Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Bon Nadal...

So I have some time to give what will probably be my last update of 2013. Today is also my last full day in Spain until 2014! That's right, tomorrow I'll be going to Morocco with my host family for about 9 days. From the 27th of December til the 5th of January. Morocco will become the fourth (well does Switzerland really count?) country that I've been to, and Africa will become the third continent I've been to as this is still my first time out of the USA (crazy right?). So on the 27th we are all waking up at like 5 in the morning and piling 7 people into my host mom's car and driving to Almeria, where we will catch the 5 hour ferry to Nador where we will stay the night, the next day we will go to a city in between the Sahara and Nador for one night and later arrive in the Sahara where we will essentially camp with a group of more than 20 friends and family of my host family, on the 2nd of January we'll begin to make our way back to Elche through the same path that we went there. Anyways when I get back I'll write a nice long post with everything when I get back that'll also include Christmas here in Spain, until then, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

December 1st Half & Photos

Well. Long time no write. Sorry. I've been way too busy. I'll go right into it.
I turned 16! So on my 16th birthday I woke up early and gathered all the papers I thought I would need to collect my visa in Pamplona and headed to the Cercanias station by my house went to Atocha and caught the morning train up to the north of Spain back to where my journey started.  

Picture 1: Atocha

Picture 2: Pamplona random pic

Picture 3: News on my birthday

Picture 4: Train station in Pamplona. Funny story about this one. So my train home the day after my birthday was Pamplona to Zaragoza, and then about 30 minutes later Zaragoza to Madrid on the AVE (which is Spain's super fast train system that went well over 300 km/h... for the Americas about 190 m/h.) Well my train from Pamplona was supposed to leave at 9:13 a.m. but it didn't get there til about 9:30 and left around 9:35. I had no idea what to do once I got to Zaragoza so I was kinda worried I'd totally miss my train or get on the one I was told that will be right next to it that would take me to Barcelona. Thankfully I arrived with a good amount of time to transfer (actually the train from Zaragoza to Madrid was delayed like 15 minutes too so there was no rush at all) 

Zaragoza train station pictures. 

To avoid having to dwell on things I'd prefer not to, I'll just cut to the chase and move on. I had to switch families and now I live in Elche, a city in the Valencian Community really close to both the beach and the city of Alicante. Valencian is an official language but Spanish is still used a lot here. My family speaks both in home and my school is all in Spanish (except for the one hour a week of class I take that's in Valencian.) Valencian is from what I've been told the exact same as Catalan (what's spoken in Catalonia, another region in Spain, where Barcelona is) but just has a few different words. My new school has a program for Spanish for foreigners so I get 15 hours of this class a week at school. There's another girl from AFS in it as well as kids from Sweden, Belgium, and China. 

Random pictures from Alicante and Elche which are super cool.

Well I know this was pretty short, but I'll try and update it more soon. Happy holidays to everyone if I don't get around it to it until after it!

5 Cool Things I've Done & Life Update

Today I'll write about five things I've had the chance to do that I probably would never have been able to do if I didn't come to Spain:

1. Saw an actual bull fight in Spain's most famous bull fighting region. Disclaimer: they didn't kill the bulls after.

So one day while we were in our home in the village my host family woke me up and where like "do you want to go see a bullfight today?" Me, wanting to see what they're all about, decided to go. We got there at around 8 in the morning and it was freezing. From our seats in the ring we were able to also see the running part that was going on beforehand. Then after that all the bulls ran in and were put into a corral to await their turn to go out. Once out a bunch of guys would run out and the bulls would chase them leading the guys to jump over the wall and then the bull would proceed to his next "victim"

2. Learn Spanish. No I'm not fluent, there's a long path ahead of me for that one. But I've come such a long way! I remember my first days here where I understood practically nothing. I couldn't respond, nor understand. Now I feel like I can speak a good bit of Spanish without effort. And not understanding something is usually due to lack of vocab, not verb conjugations or accent. We'll give this one time to fully develop for sure... 

Spanish notes I took. Yes people I still do homework and study. But at least it's over the topic I understand the best. 

3. Make friends from all over the world. No doubt I've made so many Spanish friends, I've also made a lot of friends from the US and other countries which probably wouldn't have happened if I didn't come to Spain.

4. Got the chance to see one of my brother's friends who lives in Spain but was an exchange student to Austin a few years ago.

Hopefully you don't mind this Rodrigo.

5. Got to see three Spanish cities that have made me realize how big the world is, and how much more I have to see. 

Burgos, Castilla y Leon, Spain. Talked about this one before. Only there for maybe twenty minutes but hey I saw this so...

Pamplona, Navarra, Spain. Actually if I believe correctly I will be going back on December 9th to get my visa... which also happens to be my 16th birthday...I guess it'll make for a birthday I'd never forget! Besides I want to go back!

Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain. Write about this one too much, I know. 

Life Update

Well I've been making new friends at my new school so that's good. And exam week is starting. Pretty much everyday we have one. Tomorrow's I think is English so I think I should be okay with that one. Today I had a Physics test and while there were things I didn't understand at all, I was shocked I was able to do some of them with as much confidence as I did, well maybe I shouldn't say that until we get our grade backs. 

The past Friday I had one in Biology (yes everyone in 7th period Deere's last year, I'm taking it again.) And it was over a concept they really drilled into our heads in my school the year before that the kid's in Spain were just learning. So I really think I did well. I studied and reread my notes a heck of a lot of times and really think I aced it. 

Swimming. I finally started swimming here. I am right now swimming with a group of maybe 40 kids (estimating a group of people is so hard.) They do things much different than I'm used to in the USA. They sometimes swim with dummies (back to lifegurading this summer) and sometimes we do these drills where you have to stop in the middle of the pool go under a net/obstacle and then continue without touching neither the obstacle nor the ground. Also these kids are really fast. Maybe it's cause I haven't swam in 4 months or just because they're really fast. I'm thinking it's a mix. 

Also I really am learning I still dress like an American. At my old school I could dress like an American and blend in, but at my new one I stick out like a sore thumb. I have started getting more Spanish-Fashion-Forward clothes but to be honest it's so expensive and sometimes I lose my appetite to dress like a Spaniard when I look at the price tag on a new jacket from Pull and Bear/Jack and Jones/El Corte Ingles which are way overpriced. 

That's it for today, til next time when I'll probably be 16.