Beginning a Routine (sort of)

Hello all, I’m now in my third week of my adventure and the second week of school. Despite this, I’ve already found myself in the beginning of a routine and I feel a bit like I’ve already been going to school for a while. Although the first day of school was very difficult in understanding teachers and figuring out what I was supposed to do, I quickly found people who were happy and willing to help me out.

School is rather different from America. For the most part, I have one room that I stay in and the teachers come in, teach and go, except for a few electives (Geology and Physics, in my case) that we travel to. Understanding the teachers is still very difficult (along with everyone else), despite this, I can usually use my background knowledge of the subject or other material to halfway figure it out. On the other hand, I’m quite happy my grades here don’t transfer, because it’s still a long road to perfection.

Outside of class I’ve begun to make friends. In the beginning, it was difficult as I could really only talk about so many subjects, but finally, I’ve met a group that I have lunch with who seem interested in what little I have to say and entirely fine with me quietly listening to their conversation. Which really, is all I ask.

On a sidenote, last Sunday, Pablo, Pilar and I went to the Montcayo region where we saw a gorgeous old monetary, had lunch at a café hidden in the woods, where I had rabbit and French fries, and went high up into the tranquil mountain (pictures coming soon). During all of this, Pablo was narrating the details as I’m quickly finding out that he does in fact know a little about everything.

Tomorrow, I go with the other exchange students to Madrid for our first orientation, which I’m certainly looking forward to. After that, on Sunday, I have the day to myself, so I’m going to the museums.

The Weekend

Well I’ve continued to have plenty of things going on over the weekend. On Saturday, I went out with Gonzalo and his friends where we went out to dinner and then to a Discotech (which I was a little nervous about, but it wasn’t bad). It was very nice to be with people my own age and in a little way, feel like a normal Spanish kid.  Then yesterday, Pablo and I went for another sightseeing trip through Zaragoza, where we saw the riverside at sundown. I think I could spend days wandering through the city and still not see everything.

In just a few minutes, I’ll be going to school for real (the first day was more of an introduction without real class). Wish me luck.

Early Adventures

In these past few days, I’ve kept pretty busy. In most of my free time, I’ve been studying as much as I can or working on something. I did end up going sightseeing a day later than I expected and it was fantastic. Pablo and I walked through the oldest part of Zaragoza where the streets are narrow alleys with a lot of old world character. They opened up onto a large plaza where The Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar stood. It was a gorgeous structure to behold where apparently, because Mary of the Pillar is the patron saint of Spain and Latin America, huge numbers of Spanish speakers come on pilgrimages. Across the square from the Basilica is La Seo, a cathedral that looks Catholic made from the front, but on the side has intricate Muslim designs revealing it to be a former mosque. Finally on my trip, I saw the old Roman wall that surrounded Zaragoza when it was called Cesar Augusta. During all of this, Pablo, who clearly has a love for information, was narrating and informing me on the history of Zaragoza. Fortunately, there’s plenty more to see in that square, so I’ll have to go back some time, but that I’m saving for another day.

Before this tour, I finally met my Rotary. They have their meetings in an old hotel. This was mostly a meet and greet for me with a little information on what they do. They all seemed very nice and excited to meet me. Oh, and before I forget, my presentation to them on the US and Cedar Rapids is next week, I’m glad I made a script already.

The day before the meeting, I ended up going to the pool with Gonzalo and his friends. Although I could understand next to nothing, it was fun to hang out and listen to them chat. Although I didn’t necessarily enjoy it, we did end up playing some soccer, which, in a weird way, was actually a good thing. Even though I was terrible at it, they appreciated my effort and it became a way to get to know each other without much speaking.

Yesterday, I went to Calatayud again. This time they were having a festival where I got to see various bits of their economy with farming, cheese making, meat, etc. I did also have my first beer, but don’t worry, it was non alcoholic and tasted like death. I was also able to see a traditional Spanish Catholic event in their cavernous church where they offered flowers and fruit to Mother Mary. It was both an exhausting and very interesting day.

Current status

Hello all, Right now it’s the morning before school starts, and I’m a little nervous. Today is more of an orientation day, however, which is good. I’ll be going to school in about an hour and learning what books to get and how it will all work out, which shouldn’t be too bad. Tomorrow, it gets real, but so long as I can find my classes, I think I should be fine.

Right now, with Spanish, I’m to the point where I can hear all of the words relatively well (it’s no longer one big, fast word) and I can recognize the words, but there are still quite a few words that I still have to take a minute to translate, which in conversation, doesn’t really work well. On the other hand, when I first got here, I thought I would never make the average time it takes to comprehend well, three weeks. With where I’m at now, despite its constant difficulty (which is normal), I think I can make it.

First Night

Hola, yesterday I arrived in the Madrid Airport in the afternoon. After a full day of flying with Gonzalo, including having to literally run through the Cedar Rapids airport to catch an earlier flight (my original was delayed, thus making my goodbyes very quick) and having to turn back once to fix a navigation problem, I met my host family.

Greeting me with open arms, Pablo and Pliar loaded my luggage into the car and we drove off to Calatayud, a city on the way to Zaragoza where Pablo grew up. There, I met Gonzalo’s grandma and extended family and had some delicious Spanish food of breaded pork, cured ham, tomato and tortilla (which is actually more of a quiche of egg and potato).

Finally we arrived in the gorgeous Zaragoza where I settled into their nice apartment home. During all of this, I was attempting to speak Spanish. For the most part, I am only getting about half of the sentences and figuring out the meaning from context. It helped to have Gonzalo, who could help, but he is going to use only Spanish next week (which will be hard, but good). Ultimately, I have a difficult journey with the Spanish language, but it will be rewarding. With that said, I also can tell I am already understanding more from my arrival yesterday, even if it’s only a little.

PS: Later today, Pablo is going to take me sightseeing on bicycle, I’m very excited, but more on that later.

Three days

This Saturday, I'll be off to Spain. I can't believe it! It felt like the summer lasted only a month and my departure is now here. Despite a little nervousness, I'm feeling incredibly excited. Right now, everything feels like an opportunity to learn and have fun (which is good). Really, even now, I can't believe it, I'm going to Spain!

I will be flying from here (CR) to Chicago, to Philadelphia to Madrid. I’ve already lucked out, Gonzalo (my host brother) has been re-visiting Canfield, OH (where he was a Rotary student two years ago) and is coming back on the same flight. I will not only be able to get to know him better (we’ve talked on the phone), but my host family will be at the airport to pick us up.

While there, my first family will be the MunillaGarridos. I will be going to the Instituto de Goya (a public high school) and playing my trombone in a community band.

My family consists of: Pablo, my host father and an environmental engineer, Pilar, my host mother and a gynecologist, Gonzalo, my host brother, going into his senior year and then into college to study engineering, and Elena, my host sister. She will, however, be in Waverly, Iowa, this year as an exchange student. They live in a gorgeous house near the center of the city, and have already been a huge help through advice, connecting me with a community band and most of all opening their home to me!

PS: Don't worry, more information to come