School

School started two weeks ago. We all took a placement test, which was both multiple choice and oral, and got our results and class schedules that evening. I got placed into advanced, which correlates to B2 in the European system (CEFR) or high intermediate/low advanced in the American system (ACTFL). My class schedule is this:

9:00-11:00 Spanish Language. We've been working on grammar, and it has definitely been helping me. I wasn't sure at first about taking Spanish classes, but it's much more enjoyable than the Spanish classes back at home, because we're actually using the language with people who actually use it in real life.

11:05-12:05 Spanish Culture. We've been talking about how Spaniards interact, eat, normal schedules, etc. We're about to talk about different regions of Spain. It's probably my least favorite class, but it's good and I do enjoy the discussions. The main thing that bothers me is that it feels very slow.

12:10-1:10 Art History of Spain. This might be my favorite class. We're focusing on five different painters, El Greco, Velazquez, and three more (I think the last two are Dalí and Picasso, but I'm not sure). For each painter, we're learning about his life and paintings from every key period of his life.

1:15-2:15 Practice of Writing Skills. This is probably the hardest class for me, simply because it's in the fifth hour straight of classes. However, we're talking about writing different types of documents, and it's good. I'm sure it will be good for me to have to write and get back graded papers.

The way classes are graded is different from in the States. 20-30% of the grade is based on participation/interest/attention/etc. and the rest is based on the final exam. That is, for every class other than my writing class. There, we don't have a final and our grade comes directly from our grades on the papers.

My daily routine mostly consists of studying and relaxing, but we've been doing some touring as a group. We went to the cathedrals last Wednesday (August 6), last weekend we went to Aveiro, Portugal (August 8-10) and the beach, and yesterday we went to the old university (August 13). I might write about those sometime if anyone cares and asks, but right now I'm just leaving the pictures online and not writing anything.

Here are the pictures I have so far:
Salamanca streets, just ones that I normally walk and views I normally see: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/106015904924642531113/albums/6047451708393226977
Our trip to Aveiro: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/106015904924642531113/albums/6047457684001577937
Views from the walls of the cathedrals: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/106015904924642531113/albums/6047457465350062113
Madrid and Toledo pictures: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/106015904924642531113/albums/6044126560332149553