Adiós, España! (Alternate Title = 'Exchange Rocks!')

As I write this blog entry, I am sat in my rather comfortable bed in Spain, about to go to sleep in it for the last time. (For a while, at least – Isabel has extended me an open invitation to return whenever, for as long as I’d like :D)

I’m not entirely sure if I’m ecstatic or miserable to be going back home. I think it’s a healthy combination of the two. If anything, it will be nice to escape the current Spanish weather – the past three days have been over 40 degrees in Madrid, and not much better in Valencia!

A lot of people – actually, almost everyone I’ve spoken to in the past month – have asked me if I regret my decision to enrol in a Semester Program of exchange, as opposed to a Year Program. The answer is generally ‘no’. While I am quite upset to bid Colmenarejo ‘adios’ tomorrow, I still feel that the length of time I’ve spent over here is perfect for me, and that it’ll be good to get back to Perth and find some good, solid work for the second half of the year.

(Moral of the story: Don’t listen to exchange companies when they imply very strongly that the Semester Program is for wimps. I knew what I was signing up for!)

And hey, a semester is still a semester. And it’s been a busy, and wholly worthwhile one.

I’ve travelled to the other side of the world completely on my own – and without losing my passport once! [Let’s hope I didn’t just jinx that for tomorrow.]

I’ve gained a strong foundation in Spanish as a second language. While I’m still far from perfect, I can carry out a conversation and almost always understand what people are saying. It’s certainly something that I am hoping to continue to study, if I can only figure out how in Perth...

I’ve had a snowball fight!

I’ve lost a bit of weight.

I’ve made some wonderful friends. The friends my age are a lovely bunch of guys that have introduced me to some rather new and exciting experiences. My absolute best friend in Spain, however, has been my host mother Isabel. She and I have got on from day one, sharing a love of linguistics, fruit tea, bad puns, discussing human rights, jazz music and world history – among other things. She’s been so welcoming to me, and so open and patient. I feel remarkably lucky.

I’ve eaten so much new, delicious food.

I’ve seen beautiful places – tiny villages, big cities, the tops of mountains.

I’ve acquired three more siblings. Daniel, Maria and Antonio have all made my time here both wonderful and infuriating on different occasions. I feel like they’ve really become my family – we poke fun at each other, we sing Shakira and Kanye West songs together, we’ve taught each other to play sports and musical instruments and card games, and we squabble constantly. I’ll miss the three of them a hell of a lot.

I’ve visited Valencia not once, not twice, but three times.

I’ve played hockey, been to discotecas and house parties, strolled the streets of Madrid alone because I could, played Marco Polo about a million times, been to a traditional Spanish funeral, passed school sport, discovered that I actually like museli...

I could go on, of course, but I think you get the picture.

If anyone younger than me is reading this and considering exchange, I would absolutely recommend it. It’s fascinating to remove yourself from your comfort zone, particularly if – like me – you’ve spent your entire life living in the same house, in the same city.

I also feel like so much of the reason I have benefitted from this exchange has come from living with a different family. Staying in a house so different from mine, with a family so different from mine, was eye-opening, sometimes frustrating, and an interesting way to learn about the way my own family functions.

So yeah, exchange rules! If you’re really thinking about it, check out SEANZ – these guys are the ones that sorted me, Breanna and Jess out. They’re top.

So – guess that’s it. Better get some sleep to prepare for a 25 hour or so commute.

Adiós, España! Voy a volver pronto.

A Quick Update Yo

Today: I went to the Museo Del Prado with my host family. An absolute must for anyone that every visits Madrid. An amazing collection of artwork, a gorgeous building, and some rather delicious food at the cafe.

Tomorrow: I'm off to Oliva-Nova in Valencia again, to stay at the beach for my last few nights! I'm so excited to be heading back, and I'm really glad I'll get to spend some good quality time with the host fam before I leave.

Now - must start packing.

Solsticio Feliz!

Happy Summer Solstice, everyone!

(Or Winter Solstice for those of you in Australia, I suppose!)

We celebrated the longest day of the year last night with some good family friends and a feast of epic proportions! Mmm. Spanish omlette [tortilla de patatas], spinach pie [pastel de espinacas], nachos [...nachos], sausages [chorizos], and cheese and garlic bread [pan con ajo y queso]. Plus, of course, plenty of wine [vino], cake [pastel] and ice cream [helado]!

We danced, told jokes and riddles and stories, had a midnight swim in the pool, and sang Shakira songs at the top of our voices. Also, I was finally taught how to play the castanets properly!

This party also served as a bit of a goodbye for me to these particular friends - Cristina and Reuben, and Mila, Ricardo and Nacho. All of whom are lovely, welcoming and hilarious people, who I feel so lucky to have met.

Why goodbye? Because um, I go home in less than a week, apparently. What? When did that happen!?

Picspam 5 - Retiro Park/Puerta Del Sol

I headed out on another solo voyage to Madrid yesterday, wiith two main purposes -

1) To check out Retiro Park. Retiro Park, or Parque De Madrid, is made up of some gorgeous, once-upon-a-time-palace-gardens. I ate lunch, wandered, read my book, and had an amusing walk along the man-made lake with a gaggle of Irishmen.

2) To have a look around the current protest camp in Puerta Del Sol. For those who haven't heard about this, I suggest watching the video at the link - but basically, the protests stemmed from public anger at the political response to the economic crisis in Spain. This anger led to hundreds of people (known, in Spanish, as 'The Indignant Ones') camping in one of the busiest places in Madrid, the Puerta Del Sol square. The camp has grown to become a media-attention-grabbing voice against many of the big issues in Spain; political corruption, sexism, homophobia and universal lowering of salaries, as the main exmaples. For the huge politics nerd that I am, it was so exciting to walk around, and to chat to some of the protestors!

It was another amazing and fascinating day, and I could go on and on with stories.

However, a picture speaks a thousand words, apparently. So here's 9000 words about my Saturday!

In Which Grace Commutes Solo To Madrid

I've been into central Madrid a handful of times whilst I've been here. A few times with friends, and a few times with my host family - but always with people, and with a specific purpose for being there.

Yesterday, finally feeling comfortable enough in my Spanish and my knowledge of Madrid's public transport system to do so, I ventured into the CBD by myself.

This is something that I've been keen to do for a while, to say the least. When I first heard that my host family placement was in the province of Madrid, I was stoked at the thought that maybe I would get the chance to explore the major streets of the capital of Spain alone.

That's not to say that I don't love exploring with other people. But going out into the culmination of centuries worth of history and culture and hubub by myself was such a different experiences. I could stop to look at the statues, plaques and parks that locals don't bother to glance at. I could wander, in an aimless and leisurely fashion, focussed more on the experiencing than the doing.

So that's exactly what I did, bussing and then metro-ing until I arrived in Plaza de España at about 2pm.

I took a stroll through a little park, stumbling across fountains, statues, some amazing markets, and some delicious take away coffee.

I ate lunch by myself in a small, beautiful cafe on the Gran Via. I ordered the somewhat typical bocadillo calamares, and dutifully refused the free glass of beer that came with it - opting instead for a Diet Coke. (I was also asked out by the waiter. That was... interesting.)

I went into shops, from the nine-storey megastore El Corte Inglés to the tiny, ancient little jewellery shops. I'll admit, I bought a fair bit yesterday - both for me and for some of you lucky things.

When it hit 8.30pm, still nowhere near dark, the nightlife began to emerge and so I felt as though I'd better skedaddle.

In my last couple of weeks here I'll be on exam break - while I don't have to take the exams, all my friends will be busy studying themselves silly. With Isabel still working and Daniel, Maria and Antonio still at school, I was worried I'd be rather bored. Now, knowing I can tackle Madrid, I'll take it upon myself to do all the stuff I'd been worried I wouldn't get the chance to - museums and art galleries, the Palace, the botanic gardens.

The experience was absolutely incredible. I can't really describe it well enough. I've not on this entire exchange felt more independent, or grown up. I was chilling in Madrid, guys!

On The Road Again (What is it about Valencia that inspires song-themed blog posts?)

On the weekend, I travelled to Valencia - the city of strangely-shaped buildings.

I headed off on a trip organised by my exchange company, Juventud y Cultura.

I was considering not going, because twelve hours total on a bus seemed like a rather long time to only stay in a city for one night.

However - I am so, so glad that I decided on tagging along. It was an awesome trip, with an amazing bunch of exchange students.
Here we all are! Out of the 13 of us, 6 were Aussies, one was a Kiwi and one Belgian with Australian parents and accent. Us folks from Down Under totally dominated!

Turns out that the six hours on a bus both ways was actually a lot of fun. I got to spend some time getting to know fellow exchange students and Aussies.
I made some great friends, and shared plenty of both exchange-related and entirely random stories. I also realised just how much I have been missing the Australian sense of humour! And, I'll be honest, it was quite exciting to talk in English again.

Once we arrived in Valencia, we dumped our bags at our hotel (Yes, Michael, it was 'spiffy digs'!) before heading straight off to the Oceanográfic - Spain's largest aquarium! It was rather entertaining - there was lots to see, our favourites included the whales, a high diving act, and a pair of walruses!


Next up on the agenda was the Museo De Las Ciencias. For anyone heading to Valencia, I would absolutely recommend this place - think Scitech, only HUGE! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves there, and spent a good couple of hours pressing buttons, pulling levers, swinging pendulums and electrocuting one another.

That night, tapas was on the menu for dinner. Of course, our coordinator had forgotten that Saturday night was the night of the Champions League final! We finally found a (very, very crowded) bar to grab some food in. It was quite a posh little bar, but the only place with any room.
Every time Barcelona scored the street exploded with cheers! People would dance, and once or twice a firework was set off.

Once we could tear ourselves away from the soccer, we took a midnight stroll through Valencia. It was gorgeous.
The next morning, after a delicious buffet breakfast, we took off to the beach! Which, to be honest, was a bit of a let down for those of us that had experienced Australian beaches. But it was an alright way to pass a few hours!

We ate some early lunch at the beach, and then spent our last few hours in the city centre. We visited some churches, had a look around the local souvenir markets, tried our best to dodge the rain, and took plenty of photos!
Aaand then we headed back on another six hour bus ride home, but it wasn't without its excitement! Excitement such as these somewhat suspicious items for sale at the petrol station. Hmm.

Yet Another Update On My Spanish

A few weeks ago, I had to take a test a test in Spanish. This was to give my school and my exchange program an indication of how my language skills were progressing. There was an hour of speaking - which was rather fun, because it consisted of playing games with another exchange student! - and then an hour of reading/writing.

Today I got the results back! I was quite pleased.

I received 85% for speaking, and 75% for writing. My Spanish teacher was particularly happy with my 'extended writing' piece, in which I was required to "write a few paragraphs describing your favourite holiday destination", because I scored 9.5/10.

So, for those interested in how my written Spanish is going - here's the product of half an hour under exam conditions, ie. no dictionary or verb conjugation tables!

(If you are curious as to what it says I recommend Google Translate - which can give you a good, if gramatically incorrect, idea.)

Isla Rottnest - conocido como 'Rotto' en mi ciudad, Perth - es una isla en el coste oeste de Australia. Es muy poco pero tan bonita, y es un destino popular para vacaciones. Me encanta Rotto.

Rotto es reservado solo para vacaciones. Nadie viviendo en la isla. Es tan popular porque es un sitio perfecto para relax. El alojamiento es poco chaletes cual alojar familias de cinco o seis personas. Todos los chaletes son con vista al mar.

Mucho de Rotto es bonito. Las playas son maravilloso, y puede nadar, tomar el sol, pescar y (muy tipica de Australia!) jugar cricket. La isla tiene un arrecife, y puede esnorkel ver peces y un naufragio! Es una isla con mucho vegetation - es muy verde.

Ademas, Rotto tiene 'quokkas', unos poco, peludos animales son no otra sitio en el mundo!

La especial cosa de Rotto es que es sin coches. Todo el mundo debemos utilizar bicicletas, o caminar. Asi, es muy seguro para niños.

Mi familia gustamos ir a Rottnest en la primavera, especialmente octubre. Gustamos pescar, nadar y especialmente comer en la famosa 'Panaderia de Rotto'!

Este año, quiero ire en bici alrededor de todo la isla con mi padre. Porque la isla es tan poco, solo necesitamos montar seis horas!

Otherwise, not too many interesting things have been happening in the past few weeks! I've spent the last few weekends just relaxing around the house during the day.

I've been to the disco a couple of times with my friends, which has been quite a lot of fun. Dancing to loud technopop in a club - I'm living the teenage dream!

Next weekend I'm off to Valencia again for two nights, on a trip organised by my exchange program. I'm looking forward to meeting some fellow exchange students - and, of course, eating more paella!

A Little Moment Of Personal Accomplishment

Today is a Tuesday.

On Tuesdays (and Thursdays, as a matter of fact), Isabel works until very late and Daniel is with his father for most of the afternoon. This means that, at 4.30pm, I pick Antonio and Maria up from school and we walk home together.

At about 3.30, I headed off to Galapagar to pick up some groceries. By 4-ish I was standing at the bus stop, waiting to catch it back to Colmenarejo, when the mother of one of Maria's friends saw me while driving past. She asked if I was heading to school and offered to give me a lift. I accepted.

And so I sat in the car of an almost-stranger who didn't know any English, for ten whole minutes. And we talked - about the weather, about what I was going to cook for dinner, about soccer, and about Australia. Pretty simple.

But - here's the exciting part of the story - I understood every word! And I was able to reply to everything she said, and asked!

I feel a bit like this at the moment -


I had a full, ten minute conversation with someone I didn't know. In Spanish! In a language that isn't my own!

If there was something that was going to make me realise how far my communuication skills had come, this was it. Sure, my grammar is still far from perfect and tenses still make my head spin. But I can communicate. I can talk to people!

:D

Lost In Translation

Quite a few people have asked me recently if I have any amusing or embarassing mistranslation stories.

Of course, I make several errors in my Spanish daily. Mostly, they're just boring mistakes - mispronounciation, using the wrong verb tail, confusing my tenses, etc. etc.

Similarly, the people around me who are speaking English - generally in English classes - make plenty of mistakes, too. (I've noticed that many of them have trouble in asking the time; I often get "What time it is o'clock?" and "When is the hour?")

There are a couple of times in which words that sound similar in English and Spanish have brought confusion, though. So here are a few anecdotes, in all their vaguely-amusing glory!

All I Wanted Was Some Food -

In my very first week in Spain, my host mother greeted me after school with the usual "¿Qué tal?" (="How are you?"). I responded, in my very slow and halting Spanish, "Muy bien, pero ¡estoy hombre!"

Which I thought meant "Very good, but I'm hungry!"

Turns out, with my confusion of vowels and grammar errors, I'd actually said; "Very good, but I'm a man at the moment!"

Isabel had a good chuckle.

Toilet Humour Ahead, Beware -

A friend of mine, Sergio, was away from school sick for a week. Upon returning, my English Conversation Class teacher, Rachel, put him on the spot by asking him why he'd been away.

He thought for a moment, before responding with "I don't know how to say it."

Rachel told him to have a guess, assuring him that it was probably very similar to the Spanish.

So, he tried his luck with "I had constipate?"

Turns out, 'constipado' means 'a cold' in Spanish. Rachel had to explain to the poor, clueless class why she and I were doubled over laughing.

Embarrassment, Or Not -

For all I know, I accidentally started a rumour about myself earlier this week!

We were playing volleyball in PE at school, and I was thumped hard in the chest with the ball during the game. I was a little winded, but otherwise fine. However, my classmates were all immediately concerned, rushing up to me to check if I was okay.

Now, I'd heard people saying 'embarazadas', and I'd assumed it meant 'embarassed'. Seems reasonable, right? I just shook my head, therefore, and said:

"¡Estoy bien! Solo un poco embarazada."

"I'm fine! Only a bit embarassed." = what I was trying to say.

"I'm fine! Only a bit pregnant." = what I actually said.

Oh dear. It took my PE teacher, who doesn't speak any English at all, a bit of time to cotton on.

Oh Valencia-ah-ah!

So - here's my attempt at a bit of a video blog, or 'vlog' for those of you who keep tabs on your internet lingo.

I gave it a go because it was going to be a little difficult to summarise my week away succinctly in written form. I had a wonderful time.

I'm not going to put it up here, because my computer crashed the last two times I tried. So -

Just click here to be linked to YouTube, folks!

(I like jump cuts. They hide my long 'ums'.)

HAPPY BELATED EASTER AND ANZAC DAY TO ALL! <3

Picspam 4 - Primavera!

The Result Of 2 Internetless Weeks

I’ve just come out of about two weeks with no internet. Our entire suburb was down – we’re all a bit annoyed at Vodafone at the moment!

It was an interesting experience. Being removed from the internet made me feel a lot further away from home than I’d felt before, for obvious reasons.

However, my Spanish grammar did improve drastically without Google Translate! With only a Spanish/English dictionary to guide me I was forced to become a lot more aware of verb tails, personal pronouns, tenses and the like. I’m certainly glad to have it back, though. My three economics questions of homework took me an hour each to complete last weekend.

Anyway, have some How-Is-Spain FAQs! Because I figure, if these are the questions that everyone is asking me, they’re probably what most people reading this want to know. Right?

How’s the food?

Excellent!

Almost all of the food that I have eaten has been very intense in flavour. A lot of the food is spicy, especially the soup. Olives also feature heavily in Spanish cuisine!

My host mother doesn’t really like red meat, so I haven’t been eating it all that much – once a week at most. We have soup quite a bit, lots of eggs, and lots of seafood. My host grandparents send up the most delicious fruit from Valencia once a week – I’ve been having two mandarins a day since arriving!

It might sound like an odd thing to say, but the bread in this house is SO tasty! Isabel is friends with the local baker, so we buy all of our bread in fresh rolls, rather than from the supermarket. Mmmmm.

And, yes, I have had paella more than once. It is delicious.

(I’ve also been cooking dinner twice a week! On Tuesdays and Thursdays, when my host mother has to stay at work until about 9.30pm. I’ve been introducing my host siblings to the food my friends and family have taught me – Mum and Dad’s fried rice, the satay sticks I make with Louise, The Cramers’ steak and spaghetti!)

Despite all this, I’ve managed to lose 2 kilos since I got here! It must be the hockey.

Are Spaniards as attractive as popular culture would have us believe?

Some of them are!

Have you been shopping yet?

Not yet.

Well, okay, I have been out and bought things like toiletries, and groceries. And I did go window shopping in Soria. But, no, I haven’t been out shopping properly. I’ve been living in the same week’s worth of outfits for a month and a half now!

I’ve made plans to go to central Madrid with my friends sometime soon, though! So hopefully I’ll be able to spam those of you interested with pictures of new outfits soon.

So – it’s basically just one big, five-month-long holiday for you, isn’t it?

Definitely not! While this has been and is one of the most amazing experiences of my life, it’s not something I’d consider a ‘holiday’.

Honestly, I’m just living day-to-day life out in a different country. I still have school, still have to get up with an alarm, still have chores and still basically live for the weekends.

Yes, the fact that I don’t have to worry about school does make it a bit easier. But the fact that I can’t understand most people kind of balances that out.

Don’t misinterpret – I’m loving it! But it’s not a walk in the park.

Have you met anyone reminiscent of Fawlty Towers’ Manuel?

Yes, actually. Quite a few. (And they weren’t exaggerating it with Manuel - the Spaniards I’ve been around really do say “Que?” that much!)

Have you met anyone reminiscent of Inigo Montoya?

Unfortunately not.

How’s the weather?

Strange, and very erratic.

Most days so far have been chilly enough for scarves and coats, and windy but not unbearable. Some days are lovely – 15-20 degrees, with a nice breeze. And of course, some days have been rainy and snowy.

It’s definitely warming up though! We’ve had days of around 25 degrees this past week. Spring, here we come.

Do you miss us?

Of course!

That being said, homesickness has been eons less difficult than I expected it to be.

Homesickness comes to me at weird moments. I describe them as ‘moments’ because that’s really all they are – I’ll just be listening to my iPod on the bus, and ‘The Apology Song’ will come on, and I’ll be sad because Michael and Louise aren’t there to sing along with me. But it goes as quickly as it comes, usually.

Exchange orientation leaders assured me that there would be times that I “would want nothing more than to jump on the next plane home.” I have yet to experience that. While I miss my family and friends often, it’s certainly not all-consuming. I’ve been Skype-ing often, and I really am having an awesome time.

And, far out, I’m already finished with a THIRD of my exchange! That doesn’t compute. It honestly doesn’t feel like I’ve been here for 7 weeks.

When do you have school holidays?

There’s only one set of school holidays while I’m over here, and they’re pretty soon! For Easter, my host sibs and I get a week and a half off of school – starting on the 14^th. My host family and I are travelling to Valencia together. I’m looking forward to the break!

My family are in the minority of Spaniards that aren’t religious, which is quite a relief for me. Some of my friends are going to be spending most of the break in church, but for us it’s really just a vacation (as well as Daniel’s birthday!).

Isabel has offered to take me to the re-enactments of the crucifixion etc, if I’m curious. I might go and watch – I’ve heard it’s pretty spectacular.

The summer holidays here start the day after my flight home. Talk about bad luck. But – Isabel’s going to see if she can convince the exchange program to give me the last week or two off, so I can see a bit more of Spain!

I'm Not Soria Bout The Amazing Weekend I Had!

So, I spent this weekend in the city of Soria with my host family. Don’t know where Soria is? Never fear – I’ve encircled it in green for your convenience.

We were heading up there to celebrate my host grandfather’s birthday!

Day One

The drive was a couple of hours long, though with some nice views of the Spanish countryside along the way.

We met up with Isabel’s parents in a town called Morón. (Yes, I did have a giggle at the name.) We stopped off to have a look at the town square, which was absolutely beautiful...

...and to have some tapas at the local bar. Mmmm, pork crackling.

We eventually got to Soria, and – after dropping our bags at a hotel – headed straight off to check out a local monastery. This was especially exciting, because Isabel’s great-grandfather made the monastery gates! Here they are.

The monastery was amazing. It’s no longer used, and so is open to the public. It was built over some caves, and so quite a lot of the monastery actually has cave instead of wall!

There were some incredible religious paintings and portraits of monks inside, but I wasn’t allowed to take pictures. There was also the most amazing chapel, with brilliantly painted walls and ceilings, and a huge circular window with gorgeous view of the river, but again – no photos. Sigh.

After our visit to the monastery, we took a walk along the banks of the Rio Duero. This included walking along this bridge.

You can’t really see them too well in this picture, but there were hundreds of padlocks fastened to the rails along the bridge. After my inquiring, my host grandmother took it upon herself to tell me about this particular tradition in Soria. I’ll summarise.

How To Ensure You And Your Travelling Companions Are ‘Eternally Bonded’:

1. Buy a padlock.

2. Engrave the names of those you wish to be ‘eternally bonded’ with into said padlock.

3. Lock padlock onto bridge railings.

4. Throw the key into the Rio Duero.

This resulted in hundreds of locks like so:

My host grandparents even showed us a lock that they put there together, over forty years previously! Naw.

Our stroll along the river was interesting. There are lots of sculptures, climbing frames, plaques, and monuments. We had some fun pushing around a giant water mill, which was originally designed for horses. We also climbed on a large sculpture.

As we walked, it became night. We headed into the city, for my first real taste of nightlife in a Spanish city.

This photo was taken at about 8pm, it got a lot busier and a LOT noisier. Buskers were everywhere, shops were open, and street venders were packed with customers. My host mother, my host grandmother and I did some window shopping in some boutiques while the others looked inside a giant toy shop!

When it hit about 10pm, it was time for dinner. We visited the most extravagant buffet I have ever experienced. The restaurant was three floors high, and you gradually wormed your way down – the top floor for entrees, the second floor for main meal, and the ground floor for dessert and payment.

It is somewhere I will never take my family, for fear we’d never leave.

Day Two

We headed out to a town called Tajahuerce. Tajahuerce is an ancient town of about fifty residents, situated about half an hour out of Soria. At this time of year, the town is completely abandoned by its residents, who choose to vacate it for warmer houses on the coast.

So, basically, we were visiting an abandoned – though architecturally stunning – little village.

What then, I’m sure you’re wondering, was the attraction? Well, ‘Tajahuerce’ is the last name of my host family!

Many novelty pictures, such as the above, were taken with signs. There was also quite a large playground that we had some fun on.

At this point in the day, my camera battery ran out. Which is unfortunate, because close by to Tajahuerce is a ruined castle. We spent the afternoon exploring the ruins on our own, and that night we took a (rather spooky) night tour!

Day 3

Was today, Monday, and so we had to head home. We did stop off in a little pub for brunch before we left. The pub food was nothing compared to a good ol’ chicken parma, but the pub did have a large flying fox on offer!

Aaaand I was back in Colmenarejo in time for a few periods of school. Ugh.