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