Knowing all of you bright, intelligent people reading this, you probably know what i am going to talk about. If not, keep reading and see if you can figure it out. I realized a couple of days ago that I told you i went to Santander (actually looking back at my blog post i didn't. So Hey! I went to Santander! There, now you know) but i never did a blog post on it. So here it is! :)
For those of you that don't know (and if you don't, don't worry, I had no idea what Santander was when i first heard the name. If this is you, keep reading. If not, keep reading anyway), Santander is a city in Northern Spain about 4 hours away from Madrid. It is on the Coast and my host family has a house about 30 minutes west of the city. October 12 is Fiesta de Espana (Spain's national holiday) so we didn't have school. So on thursday after school we left the house and drove up there. The next day was Friday, and Carmen, Fernando, Elisa and I went to some festival with cows. There were TONS of cows, but none of them were in any sort of enclosed pen, so you had to be paying attention because occasionally one would go on a rampage and you would have to run out of the way so you didn't get gored by the horns. Pretty cool. And there was a market there too, with vendors selling all kinds of things, from Garlic to Underwear (there was at least a few stalls selling JUST garlic or JUST underwear...). And the next day the whole family (minus Pablo) went to the same little town to go to a different Market (for those of you that are curious and/or want to Google maps it, the house is in a little town called La Herreria and the markets were in a bigger (but still quite small) town called Cabezon de la Sal). Anyway, that was cool, and we got some cool bread stick thingys that were in the shape of a cane. After that we went to the beach and hung out there for an hour or so. It was super nice to see the water and just run around on the beach. Every night we would hang out by the fire and draw or play games or play games outside with Pablo and Luis' friends. One night we sat by the fire and played games and made newspaper hats and roasted chestnuts (over an open fire!!!!! Too bad it wasn't snowing... Maybe at Christmas if we go...). And it was SUPER cool because La Herreria is older than the US. Like a lot older. Like from the 16th century older. And the house was built in the 16th century. SO COOL. And we came home Sunday afternoon/night. So all in all a nice weekend.
Last weekend i had my first AFS orientation after the first one in September (it was the day after we got here, for those of you that don't know). We had to meet at a Metro Station in Madrid at 11 on Saturday. So i had to wake up early (earlier than i wanted to at least) because the train from Tres Cantos left at 10. We got there, walked to the place, got our rooms, and ate lunch. We then played some games and did some activities about adapting, assessment and stuff like that. Some great games we played:
one kinda like catchphrase, but in the second round you could only say one word, and in the third round it was charades
another like steal the bacon
one were two people leave, and then return, and have to ask all the other people questions to find out what is wrong with them (like not wrong, but like why they answer questions the way they do)(i was confused too)
Also, the losing team of steal the bacon had to do a punishment. The punishment was to dance in front of the entrance to the theme park that is about 400 yards away. So me and the rest of the people on my team had to dance the macarena. And then everyone had to do this other dance. We had to march in place and then they would shout "LET ME SEE YOUR FUNKY CHICKEN!" or funky alligator or funky Michael Jackson and we would have to do either a chicken dance, an alligator dance, or a Michael Jackson dance. But what made it hilarious was the AFS volunteers accents. It sounded like they were saying let me see your f-ing chicken. So all the Americans and about everyone else was laughing. It was pretty great. And we had a good time. Great moments from the weekend:
My thumbs: They all thought that it was hilarious that i have short thumbs (Cameron about peed his pants he was laughing so hard). But apparently Megan Fox has thumbs like mine.
Alexis got a dreadlock. (like i am seriously not kidding)
We learned that in Spain they say there is 5 continents, not 7 (Antarctica isn't one and the Americas are one, not two)
We had to write letters to ourselves, and it was cool to see everyone writing in there native language (like Thai, or Japanese, or Swedish)(We are such Americans)
So all in all it was quite fun (although we slept very little) and i am looking forward to the one in February.
And finally, I am sick. Ugh. It started Monday night, when i left Track early because my head hurt (i almost wrote "when me head hurt." My english is going down the drain...) and tuesday my head hurt a little and my stomach hurt some. And i didnt eat during recreo, which is a definite sign something is wrong. And then PE and the visa appointment didnt help (two hours of sitting on a train...). And today my stomach has hurt at least a little (sometimes more than a little) all day. But i still went to school because i had a test. So yep. But at least i haven't barfed yet (Hallelujah.). I hope I get better soon because i am going into Madrid on Friday and Saturday.
So, I realized I have never done a post about school and my classes and stuff. So here it is.
First of all, a quick explaination of the my daily schedule and the grading system in Spain. My schedule:
7.30- Wake up and shower
7.50- Pack up my backpack and go downstairs for breakfast
8.10- Finish breakfast and put my snack in my backpack
8.12- Leave and walk to school
8.25- School starts (I think...)
2.15- School Ends (Except on Thursdays when i have Septima and i get out at 3.00 (i think)... For more on that, see my previous blog post entitled "Septima...)
2.30- Get home and eat lunch with Fernando and Pablo (except on Thursdays i eat lunch by myself because they have already eaten when i get home at 3.00-3.15)
3.00-6.30 or 7.05- It depends on the day what time track starts (Wednesdays 7.00, Monday, Tuesday and Friday 7.30) but during this time i will waste time, look at Facebook, Skype with AFS friends, do homework
6.45 or 7.15- Leave for track
7.00 or 7.30-anywhere from 8.30-9.30- Track in the center of Tres Cantos.
Get home sometime after that, eat dinner and then go to bed.
Now the grading system: Here in Spain you get grades between 1 and 10. 5 and up is passing, and 4 and down is failing. Quite simple.
And my classes:
Mates: Ok, so it's full name is Matematicas, but who says that? Certainly not me. Anyway, Mates is fairly straightforward... We just finished the second chapter which was polynomials and synthetic division and factoring. It was super easy and I loved it. I really like Mates because I understand about all of it almost all the time. So that is nice. And the teacher is really nice. And it is really easy because i have done it before. So basically all pluses.
Lengua: Language. It is pretty much the Spanish equivalent of our English classes in the US. We do literature and grammar and stuff like that. I don't really like this class a ton. The teacher is OK, but i don't really understand much. Right now probably about 20-30% on the average day. Today less, other days more. And i have a test in Lengua on thursday (maybe... more on why later...). My goal: to pass.
Estudio: Study Hall. Pretty straightforward.
Fisica y Quimica: Physics and Chemistry. This class is ok. It is pretty boring and i understand some of it depending on the day but it isn't my favorite.
Tecnologia: Technology. This class is actually pretty cool. Right now it is kinda boring because we are just learning all of the electrical stuff and about circuits and stuff but later in the year we get to make robots and projects and stuff.
Historia: So I used to really not like this class (it used to be my least favorite...) but right now it is not to bad. I used to really not like the teacher because she would just sit in the front and read off her notes and we were expected to copy it all down and she was really strict, but now we switched seats so I am in the front of the class and every ten minutes she will ask if i am doing ok and when we have to copy stuff down she will make sure i copy it right and yesterday, she wrote something on a paper at the desk where she was sitting and i (being in the front) was trying to copy it upsidedown but she just gave it to me once she was done so i could copy it. So right now it isnt too bad. :)
Ampliacion de Matematicas: This is amplication of math. Basically we just do harder topics than we do in regular math. But it is a different teacher who i dont like as much...
Ingles: Such a great class. :) It is really fun and REALLY easy (obviously...). I really enjoy it. I think the teacher is nice, and every thursday we have an assistant who is from LA come in to help us with our pronunciation. :) I really enjoy that class.
Biologia: This class is ok. I understand some of it but i am not a huge fan of the teacher. Also it is just kind of a hard class. But today was quite funny. One of the few sentences i understood: "Estamos en un testiculo..." We were talking about Haploid and Diploid cells and how they are formed and cellular reproduction. It was really funny.
Etica: Ethics. Right now we are talking about the origin of humans (i think...). This class is ok. I only have it once a week (last class on Friday, whopee...) but the teacher is nice. I dont understand much but it isnt too bad.
Tutoria: This class i also have once a week. It is basically advisory or homeroom, and we just talk or fill out papers or play games and stuff. And my tutora is my math teacher that is really nice.
Educacion Fisica: Yay for not knowing all of my classes... :) Anyway, I have PE twice a week. It is a lot like PE in the US except you dont have a change of clothes for PE, you just wear sweatpants or athletic shorts all day. But it is quite similar. We run in the beginning and will either play sports outside or do exercises inside or outside. And there are the people that actually try (like me...) and the people that every 4 minutes pretend to be tying their shoes so they dont have to run.
So, i think that that is all of my classes. And the schedule is kinda funky. There is no rotation schedule or anything. The classes are just in some random order. And some i have 4 times a week (Mates y Lengua), others 3 times a week (FyQ, Tec., Bio., Historia, Ingles), others twice a week (Amp de Mates, Estudio) and others once (Etica y Tutoria). It is quite weird.
Also, one last random thing: I have noticed my English is getting worse. I misspell words all the time when i am writing in English. For example: (In parentheses is what i meant to say...)
Shee (she)
A (I)
Straighforward (straightforward)
Or i will get ahead of myself and skip words... Anyway, i suppose that means my spanish is getting better! :)
Just to warn you, this post is going to be SUPER random and stuff because I have a bunch to say and I am not even going to try to connect it all together. Just FYI. :)
Last Friday I had to meet all of the other AFSer's that are living in and around Madrid in Madrid. Except for the ones from Europe because they don't have to get their visa extended or they don't have a visa or something like that. Anyway, they weren't there. But everyone else was. So we had to meet at some train station in Madrid at 10 in the morning on Friday, which was great because we got to miss School. I was taking the train and would have to change trains once to get to the right place. I was perfectly fine, I had ridden the train before and if all went according to plan i would be there about 10 minutes early. My train from Tres Cantos was supposed to leave at 859 but we didnt end up leaving until 905. I dont know if this is normal, and we were supposed to wait that long or what, but we waited for about 5 or 6 minutes with the doors open just sitting there. This wasn't a big deal because i was going to have about 10 ish minutes to change trains, so it wasn't like i was going to miss the train or anything. I wasn't worried. That is until we got to Chamartin. (That is another station about 4 stops down the line towards Madrid from Tres Cantos). There the doors opened like normal and then the people got off and then we sat there with the doors open (and i was thinking, "Hey, we are just doing the same thing as we did in Tres Cantos. No biggie."). And then all of a sudden people just start getting up and walking off of the train. And not like people that wanted to switch trains, but people who didn't get off right when we pulled up but who sat there for 5 minutes and then started to get up. So i pull off my headphones and look around. Some girl who looked about 20 says to me, "Sin Servicios." I am like, "Great, what does that mean?" (I didn't actually say this out loud, but that was the first thing that popped into my head). I then realized that, "Crap. This train is having problems. That means i need to change trains." At first i was fine with this, but once i got off of the train and saw how HUGE this train station was, i was really freaked out. I was thinking that it would be some easy train station where it just says the places the different platforms go to and you figure out where you want to go and which platform that is and just go there. But no, this train station had to have some wonky electric signs that were really confusing. So i just ended up following some lady from my train who didnt get up until we had sat there for five minutes. I ended up getting on a train that was going to the station i needed to go to to catch my other train to Aluche. So i arrive in Atocha (the place where i am supposed to change trains) and i try and figure out which platform i am supposed to go to. I saw some electric sign that said i was supposed to go to a certain platform. I get to that platform and see a different sign (a permanent, stuck to the wall type of sign) that says i am supposed to be on a different platform. I run up the escalator, and am halfway down the one going to my platform when the train leaves. So i had to wait for another 10 minutes for the next train. I finally made it to Aluche and was only ten minutes late.
And now about the visa appointment itself. We all met up in the train station. It was really fun to see all of my AFS friends there and see how the first few days of their exchange were going. Once the AFS person got there (she arrived later than i did) she told us what was happening and where we were going. We then proceeded to walk about a mile to this building where we were having our first of two appointments for our visa extension. Oh, and i forgot to mention something. It. Was. Pouring. Like rivers down the streets, my shoes were soaked in minutes, this is crazy what the heck are we doing pouring. It was bad. And then when we get to the place we have to go through security. Like full out, take off your backpacks and put anything metal on this table. And we were all soaked already and this building with the security was about ten feet wide. So there is this long-ish line out one side and then about 2 people can fit inside to actually go through security. It was crazy. But the appointment took altogether way to little time. I seriously walked up, sat down, said, "Hola" to the lady, gave her my passport, sat there for two minutes, took back my passport and two other papers, said, "gracias" and then left. Really. I had to get soaked and walk a mile in the rain and freak out with the trains for a two minute appointment. Oh, and i forgot to explain something. To get your visa extended, you have to do 3 appointments. The first is in your city's city hall where you register yourself as a citizen. The second is this one, which is where you make the appointment for your final one where you present a bunch of documents and stuff. So basically we had to have an appointment to make an appointment. Pretty great. Anyway, we walked back to the train station and then all of us AFSers decided, "Hey, we are already soaked, lets just go into Madrid and hang out." So we went to Madrid, all 11 of us in our Bright yellow AFS t-shirts that you really couldn't see because of all of our coats. But it was fun. It actually didn't rain on us in Madrid until we were in Retiro and we were going to split up anyway. Me and this other guy named Robert had to go to the train station. We looked at a map and we knew which way we were supposed to go. We had to walk south out of retiro and then west a little to get to the train station. So we walked. And walked. And walked. Retiro is SO HUGE. It took us forever to get out of the park. Not to metion we couldn't find the exit, so we ended up walking to the south east corner when we needed to go to the south west corner, and then we had to walk all the way over to the south west corner to get to the train station. And it was pouring, again. But it was a fun day and i didn't go to school so it was worth it. :)
And then Saturday I had a birthday party in Madrid and we walked a ton (like even more than friday) and then Sunday we went for a hike. So i basically walked all weekend. It was fun but i was (and still am...) super tired.
Now random things...
IT HAS BEEN ONE MONTH SINCE I LEFT SAMMAMISH! Wow. I have never been away from my family for more that a week, and only once outside of the country without my family (to Canada. For a day. So that doesn't really count...). I really miss them (some days more than others...) but i am having a great time here. I would have said this earlier but i started writing this post yesterday and am finishing it today.
Super great questions I have been asked:
Do high schools look like they do in the movies? Depends on the high school (like Bear Creek not so much, but others, as far as i know, do), but for the most part yes.
Do people watch Jersey Shore? I about died when asked this, i was laughing so hard. Which is bad because it was in the middle of class... Anyway, i said some people do.
What are all the english swear words? I was asked this Yesterday during Recreo by two of my friends, Monica and Maria. I did my best to avoid answering and told them the already knew all of them. They then proceeded to list all of them off and i was like, "Yep, thats all the ones i know..." It was pretty awkward.
I got some pants for you! Would you like me to mail them to you? This was my mom. My answer: "Sure..."
Yesterday I skyped with my friend, Erin, for two hours and twenty six minutes exactly. It was really nice to talk and see how she is doing. We talked about things we miss from the US, random things about exchange, school, and independent travel. Oh, and just as a warning mom, i might have to do some independent travel... Because i REALLY want to go to Barcelona. Anyway, it was really fun, and, Erin, we are doing it again.
WE MOVED SEATS IN CLASS! This is NOT GOOD. Now I can't talk to Carla and ask her what the teacher said, i have to fend for myself. AHHH!!! But whatever, I'll manage. It will help my spanish because now i cant talk to her in English during class... But I did lose my laughing buddy for English class.
I got my package today!!!!!! Two pairs of pants (yep, she actually did send them...), two large jars of peanut butter, one bag of chocolate chips, and the whole assortment of American measuring cups and spoons.
Ha, i just now realized that i probably should talk about the title. So Septima is when we have 7 classes one day a week. Most days we have six, and our schedule goes twp classes, recreo, two classes, recreo, two classes and then we are done. But on Thursdays I have septima, so i have three classes at the end of the day. That means i dont get out of school until 3:00. And i dont eat lunch (thats right, lunch) until 3:15 ish. It is super annoying. And we dont even have a regular class, we have Tutoria, which is like Homeroom or Advisory. Ugh. And i never understand any of it.
Christina Grimmie: So when i have finished my homework (or maybe not...) and no one is home or everyone else is doing something or i am just bored i doodle around on the computer or play the piano or look up songs on Youtube. Well a couple days ago i found Christina Grimmie. I was looking up people singing "Some Nights" by Fun. and found her. She is super good, and Christian, and she just has a super fun personality. Watch the video and see:
Tuesday I went to the library! I was looking for Harry Potter in Spanish, but they didnt have it. So i ended up getting Hamlet (the No Fear Shakespeare version) and The Lord of the Rings. Both in English. I havent started them yet but will soon. Hopefully.
Yesterday in English (and apparently every Thursday in English) we are going to have an American lady come in to help us with our pronunciation. It was really funny yesterday because she asked us some questions, and we were supposed to write the answers in our notebooks. The questions:
What do you know about the US?
Have you ever been the the US?
If so, do you want to go back? and where?
my answers (quoted word for word from my notebook):
A TON!
Yep. I live there.
See #2. And I am going back in July. I have been to: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Montan, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, WASHINGTON, and Wyoming.(and maybe South Dakota...)
And then later she asked, "So, was anyone here not born in Spain?" I slowly raise my hand. "Where were you born?" "Seattle..." Pretty great. :)
Okey Dokey. So i have decided that i want to do a Q&A. Send me all you questions and i will try to answer as many of them as possible. I dont care how, just send them to me. Facebook, Email, comments on this post, any way you can. I am really interested in answering them.
And two things more:
Today i am going to the American Store! :) :) :) i am super excited and am going to bring my ipod for pictures. :)
And i dont remember the second one. Whatever.
Hope you are all doing well. Send me letters! My address is:
Ronda del Aguila, 52
28760 Tres Cantos (Madrid)
SPAIN
It costs $1.05 to mail a letter (i think). So do it! :)
Miss you all!
Adios!
P.S.
I remebered what i was going to say! and something else!
This is a quote/paragraph/thingy that Isabelle put on my Facebook wall last year. It is about exchange. I DID NOT WRITE IT. But it is super good:
How do you know what is a dream if you never accomplished one. How do you know what is an adventure if you never took part in one. How do you know what is anguish if you never said goodbye to your family and friends with your eyes full of tears. How do you know what is being desperate, if you never arrived in a place alone and could not understand a word of what everyone else was saying. How do you know what is diversity if you never lived under the same roof with people from all over the world? How do you know what is tolerance, if you never had to get used to something different even if you didn’t like it. How do you know what is autonomy, if you never had the chance to decide something by yourself? How do you know what it means to grow up, if you never stopped being a child to start a new course? How do you know what is to be helpless, if you never wanted to hug someone and had a computer screen to prevent you from doing it. How do you know what is distance, if you never, looking at a map, said “ I am so far away”. How do you know what is a language, if you never had to learn one to make friends. How do you know what is patriotism, if you never shouted “ I love my country” holding a flag in your hands. How do you know what is the true reality, if you never had the chance to see a lot of them to make one. How do you know what is an opportunity, if you never caught one. How do you know what is pride, if you never experienced it for yourself at realizing how much you have accomplished. How do you know what is to seize the day, if you never saw the time running so fast. How do you know what is a friend, if the circumstances never showed you the true ones. How do you know what is a family, if you never had one that supported you unconditionally . How do you know what are borders, if you never crossed yours , to see what there was on the other side. How do you know what is imagination, if you never thought about the moment when you would go back home. How do you know the world, if you have never been an exchange student?
and 2. I FOUND FROYO IN MADRID. Like legit, exactly like the US, pay by weight froyo. Super happy.
