Hola!
Lately I've been thinking about the things in my life that will be changing very soon. There are the obvious ones like the language, my daily schedule and my surroundings but there's so many other things too. I've decided to make a list of the things I'm already noticing but once I get to Spain, there will obviously be so many more!
1.) Transportation
Wisconsin: I have my license and own car, so anywhere I want or need to go, I can go. There are times when my parents drive me places, like my stepdad drove me to Chicago. I also have to pay for my own gas so if I can go somewhere with my parents with their car, I will definitly go for that option instead. When I didn't have my license, my parents would take me the places I needed to go. We do have public transportation in the De Pere/Green Bay area but it is VERY minimal. We have a city bus that runs from I think 6 in the morning to 9 or 10 at night but it doesn't run on Sunday. If we want to get anywhere close to a train you'd have to go down to Milwaukee where there's an Amtrack station. And a subway system in Wisconsin? ha ha, very fuuny. I think Chicago is the nearest one.
Spain: Depending on what part of Spain you're in, public transportation is the way to go. Now of course in the smaller, less populated areas, there is no point to build a huge subway or Metro as the call it. In my town, Lorenzo said we do not have a Metro yet but they are building one I think he said in 2013? Since Vilagarcia de Arousa is such as small place, if people want to go somewhere on a day trip, they would go to Vigo or Santiago de Compostela and get a train out from those places. I know my family has a car only because both of my host parents work in the city center, which is 15 minutes by car. My guess is that if I was placed in Madrid, I would be utalizing the public transportation A LOT.
2.) Language
Wisconsin: Well we speak English and it's the offical language, like in other states in the US. Instead of having different regional languages in one state like many European countries have, we have different accents depending on the part of America you're in. Here in good old Wisconsin, common words that probably drive people from other states crazy are "Yah" and "Huh?" One website described out style of speaking as "Everything phrased as a question". I personally haven't noticed that but I guess I wouldn't since I've lived in Wisconsin my whole life.
Spain: Castellano is the offical language, but each of the four regions in Spain has a language that is recognized as offical by the Spanish government.
Catalan This language is also recognized as another offical language of the Baleric Islands and Cataluna. This language has elements of Spanish and French and is also spoken in the south of France, where it is the national language in Alghero in Sardinia.
Basque Language Unlike any of the other regional languages in Spain, this is the only one that does not have not connection another language. It is spoken in the Basque Country and in Navarra and Pyrénées Atlantiquesto in France.
Galician This is the language I will have to learn along with Spanish. It is spoken throught the Galician region, which is the Northwestern region of Spain. The combination is of Spanish and Portugese since the western part of Spain shares a boarder with Porugal.
Valencian Offical Language of the Valenica region, which is in the eastern part of Spain, kinda but not really near Barcelona. It is considered as a dialect of Catalan.
3.) Food
Wisconsin: In Wisconsin we eat a lot of bad food, as in high fat and lots of calories. Friday night fish fry is common among most resturants in Wisconsin, there are also fish boils in Door County. Other common foods are brats, summer sausage, Danish Kringle in the Pulaski area. Since Wisconsin is considered the dairy state, we have delicious dairy treats as well. Cheese curds and frozen custard (woo woo Zesty's)are specialties of Wisconsin. Door County cherries are popular and apple orchards are popular places to buy fresh apples in the fall.
Spain: As with language, each different region has their own specialty cusine. This link from Wikipedia does an excellent job of explaining the regional dishes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_cuisine
Since the Galician region of Spain is so near the water, fresh sea food is a common thing. I am looking forward to trying Paella (pie-a-ah) and the tarta de Santiago. In all my research about the foods of Galicia, the two previous ones have been in every website. Many of the other common dishes include seafood that I have no tried yet such as squid and clams. I do not want to be rude and not eat them but they just look so unappetizing.
I have 2 weeks until I depart for Spain and it's sorta getting real. I had my going away party last Saturday and a lot of my friends came, which was nice to see all of them but I still don't feel sad about leaving them yet. It was weird to hear them all talking about classes they're in together and I felt like I should be talking about that too but I'm not. My last day of work was Tuesday and it feels so weird not having the responsilibity of getting somewhere on time. It's nice but weird at the same time.
My family and I are going to Colorado for a vacation for a few days leaving on Saturday morning. My stepdad is staying after my mom, brother and I leave on the 25 of August. He won't be able to come to the airport with me when I leave for Spain so our vacation will be the last time I see him for quite a while. I haven't really thought about it before and just realized I wouldn't see him for almost a year.
The days are going quickly!
Adios!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
More Visa Updates & My Packing Dilemma
Hola!
It's been a while since I posted, well maybe not that long but it feels like a while since I posted. I finally picked up my visa!!!! This recent trip to Chicago was much much MUCH less stressful. We did not have an appointment time we had to get to, we just had to pick up the visa anytime before my flight to Spain. Another thing that surprised me was my visa only took 2 weeks to process. These people made the visa processing sound like it would take ages to do.
Okay, not really necessary to freak out people who are extremely stressed out from applying for the visa. But thankfully mine was done it time, so it's weird to think that everything is so far so good. Through this process, I have had several bumps along the road including almost not getting my preliminary application in on time, not keeping things organized and losing/misplacing some very vital documents. If I could give one little tip if you're planning on applying for any visa/important thing in your life, KEEP IT ORGANIZED! Either find a folder or an accordian binder or something that you will be able to easily find something when you need it. My only reget in this whole process is not keeping things organized better.
Anyways....
I have 24 days left before I leave and these next few weeks are pretty booked up. I only have 7 days of work left! It's going to be a nice break to not have to go to work. Some of the times I didn't want to go I would remember what the pay off would be when I got to Spain. Can you say shopping?!
I think I've mentioned this in previous posts but I get one suit case that can weigh 44 pounds, I have no idea what I'm going to do. I obviously can't bring my whole closet because I will be buying new clothes and wont have enough room to bring all my new things back. I think I have found a solution though. I'm going to only pack my suit case 2/3 full (!) I know it sounds crazy to do,but I thought it would be a better idea for a couple of reasons.
1.) I will obvioulsy have more room when I come back to stuff all my new things inside.
2.) After flying from New York to Switzlerland to Madrid to Santiago de Compostela with little to no sleep, I won't really be too happy to lug around 44 pounds of stuff. And I'm also bringing a backpack as my carry-on. So add another 20 pounds and i'll be one happpy flyer getting off that plane.
I'm having my going away party next Saturday to say one final goodbye to a lot of the people I don't see often like my aunts and uncles. I'm looking forward to it because I'll get to see some of my old friends from my days back at YMCA day camp. It's really weird how things can change so quickly.
My school in De Pere starts on September 2nd and school in Spain starts I think the 16th of September? I really have no idea but when I get there, I'll still be on summer vaacation :) All my friends are complaining about school starting again and I still feel like I have a ton of summer left. I'm quite thankful that I'm arriving in Spain on September 2nd so I will have about 2 weeks to get used to my surroundings and the people who I will be socializing with for the next 10 months of my life. Lorenzo told me that on his exchange to France, he started to think in french within 10 days. I am hoping and praying that will be the same amount of time for me to start recgonizing what people are saying to me and for me to get in the habbit of thinking in another language other than my own.
Sometimes I freak out because Lorenzo speaks such good English and whenever we speak on Skype and Facebook I am always tempted to go to English because it's easier. I hate the feeling of wanting to say something simple and not knowing the word or the sentence structure. I feel so weird speaking Spanish because I never know if I'm using the right tense or expression, but once the person I'm speaking to responds it's a sigh of relief to know they understood/kinda understood what I was trying to say. I am so thankful to have the host family that I have.
Keep checking back as my trip gets closer :)
Adios!
It's been a while since I posted, well maybe not that long but it feels like a while since I posted. I finally picked up my visa!!!! This recent trip to Chicago was much much MUCH less stressful. We did not have an appointment time we had to get to, we just had to pick up the visa anytime before my flight to Spain. Another thing that surprised me was my visa only took 2 weeks to process. These people made the visa processing sound like it would take ages to do.
Okay, not really necessary to freak out people who are extremely stressed out from applying for the visa. But thankfully mine was done it time, so it's weird to think that everything is so far so good. Through this process, I have had several bumps along the road including almost not getting my preliminary application in on time, not keeping things organized and losing/misplacing some very vital documents. If I could give one little tip if you're planning on applying for any visa/important thing in your life, KEEP IT ORGANIZED! Either find a folder or an accordian binder or something that you will be able to easily find something when you need it. My only reget in this whole process is not keeping things organized better.
Anyways....
I have 24 days left before I leave and these next few weeks are pretty booked up. I only have 7 days of work left! It's going to be a nice break to not have to go to work. Some of the times I didn't want to go I would remember what the pay off would be when I got to Spain. Can you say shopping?!
I think I've mentioned this in previous posts but I get one suit case that can weigh 44 pounds, I have no idea what I'm going to do. I obviously can't bring my whole closet because I will be buying new clothes and wont have enough room to bring all my new things back. I think I have found a solution though. I'm going to only pack my suit case 2/3 full (!) I know it sounds crazy to do,but I thought it would be a better idea for a couple of reasons.
1.) I will obvioulsy have more room when I come back to stuff all my new things inside.
2.) After flying from New York to Switzlerland to Madrid to Santiago de Compostela with little to no sleep, I won't really be too happy to lug around 44 pounds of stuff. And I'm also bringing a backpack as my carry-on. So add another 20 pounds and i'll be one happpy flyer getting off that plane.
I'm having my going away party next Saturday to say one final goodbye to a lot of the people I don't see often like my aunts and uncles. I'm looking forward to it because I'll get to see some of my old friends from my days back at YMCA day camp. It's really weird how things can change so quickly.
My school in De Pere starts on September 2nd and school in Spain starts I think the 16th of September? I really have no idea but when I get there, I'll still be on summer vaacation :) All my friends are complaining about school starting again and I still feel like I have a ton of summer left. I'm quite thankful that I'm arriving in Spain on September 2nd so I will have about 2 weeks to get used to my surroundings and the people who I will be socializing with for the next 10 months of my life. Lorenzo told me that on his exchange to France, he started to think in french within 10 days. I am hoping and praying that will be the same amount of time for me to start recgonizing what people are saying to me and for me to get in the habbit of thinking in another language other than my own.
Sometimes I freak out because Lorenzo speaks such good English and whenever we speak on Skype and Facebook I am always tempted to go to English because it's easier. I hate the feeling of wanting to say something simple and not knowing the word or the sentence structure. I feel so weird speaking Spanish because I never know if I'm using the right tense or expression, but once the person I'm speaking to responds it's a sigh of relief to know they understood/kinda understood what I was trying to say. I am so thankful to have the host family that I have.
Keep checking back as my trip gets closer :)
Adios!
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