5,769

That's the number of miles between my comfy little home in San Ramon, California, and my soon-to-be home in Spain.

What that vague statement means is, I GOT MY HOST FAMILY! I got it two weeks ago, on May 14th, and I went through a solid 48 hours of the host family excitement haze, which is why there's not going to be as much of the "just got my host family obsession/freak out" in this post. The placement came totally out of the blue, no warning. Just a random time, some random Tuesday, I was in the car, waiting for my dad to be finished with the UPS people, when I got an email titled:

"AFS: Your Permanent Host Family Placement with AFS- Spain" 

I flipped out. I sprinted into the store, got a bunch of weird stares (who cares, I got my freakin' host family!), and spread the news. AFS didn't give me a family description, which I'm not sure is common, but oh well. There's a little box at the bottom of the screen and mine was empty. It's totally cool though, because I've been talking with my host family and duh I'll be living with them for ten months.

Okay, now what you've been reading for. Where will I be next year??

Villanueva de la Canada, Madrid, Spain

As you can see I'm pretty close to Madrid, where I wanted to be placed. But, I'm not super close. My host sister says it takes them 50 minutes to get there. It's fine with me though, I have a great family and we'll all go into the city together. 

I have a younger sister named Clara. She's fourteen and about 10 months younger than me. We'll be in the same grade. She does gymnastics, and likes to go out with her friends, and shop (score!). I have an older brother, Carlos, who is 29, so I don't think I'll be seeing a whole lot of him. I also have another brother named Joaquin who is 16, turning 17, and he'll be the equivalent of a high school senior. He plays football (no, Americans, not football, football, as in soccer) and likes to hang out with his friends too. I have a mom, but I don't know much information about her. She doesn't speak much English, but she sounds very nice. 

I have pictures but something's wrong with this site right now and this post is about 2 weeks overdue, so you all will have to live without. 

I'll be going to IES Las Encinas, which is on the other side of my little town (about 18,000 people. My city now has about 2 1/2 times more people). I'm preeeeeetty sure that the school is next to Aquapolis, said to be the biggest waterpark in Europe. Not sure how credible that bit of info is, but still cool. That's all I know about my school, I couldn't find any pictures on google.

That's all I got for now, but here's a few random tidbits:

1. The visa process. I swear, I've been in the office more times than any other student (yeah maybe not but you get my point). I've been there and back and there and back, all for some transcripts and a few letters. The UPS store has also seen a lot me, and Sacramento has seen a lot of my dad. Sooooo much paperwork. 

2. Well I have my Pre-Departure Orientation coming up on June 8th in Walnut Creek. I'm so excited to go and do the infamous AFS activities, but mostly excited to meet the other students! I think almost all of the other American students have had their PDOs already and they've said that the orientations have been so much fun.  Can't wait.

3. Facebook. To all the future AFSers out there reading this, connect with your Facebook group! It's a great resource that you should take advantage of. 

4. It's my birthday in 2 1/2 hours. Yay. The big 1-5. May 29th. My last birthday in the US until my 17th. Thinking about where I'll be when I celebrate my next birthday makes me wonder how I'll change in the upcoming year. When my 16th birthday rolls around, will I be a completely new person? Will I be the same, but changed? What new skills will I have, and what experiences will I have gone through? Will I be fluent in Spanish?

I suppose these questions have to be answered in time. 

As always, thanks for reading!

Adios,

Sam