HoneyNut Cheerios

You may be wondering how exactly I came to be wandering around this tiny town alone, crying and eating HoneyNut Cheerios out of the box at 9:00pm on a Saturday, but then again, so was I.
I guess this story starts with Thanksgiving. After chatting with my family on the actual day of, which was hard enough in and of itself, I then made a sort of spanish-rendition of Thanksgiving dinner for my host family on Saturday. Apart from making me appreciate the work that the adults in my family do every year to make that happen, it was a pretty hard day in my life here abroad. Every detail that was different seemed to scream at me that I am all alone, a world away from everything I love. So, even though the dinner itself was pretty successful, it made for a less-than-joyful start to what would become an ever-worsening week.
The next blow came on my Dad's birthday. It was the first time in my life that I hadn't been able to be with him for his birthday, which was so very much harder than I had expected. I missed burning chocolate chip cookies for him, I missed the feeling of Christmas season officially getting here that his birthday always brings, and I missed my Dad, and everything that makes him the best dad anyone could ask for.
Before I could have a moment to breathe, of course, I had a piano recital to deal with, and all of the stress that goes along with that. Now, I'm not exactly a new-comer to the whole piano-recital thing, but somehow having to play in a whole different setting, while knowing half the audience is a little bit more stressful than I had anticipated. I did do OK, even though my fingers shook for a good fifteen minutes after I stopped playing.
This brings us to Saturday.
I started off pretty good, standing outside for 4 hours (in 3-degrees- celsius weather) with my class selling pastries at a Christmas market in the town's main square, and hanging laundry out to dry once I got home. After my fingers and toes finally warmed up, I spent the afternoon in a sort of cold-induced limbo, where going outside seems unthinkable, but the house just seems to shrink and shrink and shrink until it feels unbearably small.
I'm not sure exactly sure what triggered my sizable mental breakdown, whether it was the violent outburst of screaming coming from one of the little boys' rooms, my host sister and I's misunderstanding, or a combination of the two, but I suddenly felt the very panicky need to get out.
So I did.
I wrapped myself up in a couple of jackets, a couple of pairs of socks, and a couple more scarves, and I went for a walk. I took some random turns until I finally got myself lost on the hilly cobblestone streets and then set out to find my way home. On the way, I came across the church, which was still holding mass, a really quiet little square where someone had put up cute little Christmas lights, and a creepy statue, which I'm quite confident will still be giving me nightmares twenty years from now. When I finally got back to a street I really recognized, I headed over to the grocery store and found (to my great delight) that there was one last, lonely box of HoneyNutCheerios standing in the cereal isle.
I of course grabbed it at once, and headed back out into the cold air, and began eating them right there. I'm pretty sure I looked like a crazy person, and almost definitely somebody I know saw me, but at that moment, with Fall Out Boy's song Sugar, We're Going Down Swinging playing a little too loud in my ears, I could not care less.

PICTURES

I'm So I haven't posted in a little while, mostly because I haven't had a whole lot to write about it. It has been requested that I post some pictures of my town and life here so here goes.

Alright, from the very beginning. This is the train station in Madrid, where I was with AFS. 

These last three are from the second or third day when I hiked up a mountain with a group of friends to support Catalonian independence.

9/11 in Barcelona where they "celebrate" the anniversary of the day Catalonia lost the war against Spain. As you can see, it involves festive costumes.

Selfies with the sisters :)

Paella is as good as you've ever heard and better.

The childrens and the grandpa at a birthday. They're SO CUTE!!

The back porch.

Playmobils galore!

A neighboring town. Gorgeous!

Yay for beach days!

Panallets: sweet little candy-like treats made of sugar clouds and happiness. 

My class and I did this fundraiser where we sold baked goods and chestnuts to raise money for our end of school trip.

The beautiful Montserrat cathedral.

SAGRADA FAMILIA (aka another gorgeous cathedral)

The next pictures are some of my favorite from this (very European) town, enjoy!

So we ended with a nice sunset, ain't that sweet? 

Ok, so those were some of my favorite photos of my time here thus far, I hope you enjoyed them and I really will try to be more punctual with my blogging.

Adios!

Things Going Abroad Has Taught Me

• Flying internationally with 20ish other students with equally heavy luggage and equal clueless-ness has very few perks.
• One of those perks is that friends are made quickly under that kind of pressure.
• Shared interest helps too.
• Friends don't necessarily need to speak the same language, smiles and pointing to food is really enough to connect about.
• The Zurich airport is stunning.
• The Madrid one, not so much.
• AFS orientations are fairly the same even internationally.
• Spiral staircases are really hard to lug luggage up.
• Unpacking your clothes, toiletries, etc. makes a place feel like home pretty fast.
• Not too fast, of course.
• European plugs are a pain, or I guess just the conversion.
• Starting school in another language/country/culture is very stressful.
• People are never as bad as you think.
• Being bored for hours upon hours upon hours of classes provides a lot of time for doodling-skills improvement.
• Not enough, however, to produce any actually good artwork.
• Harry Potter rocks.
• Smells can be really reminiscent of home, and can cause a huge amount of heartache if, say, your having a bad day.
• Letters that your parents may have written WILL bring you to tears every single time you read them.
• Hot chocolate is oh-so-much better in Spain.
• The holidays in other countries, however different, are often still pretty rad.
• I can use basically any word I want (see above "rad") while speaking english, and people think I am sooooo cool.
• I do not want to learn English as a second language, its really hard.
• What having siblings is like, the good, and the really-really-oh-so-very-much-not-so-good.
• How to sit my butt in a chair, work for three hours, and get exactly no words written.
• Just because "Spain" is associated with "warmth" does not mean that it doesn't get butt-freezing cold here in the winter. It does.
• A good scarf is essential for keeping warm.
• A good scarf is also great for fashion.
• Pizza is universal.
• I like running.
• There is such thing as too much nutella.
• There is also such thing as too many 1000 year old castles, although I have not yet hit my limit.
• Sometimes, the differences between people go beyond "cultural differences", you might actually not get along with them. 
• And that's OK.
• Just don't be a jerk.
• Because then the exchange student you were a jerk to might write about you in her blog, and no one wants that. 
• Making lists is a very fun pastime for a friday night when you are dead tired and just want to eat dinner and go to bed.
• If you just want to eat dinner and go to bed, get your butt out of the chair where you are sitting writing a blog, go make dinner, and then go to bed.
• It is very important to wish your blog-readers good night before leaving them hanging with a non-captioned list.
• It is OK to break the rules occasionally.

Halloween Doesn't Exist

Dear Halloween,
     I am writing to you today to tell you that, in the course of my study abroad here in Catalonia, I have discovered that your reaches are more limited than I had previously imagined. In the stereotypically American way, I had assumed that the holiday I celebrate was somewhat universal, and have now learned that no, thank you very much, it is not. In fact, the people here are actually a little bit offended when others bring up Halloween, replying with a rather haughty, "No, it's Castanyada."
     What is Castanyada? you ask, shocked to hear that you are not quite so powerful as you would have liked to believe. Well, I'll tell you. Castanyada, for those of you who speak Catalan, is just what is sounds like: The Celebration of Castanyas (chestnuts). People eat copious amounts of these delicious, slightly musky nuts in the week coming up to Castanyada, as well as Panellets (I don't know if all these capitalizations are necessary, but I'm gonna keep on keepin' on until someone tells me I shouldn't and seeing as how I speak English better than the whole town, I don't think a lot of intervention is coming my way). Panellets are made with ground nuts, sweet potatoes, egg, water, and sugar, and are formed in to little cookies that are either spheres, mushroom-shaped, or in logs. They are then coated in whatever you want (the most typical and possibly most delicious being pine nuts) and baked in the oven to absolute cookie perfection.
     So all of that is the more traditional sense of the Castanyada, but what it means to us modern-folk is all of that, plus a huge party on the 31 of October. Now, hearing what I've heard about Spanish parties, I was a bit apprehensive about going, but I did (because EVERYONE goes) and the one thing I wasn't expecting happened: I had a lot of fun. They play a mix of English music (which is great because people just keep asking me if I understand and then look really amazed when I say I do) and Spanish music (which is great because it's spanish and great). I asked my host parents what time I should be home by, and was really, really surprised when they said 3:00am, sorry for the early curfew. But then, somehow, wandering the streets of the town, and dancing ridiculously with friends, the hours passed by quickly, and I was so surprised when 3:00 came and I was one of the first ones to leave. Anywho, (I don't know how to spell that word, but I really want to use it, sooooooooo) I had a really good time, and any anxiousness I was feeling completely dissipated.\
     Although you may be feeling a little jealous of all the attention I am giving another holiday, this is actually good for me, because it prevented me from being homesick for the lovely Halloween party that takes place at my house in the U.S. every year, even though at times I do still miss it.
Hope you had a satisfactory turn out of young-ins dressed as hooligans this year,
Love always,
Fogg

Dear School,
I GOT A 7 ON MY SPANISH TEST WOOHOO!!!!
Love/Hate (you know our relationship),
Fogg

Dear Catalonia,
Your vote for independence is coming up quickly. Although your people are divided as to whether or not you should have independence from Spain, yellow bandanas are going up all over town in support for you, all over the region.
I understand that the politics behind this all is very complicated, and that, as of the last time I checked, the vote is actually illegal, but I think it is worth a shot to try.
Also, you have a very interesting culture as far as languages go. I'm sure you already know this, but I am just learning and it is still quite surprising at times. Although the vast majority of the people here speak Catalan, if there is one person in a group who needs to speak Spanish, everyone switches. Also, if you speak to someone in Spanish, people will answer in Spanish. These are both very well and good, until you are trying to learn Catalan, and people are not very compliant... I am working out tricks to get people to speak in Catalan to me (by the way it is a beautiful language), and I am learning more and more everyday.
Thank you for hosting me,
Fogg

Dear Readers,
I cannot quite believe the statistics (I have over 1,000 page views from places like China, Germany, Russia, Canada, and Spain) but I would like to thank you all for reading my still-slightly-clusmly attempts at blogging, and for all the amazing comments that make my day(s). Be sure to check back semi-regularly (seeing as how that is the frequency with which blogposts appear)!
Love,
Fogg

Studying Abroad: Not As Bad As I Made It Out To Be

I feel like that last post needed a follow-up:

I am not actually miserable here.

OK, now that that is out of the way, I'll tell y'all a little about my orientation that I had this weekend with AFS. I do mean just a little, seeing as how they are all more or less the same.

So here are the highlights:

- laughing till we cried about the stupidest things.

- scavenger hunt through the streets of Manresa at night

- really violent games of ninja

- awkward sex-ed lesson involving a condom and a banana

- ping pong tournaments (I was one of the better players *tosses hair annoyingly*)

-and semi-edible hostel meals

So that is kind of it... It's always really fun to see my friends from Germany and

Austria, and they teach me words in German (by far the funniest being "antibabypillen" which means birth control pill).

Besides that not a lot has happened, I just didn't want to leave y'all hanging with that depressing post.

Adios!!

Welcome to Study Abroad, would you like a side of embarrassment with that depression?

So this week sucked.

The suckiness peaked on Tuesday when I sobbed hysterically in the bathroom at school for a solid half an hour, but since then it has slowly improved until earlier today, when I felt something snap and suddenly I'm unshakably happy.

So as much as I am joyous right now, let me give you an idea of what it really feels like to have a really bad day while abroad.

Imagine waking up and being disoriented because you aren't waking up in your bed. Then all at once you remember that not only are you not in your bed, you aren't in you room, or your house, or your town. You are even in the right continent. But you still somehow have to get out of bed.

Then you go downstairs and remember that these people eating in the kitchen that definitely isn't your own don't even speak your language. But you still somehow have to talk to them.

When the morning finishes you have to walk out of the house (which despite not being your own is more comforting then school) and go to a new place full of more people who don't speak your language. Then you sit through hours upon hours of classes and just try to will the minutes to slug by faster because you don't know how much more of this you can sit through. Then on a rare burst of inspiration you focus very hard on what the teacher is saying and (oh, joy) you get one word out of five. Let me tell you, when they are explaining meiosis, one out of five is just not good enough.

Then after what feels like a veritable eternity, you get to go back to the house where you feel mildly more comfortable and you get to do homework. Maybe you go for a run, just to try not to think for a little while, because you know that if you do, the pain will come back and you will do almost anything to avoid the feeling in the pit of your stomach that screams in protest at everything around you, saying that it is wrong, that you should be home. 

Then, finally, you get to go to bed, and you stare at the ceiling of the bedroom that isn't in your house, or your town, or even your continent, and you try as hard as you can to hold back the tears that threaten to explode from you, and after an infinity passes, you get to sleep.

Ok, that was all a bit dramatic, and really, days THIS bad are not frequent (though Tuesday was really bad).

I do have some favorite pastimes for classes:

1. Think of ways that I could go home without having to do any paperwork (none of which work well, because they usually involve me getting harmed in some way)

2. Making a dot on the paper for every second that goes by and try to draw something out of the dots.

3. General doodles.

4. Homework for other classes.

5. Thinking of blog post ideas.

Alright, now onto the funnier (for y'all) part of the post. Where I tell you all the embarrassing things I've said/done since I've been here. And can we appreciate that I am actually admitting to all of these things?

-When I said Texas wants to commit suicide instead of Texas wants to secede.

-When I didn't get the date of a test right, and I had to explain to my teacher that I really wasn't ready to explain meiosis IN CATALAN in front of THE WHOLE CLASS.

-When I thought that two people were dating and turns out they really aren't.

-When I (pretty loudly) mixed up the word for 'bottle' and the word for 'penis'.

So that is one very small portion of the embarrassing things I have done, but some I'm really not in the mood to relive right now... So instead I'm going to tell you about one of the things that made my day that actually happened while I was writing this post.

So my sister were in my room and we were kinda messing around, and then I said something sarcastic and Neus made this one face that everyone hates and literally without missing a beat Nuria swat her on the back of the head at the exact moment that I smacked her in the forehead. It was so perfect and little things like this make it worth.

I realize as I am rereading this that it does paint a pretty dismal picture of my time here, but I promise I am actually having a lot of fun. I definitely don't have only bad days, and slowly but surely I am making friends here and I think that I have come a long way with my Spanish, even if it sometimes feels like I'm spinning my wheels a bit...

Adios amigos!

1 Month, 7 points, and 11 things that are weird.

First, let's all celebrate for a moment that I have, in fact, survived the first month of my exchange. Yesterday marked the day that I had been IN my town for a month. Unfortunately, yesterday was also the day the marked my first illness since I got here, and I am currently sitting in a ball on the couch trying really hard not to swallow. My family is so nice about it, and I realized yet again how truly lucky I am to have this amazing of a host family.
But despite my sore throat, I am actually in very high spirits, since it feels like I have now been here for a tangible amount of time, as opposed to a fraction of a fraction of time... And it is beginning to really feel like home, although I remind myself everyday how truly amazing this is, and that I am actually doing this, that it isn't a dream.
I have received my first test back, which is pretty cool (even if it was a math test, and that is kind of universal). I got a 7 out of 10, which unlike in the U.S. is a really good note. 10s are pretty rare, no one in my class got one on this test, I think that 8 was the highest note, and seeing as how I barely understood the questions, I was very happy with this score. I also took a Spanish test, which I haven't received back, but I am not expecting to have done nearly as well... I will report back later.
That last paragraph was, by the way, the '7 points' part of the title, now to the things that are weird. (Side note: AFS doesn't love the term 'weird', but I don't love the term 'different' and it's my blog I'll call things weird if I want to.)
1. They buy Nutella in the biggest freakin' container I've ever seen.
2. They do math in pen, and use a BUNCH of white-out, instead of just using pencil.
3. They say that the times that classes start are really strict, but when people roll in 5 minutes late their totally fine.
4. The calendars have the week number, like Week 33.
5. People know me, and whenever I walk out of the house, I hear about it later, like "Oh, hey, I saw you the other day on your bike" and I just kinda look at them like "....". (please insert my face making the face of your choosing).
6. People don't really email, even for business-y things.
7. I was supposed to meet my friends at 4:00, and at 4:05 we were texting each other about where to meet.
8. The way they tell time. (8:30 is "two quarters of 9")
9. When I chatted with my parents for two hours, they were like "that's all?" and I was like "you want me to call them back?"
10. It's pretty common for people to say "Yeah, we don't really eat dessert", but then eat chocolate at basically every meal.
11. They speak spanish.

Ok, I was kind of kidding with that last one, but a couple of days ago, my brother comes in and I go "Oh, hey!" and he says, "Hola", and I literally though to myself "Oh, yeah, they speak spanish."
Ok, that about all, love you guys!!

Orientations Galore and The Worst Day

Hey guys!
So this past weekend, I went to Barcelona with AFS to have our post-arrival orientation, but I will tell you about that later...
Right now, I want to tell you about last Thursday.
Unfortunately, it was awful.
I woke up in an amazing mood, so happy to have had a dream about nothing more than waking up in my bed from back in the U.S. It was so simple, and yet so joyful, until I realized that I was not in fact in the U.S. but here, in Spain. This happens pretty frequently that I dream of being home, but it does not often put me in such a towering temper as it did that day.
School was fine, no particular incident stood out, but just the general feeling of loneliness took hold of me, and for those of you who have not yet experienced this kind of loneliness, it is tough. It makes it hard to see anything good about anything, which makes it hard to feel motivated to focus in class, which in turn gives a lot of time to think, which is the downfall of happiness. So there I was, literally doing the multiplication of how many seconds there were until I could go home, stuck in a hot classroom, with people scowling at me from all direction, listening without understanding to what and unforgiving teacher was droning on about in the front of the inattentive class. OK, looking back, the room was probably cool, people were almost for sure not scowling, and the teachers are usually pretty nice, but you have to understand how hopeless it feels in the moment...
Then I got home, and normally that cheers me up right away, seeing as how I love my family here so much, but that day being in the horribly horrible mood that I was in, not even doing the laundry with my little sister could cheer me up (I realize that sounds obvious but it is normally really fun).
Anyways, I went to bed in a bad mood, which is never a good idea, but I suppose sometimes there is just no choice.
OK, now to the happier part of life.
The AFS "orientation" that took place this past weekend was good, albeit a bit boring at times. It also was not doing so much orienting, as allowing a chance to chat about stuff. Turns out, other people also find it crazy how huge the shampoo bottles are here (more on that in the next post). It was actually really hard at first, because most people's classes are a bit more open than my class here, and I felt like I was 'behind' in the making friends department... Anyways, that was instantly remedied when I met Paige, a girl from California, who was also having a bit of trouble making friends, and we easily bonded over how much that sucked. I also met Peter, a boy from Germany, who spoke very good english (with the most amazing british/german accent!) and the three of us spent lots of time chatting with each other and some returnees who came to the orientation. Hearing their various stories of success and difficulties was really helpful, and definitely one of the highlights of the orientation.
As far as organized activities go, we went over the rules of AFS ("no drugs, no driving, no hitchhiking" -every AFSer ever mutters in their sleep, seeing as how often that is drilled into our heads), we also did a lot about non-verbal communication, which was actually pretty cool. Another activity, where we were chatting about our contact frequency with home, we split into groups. Now, this is the second day, and so apparently the volunteers had seen enough of our spanish to be able to split us up into groups based on our level, and in my group, it was just me and one other girl from Serbia (who happens to know the exchange student staying with my dad in the U.S.. What a small world.) and we were with the chaperone who doesn't speak english, since apparently we both knew enough spanish to get on with out english. Let me tell you: I understand pretty well, and everyone tells me that I've learned so much and what not, but it definitely feels like I'm making 0 progress from day to day.
Anyways, near the very end of the orientation, our host families came to meet us, and we (the students) had a couple of hours to hang out with our host siblings. I was joking around and Indian wrestling (less violent than it sounds) with my host sisters and we already have a bunch of inside jokes so we were all laughing pretty hard, which made me yet again grateful about my host family placement, seeing as how many of the other students were mostly chatting with each other, instead of with their siblings.
Speaking of host siblings, a couple of nights ago, my host sister discovered PhotoBooth, and so, naturally, a full-blown photo shoot happened in my bedroom. (These are the two pictures from a BUNCH, mind you).

Ok, so we're all super cute, (in that last one I was kind of done, or maybe just fixing my hair, can't really remember, but regardless... I love my host family!!)

I also can't figure out how to put this text to the side, so I guess we like centered text, don't we (glares at you through two screens and probably the atlantic ocean depending on where you are).

But you won't have to deal with this for long, I'm about done.

Next blog post, y'all can expect an update on my visa situation, as well as a list of things that are different from the U.S. 

All righty, thanks so much for reading!!

-Fogg

And.... Scene! That's a wrap, everyone!

Scene 1-- The Good Kind of Teacher:

Them on the first day of school: Hi! Do you understand very much catalan?

Me: Very little, but don't let that deter you, I will just catch what I can.

Them: OK, perfect, I will make sure to pronounce things fully, and speak clearly, etc.

Me: Thanks! That's perfect!

Them: *actually does what they said they were going to do*

Me: *understands a good part of what is going on in class* *is very happy that the teacher isn't making the whole class wait on me.*

Scene 2 -- The Less Good Ones:

Them on the first day of school: Hi! Do you understand very much catalan?

Me: Very little, but don't let that deter you, I will just catch what I can.

Them: OK, perfect, I will make sure to pronounce things fully, and speak clearly, etc.

Me: Thanks! That's perfect!

Them: *pronounces things clearly, etc., but checks in with me after every sentence, no matter how insignificant*

Me: *smiles apologetically at the rest of the class, because we have now spent 6 hours trying to get me to understand something I would have figured out on my own five minutes later* 

Me: *leaves class slightly exasperated about how slow that was, while still understanding that the teacher was, actually, trying to help*

Scene 3 -- That One Teacher:

Her on the first day of school: Hi!.....

Her: *waits for a couple of seconds to make sure I fully understood* 

Her: How

Her: *waits for a couple of seconds to make sure I fully understood* 

Her: Are

Her: *waits for a couple of seconds to make sure I fully understood* 

Her: you? (Continues in this manner)

Me: *can hardly understand her because it is actually difficult to understand someone when they talk 7.344 times slower than a snail moves.*

Her as soon as her back is turned to write something on the board: huble shomotalfid ancu hitlando.

Me: *can understand even less because it is actually difficult to understand someone when they talk at 7.344 times the speed of light.*

Me: *leaves class frustrated because I not only didn't learn anything whatsoever, but because it was not at all apparent she was even trying*

Scene 4 -- The Music Lessons :

(Note: this scene has two parts : Pt. I : the Flute Lesson; and Pt. II : the Piano Lesson.)

Part I: the Flute Lesson

My host sister: This is the American girl who is staying with us, she's taking flute lessons, and Castillan Spanish is best for the moment.

Me: *grateful that she had shown me where to go, and introduced me exactly as we had discussed* Thanks! And hello! I would like to let you know that I don't know very many music terms in Spanish.

Flute Teacher: that's ok, we will figure it out fine!

Me: Awesome!

*after lesson*

Teacher: see you next week!

Me: yup.

Me: *thinks the teacher is great, but remembers why I quit flute in the first place*

Part 2: the Piano Lesson

Me: Hi, I am the American girl staying with Neus's family, I am taking piano lessons, and for now, Castillan Spanish is best. 

Piano Teacher: great! I here you already play piano a bit.

Me: *explains my piano history*

Me: *plays the one song I know still*

Teacher: oh! You still know how to play! I kind of figured a break would have meant you didn't know any songs!

Me: *glad I exceed expectations, as opposed to falling short of them*

*after class*

Teacher: have a nice week!

Me: *absolutely loves the class, and can't quite remember why in the world I quit piano in the first place, seeing as it is amazing!*

Scene 5 -- The Home-Coming

(If looking for a realistic interpretation of the play, insert a version of this after every day of school and music lesson and other excursion)

Me: Hello! I'm back from ------!

Whoever is home at the time: how was it?

Me: exhausting, but great! The people were really nice, and I managed to say "--------" without messing up!

Them: well, it's normal to be exhausted, and I'm glad people were nice.

The family: *laughs hysterically at whatever the latest event of the house is*

Me: *happy to be at the house, because it is starting to feel like home, and everything is familiar*

Scene 6 -- the Night Time Conversation with Life

(Note: I am not, in fact, crazy. I simply needed to format internal thoughts to the play, without the use of asterics, because I am sick of them)

Life: how's this whole 'abroad' thing going?

Me: good, though very lonely at times...

Life: you were warned it would be.

Me: I'm well aware, but the last couple of days, I have been finding a good routine, with which I am really happy.

Life: that's good!

Me: yeah, yeah it is... I also get a lot of hope from other people's blog posts from when they were abroad... Most of them say that at about 5 months in, everything starts to feel normal, and gets easier.

Life: oh, you have got plenty of time gurl, you've only been here two weeks!

Me: I know... I am going to be fine :)

Me *already regretting the use of asterics* *drifts off to sleep contentedly, knowing that I have a lot of time to make friends, learn the language, and other wise immerse myself in the culture*

THE END

The Best Day

I know that this blog post is uncharacteristicly soon after the last, but several blog-worthy things have happened of late. So before I get to this posts namesake (please leave comments about whether that was the correct use of the word "namesake") I will tell about the last two days. 

The night of the last blogpost, I went with my host family on a picnic. Having little understanding of the language, I made out simply that we were walking and that it was a very short walk (if you have read the last blog post, you know, as I do, that this could actually mean that the walk is quite a long one). So we set off (just the kids, the parents drove with the food) and as we walked to the other side of the village, I told my host sisters (both of whom are currently applying to go abroad next year, one to the U.S., one to Denmark) about the application process. I was so focused on the conversation and trying to use my limited vocabulary to convey fairly complicated ideas, that I did not notice that we had abruptly come out of the town, and into the farmlands. It was getting to be dark, but we walked without much problem in the dusk, our laughter ringing out over the fields, filling the cool night's air with happiness. I understand how pretentious that sentence was, but it was one of those moments that made me appreciate life. Another of those moments came a bit later, when it was truly dark, and we were looking for a way to get light without wearing the glaring head lamps that we had brought for the walk. Instead we were putting them in plastic cups, which created fun, colorful, not-to-harsh lights. My five year old host brother's "lamp" glowed particularly well, and then we realized that that was because he still had water in it. We managed to salvage the battery, and got a good laugh out of it as well. 

I will skip the next day, that is to say, yesterday, because it was a hard day, and I have decided that this will be a positive post only.

Today, I woke up to the joyful sounds of my two youngest host siblings yelling at each other downstairs. When I went downstairs to inspect, I found them squabbling in the kitchen over whether to have the TV volume at one level or the other (the volumes in question being less than audibly different). 

Soon, both of my host parents were also in the kitchen, and a nice conversation about the cartoon characters of the household's favorite show was in full swing. I managed to contribute a bit, something I was very proud of, considering the infrequency with which I do that these days. 

After sneaking some extra Nutella, my youngest host brother and I played a game, where one person draws on a white board and the other guesses what it is. The upside to this game: does not require a huge vocabulary. The downside: neither of us are very good artists. After much laughter over how silly my drawing of a bee was, I settled down on the patio with a Harry Potter book, (my main source of comfort here in this strange land). 

Midday passed lazily, with my grandmother's beautiful piano playing in the background, and a simple lunch of cheese, tomatoes, salad, and hummus. 

At six-o'clock, I tried yoga for the first time ever. The teacher was very nice, and while I had no idea what she was saying for the most part, I watched what others did, and recognized the words for "right" and "left". It was surpringly difficult, but more than that, it was a good excuse to relax and not talk for a bit.

At dinner, my host sisters and I laughed so hard we couldn't breathe at several incidents that have occurred since I arrived (only some of which had to do with me). 

To wrap up the evening, we sat in the living room and laughed at a cheesy TV show for about half an hour before heading to bed.

Today, was the best day of my exchange so far, and I wanted to share it with you all!

Thanks for reading!!

Finally a moment to think

This moment feels like the first moment I have had to myself (long enough to form a coherent thought about my experiences) in a week.

The start of the insanity was last Wednesday, the day I finally had to say goodbye.

We awoke at some way-too-early time and drove to the airport where we were met by some of our closest family friends. We sat down to coffee and chatted for a bit, until it was time for me to go through security. I was far too excited and tired for many tears, and everything had not yet sunk in. I went through security, waved one last time to my parents, and headed off to my gate, and then to New York. 

Once at JFK, finding AFS was not too difficult, and I met the other eager-eyed AFSers with whom I would travel across seas. 

The next three days were a blur of rules, security lines, airplanes, trains, and  a fair amount of waiting around. 

*Fast forward to Saturday, when I finally met my host family, after so many emails, and soooooo much time waiting. *

Honestly, the first thing I noticed about my family was that they were somehow shorter than I pictured, but they are so very nice.

The car ride from Barcelona to the very small village passed without too much awkwardness, since I managed to keep a semi-constant very-stumbling conversation going with my host sisters.

When we arrived in the town, the European-ness of it registered the most in my overwhelmed mind. Complete with narrow cobblestone streets and people talking everywhere, I don't think I could imagine a better place to be immersed in a European culture.

Their house is BEAUTIFUL and so full of life that I am never bored. With five host siblings, and a constant stream of other people (family, friends or others) there are always people in the house. 

On the second day with my host family, I skyped with my parents. I am not too ashamed to admit that I cried like a baby the whole time. The length of time that I will have to go, and the difficulty of trying to connect with people who don't speak my language caught up to me upon seeing their faces and my house. I am constantly reminded that this emotion is normal, but that does little to make it easier :)

Since then, I have met my class, though not yet started school, and met countless  other people who live in this town.

This reminds me. The first full day I was hear, I got an invitation from my host parents to come with them for a short hike with a few friends. Apparently "short" is 2 and a half hours and "few" is about thirty. However, it was amazing! We hike up to the very top of a small mountain, where a small church was nestled into the rock. We took a picture with all of the participants of the hike, and everyone sang a Catalunian song as a flag of Catalunia was flown.

Apparently, this was something that people were doing all over the Catalunia in order to show their support for Catalunian freedom. It was intimidating and awesome all at the same time.

At this point, I am very nervous for school to start, because I think this will be by far the hardest year of school in my life so far. 

I will try to blog more regularly as my life here (hopefully) settles down. 

Thank you all for bearing with me through  the process up until now, I can't believe I finally made it!

2 weeks

Let's pretend that I'm a diligent writer and that I didn't forget to blog for 2 weeks in a row.
That means that you already know about the end of summer school, my visit with some out-of-town family, my AMAZING trip to Iron Springs Resort on the Washington coast, and my general laziness in between all of those.
Since my last post (that being one week ago, since I keep up with writing so attentively) I have but three note-worthy things.
(These are not in chronological order.)
1. My visa arrived!!! There was little question before as to whether or not my visa would be granted, but actually seeing my passport with the sticker on it was extremely reassuring.
2. Karate has been awesome, which while not out of the ordinary does provide a good break from my mind, which is constantly in a state of stress/excitement.
3. I had a family reunion. I love my family dearly, and they were all very supportive of me leaving for a year, although I did get the classic (O_o) look from some when they heard exactly how long I will be gone.
Besides these things, steady progress is being made on things such as clothing-shopping and the collection of little gifts for my host family.
I am trying my best to take advantage of all the little moments that I still have in the U.S. and I try to not cry too much about all of the goodbyes I have made/will be making in the next couple of weeks...
Thanks for reading!

6.... oh wait, 5 weeks.

So sorry about missing Week 6, in my defense, I flew to San Francisco that day.
Once in San Francisco, my mom and I took a couple of hours to try and figure out the BART/bus system in what seemed to be a whole 'nother world from Seattle. Once to our hotel, a cute Japanese hotel right in the Japantown of San Francisco (it was also walking-distance from the consulate, which was necessary for our sanity as far as transportation goes).
The day after we arrived, we set out towards the consulate, our backpack full of important-looking documents and approximately 3,214 copies of each of them. We arrived outside the consulate about an hour before our appointment, and they prefer that you do not come in more than 10 minutes early, so we looked around and found a Mediterranean food hole-in-the-wall place. We sat down in the little shop, and I had the best breakfast EVER (incredible iced chai latte, olives, hummus, pita, babghanoush, and cake for desert!).
We entered the matchbox-sized lobby 11 minutes early, and joined the sizable (for that space) crowd of people all ready waiting anxiously. We got everything in order, and had my appointment. It went well, with just a couple things needing fixing.
Afterwards we headed home to our hotel, and we enjoyed the beautiful view out of our window.
The rest of the trip went very well, we both got cute haircuts and spent a day on the beach.

Fastforward to this week: my birthday!!
Due to my immense skills of procrastination, I was able to put off planning anything until it was almost too late. Lucky for me, a close family friend of mine was hosting a party a couple of days before and I decided to bake cupcakes (dry) for all of the end-of-july birthdays (two).
It was enough of a party for me, especially since I am almost completely booked for the rest of the summer getting ready for my departure.
The actual day of my birthday was spent with my dad and involved a delicious lunch from Panera, a nap (him), homework for summer school (me), and a slightly rushed dinner in order to get me off to karate in time.

That's about all that has happened to me, I imagine I will be busier in the coming five weeks (is it just me, or is that an altogether too short amount of time?)

Thanks for reading!

7 WEEKS!

Well.
Let's see here about the last week of my life.
Turns out, besides the daily summer school routine, the three-times-a-week karate (which I love) and the semi-constantly worrying about where I'm going in, oh gosh, 49 days, my life is really, really boring.
Amidst the large, overly warm (it's been 90 degrees more than once in the past week. Let's get it together Washington) void of boring that has been my life, one glorious day had a (small) reason to celebrate. (That last sentence may have been just a bit glorified, but what is life without a little poetic license?)
Anywho, this day to remember was simply the day that the long-awaited visa papers came from AFS and we finally had everything(ish) ready to go for the Visa Application Day, which is coming up quickly.
Turns out, the Visa paperwork was infinitely less complicated than AFS makes it out to be, although it was not a sans-stress process (see earlier posts).
Alright, well that is about it for this week.
I will post more next week and I suppose the countdown is officially on and I can finally quote Sherlock Holmes, though in this case, I won't be chasing down a criminal...
"The game's afoot!"

8 WEEKS??!?

I realize that that sounds like not a lot of time, but it seems to be creeping up on me suspiciously quickly.
I have said my good-byes to too many people, including Molly, who I recently saw at the airport (a great surprise) and Olivia, who is (*sniff* *sniff* 'oh goodness, don't cry.') going to Utah for forever. These goodbyes bring the imminency of the departure date closer and closer and before I know it, that fateful day will be upon us and I will have to wave goodbye one last time to my friends and family.
Anyway, nothing much has happened concretely since I last posted, but all of a sudden I realized that in two months exactly, I would be gone. I think I have had this idea that everything just ends as soon as my countdown ends. Now, unfortunately, this dilusion has ended, and the reality of what I will have to wear after this countdown is setting in. That's right. Packing.
Oh, dear goodness, packing. You have to understand, normally packing is a two-hours-before-I-leave kind of activity, and I almost always forget something or another. This time however, I have made a list, and I think I will do it right, choosing what is really the most important etc. etc. etc.  Let me tell ya, (yes, 'ya' is now an acceptable variation of 'you', unlike 'u'.) this is muy stressful.
Ok, that is about all for today, I will keep y'all (again, I think that that is acceptable english) posted as to what goes on, and hopefully figure out how to put pictures on here.
Thanks for reading. :)

So many things to tell you...

I'm so sorry I have not posted in a while. I have finals at school and I have otherwise been swamped. Part of this month of crazy started on May 10th, when I and my parents attended the pre-departure orientation (PDO). This was an all-day thing, and it was information heavy. For the first part of the day, parents and students were together, and we all went over some of the main rules for AFS. They are pretty common sense-y type stuff: no drugs, no driving, no hitchhiking. They also, in the first part of the day told us some horror stories about past AFSers being sent home early, being forced to change houses without warning, etc. I will admit, they were a little scary.
For the second part of the day, the parents stayed in one room (to discuss plane tickets, monetary things, etc.) and the students (that's me!) went to another room. After some pretty typical icebreakers we started reading and reacting to scenarios (i.e. a friend from your host school invites you to a party, but you suspect there will be drugs, what do you do?). They then asked us what we would do, and as far as I can tell, there is only two possible answers to every question: talk to your host family, and talk to your 'guardian angel'.
A 'guardian angel' is a volunteer with AFS who has gone through some training and knows who to call for any situation. Every AFSer and their host family is given their 'guardian angel''s phone number, and so has a way to contact them. 'Guardian angels' are not the only name given to people who play this role, it depends on the country. Some, for example, call them 'buddies'. :)
Anyway, this orientation was SUPER information-filled, and although I have poured over every single page of the AFS website, it helps to hear the information from an actual person.
The next (and final) big piece of news that I have neglected to post about is that I got my host family assignment! I am going to have 5 siblings!!! The place I will be staying is outside of Barcelona and it looks so amazing! I have emailed a little with my host family, and I am so looking forward to getting to know all 8 of them. And no, '8' was not a typo, they have a dog! (For those of us who are mathmatically challenged: 5 kids + 2 parents + 1 dog = 8 new family members!)
I will try to be more punctual with my blogging and wish me luck on my finals!

An Un-traditional Easter

My Easter this year was not, one might say, traditional.
I started the day off groggily, with an 8:00am flight from Las Vegas to Seattle. Since I may have to navigate an airport by myself at some point in my time abroad, my parents are on a "figure-it-out-yourself" kick as far as airports go. So today, their job was made easier by the luck-of-the-draw TSA pre-check (as far as I can tell it is luck of the draw).
Small interjection:
For those of you who don't know what TSA pre-check is, it is essentially and expedited security screening at airports. For example, you don't have to remove your shoes or jackets.
Anyway, today I received TSA Pre-Check, but my mom and Alison did not.
So there I was. Faced with a looming decision between a long, horrible looking line filled with angry travelers and crying children, or a nice, quiet lane with almost no people in it (at that point it looked a bit like the promise land.) If you couldn't tell by my above description, it was a no-brainer.
After we got through the security check-point (another small interjection: that is by far the most stressful part of the trip, since the angry people behind you make you feel as though you must go through at about six-thousand miles an hour.) it was smooth sailing.
The flight was uneventful, which, really, is how we like our flights.
We arrived at home at around noon on Easter Sunday, the first Sunday I remember that I have not hunted for eggs.
However, and this is where things got interesting, it occurred to me that next year I will not be here to hunt for eggs, and the year after that I will be 16, and maybe at that point it will be time to stop hunting for eggs. So I realized that completely unwittingly I had let my LAST GOOD EASTER SLIP BY!!!!!!!
To cope with this (fairly minor) meltdown, copious amounts of Modern Family (a TV show) did the trick.
To finish off the day, we went to my dad's house for a lovely Easter Dinner (that's a thing, right?).
Third (and I think this is the last one) small interjection: Asparagus. I have never liked asparagus, and it is really one of the only foods that I actually will not eat. But today, in the spirit of trying new foods, I tried the grilled asparagus that my dad served, and I liked it (*gasp*). Then I tried another piece to make sure that my taste buds weren't just mistaken the first time. They weren't, I actually like grilled asparagus... (I do realize that this last short interjection was not all that short, but that's okay.)
Overall, this Easter was one to remember, but hopefully less so that next year's!
Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you had a fantastic Easter!

Meltdown

This week, my school is on spring vacation, and it could not have come at a better time. The weekend before spring break (right after the visa application post) I had a bit of a melt down. See, for those of you fluent in the language of paper-work, it is tedious, but not too often absolutely overwhelming. However, for those of us less experienced paper-work-filler-outers, these long, small print, confusing papers can sometimes push us to the breaking point (ish). So continues my story. Saturday night comes along, and at this point, part one of the visa application has been sent off to receive an apostille (see the * in the previous post to explain what it is). I was sitting there reflecting on the day and my progress on the visa application, when I was suddenly overcome (and here is the part where you have to trust me that I am not crazy) by the sudden desire to just be alone, away from paperwork, away from the constant reminders that I needed to get any number of forms to any number of places. So my poor mother, who was not necessarily part of the problem, but just the nearest victim, got the full wrath of my (and this is the part where I have to admit that maybe I was the tiniest bit crazy) rant. The rant basically consisted  of me needing a day just to MYSELF. This went on for about five minutes. Yeah, five minutes. Anyway, the next day I got up, I ate my Rice Chex, and then I spent the whole day, alone. And it was awesome. I guess the reason I post this, since really none of you care all that much, is to show that going abroad is not all fun and games (even before I actually go abroad). If you are averse to waxing on the philosophical, don't continue reading. My hope is that going abroad will encompass the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and that this is the beginning of that wonderful roller coaster of emotion. (Sorry I am rereading that and it sounds REALLY cheesy.)
Thanks for reading!

Visa Application and Cheating at Coffee

Visa Application.
The words that have stricken fear in my heart since Day 1 of this long, paper-work-filled process. I don't even really know why, except that AFS always talks about this part of the process as long and arduous.
Turns out, they break it down into four neat little categories for us (I think). I received the first part on Thursday the 27th. Although it did require a couple of notarizations and apostilles* it does not seem too complex. However, this is only part one of four and who knows what the rest of them will entail (my fingers are crossed for more easy paper-work).
*An apostille (as I recently learned) is a sort of national notarization. Once the document has a state-"sanctioned"notarization, we send it to the secretary of state and they give it an apostille. This means that all countries who have an "Apostille Agreement" with the U.S. accept this document as notarized. (By the way, does anybody know the rule about *'s? I do not know if I should have put this section of the post at the VERY bottom, or if the middle is okay???)
On to less paper-work-y matters.
Coffee is apparently more prominent in teens' life in Spain than it is here. Now, this would be no problem for those of us applicants that actually like coffee. Unfortunately, this is not me. Besides the smell of coffee, I am pretty adversed to it. HOWEVER! (yes, I just made that it's own sentence; I felt like it needed an exclamation point.) When you put one part espresso and one part sweetened condensed milk and mix it up to a desert-like concoction of yummy-ness it is REALLY good. This magically delicious drink/desert is called a Café BonBon, and if I am going to be expected to get coffee socially in Spain, this is what I will order (whether or not it is considered cheating).
Well, that was my take on visas and coffee.
Adios for now!

Rehearsal for Murder

The first part of this post is actually not even close to related to my study abroad, but it IS necessary. (I promise)
OK, so I just saw the IHS school play: "Rehearsal for Murder" (or R4M, as they say in the program for the show). To be honest, I wasn't excepting a lot, I've never been to a HS play, and all I've ever been told is that they suck.
But I was really impressed.
After all the play within a play within a play stuff was cleared up I really enjoyed the ending.
For those of you who have seen it:
**SPOILER ALERT**
I also totally called that the (fake) police officer did it!
**END OF SPOILER ALERT**
Okay, now that I got the my critic side OUT, back to study abroad.
Today, I was calmly watching TV, having a nice, calm friday afternoon, when all of a sudden I started freaking out about leaving for a year and WHAT IN THE WORLD I AM GOING TO COOK FOR THOSE PEOPLE?!?!?!
All of everybody (I think that that is english :) ) says that cooking is a great way to bond with host families. So today, I was thinking about what I'm going to make for them, and I realized: I CAN'T COOK!!!
So, in a panic, I run upstairs and I basically grab the first cook book I find that had any sort of cultural relevance to me and I make crepes. So then for the next half and hour I stress-baked (that's a thing right?) and I was super-duper happy with the results, since even the first crepe turned out good.
But baking (mainly the consuming step) is very therapeutic and I absolutely felt much better afterwards :).
Adios!

OMG I JUST GOT ACCEPTED!!!

So for those people who haven't read the particular Verne novel referenced in the title, stop reading this blog, go to your local library, and read it. 

I don't really know how to blog but here goes:

Earlier today I got an e-mail confirming my acceptance to AFS-Spain. Naturally I was totally calm, cool, and collected :P. 

I decided to start blogging now, because it is becoming painfully clear that I have absolutely no idea what I am doing, and I figured I should before I head off to Spain. 

I'm planning on posting weekly(ish) for the duration of my wait for departure, as well as during my experience abroad.

I guess that's it for now,

Adios!