questions about what the students are getting up to. 

İHasta la proxima!

Sarah, Andy & Carlos

spain@aifs.co.uk