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 :)
Friday, December 9, 2011
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!
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!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
My New Life is Only 35 Days Away
Hola!
Today was one of my very few days off of work and I decided that there was no better way to spend my free day than reading blogs of past/current returnee participants from study abroad in Spain,(it really wasn't the best way to spend my day, but I learned a TON). I also watched a few of the videos submitted by Spain students, which were really cool.
Then something really weird hit me.
I'm not sure which video I was watching but I think it was one where the kids were all sitting together in their bright yellow AFS t-shirts, waiting to board their flight to Spain. Something about seeing them made my 36 days left in America seem very short. I started thinking about how much my life will really change. I also realized that when I come back and I'll have the hundreds of questions to answer like:
"How was Spain?"
"How long did it take you to become fluent?"
"How is Spain different from America?"
And honestly these people won't really understand how I felt, all the struggles I will go through, my frusteration because of the language barrier. They'll just nod their heads and say "wow that must have been an amazing experience". I think the past exchange students and ones that will be leaving in the fall are the only people we will have to talk to with about how we're feeling. Even though not everyone's situation will be the same, we all share a common ground, we're all about to embark on one of the, if not the biggest,adventures of our lives. Some may call us crazy or weird for wanting to study abroad but I think that we would all agree that this oppritunity is something that will change our lives. It sounds so cliche to say that this will change our lives ,but it truly will. I sometimes wonder how different I'll be when I come back home. As of right now, I feel that I am fairly independant, mature and responsible. Of course, like any other teenager, I'm not perfect but compared to some of my peers, I think I'm doing pretty good. It's hard to imagine me in a year from now. This should be interesting.
I started this blog for two reasons 1.) to keep my friends and family updated on what I do in my daily life in Spain. Another reason is so I don't have to tell someone about my trip in 5 sentences. I know that when I get back, I'll probably be able to talk about my trip for hours on end, but unless you've been there and done it, you kinda start to get lost in what the person was telling you about. I figured that if I had this blog, i could just tell people to read it. You might actually learn something new about a different culture. So when I get any of the "How was Spain?" questions, I'll know who has and has not read my blog. And to those of you who do, I really DO appreciate it.
Number 2, To see how much I have changed. You don't really notice change, since it is so slow. But I believe that by writing in this blog at least once a week and being honest with how I am feeling, seeing the changes will be something really mind boggling to look at after 10 months.
With each passing day I am getting more and more excited, the days seem to be flying by! I currently only have two things on my packing list but that is another post, all of its own.
Keep checking back, there will most likely be something new :)
Adios!
Today was one of my very few days off of work and I decided that there was no better way to spend my free day than reading blogs of past/current returnee participants from study abroad in Spain,(it really wasn't the best way to spend my day, but I learned a TON). I also watched a few of the videos submitted by Spain students, which were really cool.
Then something really weird hit me.
I'm not sure which video I was watching but I think it was one where the kids were all sitting together in their bright yellow AFS t-shirts, waiting to board their flight to Spain. Something about seeing them made my 36 days left in America seem very short. I started thinking about how much my life will really change. I also realized that when I come back and I'll have the hundreds of questions to answer like:
"How was Spain?"
"How long did it take you to become fluent?"
"How is Spain different from America?"
And honestly these people won't really understand how I felt, all the struggles I will go through, my frusteration because of the language barrier. They'll just nod their heads and say "wow that must have been an amazing experience". I think the past exchange students and ones that will be leaving in the fall are the only people we will have to talk to with about how we're feeling. Even though not everyone's situation will be the same, we all share a common ground, we're all about to embark on one of the, if not the biggest,adventures of our lives. Some may call us crazy or weird for wanting to study abroad but I think that we would all agree that this oppritunity is something that will change our lives. It sounds so cliche to say that this will change our lives ,but it truly will. I sometimes wonder how different I'll be when I come back home. As of right now, I feel that I am fairly independant, mature and responsible. Of course, like any other teenager, I'm not perfect but compared to some of my peers, I think I'm doing pretty good. It's hard to imagine me in a year from now. This should be interesting.
I started this blog for two reasons 1.) to keep my friends and family updated on what I do in my daily life in Spain. Another reason is so I don't have to tell someone about my trip in 5 sentences. I know that when I get back, I'll probably be able to talk about my trip for hours on end, but unless you've been there and done it, you kinda start to get lost in what the person was telling you about. I figured that if I had this blog, i could just tell people to read it. You might actually learn something new about a different culture. So when I get any of the "How was Spain?" questions, I'll know who has and has not read my blog. And to those of you who do, I really DO appreciate it.
Number 2, To see how much I have changed. You don't really notice change, since it is so slow. But I believe that by writing in this blog at least once a week and being honest with how I am feeling, seeing the changes will be something really mind boggling to look at after 10 months.
With each passing day I am getting more and more excited, the days seem to be flying by! I currently only have two things on my packing list but that is another post, all of its own.
Keep checking back, there will most likely be something new :)
Adios!
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