Tomorrow marks 2 weeks in Spain. Crazy to think about, but then again some of my exchange student friends are going on a month and a half which sounds even more ridiculous. So far it's been a busy 2 weeks. School started on the 18th so I've had 6 days of that so far which already seems like a lot.
School here is very different from the U.S. (obviously). There are so many things I could go into to prove my point, but that would be tedious for me and a ridiculously long blog for you to read (not that this won't already be). Briefly, my school is a mixture between stereotypical European school and American School. I move from class to class in between a set of 4 buildings. I have 8 classes total and 6 classes each day, but the hour at which they occur changes by the day making it impossible to remember. I have all of my classes with a core group of 20ish students who are in my "class" which is Segundo Bachillerato Social. For those of you who have no idea what that means (like myself), it means you are in your last year of high school and you chose to take the social classes verses the science classes which includes economics, geography, Spanish language, history, philosophy, English and either psychology or gym. At the end of this year all of my classmates will take a selectivity exam which is on everything they have learned in the last 2 years of bachillerato. It is crazy nerve wracking and determines if you will get into college or not. However, you are only eligible to take this exam if you have passed you last year of school which is very hard to do, I guess. SO, you have the option of taking more than 2 years of bachillerato. This is comforting for me, not because I'm concerned with passing (my grades count for nothing), but because that means there are people my age in my class who would have graduated high school in the U.S. but are taking a second year of Segundo Bachillerato so they are my age!
I can't say I actually have friends yet, but the people in my class are very nice and often invite me into their circles during break time so I don't stand against a pillar or sit on the steps by myself. None of them are super interested in asking me questions about the U.S. like I had hoped, but I am slowly starting to make conversation. My first couple of days, and still many times a day, I feel completely lost and overwhelmed. I then feel quite defeated by the language, finding friends and making myself not stand out. This seems to be the case with a lot of things I do lately. I start thinking (overthinking really) about every single thing I do. That is why this quote is perfect! I am constantly having to tell myself to take a breather and think about time. 2 weeks is nothing compared to 9 months, It is such a small portion of my year and I'm not expected to make lifelong friendships in 3 days! Everything here takes time and just waiting patiently for the pieces to fall into place and for myself to get comfortable with this way of life. Anytime I'm feeling down or out of place I remind myself that I'm not supposed to feel comfortable and how much I've already adapted. When my host mom rearranges my room while I'm at school and I have a little freak out and feel out of place I remind myself that everything takes time. I've already adjusted to there being one garbage can in the whole house and wearing shoes everywhere so why not one more thing. I just need a little time to adjust is all. At this point I have no doubt in my adaptation skills, but we'll have to wait and see what else they throw at me.
Last weekend I had the amazing opportunity to go to San Javier, specifically Santiago de la Ribera, with the 2 other girls form Cartagena to meet up with an exchange student from Murcia and the other boy exchange student who actually lives in San Javier. So the 5 of us had an action packed 32 hours. I felt like I was on vacation. First of all, in your spare time look up La Manga on Google to get and idea of where in Spain I was. It's only 20ish minutes from Cartagena and reminds me of Hawaii. Here's a map so you can kinda visualize as I explain.
Mar Menor is kind of like a lake. It's fed by the Mediterranean, is much saltier and has no waves. Saturday morning we started with wakeboarding in Mar Menor with Curtis (the boy from Canada whose house we were staying at)'s counselor named Carlos.
Needless to say it was a beautiful day with a beyond perfect venue.
Immediately after wakeboarding, we took a ferry from the port on La Manga to Santiago de la Ribera.
The girls are all from Cartagena. The blonde boy, Kalob, lives in Murcia and is from North Carolina and the tall, skinny one, Curtis, is from Canada and lives in Santiago de la Ribera.
We had to hurry off the ferry so we could make it to our wind surfing lesson which was right outside of Curtis's house.
Santiago de la Ribera
After wind surfing for 2 hours, we went back to Curtis's house and showered before dinner. For dinner we went on a 12 kilometer hike down a portion of La Manga that is a natural park reserve. We went with many of Curtis's host mom's friends and we walked by the light of the moon. It was a long walk so thankfully we had churros before hand. (Churros in Spain are generally served with a melted chocolate which you dip them in... it is quite delicious). Anyway we walked by moonlight to a certain point on the beach where we had a picnic dinner around 10 p.m. It was a bit chilly, but gorgeous and the waves and wind from the Mediterranean were heavenly. We walked back all along the beach barefoot by moonlight talking and joking (in English, but who cares).
The Group we went with.
Walking along the beach barefoot by the light of the moon
"I'm in Spain!"
Upon returning to Curtis's house we had a good ole American time laying on Curtis's couch and watching a movie in English. The next morning we got up and had pancakes and bacon, with Canadian maple syrup of course. Curtis's host mom (the nicest lady ever, especially for allowing 5 American teenagers to stay in her house for the weekend) loved the American breakfast and was delightfully surprised at the tastiness of maple syrup and bacon.
On the balcony of Curtis's house of course.
Just to give you an idea of how close he lives to the beach.
After breakfast we went for a quick swim in the amazingly clear water. I really appreciated just walking across the street to the beach in my swimsuit barefooted, yes, barefooted. I was so excited to not have to where shoes for once. After swimming, we went over to Olvidio's house (a friend of Curtis's host mother) to learn how to make Paella. If you don't know what Paella is, it's the dish Spain is known for, like America is known for hamburgers. It has rice and vegetables and either chicken or seafood generally, although each region of Spain makes it differently. Apparently we made a Valencian Paella, but who knows, I just know it was delicious...and we did the whole thing ourselves. It took 3 hours (normal for Paella which is said to be a social food because you converse and hang around while you make it then enjoy it together).
Finished product.
Made in a beautiful outdoor kitchen in a traditional Spanish House.
After spending 4 and a half hours making Paella and eating, we hurried to our second wind surfing lesson. This time around I didn't have much success with my board and sail. I spent 1 and a half of our 2 hours trying to go straight into the wind and catch up to my friends... it never worked out in my favor, but it was a great experience. After wind surfing we went to the house packed up and headed to the Mall where we shopped a little bit then were picked up to return to Cartagena.
The weekend was amazing. I truly felt like I was on vacation. Sorry this is so chalk full of pictures, but everyone took so many pictures to try and capture the beauty of where we were. Also, what I said earlier about not being able to make lifelong friends in 3 days... yes, that is difficult in a Spanish school, with Spanish speaking students who already have friends to talk to. However, it is very simple in a group full of exchange students who are naturally outgoing people, also alone in the world and eager to talk because they can finally speak in english and say what they feel. I have found a second family in this group of people and I could not be more thankful. To think I had to go halfway across the world to make connections with people from my own country, but oh well. Exchange is all about making connections and that's what I'm doing. Maybe I'll actually have a reason to go to Canada now. (I've never been there despite the fact that I live 8 hours away).
Anyways, tomorrow I get to see all of them again at a fancy Rotary dinner in Murcia. When I have doubts during the school day about what I'm doing with myself, it's plans like these or going to San Javier for the weekend or going shopping with Pauline after school that gets me through. Even thinking about getting ice cream or something. It's the little things that count right?
I have moments of doubt, shyness, fear and overwhelm, but I always remind myself that I have no idea what all of this will lead too. Normally that would scare me even more and feel like a hopeless cause, but here, that's what makes it exciting. I have no idea how this will end. I can only wait and see. Look forward with excitement rather than angst. Say yes to as many opportunities as possible and take it day by day. I do not know what lies ahead, but, good or bad, I'm ready.
