June 24th Update

4:34pm - I am currently laying on my bed in our Madrid hotel room enjoying the first real alone time I have had since this trip began. Since we signed up as a group of four, our room is really big and actually has two bedrooms.  There is the main room - with a big TV, table, desk, two beds, couch, and small kitchen (the bathroom stems off of this room, as well)- and another bedroom - two beds pushed together in the center of the room surrounded by a small TV, a desk, and closet space.  Rebecca and I share this room, so while she's downstairs, I have the room to myself. Actually, Ella just joined me, but that's okay because I like her (and she brought chips).  She also brought "Schweppes Naranja Spirit", a type of orange pop that has probably the funniest commercial I've seen here so far - it's also in English, so that's nice. Woman lying seductively on sofa: "I want to have Shweppes together". Man: "You mean sex?" Woman: "No...Shweppes!"

Anyway, I should probably fill you in on my last week.

My family stay was fantastic. Touring the cities and seeing the major attractions is fun and interesting, but last week I was able to immerse myself in real Spanish life - I stayed up later, I ate meals later, I tried Spanish foods, I met Spanish people, I woke up later, I relaxed more, I walked and rode the bus, I shopped in Spanish shops (not tourist shops), I made Spanish friends, I had a Spanish family!

Oh, how I miss my Spanish family... My host dad worked a lot, but when I got to see him, it was always a lot of fun. He reminded me a lot of my real dad - able to have serious conversation but laughing and making jokes most of the time instead.  My host mom was really sweet and accommodating (and also an amazing cook!). She always made me feel at home. My little host sister Marta was so funny.  She was always fun to talk to (even when I didn't always understand what she was telling me).  She was usually willing to slow down and try to explain things *even trying out the English she's learning once in a while).  She joked around with me like a sister, as well. Once the light shut off while I was in the bathroom; I heard soft giggling outside shortly after. It was funny, and I took it as a sign that she was getting more comfortable around me (plus, I think it would be IMPOSSIBLE to ever be upset with someone so cute and funny). Finally, my host sister Laura, who I spent every part of my week with.  We were never apart for more than 15 minutes, and I can not begin to describe how much I have missed her the past day and a half.

We spent most of our days with her friends.

Patricia - Jordan's host sister and Laura's best friend. She was hilarious and very similar to Jordan.

Borja - Another one of Laura's best friends. He reminded me a lot of Nathan - a really great friend and always looking out for the rest of the group, like a father.

Aida - Another close friend who happened to be Gabrielle's host sister. She was always very sweet.

Dani - Yet another close friend of Laura's. He was really intelligent. Laura explained to me that you always feel less intelligent after talking to him because he always knows about something you don't. He was also really nice. He was always willing to explain things to me and even kept me company during Laura's English test.

I also got to meet a lot of other great people including Raquel, Sonya, "X", and Cesar.

We spent a lot of time sitting and talking at parks. On the way (by foot and by bus) we would ALWAYS stop at one of the many, many candy shops for candy and/or a Frigo ice cream treat.

I really loved the food there. Their candy was fantastic (my favorite was a heart shaped chandy that tasted just like Peachy-O's).  For breakfast, I usually had toast with Nutella, fresh squeezed orange juice, and a kiki for desert.  They offered me desert (ice cream, fruit, yogurt, etc) after every meal. I usually had strawberry yogurt.  My favorite traditional Spanish meal there was a chicken paella my host mom made. I had some Paella last night in Madrid and it was not NEARLY as good - not even close.

Resting in my hotel room is nice, but I REALLY wish that I was relaxing with my host sister in Logrono instead. We're headed back out into the city soon, so I will have to catch un on the rest of my journalling later.

June 24th Update

4

June 20th Update

I have not been writing much because I have been very busy doing a lot of nothing. I'm a pretty big fan of the schedule here. You do everything later - stay up later, eat later, wake up later. Then, throughout the day we have mostly
-- this entry ends very abruptly because we left the park we were relaxing at with friends to go eat and relax at home.

Day 6 - July 18th

3:06pm - Yesterday at about 6:00pm, Laura, Marta (mis hermanas), y Asun (mi madre) picked me up from the bus. Creo que they walkered there, but Laura y yo rode to her apartamento en el coche de la madre de su amiga Aida - la hermana de Gabrielle Fox.  Ellos dropped us off a el apartamento de Laura y su familia. Yo comparto un habitacion con Laura porque ella tenia una cama con a pull out bed underneath. I don't remember the word for it...trundle bed? No se.  Sus padre, Fernando (como don Fernando en Destinos), trabago. For la cena, comian tortilla espanola. Before dinner, we hung out con su amiga Patricia y Jordan Hendrickson. We met Aida y Gabrielle mas luego. Juntos, jugamos "fuseball".  After dinner, yo paso tiempo con Laura y Marta. Lau y yo nos acostamos a 12am. I slept very, very well. This morning, we woke up at 930am. At breakfast, I learned that they heat up their milk before drinking it. They thought I was very strange for drinking it cold. The milk es diferente tambien - it seems thicker and sweeter. As yo can tell from my Spanish, yo empece a pensar en espanol y ingles. Es raro para mi, pero lo me gusta. Today, conoce un "amigo" de Laura. Se llamo Sergio. Era simpatico. We went to meet him by bus. Then, we came home para almuerzar y ahora descansamos. Tonight, hay una fiesta.

Day 6 - July 18th

3

Day 5 - June 17th

11:16am - We just got on our charter bus, and we are headed to Logrono for our family stay. I am so thankful for my mom right now. The Dramamine she got for me to pack will probably save me today. The water/light show we went to last night was really fun. We were all energized after resting in the hotel, and the fountain was beautiful.  We took lots of pictures. Next to the fountain, there was another group of tourists dancing and singing American songs with thick accents, which was really funny. We sang along for a bit and wanted to join their dancing, but our group had to stick together and keep moving because we were short on time.  We began gathering together at about 11:30pm and realized how short we really were.  We needed to catch TWO metro lines home and the metro stops at 12... (btw, we just passed Nestle on the bus, which I think is funny).  We ran through the metro trying to get to our check points, swipe our shared tickets, find the correct line, find our correct stop, double check, wait for the tram, stay together, watch out for creepy men, get on the tram, watch out for pickpockets, remember the name of the stop, get out, regroup, run to the next station/line, Senor had Megan and I help get everyone through the checkpoint with our shared tickets, regroup, run/find our next stop, wait for metro, realize it's 12, panic! Although, Senora explained, luckily for us, we would be able to ride the metro back because we had swiped our tickets at the checkpoint and were already in. She compared it to going into a mall right before close and being allowed to finish up. That meant no more panicking, and the metro was almost empty, so it was easy to be wary of all possible pickpockets (cateristas, ladrones).

When we got back to the room that night we packed a little and got to sleep at about one. Rebecca got up to shower at around 645, so I got out of bed at seven. This gave us all PLENTY of time to finish packing, get ready without being rushed, relax, etc - I was even able to update my travel blog.

Now, I'm getting sleepy. I may take a nap and finish this later.

1:35pm The Spanish countryside is so beautiful. My nap was very nice, as well.

Back to my morning - after updating my blog, I went back up to the room, and all three of us came down for breakfast. We made a few trips to the market down the street in groups of 3 or 4 to get snacks and "lunch" for the bus only to find out now that we're stopping somewhere. I suppose that's good because this charter bus ("home" for 6 hours) has no bathroom!

Hopefully, that won't end up being a problem.

3:30 "I wish Quique was here."     (This was the code phrase we were supposed to use if there was ever a problem at our family stay).

3:31 I think we just drove by a sheep (ovejas) farm.  I didn't get a great look, but it was pretty exciting. I just don't want to think about where they're headed.

The Spanish countryside slightly resembles Colorado - just factor in more grapes and olives, so probably more of a CO/CA mix.
There are periodically large clusters of windmills, too, but it is too hilly to resemble the midwest much.  Most of the houses/building I've seen are made of stone -from the small, quaint cottages to the larger (but still small by US standards), beautifully crafted farmyard estates.

Their pine trees are strangely narrow and straight.

Flower bushes line parts of the highway.

I'm thinking back to yesterday's visit to la Sagrada Familia. Still under construction, this remarkably intricate Catedral is filled with beautiful patterns and colors. It seemed to be entirely lit by natural light, which was even more breathtaking.  I'm in a pretty artsy mood right now, so I'm hoping to create some sort of collage using the colors/patterns in my pictures when I get home. I could print some pictures, match them to some paint chips, possibly add in some ribbon and/or textured paper. I'm excited for it.

A Quick Update

I´m sorry that I haven´t been updating this much during my family stay. I haven´t been writing in my journal much at all, either. I plan on writing about my family stay on the busride to Madrid.

So far, my family stay has been wonderful. I love my Spanish family, and I am very sad to leave them.  Yesterday, I was a little homesick - I always miss my friends and family, but yesterday I missed America: understanding everything that people were talking about, knowing everyone in Janesville, listening to Sunshine Jackson, walking around Waverly at night with all my friends, hanging out and making music in random locations, everything. Today, it has been exactly the opposite.  I realized that tomorrow is my last day in Logroño, and I already miss my family here.

Jordan and I really want Laura and Patricia (our host sisters) to visit us in America next summer.  I´m really excited for the possibility, but at the same time, I´m worried that it´s only talk.  I guess we´ll see what happens.

I miss my family, my friends, and my home, but I don´t want to leave Logroño; six days isn´t enough time.