Salamanca (Mid-Year Conference)

It's hard to believe that more than half of my grant period is already over! Tomorrow will mark five full months of my Fulbright, with only four months left here in Spain. The Fulbright Commission hosted a three-day mid-year conference in Salamanca (a city in northwestern Spain) so that we could reunite with Fulbright grantees in other regions, hear presentations about projects and general life in the various regions, and discuss the ways in which we've grown since September.

On Tuesday night, I took a train from Logroño to Salamanca (about four hours) and checked into our hotel. After four and a half months of lukewarm showers and preparing all our own meals, a provided hotel with hot breakfast was an amazing place to spend four nights. On Wednesday morning, we woke up and had a catered lunch before beginning our working sessions. There was a talent show on Wednesday night, and then we went to bed early for two full days of presentations on Thursday and Friday.

On Friday after lunch, Fulbright arranged for a guided walking tour around Salamanca. Even though I had been to Salamanca before (when I was sixteen, living in Spain with a host family), it was interesting to learn about the city in a way I hadn't the first time I was here.

Although the conference ended on Friday, Katie and I decided to book an Airbnb and stay an extra day. We spent all day Saturday in Zamora (a town that is about an hour away from Salamanca by bus) and saw castle ruins and a cathedral. We got dessert at a beautiful café, then headed back to Salamanca.

We had Mexican food for dinner, which was amazing because Logroño has little to no variety in their restaurants - typical Spanish food is all that's available here (definitely one of the things I miss most about home). We went straight to bed on Saturday night and got up early to take the train back to Logroño on Sunday morning. We actually almost missed our train because we stopped for breakfast on the way and miscalculated the time it would take us to get to the train station... but we sprinted through the station and luckily made it just in time, so I would say it was a good ending to a great five days in Salamanca!