Rethinking Things

After yesterday's entry, I decided I needed an attitude adjustment. Last night my host mom invited me out for tapas as a farewell thing for me and Conor and some of his friends. I didn't really want to go because 1, i thought i would be awkward and 2. I had a rough night the evening before and wanted to turn in early. After consulting Will and Andy who told me to basically suck it up, bite the bullet, and get over it, I decided they were absolutely right. In the last few months the one thing I have come to embrace is taking more risks despite my fears of what may happen as a result of stepping outside of my comfort zone. I knew that I was the one responsible for feeling tense in my house and therefore i had the power to change my my outlook on the situation, so I decided to go with it. We ended up staying out 'til 4 am and I really enjoyed myself. There were time when I was bored, but all in all I know I made the right decision in going. For Conor and his friends it was their last evening in Leon so they were pretty sad naturally but had no problem "aproveching" the night :) We began with tapas, had dinner at my faaaaaavorite pizza place, La Competencia, and spent the rest of the evening dancing the night away. I was pretty tired throughout and wasn't planning on staying out late and dancing, but I figured it would be good family therapy and a chance for me to make good with everyone. Things seem to be much better at this point. I know I don't have much time left, but I want to make sure they are enjoyable.

Brief Photo Logg of Trips

Here it is, in a nut shell:

Me and Will in Gijon, Asturias - May

The Place in Morocco where we ate dinner just about every night. During the day there are snake charmers, monkey's, Orange juice stands, and women doing henna. - May

Two Men in Morocco - May

Cooling off in Morocco - May

Me and Daddy outside of Leon - April

Big Ben in London - April

La Mesquita in Cordoba - March

Sevilla - March

Sevilla - March

Cadiz - March

At the Alhambra in Granada - March

Me and Jess on Bikes in Amsterdam - February

Sitting in a shoe in Amsterdam - February

Salamanca -February

The End Is Near, But Near Enough

So here's where I am right now. I am ready to go home. I love Spain, i sincerely mean that, but I'm absolutely done with living with host families. Don't get me wrong, I live with really nice people, almost too nice, but it's time for me to move on. This doesn't feel like my space, my place, because it's not and I'm tired of living in someone else's home. My host mom is almost too nice and pretty much suffocating. I need to feel like more of an adult and she treats me like a child. I don't need someone to make my bed or serve my food or peel my orange or take care of me when I'm sick or decide whether m clothes are dirty enough to be washed yet. On top of this, my 15 year old spoiled host sister is driving me nuts and the constant arguing between her and my host mom are becoming unbearable. This girl is a trip, lemme tell you. She's so rude to her mother, yells at her, tells her how it's gonna be, takes takes takes and does nothing. She has no responsibilities and no consequences for being a brat. I know there are worse things a host family/mother could do, but after living with these people for so long, it's really become exhausting and I've definitely become more reclusive and I'm sure it's very obvious that I am not happy living her and want to go home. What's strange is that we all used to be so close and I really enjoyed being in my house and spending time with them. It's not so much that I don't like my host mom (because I definitely don't like my host sister), I think it's home sickness setting in. It's not really personal. Ever since Will left, I've been feeling more homesick then ever. Not only was it difficult to have to let him go again, but I also wished I was done with my program and on my way home. My friends have been really great and I'm blessed to have them. Jessica, Morena, Matt, Hannah, and Andy - I think I'd go crazy without them. I'm gonna miss them all so much when I leave. I didn't really expect to make such good friends while I was here. We're having a farewell party before we all "bugger off" (as Matt would say) and I know it's gonna be a sob fest. I'm glad I'll be spending my last hours in Leon with them, people I genuinely love and enjoy being around. I think it's unfortunate that I feel as though I'm just passing the time until my flight. My last final is in 6 days and I desperately just want to take a trip for a few days to clear my head and get away from here, but I'm really trying to be frugal with my money until I leave because the Euro is killlling my bank account. In some ways I wish I had time to see more of Spain and Europe, but I'm positive I will be back some day.

Overall, I'd say I had the most amazing time this semester. When I got back from Morocco, I was thinking to myself that every trip I went on wasn't just good, they were all incredible. My love for traveling has expanded further than I thought it could go, but I'm ready to get back to New York and chill for a little while. Until later....

3 months later...

Yes I know I¨ve been a terrible blogger, guess it wasn´t really ¨my thing¨ or i didn´t have the drive or discipline to keep it up, but I´m here now to just drop a little note to say that things overall are still going strong. I´m definitely ready to be done with my classes, but not completely ready to leave Spain. I have to run now, but i might just might write again before I leave. Hasta luego!

OK Pictures are Here Soooner Than I Thought

That's me trying out this cool contraption thing at the exhibit by Blanca Li "Te voy a ensenar a bailar" at the museum MUSAC.

In Isoba, my host families Pueblo about 2 hrs. North of Leon. (Left to Right: Luis (host cousin), Artlet (host sister), Patricia (Luis' brother), Me.)

Cathedral in Central part of Leon

Isoba

Madrid
(Oh yea, I forgot to mention I took a trip to Madrid two weeks ago to visit Molly. 'twas fun)

Pictures are Coming Sooon!

Probably Friday

One Month Mark: Reflection?

As I roll up on my on the mark of my being here in Spain for one month, I find myself feeling as though I´ve been here forever, but still have a long way to go.

So far, this week has been the busiest week thus far. I´ve begun shopping for classes and it´s both exciting and a nightmare wrapped up in one. So far I have two classes which I love because I can understand my professors´ Spanish, and I find the subjects intersting. The first is Greek language and Culture and the other is the the history of Spain from 1939 (although so far we´ve only covered events prior to 1939...). At the moment, I´m kind of in the process of looking for a third course which will fit nicely into my schedule from 9am-10am Monday-Thursday so I can take a Spanish course at the Language School in the evenings twice a week. Problem is there are only TWO classes during that time block in my Facultad de Historia. One I know I already don´t want to take because I sat in on it already, Anthropology of Kinship. This morning I went to a history of modern and contemporary art class which thankfully I understand most/somethings, but I don´t find very intersting. But, it´s my only option right now which is a bummer because I want to take something I actually find intersting and understand more, but I don´t really have a choice because I need the credit. Problem is, credit won´t count if I don´t pass the class :p. I think this is the kind of class I´ll have to Wikipidea everyday after the lecture is over....

The whole process of choosing classes can be a little overwhelming, especially when you´re taking courses in a different language other than your native one. So far I have chosen classes (with the exception of art history) based on the facts that (1) I can understand my professor´s Spanish (2) The subjects are of interst to me and (3) I can find people to collaborate with/compare notes. One thing that lingers in my mind as I sit through all my classes is the final exam in June. That´s pretty much my entire evaluation for the course. ONE exam. Hit or Miss? I don´t really love tests and I don´t completely undersetand how people go about their studies here. I´ve heard the exam period is so long because it´s one big cramming session. There are no required readings throughout the semester, but already I feel like I´m doing/will have to do so much more work than if I was at Pitzer becaue everything´s in Spanish! Well, I mean, with the exception of Art History, I´ve been surprised at how much I actually do grasp, sometimes without trying. But I think i´m freaking out so much because I don´t like Art History and I have terrible memories of what Will went through when he took an art history course last semester. But I know I just have to suck it up and make the best of it because the decision has been made and I have to do what I need to do to get through that course with grace, right? Right :)



My family is still doing well. I was having a rough time last weekend when I wasn´t feeling too well (slight fever and cold) and my host mom wouldn´t really allow me to take care of myself. I appreciated her concern and wanting to make me feel better, but she sort of took things to the next level. I couldn´t sneeze, cough, or blow my nows without her rushing to me telling me what I should do next to feel better. She kept telling me over and over again that I was feeling cold and everytime I wanted to go outside she said it wasn´t a good idea because i´ll get even more sick. It was incredibly frustrating because I´ve been sick before, obviously, and I know what my body needs in order to get better. But she just kept insisting I do things her way and it was driving me crazy. I was so overwhelmed. I felt like running to my room and having a good cry, ya know, the kind where you throw yourself on the bed, bury your face in a pillow and pound your fist every now and then for emphasis. But I refrained and decided to walk to a pay phone to call home. No one picked up (I tried about 17 times) and I felt like crying again, but instead, took a deep breathe, walked home and tried to calm myself down. I´m feeling much better now emotionally, healthwise, and with my mom. It was just one of those low moments and almost every and anything can set you off without notice. But i´m fine now.

I´m going to Amsterdam next week (kinda said I need a ¨vacation¨already) with Molly, her friends and two of the Pitzer gals. We´re all really excited to explore a new country, city, and culture. I don´t really know what we´re going to do, but I guess we´ll find out soon! I gotta go talk to a professor now, but I´ll write again somtime.

Michele

Eat, See, Speak, Rest

So I have now been in León now for a little over a week and so far things have been going well. I have had a lot of free/¨me¨ time because I wasn´t able to enroll in the intensive Spanish course because I arrived too late and my university classes don´t begin until sometime between the 15th and 19th. As I mentioned briefly before, my host family is beyond amazing. They are the kindest, sweetest, most generous people in Spain and I am so happy to be living with them. My host mom, Julia, has one daughter Artlet, and we have spent all of our meals together and we´ve spent a some time as well with Julia´s sister, Marie Fe and her two kids, Luis and Patricia. All have been very kind and treat me like family. Having such a great host family has really made my transition a lot smoother than I anticipated. Over the last week I´ve been spending most of my time with my family trying to get in as much conversation as possible to improve my Spanish. I´ve walked around the city a bunch and I love it. It´s pretty small, but once you enter the classic part of the city where the Cathedral is, you can easily get turned around with all the different streets and ally´s crossing every which way. In the evenings on the weekends that part of the city (also known as El Barrio Húmedo meaning the Humid Neighborhood named for all the liquor the flows out of the countless bars and discotecas there) is buzzing with people hopping from restaurants to cafés to bars and discotecas. I have gone out twice with some of the other international students who will be taking classes at the university as well and it has been pretty fun. There are people from all over the place: Australia, Germany, Canada, Poland, Ireland, Brazil, England, and Italy to name a few. The cool part about hanging out with them is hearing all of the different Spanish accents people have. Even though a lot of people speak English too, when we´re out, in general everyone speaks Spanish to each other. I love that I can speak to someone from Italy who doesn´t know English, but our common language is Spanish :) The food here is great! I love everything my mom makes and brings in the house. I still haven´t quite figured out hos the meals work exactly in terms of timing and courses, but in general we have an array of things to eat each meal. For breakfast I usually just have a glass of water, yogurt, and an orange. Lunch is the biggy meal from 3-5 (or later) and we usually begin with bread and something else like pasta and then move on to the meat and afterwards sweets! Dinner is a little lighter beginning anywhere from 7-9 and generally the same kind of dishes we might have at lunch, just less. I´ve been eating a lot of bread because it´s so good and i love love love it. We have to buy two baguettes everyday because they´re baked fresh daily and Artlet and I devour them at meals. My mom is constantly asking me if I want more to eat and it´s hard to say no when everything is so good. And man does she like to spoil me with sweets. She offers me about 3 sweets at the end of every meal! Today was a great day. It was Luis´ (Marie Fe´s husband) birthday and we all went to Musac, an art museum here in León. I was feeling a little sleepy at first and didn´t think I´d be up for a museum, but I was really happy I went because the exhibit we saw was unlike any other I´d ever been to. The featured exhibit was Blanca Li, a dancer and choreographer from France. There were displays of her short films that ranged from contemporary international dance choreography to comic workout videos. It was INCREIBLE! I think I´m going to go back because I feel in love with everything. Afterwards we went to a restaurant for lunch. I forgot the name of the place but it was a small traditional Spanish restaurant. It was very cozy inside and I got a chance to see the kitchen where they still use traditional fires to prepare all of the food. I stuffed myself with fresh baked bread (of course), potatoes, the tenderest meats on earth, and topped it all off with Natillas, my dessert. Well, speaking of food, it´s time for me to eat again now! Micehele

London - Heathrow Airport

(This is from earlier today)

hi everyone, i have arrived safely here at heathrow in london. we left 3 hours late though so i missed my connecting flight to Madrid, but im on the next one at 110 pm. the flight was nice, i ate well and watched a really good, funny british movie with thandi newton called run fat boy run. i highly recommend it if you get the chance to rent it :-) im very excited to continue forward, but i miss you all so much already. im pretty hungry so im gonna get some food before my flight. lucky for me i found 30 euro in my journal from last spring when i was in france :-) well im going to go before i overuse smiley faces too much.

Later,
Michele

Journey to Leon

Hola todos desde España!

After a long long long journey, I have finally arrived safely to my new home in Leon. When I got to Madrid I didn´t realize until I was just about to get on the metro that the wheel on my larger bag broke somewhere between New York and Spain. I tried not to let it get me down, because i had not choice but to figure out a way to carry it to the bus depot (which i swear couldn´t have been fruther from the airport of it tried). I had to take two trains to get to the bus depot and the transfer was brutal. I had to literally drag that heavy bag up and down corridors and escalators along with my three other bags as well. It really wouldn´t have been that bad had my wheel not broken, i had a pretty good set up for carrying them. So by the time i arrived at the bus depot i was hungry, fatigued, and probably offensively smelly from the work out i´d just endured on top of nervous sweat being in a new country and speaking Spanish.

Up until I got to the bus station i was the brownest person around. I finally started seeing dark skinned people who I assumed were from parts of northern and western African countries. I overheard one man, about my skin color, ask another man where he was from (in Spanish). The man replied Senegal and the proceeded to have a short ¨get to know you¨kind of conversation. I thought it was so cool. the other guy was from New Orleans and he introduced himself to me later after mistaking me first for a french woman. He is a teaching assistant and student at the university of Salamanca and was in Madrid for some good herb :)

The bus was like no other coach bus i´d been on. It was like a ground plane. All the seats were products of Mercedes Benz and there was an attendent who served food and drinks (unfortunately i slept through that part) throughout the ride. At the end we even got a free DVD on how to make quick traditional Spanish dishes!

At the bus station in Leon I began to get a little worried because the station inside was completely empty...except one man. I asked him where the cabs were and he told me outside, but when I looked, there were no cars in sight. I went outside anyway to use the phone to call my host mom to ask her what I should do, but then the man came out because he remembred the number to a cab company I could use. I thanked him, called a cab, and was picked up within minutes.

The cab driver was really nice and asked me some questions about my travels and I asked him a little about Leon. I was ready to fall out of the cab with happiness as we arrived at the apartment building where my host mom, Julia, greeted me upstairs. She is so kind and warm and has already made me feel comfotable and right at home in only 20 mins. I think I´m definitely in good, safe hands :)

I had an apple and a glass a water and now i´m ready to take a shower and crash crash crash on my bed. I thought I´d never lay down again! Well I´m gong to go for now, but you all should continue to check out my blog for further updates and pictures because thats where I´ll be doing most of my keeping in touch, it´s easier for me that way to stay connected with as many people as possible.

Thank you all for your love and support, it has really sustained me on my journey so far and i´m sure it will continue.

-Michele

I'm in Boston!