The Traveling. I'm not going to talk too much about this, as there really isn't much to say. The basics are that it was very long, (in total we were traveling for 4 days), and very tiring. I got about 10 hours of sleep over the 4 days. It went like this: Tuesday night I slept over my friend Jacqueline's house who is currently in Italy, (Link to her blog here) and then we left at 3 am on Wednesday to drive to New York. All the exchange students who were going to Egypt, Spain, France, Italy, South America, Belguim, Ghana, and Portugal had an orientation Wednesday and Thursday. Our flight to Switzerland was about 8 hours on Thursday night, and we arrived Friday morning. We then had a 2 hour flight to Madrid, and then more orientations at a hostel (the best way I can explain it is a hotel, without towels haha). On Saturday, we took a 5 hour bus ride to Ponferrada where we met our families. Easily one of the best moments of my life. Seeing this family who had chosen me to live in their home and teach me Spanish was just such an overwelming experience. These people who hardly knew me there to welcome me as a member of their family.
My house. It is amazingly beautiful. I haven't had the time to take pictures yet as I feel it is kind of rude to just go around taking photos when I really want to be just enjoying the time with my family. But I have the 4th floor all to myself, and it truly is a room that is decorated beautifully. The colors in the room are mostly silvers and grays, with some black and white accents. I have a very nice sized balcony with a BEAUTIFUL view of Ponferrada and the mountains in the background. Then, I have my own full bathroom. On top of all this, there is a beautiful huge pool in the backyard. I love it! At some point I will take some pictures just so you can all see how wonderful it is.
Now for the things I have done since I got here. After my family picked me up at the bus station, we came back home for a dinner with my aunt and abuela as well as my family. Shannon, another AFS student, joined us for dinner also because her host dad is in the hospital and her host family is with him. I really don't know exactly what we ate, except for there were many different kinds of meat. Oh, and they ate earlier then normal because I was there. Since it was about 7, I told them I was hungry when they asked, but typically they don't eat until 10 pm. I am slowly adjusting. Dinner was very fun, although I probably only understood about 4% of what was said. My abuela especially, talks so incredibly fast that I usually can't even make out when separate words begin and end, much less understand. After dinner, my family asked if Shannon and I wanted to sleep or go to the feria which is like a fair or festival celebrating the holidays of Ponferrada. Even though we were exhausted, we knew we should soak up every experience we could get, so we said yes, we'd like to go! Keep in mind we were leaving for this fair at about 11 pm. Everything is later in Spain! We had a lot of fun at the feria, as my host sister seems to know everyone, and everyone wanted to meet "los americanos" (some of them had never seen an American anywhere besides TV!) and give us kisses on the cheek (how the Spanish greet each other). We got home at about 1:30 am, and after falling asleep at 2 am I slept until 1 pm on Sunday, when my host sister María woke me up. We then went to a Spanish restaurant called La Casa de Botillo (The house of some type of meat, my host family told me there is no English translation for Botillo) for lunch. The food there was DELICIOUS. It was almost all meat though, so I understand how a vegetarian wouldn't be able to survive in Spain. This lunch was also with my abuela and aunt, the Spanish like to have long lunches with extended family. The lunch was about 2 1/2 hours, easily the longest lunch I have ever been to. It was also very fun, although once again I only could pick out pieces of words, but my family reassured me that in a few months I will understand everything.
Also some funny things happened at the restaurant, the first was that for one of the courses with some type of meat, my family called the manager over to take it back because they said it was too hard. This was 3 huge plates of meat that he had to cart back to the kitchen and bring us new ones. I found it funny, but it seems to be very common for the Spanish. Also, we had to flag the waiter down everytime. We sat ourselves, and then when we were ready to order food and drinks (all at once), we called "chico!" and he came over. It was the same when we were ready for the check. The other funny thing was there was a women who just walked into the restaurant and she was selling a sort of lottery tickets. My parents bought 3 for one euro each, but María, Hugo (my brother), and I all lost. I just found it interesting that these sellers were allowed to just walk right into the restaurant, because in America I am sure that would not be allowed. After the huge lunch, I went with my papa and María to a type of track where jeeps do off-road course driving. (sort of? I'm not exactly sure how to explain it!) Anyways, the Spanish people love it, and we watched the cars struggle through the course as American music blared. (I'm not sure I've heard one Spanish song here???) I thought it was very dangerous, since sometimes the cars fall on their sides, but when I talked to my sister about it, she said no, it's not dangerous at all and she has even ridden with her father when he does the courses! We also had a funny conversation as they tried to explain to me that the cars have padding inside- very difficult to translate "padding." After this, we met up with my AFS friends Shannon and Megg, and Megg's sister and other family member (brother's girlfriend or something like that) where there was another type of car race. This one was done with small cars with young kids inside! And they raced down the hill in these cars with no brakes or motors! It was so crazy to us, but once again we had a great time. After this, we went to a "bar" (not like an American bar) where we got "mostos" which is wine without the alcohol. It tasted like apple or grape juice, but I liked it. To finish off the evening, we went to the feria again where we saw fireworks celebrating Ponferrada and rode some rides. It was so incredibly fun, I'm loving Spain! Sorry for the long post- but the pictures are coming up! (Sorry the pictures aren't in order, I'm still figuring out this blogging thing!)
Some overall things I've noticed:
*As I said earlier, American music is hugely popular here. However, the music is about 6 months behind, so we hear music like the song "I'm sexy and I know it" all the time. Apparently the Spanish people aren't fans of Spanish music.
*This was something very interesting: at the feria we saw a mother holding her son in the air with his pants down, and he was just going to the bathroom. Our Spanish sisters and friends said that is very common here. But we couldn't believe what we were seeing!
*You must wear shoes in the house here, my sister didn't let me walk down the stairs without at least putting some flip-flops on.
*I had heard that the Spanish people are very loud. While this can be very true, for example you get together with friends EVERY night and have a party, they can also be quieter. Just like Americans, sometimes at meals there is a minute or so of silence. They certaintly don't feel the need to be talking all the time.
*Also I had heard that Europeans in general weren't very clean. I have found this to be completely false. Some people shower everyday and some don't, just like in the rest of the world. And my mom pampers us- she has already painted both my nails and my toenails for me, ironed my clothes, etc. She's wonderful!
*Personal space obviously, is very different here. But I love it! Even if you've just met someone, they stand very close to you, give you kisses on the cheek, etc. It's just much nicer than an awkward handshake and standing 3 feet away from each other in America.
*Oh and something that is WONDERFUL right now is my sister speaks some English words. She's not exactly good at English, but she did spend a month in London over the summer to learn more, and right now it's very helpful that she can help me learn words in Spanish by speaking with some English. I know other students have families that speak absolutely no English, and I can't imagine how difficult that would be.
*However, with that said, I already don't like to use English. Spanish is so much easier right now since I am surrounded by it, and I really want to be fluent. Even when I'm with my American AFS friends, we tend to speak in Spanglish (my host sister said this will be a future language haha!) because words like Vale (okay) chico/chica (girl/boy) and chao (goodbye) are just so much easier.
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| The plane ride was beautiful |
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| My host family is so sweet <3 |
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| I like this picture because the young boy in the red shirt shows just how much the Spanish get into the off-road course driving. This jeep had just gotten stuck in the mud, hence the many people in yellow vests standing around. |
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| When the jeep got stuck, there was always a crane handy to pull it out. |
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| Honestly the BEST DRINK EVER! If you ever come to Spain, I highly recommend you try it. It is some sort of lemon flavored water with sugar, but my favorite drink that I have had here. It cost me 1,50 euros. |
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| Me with my host sister! This gesture is very popular here, they call in "guns in the air." |
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| Orientation at the hostel in Madrid |
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| The plane were very advanced, so we could see exactly where we were at all times |
***I also wanted to add this point that when you are an exchange student, everything isn't always fun and easy. Since this blog is for possible future exchange students too, I don't want to sugarcoat everything and I want to add that it is difficult to be in a place where you know nobody. But it is already so rewarding, as the friends I have made have been something that I have done completely on my own, without knowing anyone. Sometimes I feel upset when I think about how much I love my home in America, and my family and friends, and everything. But I always find a way to quickly shut those thoughts out and embrace this experience the best I can.
Besos, Lani.
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