Merry Christmas!!

Just wanted to send you an update and wish you all a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays. Everything is going great here in Spain. It is everything i expected and much much more. My birthday was wonderful, i spent the night at Emma's house the night before and then in the morning her family made me an apple pie and put candles in it and sang to me. Then the following weekend was Emma's birthday and we went out to a dance club called Independence with some of my friends. On Thanksgiving I attended a huge Rotary dinner with all the exchange students in Madrid as well as the Rotarians. We had an interesting meal that consisted of a drumstick and a small serving of potatoes. Dessert was an orange cake that was not very sweet, but I can't blame them considering they don't celebrate that holiday here.

I wish I had tons to say, but honestly everything I do here has become my life, I go to school, hang out with friends and occasionally travel to Southern Spain (Jerez) to visit my host Mom. I just got back from their yesterday, I went down to celebrate and early Christmas with her. It was great, the whole house was decorated with a tree and lights, very similar to the US. For Christmas dinner we had shrimp( by the way they serve it with the eyes and whole head attached) along with raw salmon and lemon as appetizers, and for the main course lamb that was marinated solely in salt and olive oil (like everything here), and salad. For dessert an apple tart and chocolates. After dinner we opened presents and my host mom got me a cute sweater dress and a beautiful scarf.

Here in Spain Christmas is celebrated a little different than the US, most people now a days celebrate it like we do, with Santa Claus on Christmas eve and ect. But some people celebrate what is called "Tres Reyes" the The Three Kings, on the 6th of January. Little kids leave their favorite pair of shoes out and the Three Kings come and fill them with candy and presents, like stockings. Then they leave a present, like Santa. But, my family has always celebrated Santa Claus, therefore we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Day.

Tomorrow I am going to Barcelona to spend christmas with my host father and his sister, along with my host sister and host brother who has returned from the US, do to problems he had there. I am really looking forward to getting to know that city, because my host Dad grew up there so its a perfect opportunity. Other than that, the language and everything else is starting to click here, and I feel more at home every day.

I attached a few photos of what i have been doing:

I forgot to add, i also went to the Reina Sofia, which is a famous Modern Art museum here in Madrid. Emma and I went and explored one out of 4 floors and we got to see Picassos famous Guernica (picture below).. It was wonderful.
Also below... Rastro and Sam, Jesse, Emma and I.

Hello everyone,

Sorry it has been awhile. Halloween was great, I went to a small house party with some of my sister's friends. I was really surprised to see that everyone was dressed up, and the whole house was decorated. Since then I have just kinda been settleing in. Going to school (kinda) and hanging with friends. I hang out a lot with a girl named Emma, she is also an exchange student from Fort Collins, Colorado. And then also a boy named Jesse who is from upstate New York and a girl named Sam who is from Minneapolis. It is really fun to get togher with them and speak english, but at the same time I sometimes feel guilty for speaking too much english.

The weekend after Halloween was Jesse's birthday, so Emma and I took the bus about 30 mins out of the center of Madird to a town called Majadahonda, where Jesse and Sam live. We baked him brownies from to box-brownies that Emma's Mom sent her and bought him silly gifts. We even put 17 candles on a tiny brownie for him! We went out to a great Italian restaurant for dinner and the Emma and I went back into Madrid.

The weekend after that I went to a street market here in Madrid called El Rastro with Sam and Emma, it is every Sunday in the center of Madrid. It was the second time I had been. After we met up with my host Dad at the oldest bar in Madrid for a delicious lunch and after we went to a theatre that also has a cafe in it and got hot chocolate (which by the way is more like hot pudding here). It was a great day in the city.

This past weekend I went to Jerez to visit my host Mom again with Nerea. Before we left I found out that my host brother (Nerea's brother, Fernando) was most likely coming back to Spain, because he got in a little trouble with Rotary in the US. That whole weekend, my host Mom and Dad tried really hard to find ways to get Fernando to stay in Minneoplis, but in the end he had to come home. In the midst of all the confusion I had a great weekend, I went to my fist discoteca, and it blew my mind. There was a guy on stilts dancing on stage. I also watched a bunch of movies with Nerea and relaxed.

Fernando is in Madrid for the week, and then he will be moving to Jerez to live with my host Mom and attend high school. So thanks to him moving, I dont have to move families, I am very fortunate.

Other than that I have just been living like a Spaniard, learning lots of spanish still, and trying my hardest to speak it.

Just some funny thoughts:
1. They don't have bagels here, and it is quite depressing.
2. The weather is still very warm here for the middle of November.
3. They don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, but Rotary has put together a dinner for all the exchange students.
4. I don't have school from Dec 23- Jan 10, and will most likely be spending Christmas here in Madrid, which will most likely be beautiful because I have seen the lights they are putting up in the city.. I don't know about New Years.
5. Spain is very power conservative, almost all houses hang dry all the laundry.
6. Still reading Harry Potter in Spanish and I am learning lots of Wizard vocabulary.

I will be visiting two former exchange students, Julien and Victoria in Paris France from Feb 20-28 and I couldnt be more excited.

Hope all is well, all good thoughts*

below Sevilla, famous light tower that used to be covered in gold and the Plaza that the movies were filmed at.

above Strait of Gibraltar and the Peak along with a picture on the only ski resprt in Madrid

Almost 2 months :)

<>Things here are going great. I am starting to fit in and realize that I am living here, I am not on vacation. It still blows my mind, and I have to pinch myslef all the time still. I went to Sevilla/Seville with Nerea and my host Mom. It was absolutely beautiful, but very hot. I was a lot bigger than I expected and I could just feel the history walking around there. We took a bus tour so i could see the whole city and then had lunch in the center of the city. I also went to an amazing place named Plaza de Pilatos while I was in Sevilla it is where scenes from Lawrence of Arabia and Star Wars Episode I were filmed! While I was down south I also got to go to Tarifa which is a small summer town right on the Strait of Gibraltar. It is famous for windsurfing. I got to see Morocco from a distance! I can't beleive I was that close to Africa, I hope to take the ferry (30 mins) there one day and explore. I explored a little more of Jerez, where my host Mom lives, it is also very rich in history. It was built 1000 years BC, so the streets are so narrow in the center of the city that sometimes you have to fold in your mirrors to get through.

Other than that I have just been going to school everyday and occasionally taking a trip into the city to meet up with some exchange students. On last Saturday about 25 exchange students met up at a main train station in Madrid and took a series of 3 trains to the mountains above Madrid. When we got there we all hiked about 5 miles to the top of the highest peak in Madrid at about 8,000 feet. The name is El Pico de Peñalara, The peak of Peñalara. It was beautiful and it felt so nice to get out of the city for a little while. I noticed how quiet it was up there, life in the city is always loud. It was nice to speak english for a day also, and I absolutely love the exchange students. I have made some of my best friends in the Rotary students.

Language here is getting way better, sometimes it scares me how much I understand. I have started reading Harry Potter and that is quite a challenge, but I am learning lots of vocabulary.

Halloween is this weekend and my host sister is going to Jerez by herself, I chose to stay in Madrid and dress up and go out with the rest of our friends. The boys happen to be dressing up as the Village People and it should be hilarious. They dont carve pumpkins or trick-o-treat so it will be a different feel, and it will be the first Halloween in my life where its not freezing and snowing!

Hope all is well!!

Below:

Tapas, Cathedral, Royal Palace, Segovia and Lamb

Lots to Catch up on

So

much has happened since I last posted. Things here are still amazing, everyday gets a little bit better. I constantly have to pinch myself to realize what I get to see.

In a nutshell this is my last couple weeks...

Two weekends ago I went to a tiny little castle town about 1 hour and a half out of Madrid with my host Dad, Pepe, and Nerea and the Morenos, which is the family I went to lunch with the last time. We walked around this historic little village and then we went to this tiny restaurant for lunch. This part of Spain is known for their lamb, so that was what we had for lunch. Lamb, salad and of course BREAD! They cook the lamb in an old fashion oven and its pretty much the whole body and lots of butter, but it was delicious. After lunch we hopped back in the car and drove about 20 mins to Segovia. Its famous in Europe for its huge aqueduct. This was probably one of the coolest places I have been in Spain. Very European, narrow streets, plazas and historic sites. That day there happened to be a festival going on in the town so there were soldiers marching through the town and tons of people dancing. It was a great day and I was blown away at all the beautiful things I had seen.

This past weekend I went to Jerez to visit my host Mom, Arantxa. It was a very clean, quiet city about 30 mins away from the Atlantic ocean. Nerea, her best friend, Sara, and I took a bus about 7 hours to Jerez. Spain is beautiful, very golden with lots of vineyards and cotton fields. It reminded me a lot of California. On my second day there I went to my host Mom's apartment on the ocean. It was absolutely beautiful. She has a place in a little fisherman's town on the Atlantic. Its really close to Cadiz. We traveled along the cost for like 3o mins and the showed me a river that runs from the ocean to Sevilla. On my second day I went to what they call a "Feria"which translates to fair. But it was actually more like a rodeo/horse show, except there was no roping or bull riding. We watched them bring horses, ponies, cows, calfs, and bulls into the ring while listening to them talk about their breeders. After, everyone gathered together for lunch and some flamenco!! Flamenco is a type of music and dance. For about 3 hours I listened and watched flamenco. Its very beautiful. The next day we took off back for Madrid and I was actually excited, I missed my new home.

Yesterday I took the day off from school and went into Central Madrid, to see more beautiful monuments and buildings. Nerea, her good friend Sergio and I went to the Royal Palace, a building where the kings and queens should live, but now you can tour it and then we went to Plaza Mayor, which is a beautiful famous plaza here in Madrid, I also go to go to Almudena Cathedral which is right next to the Royal Palace. It is the first church I have been in since I got to Europe and it blew my mind. After all the sightseeing Sergio and Nerea took me to a typical Spanish restaurant for lunch. I payed 10 euros to get 4 tapas (Little tasty combinations on a piece of bread), a main dish, drink and dessert. It was a ridiculous amount of food but absolutely delicious! Tapas are amazing, my favorite was raw salmon rolled and stuffed with crab and mayo with a special sauce and a deviled egg on top. The rest of my day consisted of a tour of a famous market here and a famous bakery and then a relaxing afternoon in Parque Retiro in the Center of Madrid. Its absolutely beautiful.

Some more funny things:

1. At my host mom's I had an "American Hamburger" that consisted of American hamburger meat dipped in mustard, mayo and ketchup. No bun or veggies. Ha

2. The eat their pancakes with hershey's syrup.

3. The smoking is starting to drive me crazy. During recess at my school, everyone goes and smokes even 13 year olds.

4. Everyone thinks its so weird that I have natural pink cheeks.

5. Spanish people can never make up their minds, it takes them like 30 mins to decide where to go for lunch.

Language is getting better, I am starting to understand a lot more. All I need is time. I will soon be reading Harry Potter in spanish to help me out..

This weekend I am taking the train to Southern Spain with Nerea and we are going to Sevilla and then Granada. Monday is a holiday for Spain so I am going to Granada for a fiesta!

I can't believe I have been here a month today and I have already done all this traveling.

Hope all is well, I am sending snow wishes for Tahoe.

All good thoughts*

Dev