3 weeks, so fast!

9/26 My three week anniversary of being in Spain!

Finally got my French 1 books today, pretty excited, but also scared because I don't even know Spanish yet. Oh well, it's an adventure!

POURED Sunday and last night. Going to buy a big winter coat and new winter shoes for school this weekend!

Made cookies with Manu and Guzman yesterday. Had a few problems. Silvia bought real vanilla instead of flavor and I have no idea how to use that. Manu called his grandma and we ended up just putting it in the dough, stirring it in, and taking it out before rolling out the cookies. Also I have no idea how to use the oven in my kitchen so a few times it turned off. The second round was burnt so those are in my room, but the rest turned out great. 

Fútbol

The First game of Guzman I was able to go to! We won 1-0

Obsessed is putting it lightly. These with peanut butter.....Mmm ya! This whole box for less than 4 Euros.

Ummmm...

I think I joined the school magazine today....

Just pics

Lots of things to say!

Next class I will get my French 1 books because everyone else in my class is in their fourth year :/

I chose judo over dance class- so did everyone else- and the teacher wears a legit karate suit thing. This is going to be interesting. We also have swimming once every two weeks.

I talked to the orientation lady at my school about my final grades. I asked her to not count the first term- here we do 3- and just count the second 2 as 1/2 a year. She said she would talk to the headmistress/master and she thinks it will be fine. Cross your fingers everyone!

Last night Manu, Silvia and I went to Taste of America, a store one town over. It carries things from America other stores do not have here. I bought Rese's chips, cocoa powder, baking soda, and CRISCO! Get pumped up! Lots of cookie making in my future. They also have JIF peanut butter, Ben and Jerry's ice cream, Skittles, etc.

Not getting very god sleep- every night I dream up a different scenario of me going home. Last night it was because someone on the street was getting a divorce and because we were, "so close" I had to come home. Aspen is also in my dreams nearly every night.

Think I will buy postcards this weekend to send, honestly haven't seen any yet. Also haven't spent much money at all.

I'd love to get written letters in the mail from you all, email me for my address!

YIKES!

After 20 or so minutes of searching, and quite a few tears, Silvia found my lost 200 Euros!

Just got back from a long weekend!
     Thursday I didn't go back to school after lunch so I could pack. Silvia and I left the house and picked up another exchange student one town over, named Tanner from South Carolina. We got to Guadalarmaa and there were so many people! Half of them were ROTEX, which means helper who has been on exchange before. That night we just met everyone, played some games, and ate dinner, in bed around 11:00.
     FRIDAY: Woke up around 8:15 to get ready for breakfast which was at nine. Went back up to the room to get our Rotary blazers, passports, business cards, etc. Went to a sort of orientation where we watched videos, asked questions, exchanged pins, gave our Rotary banners, and got our health insurance. From there we split into groups by district. I am in the Madrid district, we are going to have get togethers with everyone in our district about every 45 days to go to museums, shopping, etc. After that we got into even smaller groups with a ROTEX and they asked for our return date home, cell numbers, passport expiration date, have we met with our counselor, do we have an emergency fund. Now it was picture time! We got into a big group first, then by district. After this we had lunch then siesta time for an hour and a half. at 4:30 we started playing dub games, but we eventually started to have some fun. After dinner at 9 or so we danced, listened to loud music, performed skits, and played singing games- girls against boys. Went to bed around 1:30.

     SATURDAY: Woke up around the same time- had to clean the room and ate breakfast at 9 again. We went back upstairs to finish packing and by the time I got downstairs Tanner's host parents were there to pick us up. After taking a few pics with the girls, we left at 10. Tanner's host parents are so sweet, they took us to El Castillo de Manzanares Real ( The Castle of the Apple Orchards) It was so beautiful and the weather was amazing. We were there for a little over an hour, then we drove back to their house in Majadahonda- I spent the day with them because Silvia and Rafa were in Portugal for a wedding. We took naps right when we got to the house, then woke up for a big lunch of spaghetti an meatballs, bread, and yogurt for dessert. Tanner and I hung out in his room after that, playing go fish, emailing, and playing guitar. We watched a Tori Spelling murder mystery with his host parents until 7:15 when Tanner's friends came over and we went to their house to play guitar. They are literally so good I almost cried listening to them. We left there at 8:30 to go back for dinner, but were gonna meet up later to go to la Fiesta de Majadahonda.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Not crying today at lunch! This is a FANTASTIC sign!

First Day of School

Manu y Yo a mi escuela nuevo.

I am gonna skip English and Speaking class to study Spanish, the teachers think it's ridiculous to have me in those classes. Everyone is very nice and wants to help. My classes are: Biology, Math, Spanish, French, History, Classic Culture, PE, Chem. and Physics, LAB, and Ethics.

I have to have special books for French because very one else is in their fourth year....perfect.
I did cry today when all the girls started asking me if I like it better here or at home. They were very sweet and said, "We are all your friends!" The teachers are also very nice, they understand my situation and are working with me.

Las diferencias de Europa (The differences of Europe)

      Here we have buttons on the top of the tank on toilets instead of the handles like at home. Here there are no screens on the windows, most everyone has a cleaning lady, meals are about two and a half hours later, and we have fake grass in the backyard. In school you have a few set classes everyone takes, then you get to choose between only TWO sets of additional classes. Students don't move classrooms, teachers do, we get an hour and a half to leave for lunch, and we don't get out for the day until half past four. Everything is smaller here- cars, streets, dogs, rooms, clothes, houses, parking spaces, sidewalks, etc. In the grocery store isles are not labeled, the meat department is huge and open, and it's very noisy.
     And the biggest difference is that I don't go shopping every day!

Picture Blog

Don't forget to check out my second blog!
justspainpics.blogspot.com

Doesn't this just scream, 'EAT ME!'?

So Tired

I feel like Josh, don't get up until 10 to noon.

First Day

    Left the Portland airport in tears, arrived in Chicago groggy, left Chicago super pumped, arrived in Frankfurt dead. That flight was ok because of the music, TV, and movie selections, but it was SO long and my back was whacked so I barely slept. We walked from one end of the Frankfurt airport to the other I'm pretty sure. Made my first purchase with euros! The last plane ride was the most freaky, but I slept through most of it.
     Arrived in Madrid at 3:30, got my baggage, found my two little brothers and host Dad at 4 something. We drove for about 25 minutes to Villanueva de la Cañada. Apparently tomorrow the boys are buying a new car? Silvia and I will go to my new school to get my paperwork straightened out. My room is small, but I have my own bathroom and I'm getting a new bed. I have two little dogs, a small backyard, and I think 3 stories in the house. In the neighborhood is their grandparents and my new school, which starts Monday. My new uniform awaits in my closet. Don't think I've completely grasped the concept of a YEAR yet. Pray for me! I love you all!

Airport!

       Got to PDX a bit before 8:00 AM. Checked 2 bags that were each 1.6 lbs and 1.7 lbs over, but they didn't charge extra :) We got tickets for the whole family to go back to the gate with me. Mom and I exchanged some dollars for Euros, then went through security. Mom  forgot she was carrying an extra jar of peanut  butter, so Dad had to take it back to the car. We made it through, but then waited about 10 minutes for Dad to get back and through security. Caitlin isn't here yet, but Emily and I have been hanging out, playing with our computers for a while. Emily flew from Eugene at 5:10 this morning and arrived here at 6:00. Our flight is set to leave about 11:15 to Chicago.