España

bitter(sweet)

2010-05-13T03:06:00.000-07:00

The final two months of exchange are notoriously known as "bittersweet"... There's a struggle for balance between the life that it's taken you 9 or 10 months to establish in a foreign country and the life that is effortlessly and comfortably waiting for you at home. Simply put, as much as I miss everything I know in the United States, I feel the knawing anticipation of how much I'll miss what I have in Spain. I absolutely feel the bitter- the thought that I will never be in this place with these people in these circumstances is chilling and upsetting. But the sweet has yet to arrive. Maybe I'm just not close enough to my departure date (three weeks from today)... But there is a distinction in that Northfield, Minnesota has it's consistencies and will always be my home base; always. Quarterback Club awaits with it's delicious fish sandwiches and the Cannon River will keep on flowing past Goodbye Blue Monday with the best roasted coffee in town. Northfield is always accessible. Majadahonda and Madrid in Spain are not quite in the same scope of availability. The thought that as each day closes, it's then sent through the paper-shredder, the memories scatter in pieces but the experience as it was in whole isn't going to happen again... The only way to describe that feeling is that it just aches.

As weighty as that all is, it's by no means meant in a depressing manner. This is an anticipated obstacle while on exchange, it's one more thing that reinforces strength and personal growth, and for that I'm incredibly thankful. The past few weeks have been one amazing experience after another. Dancing, sleeping, eating, meeting, visiting, observing and participating, Madrid is forever churning, just waiting for you to get yourself caught up. School came to a tidy close and I'll say my official goodbyes with my classmates at the graduation party at the end of May. There's a constant loop of soccer games playing and there's always music playing in a discoteca. We've gotten pretty unlucky with the weather recently. At the beginning of May, it was 80 degrees and sunny every single day, not a cloud in the sky. But the past week or so it's been cloudy, rainy, and cooler, which of course, I'm not all that thrilled about.

I was lucky enough to meet the upcoming president of the world for next year who came in from India on his way to Chicago to meet with the Spanish Rotary Club in Madrid. He was jolly little man accompanied by his equally fantastic wife who deemed me a "hot mama"... Of all the compliments to recieve it wouldn't have been my first thought but hey, I'm not complaining. This past week has been spent with Lisa from Canada, who is here through a professional exchange also provided by Rotary. She, along with a group of five other young professionals, is here to observe how her field operates in a different country. I've been acting as her tour guide and interpreter around the city. Fortunately, she's a music teacher in the public school systems, so I've gotten to play the xylophone with elementary aged kids and watched a young adult audition to test out of a semi-professional consevatory on the violin, all for free and all provided by Rotary. If you dig deep into this program, it offers endless opportunities.

Routines at home are cherished and precious. Jacobo recently made me a small, beaded crocodile that I'm not quite positive what to do with but I love anyways :) Bea is finishing up school in just a few weeks so she's really loaded down with exams, projects to turn in, and general studying for finals. My host mom and dad are excited to see their son who comes home on June 15 but careful to remind me that I'm welcome 24/7 in any conditions back to their home in Majadahonda, Spain; back to my home.

It's the hardest talking about leaving with my exchange student friends. My Spanish friends are simply in denial that I'll be going, offering such plans as plane sabotages and giant trips to the United States for weeks and months. I feel incredibly fortunate to have made friends in 9 months that care that strongly. My exchange student friends, on the other hand, are more aware of the inevitable finality that awaits us all and watching me have to do it before most of them makes them anxious and puts all of us in a surreal state. Don't get me wrong, Northfield, I still love you dearly. But gosh darn it's hard to say goodbye to such a good thing.

A kiss for you all, Sami

The pictures are all of people... An enormous part of exchange is just the people you surround yourself with, so here's to them

Alicia and Adrian... I have no idea what I would've done without them this year

.... and Jesus :)

David and I

This was way too much fun

Emma and LUIS!

Devon and Luis

And it always comes down to the three... Devon, Emma, and I. Irreplacable.

wide open spaces

2010-04-29T04:57:00.000-07:00

No, this is not a reference to the Dixie Chicks song. Exchange opens a lot of things up-- it opens up your vantage point and perspective on what's going on around you and what's going on within you. It connects you and exposes you blankly and without shame to every other kid in your same situation and every kid that does and doesn't want to help you out. It opens your eyes and opens your ears and opens your heart and peels away and layers on to your perception of the world and yourself. Being on exchange leaves you with some wide open spaces, place to roam and relax and work harder than you ever have. It's beautiful.

Speaking of beautiful, the definition in the dictionary might have to battle with April in Spain. The average temperature is 70 to 75 degrees and it's been sunny for two weeks straight. Photo tour? Excellent :)

April 10 was just a regular Saturday driving to my grandpa's house in Las Matas for our first outdoor lunch together since October until Jacobo donned these 3D glasses. I might have to take some sort of class for my withdrawl symptoms from Jacobo's total cuteness

Devon, Emma, and I are frequent park-goers, where children run, skip and play, dancing around their grandparents' fet and seedy teenage couples sprawl out on lawns where they should charge admission for the shows they put on. My host aunt recently told me that Madrid has more trees than any other city in Europe. I wouldn't feel comfortable using that fact in a research paper, but my aunt's zealous love for her city does add some credibility to the statement. This park is called El Capricho and we visited on a scorching day where the recently-fertilized smell mixed with freshly blooming buds... Surprisingly appealing

Capricho used to be the Queen's park... When it was a chilly day, she would have people go around and light these to warm it up before she went out for a stroll

I couldn't ask for two better friends. We're from Minnesota, California and Colorado and found each other in Madrid, Spain... I love them both

We all assumed April would go by a little bit slower (in comparison with other Spring months) as there were a lot of days in there that there was just nothing going on. We were right about the nothingness and how good it feels to be free of responsibilities (sometimes) but we were totally wrong about the slow part. Emma, Devon, and I have been doing a lot of wandering around and seeing things we've been meaning to see our entire exchanges. This includes gardens, museums, clubs, and restaurants, all in the city we've come to call our own.

My friend Devon sipping on her coffee outside of the Royal Palace. Off the lefthand side of the photo is the Opera house where we later saw the famous German opera Salome for only 15 euros a piece with a student discount.

Emma and I outside the Prado Museum with the tulips all in bloom

We also took a full day trip to Alcala de Henares, a small university village outside of Madrid. The buildings were old and gorgeous and the history was so strong you could feel it as you strolled the streets.

The next big day trip was to see Segovia, somewhere I've been meaning to go for a while now. It's northwest of Madrid, about an hour and a half by bus and it's absolutely lovely in that Extremadura Spain sort of way, originally constructed by the Romans and most famous for the acueducts that still stand there, centuries old.

The Cathedral-- oddly similar to the cathedral in Sevilla

The Alcazar-- The Fortress

I've also been taking little trips here and there with my host family-- This was a stroll through El Parque Oeste, the West Park, in Madrid with my aunts and uncles on my dad's side of family.

My host mom and Jacobo, with my host dad in the background

Please remember that the majority of this time the Champions League in European Soccer has been going on. I was and am and always will be a Barcelona Futbol Club fan and so I've been religiously watching matches with my Spanish friends, wherever we can catch them. Whether it be in a friend's house, in a restaurant or a hole in the wall bar, we watch. Last night Barcelona won the battle (a 1-0 game against Italy Milan's Inter team) but lost the war as they didn't have enough points to proceed on to the finals of the Champion's League. They needed 2-0. I love Spain's national identity that it finds in soccer- a sport that I absolutely love.

So what can I say? It's been easygoing and easyliving. I return home in far too short of a time-- I've never identified with a cliche as much as "time flies" is now hitting home for me. Lazy days reading David Sedaris while ordering a cafe con leche outside of the Royal Palace are limited; the question is, how do you come back down to reality when you're living in such a wide open space filled with nothing but what you want-- friends, coffee, soccer, a good book, and the newest episode of House MD. It's funny how living in a crowded city that never sleeps can feel more spacious and alive than the wide open plains of Minnesota brimming with nature and life. I'm simply, madly in love.

A kiss for you all! Sami

familia y más familia

2010-04-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

There was a short break in between my adventure with the exchange student gang and the arrival of some folks that I've been eagerly awaiting since about the week after I got to Spain. On March 24, my grandma Colleen, my great aunt Marcia, aunt Cuda, cousin Kaylie, and Mom landed and met me in a Barcelona apartment that we had rented out. We lost a day in Barcelona as the flights got mixed up and they had to come in late (also, however, resulting in a hilarious time in New York City). I'll follow the same outline as the previous blog and add pictures and descriptions as I go but I'll start by saying this: The blessing of having my two lives collide, an ocean apart from each other, bettered my exchange more than I can even put into words. I really, really missed my mom. And the stories that I have to tell after two weeks of joyous mayhem with this crew have my Spanish and American friends rolling with laughter. Que suerte, mis amigos, what luck.

March 24: Barcelona

Since the family's flights in got thrown off, we lost a day in Barcelona and so I flew there alone, staying that night by myself in the apartment we rented. When they arrived in Barcelona, it was totally exhausted and yet pretty darn happy that we were finally all together and in BARCELONA! After pulling ourselves together, we hopped onto the very confusing metro and walked around the Sagrada Familia, a church designed by Gaudi that is yet to be finished and houses more styles of architecture and design than you could imagine. We also managed to teach some French toursits that were walking right behind us various words that you use when terrified and hanging off the edge of a precipice on a tower way too far above the ground.

March 25-26: Paris, France

The particularly nice thing about living in the European Union is that flights within the various countries are pretty cheap if you find the right companies, like RyanAir. Unfortunately, they make up for the ticket price in treating the whole plane ride like an advertisement, selling anything from Avon Perfume to a bar of chocolate to a portable foot massager. But hey, whatever gets you there safely, right? My grandma didn't come with us to Paris as she had already seen it and wanted to experience some more of Barcelona. We were headed for several days of early starts and nervewracking travel, with beautiful Paris in between. Despite my mom's wishes to rent a poodle (as she felt this was particularly French), our two days there flew by. We stayed in St. Christopher's Inn (a FANTASTIC hostel chain that I would recommend to all, it's also where I stayed in London) and climbed the Eiffel Tower (despite a ravaging storm that both terrified and humoured us to death). We wandered through Versailles and jumped off the steps in time to the flash of photography with the golden carvings behind us. My aunt Cuda forever left her mark on Notre Dame, posing as Quasimoto for the world to see, and we had quite a lot of fun with scarves on the Metro. It was really shocking to be in a place where I understood NONE of what was going on around me... It leaves you feeling pretty darn vulnerable (as my aunt Marcia will tell you; she nearly got taken up with a lift bridge to the yells of "Madame! Madame!")

My aunt Cuda in chandelier heaven in Versailles Palace

Fun with scarves

March 27: Barcelona

We returned on another early morning flight to arrive in Barcelona at about noon to find my Grandma tan and ready to go. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Parque Guell (a park in Barcelona designed by Gaudi as well) and Las Ramblas, the main strip downtown where there is shopping for anything from bird cages, to McDonalds, to luxury handbags.

My grandma and aunt Marcia at Parque Guell

Kaylie and I

March 28: Granada to Cordoba

We took our last (and earliest) flight out of Barcelona to arrive in Granada and catch a bus to Cordoba. Since my mom and I have already seen Alhambra, and I think that the Mosque in Cordoba is just a wee bit neater, we opted to skip the famous Palace and instead head straight to the Mezquita. Cordoba is filled with small shops and tiny streets, so we called ahead and reserved ourselves two rooms in a darling hotel and my aunt got her first taste of Sangria, the famous Spanish beverage with a red wine base mixed with fruits and some sort of tangy soda, usually Lemon Fanta. We then saw our first procession of the week as we were in the heart of the city. Instead of being called Spring Break, the week off in the spring for students is called Semana Santa, or Holy Week, and always leads up to Easter. There are processions (sort of like parades) throughout the week. People dress up in costumes that (initially shockingly) look sort of like the KKK outfits, long robes and tall, pointy hats of all different colors. The different colored robe-hat combos represent different brotherhoods, all marching in their devotion to Jesus. Each brotherhood carries a cross at the head of it and a giant float holding a representation of Jesus or the Virgin Mary surrounded by candles and carried by several men that trade off throughout the procession. Incense is in the air and there is a band playing. All in all it's a pretty solemn affair, everyone comes out to see it but it's not really a time of "celebration" as much as it is acknowledgement of the religious holiday. The most famous processions are in Sevilla (which we also got to see) and it was incredible to think we were witnessing a tradition (as opposed to a place) that dated back centuries.

The first procession we saw in Cordoba

March 29: Cordoba to Sevilla

We went to see the Mezquita in the morning and did a lot of coffee drinking and wandering around the streets. After waiting for a brief shower to pass, we headed to the train station (my mom having a lively conversation with her taxi driver that resulted in him thinking my aunt and cousin like to dance and that they'll be attending the big dance next May... he was just as confused as you all are, believe me :) that took us into Sevilla. We stayed at the same Hotel that we stayed at two summers ago and the same friendly man was working when we arrived. We ate Chinese that night and headed off to a Flamenco show later. Flamenco is the traditional Spanish dance (especially in the South) and is characterized by a lot of rapid foot movement and very proud, measured gestures with the arms and legs, as well as the Flamenco music, a guitar and several voices. We saw my Uncle Peter reincarnated as a Flamenco singer, the least likely place you'd think he'd be, and my Aunt Cuda almost wandered onto stage thinking that the door "Privado" (private) might mean Privy, as she needed to use the bathroom.

Inside the Mosque once again

At the Flamenco show Los Gallos-- The Roosters

March 30: Sevilla

We had a full day to roam around Sevilla. We woke up late and headed over to the Plaza de Espana, reenacting Star Wars scenes, jumping with beautiful tiled backgrounds, and attempting handstands among the vendors and tourists. We then headed over to the Parque Maria Luisa right across the street which is enormous and gorgeous, where we saw several people making their way (already in costume) to the processions, looking a little out of place. On the way back to our hotel, which was in the heart of the old town, we got caught IN the procession and had to walk with the band blaring and the incense wafting... NOt good for closterphobic personalities, let me tell you. That night, the moms stayed home and Kaylie and I went out with our Grandma and Marcia for a delicious dinner and relaxed evening. How I love Sevilla.

In the Plaza de Espana

Reenacting Star Wars

Kaylie and Cuda

My mom and I

On his way to the procession

A line of hoods in the brotherhood

All dolled up for the procession

March 31: From Sevilla to Cadiz

We left Sevilla after a pleasant stroll down to the bullring in Sevilla, the Plaza de Toros (pleasant besides the large bird that defecated on my aunt Marcia from above, resulting in a quick pitstop for a new shirt and a plastic bag). We hopped on a train to Cadiz, about two hours away, and found our four star hotel on Playa Victoria with no problem at all. With a view of the Atlantic Ocean and a McDonalds right around the corner (music to my cousin Kaylie's ears) we had nothing to complain about.

April 1,2,3: Cadiz

After all the busy coming and going at the beginning of the trip it felt good to have three solid days of just laying out in the gorgeous weather. It's the kind of life where the biggest worry is finding the nearest ice cream stand and you only get worn out from being in the sun doing absolutely nothing. Since it was April Fools Day, we kept up the tradition and played a little trick on my grandma and aunt Marcia resulting in them searching frantically for their underwear and thought we'd been fooled when we came back from dinner to find a crib in one of our rooms! It turns out it was just a mistake and the "cuna" was promptly replaced by a bed. We took a stroll around Cadiz one of the days and walked the boardwalk outside the hotel. All in all, not too shabby :)

Downtown Cadiz, the oldest city in Europe

Kaylie and I on the Playa Victoria, the Atlantic in the background

The church in the center of the city... All those people are gathered for the processions

April 4,5: Madrid

We rolled into Madrid at about midnight on Saturday and settled ourselves into the hostel, which is right in the center of the city (literally) in the Puerta del Sol. My mom and grandma came to my house the next day in Majadahonda and met my host family... It's remarkable how little language matters when you've got something to say and someone who wants to understand it. My host mom fell in love with my mom, commenting how young they both looked (super nice of her) and I think my mom and grandma would've taken home my little brother Jacobo if they could've gotten away with it. Instead, after a scrumptious lunch of Arroz Negro (a special kind of seafood paella) we packed up all my winter clothes and headed back into Madrid. Leave it to Mary Weaver to chatter up a storm and enchant a room of people who can barely understand her; really admirable. We later met up with my two best friends in Madrid, Emma and Devon, and ended the night with one last ice cream cone and plans to meet in the morning. I can't say that seeing them off at the airport the next day was easier than my initial goodbyes in September... A goodbye is a goodbye. They usually stink. But instead of 10 months of uncertainty looming ahead, I now have less than two months of total joy set out ahead of me. With the famous pilgrimage of Camino de Santiago still on the schedule for April and the anticipation of school ending and the eventual dreaded and can't-wait-for-it plane ride home, there's nothing I can look back on or forward to with anything other than thanks and blessings.

I wish all the same to you, Sami

Talent

2010-04-08T05:29:00.000-07:00

Though I have some talents here and there, photography absolutely is not one of them. Most of the pictures on the blog are taken by me, but I've got to treat you all to some photos that really are something special, taken by my exchange student friends Margeaux Flannery (who is spending her year in Barcelona) and Devon Vandewiele (one of my two best friends here in Madrid). They're not necessarily in any order, but they're definitely incredible. I'll include captions where I can.

Jesse and Joe... Have you ever felt there was something bigger than you out there?

La Plaza de America in Sevilla

La Plaza de Espana in Sevilla

La Plaza de Espana in Sevilla

The Place Gardens in Sevilla

A fountain in Sevilla

Tram tracks in Sevilla

Sintra

Alhambra in Granada

Alhambra in Granada

La Mezquita in Cordoba

Jesse and I

Acueducts

In La Plaza Mayor de Salamanca

Sintra

The frog in Salamanca, it's said if you spot it among all the intricate carvings, you'll have good luck

Alhambra

Pastel houses in a coastal town

Lisbon

Lisbon

The future is coming

Roman ruins in Extremadura

The Portuguese coast

Lisbon

Joe in La Mezquita in Cordoba

This statue greets you upon your entrance into Portugal

This is the life, folks. A kiss for you all from Spain! Samantha Roma Weaver

viajar: to travel

2010-04-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

As today is my seven month mark here in Majadahonda, Spain, I find it only appropriate that I recap on March which I spent all over Europe with all sorts of different people in all sorts of different cultures and perspectives, filled with way too much laughter and good fortune.... But as they say here in Spain, "La risa nos hace fuertes"... Laughter makes us strong.

Typically, Rotary programs in every country organize some sort of trip available to all the exchange students for that year. Spain's trip began March 8 in a Madrid bus station, where 36 of us gathered with distinct expectations and a common anticipation for the nine days ahead scheduled out with quite a lot of bus travel time, about a dozen stops all around Southern Spain and Portugal, and of course, keeping with the Spanish culture, relaxation time pre-planned into the itinerary. We were accompanied by a tour guide named David aand a bus driver named Jose, both of whom immediately earned our respect as easy-going and caring guys; David showed up in a hot pink t-shirt with a lightning bolt on it and a safari hat, with a general appearance very much resembling that of Peter on Family Guy. You've got to ask yourself, how could you go wrong?

Never have nine days passed by so quickly. I'll give a recap of each of the places and include pictures further down in the blog, the Spanish sun greeting us at nearly every stop with an incredible stroke of luck in the weather. As most of the world had one of the coldest winters it's ever experienced, Southern Spain experienced it's version with more rain than they've had in nearly 50 years so we were prepared for the worst. Not one day was under 55 degrees and we even had sunburns on some of the fairer skinned. It was great travelling with a group of exchange students because, unwillingly or not, we've all been cultured and matured over our months abroad. They say that one of the advantages of joining advanced placement classes or honors clubs is that typically, the people that enroll are there by choice and out of their interest or desire to learn and experience. Exchange works very much the same way. No one would put themselves throuh nine months of uncertainty and confusion unless they were convinced of the rewards at the end and had a certain amount of appreciation.

Bus time was filled with action packed UNO games and cans of Fanta pop, lots of naps on windy mountain passes, and out of nowhere, deep, heartfelt conversations about future plans and past hardships. Exchange students are usually packed with personality and eccentricities... where else could one pick up singing Hakuna Matata and have 35 other voices chime in without hesitation or emabarrassment? Maybe because it's American, or maybe it's just the cheapest option, but every restaurant we entered, we were given some type of meat (usually fried) and french fries. By the end of the trip, half of us were claiming to be vegetarians just to taste a little lettuce or tomato. We left each other at the end of the trip in disbelief at how time passes and with a new appreciation for each other, we've all made it this far and we all got along so darn well through the whole thing. It was a once in a lifetime adventure and I owe millions of thanks to Rotary for making it happen.

Small recaps on each of the places that we went... and PICTURES of course!

Granada, Spain is the capital of the Southern providince of Andalusia and houses the great Alhambra, a moorish palace constructed in the fourteenth century. The buildings were originally built under Islamic influence, which is very apparent in the greatly detailed inlay work, but even after the Christian inquisition, the buildings and accompanying gardens were never destroyed.

Some of the inlay work in the Palace... Imagine the hours put in to make it just right

The next stop was only a short bus ride away, about two hours, to Cordoba, an ancient Roman city that houses what should be considered one of the seven wonders of the world. In Spanish it's called a Mezquita, in English a Mosque but it is basically a giant structure that was originally built as a mosque and later, when Christianity rolled in, was converted into a Cathedral. The difference in this case was that, instead of tearing things down, the Christians simply added on and pieced together their ideas, resulting in a giant building comfortably housing two completely different religions and sets of ideas. It was beyond words amazing.

Sevilla was the next stop and it was a warp to the past as I had been there with my best friend Sam Estenson, my mom, and my aunt Laura two summers before. The small, old city is walled in and is a labryinth of tiny streets, monuments, tree-shaded cobblestone, and a sense of history.

My good friend Emma in La Plaza de America

La Plaza de Espana, parts of Star Wars were filmed here

The Cathedral of Sevilla

A couple that came out of their little shop to dance the traditional Flamenco for us

The Moorish Palace in Sevilla

We then drove across the border into Portugal and arrived on La Costa de Caparica where we were pleasantly surprised with a darling, beachside hotel and solid relaxation time after jampacked sightseeing.

Joe, Jesse, and Sam running into the freezing Atlantic Ocean

Emma, Me, Andrea, Margeaux, Valeria, and Devon

We figured since we were already in Portugal, we might as well visit Lisboa, the capital :) We were given mostly freetime in the city after being briefly toured around in the bus. We saw sights such as the 25th of April Bridge, which was modeled after the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the downtown center and an open shopping market on a Saturday morning, and salsa dancing nightclubs with a 1:30 am curfew. Our friend Andrea rolled in her birthday in Lisbon... not many can say they've done that.

Oh the treasures and colors of street markets...

A momument next to the 25th of April Bridge... Ahh exchange students

Here we are on the farthest Western point in continental Europe... the closest we've been to home in 7 months

As we drove up the Portuguese coast, we passed through several small towns, all with distinct personalities, and all very proud to be Portuguese. People preferred we spoke to them in English rather than Spanish... They want it to be very clear that even though they're on the same penninsula, they are NOT Spain.

My buddy Alex and I on a balcony in Sintra

Sintra

Estoril

Estoril concluded our travel around Portugal and we headed back into Spain just north of Madrid, in an area known as La Extremadura where we visited ancient Roman ruins.

We moved on to stay the night in the town of Salamanca, famous for it's University, the third oldest in Europe founded in 1218. It is famous for it's two cathedrals built next to each other, one old and one new, and on one a frog is hidden. If you find it, it's said to bring you good luck. We finished up our last night of the trip out on the town, none of us ready to head back to Madrid in the morning.

The builders of the new cathedral inserted an astronaut among the ancient carvings to show the difference in time periods

My friend Devon and I

The beautiful plaza in Salamanca at nighttime

Out on the town in Salamanca

I might include a different blog later with just solid pictures that various friends took. Some of them could definitely pass for professional. There is no doubt in my mind that this trip was a one time thing, something none of us can hope to replicate again in the future. We all counted our blessings on that last trip back to Madrid, signing flags and saying what could be our final goodbyes at the bus station. It's humbling knowing there are only two months left in my exchange and it sure feels good.

More to come, 1beso, Sami

una loba

2010-02-28T08:31:00.000-08:00

I have a wolf notebook here in Spain. I got it in a shop that we call "Chinos" because they are almost always owned by Chinese people and carry a wide variety of useless and useful oddities... Sudoku books are displayed next to wigs which are the shelf above permanent markers and nylons. It's the Spanish version of a dollar store. I purchased a blue notebook there that features several wolves, my most favorite animals, as seen on ridiculous black t-shirts with an inevitable blue and purple themed scenery in the background with a moon reflecting upon a glassy lake, and if you're lucky, the wolf is howling (not making fun of these... I happen to own one). In my wolf notebook there are directions to metro stops, the location of the few places in Madrid I can scrounge up some Dr. Pepper, and reservation numbers for tickets that I've bought for when various family comes. There's a list of things that I want to purchase at the famous street market here before I leave, El Rastro, phone numbers of friends and tutors and movie theaters. My wolf notebook essentially contains my obsessively, disgustingly organized life here in Majadahonda, Spain and flipping through it tells more than I could ever begin to explain in a blog or in person.

This week it rained almost every day. The weather was anywhere from 40 degrees to 50 degrees and they are gearing up for what they call the "Perfect Storm" because we had about 30 kph winds here. This week for school wasn't much of anything, the end of our second trimester ocurred on Thursday and I didn't even recieve a report card this time as teachers acknowledge that I'll now begin to really start travelling and taking advantage of the fact that I'm in EUROPE and want to see whatever I can in my incredibly short time left here. I can't say all my teachers are happy about this; having gotten decent grades on their tests, they want me to proceed with the same amount of diligence and intensity, but quite frankly, I already did my senior year of high school one time around, I'm not looking to sign up for another one.

It was on the bus into Madrid the other day that I was listening to Shakira's "She Wolf". Here in Spain that song is called "Una Loba" (which literally means female wolf) and it was originally recorded in Spanish so I prefer the Spanish version. Judge me if you will for listening to Shakira, I love her, haha. Anyways, I realized that I was singing along easily and efficiently with the song, completely understanding what I was saying, grasping the concept and the details without measured and intended thought. As simple and small as this seems, what it meant to me is that my understanding has moved into areas other than face to face conversation, I'm hearing overhead announcements and comprehending, I'm seeing signs and following without a thought, and I'm hearing She Wolf and loving every word because I know what every word means. I noted several of the lyrics in my notebook, alongside a reminder to buy some more Carmex, and smiled my way through the rest of the ride. No wonder wolves are my favorite animals, they're sure doing me a lot of good here in Spain :)

At the same time that I'm really starting to feel myself be absorbed into the Spanish life and the Spanish culture, I'm still taking time to do the touristy things that I, as an American, should absolutely do before I leave. The two most famous museums in Madrid (and in Spain for that matter) are the Reina Sofia (a more modern museum, holding Dali and Picasso) and the Prado, which has one of the biggest and most varying collections of art in the world. It would be more than a little ridiculous to say that I'd gone to Spain and come back without seeing these wonders, and they're just two of the classic examples. So, I went with my exchange student friend Emma to the Reina Sofia on Saturday and marvelled at Dali and strained my neck in several different directions to attempt to even begin to understand Picasso (to no avail, by the way). I saw "La muchacha a la ventana" which is one my favorite paintings and is the picture shown. The photo in which I'm standing making a stupid grin face is called "The Face of the Great Masterbater" and is a Dali... Sometimes it's better not to ask questions, I think.

My dad's mom, Grandma Jan, and my dad's sister, Laura, come next weekend on Delta flight #108 (as noted in wolf book) and I'll be more than ready to pick them up and show them around my town on Friday morning. It's almost surreal to be seeing family members. I've been surrounded by them my entire life and then in a 9 hour flight distanced myself for a full 6 months. In a matter of another 9 hour plane ride they'll be back in my life; my spanish life. After their departure next Sunday, it's a whirlwind of vacations. The 8-17 I'm gone on a trip with Rotary through Andalucia and Portugal and then I have more family (including my mom) arriving on March 23 until April 5. WHEW!

All my Loba Love to you, Sami

La muchacha en la ventana

Ridiculous Face for your viewing pleasure

Emma and I in the Metro. Twooo Wuvv

a londres

2010-02-18T07:37:00.000-08:00

Cheers, Mates!
It has been a bit since I've updated and for that I am ever so sorry. Good news is that I had a legitimate excuse as I was strolling the streets of LONDON, ENGLAND from February 11- February 16 with my friends from good ol' Northfield, Minnesota- Mackenzie O'Connell, John Linford, and a friend of John's named James who lives in England. Mackenzie is on Rotary Exchange in Germany right now and John is living in Gloucester, England for the year working. They are both dear friends and when we planned this adventure back in November, there's no way that I could have predicted the stupendous, marvelous, glorious time that it ended up being. I'll tell most of the stories through pictures with captions, as this usually tickles everyone's fancy the most and it's the easiest way to follow along. Being my usual somewhat disgustingly organized self, the photos will, of course, be in chronological order so it's like you were there! Haha... Sort of :)

Majadahonda on the day that I left, Thursday, February 11... Flight was incredibly smooth and I landed and met Mackenzie in the Gatwick London Airport

London, England the next day on Friday, February 12... England lived up to it's rainy reputation, a pair of Wellies Rainboots were in order and were purchased within the next 24 hours :)

Standing outside of some of these buildings, like Westminster Abbey, was almost surreal, to think that I'm coming from one incredibly gorgeous and historic European city and walking right into another, it reminded me again that the life I'm living is out of a storybook. When people asked us where we were from, we had to explain that we were from the United States, living in Germany/Spain, and in England for a vacation... As if the other life wasn't vacation enough? :)

Buckingham Palace. I swear all of these photos won't just be me in front of cool buildings

^^ How to Know You're In London ^^

That is not the Ministry of Magic, but the British Museum. I loved how all the entrances were free, donations only. Not only did I appreciate this as a poor (future) college student, but I liked the idea of anyone and everyone being able to appreciate what the museums had to offer. We also went to the Tate Modern Museum which was mindblowing.

Mackenzie and I outside of the British Museum posed on a lion

Where we stayed in London was right next to the Tower Bridge and we strolled down to see it at night with the lights... It speaks for itself

The four of us-- from Left to Right-- James, Mackenzie, John, and I

Mack and I--- You can make out Tower Bridge in the background

The ridiculous amount of plug-ins and adaptors necessary to charge our appliances... We went from American to European to British

The English countryside on a train ride

We went to see a show in the West End in London... Tickets were pretty cheap and Chicago is always worth it. The performances were incredible, though the attempts to cover the British accents were about as successful as Mackenzie and I's attmepts to speak WITH a British accent... So not all that successful :)

The London Bridge Underground stop... The tube in London isn't quite as easy to navigate as that of Madrid. London seems to be a much bigger city in my eyes after living here for all this time... I'm not sure geographically how the cities compare, but London's sheer size was a bit overwhelming for this Spanish gal.

Picadilly circus, complete with new plaid Wellies :)

If you can see the RAVER stamp on my hand, it's from the fantastic club that we went to Saturday night in London called Fabric.

Is this the real life, is this just fantasy? Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see.

I wish you all the joy that comes from Fish and Chips, Mushy Peas, and a Rotary Exchange year like mine... Samantha Roma

pride

2010-01-30T04:06:00.000-08:00

Being a Rotary International Youth Exchange participant allows for a lot of interpretations on the word pride. You have to enter a completely foreign culture with a sense of open-mindedness and humility, yet maintain the idea that you're a representative of the country where you were born and raised, you have to maintain that pride while not letting it overcome you and inhibit your experience.

Yesterday, I went over to my tutor Guadalupe's house so that she could show me her Christmas miracle (an ENORMOUS nativity scene that fills up an entire room with tiny statues and real running water, sand in Egypt and smoke rising out of the little houses in Bethlehem, Christmas lights with specific meanings to the colors running along it all, and Silent night playing overhead. I was blown away and she was overjoyed at this, if not by my reaction then by the creation itself, which takes her a month and a half to set up and she (obviously) enjoys a great deal, considering it's February :) and to dine on Spanish hot chocolate (which is way thicker and richer than ours... You literally can't drink it, it's for dipping things into) and cakes. Somehow along the way we got talking about American and Spanish healthcare, because everyone in Spain knows about the recent election in Massachusetts. This surprised me, I think if I took a poll of Americans and asked who the Spanish Prime Minister or King was, only a small percentage would be able to tell me either. It's really emphasized in schools here that you should keep globally aware. I like that.

Guadalupe is a very old fashioned woman and much of that is due to the fact that she's from a different generation entirely. She lived through the dictator Franco and is a really wise lady. She was also a mathematics teacher. Now, don't get me wrong, but the lady mathematics teachers that I've had have been no-nonsense and down to business, and Guadalupe is no exception. She's a kind, caring lady, but she has some very outdated views on the world and can be a bit infuriating at times. When it comes down to it, however, she's a dear and I do love her company.

She explained to me how ludacris she thought it was that American healthcare policies were still so radically different and far from reaching National Healthcare stability and security for all Americans. The Spanish healthcare system is, admittedly, different and in my opinion a great improvement on the American system. Rotary kids coming to Spain were required to purchase Spain's healthcare insurance before arrival and I can tell you firsthand what a blessing it has been. Though I've been fortunate and not been sick yet, I've had friends come down with a flu or a cold. Here in Spain, you call a doctor if you're ill and they make a house visit, or you can go to a clinic any time day or night without an appointment. They do an inspection and diagnose, write you a prescription which costs next to nothing, if anything at all, and send you on your way. It's all free, it's all simple, it's all taken care of. However, this does mean that the Spanish are very accustomed to taking a pill whenever they feel any little thing. I'll tell my host parents I'm going to lie down because of a headache, and they immediately pull out a drawer literally filled to the top with boxes of tablets. I'm not a big fan of that.

Being a member of two cultures is a great advantage in that it teaches you what pride can mean. I stubbornly defend my American culture on the issues that I believe in, but after having experienced a totally different manner of doing things in a different country, I can also learn to place my pride other places and accept the changes that could be made in the good ol' USA (or wherever it may be). No one place is better than the other... For example, America produces some of (if not THE) best films in the world, yet Spanish movie theaters are unbelievable in comparison. They are enormous and meticulously clean, seats are comfortable and it's rarely full because it's so huge. I went to see Sherlock Holmes with some friends on Friday and could have slept there I was so comfortable. Strangely enough, my recent running paid off that night as we ended up having to do an all-out sprint on the train tracks as one was approaching to make sure we reached the station. Absolutely hilarious, totally unforgettable.

I am Proud to be an American.
I'm also proud to not let that define or restrict me.
Besos, Sami

The marble countertop in the bathroom gave in (they've had it for 20 years) ... It's currently being supported with books

Here's that drawer full of pills I was talking about

SO SPANISH

The famous Spanish sun... I'll really miss how bright everything is here

Bea has been completely SWAMPED with projects for university and studying, she's studying architecture and this project of hers sits in our bookcase

consider yourself one of the family

2010-01-23T04:14:00.000-08:00

"Consider yourself at home, consider yourself one of the family..."

I remember singing this in the car with my Dad when I was younger, as he was the star Oliver in a childhood rendition of the famous Dickens' novel. We never got far in the song, it was more of just humming a few lines, but I always liked the tune and I've found myself whistling it to myself lately. This, and a recent chapter in my Psychology textbook about the subconcious and unconcious and how what you're doing when you're not thinking about it can mean more than what you're actually doing, have led me to a recent and spectacular discovery.

Though life has been routine and normal here (as normal as it gets for an American living halfway around the world), I've made a significant shift. Talking with my family at night takes essentially no thought or work, things roll off the tongue and off my brain without effort and this change has led to an understanding between my family and I that's significantly different from before. I've been speaking bits of English as well, because Ana and Jacobo want to learn as much as they can while I'm here-- a fair trade, I'd say. Being able to express myself in English in a more natural way has also led them to see more of who I am in general. You'd be surprised how much vibrance comes back out when you don't have to put in the struggle before the words. Friends at school have commented on it as well, it's more than just a change in the language, it's an all around advance in attitude, it's a breath of peace and fresh air after five months of struggle. The funny thing is, I never did think I was stressed or struggling at the beginning, until I hit this stride, until I realized how much effort I'd been pouring into each day that's now transformed into efficiency and comfort.

I've also come to realize how much of a balance it can be for a host family as well. They're in charge of you, responsible for you, yet you're not their child and on top of all that you're 18 and legally an adult. How much can they really tell you to do? Where are those lines drawn without offending a different culture or a different family, how do you find an equilibrium where they're not just a renter in your house, but one of your kids? Taking all that in recently has also indicated something in my mind-- in this country where most of my exchange student friends have complaints and woes over host family struggles, I have nearly none, and the things that pick at me are things that I'm learning how to brush off anyways. They're not problems, they're just differences, things that come and go. I'd say my host family here has done a darn good job.

Will I still have tough days? Absolutely, there's no doubt about it. But as I pass my halfway mark here in Spain I'm finding myself letting go and holding on all at the same time... Letting go of the stress and holding on for what's to come. Travel starts soon, first to London on February 11-16 with my good friends John Linford and Mackenzie O'Connell. I think it's pretty ridiculous, by the way, that I can say things like, "Going to London in a few weeks, then off to Portugal a few after that, oh, and I've got Paris to fit in there somewhere"... Oh and I'm also nearly fluent in two languages. What kind of a fantasy life am I living?

Thank you all for your support and caring. It's January and we're in the upswing. My family in the U.S. has a family friend that's pretty sick right now, Dennis McNamara, I'd ask you to please keep him and his family in your prayers.

All my Love, Sami

Lo que será, será

2010-01-12T07:30:00.000-08:00

What will be, will be.

That's the literal translation of the title of this post and I'm finding it to be incredibly appropriate. Contrary to the common, negative connotation that comes with this statement, I'm finding it to be more of a peaceful mantra as I weave my way throughout these weeks and months in Spain. The control is not always yours, the world isn't always yours for the taking, and things just don't work out sometimes. But what will be, will be. And it will all be alright.

I don't feel like a lot has happened in this past week, but when I look back on it A LOT has happened this week. First of all, I turned 19. Birthdays are not that big of a deal here, my 3 best friends on exchange all had their birthdays in November and December so we learned early on that a birthday is in many ways just like any other day, the one that you happened to be born on. It certainly doesn't involve a mother bounding into the high school in Spandex with a tray full of cupcakes for the entire lunchroom (... hmmm, now who does that sound like?). My special day was, nevertheless, still pretty darn special. I woke up around 1, like we always do on weekends here. It was the day after a holiday, so my parents were back at work. It was literally raining snow. I've got to tell you... You think that you dislike snow, until you live in Madrid and recieve, instead, freezing rain. It literally comes down in sheets and then either freezes, causing numerous accidents, or gets all slushy and mixes in with existing snow patches here and there and causes your boots to get thoroughly soaked. I met up with a few friends and went out for a local lunch... They got me the shoes that I've been seeking... Literally, they're just plain old Keds, styled after the 1950's. They're red cloth with a white rubber sole and I absolutely adore them. We went into Madrid later that day and did some shopping at the "rebajas". Similar to after-Thanksgiving sales, all the stores have their giant sales beginning the 7th of January, after Three Kings Day. I came home completely exhausted, forgetting throughout the day that it was my birthday, only to be reminded when I walked into the house to an overjoyed Jacobo and a sketch book with colored pencils, a nice drawing pencil, and an eraser/sharpener combo. This family got to know me pretty darn well, pretty fast :) I absolutely adored it. "Skyping" with the U.S. fam had to be done via Amber Woitalla as my parents were stranded outside of our half-mile-long tundra of a driveway, unable to reach the house or computer. Suspecting something of the sort at about 11 pm, I had my best friend Amber call my mother and we talked over the speaker on Amber's cellphone... Ahh, technology.

The next few days were spent in relative tranquility. My friend Robi's parents are divorced, she lives most of the time with her mom here in Majadahonda, but goes into Madrid occasionally to stay with her dad. I should take this opportunity to mention that separations are incredibly common in Spain... If you think the divorce rate is high in the U.S, you truly haven't seen anything until you've visited here. I'd say around half of my friend's parents here are divorced or separated (and, no, Mom, I'll save you the sassy comment and add that I have more than just 2 friends to make this observation upon). Robi has a biological brother named Rafa who I share a love of horror films with (we've watched many in Robi's comfy Majadahonda living room) and on Saturday night, I met her 3 step-siblings and fell in love.

Robi's biological mom is Spanish and her biological dad is Italian. Therefore, Robi was raised speaking both languages, and after her exchange year in the U.S. she now also speaks English. Her mom did not remarry, but her dad remarried an American woman named Judy Rose. They together had three children, ages 8, 5, and 3. The 8 and 5 year olds are boys and the little 3 year old is a girl. I'm going to attempt their names, but since they're Italian, I might butcher them. The 8 year old has a name similar to Michael, the 5 year old Giancarlos, and the 3 year old Alianna. Their mom speaks to them in English, they're learning Spanish in school, and their dad speaks to them in Italian, so they too are trilingual. Robi warned me on the way over to their apartment that the kids were a little insane.... A little insane was more than a little bit of an understatement. Maybe I just haven't been around small kids ALL that much, but after about 20 minutes, Robi and I both had to make ourselves espressos out of the machine in the kitchen. Not that this hysteria was a bad thing... I loved the chaos, brought me back to Grandma Colleen's house for a while. The kids all get along really well (something I've noticed and am now willing to make a generalization about Spain... Kids fight way less here. Not sure what to attribute that to haha) but there are motorized airplanes flying overhead while you're trying to eat a homeade pizza and the gelato-machine is running in the kitchen while the boy on your right is asking you about what sort of fighter boat you most prefer and the adults are politely trying to talk to you but there's a little one pulling on your sleeve wanting to go over Alphabet cards (in what language?!) and then the airplane crashes into the light and there's a great whoop from Dad and an eerie peace ensues.... Ah, chaos, how I've missed you.

All in all, I utterly LOVED Robi's house on Friday. I also think that Judy Rose appreciated having someone fluent in English to talk to, it's usually a great big mix of languages all flying around her, and I've gotta hand it to her in terms of composure and all around joy. Her kids adore her and she adores them right back. We finished the night (after watching a movie on the giant Megascreen which comes down from the ceiling and literally takes up an entire wall) with sloppy, ice cream kisses on both cheeks and big hugs and a promise to come back. I'll absolutely hold up my end of the deal.

Would you believe it? Sunday rolled around and as I was dusting off (literally) my backpack to get ready for school the next day, my mom strolled in and said there was no way we'd have school tomorrow. It had just begun to snow and she was absolutely correct. Because of about 3 inches of snow, school was cancelled on Monday (I'll reiterate again here that school isn't technically "cancelled", there are no official warnings, you just trudge to the building and if the teachers decided not to bother with the roads, there's no class that day) and I spent it tromping around El Parque Retiro (the famous "Central Park" of Madrid) with my two best American friends, Emma and Devon. We ate some Turkish Doner Kebab, drank some Starbucks and made an eventful trip through H&M that resulted in the purchase of a beanie and black nail polish.... I'm really starting to love these people :) It still smacks me in the face sometime when I leave a store or restaurant that I'm walking out onto the Main Strip, the Gran Via, of Madrid, Spain. It makes you catch your breath and smile to yourself, the incredible fortune and all the great things that surround us if we seek them out... Madrid is slowly, more and more, becoming my city.

School today was uneventful and absolutely freezing. They don't turn the heat on at my school until about 1 pm. We get out of school at 2 pm. Thanks for that, Carlos Bousouno. I explained that it's about -10 in my hometown and there's about five feet of snow in some places and my best friends (justifiably) teased me and told me to stop whining about a little rain and cold.... You know you're making some close connections when it gets to that point of comfort :) I picked up a few packages from the fam this week, filled with lovely things like cross stich, 7 bags of Reeses, a few cards, and a Jimi Hendrix print for my host dad, Javier. Responsibilities are starting to creep back into my mind again... "When is that financial aid form due? Wait... I'm going to college next year? Where will I sleep? Oh, that's what this form is for. Malt-O-Meal night shifts... Other options please :)?" Fortunately, I usually fall asleep before they pester me too much :) I'm not ready to grow up just yet, and I think Peter Pan would agree with me in my concept of letting things roll, What will be, will be, and I'm hanging on tight for the ride.

Hasta Luego, Sami.... All the photos are from the outing to Retiro Park... You'll notice the last one is me, being.... well, me. Love

Feliz Reyes

2010-01-06T04:59:00.000-08:00

The Spanish are famously known as a stubborn people... And I'd have to say that Christmas is a perfect example of this persistence. The Christmas season that typically lasts 4 weeks in the United States, from the excited preparation after Thanksgiving Day to the last piece of wrapping paper picked up on Christmas Day, takes on a whole new meaning in Spain. We've now been in the Christmas Season for a full 6 weeks, with the culminating event happening this morning, El Dia de Los Reyes Magos, or the Three Kings Day. As I've mentioned before, The Three Kings bring the gifts to the children in Spain; they come the night of the 5th and we open presents on the morning of the 6th (I was MISTAKEN in previous blogs, I apologize!) so the Christmas magic is just coming to a close in Majadahonda, Spain.

There is, of course, a giant celebration to welcome the Three Kings, just like there's a giant celebration for everything. Yesterday, I woke up at 10 am (early by Spanish standards) and caught the bus and metro into Madrid to meet up with my friends Devon and Emma and head to Colemnar Viejo, a smallish town about 45 minutes outside of the city. We spent the early part of the day blowing up some thousand balloons and in the dreary, freezing weather, mounted onto the back of a truck (a float) and drove through the town in a giant festival of people dressed as anything and everything... From Disney characters to futuristic silver-painted Hippies with peace signs all over their float to a jungle-like Nativity scene with tropical plants, flowers, fake waterfalls, and the Baby Jesus all thrown onto the back of one pick-up. We threw candy at the thrilled kids (and sometimes overly-excited older people as well? ...) with open umbrellas and plastic bags to catch. It was utterly freezing outside but we didn't care, with thousands of balloons and candies and smiling faces, there was plenty of warmth to go around. We finished off the night with Rotary dining on the famous Spanish Hot Chocolate and Churros and then some exchange student friends, both new and old, headed into one of our favorite Thai food restaurants that's pretty cheap and delicious for dinner before rolling into bed at around midnight.

I haven't been woken up early for presents since Max and Lila were little (which seems like longer and longer ago each time that I think about it). This morning Jacobo came bounding into my room and asked if we could open presents. He's incredibly patient and mature for his age so he waited a full 3 hours since he got up at 8 am for the rest of the family to roll out of bed. 11 am is still pretty early for Spanish teenagers on weekends or holidays so we were all groggy-eyed and stretching as we headed out into the living room. Each person had a little pile of gifts from the Kings with a sign next to their name. I recieved some lovely presents and my family was thrilled at theirs, Jacobo giving me the traditional beso on my cheek and a bright-eyed "Feliz Reyes!!!!" as he had been wide awake for a full three hours at that point. We waited for the incredibly famous Spanish Christmas lottery that people wait in lines for hours and hours for and every household participates in, rich or poor, suspicious or not. We then set right to it taking down Christmas decorations and folding up the tree and setting the table for lunch, which I'm about to go enjoy right now. I'll be snapping back into reality in the very near future with school beginning on January 11. My birthday is tomorrow, and with how well I'm treated for every other significant event here in Spain, I know it'll be a good one :)

Feliz Navidad, Feliz 2010, Feliz Reyes, y Feliz Cumple a mi

Really packs a wallop, huh? :) xxoo Besitos Sami

Nochevieja y Feliz Año Nuevo

2010-01-03T06:12:00.000-08:00

It was a night to be remembered. Ringing in the New Year in Madrid, Spain can't really be compared to any other experience I've had in my life. And it all started off with a bunch of grapes.

We retured back from Albacete to a relaxed couple of days before New Years Eve, which is called Nochevieja, literally meaning "the old night". We went to my Grandpa's house in Madrid (which is really a giant, 2 story apartment that he shares with his daughter Maria Cruz, her husband, and their two grown children). We ate a giant meal, nothing less in Spain, and then gathered around the television for the traditional Spanish custom of ringing in the new year. As each bell tolls to 12, you eat a grape, which are in prearranged packs, ours wrapped in tinfoil. I've seen advertisements for weeks on tv, however, for cans of 12 grapes, specifically for the occasion. Apparently, this task is supposed to be really difficult, you make a wish with each grape that you put in your mouth. I think they underestimated how large my mouth is, as I seemed to have no trouble at all-- I'm sure my mother would agree. Everyone then stands up and kisses everyone and wishes them a happy new year and we all gather for a toast. The family quickly dispersed, everyone gone by 1 am, but for Bea and I, the night had just begun.

We then proceeded to a hotel, where the entire bottom floor was set up as a discoteca, or a dance club. We met up with dozens of our friends, forming a giant group as we all madly danced the night away... literally. As is common in Madrid, we boarded the metro at 7 am and were back in Majadahonda by 8:30 am. Typically, you go out for churros and chocolate in the morning, and though we saw many people dining, Bea and I were both completely exhausted. We woke up at 5 pm the next day, our mom surprised that we even made it up that early. I don't go out to the discotecas all the time here, it's incredibly expensive and I'm a pretty low key person. But these nights of utter bliss make it all completely worth the price and the wait.

Shoes for the night-- eventually and inevitably replaced by ballerina slippers

My friend Mai and I

Lights and Lights in Madrid

I'm not positive what this building is for-- other than to be absolutley beautiful

visual aids

2010-01-03T05:31:00.001-08:00

Sorry, these photos are chronologically backwards-- Bea Jacobo and I standing in front of an old building in Chinchilla

Jacobo playing on the view that overlooked the countryside

Chinchilla is famous for it's residents that live in homes built into the terrain-- Cave Homes

Bea, Javi, Jacobo and I in Chinchilla

Another view overlooking the landscape, the two towers in the back provide the signal for miles and miles around, it's unfortunate they're settled right in the middle of the historic little pueblo

Olives in a market in Albacete

The church in Albacete-- Can you spot me with the umbrella? :)

A famous strip in Albacete, behind the columns are little shops

The gates to the park in Albacete-- Yes, those are purple pants

Christmas Lunch at my Aunt Marisa's in Albacete, she's in the lower lefthand corner of the picture

The Christmas play at Christmas Eve Dinner at my Grandpa's in Las Matas. Mary & Joseph played by Pilar & Santiago

The Christmas Angel who stole the show

This isn't even the entire family-- All gathered to watch the play

The older cousins vegging after the giant dinner

Gathered in a circle clapping, hooting, and hollering for Secret Santa

Two of my younger cousins in their very Christmas-appropriate outfits holding their money from Grandpa

Recieving the gifts that the Three Kings hid after the giant hunt throughout the house

Part 2

2009-12-30T06:20:00.000-08:00

This is still going to be just text, I'll be explaining the next couple days that were spent in my dad Javi's pueblo called Albacete, the "New York" of "La Mancha" (literally, the blanket) of Spain.

The only reason that Albacete is called the New York is because in the flat, nothingness of eastern Spain, the taller buildings in Albacete stand out. It's really a fairly ugly and typical city. They replaced many of the old, historical buildings in the town with modern apartment buildings and businesses, gray and brown monstrosities that dwarf the smaller, charming old buildings next to them. Ana's parents are both from Albacete, and her parents used to live in buildings across the street from one another. That's how they first fell in love- looking through the windows into the other's homes, both prominent families, seeking out the other. At least, that's how the story is told. The reason that the family goes back each year, however, is because of Javi's family, all of his brothers and sisters except one still live in the city with their families. It's a 2 hour drive, so we swept out of the house at about 12:30 in order to get there for La Comida, the most important meal of the day, and how to really celebrate Christmas. I slept for most of the car ride and we walked up the stairs and into my Aunt Marisa's apartment at about 2:30. The apartment was heavily decorated, with a ridiculous amount of pictures on the walls, statues, blankets, throw pillows, all coated with a sort of sweet, dense scent that I'll forever identify with her apartment. It reminded me a lot of my Grandma Roma's house, the kind we've all been in at least once, with mirrored medicine cabinet filled with bottles and boxes from the 50's and 60's that I'm sure would sell on eBay. Powder blue walls, lacey beddings, terrifying sewn "dolls", and knitted, obnoxiously colored blankets are some of the other characteristics of these types of houses. I felt right at home :)

My Tia Marisa lives in the apartment by herself, so having it suddenly filled with 5 other bodies for three days put her a little bit on edge. The rest of the family arrived fairly soon, 2 more sets of aunts and uncles, a distant cousin, and one of our first cousins. All of the cousins are older in the family, the youngest is 24. Jacobo shines at the family gatherings, as he's the youngest and by far the most precious, and I don't think he minds the attention. We ate very well that first day, roasted almonds and fine cheese being two of the highlights. There's no way not to stuff yourself. If you deny more food, they either look at you like you've just run over their dog, or they ignore your request and just pile the next giant turkey leg onto your plate anyways. Immediately after lunch, we watched some TV and then Bea and I went out with Marta (the 24 year old cousin) that night to some of the local bars and generally just walked around. It hasn't stopped raining in Spain for a week, I swear, so I've become accustomed to walking around with an umbrella everywhere I go. We spent the next day exploring Albacete and then had a lunch with all of the cousins at an Italian restaraunt, 8 of us in total in attendance, with two or three in other parts of the world. It was the first dinner with cousins that they've ever had, quite distinct from the other side of the family. They talked for a while about American politics and lifestyle, one of them having lived in Washington D.C. for two years and commenting how the days were far too structured and rigid for him. I can understand that better now having seen the Spanish structure of the day, flexible and relaxed, a little of this a little of that, always with a glass of wine or time for a quick nap. The fast pace of life in the U.S, particularly in D.C, could quite easily overwhelm a Spaniard. We wrapped up the night curled up in the living room, with Jacobo rolling in laughter at Mulan, which he had never seen before, with me laughing like a fool right next to him.

Bea and I awoke the next morning and we all got ready to visit a pueblo right next to Albacete called Chinchilla, which is famous for it's homes in caves. They are literally homes built into the sides of the mountains and terrain, practical and simple, and we walked around on the one sunny day in weeks, admiring the large old buildings and churches, and witnessing how Albacete does stick out significantly on the flat land. We spent the rest of the night back in Albacete hunting for high heels for Bea (she's very specific... they can't be too high of a heel because she's quite tall and can't balance, they have to be a certain color and material) for New Years Eve, and then the immediate family gathered at a local restaurant. It was a hole in the wall, very discreet, and completely packed. There was one little old man behind the counter who you put in all your orders to and then his little old wife in the kitchen cooks everything up. It was tiny, maybe 5 tables and very traditional and Spanish, bull fighters pictures on the wall, everything painted a dull yellow, the traditional dishes being bull's tail, shrimp, or cod (and one plate of square, gray, squishy blocks which my dad called "sangre" which literally means blood and made me incredibly nervous). Jacobo and I played the entire way home, my boots made a clicking noise on the sidewalk and Jacobo designed little rythymns on the pavement, jumping every few steps, Ana smiling at us and both of us laughing and chattering in Spanish. I realized later that night that I'd been speaking in all Spanish the entire weekend and I didn't even notice, it's become so natural.

Ana, Bea, and I went home the next morning, the 28th, thanking Aunt Marisa and having slept and relaxed enough in the past week for the enitre year. That's what Christmas vacation is for, I guess. Jacobo stayed in Albacete with my dad, they'll return on the 30th. These past two days, I chatted with my family at home on Skype, catching up on the normal antics (particularly those of the beloved Bruce). I miss my family in Nerstrand but I'm falling more and more in love with the family here. I went to my friend Robi's last night for a Spanish horror movie and Italian coffees. Bea and I are celebrating New Years in a "hotel" decked out as a club. We're going to my grandpa's other house in Madrid for a dinner and then out and about until the wee hours of the morning, which is the only appropriate, Spanish way. Pictures will be uploaded very soon, more ridiculously long blogs to come, there's too much to remember and love about these Holiday seasons-- no snow, but cold-- not the normal, but wonderful.

Besitos y Besitos, Sami

Part 1

2009-12-30T04:58:00.000-08:00

FELIZ NAVIDAD!

I'm going to document Christmas in a few parts, since they were all pretty distinct for me and the camera with all the photos is in my dad's pueblo in Eastern Spain (that'll be explained later). This entry will be entirely text recounting the past week or so.

The first real event was Christmas Eve, which in some ways is a bigger deal than Christmas day. It's called Nochebuena, and it's traditionally the night where the family gathers to celebrate the religious aspect of the holiday. Since Spain is largely Catholic, the story of Jesus' birth is recounted many times in many different manners, there are Nativity Scenes set up everywhere that you turn and all the little kids have at least one or two plays recounting the story. We all got very dressed up and went to my Grandpa's house in Las Matas which is inbetween Madrid and Majadahonda. My grandpa was a successful architect in his life, so he has space to accomodate the entire family.... 42 of us in total, 23 first cousins alone. When we got there, the normally freezing house was warm with bodies and the heat from the kitchen and just general joy and anticipation. It was, in some ways, similar to a made-for-TV movie with every family member hugging the other and giving the 2 traditional kisses. In the middle of it all, my Grandpa was standing with his normal, thick, knitted dark green and blue sweater, with his hands behind his back, humming pretty loudly, but to himself. I wonder what he could have been feeling or thinking with all those souls, small and large gathered around him enjoying one another, knowing that he had ultimately made it all possible.

Los Reyes Magos (or the Three Kings) bring the gifts to the children here in Spain. Santa Claus exists (Papa Noel) but he is considered more "American" and is celebrated in "modern" households (those were the exact words Bea used to describe it to me... I'm not quite sure what it means). The Three Kings don't bring the gifts until the night of the 6th of January, we wake up on the 7th and find them. However, in this family, they also bring one gift for each child and hide it somewhere in the house. One by one the kids start sniffing around for the presents, they slowly form a sort of parade, streaming in and out of rooms with aunts guiding the little ones and eventually the entire family following behind, searching for the room with the gifts. Eventually, we found the room, each cousin has a wrapped present with their name on it. Bea recieved pajamas, Jacobo a telescope, and I got a small bag and makeup. My grandfather gives each of his grandchildren 50 euros, and I was included in that as well, a great relief for a broke exchange student. All the smaller cousins ducked in and out of their parents legs and escaped aunts reaching for sloppy kisses, posing quickly for pictures and then moving back to their new dolls or lego sets. It was general chaos and extremely hot, with wrapping paper flying in every possible direction and flashes of cameras hitting you when you least expected it.

Eventually we moved to another part of the house, where we usually eat meals and congregate every Saturday, and formed a circle, each person holding a wrapped present. This was my favorite part of the evening, the Secret Santa gift exchange. The Spanish are known for their fiestas, they're known for their lively and rowdy dispositions. But I've never seen anything like this. One by one they chant a cousin's name, staring with the youngest who is only 3 months old. That person walks (or in Pilar's case, is carried) into the center and your Secret Santa, the other cousin meets you in the middle and hands you the gift. With the entire family hooting and hollering ("It's a book!" "It's a box!" "It's a book in a box!") the cousin opens their gift, poses for a few hasty photos and then is swept out of the center with the next cousin's name being chanted. I was inserted where Javi normally is and my older cousin Begonia gave me a fantastic scarf, one that I genuinely love. It's understood that the parents shop for the gifts of the Secret Santas, so I thanked my aunt as well as Begonia for the gift, being chanted on and whistled at like all the rest. The respective parents then exchange all their gifts, the six adult couples trade within each other and the entire family pitches in for one giant present for the Abuelo. Everyone was laughing and cheering, some of the smaller boys immediately adorning their Batman and Spiderman suits and running wildly ducking and stabbing at invisible enemies, while the older family members teased one another and swept off to the dinner.

Downstairs an enormous table was set with 36 places, a smaller table off to the side for the young cousins who prefer to sit with each other... the "little kids table" in my family at home. We dined on soup and whole shrimp with mayo (I discovered that it's against the law to sell pre-peeled shrimp when they are the larger variety, the peels and eyes and legs all are testament to how fresh the animal is). We ate various kinds of meat, several types of cakes and pies, drank CocaCola and water and ate the finest bread with the finest cheese. The older cousins went back upstairs for a while, to recouperate and escape the noise and just enjoy one another's company for a while. I have a cousin named Joaquin who is convinced that a type of bracelet that he wears helps maintain his balance and equilibrium, so we enjoyed ourselves testing his theories (all of which I failed miserably, surprise surprise).

We went back downstairs eventually to watch the littler kids put on a small rendition of the Christmas Story that Jacobo had written. Jacobo is a very serious 10-year-old and takes his acting in the same regard. He was intent on having a lovely production, and got a little frustrated when the 6-year-old Angel started climbing on top of the stable when he was supposed to be holding guard over it on a chair. The play was all around adorable and hilarious, however, all the parents cheered and whooped, and it was performed a second time, just for extra clarity :) Some Christmas Carols were sung (although in Spanish they're more like party songs, a celebration as opposed to a quiet, solemn reminder that we have in Silent Night and the First Noel). We all made it back home at about 2:30, spoiling my cousins' plans to go out to clubs later that night. I've found that no night is sacred from the Spanish fiesta here, people find any reason at all to party until the sun comes up. Considering that Bea and I had to wake up the next day (Christmas day) to go to my dad's pueblo, we wouldn't have probably gone anyways, but I was still pretty shocked just at the idea. We all left one another with 2 kisses, 2 besos, and sat content on the ride home, discussing nothing at all, I was in total awe at the entire night, knowing then and there that this would be one of those things I'd look back on with a giant smile and a peace and testament to how valuable these years abroad and this cultural adventure really is.

llega la nieve

2009-12-21T09:33:00.001-08:00

The picture on the left was taken September 15, 2009

The picture on the right was taken December 21, 2009

Merry Christmas, Madrid :)

I awoke this morning with a complete and utter lack of motivation to get my butt out of bed and go to school. I made myself get up, saying, "Self, you have one real day of school left before a nice, long break. Suck it up."

Who would've guessed it?

Madrid and the surrounding cities (including Majadahonda) recieved about 6 cm of snow today. I'm accustomed to snow, obviously, coming from the barren Midwestern plains covered in feet and feet of the fluffy, white delight. So I slipped on the best shoes I had and braved the 15 minute trek to school. Spain is, to say the least, NOT equipped for snow. Either they don't know to put salt down on the roads and sidewalks, or they're just not equipped to do so before all the hubub of the morning begins. Majadahonda is famous for it's hills, and cars were literally break-sliding all the way down them. I walked calmly along the ice and snow, listening to Elvis Christmas Carols and glad that I had forced myself out of bed. Upon arrival, the entire school was outside, engaged in a giant snow battle. There wasn't one car in the parking lot, no teachers had even bothered. The doors were locked and kids were dodging in and out of one another avoiding giant snowballs (it was the fat flakes that are perfect for packing). I spent half an hour at school, once getting hit in the face and ducking behind various, larger friends to avoid complete destruction. At one point, my American friend Jesse threw a snowball at me, and being clever, I lifted up one foot to try to peg it in midair. Another brilliant plan, Another epic failure. I went bum up in the snow, both boots in the air, landing on my backpack (which fortunately cushioned the fall a bit) and was helped up seconds later by my friend Adrian-- me, him, and the rest of the school that had seen the fall were laughing hysterically. My friend Jesse told me that regardless of what else happened that snowday, I had just made it all worth it for him. At least it served for something :) I have to tell you... Some things have no hope of ever changing :) I've spent the rest of the day contently tucked in with Bea watching TV and eating an ungodly amount. You know, like you do.

Merry Christmas, Madrid

XO Sami

(L) <-- The "text messaging" manner of saying LOVE in Spain :)

2009-12-20T05:30:00.000-08:00

Saturday night out on the town with the Americans. The girl on the far left is Emma, she's one of my best friends here in Spain. Next to her is Nikki, then me, then a Spanish friend of ours named David. This was taken at a McDonald's in the Opera area of Madrid. Yes, I still eat at McDonald's, even across the ocean :)

This is one of the streets of Majadahonda. These lights are strung everywhere in the Madrid area, this one is on the street right outside of my house.

My good friend Javi and I at a local Irish Bar on Friday night. We played pool and I shocked myself at my skill level. Apparently, those nights at Grandma and Grandpa's pool table payed off for something

The Virgin Mary at Jacobo's play on Wednesday night. She was a little miss attitude, let me tell you, docile was not the best word to describe her :)

Two of the stable animals singing their Christmas Carol with their Sunday School class

The Nativity Scene. Jacobo is the king with the orange robe and blonde hair

Two of the Three Kings whispering during the service. If you look closely you'll see Jacobo's watch on his left hand... As was written in the Bible, of course :)

One of my favorite little Christmas decorations in the house

The window in my room is covered with stick-on snowflakes... Not quite the real thing, but close enough!

My desk. The snowman was provided by my host family, the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree was sent to me by my family back home

The table set for a Sunday Meal... We had fondue (sp?) that day and discovered that my host family had been placing the fondue pots upside down for 20 years!

felicidades

2009-12-20T03:54:00.000-08:00

Since it's become routine to write up a blog once a week at this point, by the next entry Christmas will have come and gone. In Spain, there is a much heavier focus on family than on commericalism, in comparison with the United States. Obviously, there is a whole lot of love in my family at home, there are scores of cousins running in circles around each other and aunts talking over other aunts who are simultaneously directing children and husbands who just wanna watch the football game, but A Christmas Story always inevitably gets put on. Grandma makes way too much food and the basement is always a disaster after the girls have been down there. I walk into peace and calm at Grandma Jan's house, the entire house is warm, the kitchen is full, and Dad has to roll around in a sweater to collect the dog hairs off the floor for various relatives and their allergies. My family at home is utterly irreplacable.

I'm realizing, after being here for some time now, however, that everyone has a family story like this. Everyone has something they hold on to, something that makes their Christmas, their Easter, their whatever, just a little more special to them. The house is decorated, I woke up about a week ago to Jacobo flying around with garland in one hand and the Baby Jesus in the other, huffing and puffing for me to "moooveeee sammiii!!!!" The tree is adorned with "adornos" (go figure) and my host mom made me my own little stocking just like the rest of the family has. There are Nativitiy scenes EVERYWHERE in Spain, because there is also a more prominent religious focus as it is a "Catholic" country. The Nativity scene above is in the entryway of my house, the first thing you see when you open the door. Ana (my host mom) told me that she and her sisters painted the statues themselves. There are little reminders of Christmas all over the apartment, which makes some of the brash, over the top decorations in the U.S. seem excessive and almost distasteful. Christmas is a little more subtle here, but you can definitely feel it wherever you go.

I went to Jacobo's Christmas Play at Church on Wednesday. The sanctuary was jam packed with small children and their parents and grandparents, they did a very tiny rendition of the Christmas Story (Jacobo played one of the three kings... SIDE NOTE: In Spain, the Three Kings bring you your gifts (Los Reyes Magos) and they bring them on the night of January 6. Santa also exists here, and in some houses he brings some gifts on December 24, but in most families (including mine) the gift exchanging takes place on the morning of January 7, which also happens to be my birthday, so I scored on that one :). You can see the pictures of Jacobo in the next blog, it'll be all pictures. After the Christmas Story there was a time when all the different Sunday School classes got up and sang their Christmas Carol they had prepared. Some are American Christmas Carols with the lyrics tranlsated into Spanish... We sang Feliz Navidad several times, which was particularly hilarious because, just like our pronunciation is awful in English of the "Feliz Navidad" part, the packed room of little kids couldn't for the life of them sing the English part. "I wanna weeeesh you a merry (with the r's rolled) chreestmaas from duh..bbuhba....arrt.... FELIZ NAVIDAD". I was doing my best to hold back tears in silent laughter.

Friday night was spent out with my friends from school, the same group of pals that I'm with all the time; we're getting to be really close now. We stayed in Majadahonda because none of us was feeling like braving the cold weather for the trip into Madrid, where you often have to stand outside in long lines before you can get in anywhere. We ate together at Domino's and told hilarious jokes ("How do you put a giraffe in the refridgerator?" ... "You open the door and put him in." ... "How do you put an elephant in the refidgerator?" ... "You open the door, take out the giraffe, and put the elephant in.") They mistook my lack of hilarious laughter for not understanding. I understood it all, it was just so unbelievably ridiculous :) Saturday night I went into Madrid and hung around with some of the American exchange students. We've made some really good mutual friends here in Spain, one of them named Jennifer, that always come with us whenever we go out. That's fantastic because 1.) it's one more great friend we've all made here and 2.) it takes away some of the guilt of hanging out with Americans. What I'm learning is that this trip is far too short to spend any of it wrapped up in guilt of any kind. This year is about making it into your own, not Rotary's standards, not the other exchange student's standards or your host family's. This is a time when you can be incredibly selfish and know that it's the right way to be.

The Rotary kids in my hometown of Northfield, Minnesota just found out where they are all assigned for the upcoming year. Out of the 19 applicants! all of them got accepted-- though no one is going to Spain next year, we range the rest of the globe from Taiwan to Norway to Columbia. I specifically remember the ear shattering scream that accompanied my acceptance letter and dancing ridiculously around Amber Woitalla's basement with my cell phone in hand and a deaf mother on the other end. I still have moments like that here in Spain... Life is normal, life is routine, but it's a life in Spain, and it's utterly thrilling

FELIZ NAVIDAD y Besos

Sami

how to save a life

2009-12-13T03:39:00.000-08:00

December is typically a difficult month for exchange students. There's the familiarity of family that you miss, the smallest details suddenly seem incredibly important (yet they never mattered to you before), your language is almost there, you can feel it, but those last stutters and verb conjugation confusions still make their way into your daily sentences, which, 3-4 months in, seems unnecessary. So it's easy to let yourself slip into a mentality of "being down" because you know that you're "supposed to"; that it's totally normal to feel bad so you let yourself feel bad. I'm not a big fan of this concept.

It's fundamental to feel the whole, wide range of emotions that come with an exchange year-- they're part of you're experience just as much as a specific, special trip or a daily routine that you walk away remembering. The idea is, that if you can fight through the difficult parts, you come out appreciating all the more the great things about your exchange. But somewhere along that path of just letting the year happen to you, I've realized that you have to take a grip of your year-- You have to learn how to save a life, your own. One of the most important things I was told in the giant whirlwind of preparation for this year was that you have to take care of yourself and assure the success of your exchange, because when it comes down to it you're the key to your own achievements. For me, this has meant appreciating every tiny action or comment... My family gave me an advent calender and made me a little stocking to hang on the tree like the rest of the family, because when it comes down to it, I am part of the family. Jacobo and I are cleaning the fish tank again and I've spent the weekend with some of my best friends here in Spain... Genuine friends, not just the kind you make because "friends are important to every exchange student", I honestly adore these people. I did get incredibly lucky with many aspects of this year in Spain, but I also created my own success in many ways as well. Things are changing, and that's ok.

This week was a lot like any other week. Because we didn't have school Monday or Tuesday, the rest of the school week was pretty relaxed as well. For example, two teachers didn't show up on Wednesday because they were still tired and wanted just that little bit more of a break. Very typical Spanish :) As I was walking to school on Thursday (running late, as always) my friend Adrian joined me on the trek up that last terrible hill before the school building, and teasingly told me I was late. I, of course, pointed out that he was just as late and he corrected me saying, "No, no. Spanish people are never late. We just get there at different times." I'd say that captures the spirit of Spain pretty darn well. Nothing is concrete, don't stress over it.

My exchange student friends and I have shared some hilarious stories over the silly aspects of our years abroad, particularly what triggers us to just lose it and break down, which are often the most ridiculous of things. For example, my friend Devon was telling me how her brother sent her a giant email of pictures and little memories for Christmas, and she made it through the entire thing with a smile on her face and a content, peaceful feeling. In the post script, p.s., he put a picture of the pet cat sitting on the couch, looking ticked off to have it's photo taken and inevitably "j-ing" it's tail (as my dad likes to say), a universal symbol of ticked-off-ness of cats. She said she saw that last picture, after 10-12 of her family and home and friends, she scrolled down to the upset cat and completely lost it, sobbing and crying. Because of the cat. My other friend Emma had a similar experience with the "Charlie Brown Christmas" soundtrack (which I think she was a bit of a fool for putting herself through in the first place... A Charlie Brown Christmas? Come on, guaranteed break down). My encounter with the pangs of homesickness unexpectedly snuck up on me on a walk through Madrid on Saturday night. There was a string street quartet playing Eine Kliene Nachtmusik, a famous orchestral piece that I've played many times back home. So, surrounded by happy Spaniards bustling along with their children in ridiculous reindeer hats and lovey-dovey couples holding gloved hands, surrounded by the joy of christmas in a random street corner in the middle of Madrid, I shed a little tear for Northfield and Nerstrand back home. It was just enough, a private moment between me and myself. I gave the quartet 5 euros.

On the docket for this week is an appointment to work out some more papers for Spanish residency, a funk concert with my friends from school on Friday, and a trip to El Rastro street market on Sunday. Many of my pals went today (including Mackenzie O'Connell, my friend who is on exchange through Rotary to Germany... She came to visit this weekend with her German host family, it was unbelievable to see her. That's one of the major advantages of living in Spain and, more specifically, Madrid. I mean, who doesn't want to come visit Madrid?) but because I was feeling a little sick and didn't wanna risk getting a full blown illness and also because I haven't seen enough of my host family this weekend, I decided to sit this one out. Which is also something that's alright to do. It's part of being comfortable, it's part of embracing your own, individual, specific joy and success. Learning what's right for you. And being content with it.

Love and Love, Sami

it's beginning...

2009-12-07T06:46:00.000-08:00

... not really to look like Christmas, per se... at least not the midwest christmas that I'm accustomed to. But that's certainly not a bad thing, it's just different. The lights are all strung up in Madrid, it's absolutely gorgeous, similar to NYC right around Christmastime. Yesterday and today (the 7th and 8th of December) we don't have school because today is a national holiday of some sort, don't ask me which, I swear they invent saints just to stick their name on the calender and call it an occassion. It seems a little silly to go to school on Monday if Tuesday is off so we didn't have classes yesterday either. Having said that, I had a successful trip to the post office this morning to pick up a package from the fam and buy $10 worth of stamps (they're 78 euro cents here for international postage... I wonder what the word for "outrageous" is in Spanish) and dropped some postcards in the mail. It's the small trips, like the one to the post office, that really highlight how much of a different country you're in. The most unimportant details can be the biggest challenges with language barriers and cultural misunderstandings. I think the post office runs, the trips to pick up public transportation at the local tobacco shop (called Bonobus here in Madrid... 12 euros gets me 10 rides anywhere in the Madrid area... quite the steal), and the meanderings down back streets, stopping to ask for directions are what an exchange student gets that the normal tourist doesn't... An honest sense of community and a definite confirmation of personal growth.

The first trimester of school is officially over, having been given our report cards (which still need to be signed by a parent/guardian and sent back to the school, even at the highest level of education). Spain is not as technologically advanced as the U.S. by any means. The big, fancy projecter that we have in one room of our school, the library, I had in every room back in Northfield. Grades are not offered electronically and, though the school has a website, it is not maintained or kept up to date. I like this in one sense, it's a more simplistic way of doing things, staying true to Spain's relaxed and easygoing environment. However, there seems to be little effort at technological development or progression, and that can be frustrating when papers get lost, messages get miscommunicated, and the exchange student has to try to scramble and pick up the pieces. For example, we have a computer in our house but no printer. So anytime it would be convenient (or necessary) to print off directions, an entrance to a concert, a document from college, etc, it has to go through my mom or my sister at work or university... I do miss that convenience about the United States. I'm learning the difference between missing things and mourning over things, for lack of a better word. You can miss something and have it in your mind without obsessing over it and having those sinking, depressing feelings. Missing doesn't have to be a bad thing.

On Wednesdays here in Madrid (and maybe in all of Spain?) everything at a local restaurant called 100 Montaditos is 1 euro. 100 Montaditos is famous for it's bocadillos, little sandwiches made on amazing bread, usually toasted, and with whatever your heart desires in the center. I typically order an array of chicken, cheese, tomato, and Spanish chorizo (similar to salami) sandwiches. They come with potato chips and all drinks are also 1 euro, so I always accompany my order with a Kas Limon, similar to Fanta Limon. It's sort of silly NOT to take advantage of Wednesdays at 100 montaditos so I always find someone to go with, be it friends from my class, other exchange kids, my host sister, or anyone else that I can drag along. This past Wednesday I went into Madrid to celebrate with one of my good friends here, Emma, for her 18th birthday, which was this past Friday. She brought two of her good friends from school, Paula and Luis, and my other American friend Devon came and brought her friend Marta from school. We talked in an exhilarating mixture of Spanish and English, Spanglish at it's very best. We all got along right away, we all had a lot of things in common... Funny how that can happen when you're born oceans apart. Who knew?

Other than that, Christmas is fast approaching and I'm doing some hunting for the host family and family back home. The best place for all gifts is at El Rastro, the street market that takes place every Sunday in Madrid, because you can find good quality, one of a kind goodies for little to nothing.... and in a pricey european culture, that's much appreciated. My friend Grayce who was living here (across the street... crazy coincidence, remember her?) is going home this Wednesday. It's yet another reminder of how flexible and concrete time is. It bends into how we want it to be percieved, but sneakily keeps marching along all the while. I went to Luna Nueva (New Moon) with my host sister Bea because she really wanted to see it and I'll take any chance either one of us can get to hang out together. Expectedly, I really didn't enjoy the movie at all, but it was nice getting some time to talk to her again. We genuinely do get along fantastically, if we can squeeze in the seconds to hang out. We also went shopping with my host mom on Saturday after being at my grandpa's for a few hours and on Friday I was out all night with some exchange student friends celebrating some birthdays. My friend Adrian at school told me I must sing "happy birthday" better than anyone because I'm always attending birthday parties. What can I say? :)

Life is Gorgeous, Una Vida Preciosa

Besos, Sami

2009-11-29T04:48:00.000-08:00

It was quite a confusing Thanksgiving dinner, I can tell you that much. There were potatoes, turkey, and apples, though not in the typical fashion served mashed, sliced, and in a pie. Spain's Rotary program served a giant dinner for all the kids in the Madrid area. It was hosted in the same location that my last meeting was held, except there were so many people in attendance at this meeting we took up the entire upper floor of the building, I'd say there had to be at least 120 people there. All the exchange students were invited in the Madrid area and most brought their host families; my host mom Ana came with me, and we looked ridiculously similar in black cocktail dresses, black high heels, and black leather jackets. There were a lot of formalities, announcing how so-and-so had contributed such-and-such amount to a Polio fund in another so-and-so's name... The uninteresting, but important announcements that every organization like Rotary is bound to include. We were then served a dinner fashioned after the typical American thanksgiving meal... but didn't quite hit the mark. My plate was filled with an enormous turkey leg (think Caveman), with a delicate slice of apple covered in whipped potatoes topped with parsley... All of which was drenched in a sauce resembling gravy. None of this is said in a "complaining" manner, the food was delicious and the company was fantastic, and skyping with the family when I got home made for an all-around lovely evening. Somehow, I got nominated and pushed to the front of the crowd of exchange kids to give a speech (in Spanish) in front of the entire group, which ended up being surprisingly a lot easier than I would have thought. The Spanish is really moving right along :)

Friday night there was a surprise birthday party for Bea at one of the local restaurants in town (Vips) which she was utterly.. uh... surprised by and was a nice break for her in the monotony of the weekend. She's really cracking down on her studies now, she holed up in the house Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to prepare for two tests next week and get done a massive amount of "trabajos" or projects involving mathematics and physics as she's studying to be an Architect. Walking into her room one encounters a maze of origami sculptures and giant floor plans laid out in the tiniest of detail. She's a fantastic student, the dinner was well deserved and I'm glad we could put on that big of a surprise for her.

Saturday night I went to a concert in Madrid that I've been looking forward to for a long time. The band is called Muse, they're English but really popular in the United States. My friend Joe (who is an exchange kid from the same district in the United States but is living in Southern Spain along the Meditteranean coast in the region of Alicante) flew up to Madrid to attend the show with me. It was held in the "Palacio de Deportes", one of the many stadiums in Madrid devoted to soccer. We were pretty close to the stage and the music and performance was unreal... For the encore the entire crowd was jumping and chanting "ole ole ole" and when the show was completley over, smoke shot up from the stage and the lead singer of the band raised the Spanish flag high. It was absolutely one of the highlights of my trip thus far.

The lights have been put up for Christmas in Madrid, they hang along practically every street and adorn lampposts and giant buildings and pretty much anything else that will hold a christmas decoration. The streets are gorgeous and lit up, it makes me appreciate how fast the holiday season is approaching and how quickly it will fly by... Which is turning out to be pretty representative of my trip abroad at this point. I love Spain and everything that it has given me, I can only imagine how much more there is to see, smell, hear, and taste. There is a soccer game tonight... this is a big one, folks, Real Madrid vs. Barcelona. The biggest rivalry in Spain. I'm beyond excited. Hasta Luego Amigos Mios, Besos a Todos, Sami

The Day(s) of Giving Thanks

2009-11-23T11:38:00.000-08:00

The dashing gentlemen shown are a few of my greatest friends here in Spain. Daniel, Javier, Adrian, and I went to a local concert on a Saturday night and spoke in intermittent English, Spanish, and a universal language that can't be given a name other than laughter and understanding. It's almost too much to ask for better friends than those that I have here in Spain... I've never been welcomed with such open arms. That is one of the main distinctions between the United States and Spain that I have noticed in terms of schooling; I can honestly tell you that I haven't encountered bullying here and I've been asking around with the other exchange kids and they all report similar experiences. A kid that would probably suffer some real torture in the U.S. because of a manner of dress or an unfortunate haircut or a lifestyle choice just is another member of the class here. I'd never realized how "cliquey" America was until I ran into a much more authentic form of acceptance halfway across the world.

This week was filled with yet more realizations, ups and downs, delicious food, and impossible happiness. One of the greatest things I've encountered in the Spanish schooling system is that when a teacher is sick or absent from school, there's no replacement or substitute. That class is considered a free period and the students can do with it whatever they like. I've found that in general kids here seem to take more responsibility for their own actions; studying is considered much more crucial than in the U.S. and if you do poorly on a test, you determine whether or not you get to go out that night-- my best friend Alicia has kept herself from going out several weekends because of a bad grade or if she just thinks that she could've done better. I never saw that sort of iniative back home, kids took advantage of whatever opportunities they were given to go out; that's not the case here. Because grades don't count for me, however, I'm finding plenty of opportunities to go out and enjoy myself in this beautiful country.

This past week proved to be fairly uneventful, a walk down to my Gran Via to get photos taken for my Residency papers or a trip to pick up postcards (to be mailed soon, by the way) were nice little breaks in the everyday, but considering the everyday is pretty ideal here, I don't really need any breaks from it :) I acknowledge that the "Rotary RollerCoaster" is a real concept, based on a whole lot of experiences. It's a curve that most exchange students follow and predicts what will be the toughest times and where you'll flourish. But the lows that every exchange student is supposed to hit don't wham me all that hard because I have a lot of support and a lot of fantastic things surrounding me to where I can usually pick myself up out of any slump pretty easily. Some of that is luck and some of that is personal initiative and growth, and for that I'm truly proud.

Friday night was spent at Adrian's house watching "The Grudge 2" (a horror film) in Spanish, which proved to be more hilarious than frightening. Alicia and I were falling all over ourselves with laughter, the whole night proved to be one that anyone would have a hard time forgetting. Sunday was my host father's birthday, so my family went to his pueblo (side note: everyone here has a "pueblo" or a small village from where their grandparents or great grandparents came or even where they themselves were raised. People that live in big cities or even more residential areas usually find their way back to their pueblos for important family gatherings as that is where a grandparent or a large majority of the family is situated). My host father's pueblo is in Albeceite which is directly to the East of Madrid about two hours. That left Bea and I home alone for the weekend. It was a little thrilling and a little scary that we each just completely did our own thing over our two days. At this point we have our own friends, just like any siblings, but we're still comfortable hanging out with each other as well. It's turning out to be a really nice balance.

During the day on Saturday I went into the city and met up with some exchange students for what turned out to be a lovely outing. We started our day by picking up Chinese food in what appeared to be a parking garage but ended up being THE place to get authentic Chinese in Madrid. We took it to go and sat by a fountain (the one I'm sitting in front of in the picture above) and ate more than should ever be allowed. My Spanish has developed more quickly than a lot of the other exchange students, so I'm often asked to go with to shops or to order things because I got lucky with that extra edge of proficiency. I went with my friend Emma to pick up her ticket for the concert we later went and saw; Andrew Bird who is an American artist, but has a really interesting and eclectic sound, building his entire concerts alone based off of playing different instruments, like the guitar, violin, or chimes, and recording the different beats and sounds and compiling them, all the while singing along. The music itself was fantastic and the crowd was great. Unfortunately, sitting behind Emma and I were two girls that epitomized the reason that some foreigners hate America. These two college-aged girls in their entirely inappropriate miniskirts and heels and drank and talked incredibly loudly through the entire concert (in English, nonetheless), completely distrupting the alternative, relaxed atmosphere. Just to top it off, their boyfriends cheered and warwhooped stupidly, wearing striped polos with their collars popped and hair entirely too gelled. By the time the show was over, that half of the club was completely empty and I was about ready to revoke my American passport and officially join the Spanish revolution. For goodness sake.

Sunday I woke up incredibly early and sprinted to the train station with my exchange friend Jesse that lives in Majadahonda to join Rotary on an excursion to Soria, a small, ancient town about 2 hours from Madrid. The bus trip proved to be a bit of a pain as some of the older Rotarians told "jokes" the entire way there and cackled into the microphone. Still I'm since in hyper-translation mode, it's difficult for me to tune any of them out and so the sleep that I'd been hoping to catch up on during the bus ride proved to be pretty fruitless. I am developing some incredible friends here in Spain, however, and the company that I kept all day long was enough to make up for just about anything. We went to an exhibition first, which was pretty interesting, though not at all what we were expecting. It encompassed Christianity and the perceptions of the religion in four "seasons" and featured a lot of really cool old statues, tapestries, and paintings. We had, however, just gotten off what proved to be a 3 hour bus ride, we were all running a little low on blood sugar, and the tour guide talked insanely quickly. Regardless, I'm thankful for the opportunity to see anything and everything. We had a delicious 3 course meal later and wandered around some small towns, concluding the night with a stop in an ancient old village (I forget the name) where we danced through the streets and could just feel the memories being made. The pictures of the sunset and at nighttime are in that small town.

We'll just have to see about Thanksgiving, or el Dia de Accion de Gracias (the day of the action of giving thanks, literally translated :). Obviously, they don't celebrate it here but I'm hopeful and thankful, as Rotary has organized a dinner and a lot of these people are really starting to feel like family to me. It's all about keepin on keepin on and when you're situated in Spain, I can't say it's all that difficult. Slip into a turkey coma for me though, will you? :)

Besitos, Sami

2009-11-14T09:27:00.000-08:00

The symbol for Madrid is a bear standing on it's hind legs next to the Madrone tree. No one here can seem to explain to me why this is the symbol of Madrid... and internet searches have proven to be pretty fruitless. The main statue of "El Oso y El Madrono" is in la Puerta de Sol, a famous plaza in Madrid, best known as the place where the entire city gathers for New Years. Everytime I pass the statue on a walk through Madrid or see it intermingled into various parts of the city (such as in the picture, in a hole-in-the-wall tavern, apparently the oldest in all of Madrid, where I ate with some friends on Sunday) I make up a different explination for what I want that bear to be reaching for, what's really in that tree, and what I want it all to mean. I like that my reasons are always changing and I like that my thoughts here are always evoloving and I like that I probably could know but I just don't.

I'd say that encompasses pretty well how this past week has gone for me. There are some things that I still just plain old do not know. Such as various sayings or words in Spanish. Or what happens at the end of a trimester here (coming up on November 24) and why we randomly have days off schools for fiestas that no one seems to acknowledge anyways. Or how my host dad knew the famous Jimi Hendrix rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock but I had never heard of it, which seems more than a little backwards. I'm learning that for a Rotary kid, ignorance isn't necessarily bliss, but it also isn't all that bad.

Saturday night, I babysat for my host mom's best friend, a 3-year-old cutie with flourescent-orange rimmed glasses and a shock of blonde hair named Carlitos. After we got home from my grandpa's house in Las Matas (where we go to eat every Saturday), I had a few minutes of downtime and as I was preparing to walk out the door with my host mom, she looked at me and said "Where's your overnight bag?"... Apparently in Spain it's understood that if you're babysitting, it's gonna be an all night deal. I should've figured this, as the Spanish typically don't even get home until 5 am from parties, and it'd be difficult to catch a bus back home at that time of the morning. So I threw some clothes into a bag and Ana and I departed for the neighboring town of Pozuelo, where I was babysitting. The night was fairly uneventful, Carlitos had the characteristic homesickness that little kids sometimes get, and ended up sort of throwing a fit for his mom, but felt better when I let him scribble all over my hand, and we ended up to be pretty good pals by the end of the night. (As a side note, I'm aware that allowing small children to scribble on me is not the best way to problem-solve, but give me a break, it's hard to comfort a 3-year-old that's at the same level of vocabulary as I, the 18-year-old, am). For the rest of the night, I watched the battle on the soccer field between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, an incredibly famous rivalry, almost as intense of a game as those of el Futbol Club Barcelona vs. Real Madrid; something I can only put into context as the Packers vs. the Vikings times about 200. The game was fantastic, Real Madrid won 3-2, but it was well-played and a nail biter right until the end-- speaking of that, I have started picking my nails again... sorry Mom :)

I woke up Sunday and ran out the door with 30 euros in hand from babysitting to meet up directly with my friends Emma and Devon at El Rastro in Madrid. On the Metro in Madrid, there was a very eccentric, harmless, well-dressed, and tiny old man who walked past me on the Metro to get off at his stop. I'm still so accustomed to Minnesota-nice and smiling at everyone (something that no one does here in Spain) so as he nearly danced off the Metro (he was a weird little guy) and turned around to look back in, I gave him a quick smile. He enthusiastically began blowing kisses and waved goodbye to me, as the woman next to me gave me a nudge and asked if I knew him. When I replied "no" we both just sort of looked at each other and laughed. It's the little things :)

El Rastro was one of the coolest places I have been thus far in my adventures in Spain. It is basically a giant street market that takes over a pretty good part of Madrid. You can find the touristy goodies, such as giant Spanish flags or t-shirts with bull sillouhettes, or you can dig through the back streets and find treasures such as a broken-down antique clock, or leather bracelets, fake designer watches, classy canvas bags, or even, if you so choose, a spiffy pair of suspenders with the Spanish flag imprinted all over them. There is an incredible mix of tourists and natives, you can hear all sorts of languages and it really feels like more of an international market rather than specifically Spanish. It struck me as funny that I found myself saying things like, "annoying tourists" under my breath when they'd suddenly stop, disoriented, the mass of people moving forward through the streets. How quickly I forget :) I got my host sister Bea a birthday present however, because the next day, Monday, November 9, was her birthday.

Birthdays are kind of downplayed in Spain-- or maybe we just do it up big in the United States. Monday was a holiday for Madrid, but since I technically live in Majadahonda, I still had school. Bea made herself a cake... it consisted of a generic "cookie" which you soak in hot milk and stack in rows and columns, with melted chocolate in between the layers and melted chocolate spread over the entire thing, with M&M's spelling out "19", which you then put in the fridge to cool. Jacobo and I each gave her our little gifts, I bought her some bracelets the day before and I made her a giant sign which I left taped to her bathroom mirror with the bracelets. She was entirely thrilled when I got home :) Jacobo he had made her some presents as well, and we culminated the day with a very Spanish dinner of octopus soaked in olive oil, among other delicacies.

The rest of the week proved to be pretty uneventful. My mom sent me the new Season 5 of House, so that occupied the majority of my week nights. I also started running again, setting out a specific route that takes me about half an hour. It's pretty thrilling to me that I can still run in a t-shirt and shorts in the middle of November and I've missed the exercise, the whole body-and-mind well being is really important to me. It also helps to combat the scrumptious food that I'd consider a sin not to eat and the famous 15 pounds every exchangey is expected to gain... No way, Jose :)

I'm running out the door right now to go to a concert with some friends from school in Las Rozas. Pozuelo, Majadahonda, and Las Rozas are all right next to each other, a sort of famous trio of suburbs to the Northeast of Madrid. Last night I crashed at about 12... I had plans with friends that fell through because of illnesses and the need to study. It's that time of year, folks. Bea told me yesterday that she'll need to stop going out both Friday and Saturday nights-- she can't afford it anymore, she just has to study. We'll see if that holds up or not :)

Besitos Amigos, Sami

learning

2009-11-07T04:32:00.000-08:00

I must've done something right in a past life, because this one is proving to be incredibly rewarding. I'm going to apologize in advance for my deteriorating English (especially in terms of grammar and spelling), I'm finding myself rewording things the way that they're spoken in Spanish. For example, in Spanish, the adjective comes after the noun. So if you want to say "yellow house" you say "casa amarilla" ... I'm finding myself saying things like, I want a bite of that sandwhich tasty. Uh oh :)

I suppose in some ways the language business is a good sign, I'm starting to be able to really joke around with my classmates, and since there's no personal space in Spain, my best friend Alicia basically pounced on me at school the other day and told me that I was never allowed to leave, that she'd miss me too much when I was gone. Of course, that didn't hurt my ego one little bit :) I'm getting to a point of reflection on my trip. I've been here long enough now where I'm starting to be able to actually look back on what's already happened. I have moments that I know I'll remember for a long time- turning around to look at my parents one last time before I passed through security, walking in the airport and first seeing my host mom and Bea waiting. I remember I really liked Bea's blue strappy sandals and Ana was taller than I had expected her to be; Bea was holding a sign that I still have set up in my room. The airport smelled like B.O. and exhaustion, but maybe that was just me, as I'd recently gotten off a 10 hour flight. I reread the first few emails that I sent my mom recently, realizing how much I've already grown, and how much room there is for further growth.

There are some things that I just plain old don't like doing in Spain. But there are things like that in America too. I'm guessing there are things like that in Japan and the Czech Republic and South Africa as well. When I start to think of how much better this situation would be "if only", I remind myself of where I am, what I have the privilege of doing, and how I'm not going to spend more than 2 seconds whining about anything, and even those 2 seconds are two too many. I have about one billion things to look forward too still on my adventure. I have family coming and I think I'm going to England to visit my friend John Linford in February. I have art museums and street markets and discotecas and walks through the park and my bread with olive oil in the morning. I have a family that considers me one of their own children, my host mom started tearing up at a Rotary meeting the other day when she talked about me having to go home. Speaking of Rotary meetings, I had my first this past Thursday.

It was held in a restaurant, where they meet every Thursday at 930 pm. for dinner. There were about 16 people there, a decent mix of men and women, talking over one another and chowing down on the delicious steak in mushroom sauce and fried apples, scalloped potatoes and crunchy, warm bread (my aunt Marisa here in Spain calls this bread "musical bread" which makes Jacobo laugh everytime). Of course, mostly everyone was smoking so by the end of the two hour meeting my eyes were tiny slits and red-rimmed. I'm really thankful that no one in my family smokes, I don't know if I could handle it all the time in the house... It's overwhelming enough at school and in the streets. I gave a little speech at the meeting, everyone laughed and asked me questions and it was very casual and easygoing. I got a lot of compliments on my language and I presented the President with the Rotary flag from Northfield and he gave me the flag from Majadahonda. I thought it was hilarious how the members of the club would snap at one another for talking over other people and would freely tell each other to shut up; there was even one woman who was the official "monitor" of the meeting and would tell people who got to talk next- sort of like in grade school when there was an object and you had to have it in your hands to speak. I giggled to myself at one point imagining all these older, distinguished members of the community passing around a tennis ball for the rights to talk aloud.

I went to a play on Wednesday night with my classmates and tonight I'm baking cookies with Jacobo and then babysitting for a friend of the family who is paying me 30 euros for a few hours. Yesterday was Jesse's birthday and we celebrated with dinner, brownies, and friends, both Spanish and American. Tomorrow I'm going to El Rastro, a giant street market in Madrid that's very famous, I'll be sure to take pictures :) and tomorrow night I might be going to El Prado, the biggest and best art museum in Madrid. Monday is Bea's birthday and I have four tests next week... I have a feeling time might just start flying :) Things continue on back in the United States, I had sort of a slap in the face with this when I discovered a friend of the family had recently fallen ill. I guess things didn't just get put on hold when I left, the world does not, in fact, revolve around me :) I'm continuing to talk with the ones I love, this experience teaches you who you're real friends are, as they're the ones you miss, the ones you still seek out and don't feel guilty about halfway around the world... They're the ones that I appreciate an incredible amount for their support and encouragement. Thank you to all of you who read this and continue to ask for more. In some ways I'm glad that I don't update the blog every day because I truly can't-- I don't have the time. And that's pretty exciting :) November is the month to get through my friends, I'm lovin it.

Besos Amores Mios, Samantha Roma

November

2009-11-01T05:15:00.000-08:00

Today is November 1, my little sister Lila's birthday, and the day after Halloween. I spent last night in Madrid at a place called Ciudad Universitaria, which is a big open area where a lot of the Universities in Madrid meet up. It was jam packed with people, and the tradition of dressing up in Spain is slightly different than in the USA. Here, people genuinely try to be scary. If you go dressed up as a nurse (for example) you have red streaks smeared all over your costume and everyone has face makeup of bruises and cuts. We even saw several massacred SpongeBob's. The other boy on exchange in Majadahonda, named Jesse, and I went as Hippies because we didn't want to spend the money for costumes and we both own tye dye and Birkenstocks. It was not my normal night of carousing around neighborhoods asking for candy with the knowledge that we're far too old to do so, but I met a lot of new people, speaking both English and Spanish... a few people didn't believe me when I said I was American... they said I spoke so well they would've had no idea... I'd have to say that was the absolute highlight of my night.

Life has been routine and easygoing in Majadahonda... This past Wednesday I went into Madrid and met up with some of my exchange student friends. I still feel a little bit of guilt about doing this because it's a whole night of speaking English... I think when everyone gets more comfortable with their Spanish it will be incredible to meet up with them, because I have to say that I haven't laughed that hard in a very long time. We enjoyed one Euro bocadillos at 100 Montaditos, a sort of tapa bar chain. I even translated for a few tourists that couldn't speak Spanish that were trying to order. The building on the left is the image I always see coming out of the metro stop at Puerta de Sol in Madrid, it captures a lot of the traditional architecture around the city, plus it shows behind it the gorgeous blue sky that allows the sun to shine down every day. In the nearly two months that I've been here I've only had 4 or 5 days of rain, and "cold" to the Spainards is still tropical for me, with every day in the 60s or 70s, hardly a need for a jacket.

It feels a little strange to be going into November without celebrating Lila's birthday. I've been Skyping with my family fairly regularly, once a week or so, which has worked beautifully thus far, even resulting in one session where my mom and I sort of forgot the other was on the line as she watched Judge Judy and I held up a conversation with my host sister in the background. I guess that's a real testament to being comfortable in your surroundings, when home feels like it could really be in two completely different places across the world from each other. I'm still enjoying the nights of dancing my life away at the discotecas in Madrid, though it's a pricey pastime and Spain is proving to be a bit of an expensive place to live... who knew? :) Sometimes little bouts of homesickness still hit, during the daytime yesterday it was a little rough, thinking on how this was the first holiday without the fam, but I perked myself up throughout the night... This adventure is all about self-help for me, all about learning how to be your own mediator, that some things about being an exchange kid are just plain hard, but that the incredible rewards that await at the end (and throughout each day) are testament enough to why I chose to go. I also got two packages in the mail, one was a letter from my Grandma Colleen, her familiar handwriting and kind words absolutely overwhelmed me with happiness, as if the package from the Estenson Family filled with Halloween decorations (to Jacobo's delight, as he had a little Halloween party yesterday), Reese's candies, and Kris' homemade cookies, which were not smushed but perfectly intact and absolutely delicious, wasn't enough. I played my violin a little this week, helping Jacobo along with his classical guitar as well. Bea is in her first year of University and completely consumed by studying, a little reminder of what I know I'm going to be heading into next year. She is in the Architecture course, however, so a lot of her projects are absolutely incredible, miniature models and sculptures that are meant to show perspective... Our house looks like a modern art museum :) This week I have my first official Rotary meeting on Thursday and on Wednesday I'm going to a play with my class from school. Another week ahead, I'm filled only with anticipation and excitement. Bring it on, November :)

Besitos, Sami

joy joy joy

2009-10-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

I'd say it's about time for another update, wouldn't you? This week brought some new challenges and an abundance of new lessons and joys, all of which I'll culminate for you on a stomach full of ribs, olive oil, fresh bread, roasted almonds, peaches, and coffee with milk.

We had our first few tests this week at school. Since I'm enrolled in the "Science" program, I have classes such as Biology, Chemistry, and Earth Sciences. The words and concepts are very similar to those in English... So it's fairly easy for me to follow along. For example, in Biology we're learning about Bioelements (bioelementos), including glucids (glucidos), lipids (lipidos), nucleic acids (acidos nucleicos), and proteins (proteinas). I worked my butt off in high school to understand these concepts and this year is proving to be a test as to how much I really retained. Since I've already graduated, my main priority for this year isn't studying and school, but rather learning Spanish. Turns out one of the greatest ways to learn a language is to work through it in textbooks and by taking all the notes the teacher puts up on the blackboard... So I'm studying while acheiving my goal of learning Spanish. It must be paying off, I'm recieving better grades than many of my classmates, which makes us all a little confused and leaves us laughing. Grading systems are a little confusing in Spain, I'm just starting to grasp them. In high school, the year is divided into trimesters. At the end of each trimester, there is an evaluation (literally, la evaluacion). That evaluation counts for 60% of your grade and is a summary of what you've learned the entire trimester. Within the trimester, you take two tests which account for 40%. Everything is graded out of 10 here and a 5 is considered a passing grade. The two tests are averaged at the end of the trimester. So, if you get a 4 on your first test, you need to get at least a 6 on the next test in order to pass that trimester, taking into account the evaluation. I got a 6.5 on my Biology test (the third best in my class), a 5.4 on my Chemistry test, and similar scores on my Philosophy and History tests. My teachers are very understanding about my grammar, because if they had been taking into account gramatical errors, I think I would have scored much lower :)

I'm still flourishing at school in terms of friends and conversation. My only frustration is that sometimes my friends want to improve their English, so they insist on speaking to me in English the whole day... But I don't worry too much about this because I can already see how much my Spanish has improved since I got here. All I can say is that I'm incredibly thankful for the people that reached out to me in school. They absolutely didn't have to, my language restrictions would have made it easy for them to just dismiss me, but they were kind anyways and now we can all laugh and speak conversationally throughout the day because of their patience and good hearts. I talk to new people each day and butt heads with my English teacher on a new concept every day. I never ever correct her, even though she's often incorrect but as soon as I falter in one area (such as the "formal" method of speech which we NEVER use) she's all over my case. I kindly told her the other day that she's a native Spanish speaker, just like I would never correct her on her Spanish I'd appreciate if she wouldn't correct me (the native English speaker) on my English. She's been leaving me alone a little more as of late. My friend Jesus always requests a Smackdown between us and tells me how much Laura (that's my English teacher) has "owned" me. Unfortunately, Jesus can't really pronounce owned so he says "own-head", which in itself makes me laugh. What a kooky crew we all are :)

Yesterday (Saturday, October 24) I went on an expedition to the mountains in Madrid. There are about 20 of us living in the Madrid area and the large marjority of us met and treked up to the highest peak in Madrid. I'm a little disoriented without the distinct changing of seasons, the trees are barely changing colors, and it's still a gorgeous 70 degrees most days. The mountain hike was difficult to say the least, I'm feeling it today but it was entirely satisfying to reach the top above the clouds laughing and completely content with the other exchange kids, all of us looking at the others realizing "We're in Spain. On top of a mountain. What more is there?" The well-being of exchange students is very much dependent on the weather. On days where it is sunny and decent outside, you can always find something to do, the skies are clear-- go take a walk, sit in the park and draw, meet up with a friend for a McFlurry. Earlier this week we had our first bout of nasty weather, overcast skies and drizzling rain, capitalized by cold. Those days were hard for me, I tasted boredom and felt the guilt of being on my computer just a little too much. But I got through those days and appreicate them all the more now. Talking to former exchange students is incredibly helpful, I love hearing stories and encouraging words never get old. We all go for different reasons and we all end up coming away with different lessons learned, but we share a bond of adventure and uncertainty. We all identify with the other in some special way. It doesn't matter how many preparation meetings you attend, how many "tips" you recieve, or any amount of past experience is shared, there are some things about being an exchange student that are just plain hard. But it's weekends and days like mine on the mountain that make you put every bit of the difficulties in perspective and love what you have and love the time you have left and the time that has passed. There are too many things to count that I'm looking forward to, if these months are supposed to be the "hard" ones, I can't wait to see how high I'm going to get the chance to fly. I love Spain and everything it's teaching me. A part of me never wants to leave and I love that, but a part of me is excited to go home, which I also love, because it's an affirmation of how much I appreciate what I have to go home to. But not yet, folks... I have a whole lot of living yet to do in this gorgeous country, and I intend to embrace if fully.

Besos, Sami

ADDRESS

2009-10-17T04:19:00.001-07:00

attention, attention, attention

all letters/postcards/packages/anything at all should be addressed to:

Samantha Weaver
Ecuador 12, Bajo B
Majadahonda 28220
Spain

Thank you :)

madrid--- take one

2009-10-17T03:20:00.000-07:00

Having lived in the country for the larger portion of my life, and in a small town before that, the shift to a city could have been disastrous. Suddenly nothing is calm, everything is always moving, peace has redefined itself as the presence of only a few crazies on the metro, and quiet assumes that you're taking into account the cars, the honking and murmuring of voices past your window, the din of your upstairs neighbors, and the ever so occasional bird that dares to fly among the smog. I never would've placed myself in a city, I'd have chosen the more piteresque, "postcard" location-- I guess that's why they don't let you choose.

Turns out Rotary actually knows what they're doing :) Despite some of my fellow exchange friends experiences that contrast this impression, I've had nothing but luck and good fortune during my time here. I feel well cared for, but I'm also proud, feeling like I took a lot of initiative towards my own success. I ventured into Madrid two days ago with the other exchange student Jesse who lives in Majadahonda, and we met up with two other exchange girls who are living in various parts of Madrid. They walked us around the city, it was remarkable how well they already know their way in such a giant place. We saw the Royal Palace and the Cathedral that is right next to it. We walked along Gran Via and went to Plaza Mayor and Puerta de Sol. We stopped at a famous bakery and had Spanish pastries (you could almost feel your teeth disintegrating, they were so sweet). We walked through Parks and around street vendors and wacky performers; two of the highlights being a man who played whole compilations using crystal glasses of various shapes and filled with water to various levels and a man who was dressed entirely in sequins besides a goat mask that adorned his head and banged on pots. We sipped Coca-Cola Lights (there's no such thing as Diet Coke here) as we walked past the aritificial lake in the park. The wonder of the buildings here dwarves anything that I've ever seen in the United States, or anywhere else in the world for that matter. The carvings on the buildings are perfected down the the last feature on every angel, saint, rose, horse, and fountain. The city is clean and beautiful, and history radiates from every streetlamp and cobblestone. It's amazing to me how this doesn't seem to affect the people that live and walk among it every day. Then I flipped perspectives and realized that I do the same with the gorgeous, natural beauty that I'm surrounded by in Minnesota.

I'm suffering from a slight cold, my lungs are a little crackly and I'm finding myself blowing my nose into floral scented Kleenex quite often, but I'm sure with the gorgeous (admittedly chilly) weather and being out and about all the time, that will clear up very soon. I've been to two discotecas at this point, both were great adventures. Guys and girls don't dance with each other here, we all sort of just dance together. It's not dirty in any way, everyone is there to just have a good time. On the other hand, the amount of PDA (Public Display of Affection) is totally overwhelming-- it's not unusual to look over and see one of your friends locking lips with someone else for a few minutes, only to return to the group totally unphased. I refrained (and plan to continue refraining) from this particular aspect of Madrid nightlife-- I just don't think I'm Spanish enough for that one, folks.

I'm learning ways to deal with the "overwhelmed" feeling that I sometimes get after coming home from an entire day of Spanish in school, where, if I have both Philosophy and History in one day, my brain can get a little frazzled. More and more, however, I'm finding myself not literally translating everything in my head, I just hear and process, there's not a lot of hoops that the words have to jump through in my head anymore (such as, what tense is this in, what does the verb mean, in the context of the sentence what are they saying, does this person have a lisp?-- oh wait, no, everyone talks like that, etc.) When I do get run down with it all, I watch one of the DVDs that I brought with me in English or I read a book in English-- and I try not to feel guilty about it. I'm submersed in this language, there's no doubt about that... The occasional episode of House isn't going to reverse all of that learning, right? It's strange to think that just by being here, the language is soaking into me. I'm unconciously "learning", without sitting down and studying for hours. It makes me feel constantly productive and thoroughly international :)

Besos y Abrazos, Sami

the world is shrinking

2009-10-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

My best friend Sam Estenson who's also on exchange to Japan this year through Rotary posted in his blog today a very short, sweet, and simple statement (a rare feat from my darling Samuel) that essentially says that if there's one thing that having all this free time has taught him, it's that he doesn't want all this free time. I love being able to come home and not have to really stress over anything at all. Being able to just lay around and read a book or watch tv with the intention of meeting up with some friends or hanging out with my family is a much appreciated change for this girl with so much to do that it seemed as if it was too much to do.

I don't know how long I could do this for, however. Certainly not every day for the rest of my life. I took this year to slow down and evaluate, I'm finding that the most learning happens when you're not seeking knowledge.

My friend from my hometown of Northfield, Minnesota (her name is Grayce Forsythe) is here in Madrid through a program where she teaches a family's children English in exchange for room and board in the city. She's here until December 20, so we made a date today to meet up in Madrid. As we were sitting there talking, I mentioned that I'm not actually in Madrid, I'm in the town of Majadahonda right outisde of Madrid. She looked at me in amazement, telling me that's where she was living too. It turns out she's right across the street from me. In all of the world, in all of Spain, this is where our paths crossed. We promised each other not to see the other one too much though-- it would be so easy to become dependent on that familiarity. But hold your hats folks, the world is shrinking.

Life here in Spain is, thrillingly, routine at this point. On Friday night, I actually had to choose between what I wanted to do, I got invited several places, which was an utterly exciting concept. I ended up going out with Bea Friday night into Madrid and with my friend Robi into Madrid Saturday night. Sunday was a very relaxed day, I hung out with the family, and Monday was a national holiday-- a double header because of Colombus Day and El Dia de Pilar (basically celebrating the saint Pilar-- it's sort of like a second birthday for anyone named Pilar).

People ask me, "what are the people like in Spain?" or "what is the school like in Spain?" and I'm finding it harder and harder to answer. People are people, school is school, family is family, no matter where you are in the world. It's hard to put into words what distinguishes European life from American life because the lines are sort of blurring-- the only really obvious difference at this point is the language, but that's getting more managable by the hour.

It's the birthday of several of my friends this weekend so there are parties to go to and memories to be made. I had my first Chemistry test today, it didn't go great, but it went alright, I have a history test on Thursday. Walking to school this morning, I was freezing, fall has officially arrived in Spain. The pictures are of a little outing my family took on Sunday, I wasn't feeling all that well so I couldn't go, but the pictures are beautiful regardless.

Hasta Luego, Sami

fotos fotos y fotos 3

2009-10-11T15:48:00.000-07:00

Don't really know if you can ask for a lot more than this...

The Spanish flag

A staple on the Gran Via of Majadahonda (the main drag of my hometown)... You better believe that this bench belongs to these ladies too, you wouldn't see a different group occupying it... They all have their respective places and groups, elderly men and women alike. Absolutely unforgettable

Jacobo snapped this shot at La Escorial in an entryway... The thought of the construction behind this magnificent place is overwhelming within itself, needless to say the history within it... How many thousands of people have walked through that door?

The outside of La Escorial, it stretches far far far in both directions (to the left and the right) as well.

fotos fotos y fotos 2

2009-10-11T15:36:00.001-07:00

At La Escorial with Jacobo... If you look closely you can see the statues of the saints on the white pillars above us...

Yet another breathtaking view with Javi and Jacobo

Ana is a big fan of taking pictures when you're not really looking, but I ended up liking this one because of the background

The seat of King Felipe II with Javi and Jacobo

Marta is on the left, Mateo is on the right holding his newly christened baby sister Lola

fotos fotos y fotos

2009-10-11T15:09:00.001-07:00

Yet another set of photos.... I agree with Sam Estenson (www.estenson.blogspot.com) in that oftentimes pictures can express a culture better than words; you just have to feel it.

Above is my grandfather and one of my little cousins named Marta. We gather at my grandfather's every week at 2 pm and eat paella and play cardgames and enjoy each other's company.

My host sister Bea and I

At Las Fiestas de Las Rozas with friends

More Fiestas de Las Rozas (I like this picture because it has Bea in it and one of my best friends here named Rocio, the other girl to my left)

This is where everyone buys their books and school supplies in Majadahonda. This tiny shop supplies everything for the entire town, you have to wait about an hour or more to get anything.
Kids here don't rent school textbooks, it's similar to college in that they're all purchased and all pretty expensive (about 30 euros per book).

the house

2009-10-09T06:31:00.001-07:00

The pool that's in the center of the complex, or "urbanizacion" where I live.

There are about 6 buildings like the one shown, with the pool and a tennis court and a garden at the center.

This is the entryway to my house... The kitchen is just through the open door. The front door is to your right and the door on the left leads to the bedrooms and bathrooms. And yes, that is a real zebra.

This is a couch and table in the living room, which is combined with the entryway shown above. If you were to turn left from this perspective, you would see another couch and a giant window that looks out onto the pool and garden.

This is my room. My desk is further past that chair and behind the head of my bed is my closet. Facing the bed are shelves and an aquarium. I'm staying in the room of my host brother who is in the United States on exchange right now-- Javi.

This is my building from the back... If you were the one taking this picture, the pool would be behind you. On the bottom floor where you can see the awning is that giant window in the living room that mentioned above, and my room is the next window to the left.

I apologize for taking so long on posting all of this information and these pictures... I'll be posting my address in one of the next few blogs if you want to send anything, I wouldn't say no :)

Con mi amor, Sam

context

2009-10-07T10:00:00.001-07:00

I wonder if Father Time ever felt disoriented.... As someone who is operating under his watchful, constant tick tock, I have to tell you that I'm more befuddled than ever over this "time" concept. I have been in Spain for ONE MONTH today. I will be here for some months more. I find myself putting time in all sorts of different contexts, not out of want to go home, simply out of sheer amazement at it's many faces. I have been here for one entire month, I will only be here for a few more. I won't say that it felt like yesterday that I landed in the Madrid Airport, because not only is that cliche, it would be untrue. But that statement shouldn't carry a negative connotation, I've loved my time here, I'm thrilled at the thought of more.

I'm settling into a nice routine after school. I've really gotta tell you how awesome it is not to have to do anything. As the queen of over-scheduling, the girl that had to squeeze in time for precious things like sleep and eating, the concept of coming home and reading a good book or just hanging around with my host brother or walking down to the shopping center with a friend for no good reason are all very much appreciated. My host mother is always apologizing to me for "not having anything to do" and I'll continue to explain to her that that nothingness was my entire reason for coming. To slow down. To breathe. To stop measuring and analyzing and comprehending everything. To just get in touch with what there IS, not with what COULD BE. I'm learning, I'm always learning, but without a giant stack of books at the foot of my bed while I chow down a frozen dinner and weigh out how I'm going to manage a violin lesson, soccer practice, several meetings, and AP testing the next day.

The only thing that I'm expected to do here is be myself. And it's fantastic to figure out a little more each day who that person is. This experience hasn't been completely smooth 100% of the way, I'd be a little concerned if it had. I know there will be tough days. But I also know there will be great days. So I'm seeking the good but embracing the bad. One month in... Doesn't have to be put in the context of anything else.

Besos, Samantha Roma (ps. A lot of my teachers just call me "Roma"... It's my middle name and easier to pronounce with a Spanish accent. I absolutely love it. Oh, and the picture above is at my grandfather's house with two of my young cousins... perfecto)

for the grandmas

2009-10-04T09:56:00.000-07:00

I'm finally able to post some pictures of what most would consider the "classic" Spain. I went to La Silla de Felipe II and La Escorial yesterday with my mom, dad, and brother. It's still gorgeous weather in Spain, despite the fact it's "autumn". The best way to describe the autumn here is with a Spanish word-- "precioso" which literally means "cute" but can be interpreted as precious and untouchable. I sort of miss the changing colors of the Minnesota forests, but a break from the cold is much appreciated. The trees are changing slightly but nothing compared to the vibrance back home.

La Silla de Felipe II literally means "The Seat of Felipe II" and is the place where the famous king sat down over his newly claimed kingdom and determined where everything would be placed and declared it his own land. Looking over the land as he did, it was easy to appreciate the immense history of this country, it's age dwarves that of the U.S. There are letters carved into the seat where the king sat marking it as his territory, I sat upon that very throne which overlooks the historic La Escorial chapel and palace and listened to my host father explain all the wonders of what I was looking at, nodding attentively, and actually understanding the majority of it. This was, in itself, a wonder and made me appreciate all the small wonders of everyday living.

We proceeded from La Silla to La Escorial Palace and Chapel, which doesn't sound familiar when you first hear it, but the images should strike a chord. The chords rang rampant throughout the famous church, as we entered during one of the masses and stayed for the duration. It was everything that a Spanish service should be, there was a chanting of the Word with three priests dressed all in green and white. There were attendants and bell ringing and a collection which included a man straight out of Dan Brown's Angels and Demons walking up and down the pews collecting euros. The most incredible part of the mass for me was the singing of the choir and the organ playing. The voices were almost surreal and echoing throughout the giant structure as if they were singing to God and no one else, despite your religious beliefs, their conviction and their chords intermingling with the brassy confidence of the organ once again made it obvious to me how irrelevant language barriers can be. I found out later that the choir was made up entirely of young boys as they later trapsed by punching each other and stepping on one another's robes, which made entirely it's own statement about belief, innocence, and the untouchable wonder that surrounded me.

I couldn't take pictures in the church because it was a Sunday and there was a mass going on-- but this is a picture of the entrance to the church, you can see the saints lining the entrance above, it reminded me of my Grandma Colleen and attending Catholic services ever so often when I was younger, images of my Grandma Roma and her rosaries drifted through my mind as well; it's incredible what can remind you of home in a place that couldn't be farther from it. I was promised that we would return to the quaint town of La Escorial and it's curved, winding, cobblestone streets so that I could take pictures of the inside of the church, so the explination of the sanctuary will have to wait until then, because it literally cannot be described in words.

We moved from the church to the other aspects of La Escorial, including the enormous palace and servants quarters attached. The gardens reminded me of my Grandma Jan in her infinite love for all things flora, they sharply contrasted the rigid architecture of La Escorial, somehow enhancing it's enchantment-- even in a history riddled with oppression and occupations, Spain has forever maintained it's grace in certain aspects, without a doubt in the pure beauty of it's land and it's people. The car ride home was sleepy and content, which could have been due in part to the fiestas that took place the night before and on Friday night. I'm finding my balance in between social life and my responsibilities and family time; though I have to give a lot of the credit for that to my wonderful host family. Bea has provided all sorts of opportunities I'd never have had, my host parents are loving and understanding, and Jacobo forever will have a place in my heart. I can't express enough how lucky I feel to have found my niche, because let's be honest, a lot of this program and a person's success within it is based on luck. And I really, truly hit the jackpot, folks. I wrapped up my Sunday night (and my fourth week, as the calenders here start on Monday) watching Crepusculo-- Twilight-- after a delicious Sunday meal filled with teasing and loving. Bea starts University today; as I've mentioned, kids in college live at home here in Spain, so I'll still see her on weekends but she has class every day from 3-10, meaning our time to hang out on the weekdays will be limited. Fortunately, I've made other connections at school and in the town with friends and there are a lot of exchange students in Madrid or the immediate surrounding areas, so if my brain ever needs a little vacation from this vacation, I know I can always call them. Que Buena Suerte Mis Amigos, what good luck my friends, to have been blessed with this adventure and these people. I'm only about a month in and it's already difficult for me to think about leaving these loved ones and this home. And at this point, I love, above all, that I feel comfortable enough to really call this my home. Thank you Rotary, thank you to everyone at home for your encouragement, and thank you thank you Spain.

Besitos, Sami

WOW

2009-10-01T10:46:00.001-07:00

I have never been an optimist. And I've never believed in the idea that everything is a matter of perspective. I think at this point in my trip (nearly a month in) I could write a pamphlet on how incredibly valuable each of these is.

Spain is treating me better than ever. I'm not living in the Spain of "Vicky Christina Barcelona", there are no historic buildings in my town, if you were to be set down in the middle of my main street, you could be in any Spanish-speaking town. I'm close to Madrid, I'm not on the Mediterranean. Originally when I found out that I was living in Majadahonda, I was not incredibly thrilled because it didn't have any of the "typical" Spanish characteristics I was looking for. I envisioned myself sipping Sangria in the darkest of night on a Spanish beach with a flamenco guitar serenading me as a lingering smoke drifted through the air and I slipped into a peaceful siesta. I'm not saying that this is completely out of my range of possibility, but at this point, I prefer the grafitti on the walls, the pamphlets scattered on the street with dirty shoeprints over them advertising discotecas; I choose the less historic buildings that are filled with the people I enjoy being around. I never envisioned myself in Majadahonda and now I can't picture myself anywhere else.

School is moving right along, I'm almost to the end of WEEK 2! I'm at a point in my trip where it's very important to stay busy. I'm comfortable enough now to where I could easily get bored and those are the dangerous times, where your mind has too much room to wander. School has been a nice remedy to this. Today I found myself starting to switch off in class and stop listening and I caught it pretty quickly and snapped out of it. I had to read outloud today in my Spanish class and was absolutely terrified and realized two hours later in English that they all probably feel similar when they have to read outloud in this class with me listening. It occurred to me that just like I don't judge them, it was unlikely that they were judging me, and those who were obviously weren't the sort I'd want to be getting to know intimately anyways.

I'm eating well; there is french bread served with every meal, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, best served toasted covered with olive oil, a tomato paste, and just a hint of salt. This, along with a Spanish coffee and apple or peach, is my breakfast. After school at about 2, I eat a lunch which varies greatly each day and I love every time. So far I have eaten fried chicken, paella, a soup-like dish filled with spanish, swordfish, and water chestnuts, a stew-type dish with beans, blood sausage, potatoes, and carrots, and the list goes on. We eat leftovers or a salad for dinner and we always drink water. To some the food would seem bland, it is not filled with spices or flavoring, but that's just what I love to eat. To put it simply, I'm in my own personal, edible heaven.

At this point, time is passing according to what I have upcoming on my schedule. For example, the month of October is split up by what's going to be happening on the weekends. I'm going to Las Fiestas de Las Rozas (the neighboring suburb) this weekend. Next weekend, my family is taking a trip to Segovia and the historic La Escorial. The weekend after that I got invited to go into Madrid to the discotecas and then I have a free weekend and then HALLOWEEN. My friend Adrian told me at school today to not feel bad if I didn't have anything to do during the weeknights, he explained that in Segundo Bachillerato pretty much everyone just stays at home all week because the coursework is so rigorous. Thus far, I've only had one night where I've had nothing to do, and I spent that watching a soccer game with my host father and reading a chapter in my Philosophy book-- quite satisfying.

My host family has a connection to the Real Madrid Soccer Team-- our cousin is married to one of the lesser-known players on the team (I responded with... WHO CARES IF HE'S LESSER KNOWN WOW THAT'S AMAZING) and so we get tickets to some of the games. Bea went to a game last night and I get to go the next time that we get offered tickets. I could not be more excited for that, let me tell you. I've been helping out the other exchange student here in Majadahonda, named Jesse. I realize that a lot of this program is about luck, and I really hit gold with pretty much every single aspect of my exchange; in terms of my location, my friends, my school, and especially my host family I feel incredibly blessed. Tomorrow Jesse is coming home with me after school and we're all going to eat together with Bea and he'll watch our soap operas with us before we all go out at night for Las Fiestas together.

I'm trying (pretty successfully) to look at everything through a positive lense. This trip is teaching me how to appreciate, how to be my own support system, and who those people are that are truly valuable to me. I'm learning to smile when it gets difficult and accept that sometimes that's the only thing I'm going to be able to do... and that's enough. Time is what you make of it. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to be here forever. Sometimes I wonder if there's anyway I can make forever last longer. I'm teaching myself to stop analyzing time and just let it be what it will be; because as much as I love controlling things (I always was bossy :) I cannot control the wild, free spirit of Spain. And I cannot and have no desire to control time.

Did I mention that Spain is treating me better than ever?

Un Beso, Sami

las fotos

2009-09-28T11:24:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-20T07:25:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-17T04:37:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-16T05:02:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-14T16:37:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-08T15:58:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-06T22:12:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-18T18:26:00.000-07:00

And so it begins... I leave for Majadahonda, SPAIN the first week of September (it's looking like September 6 or 7) and I couldn't be more excited. The nerves haven't yet kicked in, all the things that I've heard and seen so far look surreal. I have three host siblings, Beatriz, Javier, and Jacobo, and I've seen and communicated with my host parents Ana and Javi. Beatriz has been incredibly kind and has been talking with me via email since around March. Everything looks BEAUTIFUL in Majadahonda (which is located about 10 miles North of Madrid) and I'm sure it'll be a real shock to live surrounded by people again, instead of goats, sheep, and a dog named Bruce :) my brother is still devising ways to keep my plane grounded or temporarily give me a deadly disease and my sister is licking her chops laying out the blueprints for my room. Just a few short weeks left!

THANK YOU to ROTARY one million times over!
--Sam