One Month!

This time next month I will be sitting in my hotel room in New York, jabbering with all the Spain kids about leaving our American lives for ten months. I will have left all of my family but my dad and brother back in California, and I will have had said my goodbyes to them too in New York. I will be cut off, in limbo. Between my American life and my Spanish life. Probably having the time of my life.

Around this time, your feelings start going crazy. There are times in the day where I'm feeling "I want to go tomorrow, I want to go now! I'm ready!" and there are other times where I'm feeling "Oh my god, I'm leaving in four weeks! That's not enough time!". Usually I just concentrate on the things I need to get done and the things I have to do and experience before I leave. The biggest thing I'm procrastinating on, though, is the language. I have only taken one year of high school Spanish, which, if you're an exchange student you know, is laughable. I have the literacy of about a two year old, maybe, if I'm lucky. My amazing grandma bought me Rosetta Stone and another program like it for me, but I haven't done it as much as I probably should. But I will!

To Do List:

DO ROSETTA STONE A LITTLE BIT EVERYDAY

Other than that, I have been sort of freaking out about packing. I have divorced parents, so that means two rooms, two wardrobes, and two times the difficulty to pack. I have to anticipate what is at the other house and make sure I don't overpack or underpack. Maybe I'll just bring over everything to one house.

In a little over two weeks, my family is going to the Pismo Beach Huckfest. What this is, I'm not entirely sure. But I'm guessing it's something completely American, judging from "Huckfest". Just wanted y'all to know that I'm spending some of my last days in America embracing our redneck culture.

'Til later, lovelies.

Adios,
Sam


Questions? Comments? Curious?
Comment here, find me on Facebook or email me at samanthaweinhagen98@gmail.com

A Quick Update

Hello everyone.

Because part of the purpose of this blog is to record events that occur in my AFS journey, I thought I'd make a post about the departure dates.

AFS emailed all the US to Spain-ees (and actually probably Italy, France, and a bunch of other European countries too) to give us our travel notifications and itinerary. I probably got more excited than was normal about getting my plane ticket. It really put things in focus. Now I have a set date and time of when my current life will hit pause and my new life will hit play. It also makes me feel rushed about getting everything done in the two months between now and then.

I, along with all the other America-Spain and whatnot AFSers, have to be in New York by four o'clock in the afternoon on September 4th. Today is June 30th. That gives me two months and four days, 66 days in total, to get everything ready and all my goodbyes professed. I'll spend the night at orientation in New York, then on September 5th, we'll be flying overnight into Zurich, Switzerland, landing at about eight in the morning September 6th. From there we have about a four hour layover and then we're off to Madrid! Once we're in Madrid, we'll have our arrival orientation and then on the 7th or the 8th or the 9th, I'm not sure, we'll meet our host families! Then our host families will take us home, and our crazy Spanish lives will begin.

Since I haven't uploaded a picture of Spain in a while, here's one of Madrid!



And to think I'll be there in just over 66 days. :)

Adios,
Sam

PDO and A Week of Lasts

I can already tell I'm not going to be great at keeping these blog posts on time...... Oh well.

Anyways, the first order of business: the PDO. PDO stands for Pre-Departure Orientation. For most people, myself included, this means about seven hours of talking about rules and how to adjust to your new culture. For some other areas or countries PDOs can last two to three days. We did some interesting activities, like writing with your left hand (to represent the discomfort of starting a new way of doing something), and analyzing pictures on a screen. For part of the day the students and the parents separated and the students went out into the garden area. This was the worst and the best part of the day. We got to talk to the volunteers and some returnees, and we actually got to ask questions. Not general, official questions, like what is the health coverage, or what are the regulations on independent travel. We got to ask questions that we as the students actually cared about, like what to do about host families and situations with them and about school and partying in your host country. That was the best part of the day. The worst part was the fact that it was 97 degrees outside and we were out there for hours. It was pretty stuffy. But even though the heat sucked, it was still my favorite section of the day. Now that the PDO is out of the way, I can look forward the next orientation in New York!

Parte Dos. A Week of Lasts. What I am referring to here is my last week of school. Now, I usually go through the last week thinking things like "this is my last Monday of my freshman year" or "this is my last Health class, ever". But this year, my last week of school meant a little more than just school letting out for three months. I was thinking things along the line of "this is my last Monday of American high school until junior year" and "this is my last American math class for almost two years". I didn't think it would affect me that much, but on the last day of school after I walked out of my geometry class fifteen minutes into summer (stupid finals), I got hit with the realization that the next time I would be going to school, it would be in a different country, in Spain. Obviously I knew this part signing up for the whole thing, but it only started to feel real when I was done with American school. It was a weird feeling, but definitely not a bad one.

Right now I only have seventy something days left and it feels like I'll be leaving next week; but yet I know I still have to wait the entire summer and then some before I leave. (Pro for studying abroad with AFS - extended summer!) I have just been keeping myself busy with volunteering, sports, and working (to make rec money for Spain). The end of summer will be here before I know it. Some days I feel like if I had to leave tomorrow, I could be out of here without a backwards glance. But other days I feel like I am more than happy to wait another two and a half months before I start my other life. I'm not sure how my roller coaster emotions will play out the week I have to leave, but I'm hoping for the best.

Other than that, I don't really have any updates. My visa is trudging along, piece by piece. My host family hasn't even mentioned school to me yet besides to tell me where I'll be going, but I hope we can decide my classes soon. I only converse with my host sister because my host mom doesn't really speak English. I have to start thinking about host family presents and packing soon. And that's the end of updates!

Catch ya next time!

Adios,
Sam



Afternote: Some of my friends really wanted me to give them a shout out, so here it is: Hey guys! Saif, Marissa, Audrey, Neal, Edwin, everyone else! The whole gang + the Core Four. You're on the blog now!
  

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

Spain and Its Languages

Since I started this process in December I have gone through basically the entire AFS website related to Spain, combed through their resources, and read a ton of blogs from the students who are currently in Spain or were there in years past. After all these hours of looking and reading (I have a lot of time to waste in study hall), I have kind of hit a wall. I still have more blogs to read, but besides them, I've read and reread almost everything out there with AFS about Spain that I could find. With all this empty time, I've started to think about Spain's languages. And get nervous about them.

Let me explain. And I'm no expert so this is just the basics. Spain has four different languages. The most common one and the one everyone assumes they speak is called Castilian, or Castellano, or just plain Spanish. This language is spoken all over Spain, regardless of the other languages that might be spoken in the area. In certain parts of Spain, there are different regions that have their own language. There is Galician in Galicia, Catalan in the Catalan region, and Euskera, commonly known as Basque, in the Basque region.

These languages are similar, but ultimately different from Spanish. They require extra studying and mostly all the schools are taught in the local language. 

This is where the nervousness comes in. I have no idea where I'm going to be living four months from now. I have no idea if I'm going to be learning an additional language four months from now. The unknown factor of the language is the only thing I was ever concerned about when choosing Spain. 

I've read a lot of the blogs and I've gathered that it is a much, much more challenging experience when you are placed in one of the other regions. Especially with school; as in from a few of the students that I read about, they didn't really understand things in school even months after they arrived in Spain. For me this is very concerning. Don't get me wrong, it's not the end of the world if you get placed there. It will make you multilingual and a stronger person by the end. But for me personally, I really hope that I get placed somewhere that they really only speak Castilian Spanish. Even though I have my preferences of where I would like to be placed, I would be perfectly fine with anywhere within the Castilian area. I would still be fine being placed in the other regions, but I would be nervous learning the second language, plus I actually want to make decent grades in school. But I would take it in stride, because, c'mon, I'm going to be in Spain!

Hopefully I get my information sooner rather than later, but nothing is forthcoming at the moment. I guess right now all I can do is wait and keep my fingers crossed. Thanks for reading, and until next time,

Adios,

Sam

Summer Program vs Year Program

Good morning (or afternoon, or night, or two in the morning, whenever you're reading this) everyone!

I have no news to share with you all, I haven't received any information from AFS for a couple of weeks. But I did promise that I would make a post about the summer program and the year program so here I am.

Deciding on the length of your program is probably one of the biggest decisions you make in this process (besides picking your countries of course). There are a lot of factors that you have to consider when deciding how long you want to leave your home. For whatever help this may give, I've sort of made a list comparing the two and pros and cons and such.

Summer Program

• you're only there for a few weeks, usually around 3-8 (I think Spain is 4)
• usually you don't get a host family, you stay in hostel or school (depending on the program you want)
• you don't miss much or any school and you won't have to make up classes in some way 
• you have a lot more independence and you have to rely on yourself a lot - there's a lot less supervision
• obviously its a lot less money (about $7000-something for Spain)
• it's easier to convince your parents to let you go
• depending on how long the program is you may not have to get a visa
• you don't see as much of the country
• usually you won't get near fluency, having only been there for a few weeks
• if you're only there for a few weeks, then you won't really move past the tourist stage of the exchange, and you won't become part of the culture
• being on your own for the most part, you won't really get to travel much at all
• you do get pretty good whether, being there in the summer and all
• there are a lot less country choices for the summer program

Year-Long Program

(some things will apply to the semester-long programs, and some won't)

• I'm doing it, duh, everyone should follow my example
• just kidding ^^
• you will come back fluent in the language, and be able to test out of school requirements
• you will get a host family that will care for you and provide for you
• the year-long programs have a lot more options for the countries
• the tuition costs a lot more (for Spain, $13,750)

The thing about the tuition though, is that you have to look at it per unit. Like when you go to the grocery store and you see an 8-pack of something that cost $4, and then you see a 20-pack of something that costs $9. You may think that the 8-pack is better because it is cheaper, but when you look at it by a single (whatever) you are buying, then the 20-pack is cheaper. Same with tuition. The summer program may only be $7,750, but you are only going for a month. The year-long program is $13,750 but you are going for ten months. Like they say, you're getting a bigger bang for your buck. (I don't know who says that, but it sounded kind of cool so I put it in.) Anyways:

• you make life-long friends from your host country and all over the world
• you get to experience going to school in another language, country, culture
• you usually have to make up some classes (like you definitely have to make up English literature classes, and for me as a sophomore I may have to make up world history. I was lucky, my school is familiar with exchange students and they are willing to take almost all of the classes credits I earn over in Spain.)
• you get to travel the world!
• there's probably a lot more but since I haven't actually been on the experience yet, I'm not exactly sure but those are the general ones

I hope this maybe helped someone out there considering going for a summer or year, and just know that whichever one you pick you're going to have an amazing experience. Until next time!

Adios,

Sam

How It All Started

This is the story of how I first got on the idea of going abroad:

So one day I'm just going through a normal day of my life when I get a forwarded email from my dad that my school (Cal High) sent out about this foreign exchange program called AFS. At first I just discarded it like the billion other emails full of pointless stuff my school sends out. Then later I was like, "Wait. It actually might be kind of cool to go abroad for a while." I'm a really independent person, and I love to travel so I thought that it would be really cool to go to another country for a couple of weeks, maybe in the summer. I was also really into the fact that I would be virtually on my own and wouldn't have my parents there. So I decided to go to the meeting thing that my school was holding about AFS. (A returnee, Miranda Shakes, from my school, who went to China two years ago was giving a presentation.) 

I went to the presentation thinking that I would just get the information about the summer program, and then pick where I wanted to go and bring everything to my parents. I can remember the exact moment I changed my mind about the summer program; as I sat there listening to Miranda talking about how she went to China for a semester and how she wished she went for a whole year, I started thinking that it wouldn't be all that bad if I went for more than a few weeks. That meeting is where I switched from wanted to go for the summer to wanting to go for the year. (I'll make a summer vs. year program post soon.)

Anyways, I picked Spain because I wanted to go somewhere that spoke Spanish, and my mom thought anywhere in Central or South America was too unsafe for her liking, so that left Spain. I feel like Spain is the perfect fit for me anyways. I love the fact that it's in Europe, I don't know why, I just do.


So I typed up a bunch of stuff and then accidentally deleted it so if I redo this and some it doesn't make sense, sorry.

Okay, so after I picked the Spanish year-long program, I researched a lot and then brought the information to my parents. I had sort of kind of talked to my parents about going to Spain on the summer program and they were already pretty much on board for me doing that. The switch from the summer program to the year program was really big for my parents. The biggest difference for them was obviously the change in price. (More on that in a minute.) Another thing that stood out for them was the difference in the program length. It went from being a six week thing to a ten month thing. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard for me to convince my parents to let me go for that long. Like I said, I'm independent, and my parents know I'll do fine on my own. Really the only things that concerned my parents was the price and the education.

Just so you know the price of the year long program in Spain is $13,750 (plus the $75 preliminary app, $200 fuel surcharge, all visa related costs, about $3,000 for recreation costs, AND all other related costs). The cost for the summer program was significantly less. I worked for weeks and weeks and weeks, thinking and rethinking, doing and redoing the numbers, so that I could work out a way that I could go on exchange. I have to give a huge thank you to my grandparents for giving me the opportunity to go. They promised that they would give me $7,000 dollars (roughly half) for the program. The fact that they were willing to take away half the cost made it possible for me to figure out numbers that satisfied both of my parents (they're divorced so it's a little harder than it sounds). Now, my grandparents are not actually going to pay $7,000 (my parents figured it out), and before I sound like a spoiled brat, I am working and contributing what I can for myself. Finally, I got the reluctant but reliable YES to go on foreign exchange.

Then started the application process. If you reading this because you're thinking of going on exchange, and have already submitted your preliminary application and are ready to start your full application, my big tip to you would be DON'T HESITATE. The entire thing takes longer than you think and it's always best to strive for the priority deadline, so get started right away. It ended up taking my administrators like three weeks to get me the papers I needed (that was sort of because she totally forgot about it but either way it took weeks). Also, the doctor's clearance took a while. I submitted my full application the day of the priority deadline. You should note that the priority deadline doesn't guarantee that you will get your first choice of countries, but it does increase your chances by a lot. Personally, the only country I wanted to go to was Spain, so I didn't put any back-ups, but it is strongly recommended that you put second and third choices.

Something that prospective AFSers should know is that, it is very normal to have them send your application back with mistakes or things about it that they want to be fixed. I think basically everyone has something on their application that they didn't get just right. I had to resubmit my application like three times. It is not a bad thing if they have revisions they want you to make, so don't think you did something terribly wrong when they send it back.

Shortly after I resubmitted my application for the billionth time, I got word from AFS that I had been accepted from AFS-USA and that they had sent it to Spain to get accepted there. They said that it would probably take about 4-6 weeks to get word from Spain about my acceptance. Very luckily for me, it took 10 days. I was stoked to get my acceptance so quickly.

So I started the visa process, which I'll probably make a post about months from now when I've finished everything.

Right now I'm just waiting on my placement and host family. I'm not fretting because most exchange students get their information in the summer, like June-ish. I just hope that I get mine early, especially my placement. I reaaaalllllyyyyy want to be in Madrid. I'm hoping to get placed in a Castilian-speaking area, and I really want to be put in a big urban city. I live in a suburban area here in the US, and I've always loved big cities, like New York, so Madrid seems perfect. I wouldn't really mind being placed in an area that speaks a second language, like the other regions, but I do think that it would make it harder, and I'm not sure I can test out of my Spanish classes at my natural school with those kinds of Spanish. But it's all good, because I'm grateful for the opportunity to go to Spain, so I'll be fine anywhere I'm placed.

One last thing for this post is the Facebook pages. These are a huge asset. They allow you to connect with other AFSers from around the world that are traveling around the world. Although it may seem that going on foreign exchange is kind of a solitary experience that you do on your own, you really are doing it with a bunch of other students. They may not be with you every day or even in your community, but some of them are going to the same country as you and basically all of them know what your going through; the excitement, the nervousness, the impatience and waiting, the list goes on and on. These young adults are doing the same thing as you and it's really great to be able to connect with other people like that. Usually within a few months of your departure date one of the kids from your country specific group, like this guy from the group of us going to Spain for the year this September, will make a country and circuit-specific group so it's only you guys. Like right now I'm in a Facebook group with about 25 other people that are all going to Spain next year, like me. They also have a Facebook page that I think is the official page for AFS-USA. They also have a group called Ask an AFSer where a bunch of people post stuff and ask and answer questions and comments; new students, prospective students, Returnees, the whole she-bang. I really like the Ask an AFSer group (plus they have a bunch of helpful information), so go visit the pages if you haven't already! Here are the links:

https://www.facebook.com/StudyAbroadAFSUSA?fref=ts (Study Abroad with AFS-USA)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/24932955872/ (Ask an AFSer)

Well guys I think that's it. Stay tuned for a new post, and thanks for reading!

Adios,
Sam