Salamanca through the eyes of others: Interview with a Colombian

Here I bring the last episode of "Salamanca through the eyes of other" series, and this time, my interviewee was Diana from Colombia, who is one of the best friends of my boyfriend, and who has been studying in the city for 5 years. We had the chance to meet a couple of times, and when I heard that she identified herself with some of the points from my post about culture shock, I became really interested in whwther and how she, as a native Spanish speaker, experiences the differences. Because speaking the same language is often not enough to understand the people of another country.

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[Diana with her Colombian friends, she is the second from the right]

Why did you decide to come to Salamanca?

Given that I had studied at a Spanish high school, I had always wanted to study here to live the experience of studying abroad. On top of that, fees for universities at Spain are way lower than the universities at Colombia. Thus, when I was about to graduate from high school in Colombia, me and some friends applied for a scholarship offered by the University of Salamanca. Fortunately, 5 of us were chosen. However, taking the decision to come wasn't easy at all because, even if I had always wanted it, leaving my family and my boyfriend behind was really difficult, moreover, it was far far away from home. But in the end, it was totally worth it.

Where do you live and how did you find the place?

I didn't have to chose at all, because the scholarship we had already gave us the place to live. I live at a dorm called Colegio Mayor de Oviedo. For the firsts years it is ok because you meet a lot of new people (it hosts around 300 students), you don't have to cook, you don't need to worry about paying utilities... basically, you’ve got all you need. However, once you've lived that, you want more privacy (bedrooms are shared with another person), you want to cook your own food, you want more freedom (at the dorm you can only be visited from 12 pm to 12 am) etc. I haven't left the dorm cause I still have the scholarship, but I strongly recommend to live in a flat, at least that's what I'm doing next year.

Can you tell me about an avarage day in Salamanca?

Well... I usually get up around 8 am, I have breakfast, I get ready and then I leave for the university. During the bachelor degree I usually had classes from 9 am to 2 pm, but right now, in the masters degree, I begin at 10 and usually finish at 1 pm. After that, I meet some of my friends to have lunch, generally at their flat. They have lived with me all these years since we left Colombia, and we are very close, so we are almost like a family. That's why we meet so often to have lunch, and now that I think about it... we meet almost for everything. Then, we usually spend some time talking or watching TV. And sometimes we meet to study so we can encourage each other... like I said, we meet almost for everything.

I think the thing with which we spend most of our time is watching movies at home, we definitely love that. We are not the party-all-night kind of guys, but we really like going out to have a couple of drinks on the weekends, and, if it is a special occasion, why not party all night?.

How much does a month cost you in Salamanca?

Right now I don't have to pay the rent, but as for my personal expenses – that is photocopies, snacks, drinks, etc. – they're around 40€ per month. Regarding my friends, they pay between 190 - 250€ per month for the rent and utilities and around 150€ per month for the food.

What are the most important differences between your country and Spain?

I would say that there are not significant cultural differences between Colombia and Spain, however, there are of course some things, especially in the language. For example, the words we use for things like car, lunch, cellphone, banana, pen and a lot more may cause confusion when you use them. Another thing is that in Colombia, the day starts around 6 am and finishes around 9 pm. At that hours in Spain you are sleeping and dining respectively. Another thing I have noticed is that here, smoking is way more socially accepted and speaking other languages is way less common.

A thing I really like about the Spanish culture is the concept of "bar" and everything around it. In Colombia, a bar is only a place where you go at night to have drinks, while in Spain, it is a place where people of different ages can meet either to have a drink, to have a coffee, to talk, to get a pincho or many other things, and at any time of the day they want. It is almost an essential part of the Spanish life.

What is your favourite place in Salamanca?

I never thought about it, but I guess I really like Plaza de Anaya, it is quite beautiful, specially in summer, and I love spending some time there lying on the grass. I also like a place called "la cueva de Salamanca". It's a little, kind of dark corner. There is a legend that says that the devil went there to give lessons to students (actually, is an old church's crypt).

How interesting! And what is your favourite place to eat in Salamanca?

There is a restaurant called Mandala. Maybe it's not my favourite, but it is very nice, the food is very good and the price is not too high for the service they give, that's if your looking for a good complete menu. In another hand, if your looking for tapas, there's a place at Plaza Mayor called Tapas de Gonzalo. They have really good pinchos, but it may be a little expensive for a student budget, though I really recommend it.

What is your favourite Spanish dish?

I love Jamon Iberico, and many other "embutidos" [a mode of preparing Spanish meat], like chorizo, morcilla or fuet. There is a dish called Migas that is really good – though maybe not that healthy. Also, Salamanca has its own typical dish called Hornazo, it is like a pie stuffed with different types of meat and is very tasty.

What places have you visited so far in Spain? Why?

When I was at high school, our last year trip was to Spain, and we did a big tour around almost all of it, we visited a lot of cities: Granada, Salamanca, Santiago de Compostela, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid and a lot more. It was an incredible experience. I would return to almost all of them, in fact, I have, already – at least to some of them. I was with my siblings and my boyfriend in Barcelona, Madrid and Granada last year, all of them beautiful cities and yet very different. I also visited for the first time San Sebastián and Bilbao last year with my boyfriend, both very beautiful and modern cities totally worth to visit. This year, for example, I did the Camino de Santiago with my friends, starting in Lugo.

Really? And how was it?

We loved it! It was a complete new experience, we visited a lot of little towns, we met people from different countries and we walked... a lot! I would recommend that trip to anyone, it's wonderful.

What are the places you would like to visit in the future? Why?

I'd like to do again the Camino de Santiago but starting in a further city. As for the rest of Europe, I'd love to visit England and Germany, especially England. I have wanted to go there since I was little, but taken that I need another visa, I haven't had the time to go yet.

What do you miss the most from home?

Definitely my family and my boyfriend. It is really hard to be so far from them for such a long time. Sometimes, I also miss the food, but every now and then we try to cook some of our typical dishes with my friends.

Would you recommend coming to Salamanca? Why?

Yes, specially if you're coming to study. Everything is made for the students, it's small, beautiful and with lots of people from every corner of the world. I have enjoyed living here. If I had to choose again between staying at Colombia and coming to Salamanca, I would make the exact same choice.

Thank you very much Diana for the interview!

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