What is artwork even for

Wow well, time really does fly. It feels like just yesterday that I was making my one month blog post, and now I'm 2 and a half months into my program.

Things I have learned while being here so far:

Every city in Spain is beautiful. Beautiful in that "full of history and culture and art" way. I fall in love with every new city that I go to. 

Other exchange students progress faster and slower, so you can't compare your own experience to theirs. You may occasionally get jealous that it looks like others are having a fantastic time, and you're at that stage of your exchange where you are just bored. And trust me, that stage comes, and it sucks. And that's when you know you need to plan a weekend retreat with your fellow exchangers.

The holidays come a lot faster than you expect. Next week is thanksgiving, and I'm planning on making thanksgiving dinner for my family. And then in a month is Christmas.

All in all, there are good times and then there are rough patches. Sometimes you may regret deciding to go on exchange because you miss your friends and family, and then the next day you are running around a new city alone with your closest friends in your new country. (That's what I did). But at the end of it all, the year is going by too fast.

This time last year I was applying to study abroad. I remembering it like I have a photographic mind or something (which I don't or else id be a lot better at spanish by now) and now here I am, actually in Spain. I never in my wildest dreams believed that I would do something this crazy and outgoing and life changing. I don't regret it one bit.

The past two weekend I had hung out with my afs friends, one weekend in Zaragoza and the next weekend in pamplona. Here are some pictures. 

My motto for the year "what's artwork even for if you aren't going to post awkwardly with it?"

All in all, my year is going great. I'm sorry I don't post more but MY LIFE IS JUST SO DARN EXCITING I NEVER HAVE TIME.

Jk I sleep a lot. 

But it's all good. Adios amigos!

Lilly 

A month and a week later

As I had originally planned on making a post on the day of my one month anniversary with Spain, I have failed horribly. 

Right now it is a Saturday afternoon, I woke up 25 minutes ago and I have all the time in the world to post. (Not literally but still). 

Well I have been here for over a month. A month and a week of me living in Spain. I think I put this in my last post, but I'm going to say it again. This has been the most challenging time of my life. Things have been getting easier. I have fallen into a good patter for the weekends, were it's pretty much the unspoken rule that every Friday we meet at The Plaza at 7 and hang out for the night. 

The Plaza Nueva is the center of the city. It's where practically everyone meets when they need to meet, and you pretty much walk through it going anywhere. I walk through it at least 2 times a day, and up to 4 or 6 times a day. I walk through it going two and from school, and some days when Lina and Goyo have music I walk through more. I don't mind though. It's beautiful. Lined with restaurants and bars with rows and rows of table and chairs for people to sit at. One thing I've learned while being here is that Spain is a very social country. I love it. 

Since I've been in Spain, I have visited many big cities. Those cities include Toledo, Zaragoza and the beautiful San Sebastián. 

I had gone to Toledo with my family my second week here. We went and stayed with a family friend for a night and I got to see the beautiful city. It's literally sitting atop of a hill and all of the streets and rocky and winding. Just standing there and breathing in the air I could feel the history that lies in the city. In spanish class in the United States, I learned about El Greco and Don Quijote and El Castillo de La Mancha. It's amazing to think that I was standing there. The home of all of these amazing things. 

The next weekend, I had my first orientation in Zaragoza. There I met with 5 other AFSers staying in my area of Spain. We were given the chance to explore the city together and it was all so much fun. I loved getting together and talking to all of them because we are all experiencing the same thing. 

And finally, San Sebastián. The most beautiful place I have visited since being in Spain. My school had taken a trip there to visit the aquarium and the University of Navarra. The aquarium was freaking awesome and even had one of those walk through tubes where all of the sharks and sting rays and sea turtles swim over and under and around you. It was such a great experience and definitely would NOT object to going again in the future.

It's definitely weird to think that 3 weeks ago I was homesick and wanted to go home to the comfort of my family, and now I am having fun with all of the new friends I've made while being here. I'm already over 10% finished with my exchange. A couple weeks ago I would've been excited to say that, but now I'm thinking "wow, I don't have that much time left." 

School is definitely still the most challenging thing here. Some classes I am doing well in.... Like English. And surprisingly, Spanish. The two classes I am struggling most with are Physics and Chemistry  and Math. In math, my class is in their second year of learning trogonometry while I haven't even learned geometry yet. And in Physics, I don't even know what I'm learning except that it included trigonometry which, as I just said, I have never learned. I had a physics exam the other day and got a 0.6 out of 10. I was pretty excited since I was expecting a flat 0.

Anyway, I'm sure that class will get easier as I become better at understanding the language. My parents told me that they can tell the difference from how I was the first week, to how I am now. Give me another 2 months and hopefully I will have this whole language barrier in the bag.

Hasta luego!

Lilly

One week later

I have been with my host family for one week so far. I feels like it has been forever, but also feels like I just got here earlier today. Wednesday was my first day of school and thus far I have come to the realization that learning a different language is REALLY hard. My teachers have been pretty helpful so far, saying that it isn't a necessity for me to write down certain things and that I don't need to worry. I made my first friend, Ivan, only because the teacher was talking to me and I had no idea what he was saying so Ivan stepped up and translated it for me. It turns out that Ivan is also a new student, who just moved to Spain from Colombia, and he speaks really good English. I try to listen and pay attention in classes but it is really hard when I don't understand what is being said.  I write my notes (as much as possible) and copy from Ivan what I don't understand. Overall, my Spanish is better than it was a week ago, when I first arrived. With that being said, I still suck. I feel like I can speak much better than I can listen, because most of the time, I listen to peoples conversations and only pick up one or two words. Or if someone is talking to me, I almost always end up saying "que," "repite," "no entiendo," or "despacio por favor." It really is not what I expected it to be, but not in a good or bad way. I miss my family more than I expected, but I feel like that goes along with me not being able to understand things people are saying. BTW the other day I went to a fiesta in Ablitas, a neighboring city to Tudela, and I ran with the bulls. Best time of my life, I definitely hope that I get to do it again.