The Last Few Weeks

It's been way too long. I definitely write that too often. I'm trying, I promise! But I feel like the more I say that the farther apart my posts become. Ok, so here it goes. My post about Logroño, skiing, and Christmas, my birthday and moreeeee. 

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 (:

Cort and I at a castle in Alicante

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

Thanksgiving in Spain and More Less Interesting Things

I'd like to start this post by saying that I'm pretty bad at this blogging thing... Yeah... 

Anyways. As you all know, a little over two weeks ago, the whole United States shut down so that everyone could stuff their faces with turkey and express their gratitude for their lives (at least that's what thanksgiving is to me). Here in Spain, Thanksgiving is not celebrated (some of my friends back home were actually surprised to hear that), so my friend Ethan and I decided to bring Thanksgiving to this beautiful country. We organized the dinner ourselves, invited our host families and I invited a few of my friends and their parents, and we held it in my host dad's local (it's pretty much a pimped out basement, it has banquet tables which fit up to fourty people, a large tv and a pretty big kitchen). Ethan and I did grocery shopping throughout the week (which was extremely stressful because way too many of the ingredients we needed were unavailable), and on Friday (actual thanksgiving wouldn't work), we cooked all afternoon. We served dinner the true Spanish style, about an hour late, but we made up for it with an authentic American football game we'd found on YouTube playing on the tv and a little prayer before we started our food (in English and then translated to Spanish). The food was fairly mediocre, but to the people who had never had a true thanksgiving dinner, it was fine. The group favorites were the biscuits (which I made), and also the pumpkin pie (which I also made, not to toot my own horn or anything...). Dinner went til about 12, and it was really nice to spend the evening with another American eating American food and at the same time sharing a tiny bit of our culture with the people who have so willingly showed us their culture. 

The week passed uneventfully. I was sick one day so my host mom took me to the doctor, and I was fairly proud of myself, as I was able to answer all of his questions on the first try (most times I need people to repeat themselves at least once in a conversation but with him I didn't!). The diagnosis was that my body isn't used to the food yet, and also that it could have something to do with the stress of being in a new place. 

Friday I was completely exhausted, I slept all afternoon, and went to bed right after dinner. On Saturday I got up around 10, and at eleven I went to Jaca to spend the day with Ethan. In Spain this weekend was a three day weekend because Saturday was a holiday, so in Jaca the main square had a merry go round and cool little artisan tents. We walked around there for a while, ate a late breakfast at mcdonalds, and eventually went back to Ethan's house. It was his older host brothers birthday, so his host dad made paella for lunch, and I got to meet Ethan's host uncle and aunt and cousins. After lunch, Ethan and I joined his host brothers and cousins in a poker game, which I lost. I think. I'm pretty bad at poker to be completely honest. 

I went home around 6, and at 8:30, I went out with my Spanish friends. We had dinner in my host dad's local, and afterwards went to a club type place and danced and played foosball for hours. It was really fun, and I got to meet up with a couple of Rotex (one from my town and the other from Madrid). 

Sunday I slept in, and then had lunch at my host grandparents house. It was delicious, but I was exhausted and when we got home I took a five hour siesta (it's possible that it didn't count as a siesta, I need to take a look at the rule book to see what the maximum time limit is). I watched a movie with my host family and then went back to bed. 

Yesterday we had no school, so my host parents invited Ethan to join us for lunch in my host grandparents tiny village in the hills near Jaca. Lunch was fun, and afterwards while my host parents were siestaing Ethan and I walked around a bit and then found Spanish playing cards and made up our own games with them (they're very different from American playing cards). Around 6:30 we dropped Ethan back home, and that's pretty much it. Had dinner and went to bed. 

Thanks for reading this somewhat boring post! Going to Logroño this weekend with exchange students to do the Holi run and hang out with their rotary club a bit! So I'll for sure write about that!

Two Fun Outings with the Host Fam

Last Saturday, I went to France. It's hard not to say that casually when you live thirty minutes from the border, but thinking about it's absolutely crazy that I WENT TO FRANCE, and even on top of that, it was a day trip! 

We left a bit too early in the morning for my liking, around 8:00, but I slept the majority of the way to our first destination; Lourdes. There is a beautiful cathedral there, which we walked around for a while. There's also a fountain which supposedly has healing water, and people in wheelchairs come to drink it and 1 in a million (or some percentage similar), are cured. My host mom joked that I could drink the water and be able to speak fluently. She even bought me a little bottle to fill up with the water (as a souvenir)... I tried some water but I still only speak proficient Spanish... It's probably a good thing though, I wouldn't want that 1 in a million miracle to be wasted on me... 

My host parents really aren't religious at all, so we left pretty quickly, probably only after about 45 minutes... On our way back to our car, we saw a memorial statue, which I guess is a normal thing in every small French town in the area we were in. On one side was a WWI memorial, with the names of all of the people from Lourdes who had died in it, and on the other side, a WWII memorial with the names of everyone who had died in WWII... It was pretty crazy to see how many people who had died, just from Lourdes! 

Next we went to Pau, which is a very old, very beautiful city. We went to lunch at the first place we saw (I was absolutely starved!) and ordered duck, which is a very typical dish in France. It was delicious! I also ate French fries in France, I feel like that's an important detail. After lunch we walked around for a while, trying to find a castle. With the help of some English speaking French people and my awesome translating skills (it was actually really difficult), we found it. It was so cool! It was Henry IV's castle! We took a tour, which of course I didn't understand a word of (French is weird), but we saw some beautiful artwork, and the whole place was just stunning, and all of the windows had beautiful views of the the French Pyrenees. 

The tour took about an hour, and afterwards we walked back to our car. On our way back to Spain, we stopped by the Lindt chocolate factory, and bought lots of truffles and chocolate of all sorts. It was fun!

The week passed with nothing too exciting happening... Wednesday I went to Jaca to visit Ethan, we just walked around, and ate food. I watched him get his hair cut, but nothing too special happened.

Yesterday, my host parents took me to Zaragoza!
I had been there three times before, but only to shop. This time we went to see the touristy places. First we went to the plaza of Pilar, and to this huge cathedral.

There was really cool artwork inside, and even a mass going on! Outside, there was a protest against the use of animal fur for clothing. It was actually quite comical, we watched a woman wearing a very obviously real fur coat attempting to find a back exit from the cathedral so that she wouldn't have to walk past them.

Afterwards, we walked around a bit, and ended up in a bar for tapas. We had this egg potato duck plate, which sounds disgusting, but was delicious (though maybe a bit salty). Afterwards, my host parents were still hungry for lunch (I wasn't really, although I'm am exchange student, I can always eat more), so we walked around looking for a restaurant. Eventually we found one, and it was very fancy (lunch here is kind of a big deal). For my first plate, I had mini bell peppers stuffed with French cheese and ham. It was delicious! For my second plate I had steak, which was served pretty much raw with a hot stone, so I got to cook it myself! It was so cool!

For dessert, I had lemon sorbet (my host mom got a chocolate volcano, and was surprised I hadn't ordered the same, but I was too full.) 

After lunch, we walked around a bit more, and we saw the ruins of a roman theater which are dated from somewhere between 2 B.C-1 A.D)!! It was crazy!

On our way out of town we stopped at the huge mall there, so that my dad could buy a few new heaters for our house (it's getting pretty cold :() so I got to shop a bit too, and got a new pair of jeans and a couple jackets. We got home around 10, and I pretty much went straight to bed. 

Today I stayed in, and watched a movie (in Spanish) with my host mom. It was pretty crazy, I actually understood probably 90% of it (granted she does give me Spanish subtitles since it's easier to read it than actually understand people speaking it, but still.) 

Anyways, that's pretty much been my week... I'll update again when something exciting happens. 

Sorry I took for ever to post this (it's been a week since I wrote it). Nothing too exciting has happened since, Saturday my host mom and I went to Huesca to visit my host grandparents, we had lunch with them, slept the siesta and then returned home. Yesterday, Ethan came over because both of us are feeling a little bit homesick with thanksgiving coming up (honestly I think that the jealousy of the fact that our friends back home don't have school this week and we do is half of the issue here),it it's definitely weird to think about what's happening in the U.S right now. Anyways, he came over, brought some American sweets his parents had sent him, and we watched one of our favorite American movies, "The Perks of Being A Wallflower". It was just a nice, relaxed American afternoon. 

Today I had school which is the same thing every day, I sit through six hours of classes, understanding maybe 70% of what's going on (except for in philosophy, that's more like 30%, but still compared to my first day it's incredible progress). It gets a bit boring, and it's definitely annoying, because I know that my Spanish is getting better everyday, but I really don't notice it on a day to day basis. Occasionally I'll think about something I said and think wow I wouldn't have been able to say that before I got here, but it's not something I notice without really focusing on thinking about it. In know at the end of the year I'll be able to look back and notice all of my improvements, but I am so exhausted all the time from having to mentally work so hard to make everything make sense and put things into context and wow. It's difficult, though only getting easier. 

It's supposed to snow soon (there's already some snow in the mountains), so maybe I'll get to ski soon (I've decided I'm going to learn to ski here, because no one really snowboards :(). Anyways, I'll try to update again soon. 

Halloween, Lloret de Mar, and a Rotary Meeting

Last Friday was Halloween, and also the day that the Rotary weekend in Lloret de Mar began. Because Ethan and I did not have school, and were not planning to meet up with our friends in Zaragoza (whose families would take us to Lloret) until around 2:30, we decided to leave our area around 8:30 as to arrive around 10:30, and get to explore a bit on our own. We got off the bus at the normal station we go to in the center of the city, and decided that we wanted to go to the mall... However we soon found out that the large mall in Zaragoza was nowhere near us. Since neither of us really understood the bus system, we decided the most convenient and safest solution would be to take a taxi. We of course did not factor into our plan the extremely high gas rates in Europe, and the fact that the taxi would be much more expensive than what we were used to.... We ended up paying thirteen euros for a ten minute taxi ride...

The positive spin to that is that we decided to learn how to use public transportation, since you can get anywhere in the city for a euro thirty on the bus...

We got to the mall and just looked around for a while... I bought a few accessories for my Halloween costume (we were required to where them at Lloret), and we tried to find Ethan a new phone case. Eventually we got hungry, so with just under an hour left at the mall, we started looking for somewhere to eat... And we found a TACO BELL!! 

 Ethan and I both found it funny thatthey classified Taco Bell as Mexican food... 

It was weird, Ethan and I both agreed that Taco Bell tastes better here... Maybe it's because we just missed it so much, but it really does taste more flavorful... 

I drove to Lloret with my friend Amelia and her host parents. They were very friendly, and her host mom is an English teacher so she was able to speak to us when Amelia and I spoke English. 

We arrived to Lloret de Mar around 8, we weren't aware of how much later that was than everyone else (except for Ethan and the others from Zaragoza who wouldn't come until 11 or 12).The hotel we stayed in was really nice, four stars, with a huge outdoor pool, an indoor one too, a complimentary buffet for every meal, and a gym with a couple of stair climbers and a pull up bar. I stayed in a room with three other American girls, one from Hawaii, and two from somewhere I don't really remember. They were all very friendly though. Friday night, to get ready for Halloween,I went to another girls room to get ready. I dressed up as a goth punk type thing (super last minute costume). After I had finished with my makeup, my friend Michael came in with the other guys.  he was wearing his normal clothes and a mask that he said was poking at his eyes, So I asked him if I could do his makeup. He surprisingly agreed, so I made him into a pretty lady. A couple of othergirls from the room came into the area and caught on, so they went to find him am outfit. We ended up with a mini jean skirt, a shirt reading "keep calm and party on" and a hot pink push-up bra. I was kind of scared to walk by the Rotarians who were there, but they all laughed a lot (Michael is hosted by the rotary club of Lloret de Mar), and took plenty of pictures of him. 

There was a dance type thing at the hotel that we went to for a while, but it was more for little kids so we left, and ended up just hanging out. It was still pretty fun. 

Saturday, we went to the beginning of a Rotary meeting, but they got rid of us after we took pictures. 

We went to this park near the sea, which belongs to a rich family, who only come during the summer vacation. We had a guided tour, and the views were absolutely stunning. Of course, we took lots of group pictures. 

After the gardens, we went to the beach. They wouldn't let us swim, but we waded in up to our waists. The water was so warm! And the beach so beautiful. That place, with those people, really felt like a perfect moment. 

When we went back to the hotel, we were forced to hang out with the self-proclaimed "director of fun". We shot bee bee guns at targets, which was okay, but when we were told that we had to do Zumba (we were all very tired), my friends and I got permission from rotary to play cards in our room. As more people filtered in, we ended up in a very intense elimination round of spoons. It was crazy, it started with ten people, and at the end we had two winners, the girl from Hawaii, and me! That night, my friends and I hung out, did Zumba, and watched Germany has talent! It was pretty fun! 

Sunday, we left right after breakfast, and I got home around 7:30 (a long day of traveling). I was pretty tired, and went to bed immediately. 

Monday night, Ethan and I went to a Rotary meeting. First, they had three exchange students who had just returned from their exchanges present about their years abroad, and then they asked Ethan and I to stand up and speak a bit about ourselves. I was actually pretty proud of myself, as I was able to talk for about three minutes in Spanish in front of about thirty Rotarians (I could've spoken more, but Ethan had to as well). One weird thing about the meeting was that we were given wine. They did not even ask us if we wanted any, they just filled up our glasses. It was definitely a huge cultural difference. 

Nothing else has really happened.... I've just been at school... Tomorrow I'll go to Jaca to spend some time with Ethan and his Spanish friends there, and on Saturday I'm going to France with my host parents! 

Sorry this wasn't super long, I'm pretty tired. 

Hasta luego, Zeph(:

Halloween, Lloret de Mar, and a Rotary Meeting

Last Friday was Halloween, and also the day that the Rotary weekend in Lloret de Mar began. Because Ethan and I did not have school, and were not planning to meet up with our friends in Zaragoza (whose families would take us to Lloret) until around 2:30, we decided to leave our area around 8:30 as to arrive around 10:30, and get to explore a bit on our own. We got off the bus at the normal station we go to in the center of the city, and decided that we wanted to go to the mall... However we soon found out that the large mall in Zaragoza was nowhere near us. Since neither of us really understood the bus system, we decided the most convenient and safest solution would be to take a taxi. We of course did not factor into our plan the extremely high gas rates in Europe, and the fact that the taxi would be much more expensive than what we were used to.... We ended up paying thirteen euros for a ten minute taxi ride...

The positive spin to that is that we decided to learn how to use public transportation, since you can get anywhere in the city for a euro thirty on the bus...

We got to the mall and just looked around for a while... I bought a few accessories for my Halloween costume (we were required to where them at Lloret), and we tried to find Ethan a new phone case. Eventually we got hungry, so with just under an hour left at the mall, we started looking for somewhere to eat... And we found a TACO BELL!! 

 Ethan and I both found it funny thatthey classified Taco Bell as Mexican food... 

It was weird, Ethan and I both agreed that Taco Bell tastes better here... Maybe it's because we just missed it so much, but it really does taste more flavorful... 

I drove to Lloret with my friend Amelia and her host parents. They were very friendly, and her host mom is an English teacher so she was able to speak to us when Amelia and I spoke English. 

We arrived to Lloret de Mar around 8, we weren't aware of how much later that was than everyone else (except for Ethan and the others from Zaragoza who wouldn't come until 11 or 12).The hotel we stayed in was really nice, four stars, with a huge outdoor pool, an indoor one too, a complimentary buffet for every meal, and a gym with a couple of stair climbers and a pull up bar. I stayed in a room with three other American girls, one from Hawaii, and two from somewhere I don't really remember. They were all very friendly though. Friday night, to get ready for Halloween,I went to another girls room to get ready. I dressed up as a goth punk type thing (super last minute costume). After I had finished with my makeup, my friend Michael came in with the other guys.  he was wearing his normal clothes and a mask that he said was poking at his eyes, So I asked him if I could do his makeup. He surprisingly agreed, so I made him into a pretty lady. A couple of othergirls from the room came into the area and caught on, so they went to find him am outfit. We ended up with a mini jean skirt, a shirt reading "keep calm and party on" and a hot pink push-up bra. I was kind of scared to walk by the Rotarians who were there, but they all laughed a lot (Michael is hosted by the rotary club of Lloret de Mar), and took plenty of pictures of him. 

There was a dance type thing at the hotel that we went to for a while, but it was more for little kids so we left, and ended up just hanging out. It was still pretty fun. 

Saturday, we went to the beginning of a Rotary meeting, but they got rid of us after we took pictures. 

We went to this park near the sea, which belongs to a rich family, who only come during the summer vacation. We had a guided tour, and the views were absolutely stunning. Of course, we took lots of group pictures. 

After the gardens, we went to the beach. They wouldn't let us swim, but we waded in up to our waists. The water was so warm! And the beach so beautiful. That place, with those people, really felt like a perfect moment. 

When we went back to the hotel, we were forced to hang out with the self-proclaimed "director of fun". We shot bee bee guns at targets, which was okay, but when we were told that we had to do Zumba (we were all very tired), my friends and I got permission from rotary to play cards in our room. As more people filtered in, we ended up in a very intense elimination round of spoons. It was crazy, it started with ten people, and at the end we had two winners, the girl from Hawaii, and me! That night, my friends and I hung out, did Zumba, and watched Germany has talent! It was pretty fun! 

Sunday, we left right after breakfast, and I got home around 7:30 (a long day of traveling). I was pretty tired, and went to bed immediately. 

Monday night, Ethan and I went to a Rotary meeting. First, they had three exchange students who had just returned from their exchanges present about their years abroad, and then they asked Ethan and I to stand up and speak a bit about ourselves. I was actually pretty proud of myself, as I was able to talk for about three minutes in Spanish in front of about thirty Rotarians (I could've spoken more, but Ethan had to as well). One weird thing about the meeting was that we were given wine. They did not even ask us if we wanted any, they just filled up our glasses. It was definitely a huge cultural difference. 

Nothing else has really happened.... I've just been at school... Tomorrow I'll go to Jaca to spend some time with Ethan and his Spanish friends there, and on Saturday I'm going to France with my host parents! 

Sorry this wasn't super long, I'm pretty tired. 

Hasta luego, Zeph(:

A Rotary Trip and More Host Family

Last weekend, all of the exchange students who are in Aragon were invited to Logroño (a city in La Rioja, about four hours from where I live), to see a new area of Spain, and meet the rotary club there. 

On Friday, I had to catch a bus from Zaragoza (a city about an hour and a half from here, and also one of my favorite places in Spain) at five o'clock. My host mom already had to go to Zaragoza for meetings in the morning, so my friend Ethan (the exchange student who lives in another small town about 15 km away) and I decided to make a day of it. We arrived in Zaragoza around nine am. Since we were tired, and no stores were open yet, we went to a cafe, to get a cafe con leche. He'd never tried one before, but now he's hooked! I remember before I left my mom told me how good European coffee is, and I never liked coffee in the U.S, but here it's soo good! That day in Zaragoza I think I drank four throughout the day (probably not healthy but they were only a euro!). After we finished our coffee (and Ethan's pastries), we went to Corte Ingles, a popular clothes store here. We looked around for a while, mostly at boys clothes for Ethan. But we didn't really find anything we liked. We did however, find a Halloween section for little kids. It had decorations and costumes and made me realize how much I miss Halloween in the states, and how everything is decorated and peoples yards have pumpkins and skeletons and there are haunted houses (even though I've always hated haunted houses). It's really weird to me that they just don't celebrate it here, they know what it is, but Halloween here is more like, let's go out tonight! Not let's go dress up in costumes and knock on strangers doors and ask them for candy (haha and I think the Spanish are weird for not doing that)! Eventually we left the store, and walked around some more, until I recognized another clothing store called Pull and Bear so we went there. Ethan let me pick him out some outfits (because I love guys fashion, especially the European one). He really liked them and ended up buying two outfits that I put together for him. He even tried on skinny jeans! And actually liked them! 

(We also found a globe in Corte Ingles: California, Illinois, Spain)

After shopping we ended up just walking around. We'd stop in a cafe and get something to drink, or a pastry, and then keep walking.

Around 3:30, a few of our friends who are living in Zaragoza met up with us. We were just sitting on this wall thing in front of Corte Ingles speaking English, when a group of girls walked by. One of them super questioningly said "hi?" And I thought she was Spanish so jokingly I said "sup". They rushed over and it turned out that they are all on exchange in Zaragoza too, just with a much more expensive, much stricter organization that goes through private high schools. We all exchanged our names and where we were from, and one girl told me that she was from California, a bit north of San Francisco! I of course freaked out and asked her where. So she's from Sebastopol, and when I told her I'm from Ukiah SHE KNEW WHERE THAT IS. She's the first person I've met in Spain that has been to Ukiah. She proceeded to tell me that she grew up in the Boonville area. How strange, I grew up I'm the Boonville area too. SHE KNEW WHERE YORKVILLE WAS. I thought that it couldn't get any stranger, until I found out that my childhood best friend, Alex, had been her kindergarten best friend, until she moved to Sebastopol. We probably did meet at some point... And it just really made me acknowledge how tiny this world actually is. 

Of course Ethan just happened to have an American flag in his backpack!

Around 4:30, we caught a bus to the bus station, where I met up with a boy named Ismael, who's also living in Zaragoza, and was the one who I was taking the bus with (Ethan and the rest would drive with a Rotarian the next day). The bus only took a little over an hour, which Ismael and I spent sharing our favorite songs (he actually showed me a few I really liked!). When we got to Logroño, we were met by a Rotarian, and two girls who were my age. One of the girls was Lucia, my "host sister" for the weekend, who went on Rotary short term exchange to Georgia this summer, and the other was her friend that she needed to work on a project with. Lucia's mom came and got us, and Ismael went with the Rotarian to be dropped off at a Rotex (exchange student to Ohio 2013-2014)'s house. I was kind of bummed at first because Ismael makes things a lot easier when I'm with people who only speak Spanish (he speaks it fluently because back home his parents speak Spanish in their home), but I ended up getting along well with Lucia, so it was fine. That night for dinner, we had some kind of pasta dish and salad, and then I went to my room for the weekend, and got to skype my friend Ali, a fellow outbound from D5130 who is currently in Switzerland!

I really feel the need to do this, and it's not because I want to brag, it's because these are my feelings, and I want to acknowledge them. I am so lucky! The first reason that I'm lucky is pretty obvious: almost exactly a year ago, I was accepted by the most wonderful program to live abroad for a year (thank you so much South Ukiah Rotary), and now I am actually living the life that I've been dreaming about for the past year! But my luck does not stop there. I am one of the few (I don't actually know the numbers on this one but I know there weren't many of us) who got my first country choice! Of course I would have been happy with any country, that's part of what you sign up for with Rotary, the possibility that they'll send you to some random unexpected country. To some people that's what turns them off of Rotary, but for me that was something that I really liked. It's about the experience. Not about where you're headed. But I got Spain! And I remember being so happy about that, and I still really am! But there's more about my location in Spain itself that makes me feel so lucky. The language. A lot of people before I left thought I was going to Basque Country. I was pretty unclear on the geography of Spain before I left, so I doubt I corrected anyone. Now, I am in Aragon. Which is not even near Basque Country (Basque Country is next to La Rioja, the autonomous community in which Logroño resides). If I had gone to Basque Country, I would've had to learn another whole language, because sadly enough, Basque is not Spanish. If I had gone to Catalonia (I really did have my heart set on Barcelona), I would be struggling to learn Catalan and Spanish simultaneously. I would be struggling with Galician if I had gone to Galicia, and struggling to understand in plenty of other places in Spain where they do speak Spanish, but the accent is so strong, that sometimes fellow spaniards from different areas have trouble understanding. It's pretty crazy to think about, because in the U.S, you can go from California to New York, and although some accents may sound a little funny to you, you'll still understand everything. Here, in a country about the same length as the state of California, there are multiple languages to learn, and if you drive across Europe (I think it's a little bit shorter than driving across the U.S), you'll. hear so many different languages that your head will get fuzzy. So as far as the language goes, I also lucked out, because where I live, they speak very clear Castellano(essentially pure Spanish), and although occasionally there will be a word in Aragonese that will somehow make it's way into a conversation, the people around me have no problem explaining what it means. But guys, my luck does not even stop there. When I was still in California, my host parents daughter, Alicia,who's on exchange in Colorado, set up a group chat on Whatsapp with me and some of her closest friends, so they were already really excited to meet me before I even arrived! When I finally did meet them, they ended up being some of the kindest, most welcoming people, and they have made my first month and a half here so much easier! I really lucked out by going to a small town because not only are the people here really welcoming, but I also have no other exchange students in my school (the closest one is in a town about 20 minutes away), so I really am speaking Spanish all. the. time. Talking to other exchange students, like Ali for example who knew little German before going and therefore has had trouble making Swiss friends, or even other students in Spain who were not met with the same hospitality that I was, just makes me feel so extremely lucky about my circumstances. Okay, I think I'm done with that, I'll go on to talking about my weekend. 

On Saturday, we met up with the students from Zaragoza and those who are in Logroño, as well as a few Rotarians. The first thing we did was went to a winery. It's pretty crazy, this winery has been there since the 11th century! We went into the cellar where they keep their wine, and parts of it were still remaining from when it was originally built! Once the tour guide found out that I was from Wine Country, he started asking me a lot of questions about the wine in California. Of course I've been to vineyards before, but I really was unhelpful when he was asking about the process, although I was fairly certain that it was the same, if not close to the same as the process here. He asked me what the biggest difference between the vineyards in California and the ones here is, and honestly I have to say that the only big difference I could see is that the ones here are much older, and much more European. All of the buildings were made out of rock, just like the movies! 

Our tour guide at the winery!

They told me I needed to pose with the wine...

After the vineyard, we went to BASQUE COUNTRY! Barely! We went to a super cool medieval town there, where even today, they do not allow cars. It was really cool! We walked around for a while, and then we had a tour of a beautiful Cathedral from the 12th century which had the most amazingly realistic statues!

The view from right outside of the medieval town was gorgeous!

After we left Basque Country, we went to a park in Logroño for lunch, and then had a walking tour of the city. We were all pretty tired, and it was hard to pay attention to/ understand the tour guide, and I ended up with two other exchange students in the back, and we tried to listen, but ended up taking pictures with everything and having a Rotex translate the tour for us. It was really fun!

This giant door was a part of the tour

The group at a park (students from the U.S, Japan, India, Germany and Spain!)

 For dinner, we went to a really nice social (like a restaurant that you cook in yourself), with the rotary club of Logroño. It was super delicious, we had fish of some sort and salad, prepared by Rotarians I believe. We ended up staying at dinner until around 1AM, so we were unable to go out for Tapas like we wanted to :( 

Sunday, we met up in the morning again, and we went on two tours of monestaries. The art in them was absolutely beautiful! 

(U.S, U.S, Germany, India)

We went to a park for our last lunch as a group, which was wasn't too horrible, since we knew we'd see each other in two weeks at another rotary meetup near Barcelona. We ended up playing the most ridiculous game, where someone would spin a bottle on the table, and then whoever it landed on, the person who spun the bottle would peg with a ball of tinfoil. It was such a stupid game, but we were all in hysterics by the end of it, and it made me realize how no matter what we are doing, when exchange students get together, it's always going to be fun. And if it isn't, we will make it fun by pegging each other with trash. 

Ethan, a few other students and I drove back to Zaragoza with a Rotarian, and then Ethan and I took a bus from Zaragoza to Sabi/ Jaca. Ethan and I are becoming really good friends, he's like my little brother, and it's really great. 

I went to school during the week, so nothing too exciting happened. On Wednesday, there was a strike countrywide, so we didn't have to go to school, which was pretty cool and so I just slept all morning and hung out at home. That afternoon, I went to Jaca to hang out with Ethan and the Icelandic exchange student who was there, and Thursday evening I did the same. We pretty much just walk around and eat food (aka the life of an exchange student). On Friday, since I don't have a sixth period, a few my friends and I hung out at a park for an hour until my bus came, just making jokes and goofing off. It was really fun, especially because for me sometimes it's hard to feel like a normal teenager, but when I'm with them I really feel accepted and normal. It's really great.

That afternoom, after siesta and lunch with my family, I went back to town and went to a park with my friends where we hung out until around nine. 

Cris and I were twinning(:

That night, I had to go to my host grandparents house for dinner, because it was their fiftieth wedding anniversary! How crazy is that! It felt a little strange to be present for a private family dinner, but they all treated me like just another member of the family, and I loved it! I also got to meet my host uncle and his husband for the first time, which was great! They are both really nice, and invited me to come to Zaragoza (where they live), for a weekend and tapas sometime. After dinner, all of the adults were a bit tipsy, and ended up in a very heated discussion about politics. I couldn't understand everyone yelling over each other, and I ended up falling asleep on a couch. 

(My host dad snapped this beaut)

We headed home around two AM, and I slept in on Saturday until about noon. Saturday afternoon I took the bus (for the first time alone!) to spend the afternoon with Ethan, and our friend Pooja who is from India and in Zaragoza, but was in Jaca with her family for the weekend. Ethan had found out that morning that the girl who was also in Jaca from Iceland had moved to a different family in Zaragoza because she had some problems with her family in Jaca. He was pretty bummed, but we both know that it's not only better for her, since she'll be happier with her new family, but also better for him because this way he won't be speaking English all the time with her. That night we went out for tapas, which was super fun!

Sunday, I went to a national park about a 45 minute drive from where I live with my host parents and my host uncles. We went on a five hour hike which was absolutely beautiful! We hiked out to a waterfall, had lunch, and hiked back. It was tiring, but fun too! When we got home, my host uncles left to drive home to Zaragoza, and I slept. 

Sorry this post is really late, I've been writing it over the last few days since I knew it would be long. I'm going to a place near Barcelona this weekend with Rotary, so I'll probably update about that sometime next week. Have a great Halloween everybody! Hasta luego, Zeph(:

P.S- this is my friend Marta, she was bummed because she hadn't been in a picture in my blog yet! ❤️