Travel Updates

Hola!

During this past month, I have recieved many emails/letters from AFS about my travel plans, Departure orientation, flights and such.

So my plans are as follows:
Drive down to Milwaukee bright & early on Wednesday August 31st to catch a 7:55 AM flight to Cincinnati with Katie Madigan. From Cincinnati,we fly to JFK and land at about 1:35 in New York. We are then spending the night in New York and flying out the next night to Spain. Here's our itnerary:

-Fly out of JFK at 8:55 PM on September 1st
-Arrive in Zurich at 10:50 AM September 2nd
-Fly out of Zurich to Madrid at 12:25 PM September 2nd
-ARRIVE IN MADRID!! 2:45 PM

I asked Lorenzo if his family was meeting me in Madrid and he said I would be flying to Santiago de Compostela, where they will drive to and pick me up!

This is going to be a really weird experiece, just flying to New York without one of my parents. I don't know how to find different terminals in airports, but my stepdad said the Cincinnati airport is relativly small so we should be able to catch our flight to New York on time.

My most recent item from AFS was an information sheet called "What Do I Do When I Get Off the Plane in New York?"

62 More days left!

More About My Host Family :)

Hola!

So I know I just made a brief post about my visa process and host family but I think they deserve a whole post dedicated to them.

Okay, Quick recap of my family:

Host Brothers: Lorenzo(16) and Alvero(9)

Host Mom: Silvia

Host Dad: Gonzalo

They live in Vilagarica de Arousa, Spain, which is in the Galician region of Spain. The town is pretty close to the size of De Pere, 36,000 people live in Vilagarica.

When AFS emailed me to finalize my family,I found out that they would only be hosting me until December 31, 2011.


Hi Erika,

Great news! AFS- Spain has just provided us with information about your Permanent Host Family Placement! I’m sure your host family will be excited to hear from you, so we encourage you to get in touch with them as soon as you have a chance.

In fact, your placement is actually what we call a "Permanent Multiple Host Family Placement", which means that you will live with two different families throughout your time in Spain. The Granja Guillan family will host you until December 31st, 2011, at which time you will move to another family most likely within the same community. I do not yet have any details on your second family, and chances are that you will not have that information until much closer to the time in which you will move homes.

Wait? I have to switch families?

Apprently I do.

As I read this, I couldn't understand why I would be switching families. I wondered why I wasn't informed of this before and to be honest, I was a bit upset. I had been talking to Lorenzo for a few days prior to getting the email from AFS and I was excited to meet him and his family! I asked him if he knew anything about this and he did. He told me that his family would only be hosting me until December because they were worried that if they signed up for a year and the student they had living with them was not what they had hoped for, they wouldn't have to commit to hosting someone for 10 months. Lorenzo then told me that I was a "perfect match" for his family and that his mom is going to speak wtih AFS and see if they can keep me for the 10 months. I hope everything works out!

Visa Stuff & Host Family Information

Hi Everyone!

It has been a while since I've posted on this blog because I have been SO busy with school, my job and the paperwork for traveling and living in Spain.

For those who do not know what the process is like for applying for a visa, it is time consuming. But Spain's visa process is much worse, if possible. For Spain's visa, you have to have several papers notorized, signed by your state, sent to the FBI, have a background check done and finger prints taken. In additon to all that work, you must make an in-person appointment at the nearest visa consulate. Mine is in Chicago so we will drive there on July 12th to pick up my visa!

On Monday of this week, I recieved an email from my host brother! One of the most anxiety-filled times of this whole process was wating for months to find out where I would be living and who would be hosting me. AFS did a great job finding me a family! I will be living in a costal town in northwestern Spain called Vilagarica de Arousa. It is located in the Galicia region of Spain. In my host family, I have a "brother" called Lorenzo, he is 16 and speaks very good English. I also have a "mom" and "dad" and another "brother" who is 9 years old. Lorenzo and his family seem very nice, I can't wait to finally meet them!!

My departure date is coming up quickly! I am flying to New York from Milwaukee, where we will spend a night and then fly out to Spain the next day. Before we get to Spain, we are making a stop in Switzerland and then flying to Madrid.

I'm feeling mixed emotions about my year abroad-part of me wants to leave right now and meet my family,another part wants to stay here and go to school with my friends in the fall. In my year away, I will be leaving my friends and family in order to live with a new family for 10 months to experience their culture and way of life. When our plane takes off from New York, it will be a bittersweet moment.

Follow me for Updates prior to my departure and while I am in Spain!