Greetings from the other side...

So here I am, in Salamanca. In my new room, which has one of the best possible placements for a psychology student in the town: around the middle of the way between the the centre of the town (the position of which is not really in the physical centre) and the psychology faculty... now who in their right mind puts a faculty in the other end of the town? It's like the last building on the long road out of here. Not that one could call any distance long around here, mind you. Wikipedia says that the area of Salamanca is 0,2 square km larger than that of Tartu, but for some reason, I just keep having the impression it's smaller. Maybe there are some more distant areas that I simply haven't been to yet and which add to the area, but you could probably get from one end of the town to the other in an hour.

Even though the distances seem smaller, the town itself feels a lot more like a city. There are lots of people on the streets, lots of activity, tiny little shops everywhere you look. They do have some supermarket chains, but you won't see them at first. What you do see is fruit shops and bakeries and all kinds of other places like that. I've heard that's how it used to be everywhere before. I guess Spain has slightly more traditions to adhere to than Estonia does... What's kind of sad though is just how little nature there seems to be around here. At home, I used to take it for granted that a town would be green all over, but here you're lucky to find a tree or two in some small square. Right now it doesn't bother me cause there's too much to explore in the town itself, but I suspect at some point it might begin to disturb me more.

But then again, there are all the historical buildings here to get to know. There's even a bridge from the Roman times. And I do hope I won't just be staying here all the time, it'd be nice to see the rest of Spain as well. For now, of course, just getting to know Salamanca is quite enough. I've been here for five days now, and I've only really got to know the streets: what is where, how to move around without getting lost without having your nose in the map all the time, etc. Even where I have actually entered a place, I've only managed to get a first impression, a superficial impression. The centuries and centuries of history present here deserve a lot more.

Anyway, I could go on and on and on, but I think this is enough of first impressions for now. I'm gradually becoming acquainted with the place, finding my way around, getting to know a person or two. It's just the beginning... it's nice to experience a beginning really. Being aware of all these opportunities open to you. Now it's just a matter of going ahead and exploring them. :)