Good Times with Rotary

Sometimes a person knows a day will be beautiful just by waking up and having that good feeling in their bones. For me, this has been my feeling for the past few days. It began right before the All District Rotary Youth Conference, and it has yet to wear off. :)

 To begin: the conference was not in Madrid, it was in a place about an hour's busride away. The only parts of Madrid I saw were the various transportation centers (airport, metro, bus station, etc.). There are three Rotary Districts in Spain this year, and 90 exchange students were in attendance. Of the 90, there were only about 8 students representing nationalities other than the US and Canada. 17 students are still in the US due to visa issues. Essentially it was a two day slumber party in the dorms, with various important informational meetings mixed in about cultural differences, insurance, rules and regulations, etc.

There were two  personally important moments that I gained from this conference (aside from the generally important moments that go along with making new friends). They are:

1. I now think of the house I'm staying in as home. This happened the second night while I was sleeping in the dorm room with the other girls. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw someone's charger glowing. I thought this charger was mine because I had the feeling that I was sleeping in my host family's home. When I realized I wasn't there, I was glad to realize that's where I was going back to the next day.
2. I met a woman who was shocked at my terrible situation of having to live in an area where the families I'm staying with speak Catalá on an ordinary basis. Sometimes it's hard, but this situation isn´t terrible at all! As a Rotary Exchange Student, it doesn't matter where you go, your job is to learn whatever culture is surrounding you. For me, that is the culture of Catalonia. It is true that Catalá isn´t spoken in many parts of the world, but it is extremely important here. If a person can understand a different culture and utilize its language, they will have the ability to understand the history and contribute to any future work concerning that culture in a manner that is greatly enriched. Saying it isn't important to learn a language because it's only used in a small area of the world is like saying it isn't important to vote in national elections since only one person gets to be selected President.

This week at school has been going along as well as the last one; I don't understand very much most of the time, but I understand a little and the people are very friendly. Tonight I'm going to a dinner with the Rotary Club for the first time, and I'm looking forward to orchestra later this week. I have taken quite a few photos. The photos of the conference are on Facebook right now. I will put them in an album when I return to the US. The photos posted below are just a few things I came across my first week here.

The Plaza Mayor

What a real ham looks like

Catalonia!

There are no words to describe how happy I am that these are in my room

Stick is AWESOME!

I don't care how mature you are, this is funny.

Estoy Aquí

Estoy aquí.

Direct translation = I am here.

My ticket is good through July 9th, 2012. Today is September 21, 2011. This is a very long time to live in an area away from everything I am familiar with. I love to travel, I love Catalonia and the people I have met so far, but I will not lie; these past couple of days have been hard.

Traveling to foreign countries and living there for long periods of  time sounds glamourous to many people. After all, it is an opportunity to travel and an experience to cherish during a very important and transitional time of life. What people need to understand, however, is that being a long term exchange student is not a year of nonstop partying, neglect of studies, and overall vacation from the real world. There are difficulties and lessons to be learned. At the moment, the two main things I am doing are:

•  Overcoming a language barrier. This one is tricky. Although I can still communicate, more or less, it is difficult to understand complex conversations (and at times, even simple ones). This means that right now I'm documenting the important topics I want to learn more about in depth, so I can ask questions when I eventually am able to understand the answers.
• Attending school. Although I don't need good grades here, class still requires a lot of concentration. So far I either don't have to do the homework for a class, or I have to spend a bit more time translating and learning the different work that the teachers give to me. 

I am extremely grateful to my parents for allowing me to travel and continue to grow in a place so far away. I am extremely grateful to Rotary for allowing me to have this opportunity to travel, and for encouraging a motto that has long been my mantra: "Service above self". I am extremely grateful for the families that chose to let me live with them and help me with my cultural education. And last but not least, I am grateful for the people who flash me smiles at school.

I miss my friends, but I am making friends. The only thing is, right now it has been a short time and I don't yet have close friends here. Patience is a virtue which is often thrust upon those who need it. Poco a poco, Día a día, I continue to grow.

On a lighter note, tomorrow I head out to Madrid for the all district Rotary Youth weekend! All of the inbound Rotary Exchange Youth will be there and I am super pumped to meet everyone (as well as swap pins). You can guess what my next entry will be about :D I am also now capable of uploading photos, so I should have a few posted with my next blog.

Castella and Catala

School is back in session, and so my formal education has commenced yet again (more or less). My classes include Art History, Spanish History, Castella, Castella Lit., Catala, Geography, Math, and English. A quicker summation of what I'm learning right now: how to understand my classes (except for English...that's a little bit easier).
         A brief explanation about Castella and Catala: Castella is the variation of Spanish that is taught at MVHS and all of the other schools which teach Spanish in the US. Catala is the official language of Catalonia (the region/desiring nationhood area I'm in) and is the language spoken by the general population in schools and in the streets here. All of my classes except for English and Castella (Lit) are taught in Catala. This is a very hot topic right now: recently the leader of Spain is pushing for Castella to be the only language used in the schools. Clearly this is not going over very well in a region that has wanted Indepence for hundreds of years. "Freedom Catalonia! Jo soc Catalan (I am Catalan)!" These are the phrases that reflect the sentiment of the people here.
         Catalonia is really growing in my heart, and so is Vic. Vic is a small city of about 40,000 inhabitants. There is a very nice park and the public transportation systems are close to my house, as well as the Plaza Mayor. The Plaza Mayor is the central square with many businesses surrounding an enormous, sandy, open area which mostly is a playground for small children, and houses the mercado on Saturdays and Tuesdays, as well as other large events throughout the year. There are many offshooting streets from the Plaza Mayor. Some of these streets are extremely narrow and cobbled with stones from days before ancient Roman times, and others are much more modern in the standard European style (multiple roundabouts and no straight path anywhere it would seem). I LOVE the fact that I can walk just about everywhere.

Other Highlights of my Week: Attending a Pablo Casals tribute concert in Barcelona (the program was exactly the same as the personal concert he played for the Kennedy's at the White House. That concert was a very important historical event for many reasons; google it if you have time); starting orchestra; walking through the cemetery (they stack the bodies here); Musica Viva (a giant music festival that features many artists that are lesser known); my host family; and starting school (especially learning about the differences between British and American English).

Sidenote: My school (in translation) is the Institute Callís. There is a gate that is locked in front of it most of the time, except during break at ll-ll:30 and the beginning and end times of school (8:00 and 2:30). Every other time a person wants to enter they need to buzz the office and state what they want through an intercom. Is it only estranjeros that say "necesito entrar"? By the look on the man's face in the main office, I believe the answer to that is yes.

My Family and my Adaptation

It´s finally starting to feel like home, almost.

My host family has been very good about making me feel included and part of the family. Jordí, my host father is an economist and works in an office that is less than 10 minutes walking distance from the house. Maria Carme is my host mother: I don´t know what her job is yet exactly. I believe she is a food chemist. Marc is my host brother and is studying at University in Barcelona. He is home on the weekends, and plays a lot of hockey (the kind on roller skates). Paquí works in the house in the mornings during the week and also makes lunch. The family is also starting a milk factory which makes flan (flam) and iogurt (yogurt). I have also met the extended families, which is very important. I like them all very much too. Yesterday I went with a cousin, Gemma, around the City and met some of her friends. I will be going with them this Saturday to a discoteca, which I´m really looking forward to. I´m also looking forward to skyping my family and talking to them for the first time in person since I´ve been here.

Lunchtime here is around 2:00 and dinner is usually between 9:00 to 10:00. All of the food I have tried so far I have really liked; even the extremely strong espresso that Barcelona is famous for. If you ever want to eat like a Spaniard and you are not in Spain, grab a bottle of olive oil and pour some of it on whatever you are eating.

Things I do (or will) miss: My cat, my family, my friends, sandwiches, peanut butter, the ability to converse, the album release of KABOOM!, and Goodwill. 

Things I already (or will) love: My host family, Stick (the dog), my new friends, the park behind the school, the ability to walk to school, being a townie and exploring a city that´s both modern and ancient, Musica Viva, and learning a couple of new languages.

School starts next Monday (!), so you can guess some of the content my next entry will contain. I will also write more about the city itself and the area I live in. For now this is all, I believe I will go try to get a library card.

·Sidenote: When starting a bank account in a foreign country, you need to bring your passport. A foreign driver´s license is not sufficient. This should be obvious, but it´s just one of those things that you (at least I) sometimes forget to take into account.

 

Primero Dia

2 short hops and one long jump later, I have arrived safe and sound at my new home. I arrived at the airport around 11:00 AM and ended up going to bed around Midnight, with a brief 15 minute siesta earlier that afternoon. Needless to say, it was a looooong day. It was however, a fairly great day too :)

My host family is very welcoming and have already shown me the basic areas of the city and all areas of the house. The house I am living in seems narrow from the street, but is actually quite large and has a really awesome staircase winding from the bottom to the top. My family has a daughter, Marta, who is in Canada right now (also with Rotary), and it is her room I am staying in. I have already managed to unpack most of what I crammed into my bags, but I believe it will take a couple of more days before I feel truly settled.

 I knew from the beginning of this exchange that I would have to learn a new language and adapt to a different culture. What I didn´t know was that I would also need to learn how to eat. At 2:00 PM, my family went over to eat at la casa de su abuela, which they do every weekend. The food was not too different there, and I ate goat for the first time in my life. My apologies to Beatrix, but I really liked it. That evening, around 9:30, is where the confusion with food came in. In Catalá, a common dish is to take bread, smear it with a tomato half, and pour olive oil over the top of it. As it was, by that time my translating comprehension was nearly annihilated, so my host brother Marc ended up smearing the tomato half on my bread for me as a demonstration. I felt a little bit childish, but it was funny. The end result was also incredibly delicious :) I also tried the famous Vic sausage, and it was pretty darn tasty as well.

The initial mindset of my first day was: what the heck is going on? However, communication is still manageable and I´ll catch on soon enough. I will post about the city of Vic later this week when I have explored a bit more, and also more about mi familia.

Another sidenote: the expressions of airport personell as they open a cello case and discover an instrument surrounded by underwear while the whole family is watching is, in fact, priceless.