Arrival

Last tuesday, around 4:30 in the afternoon, I said my final goodbyes to Flagstaff and the people I love there. It was very difficult, but I also felt ready for this adventure. My mom and I drove down to Phoenix and spent the night at the most generous Geoffery Gooby's house, because my flight to New York left at 7 the next morning. We had to get up at 4 so that we could be at the airport a little after 5. It was hard to say goodbye and get on the airplane alone, but I was also extremely excited.

I arrived in New York about 45 minutes later than planned because of some weather delays. Me and a boy going to Italy got our luggage and took the AirTrain in JFK to the shuttle area, to be picked up by the Hotel's shuttle. I was nervous because we were on our own, but it all turned out fine. At the hotel we got our room keys and another AFS booklet and an agenda for the orientation. The orientation wasn't that bad. The next day it was only until about 12, and then we had lunch and waited. I played ukulele with a girl going to Italy who also had a ukulele and a boy going to Ghana who had a banjo. We left the hotel at 5 and were all waiting in the terminal by 7. My bag was exactly 44 lbs, or 20 kilos. At 8:30 we boarded the plane - it was the largest I've been on. There were three rows, the outside rows had two seats and the middles row had four. I was in the middle row in one of the middle seats. There were tvs for each seat and we were able to watch some movies that were in theaters this summer. They also served us dinner and breakfast. Some people were able to sleep, but I couldn't at all. It was about an 8 hour flight, but we arrived in Zurich around 10:30 the next morning.

At the Zurich airport we took the airport train and went through customs, which was basically just handing over your passport and having it stamped and moving on. The Zurich airport was very nice and kindof fancy. We waited there for awhile and some people bought some Swiss chocolate. Then we got on a smaller plane and were finally off to Madrid!

It was so exciting landing in Madrid, but I was a little nauseous too from all the flying. In the Madrid airport we collected our luggage and went to find the AFS Spain volunteers. They were very excited to see us. We waited at the airport for awhile and then all got on a bus to go to the Youth Hostel where the last orientation would be held. There, we were given rooms to share with other kids who were going to be in our area. I shared a room with a guy from Sweden, a guy from Thailand, and a girl from Finland. At first, the fact that boys and girls were sharing rooms and bathrooms was startling, because it would never happen in the U.S. However, I really liked the people in my room.

Another thing that would never happen in the U.S. is the first game we all played. There were about 80 students there by that point, the kids from Asia hadn't arrived yet. The game went like this: one person would sit in the middle of a giant circle and call out two numbers. Everyone in the circle had been given a number. The two whose numbers were called had to run up and try to kiss the person in the middle on the cheek before the other person who was called. To make it more amusing, the person in the middle had to try not to be kissed. All the U.S. students thought this was pretty strange. All of the other games we played were very...physical as well. The volunteers were trying to get us accustomed to how "touchy" the Spanish are. After games we sat through a quick orientation and then ate dinner. After that, everyone just hung out. I played my ukulele and talked to the Swedish guy, Erik. I was telling him about my life in Flagstaff and he says, "You're really a hippie, aren't you?" I thought it was hilarious. He dressed very "hipster" as my friends would say - thick glasses, stylish button up, etc.

I slept like a rock because I don't think I had slept for something like 32 hours. The next morning we got up and went to breakfast, then played more games. Host families arrived around 10:30 for the kids staying in Madrid, but we didn't get to meet them until 2 because they had to sit through an orientation. When we finally got to meet them, the volunteers told us to smile really, really big. When we entered, all the families applauded. Then volunteers called out the family name and our name (Spaniards have some trouble reading mine) and we walked up to each other and gave each other two kisses, one on each cheek. then I met my liaison and got to go home!

Alcorcon wasn't far from the hostel. It was a little awkward in the car, I'm just glad my host dad, Jose, knows some english. I live in a 7 story apartment building, my family has an apartment with a room above and a patio on the roof. It's very nice. They are all making me feel very at home. Yesterday, after I got there they told me that there was a party that would be going on till 3 in the morning in the courtyard, to celebrate the last days on summer, I think. We ate lunch and Jose's parents were there. They were also very nice. After, I took a nap because I was still very tired. When I woke up I talked with my host mom, Ani. Later, we ate some dinner and went down to the party. They were playing games and then started blasting mostly American pop music, and everyone started dancing. Jose hurt his back earlier this week at work, so he and I left early because, once again, I was tired. Ani and Marta and David (my little sister and brother) stayed downstairs until 3:30. I unpacked and fell asleep.

I am so excited to be here. I think I'm going to have an amazing time.

airport train in Zurich

flying over Zurich

in Madrid

Youth Hostel room

view from my bedroom

 

Last Post from Flagstaff

It's noon here, and in just a few short hours I will be on my way down to Phoenix with my mom because I need to be at the airport tomorrow for my flight to New York at 5 AM. It's hard to believe that I won't sleep in my bed, eat at our table, or draw at my desk for 10 whole months. I have spent some time being sad about this, but I'm not anymore. I am excited (and probably not nearly prepared enough!) for this adventure. Besides, I'll be back in what will probably seem like no time at all.

I spent my last full day in Flagstaff yesterday climbing to the Mt. Humphrey's summit with Blake. It was the perfect way to spend my last day. It took us 6 hours for the whole hike, and afterwards we just about collapsed. I'm am going to miss beautiful Flagstaff and the trails so much, but it will be so fun to experience city life

I think I am finally done packing. I'm glad that I can bring along my ukulele (thanks again Simon I love it so much, and thanks everyone for signing it <3). Last to pack is some art things that I'm still using...

I am so grateful to my mom for helping me with everything. I could not have done it without you. I'm sorry I've been snappy, I hope you know how much I appreciate your help and how much I'm going to miss you.

I'm not good with goodbyes, sorry guys. Goodbye seems too final. But I will miss you all, and can't wait to see you again in 10 months! Have a great year.

Got my Visa yesterday!

2 weeks and one day after my appointment at the Consulate. Yay! Today, I am working on packing, which is proving more difficult than I originally thought it was going to be.

On another note, it was weird seeing all my friends and my sister start school on Thursday. I'm going to miss you all so much this year! Gah. On Thursday I also finished the first half of my 11th English credit, and now I'm working on the second half of U.S. History. Yay for doing an already accelerated 6 week course in 4 weeks! (sarcasm).

I realized last night that after tomorrow, I'll only have two weekends left in Flagstaff, which is crazy. I'm starting to get super duper excited about leaving again!

School in Spain

I recently found out that I have been ok'd to go to school at I.E.S. Ítaca in Alcorcon, enrolled in the equivalent of 11th grade. It's about 10 minutes from my house, so I will either walk or bike. Here are some pictures:

I've been placed in the Social Sciences course (in Spain once students reach a certain grade they can choose a more specified area of study, depending on what they want to do). I think this will definitely be the best course if I want to try and transfer credits back. Also, it's not the Sciences course, which I really really did not want to be placed in. For those of you with not as much understanding of Spanish, it looks like I will be taking Spanish (Castellana) Language and Literature, English language, Philosophy and Citizenship (not entirely sure what that means), Contemporary World Sciences, P.E, Religion (these are required for the grade), World History, Math, Economics (these are the "Social Sciences" classes), and one of the "Optativas" courses (I'm kind of hoping they'll let me take French).

Visa Adventure

On Wednesday, my dad and I drove 8 hours to Los Angeles for my appointment at the Spanish Consulate the next day. For those of you who I haven't complained to yet, acquiring a Visa for Spain is no easy matter. Thankfully, I have a wonderful, organized mother who got me through it.

Some context on this very stressful process: the Visa application for Spain is very involved and has quite a few requirement on how recent some documents need to be. Also,  there were several forms that needed to be translated into spanish by an official translator and notarized. It also required documents from AFS Spain that certified I was enrolled in school there and had funds and medical insurance and such. A large amount of stress came from the fact that AFS Spain had not even sent these documents to AFS USA by Monday of this week. There was some worry that I would not have them before my appointment and I'd have to reschedule my appointment for the end of August and therefore not receive my visa in time and have to depart late. What ended up happening was that we received scans on the documents in an email which would suffice until we received the mailed documents and then could send the originals to the Consulate.

NOW ON WITH THE STORY
There wasn't too much traffic so my dad and I decided to go to the beach that evening for dinner (and because our hotel wasn't very interesting at all). It was beautiful, and we were able to watch the sunset. We ate dinner at "Bubba Gump's Shrimp Shack" which was amusing.

Also, I have to mention that the drivers in L.A. are completely insane. It made me tense just sitting in the passenger's seat. According to my dad, California is also the only state that allows motorcyclists to drive inbetween cars, which they most certainly take full advantage of. If you are nervous at all about driving, stay away from L.A.

The next morning we got up bright and early so that we'd have plenty of time to find the Consulate and park; we actually did so with very little trouble. The Consulate was on the 8th floor of a building not too far from our hotel.

We got there early and were told to wait until they called us - little did we know that this would be a whole hour and a half later (maybe two hours? I'm not quite sure. It seemed like forever) as they were running behind schedule. While we were waiting we watched as an older woman with no documents and the wrong appointment  tried to ask questions about getting citizenship in Spain, and another woman with some very odd clothes failed to understand that the documents or something that she wanted would take a very long time to arrive. There were also quite a few college students there applying for visas for exchanges as well, and some other people. While waiting wasn't exactly fun, I did get to listen to quite a few conversations in Spanish and try and understand what was being said. Mostly I could get the gist of what they were saying.

When my name was finally called the woman thanked us for waiting so patiently. She was actually very sweet, considering some of the people she had been dealing with that morning. The appointment maybe took 10 minutes, and then we were done (finally)! Dad and I decided to go to the beach one last time before heading home.

me on Venice Beach

 There was some traffic heading out (around 2:30) but it wasn't as terrible as it could be. Heading home we saw this lovely rainbow, and then later (although I couldn't get a good picture...) we watched the moon rise and, I swear, it looked about three times bigger than usual and a soft, golden orange. We got home at around 10, absolutely exhausted, but victorious.

Of course, because I'm going to be in Spain longer than 6 months I'll have to deal with more Visa stuff once I'm actually in the country. Within 30 days of arriving I'll have to visit the nearest police station with a bunch of other documents but I'm not going to worry about that right now :b

Also, the day after we got back (Friday) I had one last fundraiser at Thomas Byers Guitar Studio during First Friday. It was fun (despite being very tired) and I talked to quite a few people who had either been to Spain, were from another country and in the process of traveling around ours, or knew someone who had traveled and studied in Spain! As always, thank you Gretchen for all your help.

Just ONE MONTH till I leave!

49 days until I fly to Madrid...

and I'm having a difficult time comprehending it! Where did the summer go? Where did the past year go? It seems like only yesterday that I was browsing the AFS website and dreaming of a year abroad. Yet here it is, 7 weeks until I depart. Parts of me are sad and other parts are terribly excited.
To practice my Spanish I've been reading poetry by Pablo Neruda and then translations. His writing is unbelievably beautiful, and I can't wait until I can read it in Spanish without needing to give myself a headache translating. I think my favorite poem of his so far is "Pido silencio", or "I ask for silence". He writes:

Se trata de que tanto he vivido
que quiero vivir otro tanto.

Nunca me senti tan sonoro,
nunca he tenido tantos besos.

 This roughly translates to:

It's a question of having lived so much
that I want to live that much more.

I never felt my voice so clear,
never have been so rich in kisses.

I always love reading poetry and coming across a fragment that you feel perfectly describes your life. It's like braving the plunge into a spring creek and chills you, yet leaves you refreshed. 

This is a map showing all the AFS placements in Spain so far (: (Thanks Amy!)

View AFS Spain Placements in a larger map