salamanca

[Rosina Lila]

Hello again,
The "casco" of Salamanca is rather small; everything is right there.
On the main pedestrian street, just before reaching the Cathedrals, there is
an information center.  A few short blocks away there is the Plaza Mayor (an
encircled, balconied, largish square) which I found warmer and more welcoming
than the one in Madrid; there is another, much larger, Information Center there
and the people couldn't be more helpful. My sister in law, Liz, became as
enthralled by Salamanca as the rest of us, and finally decided to take the plunge
and spend eight weeks in immersion Spanish courses. The Information Center at
the Plaza Mayor gave us a list of about twenty facilities wherein foreigners
may learn Spanish and an equal number of places where they may stay.  I have
the lists and will gladly share them with anyone who may be interested.
Because the hotel Don Juan is so conveniently located, comfortable and rather
inexpensive, she inquired about staying there and they also gave her a
reasonable monthly rate,- although I should think that staying at a hotel with cable
television would detract from the purpose since those homesick for their own
language may not resist the BBC, Skylight and occasional CNN temptation.
Salamanca seems to have a museum,  including a modern art museum and a Civil
War museum, or an artistic/historical treasure in every block.  The city is
built on a river-bordered hill with the Cathedrals in the uppermost part.
Deanna, when you visit the "new" Cathedral pay particular attention to the
latest  additions and restorations (in very pink marble) made to the lintel of
the most accessible door: amidst the newest carvings you will find an
astronaut, of all things,  fashioned after Yuri Gagarin, the first man to circle the
earth on  a space ship, and you will also find a little whimsical monkey holding
a three-scoops ice cream cone. The figures are small, so you'll really have
to look, but they are there... halfway up on the left-hand side of the door
viewed from outside.
There are two principal universities: a newer (fifteenth century or so)
Pontifical University which is simply glorious  and the old, historical one that
precedes even the University in Bologna. It seems that most noteworthy Spanish
writers, scientists, rulers, explorers, artists, etc.,, including Cervantes,
Calderon de la Barca, Velazquez,  Ponce de Leon, Hernan Cortez, and on and on
attended that University. Also the priests, monks and educators who came to the
New World and established the first University in America, that of Mexico City
which antedates Harvard by about seventy years, had studied there.
Throughout the building you will find memorials from all over LatinAmerica, including
Puerto Rico, recognizing the establishment of Universities all over the
continent by the University of Salamanca, and its continued influence on them.
On the magnificent facade you will see a tribute to the Catholic Kings; it
was Queen Isabel, the titular ruler of the region, who refurbished the
University, way back when, on condition that women be admitted as students and as
teachers. One of the first female University professors was Queen Isabel's own
Latin teacher. All her life the queen bemoaned her limited education and she built
and endowed schools everywhere and took special pains in the education of her
four daughters and one son.  Close to the University there is the house which
the Queen provided for her old Latin teacher; she also endowed convents and
monasteries so that they would house students coming from afar.  Many of them
do so to this very day.
Above the medallion commemorating the Queen and Queen there is a sculpture
that contains a skull.On top of the skull there is a tiny frog, which for some
reason or another has become the mascot, and the symbol, of Salamanca students.
 You will see the frog everywhere.
The several  members of these listservs who are college professors will be
interested in knowing that, to this very day, students rise when the professor
enters the classroom, and do not leave until the professor does, rising again.
I asked a teacher there whether such practices were not out of place
nowadays; he told me that, in fact, they made for better students and teachers in that
if you behave like a good student, conscious of being in a special place that
you respect, you will become a good student.......Behavioral science, I
suppose, or what Hillary Clinton calls "fake it 'til you make it".
In ancient times students took an exam to be admitted to the University;
they did not have to attend specific classes or read specific books but, indeed,
they did so.  When they felt ready to take their final examinations, they
notified the person in charge; they spent the entire night before the exams  in
the University chapel praying and concentrating (The University chapels are
sumptuous, and the examination halls are something else).  After the exams the
student would be "approved" or not.  If approved he would leave through the main
door of the chapel where his family, friends, retainers and hangers-on would
be waiting for the ensuing party which included a lavish feast and a bullfight.
 If not "approved" he would leave through the back door where the
disappointed party-expecters would beat him up with sticks, throw stones at him and even
throw him in the river!
Ah!... those were the days.
Lastly, Deanna, the 60 kilometers from Salamanca to Zamora are very heaven...
And don't get me started on Zamora , (or Merida, for that matter),  I fell
head-over-heels in love with the place.
Warm regards,
Rosina

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