HOST FAMILY!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As you can see, I'm pretty excited.  Why you may ask? Well I received my placement and got in touch with my host family! I was told I would probably not get a placement until June, so getting it on February 5th was the greatest surprise of my life.  I was just checking my email, ready to do to bed, when I got an email titled "tu familia espanola"

I will be spending the next year with Jose Javier (host-dad) Carmen (host-mom) Carmen (16-year-old host sister) and Dama, mi perra espanola <3  They live in Caceres, Extremadora, Spain.  It is seriously one of the prettiest cities I have ever seen.  History Lesson: Caceres was controlled my many different groups of people throughout the ages, including the Romans, Moors, and Italians during the Renaissance.  Because of this, there are many different styles of buildings in the city.  It was declared a World Heritage City by UNESCO, so it has to be pretty cool.  Also, Caceres is famous for the abundance of stork nests there, interesting.

The weather in Caceres is pretty close to here in the summer... hot and miserable, but at least I will feel at home! In the winter the average temperature is about 50 degrees in the winter, a bit colder than here.  It also rains a lot, it is supposed to be raining there all this week.  I don't know that much about my family yet because we just haven't emailed that much yet, but I stayed up all night stalking/researching the city.  Carmen says she will send me photos this weekend.  I can't wait to find out more about my family and city!!!

Just some of my favorite pictures from Google Images


p.s. I haven't figured out how to do Spanish words on an English keyboard yet, so sorry for the lack of accents, tildes, etc.

Introductions

Hola!

My name is Bailey Willden.  I will be spending my junior year in high school meeting people, making connections, learning cultures, eating food, speaking Spanish and loving it all.  In other words, I will be spending a year abroad as an Exchange Student to Spain.

What made me want to do this? I would say my love to experience new cultures and the desire learn a new language (or possibly two or three... who knows?) are the main reasons I am going, but many other things influenced my decision as well.  First, my family has always loved to travel.  Whenever we have time off work and school we seize the  opportunity to see the world around us.  Also, my family has hosted two exchange students and I have been friends with many more.  I have seen the benefits that an exchange gives to these people and want that for myself.  And honestly, who could pass up the chance to get an entire country of new family, friends, and experiences, and then come home and its already senior year??

I am keeping this blog to share with all of you the ups, downs, and the overall experience of my crazy Spanish life.  Thanks for reading!

~Bailey