Italia y los días navideños

I actually wrote this blog in two parts: most of it on my plane ride home from Spain and the other part I finished up today. This blog post is late because I was too busy to write one the week of finals and I haven’t had much time to send it out since I got home. But here it is, enjoy!

Parte 1:

Currently I’m on my way home from Spain heading towards Dallas from Madrid. It’s unreal. Maybe because I’m going on the 13^th hour of traveling and I still have 9 more to go… But I really can’t comprehend that this semester has come to an end. I can officially say that I made the right choice in coming to Spain for an entire year—thanks Juanka, I owe you one! (Juanka is my Spanish Advisor back at Lewis & Clark College that pushed and pushed and pushed for me to go to Spain for a year rather than a semester). He was right.

I said goodbye to many people from my program this week and I can’t even imagine being in their shoes and coming home for good, I almost cried because I’m coming home for two weeks…who knows what kind of sob-fest will incur when I come home in May. I can’t even think about it. But on a lighter note…I went to Italy last week!

Italia (diciembre 12 – 17)

Seafood pasta dinner

I can’t even describe how amazing Italy was. Italian will be my next language. I could actually understand a lot of it because it’s so similar to Spanish (how the heck is French part of this family?!…I definitely can’t understand French to save my life).  I’m pretty sure I gained like 3 pounds in Italy too—no regrets though, far too worth it. I ate pizza, lots of risotto, seafood pasta, prosciutto, Italian desserts and amazing coffee.

Kiersten’s Italian Family

Kiersten's family

I went to Italy with Kiersten and met her mom and grandparents in Venice. Her grandmother, Marisa,  is Italian and married Kiersten’s grandfather (an American who was in the army) in Italy and they moved to America together after getting married. But Marisa's family all still live just outside of Venice in small little towns. Kiersten’s great-grandmother is still alive so I even got to meet her too. All of Kiersten’s family were incredible! It was especially nice to meet her mom and grandparents. But her extended family were also incredibly gracious and welcoming. Kiersten and I stayed with Marisa’s brother while Marisa, her husband Jeff and Kiersten’s mom Paula stayed with Marisa’s sister. But we all met up and did stuff together every day.  We went to a huge family lunch on of the days (30 people!) and it was super cool. And it was the longest lunch I’d ever been to (noon to 5 p.m.) and we didn’t once stop eating—the food just kept coming. I had a blast!

Venezia

Bridge of Sighs

gondola!

San Marcos Square

Teeniest and best cup of coffee ever!

We did take the train into Venice on the first full day we had in Italy. Venice is truly a unique city the way the water surrounds the buildings. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was absolutely beautiful. We took a waterbus to San Marcos square and cathedral. We later had lunch, went shopping, and took pictures at the Bridge of Sighs. But I have to say, I froze my butt off in Venice. It was all of 30 degrees, if that. Still worth it J

San Marcos Cathedral

Bassano del Grappa and Marostica

Christmas tree sighting!

The next few days we explored the towns near Kiersten’s family where her grandma grew up. In Bassano we went to a really cool market, went shopping, and ate mini pizzas. In Marostica there’s an old castle that we climbed, but we didn’t get to see much of a view because it was super foggy. We also ate some gelato, which was superb to say the least!

gelato!

Mini pizzas!

Marisa, me, Jeff, and Kiersten

Exámenes finales 

And then sadly I came back to one of the hardest finals of my life the day after our trip (Kiersten and I did have to study on the trip—I know some of you think I’m just vacationing all the time, I promise I’m not ;) ) I have no idea how the exam went. It was for my History class where the professor told us, a week before the exam, that Americans are stupid and never pass his test because we’re lazy and don’t study. I can only hope I proved him wrong because that surely wasn’t reassuring to hear.  

Parte 2:

Christmas Eve

Now I’ve been home for a week trying to fight jet-lag, battling a cold, seeing friends, and hanging out with the family. It’s nice being home, although nothing seems to have changed much. However, some people say I’ve changed—my Dad says he can see that I’ve grown up a lot. I hope I’ve changed a bit, I don’t know if I feel more grown-up but I certainly feel a lot more independent. And I’m proud of myself for that. I’m very excited to return to Spain for my second semester this Friday.

Decorating gingerbread cookies with my friends

Today I’m making seafood paella for my family and heading to a friend’s house to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

¡Espero que hayáis tenido una Navidad estupenda y os deseo un Año Nuevo muy feliz!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all a very Happy New Year!

More exciting blogs to come in the New Year! As always, thanks for reading!

Diciembre: las últimas semanas del primer semestre

Holy cow it's December! When did that happen?

I haven't posted in a while since my life hasn't been all the interesting since I came back from Paris...

I've basically hibernated in my room these last two weekends getting ready for finals since I leave for Italy with Kiersten on Wednesday (the 12th) and I need to be ready to go the day I get back. So I think my host parents think I'm crazy. They're not used to an American student who actually studies. I actually did go out this past Friday though, to a chocolate museum with friends, and later I went out to a club. My host parents were so thrilled and looked very relieved that I was leaving the house...

El colegio

I have now completed my 112.5 required hours at the colegio but I am continuing to work there voluntarily through the rest of the month. Next semester I will continue the internship again for what is equivalent to a 4-credit class since it has been such a wonderful experience!

This week was interesting. I had a student who said their favorite food was "soap" instead of soup...we worked on that. I had another student who created the new month of "Juny" (she claimed she didn't know if her birthday was in June or July...pretty inventive, no?). I had a 15 year old boy who started taking his pants off in class. I forget that 15 year old boys just really don't think logically. And finally, I have been asked several times this week what the "N-word" means. Goodness gracious.

My older students are writing an article in English about me that will appear in the school magazine. If I can get a copy somehow, I'll figure out a way to post it.

Las tutorías

My two students have done so well with tutoring. Pepa's daughter, Clara, is doing much better on her English exams. And Candela and I talked about Christmas vocabulary, made snowflakes, and played Simon Says which was an instant hit. She loved it so much, she wouldn't let me leave. And Candela's lovely mother Rosa made my favorite cupcakes after I had given her the recipe. She always has something delicious baked from the weekend that she lets me try. She's such a good baker! And she works so hard because she has to go to special stores or order online to get the right ingredients since people in Spain don't bake.

Mi familia

Speaking of baking, my host sister has been home for the weekend and made the best strawberry cheesecake I've ever had. She somehow made a graham cracker crust without graham crackers (they don't exist in Spain) and it tasted exactly the same.
I also met my host aunt and uncle this week (my host dad's sister and husband). They came to visit from Salamanca. They were very friendly and I enjoyed getting to know them.
My host dad has gotten really concerned that I don't eat enough...I'm not really sure why. I don't eat any less than I have been. But he raised his voice at the table the other night demanding I eat more. Everyone went silent and then his sister and my host mom told him to let me eat whatever I want. It was a little strange. It hasn't happened since. He's also just seemed concerned in general and always asks me if I'm okay. It's probably because I come out of my room looking like a zombie after studying for hours straight...
He bought me what are essentially cocoa puffs for breakfast. My host mom rolled her eyes at this (she usually buys really hearty/healthy cereal). This is the exact scenario that would happen in my real family so I found it amusing.

Valor: El museo de chocolate

Museo de Chocolate

Mateo, me, and Harley getting ready for the tour!

On Friday I went to the Valor Chocolate museum with two guys from my program. The museum/factory is in Villajoyosa (a small town an hour away by tram from Alicante) that offers free tours and free chocolate samples. Everyone loves Valor chocolate here and it is quite good. I bought quite a bit a chocolate... I even gave a bar to my host mom as a gift. She doesn't even like sweet things but she threw her arms around me and thanked me a thousand times. She says she loves Valor chocolate, so you know it's good then if that's the only sweet thing she eats.

El viernes

After we got back from the museum on Friday, we went out with some of my students from the colegio. We walked around town and looked at fairs with shops just for Christmas and saw all the Christmas lights that have been put up. It was really pretty. Later, as I said, I went out for drinks and went clubbing with Kiersten and her friend Hannah, who is visiting from the States, to show her a real Spanish night :)

Esta semana

This week I turn in a paper and do a final presentation. Then, the next day I head to Italy with Kiersten to meet her family! I can't wait!

And it's now just under two weeks until I'm home for Christmas! I can't even believe it!