Everybody is excited about the weather now. Spain is snowed under, although I cannot really say this about Salamanca. It was snowing only one day here, but the temperature is below zero. To be honest it doesn’t make an impression on me (Polish winter lasts about two months, with the temperature reaching -10 or -15 sometimes), but for people from South America who have never seen a snow before it must be thrilling!

There are only two days of uni left. I can’t believe that it’s already the end of the first semester. Time flies! I’m glad I’m here for the full academic year, it would be really hard to stay here for one semester only. This is because during first two months you feel a stranger, everything is new to you and you spend the most of your time discovering the place and making friends. In the third one you’re settled down, already have friends and things go back to be ‘ordinary’; you just live the live as if it was the place where you’ve been staying since ever and start to refer the place where are you staying as home. At least that’s how it works in my case, surely everyone has its own time needed to settle down. So I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Salamanca is my place, is my little new home and it’s a great feeling!

As I have said, things are ‘back to be ordinary’. I meet my friends, watch films, make dinners, go out sometimes. Ordinary life. But a good life!

You can feel a festive atmosphere. The city has been decorated, is full of Christmas ornaments. There’s a Christmas tree in Plaza Mayor:

Most of my friends already went home for Christmas. I’m staying in Salamanca until Tuesday. As usual, I don’t go to Poland for Christmas (my parents got used to what I say: that Christmas is when I go home, not when it’s the end of December). Instead of going to Poland, I go to Málaga to spend Christmas with Eva, one of my best friends from Edinburgh (she’s from Málaga but has been living in Edinburgh for 12 years now). And later together with her brother we’re going to Morocco until 6^th of January! I’m so excited! I’ve been dreaming about going there for some time and finally I’m going there.

I’ll finish off with a quick report of Nochevieja Universitaria (University Hogmanay) that was on 10^th of December. Although there was nothing prepared officially there were tones of students on the streets and in Plaza Mayor. Everybody gathered just before midnight to wait for the bell toll (actually, it wasn’t heard and people where looking at one another as if they wanted to ask ‘is it already midnight?’). Later everyone disappeared to continue botellón in a flat or rushed to get a place in a pub (all the pubs were extremely full that day!).

¡Feliz Navidades!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!