First Week

Yesterday marked my first week and Spain and let me tell you- I have never been on such an emotional roller coaster. This experience makes you incredibly vulnerable to even the most minor things- someone will post an inspirational video on Twitter and I'll cry for half an hour out of overwhelming feelings, I'll go past a beautiful overlook and take off with the excitement of being alive, play the wrong chord on the ukulele and spiral into a ten minute depression. As of now I've just woken up (yes I know at 11:30, gotta love Spain) so I'm too exhausted to be anything but a bleary, out of it medium.

The morning after I arrived, my host family and I went into Santiago for my first time ever, excluding a brief half-asleep lunch immediately following my arrival . Words simply cannot describe this marvelous place, and I have already fallen in love with the atmosphere, history and culture. And although Santiago must been seen for its self, I'll try and do it justice....I wrote this in my journal after a couple of days being here.

"The first thing Spaniards tell me here once I mention that I love Santiago is "Pero la ciudad es muy pequeno". And for people having lived here their whole life I'm sure it is, yet for me, coming from a small town with little under 23,000, the leap to 100,000 is perfect. I feel as though I can easily find a familiar intimacy within both the graffittied concrete of the new city and the uneven cobblestones of the old within my ten months while letting my strange new home remain an elusive adventure. I love how the two cities mingle and morph into one another, traditional Galician bagpipes echoing through out the cobble stones and to the edges of modern expanse, peregrinos (pilgrims coming from the their trek) wandering in awe across both territories, gorgeous parques overlooking both the old and the new. I love the narrow alleys that open up into Medieval plazas; I love how you can sit in a cafe with your amigos for an hour, still nursing a nearly empty Coca-Cola bottle; and I love the chic Spaniards who dominate the streets. Galicia is truly a world of its own- pine trees mingling with palm trees, the mountainous land speckled with red roofed buildings, and weather bipolarity which surpasses that of New England. I can't wait to spend the next ten months here."

Obviously that was written on one of my more optimistic days, but it surely sets the scene. So my first real morning was spent being tourists in the old city, mingling with the Pilgrims. I sure my host family were amused by my awestruck face...the history and culture was enchanting. Here are some of my many photos from that day.

just your typical Santiago street

The Cathedral!

My host family minus Victor and plus Victor Jr's friend Pedro 

the light in the cathedral was so pretty

We walked in on the Sunday mass for the pilgrims. Quite famously, four priests swing incense through out the church in the beginning of service.My host father said its because the pilgrims smell so bad after walking their camino. Here's a link to a random video that displays it much better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtxuvtZqOog (around 2:30 it really gets high).

traditional monk attire (the shell is the symbol of the Camino de Santiago)

me in one of the plazas

I have to be honest, the next couple of days after that were pretty boring and lonely. Victor left for the States, my host parents were gone during the day because of work and my host brother Pablo was rarely at home / didn't talk to the weird American now residing in his house. Being alone had a massive effect on me...I got extremely homesick and Katie pretty much became my therapist via Whatsapp. Luckily I was introduced to Ane, a girl in my neighboorhood and finally had amigos! The next couple of days I hung out with Ane and her friends and also with another exchange student, Ben, from Germany.

Friday, Victor, my host dad, came back from Lugo (he lives there during the work week) and the next morning we went to the market. Oh my God, if I could live there I would. Fresh everything- vegetables, fruit, bread, fish, meat. I just kept thinking to myself this is what Europe is. Its absolutely massive, filled with gorgeous food everywhere. Unfortunately, being my forgetful self as usual, I brought my camera without a memory card, so all of my photos are low-quality from a phone. There was a vendor selling pulpo, or octopus. Galicia is famous for its pulpo, and for a good reason- its amazing! For lunch we had the fresh fish (incredibly ugly but oh-so delicious), tomatoes and percebes- also extremely unappealing looking, but tubular shellfish- a regional delicacy.

When people ask me how Spain is I immediately respond with amazing. Not that every single second of every single day is filled with beautiful, awe inspiring moments, but I think collaboratively the teary, lonely, desperate times make this experience infinitely more complex and worthwhile. There's a quote, "exchange is not a year in a life, but a life in a year", which could not be more appropriate. While this week has easily been the hardest of my entire life, I'm so grateful to have this opportunity. I know this is right for me and that I am stronger, smarter, and braver for even just surviving one week. This being an experience of a lifetime, I'm going to get off the computer now and go outside. So besos everyone! Wish me best of luck for my first day of school Tuesday.

-Katrina

Some musicians in the old city

Entrance to the parque me and Ben found ourselves in

Panoramic view from the park

Pescado feo....I don't actually know the real name for this but trust me, the photo doesn't do its ugliness justice

la comida

percebes, so good!

Pulpo vendor

Me with my pulpo!

Mucha fiesta no mucho siesta

Oh my, the past couple of days have been an absolute whirl wind. I woke up on September 4th at 5:55 to watch the sunset from the west end of the Atlantic for the last time in a year. It might of been the poet inside of me, but the view gave me a strange sort of peace that last the entirety of the day. I said goodbye to my pets and got in the car to drive to New York with my family. Saying good bye was hard but I didn't completely realize it would be for 10 months...I still don't. Just like that, I was on my way to Espana and started this incredible journey. Leading up to my departure I skyped with a couple of other people, Sean and Katie from the AFS Spain group often. It was so strange to finally meet them in person considering we already knew each other so well and I enjoyed already having good friends.

The skype amigos about to take off

Orientation was fine, more an opportunity to hammer general information about cultural awareness and safety into us than anything else. I would have wished for more time to get to know the other AFSers but we found time for that later. 

The next morning we all put on our blue shirts and hauled our impossibly heavy (yet not nearly filled enough) suitcases down stairs for the end of orientation and to catch the bus to the hotel. Since every AFSer ever advocates for underpacked suitcases above all and a good half of us never listen, I have some advice for people who have already decided to over pack:

1. Get a light suitcase. My first suitcase weighed 13lbs and with a weight limitation of 44lbs thats way too much to spare. I had to run to TJ Maxx to grab a new suitcase so I could at least try to fit everything I needed.

2. Get light host family presents. I brought two jars of homemade jam, autocrat and two impossibly heavy sweatshirts...weighing all together probably a little under 10 pounds. My host family liked the gifts but there were definately other presents I could have given with less weight.

3. This might go without saying but buy a bag scale (working!) and bring it. My bag scale didn't really work all the time but when it did it proved incredibly useful, which leads into numero cuatro.....

4. Most importantly- BEFFRIEND SOMEONE WHO UNDERPACKED. Katie somehow managed to bring a small suitcase and two backpacks....contrasting my stuffed massive suitcase carry on suitcase and backpack. I gave her my heavy things to get through security originally but my bag ended up being fine in the end.

As expected, the flight proved gruesome on the whole sleep front. Starving and tired, we landed in Zurich with four hours to kill however we wanted. People bought Swiss chocolate as well as other souvenirs before we boarded to fly to Madrid. We landed two hours later, during one of which I luckily slept. 

The host country orientation took place in Europe's largest hotel, which did not disappoint. I wish I took a photo of the place because the size of it was overwhelming. I actually got lost in it several times.  AFS Spain interviewed Katie, Lucia and I about how we felt finally being in Spain. Katie showed us all up with her Spanish since she had competed every level on Duolingo and I hardly remembered how to say "hola" but the volunteer running it assured me that my accent was funny, he could edit out all of my pauses and "como se dice"s and that it would be great to see my improvement.....if that says anything to you about my language skills.

It was really chill to meet everyone from all over and generally our roommates were from other countries.  Por ejemplo, I roomed with a girl from the Czech Republic and a girl from Thailand. AFS Spain was really cool about rules, curfews and bed assignments though so we were able to hang out long after the orientation ended and switch rooms if we wanted (although I didn't). Unfortunately I only went to bed at 4:30 and had to get up at 6 with the ten other students going to Galicia the next day so its safe to say I was very tired meeting my host family.

the exchange students de Galicia

All in all it had been about three days with maybe 6 hours of sleep when I finally saw mi familia. After a five hour train ride, I got off at the train station to see them. We are in the far right, I am next to my mom Maribel and my brother Pablo. After saying hello to them we then walked to lunch with the other exchange students in this monastery turned hotel. I was extremely tired to right after I went home to take my first fiesta.

So far Spain has been great and although I miss my fellow AFSers I'm looking forward to spending time with my host family and getting to know the community. Since school doesn't start until the 17th I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunity.

Host Family!

One exclamation point is hardly sufficient to express how excited I am to finally have a host family so please bear with me: 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 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.

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. 

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. 

Reactions

Coming from a small town, one can expect various reactions when you announce that your deviating from the traditional "Westerly, CCRI/URI, Westerly again" pattern that many kids embrace when it comes to life after high school. Now don't get me wrong, students in my school have done this before, a current senior spent a semester in Germany either sophomore or junior year. But its as though he is the exception, and comes as a shock when other people do it.

While my teachers supported my decision to study abroad, some of the larger administration faced my aspirations with disappointing apprehension. My guidance councelor attempted to dissuade me from a junior year abroad, saying that it would make me unappealing to colleges and that I could always wait until then to pursue my (how cheesy) wanderlust. After being officially excepted he had me register for junior classes in case I essentially chickened out before going or had to come home. While I respect that proffesionally he needed to advise me as to what path was most practical, I couldn't help but be put off by the fact that he couldn't just accept that I was studying abroad whether or not it was best college-wise and didn't even have the faith in me to last a full 10 months away from beloved Westerly. But also, if a college really views my exchange as a negative, it wouldn't be the right college for me, right?

Either way, I have encountered numerous people who have been both extremely discouraging and encouraging. I'm faced with kids questioning my language skills (minimal), homesickness (hasn't really hit me yet), and whether or not I'll  actually have amigos (debatable...). It doesn't bother me too much, but I find the variety of reactions people feel when told such different news interesting. So many people have mentioned it in class and congratulated me for being accepted. A lot of people are "soooooooo jealous" that my life will be filled with parties (with all of my non existant Spanish friends of course), traveling (on my exchange student budget) and tacos (???) (Sidenote- no people, Spain and Mexico are NOT the same country). I cannot express how greatful I am for the multiple letters of recommendation I've begged off of my awesome history teacher or for my English teacher offering to have an independent study with me via email and Skype so I don't have to double up on English senior year. Administration had directly asked me if I'm the girl going abroad next year and teachers have shared their own experiences abroad.

But by far the best reaction I have received was when today during an assembly I asked a board of language proffesionals a question about fluency. My Spanish teacher spoke up before any of them could respond telling me to share my plans for junior year. And after me saying " I'm studying abroad in Spain next year" I was happily surprise to hear the sound of clapping filling the auditorium as the entire school applauded me.

Hi my names Katrina and...

...I have an insatiable desire to befriend as many people, explore as many places, and test as many foods that my planet earth and my short life can accommodate. (Que bored Alcoholics Anonymous-esque "hello katrina".) Deep right? In simpler terms, I like to travel. A lot. This inescapable polarization towards the unknown nouns (people, places and things) that we share our planet with is what is leading me to spend my junior year of high school abroad, living with a random family, in a random town, in a not so random country- Spain. Crazy, right? Much of my home town- a small beach community in Rhode Island, USA- agrees.

Luckily, my wonderful parents could not have been more accommodating, supporting and all around amazing (but in reality I shouldn't be surprised...they always threatened to sell me off to the gypsies). After a nearly impossible application process and excruciating waiting, I was finally accepted into AFS-Spain on March 19th. Since then, I have been anxiously awaiting an email with my host family placement, therefore verifying my future home for the next 10 months. Despite my obvious impatience, I could not be more excited. Follow  this blog to experience my ups and down as I take on my greatest adventure yet: conquering Spain at only sixteen.