La Primera Día de mis Clases!

Today was our first day of classes here, but we didn't actually have classes. We had placement exams to figure out our sections for when we start classes. There were 4 tests. The first one was grammar, with sentences with words missing and multiple choice for the word to put in the blank. The second part was also some more grammar but in a different form that involved reading and comprehension. The third part was a listening part. And the last section was a writing part. We had to write about the last movie we saw and describe it and why we liked it, but we could only use 80-90 words. No more than 90, and no less than 80. It was kind of an interesting constraint, but it worked. I thought the tests went well, but we'll see tomorrow when we get our placements! Then we met with our dance teacher and just talked a little bit about the culture of Spain.

This is a really interesting statue Allison and I came across on our walk home from school. It's exactly what it looks like... a zipper. Haha! I have no idea why it is a statue or why it is in the middle of a roundabout, but there it is. 

I came home, had lunch with my family at 3:00pm, and then Allison and I decided to go to a phone store here. Her host dad really wanted her to get a phone today so he'd be able to contact her if he needed, so we went at about 4:30. My family had an extra very basic flip-phone they said I can have/use here, so I just needed to buy a SIM card for it. We went in the first phone store we saw, but they could not give me a card because my phone was a different brand. (Basically, we walked into a Sprint store needing a Verizon SIM card.) The woman working told us that the store for my movistar phone "está en el otro lado," which means, is on the other side. And she pointed to the right. Allison and I walked around for probably 10 minutes up and down the rows of businesses and could not find the store! Turns out, it was directly next door to the first store. DIRECTLY. It was so stupid. Haha. So I got a card for my phone for only 12,40 euros which is really nice and I am able to call/text other phones in Spain. It'll be nice to have that, and also to have it as an alarm clock. I did not have another alarm so this morning I had to have my mom wake me up at 7:30. After the phone adventure, our group had a walking tour of the center of Avila and some of the cathedrals with one of our profesoras. She speaks very quickly so sometimes it was hard to understand, but she explained a lot about the history and culture of the buildings and walls. We got to go inside the famous cathedral of Santa Teresa and it was so beautiful. I haven't put the pictures on my computer yet, but when I do I'll upload a few to here and Facebook! While Allison and I were walking back to our houses, suddenly a huge boom of thunder cracked out and it started to rain. Neither of us had our umbrellas with us so we hurriedly walked to her house, which is closer to the center than mine, and got inside. I waited there for a while and got to meet her family. They are very nice and she has host siblings that are 12 and 16. The rain just kept getting stronger so I used their phone to call my house and had my dad come and get me. Luckily we live pretty close together so it wasn't a big deal. Tomorrow morning when we walk to school it will probably still be raining, so we will need to bring our umbrellas. Not a great moment to live across town from the school, but we're washable :)

Many of you are probably wondering/asking about the culture here and some things that are different. Everything here is much smaller than in the United States. For example, at the supermercado, the packages of food are much smaller, and other things like bottles of shampoo and soap come in much smaller containers. It is weird for me to buy them in such small containers because I feel like it's not practical, but it's the only option! The housing situations are much smaller too. The people here in the city live in apartments or houses. However, an apartment in the United States would be considered a house here. So the apartments here are much smaller than in the US. The rooms are much smaller too, and my shower is super little! It's so weird, but I'm getting used to it. The beds are also small. I don't think mine is even a twin, but I'm not sure. My bed also has fleece sheets on it, which is very interesting. I asked someone else if theirs did too and they said yes. That was one really  nice thing about being back at school with everyone was that we were able to talk about our families and our experiences and see what is the same/different and how everyone is doing. 

The food here is also very different, obviously. Not just different foods, but different foods at different times of day. I've explained how they eat lunch at 3pm and dinner at 9pm, but the food types are different as well. For breakfast, they eat many sweet things, many desserts. Things with chocolate, sugar, cakes, cookies, etc. That is their breakfast. The bad thing about that is you get hungry not long after eating, because it has no sustenance! Lunch is the big meal, with 2 or 3 courses, and then fruit, and then dessert, and then coffee. And then for dinner before bed, they tend to have what we would consider more breakfasty foods like eggs, bread/toast, tortillas, etc. I have liked everything I have eaten here so far and really enjoyed most of it. One interesting thing they do here is warm up milk before drinking it, and eat cereal out of mugs instead of bowls.

The roads are super different as well. Many of them are cobblestone or brick, but are very uneven so when you are driving on them it is SUPER bumpy, and they are not very nice to walk on either. There are roundabouts EVERYWHERE and so it's really difficult to cross the roads sometimes. You can only cross in the crosswalks, which don't go through the roundabouts, so sometimes you have to take a very circuitous route just to cross the street. They also have very small cars. I have not seen one pick-up truck here at all, and when I tried to explain trucks to my family they had no idea what I was talking about. Our explanations and communications are getting much better with each day. Today I explained how in my high school we had school today even though we usually don't on Mondays. I explained a snow day and that we need to make up the day on a Monday and my parents both understood with no problems! I was proud of that. We were watching TV tonight and CSI: Las Vegas was on. It was very interesting to watch in Spanish, and kind of funny because most of their shows here are Spanish voice-overs of American episodes. So the characters had different voices and the speech doesn't match their mouths, but it's fun to watch and I'm starting to understand more and more of it in the TV where they speak very quickly. One last fun interesting thing about here.. the voltage is different in their outlets, and so are the plug-ins. I have adapters to plug in my devices, but I do not need a converter because most electronics are distributed world wide and can handle the higher voltage. However, I have noticed that my devices charge SO much faster here than they do in the US! It's really nice actually. My camera battery only took about an hour to charge yesterday, compared to the many hours it takes at home. 

Wow, this post got super long but I just felt like I had a lot to say I guess!! I should head to bed now, I really need my sleep!! Adios :)

Living in Another Language

Well, I've been living in Spain for 2 days now and completely living in another language. Everything 24/7 is in Español, but I am surviving and really getting the hang of it! It is actually difficult for me to write these two blog posts in English. My whole day happens in Spanish (speaking, listening, hearing) and everything is explained in Spanish, so I just associate this whole world with the Spanish version of it and for some things here, I only know the Spanish word for them. When I want to write English, I think about it in Spanish and then translate it into English to write. It's really weird, and I'm sure it'll only get worse. Haha. Even when I'm with the other kids from our program, we speak Spanish to each other unless we get really confused. It's just "normal" now. I was just talking to Kari here and she said the same thing, which makes me feel better about it! Constantly thinking in Spanish :) I was talking to Erin (Love you, girl!) for a teeny bit earlier and the Spanish TV was on at the time and I was really struggling to write in English.

I have a story I wanted to tell you, Erin Lurie, but it's sort of funny so I'll share it on here. When we were walking through the supermercado yesterday, my little sister (She's 8 now, remember), asked me if I wanted to hear a really fun word in Spanish. Of course I said yes, and she rattled off this long and complex word. It did sound pretty cool. I asked her to explain it, and she pointed to a muscle in her neck, and then said she knows the word in English too, and said it in English twice. Erin--it's that SUPER weird muscle thing in our necks that's a super long word that you told me all about that one day! You know exactly the word I'm talking about, and I can't even remember it myself. PLEASE TELL ME AGAIN. I laughed out loud. It was so funny and cute and reminded me of how excited about that word you were as well :) So I am learning many new words (some useful, some not) all the time here.

My Spanish skills have improved tremendously even though it has been just two days. I am able to think faster which means I can speak faster and it makes more sense. I am also understanding more and more that people say and having to ask them to repeat it or explain much less than I was yesterday. One thing I find very interesting is that I have never really understood the whole direct/indirect object in Spanish and have never used it at all unless I have to on a test. I use it all the time now and have total control over it. When I am speaking Spanish all the time, it gets annoying to have to repeat an object and using 'it' is sooo much nicer.

I have had many compliments from adults here about my Spanish pronounciation and skills, which is so nice to hear from native speakers. I am excited to keep increasing my skills while I am here. In my Psych class at UND, when we learned about languages our teacher said there is no set definition of fluency, but he defines it as when you can speak and understand a language without having to translate it into English in between. I am starting to be able to do that and hope to be very fluent and skilled by the end of my 6 weeks!

I have my first day of classes in the morning, which is actually placement exams and one dance class, so I should probably get to sleep. Buenas noches todos!! Que lo pasen bien mañana!

Walking, Walking, Walking

If you couldn't tell from the title, today I did a lot of walking! I slept in until 11:00 this morning, which was crazy. I haven't slept in that late in a looong time, but I needed it after my no-sleep night. I got up and had breakfast with coffee. I was a little nervous about the coffee, thinking it might be SUPER strong here, but I had it with milk and sugar and it was just perfect :) After that, Nuría and Marta were going to church for first communion of their niece/cousin. The church they went to is near the main part, or centro, of the city, and so while they were at church, I walked around the town center and the walls! It was so absolutely gorgeous and the weather was perfect. I took TONS of pictures and uploaded a few to Facebook. I have been extremely photo happy so far, but I am trying to spare you all by only uploading a few of my favorite pictures. The weather today was very warm and sunny. One thing that is interesting here though is that when the sun is really bright/hot, they don't put on short-sleeved shirts or tanktops. They wear longsleeves to block the sun! It's an interesting concept, but I will get way to hot! Last night when Kelli and I were walking around with t-shirts on, our families could not believe we weren't cold. But we haven't experienced anything warmer than about 70 so this "summer" here feel so amazing!

As I was walking around the city by myself, I came across Allison, a girl from EMU and her host dad! It was so weird. Her Dad recognized me from the family pick-ups yesterday and caught my attention. It was nice to walk around with them for a while and we took a few pictures together. She is the only student in our program who lives anywhere near me (that I know of), so it's nice that I met her today and will be able to walk to/from school with her. My walk to school is about 30 minutes, all the way across town. A few of the other students live like 3 minutes from the school. It's so unfair. Haha. But when it's nice out, the walk will be pleasant. Allison and Al were going to the church after my family was, so I met up with my family and we explored a bit more. While we were walking around, I was able to meet a couple of my profesoras, including my dance teacher and one of the high-level Spanish teachers. She told me my Spanish skills are very good because she was talking very quickly and I could understand her and respond, but we will see how my skills are on our tests tomorrow! We came back from the city and had lunch. Nuría made lasagna and it was super good. We ate out on the patio in the sunshine and it was sooo wonderful. Felt like summer :) After lunch Marta brought her turtles outside to clean their cage and we played with them for a while. She has two turtles, Lolo and Lola and they are so cute and fun. I never imagined playing with a turtle would be very entertaining, but it actually was! They are very little. One has a shell the diameter of a golf ball, and the other has a diameter of a baseball. They are super nice and I could hold them and pet their heads and they totally are chill about it. It was fun to play with her for a little bit because Marta has been pretty timid around me so far, but now she is more vocal and will talk to me and ask me things. She explained how to work the TV to me today, so that's nice to know. Then it was time for Marta to study. She has a social studies test tomorrow and needed to practice her English for her academia. In Spain, the students are required to study with their Dads, so Jesús was helping her and I was listening in. She was being quizzed on different Spanish leyendas (legends), and that was kind of interesting. It was really fun to help her with English. Haha. I feel like it makes me understand the language a bit better, and having to explain an English phrase in Spanish is quite the task.

A little later in the day, I decided I wanted to explore down a path that runs right past our house. We live on the very edge of Ávila and there's a neat path and on my map there's water near it. I walked down it for a ways and it was so wonderful! Nuría joined me for a little bit, but then had to go back home to watch Marta. She explained that that part of Ávila is the country, more rural area. And it totally was. I saw pastures of sheep (with the most ADORABLE baby lambs), cows, and horses. There were very few houses and as I got farther out, the path runs along a beautiful river. Many people were fishing or splashing along the edge. I walked for over an hour and it was really nice.

After that, we ate some sandwiches and then Nuría walked me to my school and back so that I sort of know where I'm going tomorrow. Ha. Then we came back, I watched a Spanish game-show on TV, ate dinner, and now I just showered and am going to head to bed. My first day of classes tomorrow! I forgot to mention this yesterday, but the towel I have for my shower is like a giant sham-wow. Haha. It is a really weird feeling,  but it does wonders for drying my hair.

Here's one picture of the river. The quality pictures my camera has been taking is mind-blowing.

First Day!

Well, today was my first day in Ávila and it was so wonderful! We took a bus from Madrid to Ávila and the scenery was just gorgeous along the way! It was so beautiful and I got some good pictures, but it was so hard to stay awake on that ride because I still hadn't gotten any sleep. I slept 45 mins on the plane, and that's all the sleep I got for Friday night. When we got to Ávila, we met up with our families (which I mentioned before) and then headed to our homes.

Check out this cool cross we saw in the mountains on our way from Madrid to Ávila!

Rico said we'd probably go home, eat lunch, and then go to bed and catch up on our sleep. But after I ate and we were sitting around talking, I wasn't really tired anymore and I didn't want to go to bed at 4 in the afternoon, so I stayed up and was planning on going to sleep early evening, but I never actually did! With all the stimulation, I stayed very alert and awake. It's currently 11:48 pm and I still haven't slept. I'm sure this'll catch up to me eventually, but at the moment I'm doing well. One nice thing is that Nuría and Jesús have an old extra cell phone, so I'll be able to use that while I'm here. I just need to buy a new SIM chip to put in it, which is only about 15 euros, and then it'll work and that's all I'll have to pay. That'll be nice so I can communicate with my friends, and it'll be nice because I won't be stuck with a random phone when I'm done.

Late in the afternoon, Nuría and Marta took me to the supermercado so I could buy some shampoo and a couple other necessities. Jesús works as a security guard here in town and he was working, so it was just us three. One of Nuría's good friends is also hosting a student, who happens to be my friend Kari whom I already know! So we went to the store together with her and her family which was really nice. Kari and I were totally fascinated by the market. We are going to go back in some day soon and take some pictures. Some of the stuff in there is so cool! Their baskets especially. They wheel across the ground and it's really neat. Nuría bought me some Nutella while we were there so I was really excited. European Nutella is even better than regular Nutella, which I never thought was possible. Then we went back to Kari's house and hung out there for a little bit. She has two little host sisters, one a little older than Marta, and the other is 4 years old. I don't know why, but seeing a 4-year-old speak Spanish just cracks me up. She's adorable. After that, Nuría drove me around town to show me around and explain where I need to walk home from school. It's about a 30 minute walk, so that'll be a good chunk of exercise everyday. It's just too bad none of the other students live on my street so we could walk together! Then we went to the big town center of Avila inside the walls, along with her sister (who's also hosting a student). So Kelli and I and our host families looked around in there a little bit. It was so gorgeous. We didn't stay long, but I'm excited to go back!

Here's a picture from inside the town center.

It was getting really chilly out when the sun went down, so we came back and had dinner. I watched some TV with Marta, which is SO fun because she watches the same shows kids do here. We watched Tom & Jerry and Phineas & Ferb. They're the same, just in Spanish. Then I finished unpacking my suitcase, took a shower, and I'm about to go to bed. I'm excited to sleep, cuz I am a little bit behind in that department.

I have no idea what tomorrow is going to bring, but I'm sure it will be something great! Hope you all have a great evening :)

Mi Familia!

When we got to Ávila today, our host families were waiting at the school for us and picked us up to take us home. We knew nothing specific about them before this, so we were all very anxious to meet them! I have an absolutely wonderful family. My host mom's name is Nuría and the dad's is Jesús. They are a really nice couple in their mid-40's, and live on the edge of Ávila sort of near the big city walls. The view out my bedroom window is just gorgeous! I will have to take a picture to upload when it is light outside again. They also have a daughter, Marta, who is 8 years old. She is so cute and sweet and she knows quite a bit of English, because she learns it in her academia here. I have my own bedroom upstairs and bathroom downstairs, so that is really nice. The house is little, but that's the way they all are here. Everyone lives in little areas called vecinos that are groups of small houses put together in a big square. In the middle of ours is a pool, which will be super fun when it opens in June. Marta said she goes swimming in it every day.

I spent a long time today just talking to my family and getting to know them, and it went really well. We are able to communicate well and haven't had any big misunderstandings. Nuría knows a bit of English as well, which can help in certain situations. She is the secretary at the school I'm going to here, so that will be nice if I ever need to ask her something during the day. And that is why she knows a bit of English, from working at the school. It is also really fun because they want to learn English so sometimes they'll ask me the English word for something, or Marta will ask me how to properly say something because she said her English teacher here is not very good and does not know how to pronounce many of the words, so she learns them the wrong way. She can spell them and knows the meaning, but has difficulty saying them.

Now that I am in this home, I definitely have started to feel like I'm in a foreign country. In Madrid at the airport, it didn't really seem like it, but now that I'm in a whole different style of house and life, and hearing/speaking Spanish all the time I can really feel it. I am kind of walking on egg shells at the moment, because I don't want to do anything to offend them or do anything wrong! They are super nice and I know they wouldn't be mad or anything if I did, I'm just trying to learn about the way they do things before I get too independent with my actions. We eat dinner at this neat table in the salon, kind of like a living room, that is a coffee table that pulls up to the couch as a large dinner table and we eat around it. We eat all the meals as a family, and in Spain meals are very different than here. They eat breakfast in the morning, then around noon-1 have a snack. Lunch is the big meal, and that is served around 3pm. In this house, it involves, 2 courses/entrees type things, then a vegetable, then bread, and then fruit. A while later they have another snack or coffee/tea time. I learned so quickly today I will be drinking a lot of coffee and tea while I'm here. They drink it all the time. And then dinner is late at night, around 9 or 10 and is just a light meal. Tonight we had bread and cheese and meat.

I'm adapting to the house, but a few things are a little bit of a change. It took me all day to figure out how to shut my window blinds. These things are crazy! Haha. And they have an automated garbage can. Which seriously scared the crap out of me when I leaned over it to look out the window. I also could not figure out how to make the water in the shower hot, but eventually I got it to work. They are very very nice and will totally answer my questions, so that is really nice and reassuring.

I'm really looking forward to getting to know the family and spend some more time with them throughout these weeks! So don't ya'll worry, I'm being well taken care of :)

Hola, España!

I am officially in Spain! Our flight got in at 8:30 this morning and we have been in Madrid at the airport ever since. We are currently sitting on our bus outside mooching Wi-Fi off the bus next to us, because the airport does not have Wi-Fi.

My flights and airport things all went smoothly! On my first flight, I was sitting next to a woman from Venezuela. Crazy, right? So she speaks English and Spanish and we talked in Spanish for quite a while which was good practice for me. Then I got to Atlanta, took a train all the way across to the other side of the airport, grabbed some food, and got to my next gate. The flight from Atlanta to Madrid was only 8.5 hours, but felt like FOREVER. I was hoping to be sleeping most of the time, but I actually did not fall asleep at all. I slept maybe like 40 minutes the whole time, so I'm running on pretty much no sleep. The plane was SUPER cool though. Each seat had its own little screen thing, and you could watch movies, listen to music, play games, view the flight status and where we were, and a few other things. They had really good movies and some brand new releases! So that was nice. I just never fell asleep. The plane food wasn't bad at all in my opinion. We got a snack on the first flight, and a snack, dinner, and breakfast on the long flight. 

Here's a couple of pics from today.

Beautiful sunset over the ocean :)

This was a machine we had to use at the airport to email our families because they do not have wi-fi. It was extremely difficult to use actually.

My official passport stamp!!!! :)

Today we will head to Avila to meet our families, eat with them, and then go to bed. Tomorrow we spend the day with our families, and then Monday we have placement testing and our first dance class. (OHHH BOY.) I'll try to post an update later, depending on if my family has Wi-Fi or not. 

Today's the Day!

It is finally here...the day that I board my planes and fly across the world to the beautiful country of Spain. I have imagined this day for so long, and I can't believe I am sitting at the airport!!

Security checks are crazy, way more than I ever imagined. I feel like I had to empty half of my bag into trays before I could go through--electronics, laptop separate, shoes, coat, belt, liquids bag, medications. After security it takes a good 5 minutes to get resituated. But now I'm just relaxing at the gate, watching the planes go. It is really cool how they have iPads at every chair and so I'm just playing around on it and browsing the web. They are pretty cool. At the bottom of the screen it has your flight info and updates, and then you can play games, browse the Internet, and even order food right on it! Then a person brings the food right to your seat. Crazy. The skies are blue and sunny, a beautiful day to fly. I can't wait to look out the window when we take off.

I downloaded some new books on my nook and can't wait to get to reading them on this trip! I will be in the US until about 5:15pm, so if you need to call me, text me, or snap chat, you better do it before then! I will have my phone turned off in Spain and will just buy a cheap pay as you go phone to use there to communicate with the other students and my family. If you need to get ahold of me while I am in Spain, shoot me an email or Facebook message and I will get back to you when I get the chance!

I'm super excited to embark on this adventure. Hope you all have a great day and I will post an update when I get the chance. Thanks!!! :)

Crunch Time

Well ladies and gentlemen, I have officially hit crunch time. I have completed my finals week at school and am finally at home!! Along with this insanely large pile of stuff..... (HELP!)

I need to spend the rest of tonight and Thursday sorting through all of this and packing my suitcase and carry-on for the trip. I have my super long packing list I've been compiling over the last week or two, so I need to find all of those items and try to make it all fit! I'm also searching the Delta and TSA website to make sure that I'm not breaking any rules so my time at the airport can go smoothly and quickly. I am hoping to see a few people tomorrow before I leave and get a few last-minute errands completed. My nerves about this trip have kind of subsided at the moment, and I'm more filled with excitement now! I cannot believe the day is finally coming! I talked to a few of the other girls that are going to Avila today before I left and it has just made me even more excited! We are so excited to experience this wonderful summer. 

Well, I better get back to my packing, packing, packing! It'll be a long crazy day tomorrow but by the end of it, I will be completely set for my trip! (Hopefully!!)

Hard to believe, but...

It's crazy how fast time flies! I am leaving for Spain at the end of this week. I've imagined the day coming quite a few times, but now that it is almost here I do not know what to expect. I feel like I am not prepared at all, but when I sit down and try to figure out the things I have left to do, that list is very minimal. I think the trip is just something I'm going to feel unprepared for until I do it.

Speaking of these last few days, it is SOOOO unbelievably hard to focus. I sit down and try to study or get something accomplished, and my brain quickly wanders to Spain. I visualize situations in my mind, or pull up Google and look at pictures of Avila or things to do in Spain or other random study abroad information. I will be so relieved when I am done with my last two finals here and can put all of my focus on Spain.

I have very mixed emotions about the whole situation at the moment. Obviously, yes, I am so super excited and that's what people expect when they ask me about it. But I'm also very nervous! This is a huge change for me and something I have never done and not very experienced with. I've been doing a lot of "what-if?" thinking, on the excited side and the nervous side. What if I land in Madrid and can't remember my Spanish? What if I get lost walking around the city? What if my classes are super hard? What if I don't get along with my family? What if I become really homesick? What if my Spanish skills aren't as good as I expect them to be? And then there's the excited part of it... I can't wait to try all the new foods. I can't wait to meet so many new people. I can't wait to take millions of pictures and see the beautiful scenery. I can't wait to wear shorts and flip-flops and be tan. I can't wait to improve my language skills. 

The mix of all these hypothetical situations is just crazy at the moment, but once I'm there I'm sure it'll all disappear and I'll just absorb and love everything that is happening around me. I'll have about a day at home to finalize things and finish up my packing and then I'll be off! I'm hoping I don't forget anything I really need, but I can always just buy it there I suppose! 

While I'm in Spain, I'm going to try to stay off of my Facebook and Twitter as much as I can, because I want to be focused on life in Spain and not tied to everything back home. So if you want to see what I'm up to, checking this blog is probably your best bet! If you have a question or want to tell me something, leave me a comment on here or shoot me an email! Or a Facebook message... I'll get to it eventually. We all know I can't stay off Facebook for a very long period of time. 

Well, I should probably get back to my studying. If my brain will focus and cooperate. Have a wonderful week! I know mine will be crazy intense!