So not really much to write about this time but at the same time I will like there is so much to write about.
Last night, Friday, I went shopping after school. They have sales in Spain at every store from Jan 4th to Feb 28th. It's amazing. I only bought two things. Then I was home in time for dinner. We had tortilla. Its egg, cheese, and potatoe cooked and put on a sub like bread thing. Its a Spanish delicaticy. I like it a lot. I talked to Ryan on skype and it was really good to see a familiar face. I read some of my Twilight book and then went to bed. I didn't go out because I was really tired. I feel bad because the night life here is so amazing and going all the time. But I just get so tired and I am not really that big of a going outter anyway.
Today I was going to go shopping with some people but it was raining. So instead I hung around my house. I read Twilight in the living room and watched my little brother play with his toys. Then I watched Toy Story 1 and 2 in Spanish with him and read him a book. I understand parts of Toy Story but deffinatly not the whole thing. It was fun. We ate lunch, which was amazing. It was the first time I have been home for lunch actually because usually I am at school or last weekend I was gone. Lunch is the biggest meal here. We had chicken, 2 breasts for each of us, then she made a lot of veggies. But she knows I don't really like them so she made me a potato. It was so yummy. I love chicken. I also had the fresh bread with my favorite new topping, queso blanco, in english it's cream cheese.
I watched TV with my family after lunch, the Simpsons in Spanish. I went and saw Revoluntary Road with Jana and Kaitlyn. It was in English with Spanish subtitles. It was a good movie. I came home and talked to my sister on skype. It was good to see her. We finally got out travel plans finalized for when she is coming and I can't not wait. YAY. For dinner we had more veggies, so I got a potatoe again. Then at the end she brought out something that had cheese on it and was translated into raw fish for me. I tried it. I ate all that she put on my plate. It wasn't the best thing I have ever had but hey I am here to try new things. After dinner, I got to talk to some friends from MSU on skype. It was so nice to see their faces! I love skype! I get to talk to my parents tomorrow. Now I am writing this blog. So not much is new haha but yet I wrote a lot.
Tomorrow I have a lot of homework to get too and will read more Twilight I am sure. I am liking Spain overall. I miss home and people but I think I am finally over my adjusting stage. I am ready to make Spain all that it can be!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
Random Things
Hola again!
Just some random things that I am going to write today so I remember them for myself.
So School this week has been good. We have class today, Friday, which switches every week. So next Friday we won't have class. Anyway my classes are going well. I have Phonetics, Compostition, Literary Anlaysis, and Converstation. My converstation class is my favorite. Phonetics is my least favorite. The stuff we have for homework is easy, just reading out of a book, but in class not only is it boring but we have to pronounce things in front of everyone. Sometimes I feel dumb when we have to do that. Oh well, everyone has issues. As long as I pass the class then I don't care. Converstation is fun. We just sit in a circle and talk. The professor, Ana, is really funny. Composition is going well. We have our first essay due tuesday, its about my life if the US. We already peer edited it and last night I had my host mom read it for me. She corrected a few grammar errors. So I think that I will do just fine in that class. Literature Analysis is going fine. We just finished our first book, Ana en el Tropico. All we really do in there is read and answer questions. Sometimes it is hard to understand some of the book but the class is still easy so thats good. I have a quiz next week in Phonetics and in Conversation. But I am sure they will go fine.
I also got an intercambio. Thats the thing I wrote about earlier where I will met with a native Spanish speaker that knows English and we will switch our time between both. The girl is 20 and also majoring in education. I am excited. Hopefully we can be friends and hangout for than just for the intercambio.
I talked to my host sister for a while yesterday. My host parents went to the opera. They showed me how to warm up my food in the microwave, I had susuage and these potatoe things with cheese inside. They were really yummy. I ate dinner with my sister and we talked. That was nice. I am deffinatly feeling more comfortable in their home day by day so hopefully by the end of this I feel even greater! I still miss my parents and friends and sister but at least I am in tune with the fact that I am here and I am enjoying my time. The weeks go by way faster here than they did while I was studying at MSU. It's kinda weird but I know that my time here will pass fast.
I'm exicted to stay the weekend in Valencia. The super bowl is Sunday and I know there is someplace to watch it but I don't know that I will. I need to ask my family if they are going to watch it and my friends from here. Anyway well I have class soon so I will talk to you guys later.
LOVE YOU!!!
Just some random things that I am going to write today so I remember them for myself.
So School this week has been good. We have class today, Friday, which switches every week. So next Friday we won't have class. Anyway my classes are going well. I have Phonetics, Compostition, Literary Anlaysis, and Converstation. My converstation class is my favorite. Phonetics is my least favorite. The stuff we have for homework is easy, just reading out of a book, but in class not only is it boring but we have to pronounce things in front of everyone. Sometimes I feel dumb when we have to do that. Oh well, everyone has issues. As long as I pass the class then I don't care. Converstation is fun. We just sit in a circle and talk. The professor, Ana, is really funny. Composition is going well. We have our first essay due tuesday, its about my life if the US. We already peer edited it and last night I had my host mom read it for me. She corrected a few grammar errors. So I think that I will do just fine in that class. Literature Analysis is going fine. We just finished our first book, Ana en el Tropico. All we really do in there is read and answer questions. Sometimes it is hard to understand some of the book but the class is still easy so thats good. I have a quiz next week in Phonetics and in Conversation. But I am sure they will go fine.
I also got an intercambio. Thats the thing I wrote about earlier where I will met with a native Spanish speaker that knows English and we will switch our time between both. The girl is 20 and also majoring in education. I am excited. Hopefully we can be friends and hangout for than just for the intercambio.
I talked to my host sister for a while yesterday. My host parents went to the opera. They showed me how to warm up my food in the microwave, I had susuage and these potatoe things with cheese inside. They were really yummy. I ate dinner with my sister and we talked. That was nice. I am deffinatly feeling more comfortable in their home day by day so hopefully by the end of this I feel even greater! I still miss my parents and friends and sister but at least I am in tune with the fact that I am here and I am enjoying my time. The weeks go by way faster here than they did while I was studying at MSU. It's kinda weird but I know that my time here will pass fast.
I'm exicted to stay the weekend in Valencia. The super bowl is Sunday and I know there is someplace to watch it but I don't know that I will. I need to ask my family if they are going to watch it and my friends from here. Anyway well I have class soon so I will talk to you guys later.
LOVE YOU!!!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Mi fin de semana
Hola!
Sorry that it has been so long. So be in for a long ride because this is going to be a long post.
So we had school of and went to Sevilla but instead of taking the train, we rented 2 cars. There were 10 of us all together, 4 boys and 6 girls. We got to the car rental place at the airport and realized we had overlooked one small detail, the cars that we were renting, were stick shifts. Everyone shit their pants I am pretty sure. Luckily, Sean knew how to drive one and Jana did a bit but hadn't driven one in years. Instead of being able to split up the drive between all of us, those two had to do all the driving. Jana freaked out a lot but we made it safely. We stalled, hit some cars on the small streets, stalled going up a huge hill, but we made it back to Valencia alive.
After the 8 hour drive to Sevilla we had finally arrived. Sevilla was beautiful. We stayed for two nights, deciding we would go to Granada for another night. We stayed at a hostel where the woman kept yelling at us to be quiet. It was fun. The first night we were there, we just went out because we got there so late. This was a lot of fun. We didn't end up really going anywhere because we knew of no place to go. We just walked around and had a good time. Friday we got up and went to lunch and then went to the Catedral de Sevilla. It only cost 2 euros to get in and is one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen in my life. The Catedral is the largest in Europe and even had Christopher Columbus's tomb inside of it. We climbed to the top of the bell tower and the view was spectacular. I loved it. It was the best part of the trip. We also went around the city and to the Torro de Oros. Its this place that is on the river and inside it is made of pure gold. That night we were celebrating Sarah's 21st birthday. We actually found bars to go to and had a lot of fun. I made a lot of Spanish friends. Everytime the guys we traveled with left us alone, a flock of Spanish boys would surround us. It was a good way to pratice my Spanish but I couldn't understand a lot. However, they spoke a bit of English. They kept telling me that I was funny when I missed up my Spanish.
Saturday we left for Granada. But on our way trying to leave we had some difficulties. We had to take 3 taxis to where we parked our cars because there were so many of us. The taxi driver took my group to the wrong place. When we walked across the street to take another taxi and told them we wanted to go to Hospital San Lorenzo..all they said was "No existe", which mean it does not exist. We all looked at each other in horror. What do you mean it doesn't exist? We parked our car right by it. Finally the guy was able to tell us that there was a hospital but that was not the name. We finally got to our car and made our way to Granada. This was only about a 3 hour ride.
Once we got to Granada, we got lost a bit around the city. We finally decide to just go to the Alhambra and find a hostel later. The Alhambra was amazing. It is this beautiful Mosque that was built long ago. It looks like its own little city. Apparently, it is the most visited attraction in Espana. So that says a lot because there is deffinatly a lot here. We didn't really have a lot of time in Granada so that was about the only thing we saw. That night we stayed in a Hostel and we went to dinner at a pizzeria. I had the best pasta ever. At least thats what I think but the only other thing that I had ate that day was a WHOLE can of pringles. First and last time that I am doing that in my life. Anyway I didn't go out that night, I decided to get some sleep and it was wonderful.
In the morning we left to come back to Valencia. Again, it was a long drive with the stick shift but we made it okay. It was wonderful to be back. That night, I had a lot of homework to do. I did that and ate dinner with my family. We had cheese pizza. It was yummy. I went to bed and got up for school the next morning. Yesterday at school, things went well. I understand most of what my teachers say even though it is all in Spanish. But there are only little things that I do not get. Last night we watched another movie at school, Vovler with Penolope Cruise. It was in Spanish with Spanish subtitles. It was good and I am pretty sure that I understand most of it. It is a lot easier to understand when you can hear and read at the same time. Today, Tuesday, school went well again. I talked to my madre for a while when I got back and that was nice and then I did some homework.
We have school on Friday this weekend so no traveling for me. I think we may go see Guerra de las novias "Bride Wars" and shop or go around the city of Valencia. Plus, I know that I'll have homework to do. I can't believe it is almost Feburary and that the Superbowl is Sunday. I should ask my family if they watch that here. Well I will try to keep more up to date on this.
Thanks for reading!
Love you!
Sorry that it has been so long. So be in for a long ride because this is going to be a long post.
So we had school of and went to Sevilla but instead of taking the train, we rented 2 cars. There were 10 of us all together, 4 boys and 6 girls. We got to the car rental place at the airport and realized we had overlooked one small detail, the cars that we were renting, were stick shifts. Everyone shit their pants I am pretty sure. Luckily, Sean knew how to drive one and Jana did a bit but hadn't driven one in years. Instead of being able to split up the drive between all of us, those two had to do all the driving. Jana freaked out a lot but we made it safely. We stalled, hit some cars on the small streets, stalled going up a huge hill, but we made it back to Valencia alive.
After the 8 hour drive to Sevilla we had finally arrived. Sevilla was beautiful. We stayed for two nights, deciding we would go to Granada for another night. We stayed at a hostel where the woman kept yelling at us to be quiet. It was fun. The first night we were there, we just went out because we got there so late. This was a lot of fun. We didn't end up really going anywhere because we knew of no place to go. We just walked around and had a good time. Friday we got up and went to lunch and then went to the Catedral de Sevilla. It only cost 2 euros to get in and is one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen in my life. The Catedral is the largest in Europe and even had Christopher Columbus's tomb inside of it. We climbed to the top of the bell tower and the view was spectacular. I loved it. It was the best part of the trip. We also went around the city and to the Torro de Oros. Its this place that is on the river and inside it is made of pure gold. That night we were celebrating Sarah's 21st birthday. We actually found bars to go to and had a lot of fun. I made a lot of Spanish friends. Everytime the guys we traveled with left us alone, a flock of Spanish boys would surround us. It was a good way to pratice my Spanish but I couldn't understand a lot. However, they spoke a bit of English. They kept telling me that I was funny when I missed up my Spanish.
Saturday we left for Granada. But on our way trying to leave we had some difficulties. We had to take 3 taxis to where we parked our cars because there were so many of us. The taxi driver took my group to the wrong place. When we walked across the street to take another taxi and told them we wanted to go to Hospital San Lorenzo..all they said was "No existe", which mean it does not exist. We all looked at each other in horror. What do you mean it doesn't exist? We parked our car right by it. Finally the guy was able to tell us that there was a hospital but that was not the name. We finally got to our car and made our way to Granada. This was only about a 3 hour ride.
Once we got to Granada, we got lost a bit around the city. We finally decide to just go to the Alhambra and find a hostel later. The Alhambra was amazing. It is this beautiful Mosque that was built long ago. It looks like its own little city. Apparently, it is the most visited attraction in Espana. So that says a lot because there is deffinatly a lot here. We didn't really have a lot of time in Granada so that was about the only thing we saw. That night we stayed in a Hostel and we went to dinner at a pizzeria. I had the best pasta ever. At least thats what I think but the only other thing that I had ate that day was a WHOLE can of pringles. First and last time that I am doing that in my life. Anyway I didn't go out that night, I decided to get some sleep and it was wonderful.
In the morning we left to come back to Valencia. Again, it was a long drive with the stick shift but we made it okay. It was wonderful to be back. That night, I had a lot of homework to do. I did that and ate dinner with my family. We had cheese pizza. It was yummy. I went to bed and got up for school the next morning. Yesterday at school, things went well. I understand most of what my teachers say even though it is all in Spanish. But there are only little things that I do not get. Last night we watched another movie at school, Vovler with Penolope Cruise. It was in Spanish with Spanish subtitles. It was good and I am pretty sure that I understand most of it. It is a lot easier to understand when you can hear and read at the same time. Today, Tuesday, school went well again. I talked to my madre for a while when I got back and that was nice and then I did some homework.
We have school on Friday this weekend so no traveling for me. I think we may go see Guerra de las novias "Bride Wars" and shop or go around the city of Valencia. Plus, I know that I'll have homework to do. I can't believe it is almost Feburary and that the Superbowl is Sunday. I should ask my family if they watch that here. Well I will try to keep more up to date on this.
Thanks for reading!
Love you!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Mis clases, Escuela, y otras cosas
Hola todos!
I started my classes on Monday. This week we don't have school Thursday or Friday due to some Saint holiday. We have every other friday off of classes and the classes we have on Friday will alternate. One Friday we will have on Monday and Wednesday Class and then the next friday we will have off and then we will have Tuesday and Thursday class on the next Friday. I am enjoying my classes a lot. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I have Converstation and Phonetics, I also had Survey of Spanish Literature 2 but I am going to drop it. Tuesday and Thursdays I have Composition and Literaary Analysis. That is why I am dropping Survey of Spanish Lit 2. I feel that I don't have enough skills for it since I haven't taked my composition class yet or a large reading class. The school we are at has about 70 students in this program, so as you can imagine, the classes are some. I feel like I am in high school all over again. Some of my classes only have 10 students in them. But it is a lot easier to speak and pratice Spanish with less people. Overall I like school. It's something to do during the day and everyone is usually here most of the day because of the internet and there are things to do here. Every Monday night at 7, the schools shows a Spanish movie. On Monday we watched Pans Lybrenth. I had never seen it before. There were English subtitles. Overall it was a good movie, it was funny because somethings what the Spanish meant and what the English subtitle said was a bit off. They would say things and I noticed that it was translated wrong.
So my school life is going well. Not much else has been going on besides school. I've had longer converstations with my host mom now, so thats nice. I found out that she is a History of Art professor and her husband is a english language teacher at the high school. I thought that was pretty neat. For dinner we have had things that I actually like. I was really nervous about the food but it seems that I am going to be okay. Sunday night we had this kinda weird dish but it was just eggs sunnyside up with bacon and cheese in it. Monday night we had chicken noodle soup, but it was just noodles and the brooth no chicken, and fish fillets. Last night we had hamburgers and chicken. I had a piece of chicken, which was small, but tasted delicious and then a hamburger. They don't put cheese on them or do they use buns. That was kinda off but I just used ketchup. For dessert, they always have fruit. Its odd. No cookies or anything but fruit. My dad would not survive. Valencia is famous for oranges here so they usually eat oranges after dinner. I never eat dessert because I am always full.
I watched the inaguration of Obama yesterday on Cnnlive. When I got back to my host home, my dad was watching high lights on Cnn. Some had voiceovers in Spanish and others were just in English. It was fun to watch it. They really like Obama here. Everyone will always ask you if you like Obama more than Bush. So it's a good thing I do otherwise I am not sure what would happen to me. Haha
Some friends and I are going to travel this weekend since we don't have school tomorrow. We are leaving Thursday morning for Sevilla. We will come back Sunday night. We are taking the train. It's an 8 hour ride. But it'll be nice to see the country more. I'm excited to go someplace else. When time goes fast, I forget how much I miss home, my parents, sister, and friends. I like it here a lot. I just wish that everything I loved was here.
Well thats it for now I suppose. I miss you all and thanks for those of you that actually read this.
Love you!
I started my classes on Monday. This week we don't have school Thursday or Friday due to some Saint holiday. We have every other friday off of classes and the classes we have on Friday will alternate. One Friday we will have on Monday and Wednesday Class and then the next friday we will have off and then we will have Tuesday and Thursday class on the next Friday. I am enjoying my classes a lot. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I have Converstation and Phonetics, I also had Survey of Spanish Literature 2 but I am going to drop it. Tuesday and Thursdays I have Composition and Literaary Analysis. That is why I am dropping Survey of Spanish Lit 2. I feel that I don't have enough skills for it since I haven't taked my composition class yet or a large reading class. The school we are at has about 70 students in this program, so as you can imagine, the classes are some. I feel like I am in high school all over again. Some of my classes only have 10 students in them. But it is a lot easier to speak and pratice Spanish with less people. Overall I like school. It's something to do during the day and everyone is usually here most of the day because of the internet and there are things to do here. Every Monday night at 7, the schools shows a Spanish movie. On Monday we watched Pans Lybrenth. I had never seen it before. There were English subtitles. Overall it was a good movie, it was funny because somethings what the Spanish meant and what the English subtitle said was a bit off. They would say things and I noticed that it was translated wrong.
So my school life is going well. Not much else has been going on besides school. I've had longer converstations with my host mom now, so thats nice. I found out that she is a History of Art professor and her husband is a english language teacher at the high school. I thought that was pretty neat. For dinner we have had things that I actually like. I was really nervous about the food but it seems that I am going to be okay. Sunday night we had this kinda weird dish but it was just eggs sunnyside up with bacon and cheese in it. Monday night we had chicken noodle soup, but it was just noodles and the brooth no chicken, and fish fillets. Last night we had hamburgers and chicken. I had a piece of chicken, which was small, but tasted delicious and then a hamburger. They don't put cheese on them or do they use buns. That was kinda off but I just used ketchup. For dessert, they always have fruit. Its odd. No cookies or anything but fruit. My dad would not survive. Valencia is famous for oranges here so they usually eat oranges after dinner. I never eat dessert because I am always full.
I watched the inaguration of Obama yesterday on Cnnlive. When I got back to my host home, my dad was watching high lights on Cnn. Some had voiceovers in Spanish and others were just in English. It was fun to watch it. They really like Obama here. Everyone will always ask you if you like Obama more than Bush. So it's a good thing I do otherwise I am not sure what would happen to me. Haha
Some friends and I are going to travel this weekend since we don't have school tomorrow. We are leaving Thursday morning for Sevilla. We will come back Sunday night. We are taking the train. It's an 8 hour ride. But it'll be nice to see the country more. I'm excited to go someplace else. When time goes fast, I forget how much I miss home, my parents, sister, and friends. I like it here a lot. I just wish that everything I loved was here.
Well thats it for now I suppose. I miss you all and thanks for those of you that actually read this.
Love you!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
El fin de semana (weekend)
Well not much new is really going on. Since the last time I wrote, I have been back to the park with the giant play structure. It is actually a 6 mile long garden/park that use to be a river that dried up. Thats the garden in my facebook pictures. It was so beautiful. I love that they have gardens and parks all over the place here.
Friday night, a group of us went out to a few different bars and discotecas. It was about 3 oclock by the time I got home. Saturday we went to Cullera, which was really pretty. It was a nice day and we mainly sat by the beach, talked, looked up Spanish words, and played cards. It was relaxing. At night we went out again, with everyone from our program. We met at a bar and got free, Agua de Valencia, an alcohol drink that Valencia is famous for. It was really good. It has vodka, orange juice, and champagne in it. We met some really good looking Spaniards at the clubs we went to later and spoke Spanish with them. It was fun. The night life here is CRAZY!!! People don't go out to discotecas until around 2 and if they go to the bar before it isn't until around midnight that they do. Last night walking on the street was crazy. People are over the place. Even older people that aren't teenagers, like 40 and up, go out and walk around super late at night. It's hard for me to keep up. Everyone knows I love sleep and I get tired really easily. Its fun to go out with everyone and a lot of fun but everywhere is so crowded.
Today after I woke up, my family was on their porch/patio/deck thing and I went out there. It was about 65 here today so they were doing work with their flowers and things. I also cried today, I was eating my breakfast and just thinking about my dad and how he poors me my glass of orange juice and how my mom wasn't there to tell me good morning. I went to the Art musuem with my friend Kaitlyn today and it was pretty neat. All the musuems are free on Sundays. We then went to a park and just layed down and read and listened to the Spanish we were hearing.
Tomorrow I start my classes. I am pretty excited because it'll keep me busy and hopefully improve my Spanish. Plus it is another way to meet more people. They have this thing called Intercambios (interchange) if you want one, where the school pairs you up with a Spanish speaker that knows English and wants to work on it more and you switch your time when hanging out between both languages. I'm pretty sure that I am going to do one because it'll give me a lot of practice and maybe my intercambio will be a handsome young spaniard. Probaly not but there is always hoping.
I don't know if I have mentioned this before but it is also really hard to adjust to the times of eating here. They eat breakfast when they wake up, obvisuly just like everyone else, but then they don't eat lunch until around 3 and dinner until 8 or later. My family eats around 9:30 or 10. The other night we didn't eat until 10:30. I was so hungry. I usually eat a orange to help statisfy my stomach until dinner, yes I like oranges now. Valencia is known for their oranges and they are soooo yummy. The food I have ate so far has been good. The first night I was here, I had potatoes and this pot pie thing. One night we had this mushroom soup which was mainly just brooth and pizza with ham on it and then chips and salsa. I ate the soup even though I don't like mushrooms but it was good. We had these fish fillets with green beans, carrots, and potatoes. That was yummy. Last night we had potatoes and these really good chicken things that I thought were chicken fingers but they weren't because she called them something else but I don't know what it was. They tasted kinda creamy. Oh well it was yummy anyway. For lunch we have bocadillos which a sub looking things, I get cheese and turkey on mine along with apple, orange, or bannana. Its a nice mix.
Sorry that this is always random stuff but I need to remember. I should probaly buy a journal to write my own stuff down that way everyone doesn't have to read the boring stuff.
I love you!!!
Friday night, a group of us went out to a few different bars and discotecas. It was about 3 oclock by the time I got home. Saturday we went to Cullera, which was really pretty. It was a nice day and we mainly sat by the beach, talked, looked up Spanish words, and played cards. It was relaxing. At night we went out again, with everyone from our program. We met at a bar and got free, Agua de Valencia, an alcohol drink that Valencia is famous for. It was really good. It has vodka, orange juice, and champagne in it. We met some really good looking Spaniards at the clubs we went to later and spoke Spanish with them. It was fun. The night life here is CRAZY!!! People don't go out to discotecas until around 2 and if they go to the bar before it isn't until around midnight that they do. Last night walking on the street was crazy. People are over the place. Even older people that aren't teenagers, like 40 and up, go out and walk around super late at night. It's hard for me to keep up. Everyone knows I love sleep and I get tired really easily. Its fun to go out with everyone and a lot of fun but everywhere is so crowded.
Today after I woke up, my family was on their porch/patio/deck thing and I went out there. It was about 65 here today so they were doing work with their flowers and things. I also cried today, I was eating my breakfast and just thinking about my dad and how he poors me my glass of orange juice and how my mom wasn't there to tell me good morning. I went to the Art musuem with my friend Kaitlyn today and it was pretty neat. All the musuems are free on Sundays. We then went to a park and just layed down and read and listened to the Spanish we were hearing.
Tomorrow I start my classes. I am pretty excited because it'll keep me busy and hopefully improve my Spanish. Plus it is another way to meet more people. They have this thing called Intercambios (interchange) if you want one, where the school pairs you up with a Spanish speaker that knows English and wants to work on it more and you switch your time when hanging out between both languages. I'm pretty sure that I am going to do one because it'll give me a lot of practice and maybe my intercambio will be a handsome young spaniard. Probaly not but there is always hoping.
I don't know if I have mentioned this before but it is also really hard to adjust to the times of eating here. They eat breakfast when they wake up, obvisuly just like everyone else, but then they don't eat lunch until around 3 and dinner until 8 or later. My family eats around 9:30 or 10. The other night we didn't eat until 10:30. I was so hungry. I usually eat a orange to help statisfy my stomach until dinner, yes I like oranges now. Valencia is known for their oranges and they are soooo yummy. The food I have ate so far has been good. The first night I was here, I had potatoes and this pot pie thing. One night we had this mushroom soup which was mainly just brooth and pizza with ham on it and then chips and salsa. I ate the soup even though I don't like mushrooms but it was good. We had these fish fillets with green beans, carrots, and potatoes. That was yummy. Last night we had potatoes and these really good chicken things that I thought were chicken fingers but they weren't because she called them something else but I don't know what it was. They tasted kinda creamy. Oh well it was yummy anyway. For lunch we have bocadillos which a sub looking things, I get cheese and turkey on mine along with apple, orange, or bannana. Its a nice mix.
Sorry that this is always random stuff but I need to remember. I should probaly buy a journal to write my own stuff down that way everyone doesn't have to read the boring stuff.
I love you!!!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Los días primeros
Yesterday was my first full day here. We had orientation at the school at 10:30 and another one at 5. My madre helped me take the metro over to the school and then wrote my directions on how to take it home. Once I got to the school, I immediatly met another girl from MSU and we went into the computer lab because we were early for the metting. The meeting was done in Enligh, thank goodness. They told us we had another orinetation at 5 but could go home if we wanted or do whatever.
Most of us just stayed at the school and around it the whole day. I went with some other students from MSU walking around town and then we ate lunch. I went back to the school and checked my email and then this boy from MSU, Jeff, was here too. Him and I walked around a bit and found this really cool park. It had a huge play structure that was made out of red rope and it was like a climbing thing. After that we came back to the school and had our other orientation where we found out our schedules for our classes and things. After that we were allowed to go home or again do whatever we wanted. The MSU students that I had met in Detroit and I went out to a bar right by the school. We sat down and had some beers and peanuts. We just talked about our families here and were we wanted to travel and got to know each other better. Our professors were actually at the same bar so that was funny and then we met another student that is here for the year and has been since August so far. We asked him questions about the school and things like that. It was nice to get to know him. He smoked a lot and I wonder if he did before he was here or if it was something he picked up.
I went home after that and ate dinner with my little host brother who is 3. He is the cutest thing I have ever seen, he'll smile at me really big and then run and hide in the couch pillows. My other host brother is 15 and very nice. He's a swimmer and talks really fast Spanish so it is a bit hard to understand him all the time. My host sister is 18 but I haven't seen much of her. All we have really said to each other is Hola. I'm not so sure how that relationship is going to play out. After eating dinner, I talked to my mom on Skype along with Kelly R and it was nice to see their faces and here their voices. I then went to bed and am now at my school. We had to take a test this morning to test our proficency in Spanish. No one is sure what happens if we do bad on this test. So hopefully I did fine. Some of them were a bit hard and others were easy.
Later today at 5, which they call the afternoon, so thats odd. But anyway, we have a walking tour of downtown Valencia so that'll be fun. Tomorrow we have a daytrip to some Castle somewhere thats on a beach and then at night we have a group going out outing. So that'll be fun and I am looking forward to it. Nothing else has really been going on, I haven't been here long enough.
There are some big differences here though and I find them odd so I am going to write them down. The cars park in the middle of the street. Some cars will be angle parked and then cars will park behind them like parralel (spelling totally wrong). Then on the big roads there are just cars parked in the middle of the road and others have to go around them. I took a picture so make sure to look at it. The cereal bowls are super small here. Its so weird, they are the size of like cottage chesse bowls you get at restaurants in the US. The milk here is odd too, you don't have to refridgerate it until its open and it doesn't expire until like 4 months after you buy it. It seems that all the girls here have bangs, so us MSU students joke about how we all should get bangs to fit in. I'd look really funny with those because of my curly hair.
Things are good. I miss home but so does everyone else, so at least I am not alone.
I love and miss you all!!!
Most of us just stayed at the school and around it the whole day. I went with some other students from MSU walking around town and then we ate lunch. I went back to the school and checked my email and then this boy from MSU, Jeff, was here too. Him and I walked around a bit and found this really cool park. It had a huge play structure that was made out of red rope and it was like a climbing thing. After that we came back to the school and had our other orientation where we found out our schedules for our classes and things. After that we were allowed to go home or again do whatever we wanted. The MSU students that I had met in Detroit and I went out to a bar right by the school. We sat down and had some beers and peanuts. We just talked about our families here and were we wanted to travel and got to know each other better. Our professors were actually at the same bar so that was funny and then we met another student that is here for the year and has been since August so far. We asked him questions about the school and things like that. It was nice to get to know him. He smoked a lot and I wonder if he did before he was here or if it was something he picked up.
I went home after that and ate dinner with my little host brother who is 3. He is the cutest thing I have ever seen, he'll smile at me really big and then run and hide in the couch pillows. My other host brother is 15 and very nice. He's a swimmer and talks really fast Spanish so it is a bit hard to understand him all the time. My host sister is 18 but I haven't seen much of her. All we have really said to each other is Hola. I'm not so sure how that relationship is going to play out. After eating dinner, I talked to my mom on Skype along with Kelly R and it was nice to see their faces and here their voices. I then went to bed and am now at my school. We had to take a test this morning to test our proficency in Spanish. No one is sure what happens if we do bad on this test. So hopefully I did fine. Some of them were a bit hard and others were easy.
Later today at 5, which they call the afternoon, so thats odd. But anyway, we have a walking tour of downtown Valencia so that'll be fun. Tomorrow we have a daytrip to some Castle somewhere thats on a beach and then at night we have a group going out outing. So that'll be fun and I am looking forward to it. Nothing else has really been going on, I haven't been here long enough.
There are some big differences here though and I find them odd so I am going to write them down. The cars park in the middle of the street. Some cars will be angle parked and then cars will park behind them like parralel (spelling totally wrong). Then on the big roads there are just cars parked in the middle of the road and others have to go around them. I took a picture so make sure to look at it. The cereal bowls are super small here. Its so weird, they are the size of like cottage chesse bowls you get at restaurants in the US. The milk here is odd too, you don't have to refridgerate it until its open and it doesn't expire until like 4 months after you buy it. It seems that all the girls here have bangs, so us MSU students joke about how we all should get bangs to fit in. I'd look really funny with those because of my curly hair.
Things are good. I miss home but so does everyone else, so at least I am not alone.
I love and miss you all!!!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Estoy en EspaÑa
I finally arrived in Valencia around 3 pm their time so 9 am USA time.
First I went to Detroit to fly to JFK, there ended up being about 8 other students from MSU on that flight. We talked at the gate and got to know each other really well. On our way to JFK a man was having heart problems and we had to have an emergency landing in Rochester, NY. We were suppose to arrive to JFK at 12:30 but we didn't land there until 3:30. This meant that the group of students I was with were late for our meeting time at the Iberia Ticket Counter for our plane to Madrid. Turns out that flight was delayed two hours. We left JFK around 8:30 USA time, we arrived in Madrid at 8:30 their time and a USA time of 2:30. Man was I exhausted. Then we got on a bus to Valencia, it was about a 4 hour bus drive but I slept the whole time.
My host mom was at the bus stop waiting to pick me up. She is so nice. She has a car so that was nice not to have to drag my bags all over town. We went to her house and I met her husband, Fernando and one of the boys Gullimero who is 15. He is really quiet but that could be because he doesn't know much English. I talked to Maria (my host mom) in Spanish the whole time, she doesn't know much English. When she showed me the apartment, which is huge, and my room, I could feel the tears coming on. She was making me some lunch and I went to the bathroom and cried. She was a big comfort though, she knew how I was feeling and she made me feel better. I just didn't cry at the airport and then it finally hit me that I was really here and had to speak Spanish. I understand most of it but somethings she says I don't. I am doing a lot better at the Spanish part than I thought I would be.
She took me to get a cell phone. So now I have number and I called my parents. It was good to hear their voices. Well not much else is going on. It's 8 here now and I am so exhausted, I want to go to bed. Tomorrow I have to go to my school and have orientation than I'm sure everyone will be going out. I't's beauitful here. I'm glad I made the decision to come but something tells me that my crying days are not over yet.
First I went to Detroit to fly to JFK, there ended up being about 8 other students from MSU on that flight. We talked at the gate and got to know each other really well. On our way to JFK a man was having heart problems and we had to have an emergency landing in Rochester, NY. We were suppose to arrive to JFK at 12:30 but we didn't land there until 3:30. This meant that the group of students I was with were late for our meeting time at the Iberia Ticket Counter for our plane to Madrid. Turns out that flight was delayed two hours. We left JFK around 8:30 USA time, we arrived in Madrid at 8:30 their time and a USA time of 2:30. Man was I exhausted. Then we got on a bus to Valencia, it was about a 4 hour bus drive but I slept the whole time.
My host mom was at the bus stop waiting to pick me up. She is so nice. She has a car so that was nice not to have to drag my bags all over town. We went to her house and I met her husband, Fernando and one of the boys Gullimero who is 15. He is really quiet but that could be because he doesn't know much English. I talked to Maria (my host mom) in Spanish the whole time, she doesn't know much English. When she showed me the apartment, which is huge, and my room, I could feel the tears coming on. She was making me some lunch and I went to the bathroom and cried. She was a big comfort though, she knew how I was feeling and she made me feel better. I just didn't cry at the airport and then it finally hit me that I was really here and had to speak Spanish. I understand most of it but somethings she says I don't. I am doing a lot better at the Spanish part than I thought I would be.
She took me to get a cell phone. So now I have number and I called my parents. It was good to hear their voices. Well not much else is going on. It's 8 here now and I am so exhausted, I want to go to bed. Tomorrow I have to go to my school and have orientation than I'm sure everyone will be going out. I't's beauitful here. I'm glad I made the decision to come but something tells me that my crying days are not over yet.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Goodbyes suck
I can't believe I leave in less than 48 hours for a completely different country. My life could completely change and my experiences in Spain are going to be so amazing. I just can't believe I am leaving.
It has been really hard to say goodbye to my friends in the past two weeks. Thursday night Amber had a surprise dinner for me and it was really nice. I loved having friends here and it was so much fun to go down memory lane.
I went to MSU to say goodbye to my friends there since I didn't get to see many of them over break. It was so nice to be back with everyone but so sad to know that I had to leave. Everyone was getting ready for class and here I was knowing that I had to leave. They are my MSU family and I love them so much. It's going to be so hard not being able to walk into their rooms everyday and tell them every detail of my day and have our pointless conversations.
My packing is going okay. I am taking way too many clothes but I have no idea what stuff to take out. Tomorrow I have to finish packing and then Tuesday I'll leave. I can't imagine how hard it will be to say goodbye to my parents at the airport. I love them so much and they are so supportive of me going on this new adventure. I know it's going to be really hard on my mom.
Well I don't really have much more to say--just know that I am going to miss my life here; Lapeer and MSU.
I love you all!!!
It has been really hard to say goodbye to my friends in the past two weeks. Thursday night Amber had a surprise dinner for me and it was really nice. I loved having friends here and it was so much fun to go down memory lane.
I went to MSU to say goodbye to my friends there since I didn't get to see many of them over break. It was so nice to be back with everyone but so sad to know that I had to leave. Everyone was getting ready for class and here I was knowing that I had to leave. They are my MSU family and I love them so much. It's going to be so hard not being able to walk into their rooms everyday and tell them every detail of my day and have our pointless conversations.
My packing is going okay. I am taking way too many clothes but I have no idea what stuff to take out. Tomorrow I have to finish packing and then Tuesday I'll leave. I can't imagine how hard it will be to say goodbye to my parents at the airport. I love them so much and they are so supportive of me going on this new adventure. I know it's going to be really hard on my mom.
Well I don't really have much more to say--just know that I am going to miss my life here; Lapeer and MSU.
I love you all!!!
Friday, January 2, 2009
11 Days
I can not believe that I leave for Spain in 11 days!
It is so nuts to think that all my friends are getting ready to go back to MSU or the other colleges and that I am not going back. It is going to be so weird not moving back into my dorm room with everyone else. I feel bad that I am not going to be there to see everyone else.
I got luggage for Christmas. I haven't started packing at all yet though. I can take two suit cases. I don't know how I am going to be able to fit all of my stuff in them or what I am going to take/leave at home. I also need to make sure I leave enough room to bring stuff back since I am sure that I will be shopping a lot there and bringing back gifts.
I am really nervous about going but always super excited. I know that it'll be a great experience and that I won't ever regret it but it is still nerveracking. I have never had to rely on my Spanish as much as I know I'll have to in Spain. My host family does speak English but I shouldn't use my English to communicate with them unless I really don't understand something. It is going to be really hard for me to break out of the speaking English shell but I know that I can do it.
Anyway, I'll write more sometime before I leave after I've packed my stuff.
It is so nuts to think that all my friends are getting ready to go back to MSU or the other colleges and that I am not going back. It is going to be so weird not moving back into my dorm room with everyone else. I feel bad that I am not going to be there to see everyone else.
I got luggage for Christmas. I haven't started packing at all yet though. I can take two suit cases. I don't know how I am going to be able to fit all of my stuff in them or what I am going to take/leave at home. I also need to make sure I leave enough room to bring stuff back since I am sure that I will be shopping a lot there and bringing back gifts.
I am really nervous about going but always super excited. I know that it'll be a great experience and that I won't ever regret it but it is still nerveracking. I have never had to rely on my Spanish as much as I know I'll have to in Spain. My host family does speak English but I shouldn't use my English to communicate with them unless I really don't understand something. It is going to be really hard for me to break out of the speaking English shell but I know that I can do it.
Anyway, I'll write more sometime before I leave after I've packed my stuff.
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