Endings and beginnings

I am approaching the end of my time in Spain. I have traveled, seen things that I could never have imagined seeing, gone places that I would never have pictured myself going, tried things that I would never try back home. I have met some of the most incredible people, lost contact with others and learned who my true friends are. I have come to realize that no matter where I am in the world that I have such a strong support system that I would have no idea how to live without.
June has been the busiest, craziest month here. I left for a European adventure: Milan, Venice, Rome, Valencia, Madrid, London and back to Castellon. Two weeks of non-stop traveling, seeing tons of things, taking thousands of pictures, learning how to be patient and not stress out over train delays or language barriers. I was in Italy with a friend and that was an adventure in and of its self, trying to get over our different opions sometimes and just learn to compromise. Compromise and trust were the biggest things that I learned in Italy; giving up on certain things but staying firm on others that I felt strongly about (like not wanting to just do two days in Rome to be able to have a day in Florence; I was pleased that we decided to take our time and enjoy Rome). Accepting that getting lost was inevitable and asking for directions. Accepting that I was wrong (a hard thing for me to do). Eating tons of pizza, I mean tons of pizza. Tasting the most amazing gelatto. Realizing that I was in the same place that had so much meaning to so many people (I felt that was about the Vatican in particular).
Madrid was completely different. I stayed with Willie Waisath which was nice to be able to see a Coe alum. Madrid was definitely different than I expected it to be, but I was able to see museums and just enjoy the nice weather that we had when I was there.
London. That was the loneliest that I felt my entire time here. I was by myself, but it was a different kind of by myself, in a big city without someone to talk to while having dinner or taking pictures of me. It was nice, but lonely. I did a bus tour, which was nice because I was there for two nights and two days. I saw the changing of the guards and met some really nice American tourists. But it was lonely.
Castellon. Busy, studying for exams, feeling like I was getting no where with studying because there was so much to go over. Finally being able to breath and enjoy the summer weather after a weight was lifted off of my shoulders. This entire past week has just been Nancy relazxing time: sitting by the pool tanning, going for runs almost every morning, shopping for gifts, drinks with friends, coffee with the people that are coming to Coe, dinner with other friends and their visiting parents, hanging out with my Spanish friends, getting to experience San Juan (the longest day of the year when everyone goes to the beach and at midnight jumps the first three waves and makes a wish for every wave. They also write down all the bad things that have happened this year and burn them in a bonfire to start fresh).
Now I sit here in my room and think about how much I have changed these past five months, how much I have stayed the same. All of the things that I have felt over the past few months, all of the things that I have done and seen. All of the people that I met and the ones that I am going to be so sad to leave. How it's going to be sad to leave, but how ready (more than ready) I am to go home and see all of my family and friends. How ready I am to go home and eat a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich, drive myself places, run with my dog, go to the mountains, take my nephew to the zoo. How nervous I am about returning to Coe after being gone after an entire year.
Just sitting here looking at my packed bags, ready to leave to Barcelona for a few days before hopping on a plane for 2.5 hours to London then to Denver (9 hours and 45 mins!). It's been an amazing semester, but I am just at the point where I am ready to go, ready to get back. Anxious to get back. I am going to be so sad to say good bye to all of the amazing people I have met here, especially since most of them I won't see ever again. But this journey had to come to an end eventually. It has been an incredible experience and I am so glad that I did it. It definitely made me appreciate things more. I am so blessed to have gotten to experience all that I have. I am never going to forget my time here, it has been one of the most interesting experiences in my life. I know that whatever new adventures await me will be great as well and that this experience will add to those. So hasta pronto Espana. Te echare de menos, pero un dia espero regresar!

The learning never stops

After four months of writing my blog, I just learned five minutes ago how to read the comments that people have left on it... The learning just never stops. I have learned a lot about myself, my culture, what other people think of my cultue, the Spanish culture and history- all in the past week!! This has been a crazy busy week and the hecticness will only continue.
This was my last week of classes, finals have officially started! I have sucessfully finished two of my classes, my two favorite classes here (History of the Spanish Language and European Theory) , which is bitter sweet because I really enjoyed those classes and professors very much. But I am just glad to have them out of the way. Going through all of my notes just reminded me of how much I have to learn and remember. Four montsh of notes is no joke. The past four days I have been locked in the library and my room just studying, reviewing, on the verge of tears because there is just so much to learn and not enough time to do everything. That is one of my problems, I want to do SO much but there just never seems to be enough time. Trying to make time for other things was one of the reasons that I was so stressed this week. Two weeks ago I made time to go on vacation. I went to Ibiza and spent all week on the beach with hundreds of other Erasums students. It was sooo much fun, but of course no studying got done and no papers were written. I cam back, but of course studying was not on the top of my priorites. Well it was, but other things seemed more pressing. Instead of studing this week I went to Alicante and met up with the Coe students that are doing the May term in Spain. It was so much fun and I am glad that I went (I stayed with a friend that I made while I was in Ibiza who was super nice). During this trip I was just reminded of what I have learned, all of the friends here that I have made, all of the things that I have done, all of the things that I still want to do, how I have just gotten to a place where I can reflect and look to the future simulataneously. It was interesting to hear the things that the Coe girls liked and disliked about Spain, things that I said shortly after my arrival. I felt more Spanish this past weekend than I have felt at any point in my time here, being able to show someone that I have made progress.
This crazy, busy week is almost over. My roommate is moving to Madrid because she was offered a better job (something that happened while I was in Ibiza), I am leaving tomorrow to go on a European trip to Italy (Milan, Venice, Rome), Madrid and London. I am excited, nervous, anxious and just have a million things going through my head. But I know that I will have a great time. I just know that when I get back there will be a million things to do. Get to know my new roommate, who will be here when I get here, finish two essays, study for three tests, try to do more traveling and finally return to the U.S.
I had almost mentioned that I had learned more things about how people percieve my culture, so I shall get to that point right now (I feel all over the place right now, very scatter-brained and it is definitely showing in this post). My old host parents went to New York while I was in Ibiza. When I got back I went over and had lunch with them. They told me all about it, what they saw, how it was "Just like in the movies." It was interesting to hear what they thought of America based off of what they saw in Manhattan. That it is a wasteful culture, that we eat a lot of fast food, that we are always running, always in a rush to get somewhere. The funniest thing that Dori told me was that she used a waffle iron for the first time at their hotel. She found it facinating and was just amazed because she had never made a waffle before. It was odd to me because we have a waffle iron in the caf and use it all the time, getting upset when they took away the waffle batter during weekday lunches. It was interesting to see how her face lit up when she told me how facinated she was by the shoe selection at Foot Locker. It just never really occured to me that such small things of our culture can have such an impact on someone seeing them for the first time. I know that people experience it, but it was interesting to see it from someone that I know well.
Today, while taking a break from studying, I had coffee with Dori. We talked about how life just changes so quickly. People come in and out of our lives and we just have to learn how to adjust accordingly. Some people stay in your life forever while others have just brief contact with you. But everyone teaches you something, makes you realize something new about them, about yourself, about life in general.
The learning just never stops and I am happy with that.

A reflection about learning

I feel like more and more, especially being here in Spain, I realize how little I know and how much I have to learn.

I realize how little I know about politics. I sit in one of my classes class and listen to the Spanish students talk about the unemployment rate in Spain compared to other countries, listen to them talk about the key players in all of the European nations and their roles in the global recession. I listen to them talk about why Spain will not be like Greece, who is asking the European Union for a bail out. I listen in my other class about the history of the European economics system, sometimes with someone interjecting in a point that the professor makes about the GATT or the role of the World Bank. In a different class I listen as one of the guys throws out facts about the linguistic history of Spain, reciting verses of El Mio Cid or talking about the influence of the Arabs on the Spanish language as if he were talking about the latest sports score. I sit and I listen, and listen, and listen. And I realize that I have so much to learn.

I feel like the more I listen, the more I realize how little I really do know. About the history of Spain, about the history of the United States, about the history of Colorado, about the history of my own family, American politics, world politics, current world news. I have lived in the same country my entire life, the same state my entire life minus the three years I have been in college, with the same people my entire life, and yet I know so little about all of them. I try to read some sort of news source every day and still know very little about what is going on in the country and in the world.

I got to Spain and was shocked to learn about the high unemployment rate here; people looked at me like I was crazy when I told them that I did not realize that it was such a huge problem here. I knew that people from Cataluña had a strong regional pride, but I did not realize how strongly other regions had similar pride as well. I thought that I was going to come here and that it was going to be beach weather all year long (in fact, I even brought more skirts, dresses, shorts and tank tops than warm clothes and have only worn them a couple times because it has been so chilly and rainy since I have been here). I didn’t know that this region is famous for oranges and that they take pride in that. I didn’t know that I would be asked all the time about American politics and that people here would know more about what is going on in my country than I do.

Being here I have really gotten to know what people mean when they say that the most learning takes place outside of the classroom. The more I talk to people, the more I go out and have coffee with friends, the more I have dinner with my two Spanish families, the more I learn about Spain and the world and myself. I am not really sure what it is that I have learned about myself quite yet, but I have learned that I have tons more to learn. I have learned/ realized how important my family and friends are, my family here (that consists of friends and the people that have taken my into their homes) and my family in the United States (my parents, my sisters, my nephew), my high school friends, my friends from Coe, my friends from D.C. I am learning and realizing how different my life would have been if just one person had not come along in my life; the absence of just one single person could totally have changed my life. I am learning how lucky I am to have such amazing people in my life and appreciating the life that I have and all of the amazing opportunities that I have been given. There are so many things that I wish I could have changed, especially the way that I have treated people; I cannot change what I have done in the past but can hope that in the future I will not be the same person and make the same mistakes.

In my blog entries I try not to write extremely personal stuff because I feel that this blog is about my experiences here, but I feel like I have come to personal realizations that I should share. I have realized how important my parents are and how important they have been in my future. When I say my parents, I am talking about my mom, stepdad and biological dad. My dad left my mom when I was younger and I do not have a good relationship, really any relationship, with him. But I am realizing how important he is in my life. Not only would I not be here in the world without him, my life would be completely different if he had stayed in my life. I am certain that I would not be where I am today if my parents were still together. I realize how important my mom is in my life. She has taught me so much in life and is one of the most loving and generous people that I know. She has never let me settle for second best and has always given me all of the things that she never had growing up, mainly a mom that tells her daughters every day that she loves them and that they are the best thing that has ever happened to her. I am realizing how important my stepdad is in my life. He has been in my life for 20 years and I cannot imagine not having lived without him. He has never treated me like I was not his daughter. He and my mom gave me an amazing childhood, and are still trying to give me an amazing life, a life that neither or them had. 30 years ago my stepdad went to the U.S. with no money, no job, not able to speak English, hoping for a better life, and here I am in Spain, traveling, learning, living an amazing life thanks to him and my mom.

Like I said before, I do not like to write personal things here, but this entry would not be complete without mentioning one more person, a person that I have learned so much from, that has taught me about myself and that I am so thankful to have in my life. I would not have guessed when I left home to go to Iowa for college that I would meet someone as amazing as this person. This person has showed me how fortunate I am in life, has helped me realize how amazing my parents are, how amazing I am, how remarkable and generous people who are not your actual family members can be. They have taught/ told me that I have tons to learn in life. They have been patient and put up with so much of my crap. I have done nothing to deserve this person's love and friendship and have learned this year being away from this person how valuable they are, how different my life would be without them and how luck I am to have this incredible person in my life. I know that I do not say it enough, but you are incredibly fantastic and I cannot image a better person to have in my life. So thank you, John Sherrod. I appreciate and love you more than words can express.

What does it mean to be human?

Every year the freshman at St. Mary’s Academy have the task of answering one question: what does it mean to be human? Ever St. Mary’s alumna cringes when she hears the question. The project consists of creating a 15 minute presentation and various essays where you defend you opinion on what it means to be human based on the 10 hours of community service that you have to complete, which you must present before a panel of judges and your peers. Why we all cringe- because it is one of the hardest questions to ask. It is impossible for a 14 or 15 year old to know what it means to be human; I actually believe that even a 29 year old would have a hard time answering the question. But this entry is not about my experiences as that 15 year old girl that had no idea what it meant to be human based on finger painting and reading the Three Little Bears with a class of kindergarteners.

But I have found myself pondering this question more and more during my time here. During the past two weeks in my European Theory class we have been discussing the meaning of nationality, citizenship, regional affiliations, racism, discrimination, what it means to be citizen of the world, what makes people different and the civil liberties that everyone should have; this makes me ponder the meaning of what it means to be human even more. What does it mean to be European, Spanish, Valenciano, Castellano, from the street that you live on? How can there be European unity if there isn’t even unity in Spain. One of the questions proposed by the professor was what makes a Valenciano different from a Gallego (someone from Valencia and someone from Galicia). One of the girls in my class said that people from the two regions are completely different, to which the professor asked what makes them so different. What does make them so different? To be completely honest, I did not know until about a year and a half ago that Spaniards had so much regional pride. People here identify themselves first as the province that they are from, especially if they are from Cataluña, the Basque country or Galicia (there are even people from Cataluña that want to separate from Spain and form their own nation, I heard in a news report that 30% of the population feels strongly about the area becoming its own country). They have a stronger regional pride than national pride, whereas I think that in general there is a strong national pride in the U.S., especially following September 11th. People identify themselves as American, and then they identify themselves as the state that they are from.

What is the difference between nationality and citizenship? What is the point of having a citizenship really? What are rights that citizen can have that non-citizens cannot?

I go back to my original question. What does it mean to be human? We are all the same, we are born, we live, and we die. But what makes us different from other animals? What unique quality makes us human? Are we really different from animals or do we just think that we are? Are Americans really that different from Spaniards? I feel like it is a search to an unanswerable question because no one really will ever know what it means to be human. For me, given all of my experiences, especially experiences this year, to be human means to be given a choice, make decisions and learn from mistakes to change your future.

Semana Santa

So it has been a bit since my last entry. Since the last time that I wrote I went down to the province of Andalucia, where I spent a week and a half with Dori and Antonio celebrating Semana Santa. Semana Santa, Holy Week, is observed throughout Spain since most of the population is Catholic, but it is celebrated more fully in the southern province of Andalucia. The week starts on the Sunday before Easter, Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday). Processions take place in the cities and towns throughout the province and continue throughout the week. The only day that there are not processions is on Saturday.
I went to the town of Alcala la Real, a town in Jaen and where Dori is from. Although we got there Wednesday night, I was still able to seen quite a few processions and get a glimpse into what Holy Week is like in Andalucia. The processions were small because Alcala is a town and not a city, but in Granada and Sevilla they have larger processions that are much more elaborate and people from across Spain and the rest of the world go there to see the amazing sights. Although the processions that I saw were not as large, they were still amazing, seeing that it was my first time seeing anything like them. It is interesting to see something new with someone who has seen it their entire life. They are able to provide you with information, but you are also able to provide them with a new perspective on what they are accustomed to seeing.
One of the things that most stuck out for me, even though I knew that I would be seeing them, were the outfits that were worn by the people in the processions. To put it bluntly, they are like the outfits that are worn by members of the KKK, but more colorful. Of course here they do not have the same meaning that they have in the United States so the people here don’t see anything odd about people walking around dressed as such. People even (in larger cities) wait decades to be able to be in a procession and wear one of these outfits (people put their young children on waiting lists so that they can be in the procession when they are in their 30s!). It took me a bit to get used to the outfits, but once I did I was able to realize the beauty that the people saw in them. Most of them were purple, a color that is associated with Lent and penance during the season, but there were also ones in different colors.
The processions usually consisted of people wearing these outfits walking through the town with candles, women wearing black dresses and veils, called mantillas, people dressed as the 12 apostles, and people carrying a float-type structure with flowers and either a statue of Mary or Jesus on it, depending on the procession. For example, the procession on Friday night only had a statue of Mary, seeing that Jesus had already been put in the tomb.
Of all of the processions that I saw, my favorite one was the procession on Friday night. It was a silent procession and there were people that walked in the procession that wore shackles on their feet and no shoes (which must have been difficult since it was pretty chilly that night). There isn’t a specific rule that the procession must be silent, but it is known throughout the town that the last procession is silent. It was amazing to have the only sound around be the sound of the shackles hitting the pavement as the procession continued down the street.
Another interesting thing that I observed during the procession was the singers. People would come out to their balcony and single a song to either Mary or Jesus and the procession would stop until they were done singing. I heard some of the most beautiful voices and I know that I would not have had the courage to do that.
During the last two days of Holy Week, Holy Thursday and Good Friday, you are not supposed to eat meat. Therefore, the meat in meals is replaced with fish. There are traditional dishes that are served during those days, including a soup made from fish “meatballs” and bacalao in a tomato sauce. It was a bit of a problem for me since I am not a huge fan of seafood, but I felt guilty saying no to Dori’s family when they would offer me food, so I tried it. Not my favorite, especially the bacalao, but I am glad that I tried it and know that I don’t like it instead of saying that I don’t like something without trying it.
Eating seemed to be the main thing that occurred during the week; I feel like I gained at least 10 pounds in the last week. One of the traditional dishes that is served during Holy Week and that I got to eat is a desert called papajotes, which is basically like a large doughnut hole (fried sweet dough) that is put into a mixture of milk, sugar, cinnamon and lemon zest. It was definitely a heavy dish, but either way it was pretty yummy. Arroz con leche, rice with milk, sugar, cinnamon and lemon zest, is also served during the week. My mom makes arroz con leche back home, but she does not put lemon in it and also usually puts raisins in it, but both versions of it that I have tried are delicious. There are also sweets that are traditional in the region: churros, pestiños, empanadas and roscas. They are all different versions of fried sweet dough, just in different forms. Roscas are basically doughnuts, but not as fluffy as the doughnuts that we know in the U.S., they are much heavier and have tons of sugar on them; pestiños are little pieces of dough formed into a bow that are fried and topped with tons of sugar; empanadas are dough that is filled with sweetened spaghetti squash, fried and coated in sugar; churros are dough that is fried into sticks, the only thing that was not coated in sugar, unlike the churros that we know in the U.S. that are topped with cinnamon and sugar. They were definitely very heavy and I had to try them a little at a time. I love sweets, but they were a bit much for me all at once. How much food is fried in Spain is something that surprised me and that I did not expect to see before I came here. I feel like there is a stigma about American food being fried but no one ever hears about how much they fry food in Spain.
Throughout the week I was able to meet all of Dori’s childhood friends. It was fun and interesting to see her with all of her old friends. They all have their different quirks but they are all super nice and were very welcoming and treated me as if I had known them for a long time, which was nice since I think that sometimes it can be hard to be the new person coming into a group of friends that that known each other for so long and you don’t know if they are going to accept you or not. I think that that is something very special, to have the same group of friends since you were small and despite everything that you have done in life you remain friends. It was also cute to see their kids playing together, which definitely made me smile.
One afternoon Dori took me up to the castle that is in the town. Alcala used to have a Moorish castle that is pretty well known by Spaniards. The conquering Alcala by the Catholics was the key to conquering Granada and pushing the Moors out of Spain. It was fun to go up with her and have an amazing view of the entire city. She told me how it used to be in bad shape and how when she was younger people would go up there just to hang out or get into mischief. Only recently was it restored and she said that it looks so much better than it did before. We went into the church that is in the fortress that was built during the Catholic rule. Most of the floor of the church has been removed to expose the Moorish city that the church was built on top of. It was just cool to be up there and take in a part of history, history that is so different from American history. I think back to middle school and high school and think about history class and how I used to think that there was so much to remember and so many dates. American history is nothing compared to the history in Spain since so much has occurred her (or at least so much has occurred here during rules and has therefore been documented better than the history of what occurred in the U.S. prior to Europeans going over and establishing rule). It is amazing to think about how different society was long ago. How rulers of kingdoms were younger than I am! For example, Isabel II was 11 when she took control of Spain!! That just baffles me…
The last few days that I was in Andalucia I took advantage of being so close to Granada and went down and explored the city on my own. I was able to go to the Alhambra, although I could only get a ticket to get into the gardens since they had sold out of tickets to get into the palace. The Alhambra used to be a Moorish palace and fortress built in the 14th Century and the center of the Moorish rule in Spain until Granada was conquered in the 1492 during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabel and Fernando. Some portions of it were used by the Christian rulers and the palace of Carlos V can be found there as well. It fell into disrepair and was “rediscovered” in the 19th century and restored. It is now one of the most visited sites in all of Spain, mainly because of the Moorish architecture that can be found there, and is a World Heritage Site. Even though I was not able to go into the palace, I still had a wonderful time and was able to see some of the amazing architecture that people from around the world come to see. It was peaceful to sit in the gardens and enjoy the nice afternoon and appreciate being in one of the most well known places in Spain. I sat there trying to picture what it was like in the 14th century and how different the place was.
All in all I had a great time during my week off. Going back to class was hard, but it was in a way nice to get back to reality since I actually do really like my classes. That’s it for now… Hasta pronto!

Yay, we have Spanish people coming to Coe!

For the first time ever we will have Spanish students at Coe. Their names are Carlos and Sara and they will be in Iowa for the fall semester. I was able to meet them and I was so proud to be able to represent Coe and tell them about all of the things that there are to do on campus (even though I did tell them that Cedar Rapids is way different from Castellon in many ways). They are both very nervous about getting all of their paperwork done for Coe and for UJI and getting their visas, but I assured them that in the end it will all work out and that it will be worth it.
I am so excited to have Spanish people at Coe. I will not be taking any Spanish courses next semester so having them there will give me a chance to keep up on what I have learned here. Plus, I am excited that they will have someone to know when they get there. I think that that is something very valuable, having someone there that you know who can make you feel more comfortable. I know that I would have liked to have known someone here before I came, someone who knew the city and could introduce me to people. I don't mind that I didn't have that, but it would have been nice. I cannot wait to show them around campus and help them with any problems that they have. I cannot wait to introduce them to all of my friends and make Spanish dinners with them. One of the other things that they are worried about is eating dinner so early since they eat dinner here around 9 or later and we eat dinner at 5. But I know that once they get there they will adjust, just like I did when I got here.
I know that they will have no problem getting adjusted to Coe and am glad that I have gotten to meet them. I know that there will be more meetings with them before August and I can't wait!

Two months in Spain!!

Wow, I can't believe that it has already been two months since I have been here! It feels like I got here not that long ago. I feel like right now this is the place I am supposed to be.
Last night I called my mom on skype and everyone was at home, so I got a chance to talk to everyone in my family. I just sat here laughing, imagining everyone passing the headset around so that they could get a chance to chat for a few minutes with me. It's odd to think that I have not seen them since January. It's odd to think that they are on the other side of the world right now. There have been a couple of times while I have been here that I have gotten a bit homesick, but it really hasn't been that different here. Of course there are things that are different and there are things that I have tried here that I would never think about trying at home, but it feels natural here, like this is where I was meant to be.
One of the things that I am still getting used to is having to chat with my family and friends at specific times. When I am in Iowa for the semester, or when I was in D.C., I could just pick up the phone any time and know that I could talk to my mom or my best friend, or that when ever I was online that there would be somone to talk to. Eight hour time difference makes it harder to schedule times to talk, especially when everyone has a bust schedule or is not near a computer. I miss just being able to pick up the phone and talk for hours with mom and friends, something that I have not done here.
I have come to realize since being here how important technology is in our lives. That eight hour time difference does not seem so bad when I can get one line and hear my mom's voice or send her a message instantly. I cannot image how different it would have been to study abroad 20 years ago, how different communication was. Not everyone had email, facebook did not exist, you had to send lettters to people, everything was not instantaneous. I feel like now everyone relies on technology so much that we would not know what to do if we did not have it. We would be completely lost without it. I know that when I first got here and did not have a cell phone that it was one of the strangest feelings, not having a means of communicating instantly when I was out. We feel naked when we leave the house without our cell phones, sometimes to the point where we rush home to get it or when we get home we frantically run to see if we have missed a call or have a message.
We live in such a different age of technology that we sometimes fail to stop and appreciate what is around us. I feel like being here in Spain has made me stop and notice things that I would otherwise just ignore. I feel like I have grown to appreciate things so much more since I have been here. I have grown to appreciate my family, friends, and just this amazing opportunity that I might never have again.

Falllas

This past week, Valencia celebrated their festival of fallas. The festival was created in honor of Saint Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters. In ancient times, carpenters would burn the wood that they had left over from projects as an offering to Saint Joseph for wealth in their business. It has become a festival where people spend all year building these amazing sculptures to have displayed for this festival that takes place from the 15 through the 19 of March. Master carpenters spend all year building these sculptures (no longer made out of wood for safety reasons) only to have them judged and the ones that do no win the first place prize and then burned on the last day of the festival at “La Crema.”
There are hundreds of sculpture build and they vary in size. They all have a common theme and they are judged in different categories based on size. Until this year there had been no restrictions on size, but this upcoming year there will be limits imposed on how tall the fallas can be and how much money people are allowed to spend to build them. People that want to build the best falla stop at no expense to build them, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to build these amazing works of art. Since there are hundreds of fallas, they are located throughout the city and unless you spend all five days of the festival there, it is pretty much impossible to see all of them. The top ones are the ones that people are most interested in seeing, but it is amazing to see the other ones as well.
The city is crowded with people, both from the city and tourists, who gather to see these amazing works of art. Like Castellon during Magdalena, they also have mascletas and fireworks shows (fire and making noise I have learned is something that is popular in the Valencian Community). In addition to the fireworks and the fallas, there are also parades that take place, the most popular being the one where that falleras, the people who have commissioned a falla and are dressed in the traditional outfits, carry flowers to a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary and create her dress out of the flowers.

The parade was ongoing, starting the first day with the junior fallera queen and ending the last day with the senior fallera queen, and is an amazing sight to see.
On the last day of the festival, La Creama takes place. The burning takes place at midnight on the last night of the festival and the falla in front of the Ayuntamiento (city hall) is traditionally the last to be burned. Fireworks are placed on the sculpture and lit and thus the falla is burned.
I was able to go down and see the festival on the 18th, the second to last day of the festival and was able to see tons of the fallas and get to experience the tradition that is known throughout Europe. Everywhere you went the streets were crowded with people, even though people did not have the day off. Friday, the entire Valencian Community had a day off and everyone goes down to Valencia to see the fallas so I can’t imagine how many more people were there since it was already super crowded when I was there. I went down with a friend who is from Chile and we walked around all day and tried to see as many of the fallas that we could see. We were able to meet up with friends that were from Valencia and they showed us some of the most popular fallas that we hadn’t seen during that day and there were completely amazing. We literally spend all day walking around the city; we arrived to Valencia at 10 a.m. and caught a train back at 2:50 a.m. and it was completely worth it just being able to see something that I might not be able to see again.

Magdalena, festa plena

So I have definitely been slacking way too much on keeping my blog updated. I have tons of updates for this blog since it has been more than two weeks since my last update! Last week was Las Fiestas de la Magdalena, the festival of Castellón de la Plana. It commemorates the origins of the city, after King James conquered the Moorish Kingdom of Valencia and was granted royal permission to relocate of the city from the hill of the Madeleine (Magdalena) to the fertile coastal plane in 1251. The festival takes place begins on the third Saturday of Lent and lasts for 9 days. According to folklore, the town was moved during the middle of the night, which is why one of the symbols of the celebration is a lantern (the other symbols are a round loaf of bread, the food that sustained them on their journey, and a cane, which helped support them as the walked from the hill to the plane)
The festival was nothing like I had ever seen before. To begin the festivities they have a “mascleta” which is basically a fireworks show during the day. The point of the show is not to show the fireworks but to make as much noise as possible. Every day (except Sunday and Monday) they had a show at one of the plazas in the city. After the show, everyone begins to celebrate throughout the city. Throughout the city there were various different places to celebrate the festivities where you could partake in food and beverages. There were three main “mesón” at various points in the city- mesón de vino, meson de tapas y cerveza and the mesón Asturiano. At the meson de vino you could order a bottle of wine, nothing else, but they along with the wine they would give you a plate of chorizo and peanuts. At the meson de tapas y cerveza you could buy a ticket that entitled you to a tapa and a beer or bottle of water. At the meson Asturiano you could buy a bottle of cider, which you had to pour distinctly so that you could add air to it, and you could also order different foods that are typically eaten in the region of Asturias, which is located in Northern Spain. They also had a "feria alternativa," which was an outdoor market where you could but different foods, mainly ethnic foods, and also handmade crafts and artesian cheeses and meats. On the first day everyone first goes to the wine. There are different vendor set up and they sell different bottles of wine but the kind that is most typically purchased is called Lambrusco, which is a sparkling red wine. If you go it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to buy a bottle of wine. Many people bring bottles with them and since they don’t serve food there, people also pack snacks to bring along with them to eat while they drink.
On Saturday they also started the different shows and concerts that would take place throughout the week. There was always something to do and somewhere to go. You could always find something happening at one of the plazas in town. There were also several parades that took place throughout the week.
Although Saturday was the start of the festivities, Sunday is the most important day of the festival. On Sunday after mass is over the entire city walked from the center of town, where everyone is given a cane, a hat and a ribbon, to the Magdalena, where there remains a church. Along the way it is almost obligatory to stop at Sant Roc de Canet, where people rest, have a snack and are supposed to say a prayer. Once the Magdalena is reached, everyone waits for their turn to ring the church bell. They have a giant paella waiting at the top and those that want to wait can have a plate. It is a day of tradition and a day that is meant to be celebrated with family. I went up with my host family and their friends. We packed a lunch and walked up together. Even though the weather turned out to be not that great (it began raining) we still had a good time and I was able to see what it was like to be a real Spaniard, a real Castellonense. Afterwards, we went to the meson de vino and had a good time just hanging out and drinking wine. It was definitely easier to get around the second day, compared to the first, since most people went home after walking down from the hill.
Although the weather wasn’t that great throughout the week, everyone still went out and took part in the festivities. It was amazing to see the city completely transformed- it looked like a whole different city and just had a totally different vibe, especially at night when everyone was out on the streets at one of the various free concerts that they had set up throughout the city. One of the things that still caught me off guard was how people stay out so late with their little children. It would be 2 a.m. and people would still be on the streets walking with a baby stroller or a toddler in hand. The idea of children here is totally different from the U.S. and it is sill something that I am getting used to.
There were a couple of other things that surprised me during the week. One being how many fireworks there were and just seeing little kids lighting fireworks everywhere. You would walk down the street and see a group of small children lighting fireworks as if were an everyday occurrence. I mean, these little kids could use a lighter better than I could, that is how different they view pyrotechnics here.
Although drinking is viewed completely different here than in the states, it was still something that surprised me during the week, in particular the amount of drinking and also seeing teenagers drink on the street. All week long, everyone drank everywhere especially since there were designated areas to buy drinks. And when you weren’t there, you were at a bar drinking or at a café drinking coffee with rum or cognac. I am not trying to say that that’s all that went on during the week, but it was a big part of what took place. I was also surprised to see teenagers drinking out in public. They could just go up and buy a beer as if it were nothing. It definitely shocked me to see someone who clearly was no more than 15 go up and buy a beer with no problem. I think that that was just something that was harder for me to get used to seeing. I guess in a sense it is better that way, for them to drink out in public and not drink excessively in private, but it was just something that surprised me.
Another thing that I was surprised to see during the week was the amount of P.D.A. that I saw. Although people here greet one another with a kiss, I had not really seen any sort of affection between people here until that week. It was something that I had noticed a couple of weeks ago, the lack of public affection, so seeing it so much during the week made me take notice even more so.
One of the things that I most enjoyed about the week was seeing people dressed in traditional clothing. Wherever you walked you would see women and girls dressed in beautiful dresses and men dressed in amazing outfits. The outfits are amazing and they are all custom made, there are no two outfits that are the same. The women also wear beautiful jewelry and combs in their hair. Just looking at them was like stepping back in time. It was funny though to see these people dressed in traditional outfits talk on cell phones or smoke a cigarette since that is not something that you would have seen people do when they originally wore these outfits.
Another of the things that I enjoyed seeing was the royal court of the festival. There was a queen and her court and junior queen and her court. They would be at many of the parades and shows and every day would be dressed in a different outfit. They don’t really get to enjoy the festival, but they get the satisfaction of knowing that they were the queens of the festival. Being the queen is one of the ultimate social status symbols in the city since it takes so much money to afford the expensive dresses and their families host dinners every night throughout the festival for special guests. The queen is basically chosen based on who has the most money, which is unfortunate but that’s the way it goes.
All in all, it was just an amazing week. I was able to experience something like nothing I ever have since we have nothing that comes close to it back home. Although by the end of the week I was tired and thought that 9 days was a long time for the festival, I enjoyed myself and would not have traded my week for anything. I was able to experience another unique part of Spain and Castellon and will never forget it.

Finally, another post!

I never cease to be amazed at all that there is here, the different types of culture there are in Castellon. I experienced two different facets of culture this past weekend and both were different and interesting and amazing.Friday was the Fiesta de las Paellas, the paella festival. In case you aren’t familiar with it, paella is a typical rice dish from Spain. The dish usually contains rice, vegetables and some sort of protein. Sometimes the dish has seafood, but the one that is typical to Castellon has rice, judias, chicken, sausage and rabbit. It is a dish that is typically prepared by men and is eaten for the main mean on Sundays. It is usually made in a large skillet, similar to a wok but not as deep, and is made traditionally on top of firewood but now people also prepare it in their homes on the stove. The general idea behind the campus festival is to gather all of the students on campus and celebrate the beginning of a new semester. It is a way to gather the students with something that is traditionally Spanish, something that everyone is familiar with and has eaten all of their lives. People are given firewood and are on their own from there to make their dishes. The people that want to can make paella and enter a contest to see who makes the best paella, but it is not a requirement to make paella to join the festivities and other people grill meat and eat bocadillos. And everyone drinks. Pretty much, the way that would best describe the festival is Flunk Day, except you know when it is going to be, there are tons more people because it is open to not only the college students, everyone is grilling or making paella and the school does not provide you with beer- you have to provide your own alcohol. Everyone comes knowing that they are going to have a good time, regardless of the weather or what they eat. In typical Spanish style, everyone shares their food with everyone else. There is live music, the marching band is walking around the entrance of the area where the festival takes place, people playing games, and there are tons and tons of people everywhere. It is one big college party and the whole campus takes part in it, no matter who you are and if you want to get drunk or not. There are people everywhere, not everyone is grilling and people are just having an amazing time knowing that they are part of this amazingly crazy day.
After the festivities ended, I went with my host family and two of their friends to Antonio’s parents’ house in the mountains. The house used to belong to his maternal grandparents and was passed down to his mom after they died. It is in a cute little village called Xodos, away from everything. Although it is only about and hour and a half away, it feels like you have stepped into a completely different world, where time has stopped and things are the same way as they were decades ago. It is a sleepy town hidden in the mountains where the next closest town is a 20 minute drive. The house was pretty much freezing because no one is ever up there in the winter time, so it took almost all weekend for it to heat up. I felt to rustic, so Little House on the Prairie having to heat up the house using a fireplace. It was such a relaxing weekend. We went to a deserted town about an hour in and walked around there, then went on a hike after lunch. We walked around the town at night, which was one of the scariest things since it was windy and it just looked creepy in general. It was such a different lifestyle and it was amazing to see the people that lived there and know that there are still people that live that way. That not everyone wants to live in a city, big or small, and that they are satisfied knowing that the closet neighbor is down the mountains. It is just such a different lifestyle. You can’t just run to the grocery store, you make a trip to the little shops in the next town over. You can’t send a text whenever you want to because there is no reception. It’s amazing to think that there are places like that all over the world, but we fail to think about that when we are sitting at our laptops inside of Starbucks sipping our lattes while talking on our cell phones. It’s sad to think that these towns are slowly disappearing because people would rather move to large cities. I can see why people would want to live there, but I can also see why people would decide to move away from there.
I feel like more and more I see the contrast between cultures. I was able to see two totally different cultures in one weekend. I was also able to see how different they are from the culture that I am used to back at home. There are more similarities than differences, but the differences are so obvious for me as a foreigner since they are new to me. I love being able to experience new, things, no matter how small they are, every day :)

Still waiting on change...

I think that before I came here I thought that my life would be completely different. I would come to Europe and be a completely different person. I would just transform over night. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing, but that has not been the case.

It still doesn't really feel like I'm in Spain. It is really only obvious when everyone arond me is talking in Spanish or when I talk to my mom and it is 3 pm here and 7 am over there. I find myself the same person as when I left home. I have changed from last school year, that is for sure, but not as much as I thought that I would have. I left Coe with the thought that I was going to go out into the "real world" and become more of an adult- more sophisticated, more knowledgeable, more confident in what I want to do after graduation, I would find myself and my "calling." My plan was to set out and go to Washington, D.C. first and then Spain and return to Iowa after a year with the most amazing stories of my adventures. I wanted to go out and see places and do things that I never would be able to do back home, or had never been risky enough to do at home. I wanted it to be obvious that I was a changed person, that I had done the amazing. But I don't feel any different. I do not feel more mature or sophisticated. I feel kinda awkward, especially since I stand out a bit more here and still get lost since many of the streets look the same. Yeah, I feel slightly different than I did at the end of last school year, but on the whole, I am the same person that left Coe in May.

I think that I might have expected for the changes to be right there and that I would be able to see myself changing as it happened. For me, part of the point of leaving Coe for an entire year was to grow as a person and to realize who I am and what I want to do. I am sure that when I get back I will see that I have changed, but right now I feel like I am still the same old me, just across the world, just me in a different time zone. That is not necessarily a bad thing, being the same me, but I think that I want to see what a different me looks like.Maybe I am just searching for someone that does not exist. Maybe the me that I am right now is the me that is perfect just the way that I am and Spain is not going to change that.

A bit of culture shock...

I realized during two of my classes this past week that no matter where you go in the world there is national pride. One of my classes is about the history of the Spanish language. We discussed how the modern language is continuously evolving, especially today with the influence of technology. More and more, English words are being used and replacing existing words in Spanish and thus the Spanish language is being lost. The is an older gentleman in my class (Here, once people retire they go back to the university to take classes. They do receive degrees, but they are honorary; they take classes as something to do is their spare time, as a hobby of sorts) who made a comment that kind of suprised me: "I am not opposed to English, I am just in favor of the Spanish language." His view is that the language is being lost and that it is a bad thing. Kleenex is being used instead of pañuelo, parking is being used instead of estacionamiento, etc. The loss of language, acorrding to him, is a loss of culture. Once people start using English words instead of Spanish, Spain will not be the same, it will be a less culturally rich country.

Again the next day in another one of my classes I saw something similar. The class called European Theory, where we discuss the philosophy of Europe and see whether or not the European Union is in fact united. Our discussion centered on our text in which the author makes the point that in terms of cultual customs, morals, philosophy, the United States is identical to the European Union. One girl in my class strongly disagreed, stating that the U.S. is completely different from Spain and that it is in no way like the rest of Europe. According to her, the U.S. has a different government, does not have a royal family, and in general is just on a completely different level from Spain. The professor had to point out that the author was discussing Europe and not just Spain, and that the U.S. is as similar to Spain in economy, politics, culture as Spain is to Great Britain or Germany.

These comments were just something that struck me as interesting. The first conversation led to another where we discussed how patriotism in the United States is not the same as national pride here. In Spain, we discussed, people do not have so much a national pride as they do a regional pride. They identify themselves first by which region of Spain they are from. This is especially true when it comes to people from Catalunya and the Basque region; they try to keep with their regional differences, especially when it comes to language. Spainish people in general do not feel the same pride for their country as Americans do. Their regional celebrations tend to have more of an importance than their national day does- for example, people in Castellon take a week off of work and school to celebrate a festival called Las Fiestas de La Magdalena, where they celebrate the founding of the city. People in the U.S. acknowledge where they are from, but when you ask where they are from they will say America; being American is more important than where you are from.

These conversations got me thinking about my nationality and my place in my city, state, country and the world. It made me realize that we Americans in general, as a whole people, fail to be as globally aware as people in other countries. I know that that is a huge overstatement and generalization, but on the whole, I think that it is fair to make that statement. I think that the general thought of Americans is that our country is one of the global powerhouses and as such we are entitled to focus only on our country. Why should be be force to learn another language besides English? Why should we be interested in the politics of Serbia or Sweden. All of the people that I have met from countries in the EU are required to learn languages outside of their mother tongue. For them, Spanish is their fourth language. You´re not normal here if you only know how to speak just one language. You are required to learn in school other languages fluently and they have Erasmus here that makes it easier to travel to study in another country and prefect your abilities in another language.

I feel like that there are these little things that make me stand out here. Standing out is not a bad thing, but I feel like I am becoming more aware of how little I know and how much I have to learn this semester.

Culural Experiences in Spain

This weekend I had a taste of the night life here. Thursday there was an Erasmus party at the "discoteca" so some students organized a dinner beforehand and then afterwards we went to the club. Everyone else has gone out at night before and this was my first time since I live so far from the center of town and the last bus leaves the center at 9:30, which is when the party gets started. One of the exchange students from Greece invited me to stay the night at her apartment, which made it so much easier to go out and know that I didn't have to worry about getting home. (I think that being so far from town and from the university is something that I didn't think would bother me, but now I am not sure if I want to move or not...)
It was kinda weird eating Italian food in Spain (I guess it's also weird eating Italian food in the U.S. but I never really thought about it until now). We paid 10 € and got dinner and unlimited wine, beer or sangria :) Dinner was so much fun. Almost the entire restraunt was students from the university. More than half of the students there were from Spain, so it was nice to get to talk to Spanish students outside of class. They were all really nice and one of them invited a couple of us to Valencia where she lives to show us around next weekend. There were also exchange students; most of them were speaking in their native languages, but at my table we decided to speak only in Spanish so that we could all practice together. It was fun just drinking and eating and having a good time with people that share common interests.
After dinner we went to the club. So it was supposed to be a pajama party (if you wore pajamas you could get in for free). So I decided to wear mine. It was kinda awkward when only three of us showed up in our pjs, but we didn't care because we were having too much fun. We danced and had a good time. The only thing that was bad about the club was that here people can smoke in public areas so it was so hard to breathe. So since we couldn't breathe we decided to leave early. It turns out that leaving early here mean leaving at 4 in the morning. I now know that wearing heels is not the best idea for going out and having to walk back after dancing for three hours (next time I will take an extra pair of shoes with me).
I totally consider going to a club a cultural experience for me. It was interesting to see how things are both similar and different from when we go out in Iowa.

My next cultural experience was today when we took a trip to Morella. Morella is a city about an hour and a half outside of Castellon and it is considered by some to be one of the prettiest towns in Spain. The town is surrounded by a wall with six entry ways that centuries ago was used to keep out invaders. When I think of an old European town Morella is exactly what I picture. It has cute little shops and narrow streets. We were given a tour of the town and go the see all of the touristy stuff: town hall, the church, the old convent and the church that was part of it, and finally we walked up to the top of the old castle. I consider myself a bit of a nerd and love to have tours of places and learn about old places and be the one right up from taking pictures as the tour guide tells us what everything is. Although it was a pretty town, it was so definitely cold today while we walked around, that was an experince in and of itself. It was cold but also think that it might have felt colder since it has been so warm the past couple of days and then it was cold weather all of a sudden.We were al shaking and frozen and were happy once we got to the restraunt for lunch. The food consisted of dishes typical to the town: olla de Morella (a lentel, chickpea and pork soup), stuffed pork and nata (pudding) for dessert (I knew that they ate pork in Spain, but I didn't realize how much they really do eat it here!), and of course wine (they also drink a lot of wine, which is really cheap here). During dessert people started singing songs from their countries and it was so much fun to hear all of these different songs in different languages. You could see when people sang that they had so much love for their homes and that they were proud to share that with everyone.

I have learned more about Spain during the past two weeks, especially the past couple of days, than I have learned in years of studying about it. It makes such a difference to study about a country when you are actually there and can see first hand what things are and what the customs of a people are. Even though my encounters have been brief in comparisson to what they willl be, I have taken so much from them. And I love that I am experiencing them with people that are going through the same things that I'm going through. Everyday is a mini adventure and I love waking up ready to see what the day will present.

I finally found time to write another post!

I have been keeping a personal journal, but really need to start posting on here more often :) Quite a bit has happened since the last time that I posted (over a week ago!). I registered for classes- I am taking five classes: The Contemporary History of Spain, The History of Spanish Language, The History of Eupoean Economic Intitutions, Spanish Art and Culture: Analysis for Tourism, and European Theory. Monday was my first day of class. My first class was my art class, which is an upper level class for people majoring in Tourism. The professor walks in and asks everyone if they had taken the art appreciation class to should be taken before this class, and of course they had, and I'm just sitting there with no idea what to expect since I only signed up for this class because the title sounded interesting (as an exchange student, I can sign up for any class in any field of study). The professor was talking about the topics that will be covered this semester and everyone is taking notes, while I'm sitting there terrified that I had made a bad decision. But my second day (yesterday) in the class went much better and I think that as long as I take notes I should be fine.


In most of the classes here, the majority, if not all, of your grade is based on the final. Some people like it because it means that you don't have to go to class or do assignments; as long as you do well on the final, you're good. That terrifies me because what if I don't do well on the final. I'll feel like I spent an entire semester in a class and don't have anything to show for it.


My other classes went well. It was the usual "This is what we'll be learning this semester" that is typical on any first day of class. One thing that has surprised me is that two of my classes have already been canceled. The professor just leaves a note on the door saying that there won't be class today. It was odd at first, but I wasn't complaining.


Last Friday we went on a tour of the city (parts of it). We got to see the old Casino, which used to be the casino in town centuries ago but is now sort of (from what I understood) a country club type place. We also got to see the old theater, which has a painted curtain that is beautiful and is one of a handful in the country. Then we walked to the bell tower and were able to climb to the top, which was dizzying and exhausting. Once we got to the top, the view was totally worth it. It was such a beautiful day and you could see the entire city and the mountains (too bad I forgot my camera that day). We then walked through the market and were able to see two of the main squares in town.


I have started to see more and more the attitude that Spaniards have toward their family and friends. They view their friends as family and their families mean everything to them. My host mom was telling me that she lived at home until she moved in with her husband before they got married, which is typical here. So people here don't move away from home until they are around thirty, which is something that you rarely find in the U.S. Dori explained to me that yes ocassionally people move out during college to live in the dorms or in an apartment with friends, but then they move back home afterwards. It is frowned upon to leave home at a young age, especially if you're a woman and are moving out to live alone. I tried to explain to her that the U.S. once you leave home for college it is frowned upon to return back home; moving back home is harder in the U.S. because there is this stigma that is associated with moving back home. People very moving back home as something bad, like you had to go back home because you were unable to make it on your own. There is such are such different views that Americans take on the personal self and family. You have your family, but in the end you are trying to achieve personal sucess. In Spain the view is that you achieve personal sucess because of your family; your sucesses are those of your family and family is more important than the self.



Over the past week I have gotten to know Antonio's family (his parents, sister & her family, and brother and his wife) and many of thier friends. Everyone has been super nice to me, which has been so nice because I find myself a more shy here than I have felt before. They have accepted me into their circle of friends and it came as a bit of a surprise, actually. I thought that they would be friendly for the sake of being nice to their friends' exchange student, but they are genuinely nice to me. One of their friends, Rosa, invited me to the movies and another friend, Marilin, took me shopping with her. Even though most of their friends are older than me (in the earlier and mid 30s), I still feel comfortable with them and they feel fine with me.



So in addition to keeping a journal and a blog, I am also keeping a food diary. My main reason for that is so that I don't forget what I ate and which new foods I tasted. Also to remember what I did and did not like for future reference. So far I have tasted and not like bacalao, octopus and the eggs that my host mom made for breakfast. Other than that, the food that I have tried has been pretty good. It doesn't have as much spice as I'm used to, but it's not bad.

I fell like things are coming more natural for me after having been here for two weeks. I know my way around, sort of, and have been figuring things out for myself. I have made friends, both Spanish and Erasmus, and I think that the next four and a half months will fly by.

Erasmus Orientation

Yesterday and today were my first days of orientation at the University. Of course, meetings all day, both days, but they have helped me better understand the university here and the differences that I'm going to see while here (although today things did start to get repetative). There are three directors from the Erasmus office that put together the presentations: Teresa, Marga and Maria Jose. Teresa is in charge of all of the American students. Marga is much more animated and helpful than Teresa seems to be; Teresa is very monotone and quite and doesn't really seem to have much of a personality, while Marga is talkative, moves her hands all the time when she talks and remembers all of the Erasmus students' names.
Yesterday the first meeting I had was a meeting for all of the exchange students from the U.S. There are 11 of us. Most of the students (six) are from the University of Oklahoma, three are from Murray State University (for two of them this was their first time on an airplane), one student from Florida Atlantic University and myself. Of the 11, only four are girls, which really surprised me since I had read that most students that do exchange programs are females. After the meeting with just the students from the U.S. there was a meeting for all of the exchange students about Spanish customs and culture. Although I did know quite a bit from the few days that I've been here and from my previous courses, it was nice to hear it again. We learned about the food that is typical to the region that most people know about (paella, tortilla, fish, cured ham) and the food that most people would not know that is popular in the region (rabbit, snails, and pretty much any part of the pig). We learned about cultural norms that might be different in other parts of the world (for example, they told us that until about 5 years ago people smoked pretty much anywhere, even inside of university buildings; most drivers take traffic signs as suggestions; and you don't have an obligation to tip at restaurants unless its fancy because tip is included in their salary). We learned about the festivals that are big here in Castellon (Festival de la Magdalena and Holy week).
Afterwards, some of the American students and myself walked around the city and got to see the different parts of down town. The down town is bigger than I expected it would be. If you don't know where you are going, it is easy to get lost because there are so many round-abouts and many of the building look similar at first glance. We stopped inside of a small restaurant to have "almuerzo." I was a bit frustrated with the other students because the waitress asked them what they wanted and they were getting confused and you could tell that she was getting frustrated and it wasn't really a good situation. But lunch turned out to be good and the waitress (who happened to also be the owner) gave us her business card and told us to return again. Since I had not anticipated walking around the city all day, I had decided to wear heels and was super glad when we got back to campus and I was ablt to sit down and rest a bit.
Yesterday was the first time that I caught the bus here, also. I was a bit nervous about catching the bus since I sort of knew where I was going, but not really and since the street signs here aren't as visible. I asked the driver to tell me when we got to my stop and where I had to go to catch the bus that would take me to where I needed to go (The university is in Castellon and I live in El Grao, which is outside of the downtown). I'm glad to say that the drivers on both buses were helpful in telling me where to go and how to get around on the buses.

Today I had more meetings. We had a session about the culture, again, but it there were also things that had not been said before. We had an activity where we split up into groups and discussed the differences between the culutural norms and values that we are accustomed to and the ones that are often seen here. Each group was given a different value; my group's was the value of time. We had to say where on the spectrum we fell when it came to how we see time. On one end was polychronic time: time is unlimited, people should take the amount of time necessary to do what they need to do, life does not follow a clock, it's ok to meet a friend 15 or 30 minutes after the time that you had set, etc. On the other end was monochromatic time: time is precious and should not be wasted, activities must be organized, you plan your day to make sure that you arrive on time to all of your meetings and classes, it is unthinkable to waste someone else's time, time is money, etc. Of course anyone that knows me knows where I fall. I of course fell exactly at the monocronic end; I am always busy, I have to plan everything, I like to be in charge, I am always on time or early, if I'm going to be late I let the person know and still feel guilty that I'm late. I've already seen since being here that that is not the way they view time here. Yesterday, for example, I was early for the first meeting and Teresa looked at me like I was crazy (I had only shown up 10 minutes early), and once she was ready to it was 10 minutes after the meeting was supposed to start. I guess that that is something that I am going to have to get used to dealing with while I am here and will just have to learn to relax more.
Afterwards, we got a tour of campus. When I first got to the uniersity I thought that I would have a hard time finding where I'm supposed to be. Although the buildings are big, there are three buildings for classes, a library, sports center and the amgora (which is like a plaza- there are stores, a bank, a pharmacy, a cafeteria). I know that I will probably get lost at first, but at least know I know where to go to ask for help so that someone can guide me to where I need to be. And since most of my classes (for now) are in the history department, I won't have to change buildings when I go to class.
All of the Erasmus students that are staying with families had a meeting following the tour. I was surprised that out of 50 plus students that only 12 of us are staying with families; I thought that more people would want to do a home stay since it is popular in other parts of Europe. It was nice to know that there are other students that are not living close to the city or that have experienced the culture shock that I have experienced living with a family (I think that there is more opportunity to experience the Spanish culture when you live with a family, eat their typical meals with them, meet their family and friends).
So today on my bus ride home I learned how to bus a bus pass. It was really easy- I just asked the driver for one and it was nothing. I remembered where to get off the bus at, which I think is a huge achievement for me. The only thing that did go kind of off was actually getting to the house. There are like six buildings around here that look the same so I thought that I had walked down far enough. I got to the number 26 (which is my house number) and was trying for like 5 minutes to get the gate open, but my key wouldn't go in. Finally, I realized that maybe this isn't my house and it turns out that my house was still three buildings down. When I got there my key worked but I couldn't figure out how to open the gate. After trying for a few minutes, my host mom opened the gate and that is when I realized that I had to push, not pull (We have only used the garage door in the past, so I had never had to open the gate before).

All in all, things have been going well. I feel like every day things are getting better and better and I am adjusting more to life here. I'm meeting new people and practicing (hopefully bettering) my Spanish.

I made it to España!

After the longest flight of my life, I made it safely to Spain. I had a nine hour flight to London, which actually went very well. Everyone on the plane was nice, the food wasn´t bad, complimentary cocktails and wine is always nice. The only things about the flight that weren´t good was that someone in my section had a horrible gas problem through out all nine hours of the flight and that I couldn´t seem to find a comfortable position to sleep in, resulting in less than an hour and half of sleep.
Although London Heathrow is a nice airport, I had a horrible experience there. The lady at the ticket counter in Denver told me that when I arrived in London that I would have to from terminal 5 to terminal 1. So once I got to terminal 5 I took the shuttle bus to terminal 1, where I had to go through security (which I found a bit odd since I had already been through more intense security in Denver, where they took away my peanut butter because you apparently can´t have "pastes" in your carry-on). So once I get through security I am looking around to find the British Airways counter and I can´t seem to find it. I approach another counter and ask the lady there where the British Airways counter is and she tells me that I am at the wrong terminal and will have to go out and go on the shuttle to terminal 3. I barely make it to catch the shuttle and once at terminal 3 I have to go through security, again. I am running through the terminal trying to find either the ticket counter or a monitor that says which gate my flight to Barcelona departs out of. I find a monitor that says that the gate that need to be at is closing. So at this point I am literally running through the airport pulling my suitcase, trying carry my backpack, jacket, scarf, teddy bear, and laptop which I didn´t have a chance to through back in my bag, and the whole time running, pushing my way through the crowd, knocking over babies, just trying not to miss my flight. I make it to the gate and there are 4 sub-gates, which I ca get to by running down a flight of stairs, and of course my gate is at the very end. I make it to the counter completely out of breath and the ladies that are there to take my ticket look at me like I am completely crazy and I barely made the shuttle to take me to the plane.
My flight from London to Barcelona went better than my adventure in the airport. I had a row to myself and was able to take a short nap. Once I got to Barcelona, I thought that it would take me longer to get out of the airport than it did and I was surprised that they just took my passport and stamped it and just walked through custons with no problems. I have not had as easy a time both going to Mexico or returning through customs in the U.S. (Mexico was scary because there are officers stations throughout the airport with riffles and customs in the U.S. is must very intense). I didn´t know that the airport in Barcelona is split into two terminals, so it was a bit confusing trying to find the train station to get to the main train station where I would take a train to get to Castellon, but a guy saw that I looked confused and told me that I had to take a shuttle to the main terminal and once in the main terminal had to take a skywalk to the train station. I fell asleep for about 30 minutes on the train and woke up afraid that I had overslept and missed my stop, so I was unable to fall back asleep. Fimally, I made it to my stop, where my host family was waiting for me.
My host family seems very nice. My host mother´s name is Dori, my host father is Antonio and they have a two year-old named Jorge. Antonio speaks English pretty well but Dori does not, which is okay for me because I decided to live with a family because it forces me to speak Spanish more often than if I lived with other students. I have learned from them so far that there are words and phrases that I use that they do not use here (for example the word for juice that I learned was "jugo" and here they say "zumo" and my host mother also had no idea what I was talking about when she asked me what I usually eat for breakfast and I said oatmeal). They also have a different eating schedule here than what I am used to, but I knew that before I cam- they eat lunch around 2 or 3, which is their larger meal, and eat dinner around 10. Although I knew beforehand that they use metric, is has been a bit difficult to remember that. This morning Antonio said it was 15 degrees out, I had to remember that it was not the same 15 degrees that I am used to.
Another thing that I forgot about was that their outlets are not the same as in the U.S. Antonio did leave an adaptor in my room for me, but then I remembered that the charger for my laptop has three prongs, not two. It´s little things like that that I don´t really have to think about on a day to day basis that are different here.
So far my experince here has been a good one. Dori and Antonio took me into town (they live on the edge of town) to see a parade for San Antonio, the parton saint of aminals, so people brought their pets and walked in the parade, alongside horses. Afterwards we walked around the city and they showed me the main points and we went back to the house and had paella for lunch, which was not my first time eating it, but it was my first time eating it with rabbit. The rabbit wasn´t bad, but definitely different. After lunch was siesta, which I needed still to recover from my journey here. We then walked down to the port with one of their friends and came back, prepared dinner and then some more friends came over and we hung out and had dinner.
All in all, the little time that I have been in España has been a good one. I can´t wait to see what I learn in the next five months!