Leaving in roughly half an hour for the grandmother's house in Cartagena, to pass the holidays! As Christmas isn't as big a deal here as 3 Kings Day, we'll be celebrating with a family dinner (I'm pretty sure the famous, heavenly paella will be making an appearance!) and just being together. My host parents have been making seperate trips down there throughout this week to set up the Belen, so I can't wait to finally see it! They've set up a really grande Belen in my town plaza, a long with a nice tall Christmas tree! Of course I have a million pictures of it, that will be uploaded in the enormous holiday post I plan on (key words right there, folks) writing, after 3 Kings.
I'm a bit down as my host grandmother doesn't have internet, and so I'll have to wait a bit to skype my Florida Family, but perhaps this will give me time to finally sit down and write my second, and long awaited, RYE journal? You wouldn't think so, but procrastinating on these website journals is an exchange students best friend.
Anyways, Feliz Navidad!
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
And here, we have a post made up of only pictures from the most enthralling, and most favored week of my exchange year, thus far (coincidentally, I didn't have school...)
A Florida Reunion (with a Russian as well!)
LOS CAMPEONES!! (USAUSAUSAUSA)
My favorite Texan and I in the Roman Theatre of Cartagena<3
What was supposed to be a picture of me and a gargantuan paella. Hello random Rotarians, and a sliver of paella?
WE (were) ON A BOAT........a picture of the least sea-sick excahnge students you'll ever meet.
My third favorite spot in Torrevieja.
"Clumsy on a whole new level", with a Chinese Market Man.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!
Watching the Real Madrid - Barcelona game! My host family doesn't really like watching soccer, but luckily enough, another exchange student from Florida, who lives in Barcelona this year is staying with me for a week, so the game is DEFINITLEY on in my house tonight xD
Thursday, December 1, 2011
November: Another Chapter.
Like every other journal I've written, I started this one three or four times already. Unlike the majority of the journals I've written, I WILL finish this one, and post it. How generous, I am ;)
If you couldn't guess from the title, we've said Adios to November, and welcoming December, today! This also marks the beginning of my fourth month in Spain, and just as every other exchange students has said before me, "THIS TIME IS FLYING BY SO FAST!" I remember talking to my real parents, and Florida friends in the first couple of weeks and endlessly repeating "Every day literally feels like it has 47 hours in it, and they drag on forever!" While the feeling of the days being much longer here still remains, I'm continually amazed at how much is done in just one day, with time left over for siesta, and two hours lunches included!
There I go again, rambling. I've been so bad about actually writing these journals, it's horrid, but I suppose that's better than not having anything else to do, and continually updating you all on what I had for lunch that day, or how many tiles are in the ceilings of my classrooms here (though I certainly have thought about it during my economics class.) In order to attempt to write this and finish it once and for all in the 55 minutes I have of Valencian hour (...library hour....),here is a list of all the happenings of November.
- Spent the first day of November with Maya (Cartagena) discovering Torrevieja through a camera lense.
- Zlata finally arrived! She's the other exchange student in Torrevieja, and she's from Russia! We live on the same street, go to the same school, and in March or Abril we'll be switching families exactly :)
- Participated in the town band tradition of walking the streets with the entire band, to the houses of the new students being inducted this year. It ended up lasting about four hours long, and everytime you go to the house, all of you are invited in to eat small snacks for about 15 minutes (also, lots of drinking going on.....Spanish culture? ;)
- Spent a random afternoon in Cartagena, with the three exchange students there.
- Three simple words, two unforgettable days, one "international" family. Exchange. Student. Thanksgiving.
- Went to Murcia for like, two hours, and saw the grand cathedral.
- iPod=Stolen. Not cool bro.
- Received and 8'3 out of 10 on my second oral exam. Not to shabby ;)
- Confirmed the class trip to Italy! 5 days in February in Florence and Pisa, Italia<3
- Begain my art classes, that are held on Monday and Wednesday nights for two hours each. In January, Zlata and I are going to start our oriental dance classes, and Spanish dance classes!
- Found time to finally skype with other exchange students from Florida in other countries, and loved it. This is also a shout out to Emma Nestler, Alison Sigman, and Amber Herrle, for being amazing exchange friends via webcam. Hopefully soon to be added to the list (at least): Chelsea Holmes, and Kayla Evens, right guys?! ;)
- Had three or four people tell me that it sounded like I had been here for two or three years, with the level of Spanish I was speaking, and not two and a half months.
So that was November. Now as I'm going back through all my pictures and written journals, I realize I didn't do as much as it felt like, but as I said, the days have around 45 hours here, so doing the things that I did do, felt like so much more. I really enjoyed the entire month, and I'm pleased to say that I really haven't felt a strong urge to return home yet. Of course, there are the moments when all you want to be doing is going out for a cup of coffee (or tea, in my case) with your real mom, or wasting the day away with your sisters, (or golfing with your dad....I also have those moments as well ;) but you realize that a whole year of new experiences, is way too much to give up for a few hours of traditional ones. I'm really hoping that December will be just as good as November, if not better. I know it might be a bit harder, as December carries my real dad's birthday, Christmas, and New Years, but I'm ready to learn new holiday traditions, and ironically, the day after my real dad's birthday, is my host mom's! Also, we have less school in December (which is a plus anywhere you are, no matter if you like school or not), and I'm planning a week of traveling around my district with another exchange student from Florida, who is in Barcelona this year, for next week! I can't wait to see so much more around my area (and all of Spain as well) as it's a bit difficult with my host family to leave work, school, and extra cirricular activities. January I'm planning to spend a few days in Barcelona, and just earlier today my History of Art class and I were planning a three day excursion to Madrid, in March!
Speaking of school, I have my third oral exam tomorrow, as well as a dictation, a soliatary writing section, and only 45 minutes to remember how to conjugate into the present, imperfect past, past, recent past, future, and the present and past of subjunctive........It's a good thing I so want to learn this language ;) I'm off to study once more! Hopefully with all the vacation time I have in December, I can journal a bit more, and more frequently. (I expect this is a variation of something I'll say every time I post....). Thanks for reading guys, and to my family and friends who have sent me real, paper mail: You all have know idea how much that means to me. Thank you SO much! Me encanta! Os quiero<3
Hasta la promixa vez,
Nicole
Torrevieja's Coast
The Torrevejense Exchange Students with the Rotary sign in Torrevieja!
Bienvenidos Zlata :)
The Band Walk
Prepping for Italia<3
Torrevejense girls<3
Dysfunctional Exchange Family<3
THE FIRST (OF LIKE 8) CHRISTMAS TREES!
Roman Ruins in Cartagena
Cathedral of Murcia!
Exchange students<3
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
"Bacalo."
Well, I've started two posts already for how awesome November has been, and I promise you all will see them/it! For now, I really want to remember the hilarity that was the night of the 21st of November, and give you a small glimpse into one of my Rotary Meetings.
At 8:30, Zlata arrived at my house. As she only lives about a four minute walk away, we spend a lot of time at each others houses, which is also cool because we will be switching families directly in March or April! We waited and waited for our club counselor, who has the special Spanish ability of turning "I'll be there in five minutes...", into ten or fifteen, or twenty minutes. Interesante. Surprisingly, we made it to the meeting (which begins at 9pm. NINE PM.) a bit early, thanks to our counselor's super speedy driving skills. Normally, the meetings last about an hour or so, but the meetings here in Spain (or at least, in my club), are very different from the ones I've been to in Florida! They don't sing any funky songs to begin the meetings, there's nothing about the four way test at the beginning or end, and they mostly just talk. Sometimes, its in louder voices then are really necessary, but that's Spain for ya.
Normally, after the meeting, we eat in the restaurant of the hotel where our meetings are held, but this time for whatever reason, we all ate at a different restaurant along the coast, that specialized in sea-food! If you're reading this and you knew the Nicole from last year, who considered the only edible sea food to be tunafish from a can, you must be surprised right now, as was I! I'm waiting on the pictures from Zlata, but our dinner consisted of clams, octopus, soup broth with a single meatball, cod-fish, little crispy fish things that I thought were asparagus sticks, snails, smaller snails, stuffed peppers, and finally, a fruit platter that lasted about 6 seconds. The beverage options were Spanish Beer, Spanish Wine, or Water...........and of course, non-alcoholic beer as well ;)
For this dinner in particular, I was so happy to finally have another exchange student with me to experience all of the....interesting foods that the restaurant had to offer. After what felt like 4 hours of eating (it was a little less than two hours), we headed out. Taking the long way home with our counselor (who had had more than a few glasses of.....beverage), he pointed out all of the clubs and discotecas that his children usually go to, and told us that one weekend when they are home from college, he's planning on us spending the weekend together, discovering the discotecas of Torrevieja.
So that's about it. Actually, it wasn't a normal Rotary Meeting at all (at least, as normal as you can get here), but I had a really great time, and thought you all deserved to know at least a little of what I've been up to this month. I hope to post my November blog in real life, and not just think about all the things I'd love to put into it. But for now, this is it.
Que tengais una buena semena, (and Dia de Accion de Gracias!)
---Nicole/Николь/نيكول
Did I not mention that I've learned how to write my name in Russian and Arabic?! Because there are so many people here (not exchange students, but people in Torrevieja), from Russia, Morroco, Angola, and other countries from South Africa, I'm learning a bit of both languages, as well as Castellano!
Ciao! до свидания, وداعا
At 8:30, Zlata arrived at my house. As she only lives about a four minute walk away, we spend a lot of time at each others houses, which is also cool because we will be switching families directly in March or April! We waited and waited for our club counselor, who has the special Spanish ability of turning "I'll be there in five minutes...", into ten or fifteen, or twenty minutes. Interesante. Surprisingly, we made it to the meeting (which begins at 9pm. NINE PM.) a bit early, thanks to our counselor's super speedy driving skills. Normally, the meetings last about an hour or so, but the meetings here in Spain (or at least, in my club), are very different from the ones I've been to in Florida! They don't sing any funky songs to begin the meetings, there's nothing about the four way test at the beginning or end, and they mostly just talk. Sometimes, its in louder voices then are really necessary, but that's Spain for ya.
Normally, after the meeting, we eat in the restaurant of the hotel where our meetings are held, but this time for whatever reason, we all ate at a different restaurant along the coast, that specialized in sea-food! If you're reading this and you knew the Nicole from last year, who considered the only edible sea food to be tunafish from a can, you must be surprised right now, as was I! I'm waiting on the pictures from Zlata, but our dinner consisted of clams, octopus, soup broth with a single meatball, cod-fish, little crispy fish things that I thought were asparagus sticks, snails, smaller snails, stuffed peppers, and finally, a fruit platter that lasted about 6 seconds. The beverage options were Spanish Beer, Spanish Wine, or Water...........and of course, non-alcoholic beer as well ;)
For this dinner in particular, I was so happy to finally have another exchange student with me to experience all of the....interesting foods that the restaurant had to offer. After what felt like 4 hours of eating (it was a little less than two hours), we headed out. Taking the long way home with our counselor (who had had more than a few glasses of.....beverage), he pointed out all of the clubs and discotecas that his children usually go to, and told us that one weekend when they are home from college, he's planning on us spending the weekend together, discovering the discotecas of Torrevieja.
So that's about it. Actually, it wasn't a normal Rotary Meeting at all (at least, as normal as you can get here), but I had a really great time, and thought you all deserved to know at least a little of what I've been up to this month. I hope to post my November blog in real life, and not just think about all the things I'd love to put into it. But for now, this is it.
Que tengais una buena semena, (and Dia de Accion de Gracias!)
---Nicole/Николь/نيكول
Did I not mention that I've learned how to write my name in Russian and Arabic?! Because there are so many people here (not exchange students, but people in Torrevieja), from Russia, Morroco, Angola, and other countries from South Africa, I'm learning a bit of both languages, as well as Castellano!
Ciao! до свидания, وداعا
Friday, November 4, 2011
Two months: Quite a long journal about arbitrary teenage traveler thoughts, and other less dramatic topics.
Here we are. I'm finally sitting down and writing. Depending on where you are while reading this, you'll see that I'll be posting this around 9 in the morning (for me), or 3 in the morning, (for those of you on the East Coast). If you're wondering why I'm writing at this time on a Friday morning and not working diligently in my school work, HA. The phrase "Soy una estudiante de intercambio", followed by a lovely smile and a swish of my rare (here in Spain), blonde hair, can get me out of a lot of things...
A joke. Calm down Mom and Dad ;) Right now I'm usually in my History of Arte class learning about Roman architecture, and jealously listening to my fellow compañeros discuss all the places in Europe they've been to see some of these thousand year old creations. JAJAJA, yeah, way jealous. But their faces mirror mine when I talk about being able to go the the Disney Parks for the day Saturday and it's no big deal, or the fact that I can drive a car, by myself, legally, and I'm only 17. Being a teenager in the Orlando area, we take those things for granted, just as a weekend trip to Rome here is. Things are just on a bigger scale here. Anyway, since we're sort of already there, lets talk about school.
Much to everyone's surprise, probably mine most of all, I LOVE my school here! I absolutely love it. I've heard a lot of exchange students talk about hating school, or don't even talk about it at all because they skip it so often, but unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), my school is one of six in my town, and it's the best. The top acedemics (I feel like I spelled that wrong...irony?), the most well behaved students (OH LORD I CANNOT EVEN BELIEVE THAT SOME OF THE PEOPLE AT MY INSTITUTE IN FLORIDA, AND THE STUDENTS HERE ARE THE SAME AGE.), and the top number of students choose to continue their education after 16, and keep on continuing until their 18. In most of Europe (I'm pretty sure), when you turn 16 you can either drop school and start working...or whatever, OR continue education for the last two years (equivalents of 11th and 12th grade, but SO much harder). Here, I'm in 2º
Bachillerato, the equivalent of 12th grade. It's the final year of school here, and it's quite difficult, even if you do speak Spanish ;) Education here is much more enforced than in the US, and it's quite different as well.
My school is only Here, there are two options to choose from the last two years of school, Humanities, or Sciences. Obviously I chose Humanities, since there is no way in the world (GET IT) that you could find me taking physics, biology, or chemistry in English unless absolutely necessary, let alone in Castilian Spanish. JAJAJA, no. In the Humanities direction, I have ten classes, but we go to different ones every day. Below, you'll find a quick run down of my schedule, and later I'll post a picture. It's craziness!
Monday: Valencian Language, Literature, English Grammar, History of Philosophy, Economics, History of Arte, and History of Spain.
Tuesday: Mathematics, English Grammar, History of Arte, History of Philosophy, Tutoria (like homeroom), English Oral, Literature.
Wednesday: Economics, English Oral, Mathematics, Valencian Language, History of Arte, History of Spain.
Thursday: Mathematics, Literature , English Oral, English Grammar, Valencian Language, and Economics.
Friday: History of Arte, Mathematics, English Oral, History of Philosophy, History of Spain, and Economics.
That's the schedule I received at the beginning of the year, but it's been altered a bit to fit in a few more hours of Math classes, since that's the only one I need credit for, as well as Spanish classes. As of right now, I have about 8 hours of Spanish classes a week, but of course, all of my classes are taught in Spanish anyway, so I'm learning quite fast. Torrevieja, my city here, is a really popular tourist town for people from mostly the UK, and Sweden, so there a actually a lot of people at my school who don't speak Spanish, but there aren't very many who want to learn...I have around 8 to 10 classmates for my Castellano classes, but only one other girl is with me in all of them, since we're the newest ones here. She's 12 years old and from Russia, so it's an interesting class. Though I always happen to look younger than my age, I always seem to be the oldest! The other students are two more from Russia (15 years, and 13 years), two from Morroco (two 11 year olds), two from China (two 15 year olds), and one guy from a country in South Africa, which I'm pretty sure is Angola, but he also speaks Arabic, and a bit of French. With the exception of the 12 year old girl from Russia, all of those students have been in Spain/Torrevieja for at least 3 years, going all the way back to six years, and they don't speak Spanish! It seems very few of them want to learn, but I suppose it's different when you're forced to move to a new country, and you still have your family there to talk with in your first language. Obviously, I want to learn, and I love my Spanish classes! I've also just learned that even with only 700 students in my school, there are 49 nationalities! Russia, Sweden, the UK, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Morroco, China, Norway, Peru, a whole mess of countries in Africa...etc...AND I AM THE ONLY AMERICAN! I couldn't believe it when I heard it, but it's absolutely true....¿que guay, no?
Well, moving on. If you're still here reading all of this, six rounds of applause. That's very brave of you. I meant to warn ya'll (I love being able to use that when I write, since I obviously can't use it when I speak...), that this would be a long journal, but I suppose you've figured that out by now. Good on ya. Moving on to family.
**This is a little blurb I wrote approximately.... a long time ago. My writing/thinking skills (which my parents claim I have, thanks Maaaam and Daaad :) are definitely not at this level of intellegence right now**
Esentially, you become a daugter, a sister, a friend, a cousin, a grandchild, etc. You become a part of their lives, just as they have become a huge part of yours. You experience a whole hord of emotions and events with them. Excitement, frustration, fear, and a overwhelming friendship that cannot be attained through any other way but living with them. Everyday is a new adventure, but you cannot garuntee that it will be a good one, or even an exciting one. Granted, the look on my host parents face when they see the look on my face after pronouncing a new word correctly, or using all the correct tenses in a frase the right way is quite humorous. But this exchange year is more than that. Everyday you won't be 1.taking day trips to La Sagrada Familia, 2.making weekend plans for visiting Paris (BUT I DO HAVE A FIVE DAY CLASS TRIP TO FLORENCE ITALY!!!!1! JFKLDJAFAJ) or 3.taking a nice swim in the Mediterranean whenever...unless of course 1. You live in Barcelona, 2. You live in Pamplona 3. You live along the Mediterranean Coast, like me....¿que suerte, eh? More or less, you're living a normal family life. You have doctors appointments, soccer games (SO MANY SOCCER GAMES), band practices, and chores around the house to be completed. And I adore it.
Hmmmm, what else?! I suppose I could talk about RYE in Spain, but that won't take very long. Basically, it barely exists. En fin.
Just kidding, sorta. Well, the third weekend of September we had our inbound orientation. I don't know if I'm biased, lucky, or a bit of both, my I really feel like nothing compares to the Florida Orientations. Spain of course, is a bit different, as there are about 130 exchange students here this year, and approximately 124 of them are from the United States or Canada......woo diversity? ;) At this point, we have one trip planned for June or July around the south of Spain, and a day or two in Portugal, but I'm not sure if I'll be going on that one, since the towns we have planned to visit are only about two hours away from mine, and I have plans to go with my host family during the year. I'll admit, a bit of a dissappointment, but you live with what you get. I'm trying to look at it as an opportunity to travel a bit more by myself around the country, but I won't lie that more Rotary events would be nice.
Finally, after two months and two days of waiting, the other exchange student in Torrevieja arrived last night! We all headed to the airport at 11ish, as her flight was supposed to arrive at midnight....yeah, I'm EXHAUSTED. My host family, counselor, and next host family only had to wait about half an hour until Zlata was here! She's 17 years old from Russia, and will hopefully be in Second Bach. with me. Her first host family is my second, just as my first is her second. And they live down the street and up the next one in the same neighborhood, so we'll be so close the whole year! Finally! I ended up being a translator for her last night (she speaks a little English. No I wasn't speaking Russian...), which was aboslutely the coolest feeling in the world. Speaking in English one moment, and in Castellano the next! She's friendly, but we were both very tired, so we'll be seeing more of each other this weekend (and of course, the rest of our exchange year!).
Well, the bell is about to toll for me to head to my first of three hours of Language classes! Like I said, I really enjoy them, but they can be a tad more difficult when you've only had four hours of sleep, and spent your first waking hour writing like a maniac in English. Oh, the things I do for you all....and my memories later on!
I'll post more pictures later! I'm using the dinosaur age computers right now in my school library, which obviously don't hold my photos!
Hasta hora,
Nícole
A joke. Calm down Mom and Dad ;) Right now I'm usually in my History of Arte class learning about Roman architecture, and jealously listening to my fellow compañeros discuss all the places in Europe they've been to see some of these thousand year old creations. JAJAJA, yeah, way jealous. But their faces mirror mine when I talk about being able to go the the Disney Parks for the day Saturday and it's no big deal, or the fact that I can drive a car, by myself, legally, and I'm only 17. Being a teenager in the Orlando area, we take those things for granted, just as a weekend trip to Rome here is. Things are just on a bigger scale here. Anyway, since we're sort of already there, lets talk about school.
Much to everyone's surprise, probably mine most of all, I LOVE my school here! I absolutely love it. I've heard a lot of exchange students talk about hating school, or don't even talk about it at all because they skip it so often, but unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), my school is one of six in my town, and it's the best. The top acedemics (I feel like I spelled that wrong...irony?), the most well behaved students (OH LORD I CANNOT EVEN BELIEVE THAT SOME OF THE PEOPLE AT MY INSTITUTE IN FLORIDA, AND THE STUDENTS HERE ARE THE SAME AGE.), and the top number of students choose to continue their education after 16, and keep on continuing until their 18. In most of Europe (I'm pretty sure), when you turn 16 you can either drop school and start working...or whatever, OR continue education for the last two years (equivalents of 11th and 12th grade, but SO much harder). Here, I'm in 2º
Bachillerato, the equivalent of 12th grade. It's the final year of school here, and it's quite difficult, even if you do speak Spanish ;) Education here is much more enforced than in the US, and it's quite different as well.
My school is only Here, there are two options to choose from the last two years of school, Humanities, or Sciences. Obviously I chose Humanities, since there is no way in the world (GET IT) that you could find me taking physics, biology, or chemistry in English unless absolutely necessary, let alone in Castilian Spanish. JAJAJA, no. In the Humanities direction, I have ten classes, but we go to different ones every day. Below, you'll find a quick run down of my schedule, and later I'll post a picture. It's craziness!
Monday: Valencian Language, Literature, English Grammar, History of Philosophy, Economics, History of Arte, and History of Spain.
Tuesday: Mathematics, English Grammar, History of Arte, History of Philosophy, Tutoria (like homeroom), English Oral, Literature.
Wednesday: Economics, English Oral, Mathematics, Valencian Language, History of Arte, History of Spain.
Thursday: Mathematics, Literature , English Oral, English Grammar, Valencian Language, and Economics.
Friday: History of Arte, Mathematics, English Oral, History of Philosophy, History of Spain, and Economics.
That's the schedule I received at the beginning of the year, but it's been altered a bit to fit in a few more hours of Math classes, since that's the only one I need credit for, as well as Spanish classes. As of right now, I have about 8 hours of Spanish classes a week, but of course, all of my classes are taught in Spanish anyway, so I'm learning quite fast. Torrevieja, my city here, is a really popular tourist town for people from mostly the UK, and Sweden, so there a actually a lot of people at my school who don't speak Spanish, but there aren't very many who want to learn...I have around 8 to 10 classmates for my Castellano classes, but only one other girl is with me in all of them, since we're the newest ones here. She's 12 years old and from Russia, so it's an interesting class. Though I always happen to look younger than my age, I always seem to be the oldest! The other students are two more from Russia (15 years, and 13 years), two from Morroco (two 11 year olds), two from China (two 15 year olds), and one guy from a country in South Africa, which I'm pretty sure is Angola, but he also speaks Arabic, and a bit of French. With the exception of the 12 year old girl from Russia, all of those students have been in Spain/Torrevieja for at least 3 years, going all the way back to six years, and they don't speak Spanish! It seems very few of them want to learn, but I suppose it's different when you're forced to move to a new country, and you still have your family there to talk with in your first language. Obviously, I want to learn, and I love my Spanish classes! I've also just learned that even with only 700 students in my school, there are 49 nationalities! Russia, Sweden, the UK, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Morroco, China, Norway, Peru, a whole mess of countries in Africa...etc...AND I AM THE ONLY AMERICAN! I couldn't believe it when I heard it, but it's absolutely true....¿que guay, no?
Well, moving on. If you're still here reading all of this, six rounds of applause. That's very brave of you. I meant to warn ya'll (I love being able to use that when I write, since I obviously can't use it when I speak...), that this would be a long journal, but I suppose you've figured that out by now. Good on ya. Moving on to family.
**This is a little blurb I wrote approximately.... a long time ago. My writing/thinking skills (which my parents claim I have, thanks Maaaam and Daaad :) are definitely not at this level of intellegence right now**
Esentially, you become a daugter, a sister, a friend, a cousin, a grandchild, etc. You become a part of their lives, just as they have become a huge part of yours. You experience a whole hord of emotions and events with them. Excitement, frustration, fear, and a overwhelming friendship that cannot be attained through any other way but living with them. Everyday is a new adventure, but you cannot garuntee that it will be a good one, or even an exciting one. Granted, the look on my host parents face when they see the look on my face after pronouncing a new word correctly, or using all the correct tenses in a frase the right way is quite humorous. But this exchange year is more than that. Everyday you won't be 1.taking day trips to La Sagrada Familia, 2.making weekend plans for visiting Paris (BUT I DO HAVE A FIVE DAY CLASS TRIP TO FLORENCE ITALY!!!!1! JFKLDJAFAJ) or 3.taking a nice swim in the Mediterranean whenever...unless of course 1. You live in Barcelona, 2. You live in Pamplona 3. You live along the Mediterranean Coast, like me....¿que suerte, eh? More or less, you're living a normal family life. You have doctors appointments, soccer games (SO MANY SOCCER GAMES), band practices, and chores around the house to be completed. And I adore it.
Hmmmm, what else?! I suppose I could talk about RYE in Spain, but that won't take very long. Basically, it barely exists. En fin.
Just kidding, sorta. Well, the third weekend of September we had our inbound orientation. I don't know if I'm biased, lucky, or a bit of both, my I really feel like nothing compares to the Florida Orientations. Spain of course, is a bit different, as there are about 130 exchange students here this year, and approximately 124 of them are from the United States or Canada......woo diversity? ;) At this point, we have one trip planned for June or July around the south of Spain, and a day or two in Portugal, but I'm not sure if I'll be going on that one, since the towns we have planned to visit are only about two hours away from mine, and I have plans to go with my host family during the year. I'll admit, a bit of a dissappointment, but you live with what you get. I'm trying to look at it as an opportunity to travel a bit more by myself around the country, but I won't lie that more Rotary events would be nice.
Finally, after two months and two days of waiting, the other exchange student in Torrevieja arrived last night! We all headed to the airport at 11ish, as her flight was supposed to arrive at midnight....yeah, I'm EXHAUSTED. My host family, counselor, and next host family only had to wait about half an hour until Zlata was here! She's 17 years old from Russia, and will hopefully be in Second Bach. with me. Her first host family is my second, just as my first is her second. And they live down the street and up the next one in the same neighborhood, so we'll be so close the whole year! Finally! I ended up being a translator for her last night (she speaks a little English. No I wasn't speaking Russian...), which was aboslutely the coolest feeling in the world. Speaking in English one moment, and in Castellano the next! She's friendly, but we were both very tired, so we'll be seeing more of each other this weekend (and of course, the rest of our exchange year!).
Well, the bell is about to toll for me to head to my first of three hours of Language classes! Like I said, I really enjoy them, but they can be a tad more difficult when you've only had four hours of sleep, and spent your first waking hour writing like a maniac in English. Oh, the things I do for you all....and my memories later on!
I'll post more pictures later! I'm using the dinosaur age computers right now in my school library, which obviously don't hold my photos!
Hasta hora,
Nícole
Random graffiti in Cartagena that I think is fabulous.
A day in Alicante!
Halloween. Not a huge deal here, but more of a good excuse to get out of the house :)
TORREVIEJA<3
Zlata, Ofelia and I! Ofelia is my second host mom, and Zlata's first.
Castellano 2nd hour! Yeunis (Angola), Shuang Shuang (China), Aida (Russia), Me, and Alex (Russia).
Finalized schedule! The blocks you can barely make out are generally my English/Valencian classes, during which I go to the library. Recreo is a 20 minute "first lunch" break.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Hello world! (How cool that I can say that literally!)
Well, today marks two months here in Spain. Orginally I had planned to give a grande update on here, since I hardly ever write very much, but upon noticing the fact that it's just past 11pm, I have three hours of Castellano tomorrow, and I'm literally falling asleep at the keyboard, I promise to save all of it for another day soon! I just wanted to write and say that all is as well as can be, I suppose, here in the land of bull-running, paella, and flamenco.............a joke was made! I have yet to see a bull in real life, and from what I can tell, only a small percentage of the people here actually approve of bulling running, and the rest all hate it. Paella does in fact exist; it is, in fact, fantastic; and I've only had it two times in the last two months, so I can't really say much about it as I don't know it very well. As for flamenco....my host parents laughed when I asked if there were very many people doing it in the Valencian community, and proceeded to show me my host mom's flamenco dress from when she was about 11 years old....and that's about it for flamenco.
SO. I'm terribly sorry to those who were jumping at the idea of an update on my oh-so-fascinating Spanish tales. It's incredible how little I actually want to sit down and write in English anymore, (whether it be for blogging, or for mail for the family and friends....HEM HEM...DONDE ESTA MI CORREO?!), but I promise it's definitely happening! I write quite a bit actually, but as for typing it all up again, that is just not going to happen.
Vale, feel free to take a mental red-pen and absolutely mark up this journal! As I only speak English here with other exchange students (though I desperately want to begin in Espanol), and my parents (from Florida). Something you all should know is that I'm going to try and not Skype with them until just around Thanksgiving, (AND THE 15TH BIRTHDAY OF MY DEAREST HOLLY SISTER<3), as that will make it roughly a month since we've talked.
Ok. Forreal, I'm going now. I hope (absolutamente) that I'll be able to type everything important, and just a little important sometime this week. I hope everyone is having a spectacualr (but not too much) life!
Nos vemos luego!
Nicole!
Well, today marks two months here in Spain. Orginally I had planned to give a grande update on here, since I hardly ever write very much, but upon noticing the fact that it's just past 11pm, I have three hours of Castellano tomorrow, and I'm literally falling asleep at the keyboard, I promise to save all of it for another day soon! I just wanted to write and say that all is as well as can be, I suppose, here in the land of bull-running, paella, and flamenco.............a joke was made! I have yet to see a bull in real life, and from what I can tell, only a small percentage of the people here actually approve of bulling running, and the rest all hate it. Paella does in fact exist; it is, in fact, fantastic; and I've only had it two times in the last two months, so I can't really say much about it as I don't know it very well. As for flamenco....my host parents laughed when I asked if there were very many people doing it in the Valencian community, and proceeded to show me my host mom's flamenco dress from when she was about 11 years old....and that's about it for flamenco.
SO. I'm terribly sorry to those who were jumping at the idea of an update on my oh-so-fascinating Spanish tales. It's incredible how little I actually want to sit down and write in English anymore, (whether it be for blogging, or for mail for the family and friends....HEM HEM...DONDE ESTA MI CORREO?!), but I promise it's definitely happening! I write quite a bit actually, but as for typing it all up again, that is just not going to happen.
Vale, feel free to take a mental red-pen and absolutely mark up this journal! As I only speak English here with other exchange students (though I desperately want to begin in Espanol), and my parents (from Florida). Something you all should know is that I'm going to try and not Skype with them until just around Thanksgiving, (AND THE 15TH BIRTHDAY OF MY DEAREST HOLLY SISTER<3), as that will make it roughly a month since we've talked.
Ok. Forreal, I'm going now. I hope (absolutamente) that I'll be able to type everything important, and just a little important sometime this week. I hope everyone is having a spectacualr (but not too much) life!
Nos vemos luego!
Nicole!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
D.I.Y.
D.I.Y.=Do it yourself. And sometimes, that's necessary in the life of an exchange student. It's up to you to have the right attitude about changes and events that you can't control. And it's up to you to make sure you have a good time even through that.
Saturday brought us new adventures, memorable stories, and even a few moments of "Oh my, what was I thinking...". I know, interesting day.
It started with all four of us needing to take a shower in the short time span of an hour. Unfortunately, there is not enough hot/warm/relatively not ice water for four people to shower here, so the first gift on that Saturday was icicle hair.
I didn't cry for very long, and they weren't heavy, wracking sobs that drowned out the sounds of nature surrounding the mini-town, but enough long enough to realize that I needed that. Just for a bit, and then get back to reality. I walked for a bit more, took some pictures, and remembered something my mom told me a few months ago, that wasn't in reference to Spain or youth exchange, or the fact that I would soon be leaving for a bit less than a year. "Live in every moment." So I did.
Until next time (perhaps tomorrow, as we don't have school for a national fiesta day!)
'Sta luego,
Nicole
Well, this weekend I was supposed to spending with my club president from last year in Florida, while she's on vacation with her husband in Benitachell (a town about two hours north of my own). Lindsay (another fabulous exchange friend from Tampa) was supposed to join us as well. Unfortunately, we couldn't go, but I couldn't get in contact with my Patty to let her know. I went to work with my host mom Friday morning, since my Patty was supposed to pick me up from there, and I didn't go to school. I got a hold of Patty around 9:30, and we worked out a plan for her to head down here tomorrow night (Monday) for dinner with my host family, and then to my Rotary Meeting! After we figured all that out, it was only around 10 in the morning, so I asked my host mom if I was going to school. I actually really enjoy school here, so I wouldn't have minded in the slightest (almost preferred) if she said yes. However, she said she had work to do around the Archives, and "would I mind just staying here all day?"....not really! I had all of my Castellano workbooks and excersizes, so I figured I would just work on those until it was time to go home. A tad boring, but what else was I going to do?
GO TO THE LARGEST MARKET IN EUROPE BY MYSELF?
Absolutely! :) It was my host mom's suggestion, and who was I to say no? It was my first time going somewhere completely by myself, but I was fine with everything and had a really great time. Torrevieja is a very popular tourist town for many people from the U.K. and Sweden as well, so there are actually quite a few people here who speak English. Not many of them go to my school, and I've only met a few "in the street", but in the market, a bit later in the afternoon...it's practically all tourists! I ended up translating for more than a few people while I was there, and the feeling of success and pride at being able to help someone else for one time in the last six weeks was incredible! My host parents were not as excited as I was when I told them, but I kept hold of that successfull rush. Go Nicole!
Later on that day, after the market and a lunch of Kepab, my host dad went to take my host brother to his prestigious music class he had from 4 until 8 or 9 that night! My host mom and I headed back to the house for an hour or so, while she finished preparing a presentation she had to give later that night in Cartagena. I was apparently going with her, and the plan was for me to sit during this presentation for roughly two or three hours, and "listen"...hmmm, maybe not. I knew that there were three other exchange students in Cartagena, so I quickly wrote to them to see what plans they had for that night. Luckily, I was able to make plans with Maya, an exchange student from St. Louis, Missouri. We ended up spending three or four hours walking around the town, with a bit of shopping thrown in! It was a really great, impromptu night had by all!
Saturday brought us new adventures, memorable stories, and even a few moments of "Oh my, what was I thinking...". I know, interesting day.
It started with all four of us needing to take a shower in the short time span of an hour. Unfortunately, there is not enough hot/warm/relatively not ice water for four people to shower here, so the first gift on that Saturday was icicle hair.
Hmmph. Afterwards, the four of us drove to a town about 45 minutes away that I still cannot for the life of me remember the name of, for the music class for my host brother. It was supposed to last from 10am-7pm. We dropped him off, and then walked around the town for a bit. That quest didn't take very long as the town was only home to 8,000 people! That's only two and a half East Ridges! After about an hour and a half, my host parents and I drove back to the house to pick up the "Auto Caravan", that we would be spending the rest of the day in. After lunch, I was honestly feeling a bit down, because I knew that the alternative to this weekend was supposed to be me and Lindsay having a great time in Benitachell with my club president from Florida! I was so looking foward to that trip, and to have it be canceled less than a day before with all the work I put into getting it prepared was really making me upset. It didn't help at all that it seemed like all my host family could talk about was how much fun their daughter was having on her exchange, how she never spoke Spanish over there, and how she didn't want to come home at all! Of course, these feelings were absolutely ridiculous, and I was reading far to much into them, but it's a bit difficult to hear anything else when you're so focused on being right about something for once. Anyways, I asked my host parents if I could go on a walk, just to clear my head and have a bit of alone time. To my surprise (because we were in a town that wasn't my own), they said of course, and I was on my way. I only ended up going about 400 meters away, but that was enough for me. I sat down, and cried. I won't lie to you all, and say that this year is going to be all sunshine and rainbows, because it just won't. I missed my sisters. I missed my friends. I missed my freedom that came with having a license, and places the trust my parents had in me to go to alone. I missed Florida afternoon rains, and even the ability to make a joke here and there, without having to explain what I was talking about with a vocabulary of about 300 words, more or less. I wouldn't say homesick, because I have no desire to return home right now (don't take offense to that, but I couldn't possibly leave right now!), but the idea of not being able to hug my family for 10 or so months, and then actually going through it is a bit different. But I know that I can.
I didn't cry for very long, and they weren't heavy, wracking sobs that drowned out the sounds of nature surrounding the mini-town, but enough long enough to realize that I needed that. Just for a bit, and then get back to reality. I walked for a bit more, took some pictures, and remembered something my mom told me a few months ago, that wasn't in reference to Spain or youth exchange, or the fact that I would soon be leaving for a bit less than a year. "Live in every moment." So I did.
After the walk, I headed back to the mobile home where my host mom was waiting patiently with a hug and a funny story that I honestly only understood part of, about a trip the family had taken in the mobile home and ended up with 16 people in it at the end of the trip! Though we can't always communicate perfectly, we both try very hard, and I couldn't ask for a better host mom to start off this year. We spent the rest of the day lounging around the mobile home, (I personally went on a few more walks to take more pictures), and of course, eating and celebrating that wonderful practice of siesta :) On the way back to the house (so I thought) my host parents informed me that we were in fact, going to a fiesta. It was of a town about 5 minutes north of my own, and it wouldn't be very big that particular night, since it had been going on since Monday night, and it was now Saturday. We ended up staying for a couple of hours, but that was long enough to see that even six days into a town fiesta, the Spanish people still dress up crazily, and are absolutely ready at any moment for "¡más cerveza!". I'd have to say that out of everything going on, I was most caught up on the fact that there was a 60 something year old woman walking around asking for people to help her catch her rooster. Nope, she wasn't crazy. She had indeed, brought her rooster to the fiesta. Somethings just can't be explained. That's life in Spain for ya. Or perhaps exchange life in general.
Until next time (perhaps tomorrow, as we don't have school for a national fiesta day!)
'Sta luego,
Nicole
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| More Graffit, this time with Maya! |
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| Salina de Torrevieja: A different view. |
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| Saturday. Mobile home in the middle of nowhere. |
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| Fiesta Rooster! |
Club Presidents! S.L--Torrevieja
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Sueños.
I almost didn't post this.
Believe it or not, it is not my favorite story.
But because I want you guys to truly know what this whole year is like (with the exception of a few personal memories....), and not just the sunshine and rainbows it might appear to be, I'll clue you in.
It was a nightmare. The first one since arriving in Spain, but horrible all the same. One of those terrible terrors where you're trying so hard to run, but not moving an inch. I couldn't give way to my legs, I couldn't breathe, It was unbearably hot wherever I was, and I was absolutely stuck there. It was terrifying. My mom was there as well. We were trying to help each other become "unstuck" and it wasn't working very well as I could only shout to her in Spanish! That's right folks, my very first dream in Spanish turned out to be somewhat of a nightmare. Great memory, huh?
I was crying when I woke up. I couldn't figure out where I was for a few moments, and it didn't help that my contacts were practically glued to my eyes. I had been sleeping for an hour and a half after all....Whoops! Luckily for my exhausted exchange student brain, the Spanish culture contains this absolutely lovely little practice that I'll be sure to continue upon returning to Florida.......Siesta! Just after lunch everything shuts down for a few hours, and we just perfect the art of relaxation. It. Is. Phenomonal! Normally during siesta, I work on Spanish in someway. Sometimes it's me and my host brother practicing my speech outloud, sometimes it's me and my host dad working on grammar, and sometimes (my favorite times) it's me and my host mom. She says simple sentences outloud, while I listen for the words, write down what I hope is correct, and then translate it and give it to my host dad to make sure the translation is correct. Though tiring at times, I know the work has been paying off!
Anyways, during this particular siesta, I walked out to the dining room, told my host parents I would be sleeping for 30 minutes...more or less....and then be working on more Spanish. Yeah, not so much.
So that's the story of my first dream in Spanish. I know it probably wasn't the most fascinating story, and not the journal full of exciting adventures you all were hoping for, but dreaming in the target language is a really huge step in the year of the exchange student (that almost sounds like the Chinese horoscopes!), and I want to remember it, even if it didn't play out exactly the way I imagined it would.
Bizzare, but 5 weeks in a different life helps you to expect the unexpected.
Buenas Noches.
Nicole.
Believe it or not, it is not my favorite story.
But because I want you guys to truly know what this whole year is like (with the exception of a few personal memories....), and not just the sunshine and rainbows it might appear to be, I'll clue you in.
It was a nightmare. The first one since arriving in Spain, but horrible all the same. One of those terrible terrors where you're trying so hard to run, but not moving an inch. I couldn't give way to my legs, I couldn't breathe, It was unbearably hot wherever I was, and I was absolutely stuck there. It was terrifying. My mom was there as well. We were trying to help each other become "unstuck" and it wasn't working very well as I could only shout to her in Spanish! That's right folks, my very first dream in Spanish turned out to be somewhat of a nightmare. Great memory, huh?
I was crying when I woke up. I couldn't figure out where I was for a few moments, and it didn't help that my contacts were practically glued to my eyes. I had been sleeping for an hour and a half after all....Whoops! Luckily for my exhausted exchange student brain, the Spanish culture contains this absolutely lovely little practice that I'll be sure to continue upon returning to Florida.......Siesta! Just after lunch everything shuts down for a few hours, and we just perfect the art of relaxation. It. Is. Phenomonal! Normally during siesta, I work on Spanish in someway. Sometimes it's me and my host brother practicing my speech outloud, sometimes it's me and my host dad working on grammar, and sometimes (my favorite times) it's me and my host mom. She says simple sentences outloud, while I listen for the words, write down what I hope is correct, and then translate it and give it to my host dad to make sure the translation is correct. Though tiring at times, I know the work has been paying off!
Anyways, during this particular siesta, I walked out to the dining room, told my host parents I would be sleeping for 30 minutes...more or less....and then be working on more Spanish. Yeah, not so much.
So that's the story of my first dream in Spanish. I know it probably wasn't the most fascinating story, and not the journal full of exciting adventures you all were hoping for, but dreaming in the target language is a really huge step in the year of the exchange student (that almost sounds like the Chinese horoscopes!), and I want to remember it, even if it didn't play out exactly the way I imagined it would.
Bizzare, but 5 weeks in a different life helps you to expect the unexpected.
Buenas Noches.
Nicole.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Post-It.
SO. Today is one month into my new life here in Torrevieja! Everyday the language skills are becoming better in Spanish, and my English is slowly leaving me with only a two way dictionary to help express myself! I definitely don't have any problem laughing at myself (at this point anyway), because if I don't, you can bet all of your dollars I would be sitting all alone in my room, and most likely my room in Florida. SO. Bring on the chuckles!
School here is going spectacularly (mostly because I only have to pass math, and I have a tutor for that who speaks enough English to get us by). During my other classes, I only work on Castellano. It's makes each day feel about an extra 4 hours longer than they actually are, but I can tell that it's definitely helping to improve my writing and speaking skills! I'll do another blog soon all about school, but for right now, this is just a post-it note of an update.
My host family is absolutely the best. They are so willing to endure my lack of grammar skills, and they're always there to help if I have a question about anything. More recently, I've stopped second guessing what something is called to ask them, and just gone for it with a guess of my own. Incredibly, about 95% of the time, I'm right! I still always have my dictionary with me, and I've started one of my own in a journal that goes with me to school, and anywhere else if it fits in my purse.
Anyway, family. My host mom is "una caja de bombas". She has so much patience with me, and if I had to guess, I would say I've spent the most time with her. She doesn't speak a word of English, which helps so much for my dictionary searching skills, and increasing my vocabulary everyday. My host brother is a jokester, but we get along really well, and I'm so glad that I have a sibiling here! He's 14, like Holly (mah sister in Florida, for those who don't know), but I know I've learned a lot from him already. Finally, my host dad. What to say about a man who speak four languages fluently, but will only speak Spanish with me? He's fantastic! In emergency situations (i.e. when I had a problem with my visa and needed a bit of translation assistance), he's willing to help, but other than that, totally in Spanish, and for that I am so grateful. He's also a jokester, but very patient with me as well and I couldn't ask for a better host family!
I have SO much more to say to you all, and I promise I'll scribe it all a bit later! For now, it's 12:30 in the morning, and I'm going to a soccer game tomorrow and I'd prefer to not have racoon eyes!
Buenas noches,
Nicole
School here is going spectacularly (mostly because I only have to pass math, and I have a tutor for that who speaks enough English to get us by). During my other classes, I only work on Castellano. It's makes each day feel about an extra 4 hours longer than they actually are, but I can tell that it's definitely helping to improve my writing and speaking skills! I'll do another blog soon all about school, but for right now, this is just a post-it note of an update.
My host family is absolutely the best. They are so willing to endure my lack of grammar skills, and they're always there to help if I have a question about anything. More recently, I've stopped second guessing what something is called to ask them, and just gone for it with a guess of my own. Incredibly, about 95% of the time, I'm right! I still always have my dictionary with me, and I've started one of my own in a journal that goes with me to school, and anywhere else if it fits in my purse.
Anyway, family. My host mom is "una caja de bombas". She has so much patience with me, and if I had to guess, I would say I've spent the most time with her. She doesn't speak a word of English, which helps so much for my dictionary searching skills, and increasing my vocabulary everyday. My host brother is a jokester, but we get along really well, and I'm so glad that I have a sibiling here! He's 14, like Holly (mah sister in Florida, for those who don't know), but I know I've learned a lot from him already. Finally, my host dad. What to say about a man who speak four languages fluently, but will only speak Spanish with me? He's fantastic! In emergency situations (i.e. when I had a problem with my visa and needed a bit of translation assistance), he's willing to help, but other than that, totally in Spanish, and for that I am so grateful. He's also a jokester, but very patient with me as well and I couldn't ask for a better host family!
I have SO much more to say to you all, and I promise I'll scribe it all a bit later! For now, it's 12:30 in the morning, and I'm going to a soccer game tomorrow and I'd prefer to not have racoon eyes!
Buenas noches,
Nicole
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
RYE Inbound Orientation: Madrid 2011.
*Note in picture above was drawn during History of Art, while my professor brambled on in an unfamiliar tounge.....I like to think of it more has History of Siesta ;)
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Me llamo Carrrrrie.
10:30 in the night, and I'm watching "Carrie" in Spanish with my host bro-bro and dad.
This is a big, dark, scary house.
I have school tomorrow.
No me gustan peliculas de horror.
#Alwayssayyestoanopportunity,saywahhhhht?
This is a big, dark, scary house.
I have school tomorrow.
No me gustan peliculas de horror.
#Alwayssayyestoanopportunity,saywahhhhht?
Caught Red Handed.
Alright, you've caught me in a lie.
I didn't go to the beach yesterday morning either.
Oops.
HOWEVER, I do have a perfectly more than acceptable reason, and I had a spectacular time so you'll just have to deal with that.
On the way home from bowling on Saturday night, my host mom asked me if I wanted to call one of the girls that I was just with, and see if she wanted to go with us to the beach the next morning. Unfortunately, she couldn't because she had a soccer game, SO SHE INVITED ME TO THAT INSTEAD.
Two spectacular facts appear out of that last little paragraph. Let's take a gander, shall we?
It really is the greatest feeling, speaking in a language not your own (....yet), and knowing that people can comprehend what you're saying. A bit bizzare, but it's a feeling of success like no other. Anyway, the soccer game was really great as well, and Marta's team ended up winning 10-0! ¡Buen trabajo!
I didn't go to the beach yesterday morning either.
Oops.
HOWEVER, I do have a perfectly more than acceptable reason, and I had a spectacular time so you'll just have to deal with that.
On the way home from bowling on Saturday night, my host mom asked me if I wanted to call one of the girls that I was just with, and see if she wanted to go with us to the beach the next morning. Unfortunately, she couldn't because she had a soccer game, SO SHE INVITED ME TO THAT INSTEAD.
Two spectacular facts appear out of that last little paragraph. Let's take a gander, shall we?
- Yo.Tengo.Amigos.
- I MADE A PHONE CONVERSTATION ALL BY MY SELF IN SPANISH AND BOTH PARTIES UNDERSTOOD WHAT WAS SAID.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Quieres ir a BOWLING?!
I promised more updates, and while they certainly won't be daily, I'll try and make sure all of the interesting stuff makes it on to here :)
Today was a pretty swell day for me! It started at 7:30am, when my host mom woke me up to ask if I truly wanted to go to the beach at this hour, or sleep for a bit longer. Being an exchange student, I always say yes to every opportunity.........so I kept sleeping. I know, shame on me. But until you've lived in a completely foreign land for 17 days, and e v e r y s i n g l e h o u r during those 17 days you had to try and explain yourself, and attempt to understand those around you, in an unfamiliar tounge.......tell me you wouldn't have chosen to sleep as well.
Right. So. Slept in until 9. Woot, I know, late stuff for a Saturday. I had breakfast with my host dad and bro-bro, and then they left to take my brother to the gym, and my host dad to run some errands for his work. I actually was home alone, for the first time! I was terrified that the phone was going to ring and be my host parents, because I'm certainly not ready to answer the house phone yet, and they don't have caller ID, so I couldn't tell if it was them to answer it anyway! Everything ended up fine though. I did some laundry, sent in my RYE blog (soon, you should be able to read it here... http://www.ryeflorida.org/Students/OB/2011-12/Nicole-Spain.htm), and worked on my Spanish grammar book! I know, responsible student at your service! Afterwords, when my host family arrived back at the house where we had lunch, and played yet another round of Parchis. Marvelous game. Siesta time after that, and then I WENT SOMEWHERE WITH MY FRIENDS.
YEAH. WITH. MY. FRIENDS. What a wonderful thing to say. It sounds silly, I know, but I was terribly insecure that I would go the first couple of months without anyone wanting to talk to me, because I couldn't say much back..stupid Nicole.
Anyway. I met up with a group of people that I hang out with at school, and I had a super time! We met up at about 7:30, at this wonderful......complex of gaming type things, connected to a bowling alley! We went bowling first....AND I WON. Beginner's luck? I think no. After bowling, some of the group played Billiards, and the others watched. I was one of those others, and after to a much awaited dinner! We ended up going to Burger King, because the only other choices that we could get to were MacDonalds, or a Kebap place, that supposedly isn't very great. It was a really fun night, and for as much as I think I don't speak very well, no one can believe that I've only been here 17 days! I'm learning so much more around people my age than I am around my house, only because when I'm with completely new people, I get to start with the basics. My host family already knew my name, age, where I'm from, what my family's like, what Florida's like, etc. But I really enjoy meeting new people here (probably a great thing, since it happens just about every hour!) because I can practice my basic speaking skills.
Anway, now I'm off to learn a card game, that my host family has been putting off teaching me, because it's difficult to explain! They think I'm ready though. Also a cool feeling. Tomorrow (I suppose now it's later today), I am going to the beach in the morning, and in the afternoon I'll be venturing to the soccer fields to watch my friend Marta's practice!
Besos, Nícole
The group! Alina, Marta, Yo, Sergio, Isaac, Natalia, Vanesa, Alberto.
That's me, winning. ALWAYS.
Today was a pretty swell day for me! It started at 7:30am, when my host mom woke me up to ask if I truly wanted to go to the beach at this hour, or sleep for a bit longer. Being an exchange student, I always say yes to every opportunity.........so I kept sleeping. I know, shame on me. But until you've lived in a completely foreign land for 17 days, and e v e r y s i n g l e h o u r during those 17 days you had to try and explain yourself, and attempt to understand those around you, in an unfamiliar tounge.......tell me you wouldn't have chosen to sleep as well.
Right. So. Slept in until 9. Woot, I know, late stuff for a Saturday. I had breakfast with my host dad and bro-bro, and then they left to take my brother to the gym, and my host dad to run some errands for his work. I actually was home alone, for the first time! I was terrified that the phone was going to ring and be my host parents, because I'm certainly not ready to answer the house phone yet, and they don't have caller ID, so I couldn't tell if it was them to answer it anyway! Everything ended up fine though. I did some laundry, sent in my RYE blog (soon, you should be able to read it here... http://www.ryeflorida.org/Students/OB/2011-12/Nicole-Spain.htm), and worked on my Spanish grammar book! I know, responsible student at your service! Afterwords, when my host family arrived back at the house where we had lunch, and played yet another round of Parchis. Marvelous game. Siesta time after that, and then I WENT SOMEWHERE WITH MY FRIENDS.
YEAH. WITH. MY. FRIENDS. What a wonderful thing to say. It sounds silly, I know, but I was terribly insecure that I would go the first couple of months without anyone wanting to talk to me, because I couldn't say much back..stupid Nicole.
Anyway. I met up with a group of people that I hang out with at school, and I had a super time! We met up at about 7:30, at this wonderful......complex of gaming type things, connected to a bowling alley! We went bowling first....AND I WON. Beginner's luck? I think no. After bowling, some of the group played Billiards, and the others watched. I was one of those others, and after to a much awaited dinner! We ended up going to Burger King, because the only other choices that we could get to were MacDonalds, or a Kebap place, that supposedly isn't very great. It was a really fun night, and for as much as I think I don't speak very well, no one can believe that I've only been here 17 days! I'm learning so much more around people my age than I am around my house, only because when I'm with completely new people, I get to start with the basics. My host family already knew my name, age, where I'm from, what my family's like, what Florida's like, etc. But I really enjoy meeting new people here (probably a great thing, since it happens just about every hour!) because I can practice my basic speaking skills.
Anway, now I'm off to learn a card game, that my host family has been putting off teaching me, because it's difficult to explain! They think I'm ready though. Also a cool feeling. Tomorrow (I suppose now it's later today), I am going to the beach in the morning, and in the afternoon I'll be venturing to the soccer fields to watch my friend Marta's practice!
Besos, Nícole
The group again! Fabio, Marta, María, Yo, Vanesa, Davíd, Natalia, Isaac, and Sergio :)
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Fotografias!
Paella!
Arcoiris
Quick stop at a really beautiful beachfront for pictures. #THELIFEOFANEXCHANGESTUDENT.
BERENJENA
Playa de Mata con mi hermano y SiSi
Monopoly Europa!
Rotary Meeting: Exchanging flags!
Amigas de escuela!
Finally, an update!
First things first, I'd like to say I'm sorry. I haven't been updating as much as I should be, and I definitely want to keep this journaling thing going! Not only for my lovely flock of avid readers, but for myself as well. A very wise man once said to me (about 20 minutes ago, via Skype, coincidentally has the same name and face as my very own DAD) that five years from now, I'll absolutely want to go back and read through every single one of these moments, just as you all want to hear about them. I can't promise that these journals will be daily, but school started this Wednesday and once I have a more set schedule here, you all should be hearing (reading..) from me somewhat more regularly. I hope to give at least a weekly update, so don't fret!
Alright, now for a smidge of information covering the last week or so. I honestly cannot believe that I've only been here in Torrevieja for 15 days! The days literally feel expanded by an extra 5 hours or so, but that could just be because I'm doing so many different things every day. The last time I published a journal (I've been writing a ton, but I haven't posted anything, for which I'm truly sorry. Perhaps at a later date you all will see the inner emotions and thoughts of this particular 17 chica abroad.) it was only at the end of my first full day here! A brief update for now, until I am on more of a schedule.
Friday the 2nd was my first entire day in Spain :) You all have read (and probably re-read since I haven't written anything else) the previous journal, so I'll move right on ahead to Saturday. Early that morning we woke up and got packed for a short trip to a beach town about 45 minutes away called La Manga. My host mom's mom lives there during the summer, so we stayed with her Saturday night, and were back in Torrevieja by the next late afternoon. As I said before, the days here possess an extra five hours, so it felt like we were there much longer, but that could have just been my still intact jet lag still speaking. La Manga is a really beautiful beach town, and I could NOT get over the fantastic breeze that was there. Of course, the water was a bit chilly, but it is the Mediterranean, so it's acceptable ;)
The next day, Monday, I was absolutely exhausted. Having not slept for literally more than five minutes in the entire 28 hours of travelling across the pond, and then not for another six-ish hours after that, and then a beach weekend with family, I had every right to sleep in until TWO the next day.....but I didn't. I actually woke up relatively early, and got started on really unpacking. Upon doing so, I found myself holding a card from my mom, a whole notebook page from Holly, a paragraph from Jenna, and four short pieces of paper from my dad. I won't lie that I cried a TON when reading those, but that was only momentarily, before I picked myself up and put the letters in the bottom drawer of my bedside table. There for me when I need them, but not in my mind constantly enough that they're all I can think about. Later that day, my family and I had lunch together, and I tried eggplant for the first time! It's a funny story that really won't make much sense to just about everyone except my host family and I, but I have difficulty pronouncing Spanish words with J's in them, as it's more of a ghhhh, from the back of the throat. Rolling my R's? No problema. Lisping certain words to give it that real Spain Spanish accent? I'm a beasstthhht. But these J's are quite frustrating! Anyway, the word for eggplant in Spanish is berenjena (behr-ehn-ghhayyy-nuh) and it never fails to make my host family laugh when I recognize one in the market, or somewhere around the kitchen.
(Wow. I had no idea I was going into so much detail with all of this! I'll summarize more so that no one gets and ulcer from sitting where ever you please from reading this novel of mine.)
The rest of the week was really great! I tried a few different foods (SQUID. S Q U I D.), I met a couple of different people my age: (Oscar, my next host bro-bro, who was an exchange student to Michigan last year) (And Ana, a girl who will be in the first Bacc--I'm in the 2nd, at my school.) I also met quite a few of Oscar's friends at his house on Wednesday when they held a barbacoa (BBQ!), though most of them are in univeristy, so I won't see them too often. I also met the daughter of my principal of my school, and some of her friends. They're all really good friends with my host sister Marina, who is on her own exchange in Vancouver, Canada this year. We'll talk more about school in a moment. Later on in the week, I went with my next host parents to Alicante. (the second capital of the Valencian Province...Clermont=Torrevieja...Orlando=Alicante...Valencia is to Lake/Orange County...to give you an idea.) We left around 7 in the morning on Thursday (Sept. 8th, One week in Spain!) and drove about 45 minutes to wait in line for another 45 minutes for the Police Station to open. There ended up being a minor mistake on my Visa, but we got everything cleared up, and I should be getting my National Identity Number, and long term student visa within the next few weeks! The rest of that day I hung out with my second host family, and it was really nice being able to use basic Spanish to tell them a bit about me. My first host family already knew most of the basics, through emails and Skype and such, but it was really great practicing my speech! Lord knows I could always use more of that!
After that, I only had six days until school started! I did quite a bit in those six days, but in taking a glance at the essay I've written for you all to enjoy, and for myself to remember, I'll just give you a list.
· Torrevieja's Market! Largest and best market in Europe, literally. Enough said.
· Playa de Mata! BEACH TRIP! We went early in the morning to a beach about 6 minutes away from my house. Beautiful, and cold.
· Learned how to play Monopoly Europe! Same thing as regular Monopoly, but instead of streets, you buy countries. It was awesome.
· First Rotary Meeting! I thought I had to give powerpoint presentation, or a somewhat detailed one, but nope. I'll do that later in the next few weeks. I only had to stand up and say my name and a few sentences about me! One more thing: Torrevieja Rotary Club meets at 9pm....South Lake Rotary Club meets at 7am. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE HAVE A WINNER.
· Got really sick! Pretty positive everyone experiences it, but I had a nasty "Climate Change Cold" starting about three days before school started, and lasted until today. I've been sick before (uhhh, duh) but the methods of healing were a bit different than usual. ---Ibuprofen for a cold. ----Scarf to wear at night around my neck. -----Shoes in the house. Hmmm. Not weird, just different.
And that's all! Pretty busy life, huh? I honestly can't believe that it has really only been 16 days since I've left Florida, and 15 days since arriving in Spain. It literally feels like it's been about 3 months to me, but when talking with another student here from Florida, she said it only felt like four days to her! I suppose it just depends on your unique experiences. Another unique experience? SCHOOL.
To start, we'll begin with another one of those fancy lists, to show ya'll the differences between my institute here, and my high school in Clermont.
· Teachers and students change classes. This isn't very common in European schools, generally the students stay in one class the whole day, and only the teachers move, but at my school, everyone switches.
· I have eight classes here, fifty five minutes each.
· Mondays and Tuesdays, school here ends at 3pm, while on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, I get out at 2:10. I'm not really sure why this is, but so far, I enjoy it.
· Mondays and Tuesdays, I have seven classes, and the other three days of the week, I have six.
· We have two twenty minute breaks during the school day. The first is after our first three classes, and during this one, my friends and I eat a small snack in the cafeteria then hang outside in the "courtyard." During the second break, we spend most of the time in the shade outside in the courtyard, but this week was a bit different than the rest of the weeks will be, because we had to get our textbooks, lockers, and other "first week of school" stuff, out of the way.
There are actually a lot of other differences, but I'm sure you'll hear more about them as the year progresses. For now, I really need to hit the bed. Tomorrow, my host mom and I are going with her friend to La Playa de Mata again! It's a really beautiful, quiet little beach, but perfect for sprawling out on my "Toro de España" towel, and soaking up the Spanish sun! Some things never change... ;)
Hasta Luego!Nícole
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