I hate coming up with titles...so this will be my title

I kinda had a weird day. That last post about my biggest problem is Spain I drafted during Philosphy. When I got home, I was informed that I would be meeting with Yoli (my tutora or liason) today and not Thursday in Ponferrada while Raquel is at dance. Honestly, my whole perspective about my exchange was changed in the 30 min she was able to meet with me. I told her basically everything I said in the last post and it was amazing how many possible and reasonable solutions she could come up with. She just gave me the straight up truth, I am not here to learn history or philosphy or any other subject. My number one priority is learning Spanish and then, embracing a new culture. Once I learn more Spanish, then I can worry about grades. She also told me that some of my teachers were out of place for expecting the same amount of work from me and the other students. I felt like I needed to produce the same quality of work as the other students, and hearing from an adult who is knowledgable about exchange programs that that is ridiculous definitely reassured me. She told my parents they should go to the principal (who is super personable and nice) and explain to him the reasons why I am actually here and have him explain that to my teachers. So now here I am writing a blog post instead of doing my homework. Thanks Yoli! :)
She also gave me different options for meeting new people. I am going to look into doing more activties in Ponferrada or Bembibre. Also, she has a 16 year old daughter and the next time her and her friends hang out, I can come so I can meet more people and be in the city. Within those 30 minutes, I felt so much more reassured and confident. Side note: I was nervous about being able to clearly communicate my concerns to her since she doesn´t speak English, but I was so shocked but proud of myself with how the Spanish just went rolling off my tongue!!

Things are looking up and to top it off, I had a fantastic weekend!!! It was very fútbol filled, actually. During the week I watched Barcelona v. some team in Portugal. On Saturday, I watched Bembibre´s team play and Sunday was El Clásico (Barcelona v. Real Madrid). Watching a fútbol game in Spain is unlike anything else, it is so intense andn I have already decided it is my favorite past time. In a few weeks, I´m going to go to a game in the Ponferrada stadium with my cousin Marcos!! I am so excited!!

Friday night, Megg came to Bembibre and then spent the night. That night is without a doubt in my top 3 favorite nights here in Spain. We went on "un paseo" (just means walking around town) with Raquel and some friends. When Raquel had to go to dance, we met up with Sergio and some friends and went to a bar to"tomar algo" (which is basically the equilivelent of going to a starbucks or a cafe and getting something to drink while talking and hanging out with friends). After, we had a picnic dinner in a park while listening to music and looking at the clear and beautiful night sky. I have never seen so many stars at once. It was so simple but it was really fun. Life in Bembibre is so simple and enjoyable, I really like it.
On Sunday, we drove to this is old tiny pueblo called Cantexeira to see some ancient spanish type things took lot pictures and tomar algo. Quality family bonding time.

Bembibre´s team

Me and Lorena <3

La Familia

Sisters

Megg and I <3

Always havin´ fun

The Hard Times

I haven´t really talked about anything bad about being in Spain, but this experience would not be the experience that it is if there weren´t hard times included. I´m not homesick, I´m not going through a big culture shock, the thing that is really killing me is school. Back in Sacramento, I love going school, seeing my friends everyday, and I actually love learning. Here, none of that is happening and it has been the hardest thing for me yet. I dread going to school. This probably sounds weird, but it is not a learning friendly enviorment. They don´t make learning fun, it is blantently obvious that the students do not want to be there, and all the teachers do is lecture. Not kidding, in my Lengua class (Spanish language class), the teacher dictates and the students copy down the words. We are then expected to study those notes and every three chapters we have a test. I am also expected to do all the work. I probably should not have assumed that the teachers would give me leeway, because they don´t. Because of this, I spend hours on homework a night and I come home completely exhausted from school. To top off my school expierences, I honestly have no friends of my own. I stay with the same 20 people every day and don´t get many chances to meet other kids. I only have the girls in my class that help me with homework and let me copy their notes. The students in my class are so timid to talk to me. They don´t even want to attempt a have a conversation with me. It´s not that my language abilities are bad, it´s that their mindset is if I am not fluent, then I must know nothing. Not the case. My solution right now is to just start talking to all my classmates and asking them random questions about school or anything (even if I know the answer) just to show I can sufficiently communicate. I know I have Sergio´s class I can always talk to and practice my with Spanish, though. Honestly, I need to meet more people and I really want to find friends by myself.

1 Month!!

Wow, I can´t believe I have been here for a month already. It seems like a week ago I was packing my things in my huge red suitcase and waiting anxiously to start my adventure!
I have had a pretty uneventful week, just school and lots of homework! Insane amounts actually, I spent 7 hours over the weekend doing homework and I only got about 3/4 done. I don´t even spend that much time on homework in 5 days in the States...
I didn´t do anything super fun over the weekend because I have been really sick for the past 4 days. Thursday morning I went to the police station to get my visa extended and a Spanish ID card that all citizens are supposed to have. Saturday I went on a much needed shopping trip in Ponferrada to get winter clothes. I completely underestimated how cold it gets here and I did not come well prepared. I guess you can take the girl out of California, but you can't take the California out of the girl. :) When I was unpacking all my clothes, the first thing my family said was that with the clothes I brought, I will not get out of the winter alive. After shopping, we went to see mis abuelos (grandparents) because they had gotten a little puppy that day, then we went out for some ice cream. On Sunday, my cold was majorly acting up so I stayed inside all day and relaxed. I taught Raquel and Sergio how to make cookies, though!! They didn´t turn out right and I thought they were bad but everyone else thought they were good! They only probably thought that because they do not know what real and delicious cookies should actually taste like :) I think the reason they tasted a bit grain-y is because their sugar, especially the brown sugar, is different. It isn´t as fine...actually it is as thick as sand. While the three of us were preparing the dough, Sergio started an "ingrediant war," we starting putting flour, sugar, and the dough on eachother´s faces! It was a mess but so much fun! Also, it was the first time I had taken part in any type "food fight."
That was basically the extent of my weekend.

Since the update part of this post is so short, I think this is a good time to give people my List of Observations, or things I have noticed that are different here.

1. In school, the teachers are religious to the textbooks, Everything we do is from the textbook.
2. When people speak in Englsih, they speak with British accents. It makes sense since they learn British English, I just had never thought about it before. My first day of English class I legitimately had to cover my mouth the whole time because I kept laughing!
3. Driving is insane. I can only assume the rule here is if no one dies then it is legal. It is scary. Crosswalks are supposed to be a safe way to cross the street, I thought... Here, they´re not. I don´t think cars have to stop for you, only if you are in the middle of the crosswalk.
4. People go out walking just to walk, like not for exercise, as a pastime. They don´t have a destination in mind or anything, they just go out walking then they always run into people they know so they chat for a little bit, then maybe go get something to drink. It is actally quite fun, and who knew walking around town could be such an adventure!
5. Things here are not that expensive, especially compared to the US. I think things are extremely reasonably priced. In Spain, if it didn´t cost a lot to make/produce then it won´t be expensive to buy. However, in the US, even though it cost little to make/produce, the price will be high because people will still purchase it.
6. Teachers and students are very laid back towards eachother here. They call teachers by their first time and for example, a boy in my class told the teacher to calm down and it was totally normal.
7. I knew coming here that Spaniards are very touchy, but the kids and teenagers like to hit one another, and the head and shoulders are very popular targets. It´s very strange. It´s not violent or anything, always playful but it´s definitely more than just small shove or light pat on the shoulder that we might do in America. It is very odd for me to to watch.
8. The portions are insanely large here. Everyone here is skinny, though, it doesn´t make sense. Also, you have to say "no more food" about 10 times before they realize your stomach is about to explode. It is a trap because if you say "poquito más" (a little more) you will get a another serving size and I´m pretty sure it is considered rude to not finish everything on your plate.
9. They eat all fresh foods here, except the milk, it doesn´t need to be refridgerated until it is opened (aka, not fresh). I was surprised when I was in the grocery store and the milk was on a normal shelf next to soda.
10. The last different thing I care to mention about food is that "un postre" (dessert) can (on just a normal occasion) mean a yogurt or a piece of fruit, but for breakfast they have baked goods that in America we would consider a desert. Basically, it is just switched.

Please feel free to leave comments! It is a great way to contact me! It seems that Mondays are going to be (in general) the day that I update my blog!

Until next week!

School, the weekend, and lots of Photos!

I would like to start this post off by talking about school (get the boring stuff out of the way). After my first day, I still had 4 more classes to be introduced to since I take 10 classes but only have 6 per day. All of them are going pretty well, some way harder than others, but I just need to focus on the courses I will need to transfer back to St. Francis (Econ, Lengua/Spanish, Science, Math). History, Oh History, I think we might have a problem... I'm pretty sure my teacher has this twisted idea that I read, write, speak, and understand Spanish and that I am simply a bad student. Let me tell you, it is quite the contrary. Carmen, my teacher, always calls on me and the response "no lo sé" (I don't know) does not cut it. She also always calls on me to read aloud my homework answer (which are like paragraphs). Although, deep down, I know she is only trying to help me. I don't think I have ever felt so embarrassed in my entire life. The first time I read aloud, I heard giggling behind me (since she forces me to sit front row, 2 feet from her) and I wanted to sink in my chair and die of embarrassment. Let me give you this analogy for reference. I read Spanish aloud like a kindergardener is reading a book for the first time; however, the other students read Spanish aloud so fast (not exaggerating) that my eyes can't follow along on the page fast enough. Luckily, I can understand her lectures (the majority), and it also helps that I have already learned this information (thank you AP World History). With philosophy and economy, it is quite the opposite. I have no background in either of the subjects, so there I am out in wild, unknown territory trying to survive. My English teacher is great! I have heard some horror stories from students about their English teachers such as: not allowing them to help during class, having to do all the work, having to do all the work but in Spanish, and many more. My teacher encourages me to correct her if she makes a mistake or pronounces something incorrectly, I don´t have to do any of the work (class or homework), I can work on other subjects during the class, and I have only have to take the tests to check my grammar (understandable).
After one week of school I can say I have made 5 friends (progress from the initial 0)!! I don't understand my lack of companions because do they not realize I am willing to sell myself for English help in exchange for friendship?? Another reason I think no one wants to talk to me (except my fav 5) is because they literally don't know any English. My 5 friends have all told me that everyone here has practically taken English their whole life, but they don't know anything on the spot and they definitely can't speak it.

If I recall, in my last post I made a joke about me being famous here. Well, as I have recently found out, said joke is actually extremely true. I am the first exchange student Bembibre has ever had, and California is a fantasy dreamland fort them, but to me it is where I humbly reside. Sergio told me everyone at school asks about me. Raquel told me everyone at her school talks about me. My parents told me they have people asking them about me all the time. I even have these little 12 year old boys (who I have never been introduced to) stop me in the hallway at school to say "hello" in their best British accents (remember, they learn English from England here).Word does really get around in a small town. Sergio told me I had an American face (I didn´t even know Americans had a certain "face"). Aparently, my "american face" provokes a lot staring, like a lot, like more than one person can handle. Note to every person reading this, don´t stare at people because it is very uncomfortable for the staree.

On Saturday I went to Ponferrada with my host sister and her best friend, Andrea, to hang out with Megg, Lani, and Maria. We went shopping then went to dinner where our other two friends Emils and Derin met us. It was a really fun night and I'm so happy I was able to hang out with my friends!! Very fun night!!

On Sunday, toda la familia went on an 12 kilometer hike up a mountain. The route is called "Ruta de Las Fuentes Medicinales". It was beautiful, very hot, then extremely cold, amazing, tiring, but spectacular. It was uphill for two hours then downhill for two hours. The downhill part would seem like a relief but it was just as difficult as uphill. There wasn't a single part that was flat land. Despite all that, it was so much fun!! And Sergio took some beautiful pictures (some of which are posted here).

Cool Kids on the Block

Sulphur paint

Lani, Me, Megg

Raquel, Me, Andrea

The girls!

Megg, Emils, Maria, Lani, Me, Derin, Raquel, Andrea

Bembibre, My new Home

Yes, you read that correctly, Bembibre is now my new home. I had to move here from Ponferrada, but no worries because the two cities are only 15 minutes apart. I went from a city with 400,000 (Sacramento) to a city with 70,000 (Ponferrada) to now a city with only 10,000. It is a big change but I actually don´t mind how little it is. This move happended very fast. I got home from my first day of school, took my siesta, and then learned that AFS had found a new family for me because Luis is not getting any better and being with that family would not work out. It was very sad to change especially since I absolutely love Ponferrada, but I understand that this must happen. But I am very happy with my new family!
 In short, I learned about this change on Thursday, met the family on Thursday, moved to their house on Friday, went to the city´s fiesta on Friday and Saturday, and started school today (Monday). I love my host family! I have a sister, Raquel (15), a brother, Sergio (18), mom (Maria), and dad (Jose). Sergio and I go to the same school, but Raquel goes to a different one. Sergio reminds me a lot of my brother Patrick, and he actually looks like a mix of Patrick and one of my cousins...which is odd.
I had my first day of school today! I was so nervous but it wasn´t even that bad! Since I only signed up this morning, my name wasn´t on any of the teacher´s roster, but of course, the other students had to tell the teachers that I am ¡Una Chica de California! (no United States, they go straight for California) Soy famosa en Bembibre...(just kidding). Except math though, the other students didn´t say anything to that teacher and I definitely wasn´t going to say anything either. My econ teacher naturally talks extrememly slow (so that is good for me), my philosophy teacher made fun of me for taking too long to respond and he talks at a semi-normal pace, and my math teacher talks extremely fast and her handwriting is atrocious (to the point where I do not know what she is writing). Luckily, math is universal or else I would die. The rest of my teachers are fine and I actually understood more than I orignally thought. A big issue for me is zoning out based on the fact I don´t understand what they are saying, but I will not learn anything that way so I need to change that...
My class is small (only 15-20 people) and the teachers move classrooms, not the students. I haven´t really made friends yet (it´s only the first day, though) but it´s okay because during break Sergio picks me up from my class and I hang out with his friends. They are all so nice and funny! Lorena (naturally, I think) speaks slowly and Claudia is our walking dictionary; they have been very helpful.
Today I had my first real, normal talking pace, only English conversation in 2 weeks. It was very weird because I felt this strong need to throw in some Spanish (I guess that is a good sign, though). It was with Raquel and Sergio´s English teacher outside of school. This was a shock for me to hear that, but it is extremely common and normal to have extra English lessons outside of school with a tutor. You don´t really hear about that kind of thing (with other languages) in America. It was really nice to talk to her and she is from Atlanta! She and her husband moved here about 10 months ago to get away from the American lifestyle, which led us to talking about the crazy differences between Spain and the US that would NEVER happen in America such as blaring loud outside concerts at 3 in the morning and little kids hanging out in the street at 3 in the morning (to name a few).

Well, that is all for now!
¡Hasta Luego!

Sergio, Raquel, Me

Ponferrada, My New Home

Well hello there blog, haven´t written in a while...
I`m not going to spend a lot of time talking about the traveling here or the orientation because there are bigger and better things I would rather write about, but there are somethings I will say.
The New York orientation was a little boring but I did learn more information about Spain so that was very helpful. The Madrid orientation was actually very fun, we played many games and I loved talking to all the other AFSers from all around the world! I now have a friend from Latvia, who would have thought!?! We mostly just hung out and played games at the orientation and I had a lot of fun. Something different I noticed was that our room assignments in the youth hostel were coed... Never in America. We didn't play normal games and ice breakers that one would normally play at an orientation, we played the let's-get-the-Americans-accustomed-to-physical-contact game (which is the only reason why we played it, I assume). One person in the middle and everyone else was assigned a number or letter if your number/letter was called then you both had to run to the person in the center and try to him or her a kiss on the cheek. Sounds easy? No, the middle person had to try to resist the kiss, so now we had to literally physically attack the person in the middle to give them a kiss in order to win. It was actually very funny.
Saturday afternoon I arrived in Spain by bus with 6 other AFSers who are also living in Ponferrada; Lani, Megg, Derin (from America), Ida (from Denmark), Emils (from Latvia), and Carolin (from Germany). When I got off the bus, I found out that my host father, Luis, had been addmitted into the hospital again with servere back problems. He has been having problems for 2 weeks now, so I only met my host siblings, Emma and Javier, but was not able to meet Luis or my host mom, Lupe. Instead, Susana (the AFS coordinater in Ponferrada) and her family welcomed me into their home until Luis gets better! I cannot thank them enough! Everything here has been more than I could have ever asked for!! On Sunday I met Lupe, then Emma, Javier and Lupe, and gave me a tour of their home. We handled some things for school and we walked around town for a little bit. They are so wonderful! When I arrived, there was a festival going on in Ponferada that ended last night, so there have been many activites happening around the city for me to enjoy before I begin school! Lani lives just a few minutes (walking) from my house so I have been spending a lot of time with her and her sister, Maria. For the past three nights we went to the fair with Megg, her sister Miarian, and her friend Alba. Today Emma and I went to my school, IES Virgen de la Encina in order to sign up for my classes.
*random thought, as I am writing this, I keep thinking "How would I say this in Spanish" but then I remember that I am actually trying to write this in English, not Spanish.
Susana and her family don´t speak very much English, so that first evening was very quiet. Only three days later, we are talking (a lot) to eachother, understanding eachother, and laughing a ton!! (all in Spanish of course)
AFS always says that to handle the language aspect, you need to be able to laugh at yourself when you make a mistake. That brings me to my first embarrasing story of the year.
Lani, Susana, Maria, Noe (Maria and Lani´s mom), and I were walking out of a sports clothing store and I knew that we were going to go to the gym but I did not know when. We start walking and I see "Ronald´s Gym" so I tell Noe "Mi ropa athletica esta en el coche de Susanna (my athletic clothes are in Susanna´s car)" Noe looks at me with an odd look on her face and says "No esta el gimnasio, esta un McDonalds" (I swear I didn´t see a sign saying Mcdonalds). Everyone laughs at my mistake and at how ironic it was! My face goes bright red and of course Noe points it out by saying "Tu cara esta roja jajajaj (your face is red hahaha)"
Quite embarrasing but everyone got a good laugh out of it.
Now to the serious side of my adventure. I think I am learning the language very very fast and my speaking has improved greatly. I can understand people now without them talking at a snail´s pace and when natives are speaking to eachother I am starting to pick up on pieces of the converstaion! It is all very exciting!! I start school on Thurday and I am very excited but also very nervous! I am excited to meet people but nervous about the language aspect since teachers will be talking very fast!
*also, I apologize if my spelling is very bad because it is my worst subject and the computer is in Spanish here so I don´t have spell check anymore.

Picture Time!!! (and to see more pictures of my adventure, feel free to add me on Facebook!)

Susanna and I at the famous castle!

Derin, Megg, Mirian, Alba, Me, Lani, Maria, Emils in the Plaza

Ponferrada is so beautiful!

La Feria

¡Tres Chicas Americanas!

14 Days 'Til Departure!

First, I would like to apologize for not writing in all of July. It was a very busy month for me, I was finishing up swim team and my two summer school classes at American River College. Luckily, now those are both over and I can focus on Spain.
On July 30th I had my visa appointment, the leading up and preparation part was very stressful. I did not receive my support documents in time and by the time AFS sent copies by email, we had already left for the San Francisco Spanish Consulate. Immediately after we got off the freeway we saw an Office Max, where we could print the email, but they did not have wifi so we searched that part of town (a bit sketch) for a wifi enabled coffee shop. Once I downloaded the documents, we went back to Office Max to print them out. We made it to the Consulate by 10, was in by 10:15, and out by 10:30 (even though my appointment time was at 10:30). The next day we mailed the original documents (that of course, arrived the same day I had the appointment). All in all, the preparation for the visa was 100 times worse than the actual appointment.
On  Aug 11th my visa came in the mail!! I was so excited because the visa process was now officially over!
On Aug 20th my travel documents arrived from AFS! It included 3 luggage tags and a "what to do when you get off the plane" flyer. Receiving the luggage tags just made this experience seem even more real. It is insane to think that in 14 days I will gone!
My friends began school one week ago, and it was a weird feeling not doing all the "back to school" preparation they were doing. It is also odd to think that I'm not in school right now when everyone else is well under way with homework, essays, and projects (no, I'm not exaggerating). I know I'm really going to miss St. Francis HS, but I am SO EXCITED to go to my new school, IES Virgen de la Encina!!!!! I always joke with my friends that the hardest part of my exchange will be having to dress myself every day (since I have worn a uniform my whole life) and having to attend the same school as boys (since SFHS is all girls). I would like to reiterate the word "joke," though, because this obviously won't be the hardest thing...
Two days ago, I celebrated my 16th birthday and got my drivers license! Basically, this means that for the next two weeks I will be driving around town picking up last minute things for Spain. On my birthday I met with my friends after school got out and hung out, then I went to dinner. It was a low-key day, but I was so excited to see my friends! This Saturday I will have my Going Away/16th Birthday Party with all my friends and family!
I still have been emailing my host mother, Lupe, and after almost 3 months of waiting, I finally received their host family application! It includes everything I need to know about my new family such as: daily life, activities, and hobbies!! We have a ton in common and I am so looking forward to meeting them!!

Until next time...