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

More Visa Adventures

This weekend we (Mom, Dad, Jayln, and I) made the trek out to Los Angeles for my visa appointment, and also to hang out in California.  Our first night there we stayed at the most beautiful hotel called the Millenuim Biltmore, situated right in the heart of the city.  It was built in the 1020's and has been updated, but still had all the original windows, doorknobs, etc.  The lobby and entryway were stunning and it looks awesome from the outside.  The next morning we had the best crepes I have ever had, and started off to the Spanish consulate.

The Spanish consulate was... interesting?  We found the building that it was supposed to be in, but didn't find a sign or anything so we were a little confused.  Later we found the sign, and it was probably five inches long, one inch tall, and hidden on a window pane behind the rest of the signs for the building, kind of funny actually.   When we got up to the actual office, let me just say I was the only blonde in the whole room.  I guess I'm going to have to get used to that!  We talked to several different people while we were waiting, and each had different visa horror stories to tell, each with varying levels of frustration.  Still we weren't worried, we had everything we needed and it was going to go soooo smoothly.  ha. ha. We got up to the window and handed the lady all the things she asked for, but then she started asking for things that definitely were not on the list.  Apparently there was fine print on the bottom of the list of paperwork that stated there might be other things needed.  Seriously?  Would it be that hard to tell us what those other things are? So they took the paperwork that we had and our money of course and we need to send in the rest.  Yeah, 6 hour drive and tons of frustration and I still don't have my visa.

The rest of the weekend went really well.  We mostly spent time with my parents friends from medical school and their kids.  We watched the tail end of a surfing competition at Huntington, hung out at the beach, and went scuba diving at Catalina (which was amazing, by the way).

p.s.

I just got some exciting news! My host family lives in the suburbs of Caceres, and since the adults' jobs and Carmen's activities and school were all in the city, they rented a flat in the city center.  We will live there during the week and on the weekends we will go to the suburbs house.  I am so excited to be in the middle of the city!
I'll keep you all posted!

Bailey

Update

So I'm super excited because I have already lived a little bit of Spanish history! A couple weekends ago, we were at the Grand Canyon and Flagstaff and stuff showing it all to Andrea.  We were driving home when all of the sudden she just freaked out.  Turns out, the king of Spain, Juan Carlos, abdicated and his son Felipe will take over as the new King.  Juan Carlos had been the king since Franco died, and he was pretty well liked because he gave all the power back to the people after the dictatorship during WWII (I think).  It will be interesting to see what the opinion is of the new king and queen.  Also I am totally going to watch the Spanish coronation ceremony this is all just so cool!

We have started the process to get my visa, and it is just as horrible as I have heard.  The amount of paperwork needed is insane, and the Spanish consulate in LA is completely booked.  The soonest appointment we were able to make is September 4th, and considering I hope to be gone by then or close to it, that is not going to work.  They said they would add more appointments so we have been going on to check probably five times a day.  We will see how it goes I guess.

Finally, one of my best friends in the whole world just moved back across the world :'( My Spanish buddy Andrea is now back at home in San Sebastian and I miss her like crazy.  I really hope I can visit her while I'm in Spain so I can show off my incompetent Spanish and have her laugh at me.  Also, lets be honest her town is literally one of the prettiest places I have ever had the privilege to Google Image stalk.

My exchange has not even started, and I have already had many adventures and frustrations.  I am excited to see how this all pans out!

Hasta Luego,
Bailey

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