Author: Jordyn Greenbaum

Goodbyes are tough, to say the least. After four weeks of being here in Salamanca for my language camp, I’m lucky enough to say that I have made so many amazing friends.  These friends have come and gone over the past weeks; Lexi left last week, as did Julia and Jenna. But as my friends have left, new ones have come. Ben and Wren came 2 weeks ago, and Lillie just got here on Monday.

However, there has been a welcome crew since the beginning—a group of us in it for the long haul; as others come and go, we have been here consistently for four weeks now, welcoming the newbies. Eytan, Sander and Marina have been close friends of mine since day one. They’re all the people who I’ve learned with and grown with in this wonderful city. Anyway, it is with a bittersweet attitude that I write this post, for all of my dear friends will be departing tomorrow. After a long four weeks, only one (me) remains. The whole crew is leaving this weekend. It’s difficult to see all of my friends from around the world leave, especially because I very well know that I may never see some of them again. Yes, I may keep communicating with many of them, but the chances that I visit each and every one of them are very slim. It’s quite sad actually, but I’m trying to remain optimistic about my goodbyes.

The brilliant Doctor Seuss once said “don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened” *sorry, that’s so cliche, but it just fits*. But anyway, I’m trying to adopt the attitude of Dr. Seuss in regards to saying farewell to the crazy crew of kids I’ve grown to love. It has truly been an amazing experience and I’m thrilled that I met each and every one of these kids, but goodbyes are really tough.

The worst part is not that I’m now the only veteran left and I will have to meet new friends and take them under my wing. It’s not even the uncertainty of the situation: I’m not sure that I’ll be able to form another group as awesome and epic—I just can’t think of better fitting words to describe the crew—as the one that is leaving. The worst part is that I’m going to miss this crazy group soo much. Each and every person that I’ve met here has made a positive impact in my life, and has taught me something valuable. It’s quite difficult to put into words how much this group of people mean to me and how appreciative I am of each individual person…I just can’t begin to fathom that in a mere 24 hours I won’t be seeing them nightly in the plaza; I won’t be playing UNO with them; I won’t be raving about food with Eytan; I won’t be shopping with Wren; I won’t be laughing with Sander and Ben; I won’t be walking home with Marina and Lillie. We won’t be a group anymore.

But I now remember Seuss, and I smile. I had an unbelievable time with my friends, and I will never forget the wonderful memories we have made together. So to my all of friends here:  thank you all for making my first four weeks in Salamanca unbelievable…you’re all amazing.

Ciao, Jordyn

Yesterday was Sunday, and with a few friends, I went to a cafe, the civil war museum and then to El Huerto de Calixto y Malibea. The cafe we went to sort of resembles a knock-off Starbucks…they have their frappes down to a T. The ambiance is also very Starbucks—very comfortable, filled with chairs arranged circling coffee tables, free wifi, overpriced coffee beverages, mstaff dressed in dark green collared shirts with a logo that eerily resembles that of Starbucks. In fact, the only thing that was different was that their sizes were actually small medium and large, and not tall, grande, and venti.

Here is a photo of me with my friends:

After that, we went to the civil war museum. Here’s a quick history lesson for you, but basically a super short sparknote edition. If you are not the type interested in history, just skip the following paragraph altogether.

The Spanish civil war lasted for 3 years (1936-1939). Before the war, the Republicans (left wing party) was in control of Spain. The nationalists (very right wing party) then shortly took over, and began to undo everything that the republicans had done. The economy just simply wasn’t improving, so the republicans were voted in again. Naturally, this aggravated the nationalists, and they had a coup, which led to the civil war. At the end of the war, the nationalists were put back in charge and named Franco (an awful dictator) as their leader.

Seeing the museum was very interesting. I’ve never learned about the Spanish civil war before, so to see a whole museum on it was both fascinating and a bit overwhelming. The museum wasn’t big, but it was filled with so much information, I couldn’t even begin to absorb all of it. Afterwards, we went to the garden and just spent an hour or so sitting down and talking. It’s great here, and it’s hard to believe that my time in Salamanca is about half way over.

Today is my second day in Salamanca for my teen summer language camp in Spain. It’s been odd adjusting to everything here. For example, right now it’s 4:30pm and everyone—and I mean everyone—is napping. Tonight with school, I’m going to see the Monumenta Salmanticae. It should be beautiful, the rest of the city is. Yesterday I went to see all of the Casas Nobles (noble houses). We visited three of them, all from the 16-18 centuries. I don’t remember what they’re called, but the stories behind each were fascinating.

On each house there is a family crest so everyone will know who owns the house (the houses were built to show power). One of them currently belongs to the wealthiest woman in Spain and is said to be haunted—but then again, isn’t every abandoned palace?  The second was covered in sea shells…it’s now a library. It was built by a man for the woman he loves. He put his family crest between two lions to show his strength—modest right?—and then he covered the outside of the building with sea shells to honor his loved one’s family, whose crest had sea shells on it. The outside represented love, but the inside, covered in snakes, represented sin.

The third was a Salina, which is basically a bank for salt. Way back when, salt was very valuable. In fact, people would put their salt in banks, as we do with money. Each of the buildings were absolutely stunning, and I’m so grateful that I have such a great opportunity to experience all of this. Well, I’m off to class again.