Saturday, November 24, 2012
This is Way Overdue
Hello to everyone (if I even still have followers after ditching my blog for over 6 months! Sorry guys!)
Okay, so basically I didn't update since January and now that I look back on it, i completely regret it, but it isn't the worst thing because I kept a journal of what happened while I was in Spain, so I have memories to look back on. Vale, so I'm just gonna give a quick rundown of each month starting with February
FEBRUARY:
Well my birthday was the 11th and it was super weird not spending it with my family or doing anything super special. I had a Spanish friend who was born a few days before me so we combined our birthdays and our friend group from school and his friend group from swim club all went!
The other big event from February was Carnaval!!! In Spain, it is a hugely celebrated holiday complete with days off school, dressing up, parades and parties. What more could you ask for? I would consider it almost like Halloween because EVERYONE dresses up, so that of course is always fun. Here's some pictures!
MARCH & APRIL:
Nothing too excited happened in the beginning of March (well that I can remember anyways). Two of my friends celebrated their birthdays together and we all had dinner together at one of their houses and then a la fiesta!
During the middle of March, we had an AFS Orientation with the kids the Ponferrada because thee Galician group was only 3! Then add the 3 from Ponferrada and hala you have our all american orientation group. This time they came to Galicia and we stayed at a youth hostel in Santiago de Compostela. Even though I would have never in a million years chage my location during my stay in Spain, having an orientation group of all americans was kinda laaame (no offense guys, I love you all!). Of course, there were the benefits of getting close to each person and knowing their story. Our group was like a third family
And at the very end of March, Lorenzo and I went on the Camino de Santiago until April 4th. This trip was organized by AFS and we were about 30 of us, either foreign exchange students or the siblings of them. I absolutely loved the walk, I was able to make so many new friends and become closer with the ones I already knew.
The end of April was Festival Do Norte, which was a Spanish Indie music festival at one of the nearby fairgrounds. Most of the artists aren't really known, but Love of Lesbian, Lori Meyers, Pollock and La Casa Azul were a few of the bands that came. Looking back, it was really cool to be able to listen to that music and say you saw that song in concert.
MAY:
Mmm May...My host parents and younger brother went to Ireland for 5 days because my host mom's brother-in-law was there doing an English course for three months. Lorenzo and I almost went but it overlapped with Santa Rita, which was the 22nd of May. We had days off and we stayed with Lorenzo's grandparents. During Santa Rita, it's pretty much beach party and next to the beach they have rides and people selling things, such as purses, bracelets, shoes and clothes, in booths.
Along with Santa Rita, two of my friends, Bea and Alicia, got confirmed! We went to the church service and then went to Alicia's summer home to have dinner before we went out to Santa Rita.
Finally, we went on this rather interesting economy field trip. So basically, it was a joke but we had to pretend to take it seriously so the teacher wouldn't make us do a test. We went to the farmer's market, the local radio station that interviewed us during a segment on their show (I WAS ON A SPANISH RADIO STATIONS!) and finally to one of the canning factories, where we tried a ton of different canned seafood. So yummy!
JUNE:
This was my final month but one of the busiest. First of all, I had to go to a final AFS orientation in Madrid instead of Ponferrada. The one for Ponferrada was in May during Santa Rita, so I just skipped and joined the one in Madrid. I had a lot of friends in the Madrid area so it was nice to see them before the final orientation when we'd all be depressed and bawling our eyes out. It was the first time i took a plane by myself in a foreign country! It was a short flight from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid but rather eventful. The volunteer who was picking me up forgot about me for about an hour (The Spanish are so punctual :P). Anyways, we went for a little walk through the mountains that led up to this really pretty look out over Madrid (we weren't in the city, we went out to Cercedilla.
School ended the 22nd of June, then that night, we had Lorenzo's birthday at his grandparents summer home. It's tiny but there were about 15 of us who slept over where ever we could find places. We had dinner and went down to the beach at midnight and went swimming. The next morning, we cleaned up, went to the beach for a while and then went back to our house to get ready for San Juan, the beach bonfire party. Everyone makes their own little bonfire and then at the top of the beach, there is a HUGE one. The tradition is to run and jump over the fire you make with your friends.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chusnartallo/7430779282/
Then the 25th of June (5 days before I was going to leave) we went to a gorgeous island called Ons Island. It is very rural, only tent camping allowed, no fires, only one truck on the whole island (it brings your equipment up to the top of the hill where all the camp sites are). It is right along the cost of huge rock cliffs. If you walk further in the other direction, there are two beaches that are beautiful as well. We spent three days there and arrived back in Vilagarcia de Arousa the 28th in the afternoon and fortunately I had packed almost everything before I had left to go to Ons. I had to be at the airport at 3 PM so once my host parents got home, we ate super fast and headed off. My host aunt came over and before lunch, all my friends came over to say bye and gave me the greatest photo album with pictures from the whole year. It was one of the hardest things I had to do in my life; say goodbye to my friends. I never though I'd cry so much but the tears just kept flooding out!
Okay, that was a redicioulsy long post. I promise not to wait so long in between them anymore, even if they're just quick updates, I'll try to get them up!
Gracias por leer!
Chao
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Winter Break 2011-2012
Hola!
Last week was my first week back at school from winter break. Our break started on December 22nd and went until the 9th of January. It was the longest winter vacation I have ever had and having the extra week was so nice. I finally got to relax from all the studying and worrying about school for two week.
Over break, we celebrated so many holidays and I ate SO MUCH FOOD. I didn't think I was going to eat as much as I did, but everything I had was so good. Since I'm in Galicia, we are right next to the sea so seafood is the thing to eat at Christmas.
On December 24th, or Nochebuena as they call it in Spain, we went to Silvia's mom and dad's house where we ate dinner. Silvia's mom, Tivi, is an amazing cook. Everything she made was really good, even the seafood I didn't think I would like, I ended up loving. We ate clams, shrimp, oysters, mussels and a bunch of other things I don't know the name of.
This lovely pictures is with the crabs we ate. I didn't like them and they were really difficult to open & eat.
After dinner, we ate the typical dessert of Spain which is turron. Turron is like brittle, I guess that is the best way to describe it. It's normally with almonds and then there are other types that are chocolate flavored without almonds. I tried both types and I'm not sure which one I liked more. I don't really care for turron, but it was something typical of a different culture. Other desserts that are eaten are dried fruits like prunes and apricots. We also ate a Tiramisu which isn't typical but it's what we ate.
Family Picture :)
When we were completely finished with all the eating, the adults exchanged gifts because they did Secret Santa. There was a 50 Euro limit and it was really fun to see what everyone gave everyone. I only knew who Silvia had to buy her gift for, so seeing all the other people's gifts was really fun. After presents we were all just sitting around talking and the younger kids went off to play the Wii. We stayed there until 2:30-3:00 am. Alvaro, Silvia and I went home while Lorenzo and Gonzalo stayed to help clean up a little bit.
While we were unloading all the stuff from the car once we got home, Silvia told me I had to distract Alvaro for a few minutes in the garage because she had to put our Christmas gifts on our beds. So Alvaro and I were downstairs just talking and I was trying to think of any random thing to talk about with him to not make it obvious. Once Silvia had the presents on our beds, she told us to hurry upstairs and get ready for bed. Alvaro asked if Santa came and ran upstairs to look. He got a globe, I got a perfume and Lorenzo got a sweater. Most of the people in Spain believe in the 3 Kings, but there are some people who also believe in Santa too.
Christmas day we went to Gonzalo's mom's house for lunch where we ate a lot of food again. Since I've been in Spain, I have only met his mom one time, so I didn't really know what to expect when we went to her house. Gonzalo's sister Ana was there and one of his brother's and his family. Gonzalo has another brother but he lives in California and obviously wasn't there. After our lunch, someone set up Skype with Gonzalo's brother in California so we were talking with them. And of course everyone was like "speak in English with them!"
We went home at around 9 pm and when we got home I skyped with all my family in Wisconsin. Everyone was at my house for Christmas so I got to talk with all my cousin's (minus one who was in Colorado).
From the 25th of December until the 31st there's nothing special so I don't really remember what we did. But pretty much everyday of break we got up late, watched TV until lunch and then Lorenzo and I went to hang out with friends.
New Year's Eve in Spain is so much fun. It's such a big difference from New Year's Eve in the United States. At my house in Wisconsin, we don't really do anything. Some years I go to a friend's house and we watch tv and the ball drop but we don't go out or anything like the people in Spain do.
The first difference is the families get together on New Year's Eve and eat dinner together. Then the last 12 seconds of the year, you eat 12 grapes. Well you try to eat 12 grapes. Another interesting fact I learned about Vilagarica was it is the only place in Spain where they eat 12 grapes at 12:00 in the afternoon too. I thought that was really interesting even though we didn't end up going to the afternoon grape eating.
Once you eat all your grapes, you say "Feliz Ano" to everyone in your family and give them two kisses on the cheek. We ate dinner at Gonzalo's Mom's house again since Silvia's parents go out to eat for New Year's Eve. Lorenzo and I left at 2:00 am because we bought tickets for a club that was having a New Year's Eve party. When you go out for New Year's Eve, everyone get really dressed up. Almost every guy wears a tux and all the girls wear dresses, short dresses, normally above the knee. Almost every girl goes to the hairdresser to get her hair done a special way.
Lorenzo and I
Bea and I
All Girls
Those are just a few pictures from New Year's Eve, we had a ton of fun, it was so different from New Year's Eve in America. Lorenzo and I were allowed to stay out until 6Am which is really early but something was better than nothing. The next day we slept until 5 in the afternoon, our sleep schedules were so messed up.
This is a really really long blog so I'm going to write a second one about 3 Kings day and other random things I remember from Break.
Last week was my first week back at school from winter break. Our break started on December 22nd and went until the 9th of January. It was the longest winter vacation I have ever had and having the extra week was so nice. I finally got to relax from all the studying and worrying about school for two week.
Over break, we celebrated so many holidays and I ate SO MUCH FOOD. I didn't think I was going to eat as much as I did, but everything I had was so good. Since I'm in Galicia, we are right next to the sea so seafood is the thing to eat at Christmas.
On December 24th, or Nochebuena as they call it in Spain, we went to Silvia's mom and dad's house where we ate dinner. Silvia's mom, Tivi, is an amazing cook. Everything she made was really good, even the seafood I didn't think I would like, I ended up loving. We ate clams, shrimp, oysters, mussels and a bunch of other things I don't know the name of.
This lovely pictures is with the crabs we ate. I didn't like them and they were really difficult to open & eat.
After dinner, we ate the typical dessert of Spain which is turron. Turron is like brittle, I guess that is the best way to describe it. It's normally with almonds and then there are other types that are chocolate flavored without almonds. I tried both types and I'm not sure which one I liked more. I don't really care for turron, but it was something typical of a different culture. Other desserts that are eaten are dried fruits like prunes and apricots. We also ate a Tiramisu which isn't typical but it's what we ate.
Family Picture :)
When we were completely finished with all the eating, the adults exchanged gifts because they did Secret Santa. There was a 50 Euro limit and it was really fun to see what everyone gave everyone. I only knew who Silvia had to buy her gift for, so seeing all the other people's gifts was really fun. After presents we were all just sitting around talking and the younger kids went off to play the Wii. We stayed there until 2:30-3:00 am. Alvaro, Silvia and I went home while Lorenzo and Gonzalo stayed to help clean up a little bit.
While we were unloading all the stuff from the car once we got home, Silvia told me I had to distract Alvaro for a few minutes in the garage because she had to put our Christmas gifts on our beds. So Alvaro and I were downstairs just talking and I was trying to think of any random thing to talk about with him to not make it obvious. Once Silvia had the presents on our beds, she told us to hurry upstairs and get ready for bed. Alvaro asked if Santa came and ran upstairs to look. He got a globe, I got a perfume and Lorenzo got a sweater. Most of the people in Spain believe in the 3 Kings, but there are some people who also believe in Santa too.
Christmas day we went to Gonzalo's mom's house for lunch where we ate a lot of food again. Since I've been in Spain, I have only met his mom one time, so I didn't really know what to expect when we went to her house. Gonzalo's sister Ana was there and one of his brother's and his family. Gonzalo has another brother but he lives in California and obviously wasn't there. After our lunch, someone set up Skype with Gonzalo's brother in California so we were talking with them. And of course everyone was like "speak in English with them!"
We went home at around 9 pm and when we got home I skyped with all my family in Wisconsin. Everyone was at my house for Christmas so I got to talk with all my cousin's (minus one who was in Colorado).
From the 25th of December until the 31st there's nothing special so I don't really remember what we did. But pretty much everyday of break we got up late, watched TV until lunch and then Lorenzo and I went to hang out with friends.
New Year's Eve in Spain is so much fun. It's such a big difference from New Year's Eve in the United States. At my house in Wisconsin, we don't really do anything. Some years I go to a friend's house and we watch tv and the ball drop but we don't go out or anything like the people in Spain do.
The first difference is the families get together on New Year's Eve and eat dinner together. Then the last 12 seconds of the year, you eat 12 grapes. Well you try to eat 12 grapes. Another interesting fact I learned about Vilagarica was it is the only place in Spain where they eat 12 grapes at 12:00 in the afternoon too. I thought that was really interesting even though we didn't end up going to the afternoon grape eating.
Once you eat all your grapes, you say "Feliz Ano" to everyone in your family and give them two kisses on the cheek. We ate dinner at Gonzalo's Mom's house again since Silvia's parents go out to eat for New Year's Eve. Lorenzo and I left at 2:00 am because we bought tickets for a club that was having a New Year's Eve party. When you go out for New Year's Eve, everyone get really dressed up. Almost every guy wears a tux and all the girls wear dresses, short dresses, normally above the knee. Almost every girl goes to the hairdresser to get her hair done a special way.
Lorenzo and I
Bea and I
All Girls
Those are just a few pictures from New Year's Eve, we had a ton of fun, it was so different from New Year's Eve in America. Lorenzo and I were allowed to stay out until 6Am which is really early but something was better than nothing. The next day we slept until 5 in the afternoon, our sleep schedules were so messed up.
This is a really really long blog so I'm going to write a second one about 3 Kings day and other random things I remember from Break.
Friday, December 9, 2011
3 Months In
Hola everyone
My 3 month mark was December 3rd and it's December 9th but the past 2 weeks have been so freakin busy. We have finals coming up next week and the past 2 weeks we've also had exams. The schooling here is so different, so it's taken some getting used to but I think now I have a better understanding of what is going on (I'm still lost a lot of the time, but it's an improvement from the beginning of school).
My exams for next week are the following
Monday-Gym, we have it 2 hours every Monday so the first hour is to study and then we have the second hour to do the exam. Thankfully it is a written test because the kids told me there was a chance that we would have a pratical test (yes that means I would have to show off my great basketball skills)
Tuesday-Lengua, the teacher can just fail me right now. This class is so difficult because it's Spanish literature. Our last exam was reading short stories, explaning the structure of each, the themes, describing the significance of each stanza of a poem. I studied as much as I could but good God, I ended up crying and telling the teacher I seriously can't comprehend this class. He's a really nice and told me he'll make a special exam for me that just has like adjectives, nouns, verbs and basic grammar things.
Wednesday-English and Gallego, Well English I obviously don't have to study for and I don't take the tests for Gallego. Easy day of no studying, just kidding. I'll be starting to study for Thursday's test.
Thursday-CMC, or Earth science. This class isn't too bad, we have to study about 30 questions and then the teacher will pick some random ones, normally 4 or 5 and that's that.
Friday-Math, oh joy. We are doing algebra right now, which I thought would be easier than our last unit but we are doing stuff like second grade equations or something like that. I am so confused but thankfully there is a really nice guy in my class who always is willing to help me with math because I am absolutely lost. So fingers crossed I will pass, who knows.
And then Monday of the following week we might be having a history test. It's either before break or after break, but I'm really hoping before break so I don't have to worry about studying over Christmas break.
Hmm...what else can I tell you about?
So lately everyone has been talking about "Fin de Ano" or New Year's Eve parties. Apparently here it's a big deal here in Spain, everyone goes out and stays out in until super late, like 6 or 7 AM. And what you wear is super important too. Both girls and guys go all out, girls wear dresses that are fancier than when they go out on a usual Saturday night, high heels, and most go to hair dresser too. Most guys wear a tux. But one thing that is definite is that everyone buys new clothes. I am really excited to go our for New Year's Eve, I bought my dress, I will upload pictures to my blog once I have them :)
My Spanish has improved SO much in 3 months, I can't believe it. In the beginning, I could barely understand my host family when they spoke extremely slow, but now I understand almost everything, like 90% of conversation. Now I have to focus on learning more vocabulary & verbs and the other verb tenses as well, but I have time to learn those.
A lot of people have been telling me that I am doing really good with speaking, even though I feel like I am not doing so good all the time. There is definitely improvement from here I started out but I also know I have a lot more to learn. But thankfully everyone is so helpful and wants me to be able to speak well.
I can't believe I only have 6 months left here, the first 3 months have flown by so fast but at the same time I feel like I've been here for a long time. It's difficult to describe but I knew it was going to go by fast. I am excited to see what happens in the next 6 months here.
Keep checking back for a Video blog :)
My 3 month mark was December 3rd and it's December 9th but the past 2 weeks have been so freakin busy. We have finals coming up next week and the past 2 weeks we've also had exams. The schooling here is so different, so it's taken some getting used to but I think now I have a better understanding of what is going on (I'm still lost a lot of the time, but it's an improvement from the beginning of school).
My exams for next week are the following
Monday-Gym, we have it 2 hours every Monday so the first hour is to study and then we have the second hour to do the exam. Thankfully it is a written test because the kids told me there was a chance that we would have a pratical test (yes that means I would have to show off my great basketball skills)
Tuesday-Lengua, the teacher can just fail me right now. This class is so difficult because it's Spanish literature. Our last exam was reading short stories, explaning the structure of each, the themes, describing the significance of each stanza of a poem. I studied as much as I could but good God, I ended up crying and telling the teacher I seriously can't comprehend this class. He's a really nice and told me he'll make a special exam for me that just has like adjectives, nouns, verbs and basic grammar things.
Wednesday-English and Gallego, Well English I obviously don't have to study for and I don't take the tests for Gallego. Easy day of no studying, just kidding. I'll be starting to study for Thursday's test.
Thursday-CMC, or Earth science. This class isn't too bad, we have to study about 30 questions and then the teacher will pick some random ones, normally 4 or 5 and that's that.
Friday-Math, oh joy. We are doing algebra right now, which I thought would be easier than our last unit but we are doing stuff like second grade equations or something like that. I am so confused but thankfully there is a really nice guy in my class who always is willing to help me with math because I am absolutely lost. So fingers crossed I will pass, who knows.
And then Monday of the following week we might be having a history test. It's either before break or after break, but I'm really hoping before break so I don't have to worry about studying over Christmas break.
Hmm...what else can I tell you about?
So lately everyone has been talking about "Fin de Ano" or New Year's Eve parties. Apparently here it's a big deal here in Spain, everyone goes out and stays out in until super late, like 6 or 7 AM. And what you wear is super important too. Both girls and guys go all out, girls wear dresses that are fancier than when they go out on a usual Saturday night, high heels, and most go to hair dresser too. Most guys wear a tux. But one thing that is definite is that everyone buys new clothes. I am really excited to go our for New Year's Eve, I bought my dress, I will upload pictures to my blog once I have them :)
My Spanish has improved SO much in 3 months, I can't believe it. In the beginning, I could barely understand my host family when they spoke extremely slow, but now I understand almost everything, like 90% of conversation. Now I have to focus on learning more vocabulary & verbs and the other verb tenses as well, but I have time to learn those.
A lot of people have been telling me that I am doing really good with speaking, even though I feel like I am not doing so good all the time. There is definitely improvement from here I started out but I also know I have a lot more to learn. But thankfully everyone is so helpful and wants me to be able to speak well.
I can't believe I only have 6 months left here, the first 3 months have flown by so fast but at the same time I feel like I've been here for a long time. It's difficult to describe but I knew it was going to go by fast. I am excited to see what happens in the next 6 months here.
Keep checking back for a Video blog :)
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Corriendo Por Corazno
Hola :)
By now, I think everyone knows the story about why I haven't updated my blog recently. So I won't say it again, but I have been here for almost 2 MONTHS. I feel like I haven't been here that long. Everyone said time would fly but I didn't know it would go this fast. I have gotten into a routine now, which makes it feel like a normal life. (This intro has nothing to do with my title in case you were wondering)
One Sunday I wanted to go for a run and I figured that since I've been here for almost 2 months I could find my way around Corazno by myself. Ha ha I was so wrong. I started out good, I had no problem going into Corazno and went down some roads that looked familiar. I was running along and there's a part where you can go either right or left (to get back home you need to go right) but of course I thought I had to go left.
As I'm running everything looks less and less familiar and I'm thinking oh craaap. So I turned around and realized it was starting to get dark and I didn't know where I was. And there was a lady standing outside. Then started the debate in my head. Part of me wanted to ask her where I was and how to get back, but the other part didn't want for multiple reasons:
1. She was old and scary looking
2. My Spanish is bad
3. I'm sure I looked lovely and sweaty
But I really wanted to get home. SO I went up to her and told her I was lost and she gave me the weirdest look ever. I told her where I lived (somehow I remembered my address, weird because I don't remember anything in Spanish) and she told me she didn't understand me. So she tells me to wait and yells for her husband to come down and try to explain to me how to get home.
While we were waiting for her husband to come down, she starts asking me all these questions like where I'm from, why I'm in Spain, why I'm running in Corazno. After I told her I was from the United States, she told me I was stupid! And then just stared at me. It was the most awkward moment ever. But her husband came down and he was a lot nicer and explained how I could get home.
I haven't gone running since.
This week has been freeezing cold. The type of cold here is so different from the kind in Wisconsin. Here, it rains instead of snows in the winter but there is also really strong winds. The cold in Wisconsin is drier, if that makes any sense but I'm freezing everyday. I don't think the school has heat. My school in Wisconsin is so hot in the winter, we can wear tshirts and guys can wear basketball shorts if they want without being cold. I definitly didn't think I would ever say this but I think it's colder than Wisconsin here. Everyone told me to wait until December. Great.
I'm looking forward to this weekend because it's Halloween. They don't really celebrate halloween like we do but on Saturday I think we are going out to Cambados to "celebrate" ;)
Then on Monday and Tuesday we don't have class because of Day of the Dead.
Adios!
By now, I think everyone knows the story about why I haven't updated my blog recently. So I won't say it again, but I have been here for almost 2 MONTHS. I feel like I haven't been here that long. Everyone said time would fly but I didn't know it would go this fast. I have gotten into a routine now, which makes it feel like a normal life. (This intro has nothing to do with my title in case you were wondering)
One Sunday I wanted to go for a run and I figured that since I've been here for almost 2 months I could find my way around Corazno by myself. Ha ha I was so wrong. I started out good, I had no problem going into Corazno and went down some roads that looked familiar. I was running along and there's a part where you can go either right or left (to get back home you need to go right) but of course I thought I had to go left.
As I'm running everything looks less and less familiar and I'm thinking oh craaap. So I turned around and realized it was starting to get dark and I didn't know where I was. And there was a lady standing outside. Then started the debate in my head. Part of me wanted to ask her where I was and how to get back, but the other part didn't want for multiple reasons:
1. She was old and scary looking
2. My Spanish is bad
3. I'm sure I looked lovely and sweaty
But I really wanted to get home. SO I went up to her and told her I was lost and she gave me the weirdest look ever. I told her where I lived (somehow I remembered my address, weird because I don't remember anything in Spanish) and she told me she didn't understand me. So she tells me to wait and yells for her husband to come down and try to explain to me how to get home.
While we were waiting for her husband to come down, she starts asking me all these questions like where I'm from, why I'm in Spain, why I'm running in Corazno. After I told her I was from the United States, she told me I was stupid! And then just stared at me. It was the most awkward moment ever. But her husband came down and he was a lot nicer and explained how I could get home.
I haven't gone running since.
This week has been freeezing cold. The type of cold here is so different from the kind in Wisconsin. Here, it rains instead of snows in the winter but there is also really strong winds. The cold in Wisconsin is drier, if that makes any sense but I'm freezing everyday. I don't think the school has heat. My school in Wisconsin is so hot in the winter, we can wear tshirts and guys can wear basketball shorts if they want without being cold. I definitly didn't think I would ever say this but I think it's colder than Wisconsin here. Everyone told me to wait until December. Great.
I'm looking forward to this weekend because it's Halloween. They don't really celebrate halloween like we do but on Saturday I think we are going out to Cambados to "celebrate" ;)
Then on Monday and Tuesday we don't have class because of Day of the Dead.
Adios!
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Hola :)
Hola :)
Today was Christopher Columbus day here in Spain, so we didn't have to go to school. My host parents didn't go to work, actually no one had to work today and pretty much all the stores were closed in Vilagarcia. Today was not a free day like a huelga, we went to the church because my host grandpa used to be the police captain of Galicia, I think (?) that's what I understood from him telling me about it, but let's keep in mind my Spanish issn't the greatest
But anyways, we went to the church because they were giving him an award and the current police captain. After the mass, we went to a casino where they had tapas and I tried a lot of new seafood today.
Like squid, and clams. I have to admit, they weren't that bad. After the tapas, we went to a resturant and had Paella. But this one just was not good, I'm not really sure why, but I was looking foward to some really good paella.
For those of you who don't know what paella (pie-a-ah) is, I'll explain.
It's made in a huge skillet. On the bottom it's rice, not white rice, yellow rice because it's made with saffron. Paella can have any type of meat or seafood and veggies in it but the one's I have eaten had shrimp, clams, chicken, onion, squid, octopus and other seafood. It's delish
Hmm what else is going on in my life here?
School is getting easier, I think. Some days I can understand a lot of what is said to me and other days I just can't process Spanish. We don't have a lot of homework but every night Lorenzo and I study, review notes and do practice problems in math. Math is the most difficult subject here for me. Weird, I know. But they do all types of math every year, algebra,geometry,advanced algebra, calculus...
When I took algerbra 2 years ago I was good at it, but algebra here... way more intense. So there's a lot I don't remember or know how to do.
Today, I found out in order to get an 'A' in gym here, at the end of the year we have to run for an hour.
AN HOUR. No walking, no breaks, nothing. Just running. I think I might die.
I have an AFS meeting coming up on October 21st-23rd. I'm excited to see some of the people but I really don't want to be gone for 3 days, on a weekend. Well whatever...
I think my next post is going to be about some of the differences I've been keeping track of here, so keep checking back :)
Adios!
Today was Christopher Columbus day here in Spain, so we didn't have to go to school. My host parents didn't go to work, actually no one had to work today and pretty much all the stores were closed in Vilagarcia. Today was not a free day like a huelga, we went to the church because my host grandpa used to be the police captain of Galicia, I think (?) that's what I understood from him telling me about it, but let's keep in mind my Spanish issn't the greatest
But anyways, we went to the church because they were giving him an award and the current police captain. After the mass, we went to a casino where they had tapas and I tried a lot of new seafood today.
Like squid, and clams. I have to admit, they weren't that bad. After the tapas, we went to a resturant and had Paella. But this one just was not good, I'm not really sure why, but I was looking foward to some really good paella.
For those of you who don't know what paella (pie-a-ah) is, I'll explain.
It's made in a huge skillet. On the bottom it's rice, not white rice, yellow rice because it's made with saffron. Paella can have any type of meat or seafood and veggies in it but the one's I have eaten had shrimp, clams, chicken, onion, squid, octopus and other seafood. It's delish
Hmm what else is going on in my life here?
School is getting easier, I think. Some days I can understand a lot of what is said to me and other days I just can't process Spanish. We don't have a lot of homework but every night Lorenzo and I study, review notes and do practice problems in math. Math is the most difficult subject here for me. Weird, I know. But they do all types of math every year, algebra,geometry,advanced algebra, calculus...
When I took algerbra 2 years ago I was good at it, but algebra here... way more intense. So there's a lot I don't remember or know how to do.
Today, I found out in order to get an 'A' in gym here, at the end of the year we have to run for an hour.
AN HOUR. No walking, no breaks, nothing. Just running. I think I might die.
I have an AFS meeting coming up on October 21st-23rd. I'm excited to see some of the people but I really don't want to be gone for 3 days, on a weekend. Well whatever...
I think my next post is going to be about some of the differences I've been keeping track of here, so keep checking back :)
Adios!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
I Know I've Been Slacking...
Hola!
So I've been in Spain for a little over a month and haven't written anything on my blog. I actually just realized I haven't written anything since August! Ahhh I know it's so bad and I'll admit it, I've been slacking. But I have some pretty good excuses. How often do you get to go to a beautiful country for a year to study? Yeah, not very often. So I've been enjoying my time here. I'll give you a quick recap of what's been going on the past month.
I started school 3 weeks ago and it is really different from my school in De Pere. First, there are 3 different buildings and during the day, we are normally in one classroom and the teachers change rooms. We only have to go to a different room for music and gym. Another thing that is different is there are no lockers at the school, so we carry our backpacks, which I don't mind at all. I'm sure if any DPHS kids are reading this, they are probably a tiny bit jealous since we got that privliage taken away last year. Anyways, my classes. Oh my god. I knew it would be difficult to understand but I had no idea it was going to be THIS difficult. I have 3 classes in Galego, the regional language of Galicia. It's like a hybrid of Spanish and Portugees. I don't even understand Spanish yet and I feel like some of the teachers expect me to understand when they speak to me in Galego. "Well I don't understand so you can speak as slowly and loudly as you'd like but I won't get it!" Is what I feel like saying sometimes.
My classes are as follows:
GYM: I hate this class. We actually sweat and have to play sports and run. This is not a Mrs.Vbergh gym class. The teacher likes to make an example of me and how I can't strech properly. Thanks bud.
Lengua: It's like English grammar class, but for Spanish. This class isn't bad, I think it will be actually really helpful, I'll be able to see how some of the Spanish words are formed and their origen.
History: Not bad, we are studying world history, which I learned about last year so I don't feel too lost when Lorenzo explains the important points from the lecture. The only bad part to this class is it's taught in Galego, other than that it's all good.
Philosphy: No idea what is going on in this class. Legit, first of all it's in Galego. The teacher makes all these weird random hand motions and walks around with his arms up in the air. And then he will randomly get quite, stare at us and continue on with his lecture. I honestly don't think I'm missing anything.
Galego: Obviously taught in Galego so this is one of the classes I kinda zone out in. The teacher is really nice but refuses to speak Spanish. Sometimes she asks me questions and I'm like What? and she repeats in Galego and I just give her a blank look because honestly I don't what she's saying, so I'll just nod my head and say "si". Somehow, Lorenzo convinced the school director to allow me to be exempt from taking the exams in that class. I don't have to do the homework either, so I'm just suppost to show up. Easy enough.
English: My favorite class for obvious reasons. It's the one time in the day that I don't feel completly lost. I'm able to do the homework really quickly but it's different here because they learn British English instead of American English. It's basically the same, except for a few words but I'm used to it since my stepdad is from England. I have to laugh sometimes because the teacher does NOT speak very good English and to reassure herself, she'll ask me to explain things to the other kids. For example, she's like "Erika, explain to everyone what present simple is." In school in America, we don't go to class everyday with the teacher greeting us at the door saying "Today we are studying the present simple" we just know what sounds good.
Ecomony: Good heavens, this class is almost as bad as philosphy. The teacher is hillarious but she can't explain anything. At all. We get these random assignments that she expects us to be able to do and none of us have any idea what the heck is going on. She also gets side-tracked really easily. So we start talking about the economy in Spain and the next thing you know we are talking about how someone lives in Madrid and then she wants to take a class field trip to Madrid. She also says "Si o No" after pretty much everything she says. There's a girl in my class who counts the number of times she says it everyday. The record is 30 times in a 50 minute period. Her other phrase is "Me entendeis?" (do you all understand me).
Music: This class is a joke. Some days we watch movies about how music effects water and other days we listen to conciertos and have to sleep to get a feel for the music. Yes, you read that right. The teacher talks really slow, not just because I'm in the class but just it's how she talks. I can actually understand her, yay. We also have to play the recorder, which I have no idea how to and I told her and she's like oh okay, just go home and practice.
Math: I thought this would be one of my easier classes but I was wrong. In Spain, they do all kinds of math every year. Algerbra, geometry, advanced algerbra, calculus. They also go into further detail with these different subjects. I don't remember much algebra from 2 years and I feel so stupid. The poor teacher and Lorenzo have to explain and explain and explain things to me and then I'll kinda understand. I'm not good at math to begin with but then try teaching me new things in Spanish, yeah not gonna happen.
Sorry for such a late update, I'll try to make the next one within the next week.
Adios!
So I've been in Spain for a little over a month and haven't written anything on my blog. I actually just realized I haven't written anything since August! Ahhh I know it's so bad and I'll admit it, I've been slacking. But I have some pretty good excuses. How often do you get to go to a beautiful country for a year to study? Yeah, not very often. So I've been enjoying my time here. I'll give you a quick recap of what's been going on the past month.
I started school 3 weeks ago and it is really different from my school in De Pere. First, there are 3 different buildings and during the day, we are normally in one classroom and the teachers change rooms. We only have to go to a different room for music and gym. Another thing that is different is there are no lockers at the school, so we carry our backpacks, which I don't mind at all. I'm sure if any DPHS kids are reading this, they are probably a tiny bit jealous since we got that privliage taken away last year. Anyways, my classes. Oh my god. I knew it would be difficult to understand but I had no idea it was going to be THIS difficult. I have 3 classes in Galego, the regional language of Galicia. It's like a hybrid of Spanish and Portugees. I don't even understand Spanish yet and I feel like some of the teachers expect me to understand when they speak to me in Galego. "Well I don't understand so you can speak as slowly and loudly as you'd like but I won't get it!" Is what I feel like saying sometimes.
My classes are as follows:
GYM: I hate this class. We actually sweat and have to play sports and run. This is not a Mrs.Vbergh gym class. The teacher likes to make an example of me and how I can't strech properly. Thanks bud.
Lengua: It's like English grammar class, but for Spanish. This class isn't bad, I think it will be actually really helpful, I'll be able to see how some of the Spanish words are formed and their origen.
History: Not bad, we are studying world history, which I learned about last year so I don't feel too lost when Lorenzo explains the important points from the lecture. The only bad part to this class is it's taught in Galego, other than that it's all good.
Philosphy: No idea what is going on in this class. Legit, first of all it's in Galego. The teacher makes all these weird random hand motions and walks around with his arms up in the air. And then he will randomly get quite, stare at us and continue on with his lecture. I honestly don't think I'm missing anything.
Galego: Obviously taught in Galego so this is one of the classes I kinda zone out in. The teacher is really nice but refuses to speak Spanish. Sometimes she asks me questions and I'm like What? and she repeats in Galego and I just give her a blank look because honestly I don't what she's saying, so I'll just nod my head and say "si". Somehow, Lorenzo convinced the school director to allow me to be exempt from taking the exams in that class. I don't have to do the homework either, so I'm just suppost to show up. Easy enough.
English: My favorite class for obvious reasons. It's the one time in the day that I don't feel completly lost. I'm able to do the homework really quickly but it's different here because they learn British English instead of American English. It's basically the same, except for a few words but I'm used to it since my stepdad is from England. I have to laugh sometimes because the teacher does NOT speak very good English and to reassure herself, she'll ask me to explain things to the other kids. For example, she's like "Erika, explain to everyone what present simple is." In school in America, we don't go to class everyday with the teacher greeting us at the door saying "Today we are studying the present simple" we just know what sounds good.
Ecomony: Good heavens, this class is almost as bad as philosphy. The teacher is hillarious but she can't explain anything. At all. We get these random assignments that she expects us to be able to do and none of us have any idea what the heck is going on. She also gets side-tracked really easily. So we start talking about the economy in Spain and the next thing you know we are talking about how someone lives in Madrid and then she wants to take a class field trip to Madrid. She also says "Si o No" after pretty much everything she says. There's a girl in my class who counts the number of times she says it everyday. The record is 30 times in a 50 minute period. Her other phrase is "Me entendeis?" (do you all understand me).
Music: This class is a joke. Some days we watch movies about how music effects water and other days we listen to conciertos and have to sleep to get a feel for the music. Yes, you read that right. The teacher talks really slow, not just because I'm in the class but just it's how she talks. I can actually understand her, yay. We also have to play the recorder, which I have no idea how to and I told her and she's like oh okay, just go home and practice.
Math: I thought this would be one of my easier classes but I was wrong. In Spain, they do all kinds of math every year. Algerbra, geometry, advanced algerbra, calculus. They also go into further detail with these different subjects. I don't remember much algebra from 2 years and I feel so stupid. The poor teacher and Lorenzo have to explain and explain and explain things to me and then I'll kinda understand. I'm not good at math to begin with but then try teaching me new things in Spanish, yeah not gonna happen.
Sorry for such a late update, I'll try to make the next one within the next week.
Adios!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Wisconsin vs Spain: Difference I've Noticed Already
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!
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)