!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hopefully this isn't my parents masquerading as a Spanish family like they always threatened too, because they seem to be all I could possibly ask for in a host family :) Yesterday, I habitually logged on to my school email account, expecting to be bored by a blank inbox or a hopelessly anti-climactic email from AFS about visa requirements. I wish I had film footage of me opening my email to see "AFS Host Family" from Victor de la Cruz, because I'm sure the expression on my face was priceless. I clicked open the email and hardly read the first line before I was running throughout all of the house, shouting for my mom and (rather pathetically) crying. My entire family crowded around the computer and read the email aloud. At first, the email disappointed me a bit, only because my host dad included only where I would be living and what classes I will be able to take next year,and all I wanted desperately to know about the! After more correspondence I found out a bit more. I will be living in Teo, Galicia, a little town 15 minutes outside of Santiago de Compostela, the state's capital. Unfortunately Google images doesn't have much on Teo, but here's a picture of Santiago de Compostela.
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Santiago de Compostela seems like an amazing city, full of life, culture and history (unlike Westerly). Just to give you a little history lesson courtesy of Wikipedia, Santiago de Compostela dates back to before Christ, when Germanic peoples occupied the region. Later the Celtic peoples invaded, making the city extremely diverse. While all this is incredible, Santiago de Compostela's main draw is the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (pictured below). According to legend, St. James' body resides in the Cathedral. Each year over 100,000 pilgrims travel to by foot from points all over Europe and other parts of the world.
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As for my family, they're so nice and helpful. I have two brothers, Victor, who is 15, and Pablo, who is 13. Unfortunately, Victor will be in the United States when I am in Spain, so we might not meet. My father, also named Victor, works in a city about an hour and a half away, Lugo. He sleeps there Mondays through Thursdays but will be with us on the weekends. My mother, Maribel, works for a region television show in Santiago de Compostela. I would post a picture but I don't have any recent ones or any of them all together. I haven't recieved much information about their family dynamic and what they like to do because AFS hasn't sent the host family profile yet but I am still so excited to be starting such an exciting chapter in both our lives together. I've never appreciated the significance of hosting before connecting with my host family, but I am filled with so much gratitude that a family of strangers would willingly adopt me as one of their own and open their home to me. I feel immense appreciation for them already. Finding my host city and family is only making me more excited- something I didn't think was possible and is unfortunately timed do to exams lurking so soon in the future.
Now I'm in the process of determining classes for next year, which has been an ordeal to say the least. Originally, my guidance counselor's lack of support scared me; how would I possibly be able to receive credit for my classes at the hands of such an nonsupporting man? But now, after seeing how committed I am to this and that yes I am going to Spain and no I will not be backing out on this, he's proving himself to be much more cooperative. I will be able to receive credit for the classes I take in Spain and specialized credit for classes I take such as math and science. Ahora, we are discussing which track I should take abroad. In Spanish high school, the classes specialize, meaning I can choose either the Humanities or the Sciences track. While there is less variety when it comes to electives in Spain, you are able to pick which path you are able to take and the classes are assigned based off of that decision.
All students take:
- Science to the contemporary world
- Physical education
- Philosophy and Citizenship
- Spanish Language and Literature
- Galician Language and Literature (regional dialect of Galicia...should be an interesting for me to say the least)
T Then students can choose between the two tracks which contain:
Science
- Mathematics (compulsory)
- Biology and geology
- technical Drawing
- Physics and Chemistry Industrial Technology
Humanities
- Contemporary World History (compulsory)
- Economy
- Greek
- Latin
- Mathematics for social sciences
The electives, which I can choose one of, are:
- English
- French
- Anthropology
- Biology and Geology
- Audiovisual culture
- Technical Drawing
- Economy
- Physics and Chemistry
- Greek
- Contemporary World History
- Latin
- Hispanic Literatures
- Mathematics for social sciences
- Mathematics
- Music
- Industrial Technology
- Information and communication technology
Naturally, I'm inclined to pick the humanities track due to my despise of all things scientific and mathematical....but I might have to go with the other option if certain classes in humanities aren't deemed to be of the correct caliber to receive credit. Besides that, all students must pick between learning English and French. As of now, I'm leading towards a specialization in the humanities, with an elective of biology and geology (so that I won't have to take it senior year) and English (so that I'm not learning five new languages at once). As you can see, since I am living in Galicia, some classes will be taught in the regional dialect of Galician or galego. My host father has assured me that I won't need to answer tests and such in Galician, but part of me is excited to have exposure to this new language. Hopefully I can become one of the few people to speak this language, and I think being able to will help me interact better with the local culture. Also, Portuguese and Galician are supposedly very similar so I will be halfway to learning that. I know speaking Galician will definitely be difficult, even more so than my pathetic Spanish, but I'm looking forward to the opportunity to become not only bilingual, but tri.
