Walking through weddings, pressed pennies, and riots

That might seem like a fairly weird combination of things, but that is a great explanation of my weekend. I'll explain. Let's start with Friday:

Friday I had school (I know, kinda obvious) and after I had track at 7. In between, when I probably should have been doing homework, I was busy talking with my mom and a friend via Facebook. My friend wanted to skype (this might sound like i didn't want to skype, i did) and my mom wanted to skype. And both of them wanted to skype at the same time. I was trying to ask my friend if we could skype thirty minutes earlier during her lunch but she was in school so it was kinda hard to get a response, and my mom was adamant about skyping during office hours. So i came home from track, still not knowing who i was skyping with when, and basically sat at my computer for an hour figuring out who i was skyping with. I ended up skyping with my friend for about 20 minutes, and then i called my mom. I send the thing and when it opens up and i can see her, it isn't just her but about 15 of my friends all crammed in her office having a surprise birthday party for my via skype. They sang happy birthday to me and had cupcakes (i didn't get one :( ) and people came and went as office hours went on. It was nice to see them all after two and a half weeks and i really enjoyed it.

Saturday morning i woke up too early. I wanted to sleep longer but couldnt get back to sleep. It was really annoying. But we had churros for breakfast (these are different from Mexican churros, although similar...) and that was nice. After breakfast we cleaned the house. I was assigned the front porch so i swept and mopped the whole thing (Pablo helped towards the end after he finished the back porch). After that I went up stairs to do my homework. Whoo Hoo. It actually wasnt too bad. I just had to fill out a map of Europe (made more difficult by the fact i had to fill it out in spanish (I know, crazy)) and do a family tree of the Kings of Austria, or something like that. Once i finished that i pretty much just hung out all day until about 5. At five i left the house to go to the train station. I was going to Madrid to meet a friend of a friend (the same friend i was skyping on Friday). I caught the train and made it to Madrid without too much difficulty and waited in Puerta del Sol for Maria to get there. We went to Starbucks (it tastes the same here (except for the whipped cream. That tastes different)) and walked to the Royal Palace. There we sat and talked for a while, then retraced our steps back to Puerta del Sol and walked to Parque del Retiro. It was probably a twenty minute walk from Sol to Retiro, and we saw many interesting things on the way, such as a tandem bike (ok, we saw this at the Palace, but i am putting it here on my list of interesting things (and no, it wasn't really that interesting for me, but Maria had never seen one before)), a super tiny bus (like SUPER TINY. It moved before i could get a picture), a riot (we don't know what they were protesting but they were quite loud) and we walked through a wedding. Ok, its not what you are thinking. We didn't walk through all of the people sitting down and the bride and groom standing there with the dude reciting all of that stuff. We walked through all of the people outside of the church in all of their fancy clothes and stuff. So don't freak out, mom. It wasn't bad. Anyway, we went to Retiro. It was really cool! I got a really good picture of the sun setting over these trees and stuff. There were tons of people there and a lot of street vendors and performers. After retiro we walked back to Sol and I ran down pretty much 10 flights of stairs so i wouldn't miss the train back to Tres Cantos (there was another one fifteen minutes later, so it wouldn't have been that bad to miss the train, but i didn't want to wait fifteen minutes). But all in all, I had a great time in Madrid and it was really nice to meet Maria. I got home and my host family was still gone at some relatives so i hung out for an hour and a half. I skyped with my family for thirty minutes and then went to bed right after my host family got home.

Sunday i woke up at 8 when my alarm went off. It was all together too early to get up, but we had to leave the house at 9 to drive to Segovia (an hour and a half away). When we got to Segovia we pretty much parked on one side of the town and walked to the other side of the town. On the way we saw the old Aqueduct (more on that later) and a huge Cathedral (More on that later) and went to this fort. The fort was really cool! There were suits of armor and some really cool stained glass windows and these cool trees and a cool garden and wow i sound like a nerd. Anyway, it was cool. And i got some great pictures. After that we walked to church (which was about halfway between where we parked and the fort...) and after church we walked back to the Aqueduct. I got some really good pictures of the aqueduct and it was really cool to see it. In the US we don't really have things like that because we aren't that old of a country, which made seeing the aqueduct that much cooler. After that we went to lunch at some restaurant because it was my host moms parents fifty second wedding anniversary. I had a pig leg for lunch (and yes, it was a pig leg) and it was quite good! Then we walked to the Cathedral! On the way to the cathedral, i stopped at a shop i had seen earlier because i wanted to get a pressed penny. My host family didn't know what a pressed penny was so i had to explain it to them and when they figured it out ALL of them wanted one. It was really funny. Apparently they don't have the pressed penny machines all over like we do in the states... Anyway, we went to this cathedral. It was HUGE. You couldn't take pictures inside so i don't have any but there were some HUGE books and we saw some room with some cool tapestries. Also, there were some corridors that I swear they filmed Harry Potter in. They didn't but they sure look like they did. After that we went home (which took like 2 hours because there was traffic...) and had dinner and I went to bed.

Monday I had school. No surprise there. Monday night I had track. And it was sooooooooo hard. We ran from the track to a hill on the outside of town. We then proceeded to run up and down this hill for thirty minutes. It was super hard and at the top of the hill it was so steep that you had to walk because your legs couldn't do it. And then we had to run back. Tuesday I had school (again, kinda obvious). But on Tuesdays i have Tutoria, which is pretty much the Spanish equivalent of Advisory or Homeroom. I didn't understand anything. The class was talking about something with the teacher and i was fine with just sitting there, drawing in my planner. But about halfway through the class i hear my name. I look up and still don't understand anything and then ask Carla what we are talking about. Her answer: You. Apparently they were talking about how I was fitting in and stuff... Or that's what she said. And through out class when i asked her what they were talking about i was quite confused. Something about showering in the Morning and me and something else i can remember. It was weird. And then that night i had track. Again. But it wasnt nearly as bad this time. So that was good.

And then last night it rained and it has been cooler the past few days. Which is nice. At least i like it. Ok, now about crosswalks. They are so different here:

1. Being from the US, i am still not used to the crosswalks here. You basically just walk across the street and assume the cars are going to stop for you.
2. I almost fell over because i stopped because i wasnt sure if a car was going to let me cross, and then when it was slowing down i started to go, but i guess the driver thought i was letting him go, because he started to go, and then i slammed on my breaks again.
3. I have annoyed so many drivers it is not even funny.
4. And i have to deal with this pretty much every day because i have school or track or something.

Anyway, I have been having a good time here! And i miss all of you at home!

Adios!

Atletismo! :)

So a lot has happened since i posted a week ago. I have made new friends, done my first homework assignment, skyped back home, improved my Spanish, been invited to a birthday party, made plans to go to Madrid this weekend, taken my first test, met my host family's extended family (who i am seeing again this weekend), had my first English class, started track, and figured out where pretty much everything is around town.

So, new friends. To begin with, i have met so many people it is not even funny. And i remember about 0 names. I am usually pretty good with names but in another language... No. Lets see how many names i can list of people i have actually talked to: Monica, Andres, Jorge, Marta, Carla, Paola, Sara, Sara, Maria, Sandra, Alejandro, Enrique, Anne (she is American (more on that later...)), Silvia Dani, (who was in Seattle this summer and went to Redmond Jr. High for something. When he heard i was from Seattle he was like "Where in Seattle?" and was like, "Sammamish... It is kinda near Redmond..." and he was like, "I was in Redmond this summer and i was like "WHAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!?!" It was pretty crazy...) and David. Actually that's not too bad, but considering how many people i have met... But I actually have some pretty good friends. Monica invited me to her birthday party on the 29th and so i am going to that. And Carla (who speaks English and sits next to me in class) is really helpful and explains stuff when i don't get it (which is a lot).And most of the people have been pretty nice. It was (and is) hard going to a new school (which is something i have never done before) but i am glad i made the choice to come to Spain.



My school

Homework. To say the least, it is AWFUL. Actually that's a lie. MOST OF IT IS AWFUL. Some not so much (like math). But History. That class is so bad it is not even funny. I understand absolutely nothing and the teacher super strict and she gives tons of homework and i have never really liked history and AHHH!! It is bad. I basically sit there not understanding anything while the teacher talks. And talks. And talks. And then we are supposed to copy stuff down (which actually isn't as hard as it sounds because Spanish is written like it sounds (unlike English)) but the teacher talks really fast and so i always miss something and then i get way behind. So i pretty much copy what Carla wrote down. And then homework. For yesterday, our homework was to write a page (front and back)(in Spanish, mind you) about several topics, including the Inquisition, Martin Luther, Galileo, Humanism, and other stuff. It probably would have taken me thirty minutes if it was in English, but in Spanish it took me probably and hour and a half. I would pretty much write two or three words, then look up a word on Google Translate. And then two or three more words, then Google Translate, and then... anyway, you get the point. And for Monday, we have to make two maps, one of Europe and one of Spain, with all of the countries and capitals listed and the countries in the EU and then make a family tree of the kings of Austria in some century. Pretty great. But some homework isn't too bad. Math is easy because it is math and, being super far ahead in math, i can do it in about 2 seconds. And other classes aren't too bad, either.
On a happier note, I skyped my mom last Saturday! We talked for about and hour and forty five minutes and it was really great. It was nice to hear about what was going on in Seattle and how everyone was doing.

Also, my Spanish has been improving a bunch. I don't have to think as much when i want to say things and i can understand my teachers more and more. Some classes i can understand almost all of the class (like math) and some class almost none (like history) but it is definitely improving.

As i said earlier, i was invited to a birthday party! I am really excited. We are going to go into Madrid and go to el Parque del Retiro. Apparently it is really cool and i am really looking forward to it.
Speaking of Madrid, I am going to Madrid on Saturday! I am going into Madrid and am going to meet a friend of a friend who lives there! We are going to hang out and i think we might go to el Parque del Retiro. I am meeting her right in the center of Madrid near a bunch of stuff, so i don't know exactly what we will do but i am really excited! (like you have no idea) I am going to ride the metro straight there. I get on the train in Tres Cantos about a 10 minutes bike ride from my house and i get of about 100 yards from where we are meeting. I am really excited as i haven't been to Madrid yet and I am really looking forward to seeing it!

Tests are quite similar to homework, except they are harder because i don't have access to Google Translate. The second day of Lengua (It is the Spanish equivalent of English in the US (grammar and reading and stuff)), we took an "assessment" to see where we were as a class. I probably pulled the class's grade down to about a 2 (In Spain grades are 1-10, not 1-100). We had to read a paragraph and then answer about 7 questions, all of them short answer. I answered as many as i could and then sat there for twenty minutes and tried to look like i was doing something when the teacher looked at me. It was pretty bad. But on a better note, Yesterday we took a test in Fisica y Quimica (physics and chemistry) that was actually not bad. It was difficult to figure out what the question was asking sometimes but i think i did pretty well. It helps that i took Physics last year...

PAELLA! And you can kinda see the grill thing it is on...

The cool old church we went to.

Also on Saturday i got to meet my host dad's mom. She was really nice and was at the house for lunch and then stayed until about 8. I talked with her some and it was really nice to meet her. And then on Sunday we left the house at 1030 to go to Galapagar to meet my host mom's family. We got there and then went to this really cool old church, and then we went to her parents house. I got to meet her brother and his family, her parents, and her sister. It was really fun and we swam in the pool, went on a bike ride, and just had a good time. The best part (or one of the best parts) was lunch. We had PAELLA! It was SUPER GOOD! They cooked it over a grill of sorts and it had rice and shrimp and chicken and squid and mussels and it was really good and really cool to see how they did it. Her family was super nice and they gave me a book because it was my birthday on Thursday. It is in both Spanish and English so i can practice. Also, this Sunday we are going to Segovia, which is a city north of Madrid about an hour where there are Roman Constructions. There is an aqueduct and i think a medieval fort and wall. I am really excited.

I think that my favorite class is English. It is super easy (no surprise there) and it is really fun to do super easy stuff. The first day of class we had to put the correct tense of the verb (either present simple or present progressive) in the sentences. Some examples:

• This book _______ (belong) to Brian.
• My cousins ________ (go) to Greece this summer. They _____ (go) there nearly every year.
• We ______ (have) dinner with the Browns on Saturday.
• I wish he would stop ______ (phone) me at 11 o'clock at night. He ______ (always/do) it.

The answers are 1) belongs 2) are going/go 3) are having 4) phoning/is always doing. The last one i got wrong. I put he always does it. Apparently that isn't what your supposed to say. And then today we did dialogues with either present progressive or past simple. The one that i got wrong you have to write one way, but if you are speaking you can say either (which is dumb because we were doing Dialogues, which, last time i checked, were speaking). But whatever. My teacher is nice and it is a fun class. :)

So. Track. Apparently right now we are doing Cross Country, or something like Cross Country, but whatever. It is really cheap (10 Euros a month) and I have practices Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (optional) and Friday. I started on Tuesday and it was SUPER HARD! I am pretty out of shape, but we ran a ton. We ran for fifteen minutes as a warm up, then did these stations, then had to sprint 10 straitaways and jog back to the beginning without stopping, then we got a 5 minute break, and then we had to do 10 more straightaways again. I am still sore today and it is Thursday. But, THERE IS ANOTHER AMERICAN IN TRES CANTOS!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :)  Her name is Anne and she is 19 years old. She is on my track team and we talk to each other and ran together. She is here for study abroad too (but with Rotary) and she is from Iowa. She is doing a gap year so she doesn't have to really try in school (jealous) but it was really nice to talk to someone. Apparently there are 9 students from around the world in Tres Cantos here with Rotary, but i only know Anne. Either way, i was really surprised when she overheard my host mom saying something to the track coach about me being American and came over and was like, "Your American, too?" I was like, "YES!" It was really quite nice.
And now i pretty much know where everything is. I went with Carmen to Luis' badminton and Elisa's Dance and i have been to the Parque Central and the grocery store (which is really small and really different compared to American ones (pictures coming soon)) and the fruteria and the libreria and the biblioteca and the track and pretty much everywhere. So i can get around. And now some pictures:


Me and my host family about a minute after i met them (and i am not kidding when i say one minute)

The lake and my host sister, Elisa

A cool bridge over the lake in the Parque Central



Anther bridge

One of the main roads with a large pathway in the middle.

Wow, this is really long, but hey, a lot has happened. If you want more pictures, go to my Photo blog:

http://iamoff2spain.tumblr.com/

 

So, a few random last things:

1. Mrs. Chittenden, email me if you would like me to skype with a class.
2. Also, at least in Spain, homework is deberes not tarea.
3. And i think i am going to be on break when y'all are here on the Spanish trip. (also, when you have finalized dates, can you tell me so i can make sure to leave out time to see you and also ask AFS if I can meet you).
4. If you are going on the Spanish trip, I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE YOU! :) Just FYI.
5. Oh, this blog has reached 1000 views, so thanks to everyone who has looked at it and is keeping up with my Adventure
6. You have no idea how cool it is to be able to say, "I live in Spain."
7. Um, i am probably forgeting something, but whatever.
8. Oh! Love you, Mom! :)

Miss you all!

 

Adios!

Instituto

I know I just posted a couple of days ago but a lot has happened and I want to keep you updated. To begin, my Spanish is getting better and better. I am still not very good, but I am learning and i can understand more easily. And speaking is better, although I still mix some stuff up and end up saying something completely wrong, but my host family gets it. Anyway, I think my last post was Sunday. On Monday, I woke up at 1130. That was a surprise. I looked at my iPod and was like," AHHHHHHHHH!!! ITS ELEVEN THIRTY!!" This is the latest I have ever slept in and i was afraid it was offensive or something. But my host family was fine with it, which is good because it was SUPER nice to wake up then. Monday and Tuesday were pretty boring, though. I didn't do much. I read a lot. It was quite nice to read a lot, but I wanted to do something (like school). Tuesday was pretty much the same as Monday except I woke up at 9 instead of 1130. Wednesday I started school. I say started. Wednesday I went to school for thirty minutes. It was pretty sad. I got there early because Pablo had to be there at 12. So I had to find my class by myself. (by find my class i mean find what class i was in, not find the actual classroom.) Pablo came out at 1225 ish and introduced me to one of his friends who is in my grade. His friend introduced me to this American guy, Tim. I was super surprised and Tim said that he went to school there last year and we talked for a minute. I don't know if he still goes there but i hope so because i want to talk to an American some times. Anyway, Pablo's friend took me to class, except we couldn't find the class. Once we did find it, i made a great impression by coming in late and everyone looked at me like I was crazy. It was great. The teacher is pretty nice though. But i met no one. Today i went to school again, also for thirty minutes. Today was better, though. Not including the fact that it is my birthday. YAY! Anyway, i got to class a little early and only two other girls were there. They introduced themselves so i had two new friends! Monica and someone else i cant remember. Then the rest of the class got there and we mixed up the seats again because new desks were added. I am super lucky because i get to sit next to the half Irish girl who speaks pretty good English. HALLELUJAH! So if i don't know what is going on i can ask her. After school i went to the phone store and decided what phone i want to get. I think we are going back later to get it. Oh, i almost forgot. Last night i got to meet my two tutors. (and for all you AFS Spain people reading this, you didn't read that wrong. I have two. :) Actually i have one officially and one that is unofficial but whatever.) Anyway, i met them and we talked for about 45 minutes. It was pretty good!

Ok, now for things that are different in Spain. Here is as many as i can think of:

1. Language: Kinda obvious, I know but hey, it is a difference.
2. Signs on the Highway: They are not just a little different, but a lot different. I will post pictures later…
3. Houses: There is a lot more of what I would call townhomes, a bunch of houses that share walls and are in a row.
4. Houses (2): All of the freestanding houses have walls around their yards and a gate with an intercom to talk to whoever is inside if you want to get in.
5. Light Switches: We usually have two different ones in the US, the ones with and actual switch that sticks out from the wall, and the ones shaped like a rectangle. Here their light switches are more like the second, except they are square. They are about the same height as the rectangle ones and are as wide as they are tall.
6. Toilets: The toilets dont have a little handle you push to flush, it is a botton of sorts…
7. Plugs: Its Europe, the plugs are different.
8. Money: The money is different in Europe, too.
9. Eating Times: We eat breakfast at the normal time, but lunch is a big meal at about 2 and dinner is another big meal at about 9.
10. Carpet: Or lack of. There is no carpet in the house. At all. It is really weird and you don’t realize how much you appreciate carpet until you dont have it.
11. People: They are! I mean, they are still people, but they are different. It is kinda hard to explain.
12. Roundabouts: They are EVERYWHERE! At least in Tres Cantos. There is one outside my neighborhood, one 100 yards away from that one, another one on the main road, another one on the main road, another one, and many more.
13. Trash: They don't put their trash in bins and then put the bins out on the sidewalk once a week for the trash people to come pick it up. There are just big bins along the street that they put their trash and recycle into (I don't think all of Spain is like this, just some parts).
14. Shoes: You don't go barefoot in the House. You wear flip-flops or socks or just regular shoes. I sometimes go barefoot but the rest of my family? Nope.
15. School: As far as I know, we sit in the same classroom all day and the teachers switch rooms. I think this is crazy because who wants to be stuck in the same chair ALL DAY! Crazy.
16. Metro: Compared to Seattle, the metro is super good. I haven't ridden it, but everyone I have talked to says it is really reliable and stuff.
17. School: The way school is organized is also different. There is the first 6 years. Then the next 4, then the last two. The middle for are called ESO and the last is Bachillerato. I can't remember the first one, but I think it is Primaria.
18. School: Another way school is different is that you don't have a bunch of elementary schools then a few junior highs, and then one or two high schools in a City. I think there is 3 or 4 elemenary schools, 3 or 4 junior highs/high schools. There are a few private schools too.
19. Textbooks: They are not the hard-cover, thick books the school owns that you borrow every year. They are soft cover, you buy your own every year, and they don't really look like what I think textbooks look like.
20. Cars: They have the same car companies (and some different ones) but the cars are all more compact. There are no minivans or suburbans.
21. Parking: Ok, I was only going to do twenty, but this one i had to do, too. There are no parking lots. Anywhere. You just parallel park or park in the single row of parking spots that are in the large median in the middle of the road. (the median is super huge with trees and a huge sidewalk for people and bikes and stuff. The whole thing is probably as big as about a 4 lane road, not including the two actual lanes for cars. Then again they do have very narrow Roads)
22. Driving: Ok, one more. If the road is four lanes, two one way and two the other, and there is the lane line thingy in the middle, you can drive over that and no one really cares. And i have only seen about 3 speed limit signs. It is quite crazy.

Wow, that was more than I thought I had. OH! And the one thing I miss the most:

Carpet.

Anyway, So far everything is going pretty well. Miss you!

Adios!

I have really bad Spanish...

And I am not kidding when I say that. So far I am doing OK but the language is hard (no duh) and I am only OK at speaking... But I am getting better. It helps that my host mom speaks English pretty well so she can tell me what people are saying. But I might get her to stop so I have to figure it out by myself so I can learn. We'll see... But so far it has been great! Here is a recap of the past few days:

Leaving Seattle!

One Wednesday morning I caught my flight to New York. There we 3 other AFSers on my flight (only 2 I knew about during the flight) and we switched our seats around to sit next to each other. It was a pretty average plane flight and we made it to New York with no problems. We arrived at the orientation and sat and talked for an hour and a half until we started and hour after we were supposed to start. It was really great to meet everyone else going to Spain. We were the loudest group and every time it got to loud during the orientation they would yell, "Spain people, be quiet" and it would get pretty quiet. The orientation itself was OK... It was a little repetitive but we survived. The orientation finished at about 2 so we had 3 hours until we left for the airport at 5. I had a great time hanging out with Erin and Julia and making fun of Erin's Minnesotan accent (she pronounces flag FLAY-guh and bag BAY-guh). It was quite fun.



HUGE NUTELLA!

At 5 we left for the airport, all 30 of us and our Chaperon. The line to check our bags took FOREVER (because there were 31 of us) but we still had an two-ish hours until boarding started for our flight to Zurich. I hung out with Erin, Julia, and Caroline in the airport. We had dinner at "B Dub's" (Buffalo Wild Wings) (I think) and the server lady was really annoyed at us (and we didn't do anything wrong). We boarded our flight and in the jet way we had a lady take our picture. It was really funny because she couldn't find the button to actually take the picture and she finally figured our she was holding the camera upside down (I know, right?). It was really funny. The flight was only OK, mostly due to the fact that I only slept one hour. But it was better because they had the little screens to watch movies and all of the movies and games and everything were free. I was really surprised because they had the Avengers and recent movies and they were FREE! That made the flight a little better, and also they gave us chocolate at the end (we flew Swiss Air) which was GREAT! And hot towels, which I found funny because we were in coach. We finally made Zurich and went through customs (if you are wondering why, it is because it was our "Port of Entry" into the EU, I think) (either way, we didn't have to go through customs in Spain)(Also, I can say I have been to Switzerland because I have the stamp in my passport that says Zurich). The Zurich airport is REALLY NICE and has the coolest bathrooms I have ever been in (which is weird because it was an airport). They had automatic door and everything was super nice and clean. It was really cool. Anyway, the airport also had lots of chocolate stores and really fancy stores to buy clothes and stuff, which I found quite interesting. Also the duty free store had these super huge things of Nutella. THEY WERE HUGE! It was super cool.

Some Swiss city

The Alps!

Our flight from Zurich to Madrid was pretty uneventful. It was probably the oldest plane I have ever been on and everything creaked when we took off. The Swiss and French Countryside was pretty but I slept for about half of the flight. On this flight they gave us more chocolate (YAY) and little sandwiches which we pretty lame and didn't satisfy my hunger at all. I had been hungry since we landed at Zurich at about 1030 in the morning and I didn't get to eat until about 830 that night. It was bad. Anyway, we landed in Madrid and got our bags then met the AFS people who took us to the hostel where we had the orientation.


A large lake north of Madrid

The orientation was, to say the least, different. We play at least two games that would never have been allowed in the US and the rooms were mixed gender. The weirdest game was dubbed by the Americans "the Kissing Game." Everyone stood in a big circle and one person was in the middle. Everyone got either a number or a letter and the person in the middle would call our a number and a letter. The people whose numbers were called had to race to kiss the person in the middle's cheek. Whoever lost was in the middle and it started all over again. I had a really common number (10) so i was called into the middle at least 4 times.  But the orientation was fine and was more fun than the one in the US. It took me an hour to fall asleep which was annoying because I was SUPER tired but at midnight I was like, "Everyone at Bear Creek is just now getting out of school!" It was quite a weird thought.

I finally fell asleep and then woke up around 800. They gave us breakfast and we basically hung out all day until about 100 when we got to meet our host families. I am really glad I am staying near Madrid because all of the people going elsewhere had to get up way earlier so they could meet to get on the bus to go to the bus terminal. Anyway, we got to meet our host families around 115. We were all super nervous because they led us into a room where all of them were and we had 2-3 minutes to think about it before we actually got to meet them. I wish they had just walked out to where we were all sitting and given us no time to think about what was going to happen. And then they made it more nerve-wracking because they would call one host family up and they one student up at a time, so you had to meet them in front of everybody. It was pretty scary (and for those of you going "yeah, right" you have no idea). But we met and they are SO NICE! The car ride to their house was a little bit awkward but not as awkward as I thought it was going to be.

Yesterday after I got to the house we went swimming in the pool down the street. We came back, had lunch around 3 (the food is really great), and then i unpacked. Today we swam in the pool, went to church (which is really different from Mars Hill, discluding the fact that it was in Spanish and I understood about every twentieth word), and then went to the pool again. We had lunch and I played Play Station for a while with Pablo. The weather here is really nice, yesterday it was around 32 and right now it is 29 (This is in Celsius, I need to practice). Apparently they do wear shorts in Spain (we were told otherwise at the orientation) and I am having a really great time.

Wow, that was really long. Enjoy!

Adios!
Benjamin

Getting there.

I wrote this yesterday on the plane but havent had time to post it until now.

So. It still has not sunk in what I am doing. I can’t believe that right now I am sitty on an airplane to New York next to my two AFS buddies, Charlotte and Miranda. I saw Miranda in line at security and she saw my luggage tag and we realized we were on the same flight. Charlotte I met on the plane because Miranda saw her in the airport. We switched seats so we are sitting next to each other and it has made the flight much more fun (but now the flight attendants hate us…). We tried watching the movie Battleship, but it is really not that interesting so we stopped. Right now we are about halfway to New York (we are over North and South Dakota) (I think). But after I do this I have to write some letters that I will mail home in New York (hopefully).

                And now to the real point of me writing this: I believe some thanks are due for some people.

Mom and Dad:

So I just wanted to say thanks and that I will miss you a ton. I really appreciate you letting me do this. I know you will survive and I will Skype and email you a bunch. I hope you have a great year and I can’t wait to see you in June.

Joshua:

Have a great year! Don’t do anything stupid and don’t date (not that I think you are going to…). Have a great time with your friends and have fun during soccer. Stay in scouts and get Life. I’ll miss you!

Isabelle:

Thanks a ton. For everything you have done to help me prepare and telling me about AFS and getting me started. I am already having a great time and I know that it will only get better. I don’t know when it sinks in but it hasn’t yet. I hope you have a great year! Have fun volunteering and we need to Skype sometime during the year.

Ian, Sammy, Jessie, Christine, Chris, Annika, Phoenix, Drew, Jesse and everyone else:

Have a great year. You will all be missed. Thanks for your friendship, it means a lot to me. We need to send letters and Skype (don’t worry, I already have your addresses) and just have a great year.

Upper School Drama:

I will miss you all dearly. You all make life super fun and I will miss Drama this year. I know the performances will be great. Have fun, act well, and make every performance great. And I just thought you should know, the song I am listening to on my iPod is “The Circle of Life.” Oh, and one day during office hours/lunch we are Skyping. Just FYI.

Everyone, have a great year. I will miss you all. I hope to see some of you on the Spanish trip (and if you are in Spanish and you “aren’t going” you are now. J And if you don’t, its ok. Just know that I will be forever mad at you for not going (not really, I totally understand). Anyway, see you in a year!

Adios.