Family Reunion in Hervas

This post is about the family reunion in Hervas!

It was a great weekend and a great way to relax after a long week. Carmen told me about this reunion a long time ago and I have been pretty excited about it!  We left Friday afternoon after Carmen went to some presentations for her classes in the conservatorio and I bought some winter-ish rain-ish boots. I'm not sure how long the drive was because I slept the whole time. We were the first people to arrive in the "campground".  Apparently campground can meet what we think it means or it can be a group of nice bungalows, a pool, a bar, and beautiful landscaping.  No complaints, it's just not what I expected.

The group was huge. It was Jose's mom's side of the family and there were close to 30 of us. There were a bunch of people my age that were fun go hang around, a girl named Pilar who spoke perfect British English and was very nice to me, a hilarious crazy uncle Julio who did not speak English but he thought he did, and so many more great people. Made for an interesting and very fun weekend!

We spend lots of time chilling in the campground but also we went to 3 pueblos nearby.  They were all so cool. The first was called Candlario and it was quite old, with cobblestone streets, little channels in the road that water ran through, and beautiful buildings. However, my favorite was the drive through the mountains from Candlario to Hervás. It was absolutely breathtaking and probably one of the most beautiful places I have been through.   The third pueblo was Granadilla. Nobody lives there anymore, half of it is ruins and half is reconstructed. It was awesome! You could walk around the whole thing on a wall that surrounded it and then get amazing views from the top of a tower. As hard as this experience has been and will be, places and experiences like this make it more than worth it!

Our last night and again in the morning all of the teenagers played cards. We played some of the same games that we have in America like Mafia and Scum. It was so fun and I got I know everyone much better. We played into the wee hours of the morning. I didn't look at my phone but Carmen thinks we went to bed at 4 am!

This weekend was so fun! I think we will be seeing lots of the family again around Christmas, I can't wait!

Besitos

Bailey

 This is from a beautiful hike we took.  REAL TREES

 Ruins in Granadilla

View from the top of the tower in Granadilla


There are many more pictures from this trip on Facebook! 

School So Far...

I am loving my life here in Spain, but school has been a real challenge for me.  The first few days were definitely the worst, and its getting better, but who really likes school all that much anyways?  Anyways, lets just say, the first few days were really rough.  It was probably the hardest thing, mentally and emotionally, that I have ever done.  I don't want to sound dramatic I'm just being honest.

The first full day was pretty much completely terrible.  I can't say I even understood 1/4 of what the teachers, or students, said.  Basically, it was the same as the first day of school in America.  (I think) they talked about the rules and what we will be doing this term or year or whatever.  This is why it was hard for me.  We have all heard the same think a million times and so they just kinda rushed through it, and there wasn't much class participation, writing on the board, or other things that usually help me.  I totally understand and wasn't expecting much different but hello... this is a new language and school and everything for me, and 6 classes later my head was going to explode.  I was so frustrated and emotional that my goal for the day was to make it through class and lunch before I cried.  Because I was going to cry.  After lunch I laid down for a siesta and cried, prayed (which is a great stress relief, btw), slept, cried some more, and woke up feeling much better.  Carmen, her friend Paula, and I went out and it was a great way to get my mind off things.

The next morning I woke up absolutely dreading going to school, but, it turned out to be infinitely  better.  My first class was P.E. and apparently I was supposed to wear sporty clothes to school, who knew? But it turned out ok because we didn't do anything.  Then we had Lectura, where the kids who don't have a religion class just go hang out in the library.  Needless to say my favorite class.  In Spain, if a teacher doesn't show up, your class doesn't get a sub like in the U.S., you just don't have class (heck yessssss) so we just chilled out some more for my music class.  In the rest of the classes we actually started with material and I was able to follow along.  There are some classes that I think I am going to have to accept failure in, like Lengua and Etica, because I just absolutely don't understand.  But there are others that I actually like and with effort can understand.  I am particularly excited about my history class because my teacher is very nice to me and it will be interesting to learn about these historical events from a different perspective.

I hate to end on a bad note, so something good did come out of school so far... friends!  There are many people in my class who are very nice to me and explain things to me when I don't understand or let me see their notes.  There are quite a few really cool people in my class and I think we are going to be good friends.

This experience definitely isn't easy, but I am learning a ton and loving (almost) every minute of it!

Besos,
Bailey

The First Two Days

I can't believe I have already been here for two days.

My parents dropped my off at the JFK airport in New York and I met the other students going to Spain with ASSE.  They are awesome and I think we will be good friends! There are six of us and four of us are living in or near Caceres, que suerte!  The flight was very long and cold and I didn't sleep at all.  We got to the airport in Madrid and had to wait in an extremely long line to get our passports checked.  Then we went to get our luggage.  Mine had no issues, but Lia (from Santa Barbra and now living in Valencia) lost her bags.  We waited there with her for forever but finally had to leave her because we did not want to miss our bus.  We took a taxi to the bus stop with a representative from the Spanish company who spoke English very well and liked to practice with us.  The bus ride took about four hours and I slept for almost all of it.  I met my family at the bus station in Caceres.

The first day we went to the house in Malpartida de Caceres (the suburb or puebla) and I unpacked and then we ate Spanish tortilla and it was gooooood! That evening Carmen and I went to a party in the Plaza that I think was for incoming freshmen in the university, but every teenager in the city went!  It was crazy and really eye-opening how many people drink and smoke here.  I met lots of nice people but I don't remember them all, everything was pretty overwhelming.

Today, the second day, I woke up at 11 and ate breakfast with Carmen.  Then we watched National Treasure in Spanish.  She really liked it, and it was a funny fusion between our cultures.  She had to help me with a little Spanish and I had to help her with a little bit of American history.  We got my phone working and then went to the casquo antiquo (no idea how to spell it, sorry Spanish speakers) and it was amazing.  We went into a church that was built in the 1400's.  Yeah.  That is almost twice as old as our country and about 600 times as old as me.  It was beautiful but being clumsy me I tripped over a pew and caused quite the commotion.  We continued to walk around the old part of my city and went to a bar called los siete jardines or The Seven Gardens, which had the most amazing view.  I am so lucky to be living in such a beautiful city! I am already in love with it.

For dinner Carmen and I went to her friend Ana's house.  The two of them talked so fast to each other and for a while I didn't understand a thing.  Then they included me in the conversation and talked slower. They asked about my religion and what we are all about.  They found it so weird that we don't drink alcohol, coffee, or tea, because those are kind of staple foods here.  Then we listened to music and talked movies.  Ana speaks english very well.

Tomorrow Mama Carmen wants me to talk to Carmencita in English haha and she doesn't want to.  Also I am going to introduce her to Pitch Perfect, in Spanish with English subtitles so we both can practice, but lets be real thats not going to happen.

I will update this later with pictures!

Besos
Bailey