Trips (neuro)

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Over the course of the semester, students will travel with the Wake Forest Faculty on a number of excursions. Destinations will include cities from a variety of regions around Spain. These trips will be total approximately seventeen days and will enable students to explore places of cultural and scientific relevance to their studies.

Sites that may be visited range from Moorish palaces and Christian cathedrals (Real Alcázar de Sevilla, La Sagrada Familia) to science institutes and art museums (El Instituto Cajal, El Prado) and from ancient ruins and modern wineries (the Segovia aqueduct, Hacienda Zorita Natural Reserve Winery) to local restaurants and eateries.

Program trips are mandatory. Don’t make plans for personal travel without first consulting your semester schedule.

Group travel is a required academic component of HUM 170

As part of your participation in the SPA 304 course you might be assigned some papers or trip questionnaires.

Policies

Attendance is required on all group trips.
Private travel to or from the academic start- or endpoint of a group trip is permitted. Students should be sure to fill out a WFU Independent Travel Form.
Each day (complete or partial) of absence from academic portion of a group trip will lower the final HMN 170 grade by 10 points.
Absences will be excused by the Resident Professor only for reasons of a documented emergency.
Non-program participants are not permitted on WF group transportation.
Non-program participants are not permitted on WF group tours or programmed activities.
Any friends or family seeing students during group trips must work around the group schedule in order to visit the students.

Copy the trips dates to your agenda and make sure that you don’t plan any personal trips on those dates. (check your semester schedule!).

Also…

On the bus…

It is not allowed to eat or drink any soda
Seat belts must be fasted during the entire trip.

At the hotel…

Leave your passport in your suitcase while touring the city (a copy will be sufficient).
Observe quiet hours after 11.00pm
Do not speak loudly in the hallways (there are other guests who may be sleeping).
Keep your door closed at all times.
Do not bring alcohol into your room. (alcohol policy)
Do not take food from the hotel breakfast for later.
You will choose a roommate for the first trip, and provided there are no problems, you may continue with the same roommate. If, for any reason, you want to switch, make your own arrangements, but let the directors know as soon as possible to ask for the changes to the hotels.

On visits

Paying attention is required
So not interrupt while tour guides speak
An unapropiate attitude will affect negatively on your HUM 170 grade.
wear comfortable shoes
don’t drink too much before any visit; bathrooms are not always available
You need have your smartphone ready for calls.
In case you get lost find the way to the hotel and contact the directors ASAP.

You will certainly enjoy the nice accommodations and the ease of having everything arranged for you on the group trips. But don’t hesitate to take advantage of the weekends to travel on your own. When ever you go on a personal trip, you are required by Wake Forest for security reasons to inform your directors of the dates when you plan to be away from Salamanca and the places you plan to visit. You can fill in the official form with your travel plans (see below).

When you plan your trips you may find it helpful to talk to the on-site Director Prof. Garrido or to the Cultural Advisor and tour guide Prof. Fernando Díaz. Because of their experience living in Spain, they can point out to you numerous sites of interest in the country (Recommendations in Spain and Portugal). You may also use some of the travel agencies because they often have inexpensive and interesting offers. They are open until 8 PM and were always very helpful. A travel agency can help you book flights or find a package tour to different destinations.

However, most students agree that it is best to steer clear of the package deals unless you are going some place dangerous, like North Africa. A tour may sound convenient, but you have to follow a schedule – getting up early in the morning and not having the luxury of deciding how much time you want to spend in a place. Even traveling in a country where you don’t speak the language – Portugal, France, or Italy – you should be able to make your way without too much difficulty. Salamanca is connected with the South and East of the Peninsula through Madrid. To travel to Madrid you may go by bus or by train:

Bus: The bus company to Madrid and the airport is called Monbus: Salamanca→Madrid (Moncloa station or Estación de Monbus in the bus station Méndez Álvaro). The trip takes 2.5 hours. Buses depart from Salamanca and from Madrid every hour from 6:00am until 11:00pm.
https://www.monbus.es/en The bus station is located in the northwest part of Salamanca. Several different lines come through it. Travelling by bus is the most efficient way to travel all throughout Spain, but the Salamanca station will not have print copies of schedules. You will need to look them up online. Salamanca has a municipal bus system that can carry you to more distant areas of the city, including the Centro Comercial Tormes (Salamanca’s mall) across the river. You can buy tickets right on the bus. You can download an app to your smartphone with all the routes: “Bus Urbanos Salamanca”

Train: RENFE is the name of the train company in Spain. Trains go to Madrid (the trip takes 1.30h or 2.30h depending on your schedule), Barcelona, Portugal and other sites in the North. Whenever you buy train tickets (billetes) make reservations (reservas) in advance to avoid problems. You can also make your plans ahead of time by going to www.renfe.es, which has schedules and connections for trains all over the country. The train station is in the northeast section of town.
Airplane (low-cost airlines)
- RyanAir and Vueling fly out of Valladolid, which is located 1.30 hours to the North of Salamanca by bus. You will need to take another bus to take you from Valladolid city to the airport.
- EasyJet and remaining low-cost airlines fly out of Madrid.
Car Rental in Salamanca: You must be 21 or older to rent a car. Cars do not have automatic transmission.

In any major city, take advantage of the Metro subway system if there is one. Madrid and Barcelona have speedy, safe and relatively clean metros, and your guide book will generally tell you which stop the sight you want to see connects to. Passes are usually sold individually or in packs, and one pass is good for one ride, no matter how long the distance. Keep in mind, however, that the metro does not run all night, so if you go out late you will have to get a cab.

If you do take a cab anywhere, rates will be reasonable. But insist that the driver use the meter so that you won’t be ripped off. A good strategy is to approach a driver and ask approximately how much it will cost to take you to a certain location. This way the driver won’t take you for a ride around the city. If the estimate sounds high, ask someone else. Be aware that there are extra fees for luggage and going out of the city. Taxi drivers are good people to ask if you are lost or are trying to find something.

Remember that you chose Salamanca to immerse yourself in the language and culture of Spain. If you spend many weekends traveling to other European countries, you will miss opportunities to speak Spanish, and get to know Spain more intimately. Also you will spend a lot of money. Take advantage of the opportunity this program provides for you to improve, to the best of your ability, your Spanish proficiency and your knowledge of Spanish culture.

Be aware that professors will not change due dates to accommodate your personal travel. If you use allowed class absences for travel to distant destinations, you are likely to encounter flight delays that will lead you to miss class.

If you do want to do extensive traveling, and it is at all possible, stay after the semester and go then. This is also an excellent time for your parents to come visit you if they are planning on doing so. You’ll have more time, fewer obligations, and won’t have to cram places in. After days of travel, you’ll want more than a few hours to spend in a city once you get there. Trying to go somewhere like Paris or London for a weekend usually requires taking an extra day (or more) to justify the time and expense. You will have the opportunity to see different parts of western Europe, but don’t do anything really ambitious – a trip to Amsterdam, Berlin, and Prague in one week, for example, will cause more pain and exhaustion than it’s worth. A week is enough time to visit two major cities and one smaller town within the same country, while enjoying your travels.

We recommend seeing Spain first – it’s diverse, beautiful, and cheap. And most importantly, always remember that you are on a wonderful, exciting, once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Travel everywhere, see everything, meet everyone and have the best time of your life!

Summarized:

Make sure your personal travel plans don’t interfere with the academic calendar of the program. This calendar is scheduled according, not to the Wake Forest academic calendar, but to the University of Salamanca’s own one.
In the unlikely event that you lose your passport, you must contact the US embassy immediately, and make the necessary arrangements for a replacement as soon as possible.
Check out the interesting and cheap weekend or one day trips in Spain on the WFU Salamanca facebook group
Don’t hesitate to ask the directors for recommendations to plan these personal trips in Spain. Their experience is vast.
Students are required to share personal travel plans in advance any time they plan to leave Salamanca filling out the independet travel form: