Host Family!!!

So today was an amazing day!!! Actually, I guess you could say yesterday and today together, since it was really within these two days that I found out who my host family would be. So, let me start from the beginning. First of all, I REALLY wasn't expected to find out my host family anytime soon since as I have said before, I applied so late to the AFS program and figured I would sort of be "punished" for this by not getting a host family until maybe a few weeks before I left. But no, yesterday I happily found out I was wrong! I received an email from my host sister, whose name is Maria, at about 6 pm last night. The email wasn't very detailed, it was just a few sentences that said she was my host sister and her family couldn't wait for me to come. I immediately emailed her back, sadly coming to the realization that since it was 12 am in Spain, I was probably going to have to wait until the next day for another email back. I emailed her a bunch of questions, like where they lived, and if she had any siblings, because I really still didn't know anything. It was agonizing to go to sleep that night, I was just so excited to find out where in Spain I was going to be that I fell asleep holding my ipod which had my email inbox open. Well this afternoon, I FINALLY got a reply from her with all the details!

So here's what I know: I will be staying in Ponferrada- which is is northwestern Spain.

Ponferrada is just outside the region Galicia, so I won't have to learn to speak Galician- which honestly I am kind of happy about, haha. There is some amazing history and old buildings in Ponferrada, but I will make a separate post about that later.

Now, my family! This is the part I am super excited about!
First I have a sister Maria, she is 16 years old like me!

Then, I have a brother, Hugo, who is 11, a mom and dad, and a dog! Here is a picture of the dog!

Isn't the puppy cute? :) I think he's a German Shepard or something like that, but I'm just so excited to have a dog in Spain!

Maria speaks pretty good English, so far we have been emailing back and forth in English, but I told her when I get in Spain I want to speak in ALL Spanish. Also, in Maria's words, "all our friends know that you willl come in september, all want to meet you , when you come it is the party of my city!!" She also told me "we never be a AFS family," so I will be their first one! Yayy! So needless to say, I am very excited to meet everyone!
Besos, Lani.

Well, since it's been about two months, I figured it was time to update everyone with a new blog post. The thing is, I just don't have much news! I still haven't heard ANYTHING about a host family and it's driving me crazy! Haha I know I have to be patient, I don't know why this is so hard for me. But anyways, in the meantime, I've got myself pretty busy for the summer. I got a job at a local grocery store, so YAY this means all this money can go towards my spending money while I am in Spain! Which I would like to have alot of ;).. Also, I've been really involved with school and college- I will be taking 3 classes at college this summer- 2 English classes and economics, to help make up for some credits I will miss, so I don't have to take a million classes senior year! What else, oh as far as Spain and AFS, I did receive my departure information! Here it is:

Carrier Name	Carrier No.	DEPARTURE			ARRIVAL
		Location	Date	Time	Location	Date	Time
Swiss International Air Lines	15	JFK - New York - John F. Kennedy, NY	6-September-12	8:55 PM	ZRH - Zürich - Kloten	7-September-12	10:45 AM
Swiss International Air Lines	2026	ZRH - Zürich - Kloten	7-September-12	12:25 PM	MAD - Madrid - Barajas	7-September-12	2:45 PM

Yeah, so that's what it looks like! I get to go to NY, Switzerland, AND Spain, all 3 places I've never been before! I am so excited! As far as my visa for Spain, I think I'm pretty much all set- I just have to go to Chicago in August to pick it up and have my interview with the Spanish Consulate!

As far as a host family, I don't know how many people exactly have gotten theirs already, but I would say maybe a little more than half! Which means I've got to be soon, right? I've been researching regions of Spain, and I really, really want to be placed in Southern Spain:

I guess Southern Spain is called Andalucia? Yeah, so I would really love to be placed there, in either Granada, Malaga, or Sevilla I think would be really cool! Well, I think that's all I have for now, I will definitely post again as soon as I find out my host family and where I will be staying!
Besos,
Lani