Life at the Lake: Lago de Sanabria

A few weeks ago I took a trip with a small group of people from IES for a weekend trip to Lago de Sanabria. The lake is one of the largest lakes in Spain (nothing compared to Lake Michigan, though), and we hiked in the mountains surrounding this natural park. As we were driving into …

Getting Involved

I’ve written a lot about my travels away from Salamanca on the weekends, but having a home base in this city is very important for my experience. We were told when we arrived that we have to be careful if we were planning on traveling every weekend because we are here to immerse ourselves specifically …

Portu(girl)

This past week was midterms week, and to boost our morale after a tough week we took a trip to Portugal with IES. On Friday we left early in the morning excited to get away from studying and for a sunny weekend in Portugal. Our first stop was the city of Coimbra, where we visited …

Field Trip to Atapuerca and Burgos

The religion class through IES Salamanca takes a field trip every year to Atapuerca and Burgos, Spain. La Sierra de Atapuerca is an archaeological site that contains some of the earliest human remains in Europe. We have been learning about prehistory and the idea of religion during that time, so the perfect place to visit …

Un día típica

I’ve had four weeks of classes so I’ve had time to establish a routine for school week. Although each day usually brings something new and unexpected, I have a general routine, so here’s a snapshot of a day in my life in Salamanca. I wake up around 8:00am to get ready for the day and …

Twelve Hours in Sevilla

This weekend I took my first non IES sponsored trip, and I went with two friends to Sevilla! We decided to take the six hour bus trip to Sevilla and back in the same day. On Friday, our bus left at 1:20am from Salamanca and we arrived in Sevilla at 7:35am. After getting our fix of …

Museums in Madrid

On Saturday, IES sponsored a day trip to Madrid to visit the museums. We arrived around 10:30am and immediately went to El Museo del Prado, one of the most important art museums in the world. We went on a guided tour to see the most important works of art, including art by El Greco, Francisco de …

Studying Abroad (Emphasis on Study)

Studying abroad is an incredible opportunity to meet new people, see new places, and learn new things about how the world works. It’s also still a semester of college classes. This week was my first week of classes and it was similar to any other first week of school. Each of my classes loosely followed …

Exploring Segovia, Toro, & Zamora

As a part of the two week orientation in Salamanca, the IES group takes a trip to Segovia and another trip to Zamora and Toro. Segovia is a small city to the east of Salamanca that is an attraction for its history and monuments. Immediately when we arrived we saw the Roman Aqueducts which run from …

¡Bienvenidos a Salamanca!

My first week of Spain has been a whirlwind! Last week I started my travels to Spain, and I arrived in Salamanca on January 18. That day was to relax, unpack, meet our host families, and rest up for the orientation that would start the next day. Then began the craziness that is orientation! IES has done …