The first few days...

Here we are, once again in the fantastic city of Salamanca! As we said, 43 students arrived safely in Madrid, and after a busy weekend seeing the sights we boarded our bus to Salamanca.
Everyone having checked in in record time, Sarah, Harry and Sian met the faculty and students under the clock in the famous Plaza Mayor (yes, that's it at the top of the page) to show everyone where to find some decent tapas....
Of course, at AIFS we believe in hitting the ground running, and so Sunday morning saw us yet again meeting debajo el reloj for our Orientation walk and meeting. Braving the early-morning chill, the students were split into two groups and followed Sian and Harry around the more pragmatic points of interest  - ATMs, pharmacies, supermarkets and so forth - before we all headed back to don Quijote for the Orientation presentation. Here we gave the students a run-down of what they could expect from the programme, from us at AIFS, and of course from Salamanca!
Even then, the day wasn't over... That evening, we all met again for the Welcome Dinner, which gave everyone the chance to at last relax over some good food and get to know one another.
As I type, the students are in their Spanish classes - their first being yesterday - and are already on friendly terms with their teachers.
On Monday, morning classes started bright and early with Professor Goldstein's Art and Professor Shannon's Psychology classes, but as Spanish classes didn't start until Tuesday, we all went on a guided tour of the historic centre of Salamanca, taking in the Plaza, the Casa de las Conchas, the University, the 2000-year old Roman bridge and, of course, the impressive New Cathedral. The students were full of questions, and the guides managed to just about keep up! It's great to see the students engaging with their study abroad site so early in the programme, and certainly keeps us on our toes....

We're all really confident that this programme is going to be a great success, and these students are going to go home with the same problem as their predecessors... that of falling in love with Salamanca!
Keep coming back for updates on the programme, and check out our Facebook page (AIFS SCAL Salamanca Spring Semester) to see what's going on.

¡Hasta luego!