las fotos

To the left: My host sister Bea and I at Las Fiestas de Majadahonda.

Top Left: My host sister Bea, my host mother Ana, and I

Top Right: PURE JOY

Below: El Palacio de Madrid

good vibrations

Every morning I walk about 15 minutes to school. The pinks and yellows from the sunrise are always just fading as I make my way heading east down the main stretch to my school. I always have my iPod in as I walk and today the song "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys came up on my shuffle. I'd say that song title epitomizes how I'm feeling right now. I'm still confused with the language restrictions sometimes, I had my first full week of school and I can't say I'm totally comfortable there yet. I still sometimes get surprise when I see Spanish advertisements, when I walk by a bakery and see "Panaderia" above it, and when I wake up and I'm not in my American bed. But this confusion is not bad in any way, I'm picking up only good vibrations.



My Spanish is getting better. I'm understanding more and more each day, I'm finding myself saying things without having to literally translate each word or phrase in my head, and I can hear my very own Spanish accent rapidly developing. This is due in large part to my first week of school. It passed by rapidly, getting accustomed to my classes and friends. I love waking up in the morning and knowing that I have some consistency in my days, though I didn't remember how much my body and I dislike waking up at 7:30 in the morning. I wake up (and take my pills, mom :) and for breakfast I have Spanish coffee (unlike anything I've ever tasted) and a peach or apple and a piece of toast with a tomato paste and olive oil. I brush my teeth and walk out the door to a pleasant, cool morning and to my school IES Carlos Bousono.

My classes rotate every day, the only consistency to my days is that we follow the same time schedule every day, the classes vary. For example, one day I might have chemistry, english, philosophy, history, earth sciences, and psychology, and the next they may be rearranged or one may be substituted with spanish or biology. The only classes that I feel lost in are Philosophy and History because the concepts are abstract and I, shockingly, never learned the vocabulary words for "unified beings" and "barbaric invadors". My history teacher is an unforgettable woman. For those of you who know Mrs. Saxton-West at NHS who is impeccably prepared, maticulously organized, and unnaturally intelligent, I can only say I've found her Spanish compliment. Even though I've already learned most of the things they're teaching in my science classes, I find myself understanding the concepts all the more thouroughly because I have to listen more intently due to the language barrier. I always read the chapters I'm supposed to in my books and attempt at least a part of the homework; my teachers seem like they're at least expecting my to TRY and, that, ladies and gentlemen, I can do.

I have quite a few friends at school now, people that I'm with pretty consistently in my class of 24 students or so. I also introduce myself to new kids every day, always travelling around with my friend Alicia who loves motorbikes, studying, and hip hop dance. Jesus is from Mexico and has lived here for three years because of his parents work, he has essentially no social boundaries, plays paintball every day, and is incredibly intelligent, despite trying to appear like he's not. Daniel is somewhat of a nerd, always has intensely white shoes and is well-groomed; he uncomfortably laughs when he probably shouldn't. Adrian is a dashing Spanish devil, he lived in Canada for a year so his English is decent and he seems like he's up for pretty much anything. I have more people at school that I know pretty well, but these are the kids that I'm with for most of the day, and I see the other exchange student Jesse at the 25 minute break.

I met my counselor yesterday, a short, dominating little presence that swept me up in her arms when we met and told me immediately how gorgeous I am and how she looked just like me 30 years ago. She has to be at least 60 years old (which either means I look like I'm 30 or she's slightly confused about her age) and speaks very loudly- she doesn't dwell on questions, just waits for an answer and then clicks right along to the next. She informed me about the importance of having some sort of religion, of always keeping my purse zipped in the city, and how there were far too many South Americans in our town of Majadahonda. I'm to call her if I ever run into any trouble and send her emails very occasionally just for an update on how I'm feeling. I left our meeting totally exhausted :)

I have an enormous blister on the bottom of my foot that grows steadily each day from all the walking. My clothes are fitting a little looser despite all the food that I'm eating and my white Minnesota glow isn't radiating quite as much as the Spanish sun has been tinting my skin ever so slightly. This week I've been shopping with Bea, out to eat with my friend Rocio, I went into Madrid last night with my friend Robi and today we go back to our grandpa's house for the weekly lunch. Next weekend we have the same type of Fiestas that I've described in past posts, except in a neighboring suburb of Las Rozas. Keeping busy definitely takes the edge off of homesickness and I'm realizing now how fast time really can move if you're not hyperfocusing on it. Having talked to other exchange students and based off of my own feelings, sometimes it feels like we should constantly be doing things. Like whenever we're just sitting at home doing homework or just watching TV we're wasting our time here and should be out exploring our cities or countries. But I'm realizing further each day, that if Rotary desires for us that we live the life of a "typical" teenager in a different country, we're doing exactly what every other teenager does everywhere in the world, living day to day, not out changing the world every school night.

As we read in psychology class the other day, "we shouldn't judge this life or it's consequences, we shouldn't ask "why are we happy?", but simply embrace the happiness and forever seek more of it." I can't say that's a literal translation, but it is the general idea and it rings true for me as I pick up more and more good vibrations here in Spain. Each day gets better, each day I find more familiarity, more things to identify with across the Atlantic. I'm almost to my month mark, which feels surreal and brings with it a mixture of sadness, anticipation, and excitement. I'm picking up good vibrations and beautiful Spain is giving me definite excitations. I appreciate your comments, emails, and encouragements and I can only say thank you to Rotary again and again.

Un Besito, Sam

time keeps on ticking (ticking ticking) into the future

It's about 4:30 pm here in Spain on a Sunday afternoon and I'm full of food, contentment, and stories to share. Las Fiestas de Majadahonda were this past week, with something going on every night; the culminating events being the parties this past weekend in the streets. I was completely blown away by what I saw, I wasn't prepared for the sheer magnitude of young people. I'm getting comfortable enough with my town to be able to make my way around (no small feat for a country gal in a big city); there is a giant open space called "El Recinto" in which the fiestas were held and there were thousands, THOUSANDS of people there. Let's paint a picture, shall we?

As you walk down Gran Via (the center street of Majadahonda) there is a Mercadillo going on, a market with kiosk-type stands where merchants are selling their local crafts. It's about 11 pm, the streets are just starting to wake up, there are people moving in and out of kiosks, through cigarette smoke and maneuvering around extension cords, little children sprinting about your feet, and scores of older folks lining the spaces between the kiosks and local restaurants with outdoor seating, drinking sangria and probably murmuring to themselves about lost youth while the "Felices Fiestas" christmas-like lights stream overhead. Teenagers intermingle with the rest of the crowd, sporting "fashionable" fall gear, boots and leggings, worn leather jackets, and faded jeans in layers and layers to protect from the cold and lingering rain. Moving farther down Gran Via a general crowd merges into one of only youth, all heading towards the same place. After about a 10 minute walk, the music growing louder with each step, the lights fading from those of Gran Via into the vibrant, psuedo-club lights of El Recinto, the masses thronging and pulsing, pushing past "churro" stands and evidently unsafe carnival rides into a giant, open floor called El Recinto, in the center of which is an enormous tower, sending out music, lights, and a general atmosphere of a fiesta. There is dancing and drinking (a no-no for me) and exchanging glad tidings and fighting and crying and kissing and hysterical, falling all over yourself laughter. It is the Spanish way, treasure each night because it won't happen again, think about right now, not school on Monday, not what just happened at your house an hour ago, dance like there's a thousand people dancing with you, no one judging, no one taunting, it's a fiesta for everyone. This was my Friday and Saturday night, leaving the house at about 11, returning at around 5 am, breathless and thrilled. I went with Bea Friday night and a different group of friends Saturday night, even temporarily bumping into the other exchange student here in Majadahonda, Jesse. I have to think that this weekend will be remembered as one of my first, and one of my best, I don't know how much better it can get.

Aside from the Fiestas there was also a Baptism in the family this Saturday. It was on the side of my host mother, we all gathered in a church for the baptism (Catholic, just in case you were wondering) and then moved to the house of my host-grandfather. Ana (my mother) has 7 siblings, all of whom are married and with children and every Saturday, they all gather at my grandfather's house to catch up on the week and just be with each other. The house itself is magnificent; the grandfather is an architect and designed this enormous establishment that really encompasses two houses, one for himself and one for his eldest daughter and her family. There is a back patio with many tables where everyone sits, at the bottom of a giant sloping yard with a garden and paths where the younger cousins run and play. My family is welcoming and similar to my own; teasing one another and interrupting stories for more stories, passing around pictures and memories. The elder cousins sit at their own table with the ever-present pre-teen who is just old enough to sit with the teenagers without feeling silly. The atmosphere was relaxed and comfortable, I felt like a member of the family, even though it was only my first of many visits.

Life around the house has been simple and easy-going. When I start to get homesick (which is infrequent, but no fun when it hits), I remedy myself with several things, either shooting my family an email or immediately busying myself with something else so I don't have too much time to think. I've found one of the most effective ways is just to immerse myself with my host family; sitting on the couch watching The Simpsons with Jacobo rolling in laughter next to me usually does the trick :) I'm reading "In The Shadow of the Wind" by Spanish author Carlos Ruiz Zafon and when Ana saw she leapt up and fetched her copy of it in Spanish along with the sequel, insisting that I make my way through them, it would help with my language and they were just plain fantastic books. I just had a feast of chicken, gazpacho, fried potatoes skins, scalloped potatoes, fruit, cheese, and more which my host parents and Jacobo cooked and Bea and I cleaned up, now that they're finally allowing me to help more around the house. Back to school tomorrow; I can't say I'm eagerly awaiting it, but it does make the days blend into one another, and a little familiarity would be much appreciated at this point in my adventure. I'm two weeks in, not a whole lot of weeks to go, at times feeling surreal and disorienting and at other times feeling like this is exactly where I'm supposed to be. I guess it's all part of the ride.

Hasta Luego! Sam

school---a grand success!

I'm freezing, I'm soaking wet, I'm exhausted and I couldn't be more content :) I just got back from my first day of school at IES Carlos Buosono. I'm enrolled in the Segundo Bachillerato program, which is the equivalent to "senior year" here in Spain. At the end of Segundo, the students take a giant test called "La Selectividad" which, as I've mentioned in past posts, is like the ACT and SAT combined and times 500. It more or less determines your future. If you do not score well on La Selectividad, you do not make a good impression on schools and you may end up having to pay more money and attend a Private University for a lesser education than you would recieve at a Public University. Though this may appear to be incredibly intense to an American, it is commonly accepted and embraced here in Spain. They may take siestas and live a laid back home life-- but at school and in workplaces these are some of the hardest working people I have ever had the privilege to meet.
I have been told (and I'd have to agree) that Segundo Bachillerato is about the same as an American's sophomore year of college. All I can say is that I'm relieved that my grades don't really "count" for anything; though being the overachiever and curious cat that I am, I'm sure I'll throw myself headfirst into the studying anyways. Here are the classes I am enrolled in: The History of Spain, French, English, Biology, History of Philosophy, Psychology, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Technical Drawing (whatever that means :). Days are divided into 6 hours, with a 25 minute recess between the third and fourth class. You stay with one class the entire day, and you stay within 3 rooms, just shifting between them. The coursework is rigorous, the homework requires studying and paying attention in class. My high school is science-based (another distinguishing feature of Spain: by the time you get to Primero and Segundo Bachillerato it is expected that you have a general idea what you want to go into; since I'm planning on studying in the Sciences department when I get back to the U.S. it was logical to do the same here in Spain).
The kids I met today were fantastic. They were welcoming and, though a little shy, curious about who I was and very understanding about my slow Spanish. There is a boy named Adrian who speaks English in my class and who offered to help me whenever I got confused, which is a relief, and an offer I think he might regret making when I go running to him every hour or so :) There is also a girl that is new to the school who I got along with right away and that I can see becoming a close friend, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, eh?
It's getting cold here in Spain. It's about 50 degrees Farenheit (which is 11 degrees Celsius) and rainy and just rather unpleasant outside. I walk to school, it takes about 10 minutes with several hills so I can stay warm that way, but I constantly have a few sweatshirts on and my slippers and scarf at home, which makes the hortencia giggle whenever I walk by her. Despite the poor weather, I feel really lucky to have been placed in a class with such nice people, and I got lucky to meet a boy in my class who speaks English, though I'm hoping to not rely on him too much. Hopefully the poor weather lets up because the fiestas cannot really take place if it's raining and miserable. Tomorrow is my first full day of school- 8:30 am to 2:05 pm. I'm looking forward to it :)

Besos, Sam

welcome to majadahonda

We were told an interesting analogy for the culture switch at our big Rotary meeting this past weekend. When you are born in the United States, you are born wearing a certain shade of glasses- let's say blue glasses. You grow up looking through a blue lense, for your whole life, everything is blue. When we joined Rotary, we signed up to move into a culture with an entirely different lense, let's say yellow. For the rest of our lives, we were told, even after we leave, we will have the perspectives of both cultures, we will see our lives through a green lense. I loved this analogy and I loved this thought, that we can carry both ways of life with us.

I'm in my second week here in Majadahonda and I'm starting to feel pretty darn comfortable with my new surroundings and my new lense. I understand more and more Spanish as each day passes and I'm getting accustomed to some of the quirks that distinguish this experience clearly as SPANISH.

Here are several characteristics of my everyday life that let me know I'm in Spain:

• There is much more care and awareness as to how you look in Spain. It is not in a superficial way, people just seem to take more pride in their appearance.


• I fall asleep at around 1 or 2 in the morning and I don't wake up until 12 or 1 the next day, as do most teenagers. When school starts, we fall asleep at around 11 pm and wake up at about 8 am for 8:30 am school.


• Your father is the head of your household. He is not domineering, it's just known that what he says, goes.


• The shower heads are not mounted on the wall.


• Breakfast is a very small meal at around 10 or 11 am. Lunch is the main meal of the day at about 2 pm. Dinner is a medium sized meal at about 10 pm. I have eaten almost no junk food while I've been here and fruit rounds out every meal.


• There is, of course, the ever present kissing on each cheek.


• The Spanish version of Facebook is called "Tuenti".


• Soccer is god. Basketball comes close. Baseball is known but not popular. Good luck finding a hockey team (though Majadahonda actually has one of the 7 teams in the country).


• People answer the phone here with "si".


• Commercials come in giant blocks right in the middle of people talking; they aren't at a logical time in the program, though the advertisements themselves are almost exactly the same as in the U.S.


• The siesta lives on. At about 3 pm everything slows down; people might not necessarily sleep, but they definitely don't strain themselves this time of day.


• If there's one thing the Spanish are not, however, it's lazy. The schooling here is incredibly intense, kids here genuinely study and take their classes very seriously.


• Public Universities are the more selective in Spain. If you do well on "La Selectividad" you are welcomed into a public university and you don't have to pay nearly as much, it is the payoff for doing well on your tests. If you didn't do as well on your tests, you have to pay more and attend a Private University.

My family has a maid that comes everyday (la hortencia, pronounced or-tense-eee-ah) and she is a wonderful, chatty woman that always greets me with a big smile when I manage to roll myself out of bed. I'm trying to do my best to just smile every single place I go and at whatever situation I'm unsure of or in which I feel intimidated. Spanish people are not outwardly welcoming, they are rather shy and need to feel you out before they'll give you their trust, but once they've welcomed you, you're in their hearts. I officially begin school tomorrow at 12:20 am (it's just a meeting where you're introduced to your class and hear a little about your courses). Thank you for the kind comments and encouragements, I'm thinking of you all back in the States!

Un Beso, Sam

las fotos de la orientacion=the pictures from orientation

my closest friends from the orientation

too much fun

Roberta (Robi) who was an exchange student to Ohio last year.

She's 18 and one of my great friends here in Spain.

Sam, Elizabeth (who we call Texas because she's from DALLAS), and Emily

catching up

This is going to be a long one, folks, I have a lot of catching up to do :) I apologize for my inconsistency, but everything is moving pretty quickly here in Spain (and at the same time, incredibly slowly, but read on for more on that) and I'm finding myself scrambling to keep up with... well.... myself. But what else is new? Regardless, here is what I have been doing the past few days:

I had an orientation in Madrid (at el colegio (the high school) SEK which is an international school) this weekend which I left for on Friday. We were told to arrive any time between 6 and 8 pm and so I left my house at about 7 pm. Here's the catch: I left my house alone. My host mother, Ana, had a doctor's appointment and was using the only car possessed by the family so I had to rely on public transportation to get me where I was going. With Bea's help I figured out a bus line that would (hopefully) take me to the correct stop and hopped on a bus, asking the driver to please tell me when we were close to SEK. It was absolutely terrifying and totally invigorating when I, the country savont who could tell you how to shear a sheep but can't navigate to save her own life, arrived at the school fully intact. However, I still had some walking to do to figure out how to get into the actual building, as it is a large, gated establishment which we found out throughout the course of the weekend is sort of "the place to be" in Madrid if you're looking for a good international school- or a good university, as there is one attached to SEK. I walked down one of the streets that had the gates around it and was totally lost. I saw a small, elderly woman standing outside her gate and proceeded to ask her (in Spanish) if she could help me out. She went on about a 10 minute rant about how she was from Italy and worked as a maid at the house she was standing outside of and loved America and wanted to hear all about me and did I know that her son was a baker? Looking back at it now, I'm smiling. At the time, I was also smiling but out of total, overwhelming, shock. Those are the sorts of moments you really couldn't ever forget, or want to forget. The other boy that is living in Majadahonda (Jesse) ended up driving along the same side road that I was on and I hopped in their car and explained my situation to his host parents and waved goodbye to my new friend as we drove around to the correct entrance.
From there, my weekend was glorious. We had meetings about the rules and some general culture points in Spain. We learned that there is no such thing as personal space here (something I've found to be very true) and that we are living in a "politic-driven" society as opposed to a "god-driven" society, where people follow the law more strictly instead of their personal ideals. An interesting concept, one that I hadn't thought about before. We met Tomasso and Eduardo (the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Rotary program in Spain) and a whole slew of Rotex (Spanish exchange students who have been to other places and returned from their exchange years and are here to share their experiences). We also got a chance to exchange pins and business cards with the other exchange students, all of whom (with the exception of Cornelius from Austria and Christian from Germany) are from either the United States or Canada. It was fantastic to be able to talk about some of the things that we're going through with people who are going through the exact same thing. And I could feel my social butterfly wings stretching and reaching to new lengths, as well. Learning all the things I did about my new friends, I, in turn, learned quite a bit about myself in terms of meeting new people and pushing my own limits. I feel very lucky to have had some of the realizations I did so early in my trip.
Though it's early in my trip, it feels as if I've lived in Spain for at least a month. There are advantages and disadvantages to this. I love the feeling of familiarity that I already have with so many of my surroundings and the fact that I have people that I would truly call my Spanish friends, kids that I see regularly and laugh and talk with. But with time moving slowly, when those flashes of homesickness hit, they wallop me pretty hard because I realize how much time I really have here. I'm really looking forward to school for that reason, because I think that a regular schedule and some consistency each day are going to move everything right along. Don't get me wrong, I honestly love Spain. And I love the United States. I have this in common with some friends of my host mother who I went out to eat with yesterday.

Bea and I met up with Ana at a country club of sorts, where Ana (my host mother) was already seated with two women. The first was a small, very tan, and very wrinkled little woman named Pilar who chain smoked and spoke with a slow, raspy wisdom-filled voice. The other woman was an exuberant, elegant woman whose name I can't quite remember that threw her arms around me upon meeting me and immediately told me how much she adored the United States and my long eyelashes. We sat down and ate a delicious meal of gazpacho, pollo frito (fried chicken, which isn't REALLY fried) and cake. The three older women proceeded to discuss everything from dieting to the local gossip to the people at the next table over, but they kept coming back to how much the adored the United States. They told me that they thought of the US as the "valiant" country because wherever there are problems in the world, we show up and try to help. They told me how much they loved Obama and the fact that he was an African-American President because it showed what revolutions are taking place in the states. In retrospect, I find that sitting at that lunch table in Spain surrounded by Spanish-speaking, stereotypically Spanish women, eating a typical Spanish meal, it is the most patriotic and American I have ever felt. That's irony for you. I gave Ana two tins of "Obama Yes We Can-dy" mints to give to the women; she laughed and said she thought they would adore them.
Speaking of adoration, can we please move on to my unbelievable younger host brother Jacobo who returned from his trip to the South of Spain on Sunday? In my house we call him Jacobito (which literally means "little Jacobo" and is a term of endearment), Jacoberto (a silly little nickname), and Amor (which means love and utterly describes him). Jacobo is a very handsome 10-year-old with gorgeous blue eyes and fairly short hair which he sweeps to the side in the morning with water to keep him looking suave. He is hilarious and incredibly well-behaved and greeted me with a shy hello. He and I enjoy speaking english together in broken phrases and hearing him chat away in Spanish makes my heart grow 10 sizes. He is studious and the gem of the family (as Bea told me) and he and I bonded when I showed him that I could make a paper crane and he one-upped me with a paper crane whose wings could flap. Ladies and gentlemen, I have found my one, true Spanish love.
I still close my nights laying in my bed talking to friends on Skype 0r Facebook (friends from here and from back home), curled up with a book and a feeling of total satisfaction. It is getting chilly here, but as I was sitting in the park with a group of friends and they were all shivering, I was giggling in my head thinking "Honey, come back to Minnesota with me and we'll talk frio. You ain't seen nothin". I start school on Wednesday and, as I mentioned, I'm excited for it and also nervous as any new student would be. I'm cherishing my moments here in Spain, whenever I start to feel low or homesick I remind myself how lucky I am to be here, how much I know I'll miss it when I'm gone, and how good it feels to be under the Spanish sun :) I'm going to the cellphone provider here in Spain tomorrow to pick up a SIM chip for my phone so that I can have actual social contact with friends through something other than the internet. The pictures posted are from my orientation weekend, I'll be posting pictures of my house and family very soon, I'm sorry for the delay but I've also got to pick up a voltage converter tomorrow to charge my camera with. Thank you all for your emails and comments, they keep me motivated and feeling completely SURROUNDED by love. In Spain, everyone greets each other with two kisses, one on each cheek. But it is more endearing, you know you are truly loved, when you recieve only one kiss on one cheek. So tonight, I leave you all with one kiss.

Un beso de Espana, Sam

to madrid!

I love Spain. I think that's the simplest way to say how I'm feeling about everything that's going on here. I wake up at around 12 or 1 (which doesn't make me a lazy bum... it's what my host sister does as well) and eat a bowl of cereal and have coffee with Bea. We then head down to the pool that is in the center of this apartment complex or we just sort of relax until we eat again at about 3 (lunch) while watching our favorite show "Fisica o Quimica", a sort of teenage soap opera of sorts that's on every day. My host parents come home around 4 from work and eat, while Bea and I make plans for whatever we're going to do that night. We then meet up with some of Bea's friends, usually her two best friends Maria (who we call Mai, pronounced Mah-eee) and Rocio (which is pronounced Row-thee-o because the "c" and the "z" in Spain are said with almost a lisp, they make the "th" sound). We walk around Majadahonda, or we go into Madrid and explore (surprisingly, Bea really doesn't know a whole lot about Madrid, she's told me that everything she ever needed was right here in Majadahonda so there hasn't really been a need to get to know Madrid very well), or we just find out what's going on around here and end up there. We eat at around 10, wherever we happen to be, and then get back to her house at about 12 which is when everyone falls asleep for the most part in Majadahonda.

My host father, Javi, is going this weekend to Alicante (on the Meditteranean Coast) to pick up my host brother Jacobo and bring him home, so I'll meet him this Sunday. There was another mix up in the papers and I actually start school on Wednesday now; I'm a little nervous, very excited, and also very aware of the difficulty of my schooling. Bea explained to me that the year of school that I'm enrolled in (called Segundo Bachillerato) is all one giant preparation for a series of tests that they take at the end of the year called "La Selectividad" which basically determines the outcome of your entire future. Seriously. It's incredibly important that you do well, because it determines what University you'll get into (if you get into one at all) and even can have an effect on your job later in life. That means that the studying and coursework are very intense and grueling and difficult. Meaning I'll be lost x10. But as my dear friend Samuel reminded me, everything that happens this year is all just an experience, my grades don't have an effect on anything. The Type A personality that I am, however, I WANT to do incredibly well, I WANT to be at the top, I think it's gonna be good for me to not be for once.

I'm also learning that it's ok to be uncomfortable. It's ok to feel a little out of place or a little confused because it's bound to happen somewhere, at some point, and it's just silly to not prepare yourself for the ups and downs. It's pretty fantastic how comfortable I feel already, however, it's really starting to sink in that I'm in Spain, that I'm just living here, all I'm supposed to do is live and learn, and breathe a little Spanish air. So that's what I'm going to do. Thanks to all, a Uds. les amo (I love you all), Sam

bienvenidos!

Apparently, somewhere in the whirlwind that has been the last 24 hours I ended up in Majadahonda, Spain, sitting in a beautiful room surrounded by beautiful smells and beautiful people. I said goodbye to the loons, wolves, and wild rice of Minnesota at 7:30 with a tearful farewell to the family and walked into a smooth 11 hours of plane rides, a short layover in Amsterdam (which involved an incredibly affectionate couple sitting about two inches away from my person and reeking their love for one another all over my spiffy Rotary blazer), and a pleasant flight settling me down in my new, sweltering home of Madrid, where I was greeted by Beatriz and Ana.
As my host sister Bea explained to me, Madrid is this ENORMOUS metropolis which really just melds into it's "afueras" or suburbs. Majadahonda and the town of Las Rozas are two of those suburbs, and are primarily residential. People work in Madrid and live in Majadahonda or Las Rozas, as is the case with my host parents Ana and Javi. My house is tan bonita, a smallish apartment with white walls and beautiful antiques. After eating a scrumptious stew-like dish with potatoes, beef, and carrots, I crashed into my bed and slept off some of my jetlag, then awoke to more food and a rendevous with Bea and her friend Rocia. Kids here don't actually go out until about 10:30 pm and get home at around 3 am, during the summer. We walked around the streets of Majadahonda and visited Rocia's puppy Luna, then landed back at the apartment where Bea set me up with the Spanish version of Facebook and a whole lot of hope for things to come. The next week is going to fly by, I'm sure, as we have a solid day of laying by the pool set up for tomorrow followed by sightseeing in Madrid the next day and then the fiesta really begins. Every town in Spain has a week or so similar to Mardi Gras and I happened to arrive the week that Majadahonda celebrates, starting this Friday. The weekend will be spent at an orientation in Madrid with all the Rotary kids in Spain, followed by SCHOOL starting Tuesday, September 15.
To say I'm in culture shock would the understatement of the century, but I'm glad that I had all my background training in Spainsh-- it shouldn't take me tooo long to get a really solid grip on the language. I'm unpacked and physically settled in, now it's just time to let my brain catch up. I couldn't be more excited, I couldn't be more nervous. I feel really blessed to have been given the opportunity at all.

Besos, Sam

tomorrow, tomorrow

In 24 hours I'll be on a flight to Majadahonda, SPAIN. I think if you took my entire limbic system, (which is supposed to be orienting my emotions) and threw it in a moving clothes dryer on "high", it would feel right at home as my feelings tumble and turn all over themselves and get wrapped up in one another. I'm indescribably excited, I'm unbelievably scared, I'm unwillingly sad, and I'm understandably nervous. I know it's my time to jump on this Rotary Youth Adventure bandwagon... but, really? Right now?

And then I think, "You selfish little thing, you've got a whole lot of opportunity that most people couldn't dream of. Enough of this nonsense." So the alluring temperatures, foods, and warm Spanish smiles overwhelm me with joy and I let myself get lost in the anticipations of what could, would, should, will happen. And I've gotta tell you, I'm pretty tired of El Senor Anticipacion inviting himself in and stomping around my brain for hours at a time. It's time to go, to fly out of one chapter into the next, and whether or not my concious self knows it, the unconcious one is assuring "It is what you make of it".... or maybe that's my dad I'm hearing. Neither one would lead me astray.

hasta luego mis amigos-- until later my friends, Samantha Roma