{"id":2827,"date":"2013-07-11T09:33:10","date_gmt":"2013-07-11T13:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/study-abroad\/?p=2827"},"modified":"2024-01-29T12:31:58","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T17:31:58","slug":"closing-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/closing-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Closing Time by Constantine Dhonau"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The two kids of the house gather round the famous backpack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Well the current time is 330 in the morning and it is another fantastic night contemplating Espa\u00f1a. In just 3 weeks I feel as though I’ve nestled in quite comfortably into this little Salamancan corner. Walking in I had no idea what it meant to be “immersed” in a culture, and now that its nearly over, I wouldn’t do it any other way. Spanish at school, Spanish at home, and Spanish everywhere n between. The food, the parents, the schedule, the people; so much that I have experienced was made possible only through living in this summer immersion program. Segovia is a gorgeous and lively town with history that outstretch it’s borders. A few monumental castles and a couple centuries old aqueduct after our arrival t was time to mount up and call it a day. Salamanca was waiting for us, a place I called home by then. Surviving on a lunch packed by mom that I segmented throughout the day, a vacuum anticipated another spectacular Spanish meal upon my return, served by the nine year old daughter of the house Wendy. After every meal she helps with I give her a small tip, and bribe her with chocolate from the local chocolate heaven, Valor, to eat more vegetables (it usually works, too).<\/p>\n

Earlier this week I came across a new friend in my travels. He was hobbling through the streets near the Plaza Mayor from heat exhaustion and I was shocked to see everyone passing him by as if nothing was the matter. I stopped to scoop him off to the side and fed him bread and water. He was the most gorgeous little bird I’d ever seen. After some time slowly re-hydrating him from a bottle cap and nursing him bread crumb by crumb, I swaddled him in my shirt and walked him back home (the bus driver wouldn’t let me on shirtless). For the next few days he slept in my shoebox and clung to my back during my walks. Slowly we built his confidence and I had more and more conversations with passerby about my little son Jarrito that’s took under my wing. At some opportune locations he flew further and further. Until finally I took him high enough to soar off on his own. The resident pet bird, Chocol\u00e1te, mourns the loss of his short time companion.<\/p>\n

Spain has afforded me the opportunity to taste the flavors, talk to the people, and see the history, but living with a family has made it a second home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well the current time is 330 in the morning and it is another fantastic night contemplating Espa\u00f1a. In just 3 weeks I feel as though I’ve nestled in quite comfortably into this little Salamancan corner. Walking in I had no idea what it meant to be “immersed” in a culture, and now that its nearly … Continue reading Closing Time by Constantine Dhonau<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":215,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[15,7],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-2827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spain","category-study-abroad","tag-spanish-language-immersion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/215"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2827"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22203,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827\/revisions\/22203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}