Update!

I haven't posted in a while so here is just a big update! The past weekend I went to La Costa Brava and the weather wasn't too nice so we only went to the beach once. But it was really beautiful. My family and I stayed in a house on the border between France and Spain and everyday you could look out the window and see the God made mountains in the distance that were so breathtaking. Everything was very...French. The house was really big and everything was antique. The little town was beautiful too. The house we stayed in is my host grandfather's. He was in Madrid for a vacation. This week FLEW by. I didn't have school on Monday because of La Mercè. I went to La Sagrada Familia and they portrayed the 7 days of creation from Genesis over the front and it was very pretty! The next night, I went back to Barcelona and saw some fireworks! They lasted for a long time and we different than the one's in the States! I stayed home from school on Wednesday because I was feeling sick, I had a cough, and needed sleep badly. Then yesterday, my friend Caroline (with AFS, she is in Lloret de Mar) called and said she was coming to Barcelona! We met up in Plaça Catalunya and went sight-seeing! We saw La Casa de Gaudi! Some awesome sculptures I can't really name for you, and walked through Gothic Square! Every single street, church, shop, whatever you can think of was beautiful! Every single ally looked photo-worthy. It was so much fun running around Barcelona with my friend and having such a good time! We talked in Castellano the whole time and bought crepes. We also went to this very famous market and ate some fresh fruit. Today is Friday and this night, I am going to France with my family! They have a second home in a place called La Cerdanya. It will be fun! I recieved a letter from one of my bestfriends a few days ago and she asked me a bunch of questions in it. Here are a few I thought I would put on here! 1. Spain smells like... First thought. Smoke. Cigarrettes. It is honestly the only smell I can think of. 2. The food here is... The food is all very good, and normally very healthy or organic. The eggs are amazing and I love how I always eat bread with oil at every meal! 3. The worst food is... My host mom makes something called carbasso. It's like cucumbers meshed or grinded into a soup. It is horrible. Never try it. You might die...I'm pretty sure. It is weird because they eat it like it's...cake or something. I just can't even stand smelling it...I don't understand why you would ever try doing something like that. 4.The shopping here is... Amazing! There is a long strip in Barcelona and area that is all just like super vintage shops that are affordable. I went to an H&M that had 6 floors. Like yeah. Amazing. 5. The people here think I am... American. Everything about me. They ask me about what school is like in the USA and what the guys are like etc. 6. I work out in Spain? Y or N Yes. I normally run, but I have a membership to a gym called Can Caralleu and it is right next to my school and it is super nice. 7. School is difficult because... The only thing is that my hair always gets stuck in the chairs and gets pulled out. I think I already lost quite a bit. They have homework...I think. I don't understand anything all day so I can't do the homework and that is hard. But the social part isn't that bad! I feel like a lot of people are interested in me - being an American. 8. Learning Català and Castellano is...ç Difficult because I hear Català all day and I speak Castellano. I feel like my mind is trying to mix them together. Hard to explain. 9. I really miss my... Bed? No the one here is more comfy Friends? Yes, but not badly American food? No. The only edible thing I miss is milk Family? Yes, especially my dog Christian fellowship? YES. I just want to find one other person who is my age and a Christian here! I talk with a lot of older people from my church here though! Okay, I am at my school right now so I need to get off! I will post pictures soon! If anyone wants to talk to me about something feel free to post a comment or e-mail me or facebook! Whatever you want! God bless!

Català.

Okay, for everyone who doesn't know what Català is. It is a regional dialect spoken in Catalunya, Spain. That is an area in the north east - kind of like a state. Everyone wants to separate and become their own country in Europe instead of being part of Spain. Catalan is it´s own language but very similar to French and Spanish, it is one of the latin routed languages. Here is a quick example of a general sentence in Català: Jo estic força bé. Vull anar a la platja. Tinc setze anys i tens 15 anys. L'edifici és blau. Ens agrada Espanya. L'educació és bona per a vostè. M'agrada raïm i pomes. Okay here is the translation: I am really good. I want to go to the beach. I am 16 years old and you are 15 years old. The building is blue. We like Spain. Education is good for you. I like grapes and apples. :) I am actually getting pretty used to hearing it all day - hearing Castellano is a relief now. I have one class in Castellano and I can actually understand a little! Today in school, during FILOSOFÍA, the school counselor came in and started talking. I didn't understand but then all the sudden I heard my name and "Estats Units" and everyone looked at me. My friend next to me whispered that she was talking about me and how I would start tutoring someone in English and they would tutor me in Catalán and they were wondering if anyone was interested. It wasn't that bad but I was really embarrassed. When I got home, I went to the library with two other friends and we studied and it was fun! Then I went on a walk with one of them (her name is Mo - its her nickname) and I ate dinner at her house! It was really fun to get out of my house and be with other people my age for a while! I am starting to study Català outside of school with books and a tutor. It isn't that bad but super irregular and much harder than Castellano. There are so many things I like here! The public transport is super nice! I can go anywhere I want when I want! I haven't yet, but probably in the future I will use this opportunity! Before I came here I knew that there would be many things I would learn here...I just didn't know what. I am starting to understand that the things you go through are things you would have never expected! I miss the weirdest things about home! It's not bad, I just notice that I miss them! For example, I miss knowing things, where I am going, how long it will take, understanding everything... Its normal but it is still super weird! Sorry I don't have any pics right now! My next post will! Okay one last story, today at school something happened in first hour! Well for starts, I got to school awkwardly late. But about halfway through the class I looked over to see some boys looking at me and touching their noses. Then a girl said my name, and I looked at her and she touched her nose almost motioning that I had something on mine. Then she pointed to her nose and said something but I assumed I had like a booger hanging out. So I heard a few guys and her ask something like "do you have a tissue?" but it was in Castellano of course. I freaked out! Well not really, I just got the most red I have ever been in my life and turned away and covered my nose and didn't talk to anyone for the rest of the class. It was horrible! And it seemed like everyone was laughing! After, the girl came up to me and said she was sick and that she needed a tissue and was asking me if I had one. She said no one was laughing at me but it was still horrible! I mean, if I can't understand you speaking Català clearly to me how can I understand mouth words? But its over now haha... good story I guess. Another thing is that in History, we have assigned seats and I sit next to people who laugh at me whenever I speak because I sound funny. I know its fun to impress their friends by laughing at me, but I will always remember them as the kids who made fun of me! Its everyday too. It makes me appreciate the people who are really nice to me too! I am started to get a little more comfortable...I have a few friends now and when we can just hangout during school it is pretty fun! :) I got a letter from my grandma back in the States today so I am looking forward to reading it!

Just Your Normal Update

Everything is so vintage here! Every street, every building, just everything! All the views from my house and houses of my friends and host family's relatives are just gorgeous! This weekend I am going to La Costa Brava! They are these beautiful beaches on the southern coast of France and northern coast of Spain! I will stay with my family in my host grandfather's house! They said it is 5 minutes away from the beach. School is fun because I talk with a lot of people! But I have been laughed at a few times for making mistakes in the language... it's best just to ride it off. The funny part is that the teacher's assign homework and I don't understand...so the next day they are looking for it and I never knew we had any! There are a few advantages to being a foreign exchange student; first of all I have an awesome tutor at the school that says I can always go rest in the library if I am tired or have a headache, or I can always go eat something in the cafeteria. Also, I never have to do full assignments. Everyone was assigned a book to read in Catalan Literature and my teacher said I can just pick a small book to read that is in Catalan and English. I never have to take notes either because at the school they have chalkboards and they write in cursive so I can' read it. It makes sense, don't know what the word is and I can't read their messy cursive. This past weekend, I went shopping in the center of Barcelona with my host mom. It is so much fun to speak rapid spanish with her and see all the tourists look at you. For Catalunya's Independence Day, Aura painted a Catalunyan flag on my cheek and on the way home a bunch of American's told me very loudly that my flag was "sick" thinking that I couldn't understand them. Also, when we were shopping I noticed that the store clerks treat the locals MUCH different than the tourists. I got a card so I can check out books at the library, they have a bunch of banners in there of activities you can do so I grabbed one and I am going to look into it! I have been running lately, it feels good and hills and empty roads up here in the mountain are perfect for it. A few other quick things, it seems like everyone smokes here. I definitely stopped coughing by now. Normally it's not indoors, but outdoors is like 6 inches away from the door with the door open. A lot of guys and girls my age smoke during the break at school too. I like my school, but it takes up to an hour to get to school everyday. A 45+ minutes to get back sometimes! By the time I get home I am exhausted! Yesterdady, I went to a party/BBQ that was held for me! It was so much fun and in this HUGE house with like 10 floors! The kind of house where if you fall asleep on a couch on the 4th floor NO ONE will ever find you! Yeah that kind. They had a pool that was pretty and a really nice piano! I haven't been able to play the piano in a few weeks and it was so nice! I missed the tune very much! We ate all kinds of meat and foods that are very good! They live really close to us so I can go over there whenever I want! I am really starting to learn "The European Mindset" and it is very different than the American one. My host dad told me boys here aren't competitive because it makes them unequal. I honestly don't understand, I think being competitive is good and it bugs me a little. I was close to the most competitive people in my gym class...and I am the new girl. I don't know what the word is, but it seems like everyone here likes Obama. Now I don't want to get into politics because I don't know anything about it. Another one, God is very important to me. I try to bring up Jesus and the reaction is "I don't care if you worship a brick, as long as you don't drop it on my head" and this isn't from my host family at all. This is from society. You can just feel the attitude. Moving on to happier subjects, when I was shopping with my host mom I was trying to explain how I was frustrated. I was frustrated with how I couldn't say anything because I didn't know how to say it! And she couldn't understand me saying that one single sentence! Okay it is funny looking back but at the time it wasn't. Here is some photos! One of them is of the weird milk here! It doesn't have to be refreidgerated.... I don't understand... oh and one of costa brava!

Colegio

Yes I am writing another post right away. I am kind of using this as away to also keep track of a few things! There is so much more that I have noticed that I didn't put in my last 1 or 2 blogs that I just happened to forget when I wrote it! Okay so today was my second day of school was today and it was actually pretty good! I prayed that I wouldn't feel sleepy and everything would go well...and it did! Yesterday, I didn't really know my schedule until I arrived to school and no one knows where their classes are so you have to ask a teacher between each hour where to go. I guess I made a few friends, I don't really know what classifies as that but I talked with a lot of people. English class was super fun for me! He was talking in Català so as usual - I wasn't paying attention and staring at my desk. But then all the sudden I hear a loud movement and I look up to see everyone turned around looking at me. Then I heard the word "Americana" and I turned so red! He asked me a few questions in English, and then he told the class it was their first assignment to explain what he just said before to me. No one did of course, except many people asked me for help on another assignment he gave. Today I knew what I was doing more so everything was a little more... "smooth". One thing I didn't think would happen when I came here, would be that I am so frustrated so much of the time! I honestly can't understand anything sometimes - especially in school - and I constantly have to ask people to repeat or go slower. When the teacher gives instructions on how to do something, I don't understand so I always mess up. Also, in History of the World today, there is like a teacher assistant and she sat down with me and talked to me the WHOLE time. She explained what we were learning and what the assignment was (I think). I didn't understand anything, and I kept telling her to "speak slower, speak slower" but she never did. So naturally, I tuned out and nodded frequently. But I realized that if someone is directly talking to me in Castellano (don't even start with Català) that I get a headache and crave a nice soft bed after about 10 minutes. Probably less. The teachers I have suggest I start being tutored in Català. But I will do this thing where I study with another person from my grade and they will teach me Català, and I will teach them English! I actually think it will be interesting because I love to teach! Also, Ferran said in a few months I can find a bunch of awesome babysitting jobs because people will pay to have a babysitter who is a native English speaker. I would speak English with the kids.

First Day of School y Más!?

Okay I am aware that I just posted like 2 days ago but here's another one because so much happened! I had my first day of school today - it wasn't a full day - only 2 hours! But it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, for some reason I didn't think it would be that bad. The school is big in terms of Barcelona schools, but compared to my school in the USA it is super tiny. There is about 20-some people per class and a total of 50ish for my whole grade I think. My host parent's' drove me and picked up my friends Laura and Emma who are our neighbors. They also go to Costa i Llobera and they helped a ton! I actually was assigned a locker with Emma (prayers answered here!) She also sits next to me in class! Laura isn't in my class but she is so nice and helps me a lot too! The school is all in Català and I couldn't understand ANYTHING!!! After about 30 minutes, my started hurting really really bad and I couldn't keep my eyes open. I was exhausted and all I wanted to do was either a:hear English or b: go into a quiet secluded place and not hear anything. After school ended, a teacher wanted to talk with me about my schedule and how I was and what I was thinking etc. By this time, I couldn't comprehend anything and he had to talk really slow in Castellano and I just nodded at everything pretending to understand. He showed me my locker and I opened it faster than he could (his expression was pretty priceless I have to admit). We walked downstairs and went into a room where my host dad was waiting and the teacher and him talked for a while. The school is actually pretty big! I like the layout and how all the classrooms have walls that are windows. It is different! To get to school in the morning, I will meet Laura and walk with her to take this thing called Funicular - a down hill train and then we get off and take the subway to school. It takes a while and is much different than just driving to school like I used too! Here is a few photos of my house and the neighborhood!

Arrival!!!

I am finally here! I felt like I have been waiting for this for so long! I finally got picked up by mi familia at 8 o'clock, Saturday night! We went to a castle-like building and had to pull our luggage up a hill, then we were met by our host siblings! They were all holding a large welcome sign, and my host brother (Marc) told me that our parent's were inside waiting. We then had to wait for everyone to be individually called out and introduced to their family. I have to admit, it was a little awkward at first. I was scared to speak Castellano and I didn't know what to say - but it goes away quickly! The plane ride from NYC to Zürich, Switzerland was 7h and 10m and overnight. I didn't sleep at all and I was exhausted. On the plane ride from Zürich to Madrid I slept the whole time but one thing I realized is that my sleep schedule was so messed up that it was really easy to adjust to the one in Spain! I barely had any trouble with jetlag! Yesterday was my first day with my host family and we went to the beach, and their cousin's house. It was super fun, and they ate all this food that I have never seen before! I felt pretty stupid asking what everything was though... The constant spanish 24/7 has its effects already. I am tired ALL the time, and I am getting headaches after an hour or tour of having to speak! One thing I started doing (Ferran my host dad suggested) is watch movies in English with subtitles in Spanish. Here is a list of some of the things I have already noticed that are different between España and the USA! -You can sit wherever you want at the table, in the USA normally my dad the heads of the household sit at the ends -The milk comes in paper carts and it smells like cheese. It's thick..and weird..... -You push in a button to flush the toilet - not pushing down a handle -There is no carpet in an house, all the floor is wood -Pencils don't have erasers -They don't have line paper -The light switches are 2 inches by 2 inches wide and thick -It's normal to not ever have your air-conditioning on and keep all the doors and windows open -People drive in tight places, with tiny cars only holding on with one hand looking at you trying to explain something with the other hand - miraculously never getting hit or hitting the several European bikers wearing spandex shorts -You kiss everyone. Even that guy you run into on the street who you have no connection with. Yes. You still kiss him. -This is more well known, but everyone stays up late here. At home, I was always the one who went to bed late but now, its normal or I am the one going to bed early! There are several more, but I will stop here!

España Here I Come!

I am in NYC right now! Everyone with AFS is here (as in all the kids going to Italy, Bosnia, Turkey, South Africa, Ghana, France, Belgium, Egypt and España!) The Orientation really isn't as bad as some people have said in the past and it is super nice to see everyone and get to become close with a few other AFSers! Todas las personas are super excited and right now about half the people have already left for their flights to their host countries! We stayed here in the JFK Hilton Hotel last night and had to wake up at 8:30 this morning for breakfast. Okay, I have been waking up at 10:30 ALL summer and it was hard waking up that early! We had to check out at 10 o'clock - so we have been sitting around all day essentially. My flight to España leaves at 8:55 but we are heading to the airport at 5! It gives us plenty of free time. There hasn't been much we have done other than sit around and have someone talk to us about our flights every once and a while! That is pretty much it! Saying goodbye to my mom was hard but the lonely feeling goes away after you meet everyone! I got my Travel ID and an AFS t-shirt that we have to wear. My host dad and I were texting and he said that this Saturday night (the first night I am there!) he will take me to an amateur version of the play Spamalot and he will introduce me to everyone going to Costa i Llobera. I am happy I will get a chance to meet them but I hope I am not too exhausted! Like the Spanish say "un beso!" Adios for now!