El Fin

I'm sitting in my room for the last time, and all I can hear is my little sister crying and it's breaking my heart.  I hate goodbyes..I've never been good at them.  

I have learned so much about myself here, I couldn't even begin to tell you.  I'm more confident, more independent, more adventurous and more willing to take a risk.  I've realized how much my family and friends back home mean to me and I am so excited to see them again, but I'm also leaving another family and group of friends behind.  I know when I come home I will probably experience reverse culture shock and I don't know if anyone will ever perfectly understand my experience in Spain.  I have fallen in love with Spain (well except for the food) :)  I can't believe three and a half months have passed already.  I wish it would have gone a little slower for me.  

I'm leaving tomorrow at 12:45 pm and arrive at 3:35 in Philadelphia.  At 5:55 I leave to fly into Milwaukee and will see my family and Matt at approximately 7:20.  It's going to be a long day of traveling, but all well worth it.  

I can't wait to share all of my stories with you in person.  I've had quite the adventure.  

Abrazos muy fuerte de Espana,

Amy

The Beginning of the End

Sad. Excited. Anxious. Overwhelmed. Emotional. I could go on for a quite a while about the different emotions I´m feeling during my last week in Spain. It´s awfully bittersweet. I am so excited to go home and spend time with my family and friends again and get back to SNC life, but I have learned so much about myself here. I have made new friends (many of which I´ll probably never see again) and I have made a bond with a family that now feels like my own. Ok, I need to stop writing about this or I am for sure going to cry and I´m trying to put that off for as long as possible.

So this past weekend brought a lot of food, good wine, laughs and some wonderful memories. Friday morning I had my final service learning presentation about Gitanos. We presented to some people from the community, our principal from our school, our class, and some of the other Fundación staff. It was a great experience. I was so nervous and afraid to offend the principal because what I said was a bit critical, but I got through it. Afterwards I spent some time walking around Toledo with some girls, did some last minute shopping and stopped at Döner Kebop for one last lunch. After an extensive siesta back at home, I got ready and headed back into town for a final dinner with some wonderful ladies from Notre Dame and SNC. We went to a little vegetarian restaurant called Madre Tierra (Mother Earth) and we sat for 2 hours eating pasta, drinking wine, and savoring a wonderful brownie and ice cream dessert. After that we headed out to O´Briens..the American student hangout...because the bartender speaks English. We met up with a ton of people there and just enjoyed some of our last moments together. It´s amazing how close we´ve all grown. No one will ever understand what we´ve been through except each other. Then we made our way to Círculo, which is an old church turned discoteca. We couldn´t leave Toledo without doing some dancing! So we danced until about 3 am. I took a taxi home with some other girls and called it a night at about 4.

Saturday..I slept for a long time! Spent the afternoon laying around, doing some homework and making a house for Celastro (a fish webkin) with Paula. At about 8:30 my family took me out to dinner at La Mia Pasta and I had some wonderful stuff spinach raviolis with bolognesa vegetal sauce. Divine! And my host parents and I managed to drink a whole bottle of wine. We walked home from the restaurant because it was right by our house and just hung out some more. I didn´t want the night to end, because I was having such a great time!!!

Sunday we went to Rodolfo´s sisters house to celebrate some family birthdays in Talavera. If you remember from a much earlier post, I have been to his sister´s house once already, the week I arrived. It was great to be able to go back, see some familiar faces, and show them that I really did know how to speak Spanish! We ate a bunch of food, which included these cooked bread crumbs with ham and bacon and eggs. It was actually very good! We got back to Toledo at about 6:30 and then Paula and I made funfetti cookies (Thanks Matt for sending the mix!!) After one burnt batch, we managed to perfect the rest of the cookies and are going to have a hard time not eating them all in 2 days! Then I did a bunch of homework, skyped with my family and Matt and got mentally prepared for my last week in Toledo. How sad :[

My family left this morning for 4 days in Granada, so I will be spending a few days at home by myself, packing up, cleaning my room and studying for finals. It all feels so strange...like I just got here.

Abrazos,
Amy

Magical

Hallo Readers!

My title perfectly describes my last European vacation to Rothenburg and Frankfurt, Germany.

Last Friday, Jenn and I left bright and early at 6 am for the train station and from there we took the metro, plane, train to Rothenburg.  All in all it was about 7 hours worth of traveling. :(  We got to Rothenburg around 3:30 and got settled at our hostel and began our adventure.  On the train, we met this family (Grandma, mom, and 2 kids) from New Zealand who were traveling for 2 months and had a TON of luggage, so Jenn and I helped them out transferring trains.  I feel just like my Grandma Patsy here :) 

We found our hostel really quickly and then just walked around the town taking in the sights.  There are no words to even describe just how perfectly wonderful it was.  I LOVE Christmas, so this was the perfect trip for me.  Everywhere there were Christmas decorations, Christmas music, the most WONDERFUL Christmas market and food.  We did some window shopping and grabbed a Doner Kebop for dinner.  We also found this great little stand that sold apfelwein, which is hot cider with a bit of alcohol in it.  It was absolutely delicious and warmed me right up!!  At 8 pm we took a tour with the "night watchman" and got to learn a little bit more about the town.  Afterwards we headed back to our hostel and called it an early night. 

Saturday we got up early and after a wonderful German breakfast of hard rolls, jam, fruit, and coffee we got our day started.  I took a ton of pictures and did all my shopping!  After spending a lot of money and eating a lot of more wonderful German food,  Jenn and I took the train back to Frankfurt to meet her friend Dave, who is studying in Marburg.

We got in around 5 pm, checked into our hotel for the night then walked downtown to the Christmas Market.  This consisted mostly of German food and BOY did I eat.  A cheeseburger, chocolate covered fruit, and a glass of gluwein (which was AWFUL), we met up with some of his friends and had some coffee at a cute cafe to warm up.  We continued to walk around and ended our night at an Irish pub.  Jenn and I called it an early night because we had to get up sooo early for our flight the next day.  We splurged a little on a hotel instead of a hostel and it was well worth it...great beds, a hot shower, and a bathroom to ourselves.  

We got up at 5 the next morning to get the train to the airport for our flight at 7:30.  After I went through security, I was frisked and somehow managed to lose my boarding pass in the x-ray machine.  My day was not starting off so well.  We got back to Madrid around 11 and by 12:30 I was at home, eating lunch with my host family.  I spent the rest of the day resting and doing homework.  By the time I went to bed, I had a terrible fever and felt very sick.

I am still sick, but feeling better day by day.  I've had a LOT to do this week in terms of projects and homework and presentations, but I'm chugging right along, day by day.  I can't believe I'll be home in only 11 days.  It still feels like a dream!  I honestly have no idea what to expect of my emotions in the week and a half to come.  All I know is I can't wait to be home in front of my fireplace watching Christmas movies and spending time with my family (and eating some delicious American food).  

Abrazos como siempre,

Amy

So soon?

Hello Everyone!

So I bet you're pretty impressed I thought to update my blog on a Sunday to tell you about my weekend!? 

So I will start with school this week.  I'm starting to realize how much school work I have to do before I leave.  Sad story, but the good news is I got two of my big assignments out of the way this weekend and still managed to have a fantastic weekend!  

So Thursday after class, I was chatting with some girls and they invited me out with them for one of the girls 21st birthdays that night.  I figured since I had only been out once the whole semester, that I deserved to enjoy myself and that is exactly what I did!  Don't worry I got home safe.  But let me tell you, I was definitely reminded the next day about why I don't go out often.  

Friday brought a whole lot of sleep and homework (and water).  I had a really relaxing day.  

Saturday I woke up early because my host mom had asked if I wanted to go to the outdoor market in Poligono (another neighborhood in Toledo).  So off we went!  I found some great gifts for people and the prices were unbelievable!  We then did some Christmas decoration shopping and bought some things to bring home for my family.  I'm not going to lie, I did get a bit homesick because I always go shopping and run errands with my mom at home.  I'll be home soon madre :)  We had "comida" (lunch) which is our biggest meal on the weekends and I watched the Davis Cup doubles finals with my host dad.  I really enjoy watching Spanish sports with him!  We both get pretty animated while watching sports, so it made for a great afternoon!  I do miss American football though, so very much!   Marlene, Paula and I went out shopping again to find some more Christmas decorations for the house.  It was really great to feel like part of their family just doing every day things with them.  I think they have realized how much I enjoy it too :) Saturday night brought more tennis and great company. 

Sunday I was in for the best surprise ever!  My family asked if I would like to go to Consuegra with them.  Now let me tell you, I don't know if you readers have noticed a trend in my blogs, but I LOVE DON QUIJOTE!  Consuegra is where his famous molinos (windmills) are that he "fights" in the musical/book.  Anyways, we brought Epi and we just wandered around the 13 different windmills taking lots of pictures and enjoying the perfect weather!  After the windmills we went to Tambleque, which is a little pueblo (village) nearby.  It's a very old city.  We walked around a bit and witnessed the strangest thing.  At first, I thought it was a parade because I heard a band, so I was all ready to take pictures.  Well then it looked like a funeral procession and I thought it was kind of odd to have a band.  We asked the locals and they told us they were celebrating the feast of St. Cecilia.  I was happy to hear it wasn't a funeral.  So it was getting to be lunch time and we were pretty hungry.  I figured we would just drive home and have a late lunch, but to my surprise we went out for lunch!  It was delicious.  I had steak and french fries.  I have found a whole new appreciation for good old cow since I've been here.  I have had too much ham!!  After a leisurely lunch we headed home and I did some more homework.  It was quite the day and I had such a great time with my host family!

I'm really going to miss it here, the people, the laid-back atmosphere and attitude, but let me tell you all...I am getting very anxious to get home and get back to my own family and friends.  It's hard to believe I'll be home so soon.  I can't wait to share all of my stories with you faithful readers in person!  21 days from now I'll be back in the States.  Time has flown. 

Abrazos,

Amy

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Hello Readers :) 

So I thought I would catch you all up on my past week.  

First, I'll start off with a bit of sad news that happened on Thursday.  Jenn's grandpa had been sick for quite a while and passed away Thursday afternoon.  My heart just broke for her.  I feel like that is every student's biggest fear when they study abroad and I can't imagine what it's like for her.  All I can do is be supportive and give her lots of hugs.  Please keep Jenn and her family in your prayers.  Thanks :) 

Last Friday the Fundacion had a day trip to Segovia.  It's a beautiful town about 2.5 hours away.  The first thing I noticed when I got there was the color of the trees!  It was absolutely gorgeous!  I finally was able to experience a little bit of fall for myself.  I couldn't take enough pictures of all the trees!  We walked through the town, which was very quaint like Toledo, and we made our way to the Alcazar (the castle).  An interesting little fact I learned during our walk was that this castle was the model for the castle in Beauty and the Beast.  Pretty amazing, I know!  So I got even more excited.  Little did I realize that they merely meant the outside of the castle.  Kind of disappointing.  We saw some pretty amazing rooms with very ornate details and decorations.  It was beautiful.  And luckily, we were allowed to take pictures (which I will try to post soon).  Then we walked through more of town and made our way to the Cathedral there.  It was ginormous and really pretty, but we didn't have enough time to go in and see it.  We continued walking and made our way to the Roman Aquaducts.  This was kind of a big deal.  They are the last standing Roman Aquaducts in the whole world (I think).  It goes on for quite a ways and is built with ginormous rocks that are held together without any sort of cement.  It was breathtaking.  We then went for lunch.  I usually really look forward to lunches on these trips because they're always a little bit nicer than what we're used to.  Not so fortunate this time though :(   I ate some sort of creamy mystery soup, along with mystery meat.  The only three things I could really count on where my french fries, bread, and ice cream.  We got back to Toledo around 7 and I spent the night hanging out with my family.

Saturday morning I went grocery shopping with Marlene and Paula for some American food.  I have been wanting to cook for them and finally got my chance!  Little did I know how frustrating shopping would be.  They don't have nearly the selection that US grocery stores have, so it was a bit disappointing.  I did find the ingredients for dirt cake (a big modified) and Paula and I made when we got back.  She was so anxious to try it, but knew she had to wait a day for the mousse to solidify.  We at it on Sunday, and didn't turn out quite as well as I hoped, but we ate it all up!  Almost the whole bowl in one sitting!  It was a delicious treat.  Saturday afternoon, I headed to the mall with Jenn in the afternoon and I bought the CUTEST dress ever!  I can't wait to wear it!  I was home again by 9:30 and spent time with my family again.

Sunday I woke up early and made french toast for breakfast for Paula and I.  It was quite the adventure trying to figure out how to use the stove because they're gas here.  Between the two of us we got it all worked out and enjoyed a great breakfast together!  I will definitely miss her.  Then we had an agenda for the day because Rodolfo and Marlene went to Madrid for the morning and we had some chores to do.  We swept and mopped the kitchen, took Epi on a walk, bought a fresh loaf of bread and cleaned our rooms.  It was a really great morning and I had a lot of fun with Paula!  She wants me to make her french toast all the time now.  That girl is crazy for sweets!!  This weekend I think my next baking task is banana bread.  I'm pretty excited.  I enjoy baking a lot!  

The reason for my blog title!  So Spaniards don't celebrate Thanksgiving (obviously).  So they've already started decorating for Christmas.  Our house is all decked out, the city is starting to hang up lights and decorate the streets in Casco (the old part of town) and it's just beautiful.  I can't wait to see it all lit up.  I love Christmas.  It is absolutely my favorite time of year!!! 

This week I haven't had too much homework, which has been a nice break, but I know I have a lot to finish yet before finals.  Oh well, all in due time.  I don't have much else to say for now, except that I don't have class til 5 pm tomorrow, which is pretty awesome.  I plan on getting some homework done and putting up some more pictures.  The Sevilla and Barcelona ones are up though, so check it out!  

Abrazos,

Amy

P.S. It's unreal to think I'll be home in 25 days.  I can't believe how fast it's gone!

SNC Reunion

Hello Everyone!

So I´m going to start off my blog with a few things from the past week that I forgot to mention and then I´ll tell you all about my trip to Barcelona.

First, the elections. What an experience to vote from a foreign country, see all the coverage in Spanish, and not know who the next President would be until I woke up the next morning due to the time difference. I have to say it, I wasn´t surprised with the outcome. It was pretty clear to most college students who the favorite was, not that I agree with this, but we´ll leave it at that. I also couldn´t believe how much the Spaniards love Obama. They were all so happy and excited about the election, which is weird, because I don´t get excited about other country´s lections. Anyways, it was cool to be able to vote for the first time and be able to vote for the candidate I thought was best.

Also, I sent in my student-teaching application in already. I know, so crazy!!! I am not teaching until Spring of 2010, but they start working a year ahead on these things. I´m excited to see where I will be placed and with what age level. On that note, I´ve been volunteering at a school here in Toledo. I work with a first grade, second grade, and fourth grade class. The first graders are by far my favorite! I just love walking into the classroom and getting all sorts of poorly spoken English thrown at me and hugs and all sorts of uninmportant stories. Now as much as I enjoy it, I don´t know if I have the patience to do it every day. I also had the opportunity to be a translator yesterday. The teacher asked Jenn and I to sit in on a parent-teacher conference because the teacher didn´t speak English and the parents (who were from Lithuania and had just moved from Iceland) didn´t speak Spanish. Being able to switch back and forth between the two languages was a lot at once, but I can tell you that my language has improved dramatically since I´ve been here. I never would have been able to do that if I wouldn´t have had this study abroad experience.

So I have to tell you all a funny story about my history teacher. I love his class (I think I´ve mentioned that in previous blogs), but when he tries to speak English it is just terrible. So he wants to meet with students for an hour in between classes if they have time and practice speaking English and Spanish. This week after class he invited us all out for a beer after class to talk current Spanish politics. Now I don´t know if this would ever happen in the US, but it´s so nice and laid back here. I thought it was really nice of him to extend that invitation to us so we can all learn during our time here.

I also was asked to fill out a form for the upcoming study abroad students about what to expect when you get here. I could probably write a novel now on what to pack, what not to bring, cultural differences, traveling tips. I still can´t believe I´m going home soon. Don´t get me wrong, I´m excited to come back home and be with my friends and family and at SNC again, but I will miss the laid-back, "no pasa nada" attitude, the things that have become part of my daily routine, and the new friends I have made. I will especially miss being able to just leave the city or country for a weekend to travel and see all that I can.

Now, here goes the Barcelona story. First of, Barcelona is in a region called Cataluña. They have their own flag and their own language (a mixture of Spanish and French). So I wasn´t sure how helpful my Spanish really would be. We left at one on Friday from the Madrid airport. Got into Barcelona around 2 and then had to wait around for the rest of our group to fly into and then we were going to go to the hostel together. SIDENOTE: NEVER FLY RYAN AIR! It was an absolutely awful experience. We didn´t have assigned seats, you had to pay to check luggage and to check in and they weren´t so friendly either. To say the least I will never fly with them again. There is a reason their flights are so cheap...because they flight into airports hours outside of the city you want to be in. So we had to pay 20€ to take a bus into Barcelona. It´s a huge city too. We did a ton of walking and finally found our hostel and then met up with the others. We were there with a bunch of SNC study abroad kids, Cyle from Germany, Michael and his friend from London, Caitlin and Amy and 4 of their roomates from Italy. It was quite the weekend.

Friday night, we walked across the city to see the Font Monjüic. It was the most beautiful thing have seen in all my time in Spain. It almost brought me to tears (no surprise there). The fountain was time to music and had different colors and types of water effects. It was unbelievable. No words or pictures could do it justice. We walked back towards our hostel and stopped at a cute little restaurant. We spent hours sitting there catching up, drinking sangria and enjoying the company. It was a perfect night.

Saturday we got up early and did all of our touristy things. We bought passes for the touristy double decker bus for the day to get us around which SAVED OUR LIVES! There is no way we could have seen all that we wanted to by walking or taking the metro. It was also nice to have more of a guided tour. We saw the Sagrada Familia, Park Güell, some of Gaudi´s other famous buildings here, the 1992 Olympic Stadium area, and the FC Barcelona Stadium (their soccer team). We also did some shopping on the Mediterranean Sea and ate some good food. For dinner some of the girls and I went to a Flamenco show. For 30€ I got paella, sangria, a salad and crema de cataluña. It was delicious and followed by a spectacular flamenco show. It was a great night and wonderful to be able to show off some of our Spanish culture to the people visiting from outside the country.

Sunday we got up a little later, had a small breakfast and headed for the airport. That was after we walked to the bus station with our stuff, rode on the bus for an hour, and waited to board. We got back to Madrid without any problems (not including all the stupid fees RYAN AIR made us pay). I was home around 7 and had some time to catch up with my family, do some homework and skype with my real family.

I think that should just about do it for this entry. I will get some new pictures up tomorrow and throughout the weekend from my latest travels to Barcelona and Sevilla.

The US better get ready for me! I´ll be home before I know it. That´s really bittersweet.

Abrazos como siempre,
Amy

It's been a while..

Hello Readers :) 

I must apologize for the total slackage on the blog updates, but I've had quite the hectic week.  

Last Friday, we went on a school excursion to El Escorial, which is outside of Madrid.  It is the King and Queen's house during one of the seasons (I don't remember which one).  One half was the monastery and the other half was the King and Queen's quarters.  Pictures don't even do this place justice.  IT WAS GINORMOUS!  The weather was rainy and cold, so it kind of was a bummer, but a really nice day trip.  We ended the day at a cute little restaurant where we had pasta, steak, and crepes!  It was divine.  I love eating good food, which is sometimes hit or miss for me.

Friday night was Halloween.  I am SO THANKFUL that my host mom is from the U.S. because it makes holidays feel a little more like home.  Paula and a bunch of her friends got all dressed up and we went out for truc o trato (trick or treating).  It was kind of disappointing, most of the people who answered the door didn't even know what trick or treating was.  To say the least it made me miss home a little bit.  I did get some great pictures though and we were even able to carve a pumpkin earlier in the week.  Paula loved it!  I love being able to pass on traditions from home. 

On Saturday and Sunday Jenn and I planned a last minute trip to Sevilla.  It was quite an adventure.  The AVE (high speed train) got us there in only 2.5 hours so we had almost all day on Saturday to do some sight-seeing.  We had a hard time finding our hostel which was actually much closer than we had originally thought, but we did get there.  Staying in a hostel for the first time was quite an experience.  We ended up having to share a room with 2 guys.  Andy was from Manchester and about 40 years old.  He was QUITE the talker.  I tried to be nice, but I just couldn't listen to all his stories he had to share.  John was our other roommate.  He was in his 20's and from Scotland, but we didn't get to talk to him much.

On Saturday we saw the largest cathedral in Spain (the 3rd largest in Europe).  It was absolutely breath-taking.  It was so amazing.  The statues and chapels were just beautiful.  Then we ventured out to the Torre de Oro, which was a total bust.  At one point it used to be covered in gold...and now it's not.  So that was lame.  We also walked past the Plaza de Toros and made our way to the Plaza de Espana.  That was by far the coolest thing I saw there.  It's a huge half circle building and in front of the building is a little ceramic bench for each province in Spain.  Toledo was under construction, so that was a bummer, but it was so pretty anyways.  We decided we were too cheap to spend a lot of money on dinner so we found a grocery store and bought spaghetti noodles, sauce, garlic bread, oreos, clementines and a box of sangria.  It was absolutely delicious and a great change of pace.  The hostel had a kitchen with all the dishes and pots and pans that we needed, so we had dinner and then got our free drink at the bar.  It was tinto de verano (red wine with a bit of lemonade) and it was soooo good.  For sure my new favorite drink here.  

Sunday Jenn and I got up early and went to the Real Alcazar.  It was built in a similar style to the Alhambra and it was beautiful!  The gardens were amazing and I could have just walked around forever.  I have soo many pictures from there!  Then we wanted to do some shopping, but no joke, there are NO stores open on Sunday in Sevilla.  Even the largest department store chain in Spain (Corte Ingles) was closed on Sundays.  That was disappointing, but we headed to the bus station and took a 6 hour bus ride back to Madrid.  It was AWFUL and I will never travel that long by bus again if I can ever help it.  We took the AVE back to Toledo.  I am always so glad to be back in Toledo.  It's like going home.  

The reason I have been so busy this week was because I had a huge paper for my history class due today.  I worked on it all week and now am unfortunately extremely behind on updating my pictures.  Oh well.  

The weather is getting cold here and thankfully my host mom is letting me borrow one of her warmer jackets.  I wasn't expecting it to be as cold as it has been. 

 

I had so many little stories to share and now I can't think of any of them!  Oh yes, the fruteria.  There is a little fruit stand right on the walk to school and I thought I'd stop one day and check it out.  I AM ADDICTED!  I think the lady recognizes me now because I am there almost every day buying a piece of fruit or two.  It makes for such a great snack and it's really cheap!  On the same street there is a little convenient store.  It's owned by this little Asian couple who are so nice!  I always stop to buy a bottle of water or another pack of PRINCIPE cookies from them.  I think they also recognize me there. 

 These are the types of things I know I will miss when I go back home.  I am so excited to go home and spend time with my family and friends again and get back to life on campus, but I am going to miss Toledo so much.  This experience has made me come to love traveling and be spontaneous and adventurous.  I am so so glad I have been able to spend some time abroad.  I think it's hard to understand unless you have studied abroad yourself, but I feel like it's changed me.  Like I've grown up.  I will miss Spain and the language, and especially my host family.  I just love them.  

I think that's all for now, I am off to Barcelona for the weekend with a bunch of other SNC kids studying abroad in Europe, so I will report back on Sunday.  

Abrazos,

Amy