Our First Local Chapter Orienation

After 65 years of exchanges, AFS knows how your moods will change throughout the year. The mood cycle is like a wave, it goes up and down, and AFS plans their orientations to be during the predicted down times. We had our first local chapter orientation last Saturday.

Saturday morning I got up and was ready to catch the bus to Madrid. I had planned on riding with Angie and Elizabeth, AFS friends that live in the town directly below me, but I missed the bus. Not because I was late, but because my host mom went into the bank for one minute, so I was holding the dog, and the bus chose that precise minute to roll up and drive away. I was standing right in front of it. I had to wait an hour for the next one to come and go by myself. Once I was at Príncipe Pío I met up with my friends and a volunteer and we took the metro to our stop. I had thought that the orientation was going to be in a hostel somewhere in the actual city of Madrid, and that we were going to be able to explore the city. I was wrong. The hostel was in the middle of some forest-y area, right next to an attraction park, and we had to walk for twenty ish minutes down the road with all our bags. I never saw any cars on the road, it was only used by bikers and runners. So even though my shoulders were killing me by the end of it, at least the walk was pretty.

The three of us got there late but we jumped right into the activities that they were doing. The theme for the orientation was play a 10 minute game and then talk about our feelings for the next 40 minutes. The games were supposed to make us think about our feelings, which coincided with our feelings about our experience so far. While this was relevant, I feel like it was information that we all knew already. We did a few different things but my favorite was when we had to make a skit about the topic we were given. My group got "school" and it was fun to create and play out the skit. We also had an "excursion" which was just us walking on a trail around the attraction park's parking lot.

By far my favorite part of the weekend was being able to see and catch up with all my AFS friends. There was so much to talk about, so many new things to share. People vented about their families and lives (especially one of my friends who switched families down to the Madrid chapter) and it was nice to remember that we're not going through this alone. I'm not going to lie, it was fun to speak native English and have people understand me. Even if the people here speak English, I have to speak a lot slower and they don't know any slang that is a part of every teenager's vocabulary. And it was also good to just laugh. Here, right now, at the point I'm at with my language skills, I can really only laugh at situations; basically any jokes made in Spanish fly right over my head. So, yes, I enjoyed being comfortable and joking around with my friends. I also made several new friends, and got closer to the ones I already had. It's cool because I think we're actually going to hang out together now and do things in Madrid and everything. I had a great weekend with them all.

Basically, spending time with my AFS amigos was fun and the orientation part was not. Actually, I was pretty disappointed with the orientation. The activities could've been a lot better and still as beneficial and a few of the volunteers were... unsatisfactory. I'm not going to say more than that, but those volunteers were less than what I expected out of AFS.


After we were dismissed on Sunday, a few of us left to walk to the metro station. Again, on the road, they had some sort of triathlon going on. I caught a glimpse of a lake and I realllllllllllllllllly wanted to go in, I miss the availability of the ocean and lakes in California. We got to the station and (with minor help) we bought our tickets and waited for our train. A few more AFSers joined us, and then we were on our way. At the Príncipe Pío station we all split up and it was again, Angie, Elizabeth, and I. We forgot that our bus only comes every hour, and we ended up having 50 minutes to kill, so we grabbed our bags and went shopping in the Príncipe Pío mall. I'm pretty sure that the Príncipe Pío station is like Madrid's equivalent of Grand Central Station. It has several levels and a bus terminal and a shopping mall attached to it. We went into a bunch of different stores, even though they were mostly carbon copies of each other. They had a very "Hollister" feel to them, except with trendy European clothing; they were dark and everything was super overpriced. The only thing we ended up buying were our bags of candy. It was a fun way to waste the time.

We boarded our bus and went home. When I walked in I was surprised to see that my older host brother was here. I think it was his birthday, we had cake and then just hung out for a while. I started feeling super exhausted from the orientation, so I went upstairs and slept for a few hours. I felt bad about that because when I woke up they (Carlos and his girlfriend) were gone, but I had thought they would still be here when I woke. Oh well.


So, pretty decent weekend. I'm looking forward to the next orientation in October. But hopefully that one will actually be in the city and we can explore a little. We'll know in a month.


Adios,
Sam

Me, Angie, Lucia, Katie

Lara, Trevor, Marissa, Elly, Elizabeth

Angie and Andrew, the bffs

Part of the Príncipe Pío station

Mi Vida en España - Photo Edition

Enjoy!

A typical meal here: meat, vegetables, and bread

I had this at a party with only adults. I think they all volunteer together or something, but that night it was just sit around a table and eat cake and talk night.

I have these for breakfast almost every morning. They are soooooooooooo good.

A shot of downtown La Cañada

More comida

A flan cake? I'm not the biggest fan of flan.

These are at my local supermarket. They are huge pig thighs and they go for about $100 a pop. 

More cake hahahah

I find this to be the most hilarious thing. In America, when we see someone with a fanny pack we think, "tourist" or "loser" but here a lot of the guys wear them around. They're just fanny packs slung around their shoulders and they hold all their little stuff. The word for this is hard so I just call them bolsos de hombres (man purses). 

Mi colegio. In Spain, you don't call them escuelas, they're colegios (at least for the older kids). 

My backyard. Yo tengo una piscina, :))))

Pancho looking a little-cross eyed here, hahahaha oh well. 

Mi casa. It's the one on the left.

My street

Pictures of My House

The living room that doesn't get used except for my midnight skype sessions

The family room

The front courtyard

Kitchennnnnnn

My room before it got messy

Back of the park shot

Pancho decided to sleep on my bag,,, okay then

The view from my room, not bad

 Bathroom selfie with Pancho;

he looks so scared hahahah

Adios,

Sam

Mi Vida en España

So, continuing on from my last post:

Saturday, September 7th, I met my host family. My roommate and I had slept through breakfast, and we didn't get the message that the time that we were supposed to go downstairs had been extended, so we ended up meeting our host families before we were meant to. I'm so glad we did though, because the rest of the students had to meet their families in the front of everybody. I said hello my my host mother and sister and did my first kiss-kisses ever. It kind of freaked me out because she hugged me and I thought that was all, but then her face moved and I wasn't expecting it. The orientation reconvened and we left about an hour later.

We drove to La Cañada and I noticed the first cultural difference right away. The don't use the air conditioning here. Not in their cars, not in their house, not in the school, not ANYWHERE DOMESTIC. I miss air conditioning. In the car they have the windows rolled down almost always, even on the highway. The drive by Madrid and into my town reminded me a lot of Nevada, it looks like a habitated desert. I got to the house and unpacked and settled in a little bit. I met my host brother, an awkward experience because he didn't really know much English and I didn't know much Spanish. I had my first Spanish lunch of bacon pasta (hahah it's nowhere near as caloric as it sounds) and bread. Oh my gosh, the bread. It's amazing. It puts American bread to shame. We get it fresh every couple of days from the local store. Soon afterwards, my host sister asked me if I wanted to go out, because her friend wanted to meet me. Naturally, I said yes and I met her friend Andrea. She's really nice and speaks more English than the average teenager out here. I thought we were just going to hang out with her and maybe a few more people, but I met close to 30 kids that night. They all hang out in the middle of the city in a park. It's nice and it only takes about 15 minutes walking to get there. Something that surprised me, though, is the fact that they eat Burger King a lot. It's right next to the park and most of them eat dinner there when they go out, not at home. So, yes, for my first dinner "with the host family" I had Burger King.

Thankfully, I've had minimal fast food since then (one trip to McDonald's when we went to the mall). I'm actually really digging the food here. Almost everything at home is natural, homecooked food. Some things aren't super great but I'm liking how healthy everything is that I'm eating. Another thing is, I'm constantly drinking water. You can definitely tell that the food here is much better for you than in America, because there are barely any overweight people here. More so with the adults, but that's normal. But within the teenagers, most of them are fit, or at least not fat. It was kind of a shock to me because in America, I see so many fat or overweight people it doesn't really register anymore, but here it kind of stands out. On top of that, they're all small. I have yet to meet a girl taller than me, and at the age fifteen, like maybe three, maybe not even that, guys are taller than me. Here I guess it's be short or be 10 feet tall. No in between. They (the boys) are also very slight. Not exactly feminine, but their build is almost willowy. It's noticeable to me, because I'm used to seeing bigger guys, but no, they're small here. The girls are girls, they have more variation.

Anyways, I met a lottttttt of people that night. And when someone tells you that they kiss-kiss everyone hello, they aren't kidding. Like, if a group of people standing somewhere has less than 10 ish people, you're expected to go around the group and kiss-kiss every person, even if you don't know them. It made me uncomfortable at first, but I got used to it and now I actually enjoy it. It's a lot nicer than in America, where you just kind of stand there and wave. People in Spain have less of a personal bubble, and while this might not be the best fit for everyone, I like it. It's more personal than the US.

A lot of the kids tried speaking English to me, and it was a struggle. Even if they say what they are trying to say correctly, they still have a super strong accent that makes it hard to comprehend their words. Everyone was really nice, though, and I had a good time. Clara and I got back to the house around 11 o'clock, and I went to bed early to try and catch up on the sleep I had lost on the journey to España. The next day we ran errands, I got a Spanish phone, and then later in the day, I hung out with my host brother and watched tv. That's kind of become our thing. We watch movies or tv in the living room, sometimes in Spanish, sometimes in English, and we don't have to talk a lot, so it's cool. Pancho too, hahaha. Pancho is the dog and he's adorable. It's good that he's here because otherwise I would probably be missing my puppy like crazy.

I've signed up for two sports, tennis and swimming. I really like that because those are the two sports that I would love to play for my high school, but I have two other sports at the same time that have a higher priority. Hopefully the team here is good and maybe I can join something when I get back to the States.

School started on Friday, and it's an ordeal. I've only had two full days so far, so I'm not going to say anything yet, but I'll make the typical school post when I know more.

Other than school and errands, I've mostly been hanging with Joaquin and Pancho during the day and then going out with Clara at night. I'm 15 years old, Clara is 14 years old, and Joaquin is 17 years old. That has made it possible to connect with both my siblings, which is nice, because I can be younger for Clara and older for Joaquin and still feel comfortable around both. I also met my other host sibling, Carlos, who is 28 and lives in Madrid, very briefly for lunch and he's really nice as well.

Not many super "WOW" things have happened yet, and I haven't seen Madrid. But I did go to the fiesta in Brunete this weekend. It was a week-long, but mostly 2-day festival that the whole city participated in. It was a lot like a county fair, with food, rides, and music. I went with Clara and her friends (who have started to become my friends, I'm no longer just tagging along) and was able to hangout out with the two AFSers that live in Brunete, Angie and Elizabeth. It was a really fun Friday and Saturday, we hung out at the fair and then when the disco opened at 1am, we danced until we had to go at 2:45ish (the disco is basically a stage and then really loud (American) music and a bunch of teenagers who come and dance; it resembles the school dances back home). Both nights we got home a little after 3am and both mornings I woke up before 11 o'clock, which was nooooo bueno. It was totally worth it, though, because I had a great weekend, and made a ton of good memories.

I've noticed that a lot of the other AFSers have been having a harder time with their emotions than me. They're homesick or not having a good time. Thank goodness that's not me. I do miss things, and people, but it's like where the homesick AFSers have their settings on super bright, mine has my brightness turned down. Same feelings, but mine are dulled. Actually, seeing all the posts about water polo have made me a little sad hahahah I miss playing. Plus, I try not to think about it and just enjoy being in Spain, because a lot of hard work went into my being here and I don't want to ruin it by having something other than a positive attitude. Everyone is different, and I'm sure the other AFSers will pull out of it soon. *If you're reading this, whatsapp me! You can vent! Message me on Facebook for my Spanish number.*

Well, I'm not really going to talk about my feelings a lot in this one, so that's about it. I have school the rest of the week and then my first local chapter orientation this weekend, which I'm really excited about. The people in the Madrid chapter are great and we're going to have a blast this weekend.

¡Hasta luego!

Adios,
Sam


*I have a lot of random pictures, so I'm going to make a separate picture post.

**If you have any suggestions or have something you want me to comment or talk about, tell me! samanthaweinhagen98@gmail.com

Good Friends, No Sleep, and Long Flights

¡Hola!

So, a lot has happened since my last post. The last time I wrote, I was in one of my houses in California, feeling a little nervous about Spain. Now, I'm in my house in La Canada (I still haven't figured out how to type a tilde on my American keyboard, sorry), in SPAIN. Before I talk about España (aha! I just figured it out) let's go back to the beginning of my trip.

I started packing a week in advance, and it still took me a good four days. If you're a future AFSer, do not wait to pack until the last day. You will regret it. I had all my stuff strewn across the living room and I spent hours in there, sorting, choosing, packing, repacking, repacking again. All my efforts went to waste though, because my bag ended up being overweight anyways. On Friday, August 30, I went up to San José to have my goodbye party with my dad's family. It was good to see everyone before I left. I had to say good bye to my sister then, so that sucked. The next day I had my goodbye party on my mom's side and that was great too. My grandma had some really good party games that included money hahaha. Saying goodbye was hard, because my grandma started crying. I'm not very emotional like that, I won't start crying unless I see someone else crying, but she was crying so I started crying. And then my mom started crying. Oh my. Not fun. I spent Sunday with a good friend of mine and then with my dog and mom. When I left my dog, I think he knew something was up because he refused to kiss me. It was actually kind of funny, in a really sad way. Then I said goodbye to my mom and lalalala you guessed it, more crying. But not as much. That night, my dad, brother, and I flew to New York on a redeye flight.

I spent two days in New York City, Manhattan, before going to AFS. We went to the US Open and saw Rafa Nadal, a Spaniard, play a German guy. I also toured NYU, which is where I want to go for college three years from now. We went and saw Wicked on Broadway, and had halal. If you go to NYC and like good food, you need to get halal. And not just any halal. The best halal stand in NYC opens at 9pm (I think) and its located on 7th (???) and like, 42nd street (maybe, I don't know haha). Anyways, it's in front of the Hilton and it's amazing.

So, as you can see, I had a pretty good last few days in America. Wednesday, the day of the gateway orientation, I packed up and drove into Queens, where the hotel and airport were located. We realized that we had forgotten my passport back at the hotel in Manhattan and my dad had to drive it down later. Once we arrived at the hotel I said goodbye to my dad and brother. It was definitely less emotional than the goodbyes with my mom and grandmother, which I was grateful for. After I checked in there was still a good chunk of time until the actual orientation started. At first it was pretty awkward because the kids who had been there all day had already banded together, but then it got better and I had fun meeting and talking to all the students. The orientation part of the night was pretty dull, but then again it's purpose was to inform us really, not to entertain us. Bed check was 10 pm (how American of them, Spain didn't even have a bed check) and then it was Thursday. We had breakfast, more orientation activities, and Spain was the first group allowed to go to the airport. 

The airport was NOT FUN. First we had to wait in the check in line for, like, an hour, for the attendants to even show up. My bag weighed 72.5 pounds. I'm not even sure how that was possible. My visa card was denied, Visa doesn't charge at the airport because it thinks it could be card fraud (don't you think that would've been a nice piece of information the bank lady could have told me when I mentioned I was going to Spain for a year??). After we waiting in the security line forever and almost getting to the front, they pulled us out and took us downstairs. Finally, we were at the gate and had about an hour to kill. Noor, Cat, and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings for our last meal in America. It was okay; never expect much from airport food. 

We boarded the plane and began our 7 1/2 hour flight to Zurich, Switzerland. I got absolutely no sleep at all. At that point I had been up for about 18 hours. We landed in Switzerland, and I only walked around for a little time before sitting on the floor for most of the 4 hour layover. Some of the airport was nice, some of it was not. But the brief glimpse of Switzerland I did get was beautiful. Also, their airport train was cool hahahah. The flight to Madrid was a little less than 2 hours long, and I got almost an hour's sleep, which was nice. The first thing I noticed about Spain when I stepped off the plane was the smell of smoke. It hit me like a wall. I'm not sure if I've gotten used to it or it has lessened here in La Cañada. 

The hotel we stayed at is the biggest hotel in Europe, and I don't doubt it. It is ginormous. I got lost more than once. The Spanish orientation was notably more relaxed than the American one, because all they said was, "Dinner at 9pm. Orientation at midnight. [(It ended up being at 10:30pm)] See you then." That gave us four hours to do whatever we wanted. I rested and took a shower, though a lot of people went to the pool. Dinner was "ehhh" but I got to to talk to the other students from around the world, so it was fun. The orientation was boring, and I think I dozed off at one point. It let out at about 12pm and I hung out with some of the other students for a while before finally going to bed around 1:30am.  So I ended up getting about an hour of sleep in 36 hours. Even five days later, I'm still working it off. 

The next morning we met our host families. This post is super long already so I'm going to make a separate one to talk about my host family and life, etc. Pictures below!

Adios,

Sam

My suitcase mostly packed

Saying goodbye to my sister :(

My babies

Jack, Bentley, and Izzy

My last Californian sunset

The US Open, for any of you that like tennis hahaha

New York

The miniature dinner on the flight to Switzerland. It was adorable. 

The only picture of the Swiss airport that I took

The spectacular view from the hotel room in Madrid. 

(I'm kidding)

Yay, that's all. Adios.