In mid December, Ethan and I traveled to Logroño with the two girls, Amelia and Pooja, who are on exchange in Zaragoza, a nearby city, from Minnesota and India.
Friday afternoon, Ethan and I took a bus to Zaragoza, where we would join Amelia and Pooja and travel by train the rest of the way. Ethan and I got there about an hour before the train was to depart, but Pooja had the tickets so we couldn't go down to the platform. About fifteen minutes before the train, Pooja finally arrived, but Amelia was nowhere to be found. We rushed around, now that we had the tickets to know what our train's number was, trying to find out what platform we needed to be on. With about ten minutes left until departure, we got a call from a bit distressed Amelia, who was in the station, but on the bus side and couldn't figure out where the trains were. We finally got her over to us, and with about three minutes left we went down to the platform to wait. However, we were on the wrong platform, and by the time we had realized our mistake, gone through security again, and ran onto the platform, it was too late and the train had left. Humiliated, we tredged back to the security table, where the woman wrote "TREN PERDIDA" ("MISSED TRAIN") in large red letters on all of our tickets. From there we set off on an adventure to get new tickets.
We found the place pretty easily, which definitely calmed our nerves a bit. We'd already called our friends in Logroño to tell them that we'd missed our train and that we would be coming a bit later, and at this point we probably looked a bit crazy, passing around a bag of sour candy and cracking up at ourselves.
I'm normally the spokesperson for our group, I probably do have more Spanish skills than the rest of them, but mostly I think it's because I have the most confidence with the language. It's really funny to me, because the way it always happens is they hand me the ticket (or whatever were going to deal with), and then tell me exactly what I need to say in Spanish. It always makes me laugh because I don't understand why they don't do it, but I'm around Spanish people more than any of them (being in a tiny town there are no other Americans so I'm always with either my host parents or my Spanish friends), and because of that it doesn't freak me out as much to speak to official people in Spanish. Anyways, everything worked out, we were lucky, there was another train an hour later, so we hung out next to the RIGHT platform until it came, and when we arrived in Logroño our friends Helen and Ruby were waiting for us with Rubys host dad.
Rubys host dad took Helen, Amelia and Pooja to Helens house, while Ruby, Ethan and I walked to hers. After we were settled at Rubys house, we walked to Helens, to meet up with them for dinner. We decided to go for hamburgers, which were pretty excellent (though I'm fairly positive I've forgotten what a hamburger is supposed to taste like). After dinner we walked around Logroño a bit to see the city, and then went back to our houses to sleep.
In the morning, Helen had to go on an excursion for extra credit to... Wait for it... The Library!! She was so excited!! Just kidding... She really wasn't at all... It actually sounded kind of interesting to me, they were creating a Wikipedia page for her school, but she made a lot of jokes about how they wouldn't even let her touch a computer.
It was pretty great to see Helen and Ruby again, we'd seen them just on Halloween, but it really amazes me how much their Spanish had improved. Rubys has always been pretty strong, but the last time we saw Helen she could barely speak any Spanish, and now, although she has a very strong accent, she can communicate. Helens story is definitely the most interesting out of all of ours. She was born in Germany, and then about five years ago, her family decided the wanted to move the the USA to start a dairy farm in Ohio. I'm not sure what her level of English was like before she left Germany, fairly low I believe, but now she speaks perfect English with a completely American accent. The thing is though, is that she has already done this once, been a foreigner and barely understood a thing, and I can't help but feel that the second time must be harder. We all are forgetting our English, and we always make jokes about how exchange isn't about learning how to speak two languages perfectly, it's about learning how to speak two languages poorly. Helen always cuts in and says, well now I can't speak three languages. She's super fun and super sarcastic but you get used to her humor.
Anyways, she had to go make the Wikipedia page, so Ruby, Ethan and I walked to her house to pick up Pooja and Amelia. We all went and had coffee and pastries for breakfast, and then went to meet up with the Rotarians of Logroño for lunch. Which we had to prepare. It was actually very easy, and we were joined by three "potential"outbounds for the 2015-2016 exchange year. I put potential in quotations because they were the only ones in the room who didn't know that they were accepted yet. I'm pretty sure they caught on by the end of the day though. We had an hour break, and we walked around the city a bit with them, asking them about where they wanted to go on exchange. All three said the USA! One of them told us he wanted to go to Hawaii, and if not Hawaii, California. We talked about California for a while, and it always makes me happy when people are so eager to learn about my state. It kind of isn't too fun for the rest of the students, Ethan was telling me, because the second I say I'm from California, whoever we're talking to no longer wants to hear that Ethan is from Illinois or that Ruby and Amelia are from Minnesota. They just want to hear everything about California. It's difficult, because I'm always so excited to tell them about where I'm from... Normally they eventually get bored of me, realizing I'm not from Hollywood and that I can't tell them about all of my celebrity friends. But Amelia is always complaining to me that all that anyone here thinks about in the USA is New York, California, and Hawaii.
After lunch, which by the way we were there from 11:00-5:30, we went home to change, and then came back out to get our packets for the Color Run we were doing Sunday morning. After we got them, we went shopping, and then went home to change for dinner. For dinner, against my protests, we went to a somewhat sketchy looking sushi restaurant. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and we had a lot of fun. Afterwards, we met up with Rubys Brazilian friend, which was good because she doesn't speak English, so we have to speak Spanish, which is something we forget to do when were in a group of English speakers. After we hung out with her for a while, we went home to rest for the run. In the morning, we went out for Hot Chocolate and churros (definitely a great pre race breakfast), and the made our way to the run.
If you don't know what a color run is, it's pretty much a 5K, with loud music, and you wear white and at every kilometer mark, they throw colorful powder at you. It was raining so all of the colors mixed together and we ended up all being kind of pinkish brown, but it was really fun. Ethan had brought his American flag, and we had a lot of fun running with it chanting USA, and ended up meeting more random Americans.
After the run, we had lunch at Burger King, and then rushed to the train station. We didn't miss another train! And we travelled home easily and safely.
After a week of school, I was invited to go skiing on a nearby mountain for the weekend with my rotary counselor and her family. It was really fun! And I learned how to ski. I used to when I was younger, and then I switched to Snowboarding, but it's somewhat like riding a bike, and with six hours of classes, I relearned a lot! It was pretty funny, because I was in a group with six- eleven year olds, so I was easily the oldest by at least 5 years. During lunch on Sunday, I had the chance to ask my counselor about the projects our club does. Her daughter was also there, she studies in Barcelona and is part of the Rotaract club there so she told us what they do there too, and I shared some of the experiences I had with the Interact club at my high school. I also got some good project ideas that I look forward to sharing with my interact club when I come home next year. It was a very fun weekend, I got to spend time with my counselors four kids (ages 9, 10, 17, 20). The young ones were absolutely adorable, and I had a great time playing games with them and just enjoying ourselves.
This week, we still had two days of school. Monday was a normal day, and Tuesday we just had a two hour long math test, and then we were done. My friends and I went out for coffee afterwards, and then went back to our houses for lunch. After lunch, we went back out, and went to our favorite bar, called Marinero, for coffee/tea/whatever. We hung out there until 9:30, and then went home. Christmas Eve, I made a cake for my host family, and then we drove to Huesca, where my host moms parents live. Her mom is in a wheelchair so we all meet there, with my host dad's family as well. Christmas Eve dinner was fish, stuffed bell peppers, and some kind of cooked celery dish. My host grandma (host dad's mom) is an excellent cook, and everything was delicious.
Normally in Spain, you open presents Christmas Eve after dinner, but because a lot of my host family couldn't come until Christmas Day, we waited until after lunch Christmas Day. Christmas morning, I went to the end of mass with my host mom and host grandpa, to pick up my host grandma and host aunt who had gone at 11. Afterwards we got coffee, and met up with my host uncles who had driven from my host uncles family's house in Barcelona that morning. We went home for lunch. We had shrimp, lamb, and a vegetable but I really can't remember what it was. After we had dessert (almond mousse, aka amazing), we started opening presents. I was super spoiled by my host family, or sorry, Papa Noel. They gave me adorable gloves with penguins, a new purse, a new wallet, a jean shirt (really popular here, and they all laughed when I told them how Spanish it was), a new sweater, a new scarf, and I feel like I'm missing something, but I don't know what. It was overall a really great first Spanish Christmas.
I wrote this post a month ago, and kind of forgot about it (i didn't want to post without including pictures), so now I'll write about everything after Christmas.
My host mom wanted to take me to see other parts of Spain, so December 26th we took off for a four day trip to Valencia, a beautiful city on the Mediterranean where a few of her friends live. Our first day there I spent the afternoon with two exchangers who live there, named Marg and Andrea. Marg is from Colorado and Andrea is from Canada. They're really fun and we spent the afternoon eating lots of food and walking around the center. The second day in the morning, I went ice skating with the two kids of my host mom's friend while my host mom and her friend watched... I haven't gone ice skating much in my life, since Ukiah lacks a rink, but my many nights at the roller rink almost a decade ago and my few trips to the Union Square rink in San Francisco and to the Snoopy rink in Santa Rosa really paid off because I succeeded in teaching the five year old girl how to skate! And I didn't fall once! That afternoon I went to the center again, but I had to wait for Marg to meet me so I ended up wandering around alone, shopping a bit but mostly enjoying some time to explore the city without the loud children. I heard a bit of American English and I saw two girls walking and speaking it. I asked them where they were from and we got to talking. We ended up walking around together for a little less than an hour! One of them was from California, actually from Santa Rosa!! How small is this world right? The other was from Minnesota I believe. They studied abroad in college in Spain, and now they live here and teach English in Madrid and Zaragoza with a program through the government! It sounded pretty amazing! They were very impressed by the fact that I was here alone at 16, and I got the "I never would have been able to do that when I was your age" line, which I've heard about a million times. One thing to remember is that no one is ready for exchange, but you made the decision to go and you have to commit to it, and take the good times and the bad times, and appreciate every second of it. Anyways, they were very interesting to talk to, and I had a really great time walking around with them. I hung out with Marg for another hour or so, and then I went home.
The next day, we took a day trip to a city about two hours away named Alicante. There, we met up with my exchange friend Cort (she's from California too, the Central Valley), and her host parents. They showed us these super cool castles, and then we had paella at their house. After lunch, Cort and I took the metro to the center where we met up with our friend Madi, a super cool Canadian. We went shopping and got coffees and stuff, and way too soon it was time for me to go back to Valencia :( I was super bummed our time was cut so short, but I should be visiting them again soon.
Our last day in Valencia we didn't do much, and on the 30th we returned home.
On the 31st, I went to my host cousin's house first. At twelve, we ate twelve grapes (one for every time the clock chimes), and then I went out with my friends. We went to a friend from Zaragozas apartment for a while, and then to the basketball gym, which had been transformed into a concert like setting for the night! It was so much fun!! I stayed out with my friends until about 9:30 AM, and slept the whole day of January 1st.
On January 3rd, I went to Madrid with my host mom and aunt. They showed me the center, the royal palace, this beautifullll cathedral, the biggest park in Spain, and lots more. We stayed there one night, and in two days they had showed me the majority of the touristy spots!
We returned home, and on the fifth of January, I had dinner with my friends to celebrate "La Noche de Los Reyes Magos" (the night of the magic kings, like the ones who brought Jesus his birthday presents). Here in Spain, that day is more like Christmas than the 25th. My friends and I exchanged gifts, and we had a secret Santa game. I had my friend Marina Flores. I got her a nice purse in Valencia and filled it with rings I'd found in Madrid. I also had someone take a Polaroid picture of us and gave that to her. She really liked it! My friend Laura had me, she gave me a grey beanie and a matching gray scarf, along with a really pretty blue nail polish. I really liked my gift as well! My friend Blanca and I also exchanged Christmas presents. I got her a cute blue sweater and a necklace (I have one that says "I" she has one that says "Love" and our friend Maria has one that says "you"). She got me a pretty blue bracelet that says Love on it, and a red mug that says Sabiñánigo on it. I almost cried when I looked at the mug because I realized I won't be here next year for Christmas and that I really will miss this tiny town in the middle of the mountains that I have grown to love. After dinner, our guy friends came back, and my friend Ethan came too! He got along really well with my friends and we had a fun time! We were at the local and around 1AM everyone went to a nearby club. We had the option to go there but Ethan and I were both really tired so we went back to my house and watched half of the movie Elf before we fell asleep. The next morning we lazily researched colleges (because that's how we have fun), and ate peanut butter. For lunch we had paella. In the evening Ethan and I walked around Sabi and then we put him on a bus and he went home. School started, not super fun, but it had to happen. My first weekend my host mom and I went to Zaragoza to go shopping, and I spent the afternoon at the mall with my friend Pooja. It was really fun! We ate Taco Bell for lunch and it was delicioussss. It was really relaxing!
Last weekend, we returned to Valencia... This time we stayed at my host uncles loft. It was small, perfect for the two of them, and super beautiful. On Saturday afternoon, I went to the center with Marg and Andrea. We walked around, ate a bit, shopped a bit, and somehow Andrea and I convinced Marg to chop off all of her hair. We went to this really nice salon, and she changed her shoulder length hair into a pixie cut! (Sadly, I don't have pictures of it :(). That night, I went to Margs house. We watched movies and then went to sleep. It was nice to spend some more time with her, since I don't get to see her often and probably won't see her for a couple more months. On Sunday we returned home, and the week began. Tuesday was my host grandpas birthday, so we went to their house for lunch. It was nice. That evening, I taught an English class to one of my host moms friends! It was an interesting experience for me, and something that will begin to be a normal thing, every Tuesday for an hour.
Yesterday was my 17th birthday...! It didn't really feel like my birthday, but it was fun. When I was at school, my friend Blanca went around our group making sure everyone remembered to tell me happy birthday. For lunch, my host grandparents joined us. Here when people say happy birthday they kiss each of your cheeks (the same way you do when you meet someone new), and when my host mom kissed my cheeks she did three kisses instead of two and said "one for your mom who can't be here to tell you happy birthday". It was really sweet. Lunch was good, we had artichokes with jamon and chicken with cheese sauce. My host mom bought me a chocolate truffle cake which was also very good. I wasn't expecting presents, but my host mom got me new really cute dog pajamas and my host grandparents got me pink fuzzy slippers. I was reallllly happy.
Around 5, I went into town and met up with Ethan. We walked around, and ended up in the super cool tea shop that I think I wrote about once forever ago. It was really fun. Last night I skyped my mom for about 45 minutes, which was nice, and then with my brother and his best friend for a little less than two hours. It was really hilarious, one of his friends was dressed up as the red power ranger and ran around pretending to beat Chance up. Very very fun. This weekend my friends Pooja and Amelia are coming to visit (yesterday was Amelia's birthday too, so we're celebrating). It should be fun! I'll try to update soon, I just need to remind myself that it's more painful to write an entire month and a half worth of blog than a couple of weeks. I'm really sorry for being so lame about this! Thank you for reading! Hasta pronto! Zeph (:
Alicante cotton candy with Madi!
Madrid...
Madrid....
Madrid...
Los Reyes Magos 
The Polaroid of Marina and I 
Me and Blanca on the 5th
The girls of our group 
The whole group 
MY BROTHER HAD A MOUSTACHE FOR LIKE TWO DAYS!! HAHAHAHAHA