Country Clothes Wearing

As a nice break from visiting cathedrals and ruins and other such things (though I do enjoy it, don't get me wrong), I've been checking out the Spanish countryside to get a more complete view of the country, and also to get my nature fix since I'm not used to living in a city, even one as small as Salamanca. Last weekend my study abroad group took a day-trip out to a winery near the city of Villadolid, and yesterday since it was a national holiday (El Día de la Hispanidad), a couple of my friends and I went to the nearby town of Bejar to hike and enjoy the still summer-like weather. Both places were lovely, though it still sometimes surprises me just how dry the region of Spain that I'm in, Castilla y León, is. The hot, dry weather that the region is still experiencing is apparently out of the norm though. According to my host mother, after the festivals in Salamanca in the middle of September, the weather is supposed to get cooler and it rains a bit. It is indeed cool at night, but it still reaches the 80s during the day meaning that of course I got sunburned yesterday hiking. Sunscreen really isn't on my radar in the middle of October but I guess it should be. It was also nice to see some mountains again yesterday in Bejar, the flatness is just too flat compared with Vermont! 

In a slightly abrupt change of subject and jumping back in time to last Saturday, visiting the winery in Vallodolid was like being in a movie, specifically The Parent Trap. We frolicked in vineyards...

Saw wine being made...

And tasted it. (Ok maybe that's not like The Parent Trap). 

Lunch is being made and smelling delicious, so I'm going to end this blog post and write a more coherent one soon about my classes here in Spain, now that I've had them for three weeks and have gotten a feel for them. Hasta luego!