Feliz Navidad!

This past weekend I went to a gala and it was Christmas. 
The gala was Friday night starting at 11:30 PM and went until 6 AM. We went and had our hair and makeup professionally done and got dressed up in high heels and black dresses. I didn't want to wear tights but when I said that everyone looked at me like I was crazy because everyone here wears them so I settled with skin colored tights. 
I thought I would be a lot more upset at Christmas than I was. It didn't even feel like Christmas to me whatsoever so I think that helped me stay happy. We had a big family dinner and then opened the presents from the "hinchero" (like Santa) after dinner. I got an Eguzkilore necklace which is the name of a very typical flower here in Euskera, watch, Basque Country cooking book, Platero y yo (classic spanish novel), a stress ball in the shape of a Euro, shirt with the Lauburu on it (the symbol of the Basque Country), and a incense/candle piece. 

Mi Último Día del Colegio

Today was my last day at Askartza (my school) and I honestly didn't think it would be as hard to say goodbye as it was. I was completely surprised at the end of the day when everyone was sitting down and I was called up to the front of the class. I was given a present on behalf of my normal class and my English and Latin classes. Yesterday my teacher pulled me out of class to talk and apparently that's when the students collected the money and talked about ideas. So yesterday night they bought part of the gift. Today more people brought money so during lunch two girls in my class walked 2 km to a mall to buy another little gift. I was shaking when I opened the gifts because everyone was clapping and cheering and I eventually broke down into tears once everything had been opened. By that time the bell had rung so I gave everyone goodbye kisses. I had no idea how much that class had grown on me the 3 months I had been there until I had to leave them. :(

Resumen de Este Fin de Semana

Friday: I had to say goodbye to Camila because she was leaving for Columbia on Sunday and not returning until January 15th.


Saturday: I will not be going back to ASB again as Saturday was my last day! The kids had a Christmas concert (which was absolutely adorable) followed by a party in the classroom to end the program. The grandma was nice enough to make a Christmas tree shaped cake to bring for the children! 


Sunday: I was supposed to participate in an 11 km race but it was called off due the the red alert weather; there has been 7m waves, persistent pouring rain, and extremely strong winds. Instead, I went with Borja to ride horses again except this time through the mountain. 

Caballos

I went with Irati, Naroa, and Borja (their cousin) today to ride horses on the beach. I was really surprised at how relaxed they are here with it: no waivers, helmets, or experience necessary. Although I am sore now,  don't ask me why, it was a very fun experience.

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." 

-Winston Churchill


Something that has become evident to me while I've been here is the prominence of opportunity: take every chance given and make the most of it. To grow and succeed, one must take risks.

El Metro

So tonight I was running to try and catch the metro and Irati got into the metro first as it was beeping (a signal that the doors are about to close) and I tried entering after but unfortunately the doors shut on my arms before I could get in. Picture this: both of my arms half-way inside the metro squeezed between two doors that didn't stop shutting tighter and the rest of my body left outside of the metro. Irati and I were freaking out to say the least- she was pushing the button trying to open the doors and I was trying to pull my arms out but neither of those attempts succeeded. Thankfully the doors eventually opened back up before the metro started moving. Not only did everyone inside the metro witness everything so we were thoroughly embarrassed, but I'm left with two swollen, red forearms. Solid.

Primera Evaluación

FINALLY after two weeks of hell I have taken all 9 of my exams and have received my grades. Overall, I'm content with the results as I thought I would fail every subject. 
My scores are as follows:

• Exam Grades:

1. Física y Química - 1,5
2. Ciencias Para el Mundo Contemporaneo - 5,5
3. Lengua y Literatura - 6,6
4. Filosofía - 6,75
5. Religión - 8,6
6. Latín - 9
7. Psicología - 9,4
8. Inglés - 10

• Final Trimester Grades:

1. Física y Química - 5
2. Ciencias Para el Mundo Contemporaneo - 6
3. Matemáticas - 6
4. Lengua y Literatura - 7
5. Filosofía - 8
6. Educación Física - 7
7. Religión - 8
8. Latín - 9
9. Psicología - 9
10. Inglés - 10

He Visto a Mi Gemela!

This past weekend I went to Barcelona with my host family and Maddie to see my friends from DS that were also there on a school trip. Everything started off terribly: Maddie's flight on Friday was cancelled (she had been waiting in the airport for seven hours) and she had to be changed to a flight on Saturday. There were two possible flights into Barcelona on Saturday- one which left at 8:30AM and arrived in Spain at 9:30AM and another flight that left at 7:50AM but didn't arrive in Spain until 12:30PM. Of the 40 people on her flight, she was one of the 10 people that were placed on the flight that arrived past noon. This posed a problem as we had been planning to meet up with the DS girls around 10AM so after a little work twisting the truth, Maddie was thankfully placed on the early flight and everything went according to plan. In Barcelona we spent a lot of time with our friends going out to eat, shopping, and just talking in their hotel rooms. It made me really happy to see everyone again and to speak in English again but when I had to come back to Sopelana I was extremely sad and homesick...I had no appetite and constantly felt like I could cry. That feeling has passed, however, now that I've come to the realization that it is only a short period of time until I'm reunited with my family and traveling back to freezing Wisco. (:

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving doesn't exist here, obviously, so my host family decided to surprise me by inviting their family over for dinner to eat a typical Thanksgiving meal. They put so much thought into it researching typical foods served, trying to find a large turkey (they don't eat turkey like that here so it's rare to find one), and preparing little notecards that had sayings in English which corresponded with the main theme of this holiday- giving thanks or recognizing the importance of family. I am SO incredibly thankful for everything they have done for me! 

Cambios Personales

When you get the chance to take a step back and look at everything and analyze it from an outsiders perspective you not only learn a lot not only about those with whom you socialize and interact but about yourself as well.

Throughout this experience I have had the chance to establish new viewpoints on things and have re-evaluated my life back at home. Perhaps the most prominent realization I have made is the significance of family; the importance of being together has become a much greater priority to me. I thought being away from my family would be a lot easier than it's turning out to be. It goes without saying that I am counting down the weeks until I get to see them once more...5 weeks! I miss you all so much and I love you guys more than you know! XO

I went to the American school again today to work with Eneko and things went much better than I had expected. He talked to me non-stop and I had him under *almost* complete control. He gave me tons of hugs/kisses and we somewhat made a handshake. The teacher even noticed the change since I've been working with him- today he responded to a direct question of hers which has never happened. 

Quirófano

On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to shadow a surgeon for the day and I took it. I was placed with surgeon Javier De la Fuente Ortiz de Zarate, who works in Donostia- a town about an hour and ten minutes away from Sopelana. My day started bright and early at 5 AM and I didn't get home until around 6:30 PM. Within that time-span, 9 of those hours were spent in the surgery center. I got to dress up in the scrubs, socks, shoes, masks, and hair nets that the doctors and nurses wore and witness the surgeries of a shoulder, elbow, hand, and knee. My initial reaction of the operating rooms was that they resembled old mental asylums I have seen in movies and that freaked me out quite a bit. In the first surgery, about five minutes after cut-time, my vision started blurring and I began to feel dizzy, got really hot, and turned pale. Needless to say I was carried out of the room. After a few minutes of laying down and drinking some water I decided I was ready to go back in so I did and in the subsequent surgeries I was completely fine. It was really interesting to watch but I'm not sure I could picture myself doing that for the rest of my life..

Eneko: Mi Amigo Especial

Today I went to ASB, the American School of Bilbao, with my host sisters where they have class every Saturday from 9:30 AM until 2 PM. It is a school solely for the learning and bettering of one's English-speaking abilities so it's basically 4.5 hours of English class. The majority of the teachers are from England however while I was in the teachers lounge (yes, I have the privileges to go in there to get coffee, tea, etc.) I encountered a teacher from Wisconsin.. very small world. I spent the day working with a class of little kids around the age of 5. Our class is called EL3 and I get my schedule next week which means I am officially a volunteer to help EL3 out on Saturdays! At the beginning of the day I worked with the class as a whole but after about an hour of playing and doing crafts with the children, they told me I had a different job. They decided I would be a great fit to assist one child in particular- Eneko. Eneko has Asperger Syndrome which is a form of Autism. Before meeting him, I had to read informational packets on this disorder, learn effective ways to interact with him and have him respond to me, and learn ways in which I cannot interact with him. Eneko doesn't understand the feelings of other people and has motor difficulties but apart from that, he is a very affectionate and intelligent boy. I have to be constantly by his side watching him, telling him what he can and can't do, and aiding him with things. At the beginning of the day he never really talked to me but by the end of the day he was listening to me, holding my hand, sitting on my lap, and responding to me when I said something. Although he is a challenge to work with and by the end of the day I am absolutely drained, I am so excited to go back every Saturday and work with him! 

Aupa Athletic

Last night I had the chance to go to the FC Barcelona vs. Athletic Club Bilbao soccer game. Since my host family and I live in Bilbao and the friends with whom I went to the game live there as well and are Athletic fanatics, I felt obligated to cheer them on. The weather was absolutely awful- strong winds and pouring rain. We arrived around 6pm to the Hotel Carlton, where the FC Barcelona players were staying and we got to stand a foot away from them as they walked onto their bus. One thing I learned from watching this: Messi is super short! The game took place at 8pm in Bilbao's home stadium, thus the majority of the people there were against Barcelona. There was an unimaginable amount of cheering, noise makers, and chants. The atmosphere was indescribable..although the weather was horrible everyone was happy, enjoyed themselves, and talked to the strangers around them like they were good friends and had known each other for years. At half-time every person in the stadium pulled out his or her Bocadillo (similar to a sub) to eat for dinner. Seriously, every single person. Barcelona was expected to win but surprisingly Athletic Club almost won! (Barcelona scored in the last 60 seconds of the game to tie it 2-2).

El Colegio

My school here, Askartza Claret, is very different from DSHA. The 10 major differences are as follows:
I) The teachers here dress very casually―jeans and a t-shirt―whereas at home female teachers wear skirts or dresses and male teachers wear khaki pants with a button-up and tie
II) You address the teachers here by his or her first name as opposed to his or her last name preceded by Mr. or Mrs.
III) The grade levels here for 7th-12th grade aren't called 7th grade, 8th grade, etc... rather, they are: 1° ESO, 2° ESO, 3° ESO, 4° ESO, Bachillerato 1, and Bachillerato 2
IV) There are two tracks in each grade level, ciencias and letras, and of those two, you choose one. In choosing one, you are given the classes which correspond to the track (you don't have the ability to choose the classes you take)
V) They are just beginning to install smart boards here and it's quite a big deal
VI) It isn't out of the ordinary to have multiple people repeat grade level(s)
VII) You have two classes followed by a break to go outside, two more classes followed by an hour for lunch, three more classes and then you go home
VIII) You don't turn in homework and there aren't tests every week. Instead, there is one big test halfway through the semester and the final exam at the end of the semester.
IX) Grades are out of 10, instead of being put into percentages  
X) BOYS! 
*I personally prefer an all girls school.


My first few weeks in school were awful. 
From a social perspective: my class is composed of about 20 people and of those twenty, a mere six are girls. I didn't know anybody and nobody talked to me until we went on a retreat to Dima for three days. After that, I actually had friends and had established relationships with those in my class! 
From an academic perspective: I hadn't the slightest idea what the teachers were saying the first few weeks. When my first tests came around I was completely dumb-founded..the formats of the tests are simply a topic and the necessary amount of blank paper to sufficiently answer the question in thoroughness. I received a 2 on my first Fiki (Physics/Chemistry) test and a 2,5 on my second. In Latin, I received a 2,7 on my first test on the history of Rome, a 5 on my second test on the history of Rome, and a 6,6 on the translation test.  

La Ducha

Today my family had a glass wall installed on the shower! WOOHOO! For those of you who are wondering why this is such a big deal, it is because my shower is basically a tub with very low sides and the shower head attached to the wall higher up. There is no curtain or door to the shower, therefore if you shower standing up you will find yourself walking through puddles of water when you step out of the tub as the water goes everywhere when you shower; thus, I have been showering sitting down in the tub to avoid making the bathroom floor into a kiddy pool... I can now stand up and shower like a normal person! 

Hacen Dos Meses, Quedan Dos Meses

Today officially marks two months that I've been here in Spain! I only have two months and one week left here...time has passed so quickly! It's so weird to think this is all half way over already...throughout these two months my relationship with my host family has grown an immeasurable amount and we truly function as a family now. My friendships with my friends and classmates continues to develop and get better and I have become very comfortable and accustomed to life here by now. As for a language standpoint: they say that the first three to four weeks you don't understand much and after that block of time the language barrier gets easier. For me, the first month was extremely tough. I really didn't know what anyone was saying and I could barely formulate responses. However, something just clicked around the beginning of October. I was able to respond almost immediately, actually have correct grammar, speak faster, and comprehend the accent and what people were saying. [Naturally, when I said my first fluent sentence I flipped out a little bit :)] I've been keeping a list of words that are new to me with their English translation so as to broaden my vocabulary and learn the most I possibly can in this short amount of time that remains. 

No Hay Halloween!

In Spain Halloween is only celebrated by little kids and on a much smaller scale. Halloween here is basically just an excuse for clubs or bars to get large crowds of people to come. There aren't decorations outside of the houses, trick-or-treating, or carving pumpkins. In fact, most pumpkins here are long and narrow so finding a "normal" shaped pumpkin to carve was difficult. However, my host family decided to get into the spirit of Halloween with me and we decorated the house―inside and out―and carved pumpkins and cooked the seeds. The carved pumpkins turned out great having it be their first time ever doing this and the seeds, well, they're very large and thick here so they didn't turn out like they do at home. Nonetheless, it was a successful Halloween away from home :)

Barcelona

From October 21st until October 25th my family and I took a trip down to Barcelona. We flew into the Barcelona airport, got onto their sailboat at Port Ginesta in Castel de Felles, then sailed approximately two hours to Port Vell, Located in Barcelona. I had never been sailing before and to my surprise I almost got sea sick...not fun. The five days we were there we went shopping at Maremagnum, a large shopping center; visited Las Ramblas, famous streets lined with shops and restaurants; went to La Sagrada Familia, a famous Cathedral featuring Gaudi's architecture; visited the Gardens of Gaudi, which contains more of Gaudi's architecture; and went to the Plaza de Catalunya (there is an unbelievable amount of pigeons). For lodging, we slept on the boat instead of staying in a hotel. 

La Sagrada Familia - Cathedral

Gaudi Architecture inside La Segrada Familia

Feeding Pigeons - Plaza de Catalunya

Al Principio

Saying goodbye to everything to which you are accustomed and being introduced to something entirely new is never easy; for me, it was harder than I had expected.


I departed from the Milwaukee airport heartbroken as I knew I wouldn't see my family or friends again for over four months. That feeling, however, soon converted to aspirations, excitement, and high hopes as I began thinking of what awaited in Spain. My outlook yet again changed once I arrived and this time I was crestfallen; I experienced culture shock my first two and a half weeks―I was extremely sad, thought this experience was not for me, and desperately wanted to go home. I didn't like how everything was different: the food, the school (boys!), the house, the schedules, the cars, the fashion, etc. Nothing was how I had imagined it to be. Thankfully I eventually became accustomed to this new norm and my positive attitude returned around the fourth week, thus I began to feel comfortable and happy. Since then, things progressively get better every week and I could not be more content. I continue to fall in love with Spain and the Spanish lifestyle more and more every day.

Mi Familia

I was lucky enough to be placed with an amazing host family. They are very outgoing and close-knit.

My host parents are Joseba Mugartegi and Izaskun Fernandez de Luco

I have two host sisters. The older of the two, Irati, is 15 years old.

The younger of the two, Naroa, is 12 years old.

The family also has a Golden Retriever, Duna. 

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We live in a chalet located in Sopelana a minute away from the ocean.

The Living Room

My Bedroom

Front Porch

Dining Room