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Hotel Class: 
2 Stars - 1 Opinion
Pedro Mendoza 36, Salamanca, Castile-Leon, 48097, Spain
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of people enjoy staying here
1 Opinions
The cave of Salamanca
The greatest show in the Plaza Mayor
Car show in the Plaza
Mercado Central (Salamanca, Spain)
Hello All.
After some extensive research i have narrowed my choice down to one of two schools in Salamanca. The price for the programs are very similar.
1) university of salamanca - program for foreign students
2) don quijote
At U of S the classes are quite large and the core program is 3 hours (you pay additional for the 4th or 5th hour). ALso, the dates are not as flexible. I do love the idea of studying at the university and having access to all of the University facilities. At DQ, they cater to your needs in terms of dates a bit better. The environment may be geared a bit more to older people (i am 30) being that they specialize only spanish as a second language. Both offer residences or homestay.
DOes anyone know about either of the facilities. It is kind of a crap shoot for me at this point being that i don't know much about either. I am looking for the best option possible.
THanks a lot.
I went to Elemadrid in Madrid, can highly recommend them...
www.elemadrid.com I think... Google them.
My daughter went through the IES program at the University of Salamanca, and she loved it. She did say, though, that because there are so many English-speaking foreign students there, it's a temptation to lapse into your native tongue instead of immersing yourself in Spanish. She joined a conversational group that included students from Spain, and that helped her meet the locals and hone her language skills.
If you choose homestay, be advised that it's not a family experience per se. Many people rent rooms to foreign students to supplement their income, and to them it's strictly a business deal. My daughter was fortunate in that she did ultimately become close to the people she rented from, but that was not the norm. www.iesabroad.org
I have don the Universidad De Salamanca program and it was quite good. The professors even hung out with us! While the classes can be large, the immersion program was great and you get to see alot of Spain. We we're put in a local hostel nearby the Plaza Mejor and it was also fine. There are alot of young students, but getting to know them will help you improve your Spanish.
I also took the program at the U of Salamanca, twice. I loved it so much that I just had to go back for a second time! The classes are not that big - usually 10-15 students or so. They're from different parts of the world, but in my class many were Americans and most were in the late teens to mid-20s age range.
The students take a placement test before the program starts so you don't have to worry about being in a class that's too easy or too difficult. Also, they won't pile on the homework or expect 10-page papers - they don't like to bog the students down with schoolwork because it takes away from the cultural experience (though they will do quizzes and tests once in a while). They say that one of the most important things of the program is to get immersed in the culture in Spain and enjoy your stay, so they encourage people to go out and have fun, do the extra-curricular activities, go on a day trip or weekend trip, etc.
As for living with families, it's true that most just do it for the money, but every family is different. The family I had on my first trip was great - they were friendly and enjoyed hosting foreign students. On my second trip, I ended up having to switch families because the one I got turned out to be dishonest (to cut a long story short, they tried to trick me into paying more than I was supposed to for room and board, and when it didn't work they threw me out of the house and lied to the university about it). But the main advantages about staying with families is that you get to practice your Spanish more since most can't speak English, and you get to eat good home-cooked Spanish food.
If you want more info, check out my Salamanca page.
LA PLAZA MAYOR The main square of the city started to be built in 1728 and finished in 1755.Its architecture belings to the baroque style. It has 88 semicircular archs and its stones are in gold color.
From La Plaza Mayor you can visit El Palacio de Monterrey built in the XVI century. You can also see Las Torres de Clerecia.
In Spain, breakfast is not that big a deal. Usually a cup of coffee or chocolate milk, and a few little muffins, pieces of toast, or other light things (maybe with butter/margarine and jam). They eat it after getting up in the morning.
Sometimes people go to a small bar where they can order breakfast. There's usually coffee, fruit juice, and light food like croissants. A lot of people order chocolate con churros, a traditional Spanish breakfast, which is very greasy but yummy! Churros are sticks of dough, deep-fried, and you dip them in chocolate syrup before taking a bite.
Lunch is the biggest meal of the day. It's usually a 2 or 3 course meal. The house mothers in my host families usually cooked something with pasta or soup for the first course, then something with meat, and then brought out some fruit. There is also a bread basket on the table, and you can eat bread at the same time as your meal. Lunch usually starts around 2:00 or 2:30 (or a little later) and can end as late as 5:00 or 6:00. I remember during my first trip, one of the teachers for our course asked me at what time we ate supper in Canada, and I said "around 6:00". He was shocked, and said that at that time, some people are still eating lunch!
As for supper, it's usually late, like around 10:00pm. It's a little smaller than lunch. They consider 9:00pm to be very early for supper.
EL MODERNO: Great place to go dancing..the bathrooms located in the back do not have signs to distinguish which is for men, and which one is for women: door to the left is for women, to the right for men. :-) I saw many men walk into the ladies room, then walk out, their faces red with embarrassment...it was very cute!
CUM LAUDE: located off the Plaza Mayor, across from Burger King. You have dress nice if you come here; the doorman won't let you in if you're wearing sneakers. Full of trendy young people, if that;s the kind of crowd you're looking for, then this is your place. anything goes at moderno
dress nice if you go to cum laude
The ancient university is famous in the Spanish world, and was one of the leading institutions during the Renaissance period, but suffered prosecution from the church afterwards. Today it is again one of the leading education institutions of Spain. Its most famous figure is Fray Anaya who despite religious prosecution did not abandon his views and desire to teach.
At the end of the 15th century, and as a consequence of the importance that the city of Salamanca had reached, mostly because of the numerous students that were studying there, it was decided to build a new Cathedral, which came to be more magnificent than the older one, that became too small for the city needs.
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