ALMOST OVER

This post was written about three weeks ago. Sorry that it's late everyone! I had been pretty busy.

The fact that my journey on this wonderful experience is soon over is heartbreaking. I have so many memories here in this beautiful country. Amazing ones, and quite a bit of horrible ones. There is so much that has happened between the time I left my little town of Lutz, Florida and now. It’s going to be hard to leave this place where I have such an abundance of memories, friends, and family.

At this very moment, I’m on a train back from Madrid to my town. I’m coming back from the end of the year Rotary trip, where 36 other amazing exchange students and I went on a bus tour across the south of Spain and Portugal. It was eleven days of non-stop excitement and learning. It was a time to deepen relationships with friends- connections that I know will last a lifetime; it was a time to learn a plethora of things that I didn’t know about the country that I have been living in for the past year. All in all, it was a time to connect deeply with everything around me- people, countries, culture, landscapes, food, architecture, and much, much more.

Now that I’m at the end of my exchange, I can judge how much my Spanish has improved. It blows my mind when I read back on things I had written in school, or reread early conversations with friends over social networking sites. I think to myself, how could I have not known how to say “do you know” in Spanish?? Or that I didn’t know how to say “I’m sorry”, or things like that. It really is unbelievable. Now, there are very few things that I can’t say or understand. I can say anything I want to, without having to stop and think about correct grammar or pronunciation. I’m actually having a lot more problems with my English than my Spanish. Thank God for autocorrect, or this report would look like a second grader wrote it. I guess that that happens to everyone though, when they go to a foreign country for a year and speak very little English. I’m happy with my language skills, but everyday I still try to improve it as much as I can.

To be honest, I’m more scared to return home than I was even to come here to Spain. It’s the most terrifying thing… I really haven’t kept in contact with people back home, so I have no idea what I’m about to walk into. And it’s going to be pretty hard leaving a country, and a life, that I know so well and love.

WOOOOO

              So, its been a while since my last update. Life hasn’t really changed. I can’t really think of that many awesome interesting things to write down, because I think all of those awesome interesting things that I would like to write about, have become my normal everyday life, and they don’t really seem that amazing to me anymore. It would be like writing a blog still living in the place you have for the majority of your life, writing down the things that have happened to you: I WENT TO SCHOOL AHH!  Or: OMG I WENT TO THE BEACH TODAY.  Or maybe, TODAY, I ATE FOOD. Well, maybe things aren’t that boring here, but you can definitely tell life has slowed down a bit. 

             One thing that happened was that my family came to visit me! It was unreal. Being able to see the faces of the people you love the most, being able to hug them, to show them this new life that you’ve created for yourself… it’s the best feeling ever. The first night they were here, I had this horrible nightmare that they weren’t really here, and that I woke up and they were gone. It was awful. But, thankfully, they were all there when I woke up (: we spent a few days in Denia, my little beach town, and then we went to Madrid, and then Toledo. I had already been to those places a few times, so it was fun to be able to kind of show off my knowledge about all the history that I knew, that they maybe didn’t. My family visiting me, really was the highlight of my exchange. I didn’t think that it was possible to love my family even more than I did, but I was happier to see them than any other time, ever. I consider that day the happiest day of my life. It’s proof that distance really does make the heart grow fonder. The entire trip with them, I could not get enough hugs, not enough conversations, and not enough smiles from them. The hard part of seeing your family after not seeing them for a really long time is seeing how they have changed. It’s hard when you really have to get it in your head that no matter if you’re gone, people’s lives move on. They change, and they grow. Whether it’s in a good way or a bad way, there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

              One piece of that trip was missing! My sister. She wasn’t able to come. I honestly don’t remember why she couldn’t, but all I know is that I miss her more than anything, and was crushed to find out she couldn’t come see me. But I have good news! She’s coming (: She’s going to come next month, with my grandma. I’m so excited to see her. Were going to have nine months worth of conversations to catch up on, so watch out grandma, you may not get any silent, relaxing, calming time like you might want. We’re going to go to Barcelona. I’ve only been there once, so it will be really cool being able to learn more and see more with two women I love very very muchhh (:

              Another thing that happened, was that I switched families for the third time. I wasn’t really looking forward to it, because I was really happy with my last family, but this family that I’m with now, is nothing like I expected them to be. They’re amazing, and I’m really looking forward to getting closer to them these last two months of my exchange. They live up on the mountain so it’s a little bit more difficult to get into town, about a forty minute walk, but it’s a really nice change. Living where there isn’t noise all night long, where darkness actually exists because of the lack of city lights is really nice. It reminds me more of home.

               Summer is coming! There have been a couple days that have actually been warm enough to go tanning! It’s still too cold to go in the ocean though, because the ocean is freezing all year long. But regardless, if you walk by the beach you will definitely see a fair share of British/German tourists enjoying the “warmth”, while the normal people, or locals, are walking around wearing parkas boots and scarves. Tourist season is beginning, which I don’t really appreciate. Because at least in the winter, without tourists, it isn’t obvious that I’m not from here. But now, that there are thousands, (Literally, thousands. The population of Denia in the winter is seventy thousand people. Then, with all the tourists coming here, with their little beach apartments and all, the population jumps three hundred thousand people.) people just group my in with all the other light skinned, light eyed, and light haired people, which are all tourists. UGH. And I’m not a tourist! I live here! It frustrates me. I hate sticking out so much.

                I don’t have to say much about this, and I don’t want to either. Two months. Those two words are the most terrifying words I have ever thought. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to come home, to see everyone again. But the thought of leaving here… leaving this life behind me, forever. Nothing will ever be the same. There are parts of my life here, or one part, that I know and hope doesn’t change. Hope that it will be with me forever. But I guess that is just a part of doing an exchange. Finding things you love, and never letting them go, even though they might not exist in the country you have to go back to.

                 So, my life has slowed down. Things have become really regular, almost scheduled. But it’s alright. I love my life here, and will be sad to have to leave it. Also, if you’re reading this, and you’re thinking of doing an exchange, and have questions, whether its how to get started, or more personal questions like about what it’s been like, please, ask. I’m more than happy to help, because I think that every single teenager should get the chance to do this. It matures you, opens your mind, and gives you an amazing experience you won’t ever forget. So please, ask.

Six months in!

Time is a scary thing. I compare it to a river of moments- with a strong current, the moment that is brought to sight, no matter how much you would like it to stay forever, is no sooner swept away with another moment taking its place. It seems like just a week ago I was saying to myself, oh just two months until my family comes. Or jeez, I wish summer would get here already. Or thinking, wow, I still have eight more months here in Spain! But, the time is quickly slipping away. Now, just thirteen days until my family comes, yesterday the temperature was seventy five degrees (!!!! Warmer than Florida!!!!) , and just four more very short months until I’m going to find myself sitting on an airplane reminiscing on all of the good and bad times I’ve had and will have had in the past year.

            Life is still going great. Even better than before.  I changed host families, and I really love my new one. They’re really similar to my family in Florida, which helps me feel more at home. I feel so included in this family, like I actually matter to them! I can talk to them about whatever I want, I spend time with them, I help clean up, I go to church with them, and I go for walks with my host mom. I feel like I’m part of the family! It’s awesome. They took me to Valencia last weekend, and my host dad spent two straight days with me just telling me all these really interesting facts about everything imaginable. It was really fun. Valencia is amazing. Definitely my favorite city in Spain.

            Right now, I’m in what my mom calls the “Butt on Stove” phase of my exchange. Now that I think about it I guess the name doesn't really make a ton of sense, but I’m at the point now where I know that I have a very limited amount of time left here in Spain, and I’m trying to get my language skills as good as possible before I leave. I know that there’s a good chance I might not have the opportunity to live in a Spanish-speaking environment anytime soon after this, so I’m just trying to get my Spanish as good as I can, and then hope I won’t forget it when I get back to America. I have completely stopped speaking English here. It’s something I know I should have done a very long time ago. But besides the occasional Skype session with my family or friends, I don’t speak English! 

            As all of ya’ll could probably guess, there are some differences between here and America. I know I’ve been here six months already, but there are still things that I just am not able to grasp where these things that people believe are coming from. People here believe that oranges are the cure to almost any sickness. My host mother tells me every day, “Lindsay losiento que no tenemos medicinas, pero tenemos naranjas, y esos son mejores que cualquier medicina.” Which translated is Lindsay, sorry that we don’t have medicine, but we do have oranges, and those are better than any medicine. And I’m just in my head thinking, “Honestly… You think that eating an orange will cure nasal congestion?” So my advice to future exchanges, do not depend on your host families for medication. Bring your own and have your parents send you some! Another thing that everyone here strongly believes, not just my host families but literally everyone, is that if you go barefoot in the house, you are at risk of getting very VERY sick. I have been told a few different things, 1) You will get pneumonia 2) You will get an STD 3) You will lose your appetite 4) You will begin to get migraines and they will continue your entire life. Those are just the most memorable risks that I have heard. I have literally been yelled at so many times for not wearing slippers inside. And not just by my parents, or other adults. Also by my friends! Everyone is crazy! Another thing people say here, is that ibuprofen is a miracle drug, and that it actually CURES colds. My mom here, so many times has just handed me ibuprofen and said here, take this or you will be worse in a few days. Or after dinner she’ll say, “Here Lindsay take some Ibuprofen.” And I’ll say “its okay, nothing hurts.” And she’ll say “but if you don’t take it, something WILL hurt tomorrow.” Also, apparently bananas are extremely fattening. I learned that when I was trying to avoid eating the chocolate I got for Valentines Day, so I went and ate two bananas. My host mom walked in on me, gasped and commented, “and you say you want to lose weight!” And I replied, “MOM don’t you know that you cant get fat on fruit?!” And she gives me a weird look and informed me that actually my entire life I’ve been living a lie, and bananas are actually one of the most fattening foods out there. I was skeptical, but eventually after five to ten minutes of straight arguing, I just agreed and said she was right and that I couldn’t believe that my entire life has been wasted eating bananas, thinking they were healthy. Then she handed me a muffin and told me to eat it instead because it was lower in sugar. I still don’t know where people here get ideas like that but I roll with them!

            I have been sick a ridiculous amount of times here. In Florida, I would only get sick maybe once a year. But even in just the past few months, I have been sick over ten times. And not just like a “Oh poor me I have a stuffy nose” kind of sick, no. It’s an all out, full blown, in bed for days kind of sick. Maybe it’s the coldness… I don’t know! But I’m so tired of it!

            Speaking about fat things, I’ll talk about myself. SEVEN KILOS GAINED. I say that in kilos, because it sounds a lot better than in pounds. Even when I say it to myself in pounds, I’m shocked and weirded out. I’ve been 110 pounds pretty much for the past five years of my life, so this new weight is weird and depressing! But I know that with being an exchange student, gaining weight is inevitable. I know that its not because I eat too much, or don’t exercise, because I run daily and eat less here than I did in the States. I know I’ll lose it all when I come back YAY!!

            It’s getting so close to being summer! I am more than ready to go to the beach, wake up whenever I want to, be with friends all the time, tan, go to parties, and just enjoy life. I really cannot explain how excited I am for that. The only bad thing about summer, is going to be knowing that my exchange is almost up. I have met people here that it are going to be absolutely impossible to forget. My heart hurts even thinking about leaving them. I just put the thought of leaving out of my mind when I’m with them. But I know that the time will eventually come, and I’m going to have to leave. But, the thought that’s going to get me through it all, is that I know its not goodbye forever. It’s going to be just like it was when I left my family back in America, one of the most difficult things I ever had to do, but I knew it wasn’t goodbye forever, I knew I would see them again, just like I know I’m going to see the people I’ve met here again. Not a goodbye, just a see you later. 

Dum dee dum dee dum

It’s going to be four months that I’ve been here soon. The days go by so slowly, but thinking that its already been four months is mind blowing. Lately I’m just taking everything day by day, one thing at a time. Not a ton has changed, but there have been a few interesting days. My birthday passed, on November 22^nd. That was an interesting day. Also we celebrated Thanksgiving, or Dia de Gracias, as people here call it. That was something I probably won’t ever forget! Other than those days, things have been going pretty normally. It’s holiday season, and of course, I really miss my family. Setting up the Christmas tree here almost made me cry, because that’s such an important tradition my family at home has. Every year, my family would put up the ornaments, each kid putting up their favorite ornament first, and of course, my mom being herself, would take a picture of us putting up “the first ornament of the year!!!”. We would always make some kind of Christmas sweet, and listen to Christmas music. I missed home a lot that day. I think what made me miss it so much was that what we did was so similar! Here, we had on Christmas music, my host mom made us a special chocolate drink, as she explained it, “tee-pee-cal espanish”. At one point the song came on that says, “I’ll be hoooome for Christmaaass… If oonly in myyyyy dreamssss…”  I was thinking, “seriously, if only.” So I guess you could say I’m experiencing a little bit of homesickness! But, don’t get me wrong. I still love it here. I would not go back even if I got the chance. It’s only that everyday things seem to get harder and harder. But I need to remember that this is normal. Most people get a little homesick around the holidays.

My birthday was pretty good, actually. I got to skype with my whole family! I finally opened my birthday box, which they sent me way before my birthday. I was getting sick of just looking at it sitting on my dresser for the past month and thinking that my birthday would never come! I wasn’t really expecting my host family to do anything for me, so when my host mom handed me a birthday present, and then even made me cake, I was so happy, words cannot explain. I had just figured since I’m not their daughter, they wouldn’t really care that it was my birthday. The cake she made was actually pie. Apple pie. I asked her why she made apple pie, and she answered, “ Eres Americana, estaba segura que te gusta tarta de manzana!” Which translated, means, “You’re American, I was sure that you like apple pie!” I was laughing at that for like ten minutes straight. There are some really funny stereotypes people have about us, I’ve found.  

Thanksgiving was pretty interesting! Rotary was nice enough to give a Thanksgiving dinner for us Americans. Our entire meal consisted of some corn soup, cooked carrots, potatoes, and a patty that contained a mashed up mix of some (undercooked) turkey, bacon, chicken, and pineapple all mixed into one little hamburger looking thing. But it was a really nice gesture towards us Americans, trying to make us feel more at home.

Next month, I’m going to Barcelona! It’s a class trip, and I am SO excited. I remember signing up for it, and thinking, “Wow, its in January? That’s so far away, it’ll take forever to come!” And now it’s practically here! Time is going by so quickly, I feel like sooner that I think, my exchange year will be over, and I’ll be thinking of all of the things I wish I would have done and experienced. Those thoughts scare me. I don’t want to have any regrets! So from now on, I decided to take every single opportunity available to try something different, or go somewhere new, or make new friends. I’m just trying to cram in everything possible. It’s crazy how I’m almost saying that I don’t have enough time, and this year is only a third of the way over. I wish I had more time. Sometimes I feel like if we had more than a year here, we would be able to make deeper relationships with people, perfect the language, and really let the culture sink into who you are. At times, I feel like I just moved somewhere new, with no culture difference, and I’m just kind of living here, like it’s no big deal. But I know that when you go to a place like Spain, it takes a while to even learn what the culture differences are, and a much longer time to be able to feel like you’re a part of it. For me, at least. Yes, I’ve adapted, and I am absorbing everything that goes on around me, but I just want to feel like a part of everything.

I think once January comes, everything will go by. I think that I’ll blink, and everything will be over. January first, I’m going to Granada, for New Years. January 8^th, I change host families. Which will be interesting, and maybe take away some of the stress and anxiety I’ve been going through. Then, on the 24^th or something like that, I’m off to Barcelona. Then, in February, I’m trying to travel to see another exchange student, maybe two! That’ll take up a lot of time.  Then in March, my family is visiting! And right after that, I may go to Madrid for a while! In May, my sister is visiting, and then in June, we have the big Rotary trip, around Spain and Portugal, which is for 15 days. And then July is summer, so of course that is going to go by fast. So when you think about it, I really don’t have that much time…

My host parents always ask me how I’m doing in school, and how I do on my exams. I don’t know why, they know that I don’t have to do work! So, when I would answer them honestly and say, “Oh, I don’t do anything in class besides talk and doodle, and my teachers don’t even call my name in attendance,” they would get really upset and say LINDSAY YOU STILL HAVE TO TRY. I do try, honesty, when teachers assign me work, I do it. The thing is they never assign me work. Sometimes they even tell me that I don’t have to go to class. For example, the other day, I walked into class, and when my teacher saw me, she automatically said, “ What are you even doing here, Lindsay? Go to the library.” It’s cool! But anyways, lately I’ve been answering my host parents’ questions about school by saying good, but that I fail all my tests. THEN, today, my host mom was like, “You know when we get your grades here were going to send them to your parents in Florida!” And, they know that I don’t do anything. That’s not what I’m worried about! I didn’t know report cards even existed here. I didn’t think they would ever be able to see them… My grades or my attendance records. Oh well, I’m not really doing anything bad.

My Spanish I feel like, has skyrocketed in the past month. I can understand everything, and can speak back understandably. The best feeling in the world, is when you’re just sitting in the classroom, or at the dinner table, not even paying attention or concentrating on what anyone is saying, and you realize that you are understanding everything that is being said, without even having to try. I had my first dream in Spanish a few days ago. It was way to long and weird to try to explain here, but, I HAD A SPANISH DREAM YEAH!

Ok, I’ll write more later. Also sorry for not posting anything in foreveeerr!

almost two months (:

It's almost two months since I got here?! September? It went by sooooo slowly. Longest month of my life. Not because it was bad, but because I did so many new, different things! But now, October has gone by ridiculously fast. It really seems like it was just yesterday that my host mom was telling me that, "Manana es un mes LindsAAAAy!" She pronounces my name like that hahahah! Everyone does; "Leensay".  I pretty much gave up on people pronouncing it correctly the second day I got here, I got tired of spending twenty minutes with ever person I met teaching them how to say my name.
BUT
A few things have happened since the last time I wrote here. I kind of have gotten into a normal schedule of doing things, I finally have a regular, everyday, normal life. Well maybe not normal (: Every morning, or most mornings, I wake up and go to school. Sometimes my school starts at nine, and sometimes later. It's really irregular and it changes a lot, and that has been the cause of some stares when I walk into the classroom an hour late. But, after school, I go home, eat lunch, and most days, take a "siesta". School is really tiring. I used to complain about being tired for school in America, but I had no idea. Even though I don't have to do work in school, just listening to different language(s) all day long and having to translate in your head is mentally exhausting. It's like an overload of information. But as long as I have my siesta, I'm fine (: after I wake up, after about an hour, I do different things depending on the days. Mondays, usually I go out with some friends and walk around, or go to the port and hang out. Tuesdays and Thursdays, I go work out with my friend to train for a triathlon that we're doing! On Wednesdays, I have a Salsa dance class with my exchange friend from Canada (: and then on Fridays, I go for a run along the beach/port, come home, shower, and usually go out with some friends. That's my schedule for the week at the moment, but I'm sure it will change soon. Me and my exchange friend right now are looking into a "Spanish for Beginners" class, where they teach us Spanish basics, like vocabulary, grammar, and different tenses, and we teach them the same in English! I'm excited, I think it will be really good for me. We're also looking into yoga, and pilates.  I am up for any kind of exercise, because, as any other exchange student can probably relate, my pants have been getting a litttttlee bit tighter these days. But I'm trying to convince myself that they all just shrunk in the wash.
I have a pretty good group of friends here. All of them are super nice, and really funny. Well, I think they're funny. I can't understand everything, and some things that I find absolutely hilarious, no one else laughs at so I end up doing some kind of snort/cough noise in order to hold back my laughter. A lot of the people I hang out with speak English. I always tell them to speak Spanish to me, but sometimes its really difficult, because it's almost impossible to be yourself in a language you can barely speak. I think that I speak more Spanish here than English, but I honestly think that the amount of english that I speak here is affecting my ability to learn and speak Spanish. It's something I need to work on. One thing that I realized today though, is that I can have an in depth conversation in half english/half spanish! I spoke the english, clearly. But that today kind of motivated me, and bumped up my confidence level about my ability to understand. I get yelled at daily by my teachers here, which isn't normal or good, but it doesn't really bother me because when people yell at me I can't even understand one word they're saying, especially if its not even in Spanish, which happens daily in my Valenciano class. ( everyone here speaks two languages, Spanish, and Valenciano, the dialect spoken in Valencia and surrounding cities) Teachers here aren't the same as in America. They are more casual, or in other words, rude. I understand more than they think I can, and so many times I hear them talking to the whole class about me, sometimes making fun of me. It hurts my feelings, sometimes even scares me.
There have been many very difficult things I have had to get through, and I'm sure plenty to come. But I came with Rotary, so I am prepared (: So, to any future exchangers reading this, know that this is not a year long vacation. You are going to get sick, you're going to cry, you're going to miss things back home, you're going to be upset with your host family, and them with you. This, I have come to realize, is actually going to be life changing- hard, but worth it.
On to a more joyful note, I'M GOING ON VACATION! There are I think three trips my school is doing, and I realllly want to go! I probably wont be able to go on all of them, because money doesn't actually grow on trees, and as once again, as other exchange students can probably relate, I blow my money so fast once I get it, it's not even funny! I need to practice saving... But it's so hard... The clothes are so cute... Anyways, yeah. Three trips with the school. One to Barcelona for four days, one to Germany for TEN days, and then a cruise!!!! YAYYYY! The cruise has five destination points, right now I can only remember two, we leave from Barcelona and stop in Italy and Greece + three other awesome places that I don't know... omg right? Yeah. It'll be cool. I'm excited. And also the Rotary trip to Portugal! This is beyond exciting. Yay (:
Okay, well I have to go to a meeting about the cruise now ( ! ) BYE

ps: I went to another bull thing in the streets, and got this epic picture. Just thought I should share (:

BYE

Updating, once again (:

This is kind of long, but it’s more about how I feel than what I’ve done.

I love everything about it here. The smell of the grocery stores, the happiness of the people, the cleanliness of the streets, the huge smiles from strangers, the language…Everything. Everything about Spain, I love. There have been so many good times, and I know that these memories I’m creating every day with be forever engraved into my brain. Though there are not-so-great things here, I’m learning to embrace it; to embrace this different culture.

The first few weeks that I was here, I saw no differences. Of course, the style, and the place, and how the people look are different, but I had no idea how different this place truly is, beneath all of the tangible things. People act different here. I’m not talking about table manners, (although I have embarrassed myself numerous times due to those), I’m talking about their expectations of you. They expect you to be able to do mostly everything on your own. Get to and from school, if you need something somewhere pretty far away (or close for that matter), you’re expected to be able to get it yourself, and take care of all of your paperwork for school and whatnot. I’m not really used to doing those things for myself (I love you Mom!). On the other hand, there are things that you are not expected to do, which have almost been just as difficult as being expected to do something. I’m not expected to clean my room, do my laundry, wash the dishes or make my bed, which are hard habits to break, as I’ve been doing most of them for almost 16 years, and those are considered polite in America. My counselor explained to me why this is. She said that it was because if I did those things myself, it’s inferring to my family that I don’t think that they can afford “help”. Understandable, but different.

I have so much freedom here. Most of the time I love it, but there are some times where I wish my family would tell me what to do, and what they want of me. I don’t have a curfew here. WOOHOO! Right? Not so much… I feel like when I get home very late, that I’m in some way disrespecting my host family. I might be crazy, but that’s how I feel. A few weeks ago, my host mom picked my friend and me up from a birthday party at three in the morning! If I had known that she was going to be staying up that late anyways, I wouldn’t have felt so guilty, but I didn’t know at the time that she stays up that late regardless. My mom in Florida doesn’t like driving me places past about nine p.m., so it’s pretty different here I think.

School here is really similar to school in America. But there are also some pretty noticeable differences. The teachers are more lenient, there’s no dress code, there’s no tardy bell, and kids never stop talking in class. But the teachers don’t seem to mind. There’s no dress code?!? WHAT??!! Before school, when I asked my host family what I could and couldn’t wear to school they looked at me like I was weird. I understand why now, though. In America, if there was no dress code, you’d have to look at even more trashy clothes all day long. Here, people dress totally normally. I think that’s where the saying, “It’s only a big deal if it’s against the rules,” comes in. Spain is so smart. I think that school just isn’t as serious here. The other day, a boy in my class caught a pidgin during “patio time” or lunch time, put it in a bag, and was putting it in my and other people’s faces all during class. Disgusting? Yes. Did the teacher care? No. All the teachers just laughed! Crazy! I have made a lot of new friends, which makes me really happy! And I’m at a point in my Spanish that I don’t have to get my friends that speak both English and Spanish, to call my mom and ask her if I can hang out with them. I can ask her myself!

Sometimes, my lack of knowledge of the Spanish language frustrates me. Actually a lot of the time. I feel like a baby having to learn how to speak. But it’s normal for a baby not to be able to talk. But I’m fifteen, and I really enjoy talking! And about eighty percent of the time I’m explaining myself, stuttering, and talking so slow even I get bored with what I’m saying. I’m used to talking all of the time, with my friends, with strangers, with anybody! A lot of times here, I feel completely discouraged and helpless. Sometimes, I doubt that I can even be successful in learning another language and making new friends. Especially in school, I find myself trying to blend in with everyone (although it’s tough seeing at I’m one of maybe 2 blondes in the school) and try not to get called on or spoken to. I’m trying to break that habit though! And every day that I talk more, I notice myself speaking more clearly, faster, and with words that I didn’t even know I knew. It’s an awesome feeling.

There are so many times when I have absolutely no clue what someone is saying to me. When I don’t understand something, I just smile as nice as I can, nod my head and say, “Si, si.” I need to either learn Spanish, or stop saying si because I have dug myself into so many graves! The first or second day I was here, I think everyone was asking me if I loved orange juice. I actually hate it, but I was like, “OOHHH SIII!” because I had no clue what they were asking me. Now they buy orange juice daily, and they always ask me why I make a funny face when I drink it. It’s because I don’t like it!!!!!!! But I don’t say that, and I’m slowly but surely getting more used to the flavor, and I even drank some yesterday, BY MY OWN WILL. There have been so many instances similar to this. A few weeks ago, family friends asked me if I liked cow testicles. I only understood cow, because normally I don’t think that a Spanish two class is taught the words testicles. So I told them that I loved it. Schools should re-think that, because knowing that could have saved me a lot of mouthwash when I figured out what I had just eaten.

Spain is more amazing than I could have ever imagined. I have been through so many different feelings since I’ve been here. I’ve been through happiness, excitement, nervousness, EXTREME nervousness, relief, self-doubt, anger, regret, and fear. But I always get past all the negative feelings, and remember how lucky I am to get to do this. I have not been here long at all, and I feel changed. I feel like a new person already. Not only because I can communicate with people in a different language, but also because I’ve learned how to rely on myself for things. Already I feel more responsible; more independent, more confident, and more and capable of doing things I never would have thought I could have done before. I will be forever grateful of everyone that helped in giving me this life changing opportunity.

p.s. I got my book you sent me mom, thank you so much (:

I'll have been here for twenty days on Tuesday !

On Tuesday, I'll have been here for twenty days! Sometimes it feels like I've been here for a lot longer than that, and some days it feels like I've only been here for a couple days! But no matter how I'm feeling at a certain time, the fact that I love it here and am already dreading saying goodbye to this amazing place stays the same. There is so much to say and to tell you, but not enough time in the entire world to give you all the details. So I'll just give you the highlights (:

I'll start with the flight here. I went most of the way, (besides to NY) with my friend Nicole, who is living in a town close to mine in Spain. I don't know what I would have done without her that day, because, as my family knows very well, I am terrible with directions. Add lack of sleep, hunger, anticipation, soreness, headaches, grumpiness, and unbrushed hair to the mix and you have two very lost teenage girls. But we managed! By the time I arrived in Alicante, met my host family, and drove down to Denia, I had been awake and traveling for over thirty hours. But that didn't matter! I was so pumped when we arrived I wasn't tired at all! I stayed up for four more hours meeting all the family and walking through Denia. That night, I slept nineteen hours.

My host family is more than I could have ever expected. They're so nice, and they help me so much- not just with learning Spanish, but they helped me with finding some really good friends, organize my classes in school, help me try to learn my way around town, and much, much more. I have a sister here, and two parents. Alicia, the eleven year old daughter, who seems really shy, but she's warming up to me little by little. Vicente, my host dad, and Maria Angeles, my host mom (who I call Angie for short). I love them and could not ask for anyone better!

I have done a countless number of cool things so far. I'll start from the beginning. The third day that I was here, we went to a wedding! Really different, but awesome. Before it started, everyone in the family got two hotel rooms, because the women didn't want to wear their dresses in the car. It was probably the nicest hotel I've ever been in! Two five star hotel rooms for just thirty minutes to change into dresses you ask? Yeah I don't know. But it was glamourous (: We threw rice at the couple! For food at the wedding, or "la boda", it was...different. I had no idea what I was eating the entire time. The food just kept coming and coming! It lasted hours. The wedding began at nine in the morning, and we got home at one... a.m. 


A few days later, on September 7th, I met my first real friend! I've spent most of my time here since then with her and other new friends, other than being with my family. That night, we went a see the "torros"! So many people before then, told me that if I'm going to live in Spain, I HAVE to see the bulls. When my friend asked me if I wanted to go see the bulls, I didn't understand at all. When people asked me, "Quieres ir a los torros?" Every time, I understood "todos" instead of "torros". So I kept saying "Yes. YESS!! Quiero ver a todos!!" Because I really did want to see everything, I just didn't know why people kept asking me. But, once we got there I realized my mistake. There, I think I experienced my first time of utter shock. The poor bulls. The people would hit at it, and taze it, just to get it angry so it would run at them. My first thoughts were: Oh my gosh I'm living with barbarians. But then I caught myself, remembering that this is a different culture, and that this is just how it is. 


A lot of the days, I just spend my free time walking around the main street, window-shopping and people watching. Where I live is just a few steps away from it! It's called Calle de Campos, and it has restaurants, clothing stores, a Mercadona, McDonalds (of course), and so much more. The street is marble! it gets blocked off after six so people can relax about cars and "motos" and whatnot. I started school two days ago. The first day, Angie drove me there, thank God, because there is not way I could walk there without getting extremely lost. School was good. It was not a whole lot different from school at home! Besides it being ninety degrees inside the classrooms. I had to walk back! It should be about a twenty or thirty minute walk, but I managed to make it into three hours. Phrase of the day? Estoy perdido. Ayudame? I probably said that over twenty times! Eventually, when I still couldn't get home, I started simply asking where the ocean was. I can only imagine how stupid people thought I was, but I don't care!!!!! I knew, that if I got to the ocean, I could find Calle de Campos and then find my way home. I had never felt and probably will never feel again the success and pride that I felt when I caught the first glimpse of that apartment building. I went from not being able to get to the grocery store in Tampa after living there for four years, to finding my own way home from school in a brand new city with people that don't speak my language. I smile just thinking about it (: 


There are still so many things I have to learn, not only the Spanish language, but about the culture here, and why things are the way they are. Right now, there is a very veryyy long list of things I do not understand. 
1. Why soccer is played on cement
2. Why, that when you're sick, you go to the dentist
3. Why the dentist writes prescriptions on sticky notes
4. Why there are rooms with no windows, but with curtains and blinds
5. Why maids come every day to clean the house.. how can a house get dirty in a day?
6. Why there are air conditioners in the schools but they are never used
7. Why people would want pictures with a dead turtle
8. Why we go grocery shopping daily
9. Why I have to wear slippers at all times in the house
10. Why there are no pancakes

Plane ride there (:

ALMOST THERE

The castle

more castle... this is on the other side of town.. its big

out my window

My first friend!

The beach (:

more beach

the street that they let the bulls loose in!

LOS TORROS

The house I stayed at for the first week.. there were more

friends (:

more!

Calle Diana, a street my house is on.. I think

The main street, Calle Campos, at night. I'll get a better quality one at some point (: