Like a Dream

Hey guys :)

Long time, no post, huh? Well I've been home in Iowa for almost two months already. I can't believe it. I have been so busy lately that I haven't had time to update here. That's one thing that rebounders will definitely notice -- we are so much busier as Americans. Between school, sports and work, free-time is almost non-existent.

Somehow I still manage to think about Spain everyday. Sometimes I think that I think about Spain more than my life here. Coming back has been so strange. Everything is the same. I feel as if my exchange was just a dream until I begin to look through pictures and message my friends there. Then an incredible sadness usually overwhelms me and I can't do anything but hope that I can return soon. I miss the sea, I miss Spanish, and above all I miss the amazing friends I made.

I have a lot to tell you all about my first reactions coming back to the US, but I really have to work on some homework. I thought I'd let you all know I'm still here and planning on posting every once in a while. I still have to tell you all about my last days in Spain!

Until later,
Josie

Blessed and Baffled

Hello world,

According to the countdown on my iPod, I have five days, four hours, 34 minutes, and 28 seconds until I take off on the first plane. That's insane. I basically have everything planned out that I'm going to be doing until then though. Being busy is nice, because it keeps me from thinking and freaking out too much, plus I know I'm making the most of my last days here.

On Sunday some of my friends threw me a going-away party! I thought we were just going to be chilling out at my house for the afternoon, swimming in the pool and such. But it turns out they had all written me letters and brought food and gifts. It was an amazing day. I taught them how to play the card game "Spoons" and it was a hit, no surprise -- amazing game. We even made smores and Rice Krispy treats!

Thanks so much Virginia, Lucia, Elaia, Ana, Georgia, Irina and Sergio!! Os quiero muchooo!!! <3

I'm not sure what else to tell you all. I don't know what to tell myself actually. One moment I'm living on exchange with "the end" off in the distant future, and the next moment it's in my face and I don't know how to react. How did I even get to this point? I can't believe it. At the beginning, 10 months seemed like so long. And at times, exchange was long, because it was difficult and testing. However, now I'm at the end and I say to myself, "Yeah, it's been ten months." That much I can believe. My sense of time has been distorted time and time again this year, but it's not a misleading sense of time that baffles me now -- it's the realization that this year is really over. That soon, I won't be an exchange student, living abroad anymore. That in less than a week, this particular experience in Spain will come to a close.

I will return to Spain, but it won't be like this again -- as an exchange student, living in a normal house, immersed, living life as any other Spanish teenager. Being an exchange student is such a once-in-a-lifetime experience. This year has probably been both the best and the worst year of my life, and I'll miss it so much. I would do it all over again. But what can I do now but enjoy what's left and pray that I can return as soon as possible?

Lots of love,
Josie xoxo

Exchange is Weird

Hello from Spain,

I haven't updated in a while because I've been quite busy enjoying the summer here in Spain. On the 18th was Matt's going away party. People have yet to upload photos so when they do I'll post a few. Matt left on the 20th, although it wasn't that hard to say bye because we'll be seeing each other soon in Iowa. About a week ago I went to a water park in Torremolinos with some friends. Again, I don't ave any photos -- we figured cameras and water parks don't mix that well.

Mostly I've just been chilling out with friends lately. We go swimming, watch movies, relax. I was a bit bored after getting back from Italy, but lately I've been so busy going out with friends and things Summer life is good. I finally have a solid date for returning home -- August 8th. I guess that leaves me 10 real days left here. In some ways that seems so unreal to me.

Exchange is so [for lack of a better word] weird. You come and dive into the culture, hoping to learn about yourself, make friends, and gain learning experiences. Well during the year those things happen, believe it or not. BUT THEN comes the end of the year, and you ask yourself, "Why do I have to leave all these friends? How am I possibly going to leave this place with all these new experiences?"

I look at myself now, and I can say that I've had a pretty successful exchange. I've made great friends, I've learned another language, and I've also learned a lot about myself. However, I feel a bit torn and discontent. It's like if you've moved to a new city and at the end of the first year you finally start to think, "Hey, this is going to be okay. Even if it's not my 'home' still, I'm enjoying life and I know everything is going to be alright." But then your parents say "PYSCH!" and move you back to your old city, right as you were settled in. You think, "I just went through the whole year, trying to get to this point, and you tell me now that I'm going back to where we all started?!" That's kind of how I feel. In a way. Ish. I hope you're picking up what I'm putting down, cos I'm finding it hard to explain.

I am so excited to see my family and friends in the US, but I'm leaving a whole other family and group of friends here that I don't know when I'll be able to see for the next time. It kind of kills me inside when I think about, so I try not to. I'm making the most of the time I have left and we'll see what happens from there. Sorry this ended on a bit of a sad note. I've been having so much fun and loving life lately, so don't think I'm here in Spain all sad! It's just that when I slow down to really think about things like this, it can be a bit overwhelming.

Until next time,
Josie

The Life of a F.E.S. in Memes

I've been called so many names. Just so many. 

It gets tiring being called "cute."

Truth.

 

Summer in Spain

A few things have happened since I've gotten back to Spain from Italy on June 27th.


On July 1st, Spain won the 2012 European Football (soccer) Championship. It's a pretty big deal because Spain became the first team to win two consecutive European Championships, and the first international team to win three straight major tournament titles (Euro 2008, 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012). I proudly sported a red T-shirt during the final game, waving my Spanish flag during each FOUR of the goals we got against Italy, who scored none! I may not quite be a Spaniard, but I guess I'm almost as proud as one now.

Euro 2012

On the 4th of July, my American friend Isabella and I had an independence day party with a bunch of friends on the beach, complete with hamburgers, hot dogs, and even Rice Krispy Treats! My friends weren't so sure about the Rice Krispy Treats at first, but I ensured them that they're delicious, plus I made them myself that day... and in the end everyone absolutely loved them! (People don't really eat/use marshmallows here, so it was quite a new experience.) The 4th of July was a bit strange without the parades or the fireworks, but it still meant just as much if not more to me here. 

Me, Matt, and Isabella -- The Americans

Also around the time of the 4th of July, a friend, Colleen, came to stay at my house for a couple of days. She's from Georgia and has a scholarship through Rotary to do a Masters Degree in Granada for a year. Rotary pays for her schooling and an apartment, but she has to go around to so many Rotary Clubs or groups of people explaining her volunteer work as a part of the requirement for the scholarship. So, while she was visiting a few clubs in the Marbella area, she stayed in my house. We got to hang out some and go to the beach one day, and we even went to the Hard Rock Cafe in Marbella with my host parents. It was pretty exciting because neither Colleen nor I had been to a Hard Rock Cafe before! And of all places to go there for the first time, we went to one in Spain! Either way it was very delicious and I hope to go again before I return to the US.

Me and my "older sister" Colleen for the first time at Hard Rock

A nice shot of Puerto Banus took by Colleen

Me and my host parents at a Rotary meeting

A few days ago was Estepona's fair, but I've slowly come to dislike the fairs here. That being said I only went one day. The other night my friends went I stayed home watching NCIS in Spanish I believe.

Sonia, Isabella, Lola, and me. Some of my favorite people that I've met here :)

"The Americans" Take Two -- Estepona Feria

In other news... I still don't have my plane ticket home because the travel agency back in the US hasn't bought it yet. I should be back home in Iowa in a few weeks, but nothing is for sure with out the plane ticket. It's strange thinking about leaving here. After all, I've been here for over nine months now! It kind of feels like forever, but at the same time, like no time at all as if I just got here the other day. People always ask me here me if I'm looking forward to going back to the US. Well, the answer to that is yes and no. In a way, I feel ready to go back, like it's the right time. Like "real life" needs to begin again. I'm looking forward to seeing my family and friends, eating my mom's cooked meals again as well as some nice Mexican and Chinese food we have back home. I'm looking forward to driving again and having a good cell phone again. But I'm not looking forward to leaving behind my friends and family of Spain. I'm going to miss my host families' meals (apart from the fish) as well as some good kebabs or Indian take-out. I won't miss taking the bus here, but I'll miss the diversity of the people I encounter in Puerto Banus, especially on the buses. I look forward to going back to the US, but it won't be easy having to leave here. 

One doesn't just live abroad for a year and come back unimpressed. This year has definitely made an impression on me. Although I'm not sure if I can call Spain a home yet, I somehow know I can't say that Newton is my only home. I know that when I come back to Spain one day, I'm going to have people to visit and places to see again. It's going to be hard leaving these people and places in a few weeks, but I would much rather have met these people and had these experiences, than to not have and have nothing to come back to in the future. It's kind of like that quote, "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." Except the cool part is that I haven't lost, because I will come back :)

Buenas noches,
Josie

Italy: Part 2

Day Five: Florence

We spent all of this day exploring the streets of Florence. A tour guide showed us around a bit, explaining the history and such of the sites such as the cathedral, baptistery, Basilica of Santa Croce, Piazza della Signoria, and the Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge"). It really was a beautiful city, although I didn't enjoy it as much as Rome or Venice (we'll get there later). That night my class decided they wanted to party Italy-style so we went to a discoteca near the hotel. It was kind of amazing because one of the teacher chaperons, who actually turned out to be a cool cat, had to come and hang out with us at the discoteca until 2 or 3 in the morning. All these Italian teenagers were laughing at us crazy Spanish students crashing the party and having a bunch of pictures took by our chaperon, but we just went along with it. It was our class trip, and frankly crashing Italian discotecas can be pretty fun.

Isa, Georgia, Elaia, me, and Lucia resting our feet for a while. 

We ran into a parade!

And a little bit of fiesta ;)

Day Six: Bologna -- no, not that kind.

This was another traveling day, but a good one. After a few hours on the road we were in Pisa! The leaning tower is something incredible. After exploring around the tower and surrounding buildings for a bit, we were back on the road headed towards Bologna. Once in Bologna, we visited the university which happens to be the oldest existing university in the world. After walking around some, we got back on the bus to go to Venice. At 7:30 pm or so we arrived at our hotel near Venice and had dinner. We were all quite tired by then so we just chilled out in our hotel rooms until we fell asleep.

Me and Georgia, just up to our normal shenanigans

Day Seven: Enchanted

We started this day by making our way to a boat in order to get to Venice, since the city is actually a group of islands separated by canals and linked by bridges. A tour guide showed us around Piazza San Marco for a little bit and then we were free to explore around for ourselves. I absolutely loved Venice. It's probably my favorite city we went to. There was something about it that made me want to stay so much longer. My friends and I went on a gondola throughout the city, a bit like you see in the movies. The food in Venice was really good as well! There were stores filled with blown glass and carnaval masks, colorful buildings everywhere one looked, and a continuous, romantic atmosphere. To live in Venice would be incredible.

We saw someone blow glass.

Me, Mariola, Marta, Enrique, and Alej

In the gondola 

"Day" Eight: Those Final Hours

After getting back to the hotel, we had dinner and packed our bags to go home. At 2 am that night we got on the bus and headed to Milan to catch our flight back to Malaga. We didn't get to visit Milan since our flight left at 7:30 am, but I hope to visit there one day. By noon we were all back in San Pedro and wondering how the week had gone by so fast!

Italy, from what I visited, was lovely. My class had to move quickly, and at times I felt rushed, but I hope to visit Italy again and truly enjoy the cities at my own pace. The history is so intriguing, the people are passionate, and the food is unbelievably good. The country side is beautiful and the cities are captivating. There were a few things that I didn't like, including having to pay to use public restrooms, but overall Italy was astounding. I'm so glad my class chose to go there this year and that I was able to take such an opportunity. Thanks to my parents for funding it, and to my school for organizing the whole thing! I won't forget our week full of crazy adventures in Italia.

Being abroad, abroad: Italy (Part 1)

Hello lovelies,

Today I write to you on my adventures in Italy!

Since there is so much to tell, I think the best way to go about blogging this is to go in chronological order, starting in Rome and ending in Venice. Over eight days, we -- 30 or so classmates and I -- visited seven cities while traveling nearly 700 miles of this intriguing country. What does 700 miles of travel look like? Well here, I'll show you.

**I've put links on certain places mentioned below if you'd like more information about them.**


Day One:  Leaving Spanish Soil


There's not too much to tell you about day one, because most of it was traveling. My class and I went to the Malaga airport around noon and our plane took off at 3:15 pm. We arrived in Rome at 5:40 pm or so and then we made our way to the hotel. After getting situated and tweeting that, indeed, we had made it to Italy, we went to restaurant for dinner. The thing is though that the restaurant we went to was some kind of Latino place and the waiters were speaking to us in Spanish and the whole situation was a bit odd. My first meal in Italy was not pizza or pasta, but some kind of rice dish and tenderloin thing. Don't get me wrong, it was a good meal, it just seemed weird at the moment, considering we were in Rome. After dinner we went back to the hotel and enjoyed some rest after a day of travel. 

Georgia, me, Elaia, and Lucia waiting in the Malaga airport 

Day Two: The Pope's House


On this day we visited many museums and sites in the Vatican City (located within Rome). Such sites included the Vatican Museums, Apostolic Palace, and St. Peter's Basilica. We went to the Sistine Chapel, perhaps better known as the official residence of the Pope. (It's famous for its architecture and its decoration that was painted throughout by Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio and others). I don't even know where to begin with all this.

To be in places that people occupied thousands of years ago, and that are still standing and occupied today, is something incredible. The museums were just filled with spectacular paintings, carpets/rugs, statues, and more art. St. Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world and is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic sites. In order to enter, one's shoulders and majority of legs has to be covered as an act of respect. Many of the girls in our group had to go buy scarves real fast to cover their shoulders and legs. This actually happened a lot through out the trip as many churches and sites were strict about dress codes. This may seem a bit ridiculous, but I think it's the least that one can do to respect a holy place. The Sistine Chapel was incredible. I'd show you pictures of the Chapel and St. Peter's, but taking photos was not permitted. You can probably see photos on GoogleImages though. I finally had my first true Italian pizza that day for lunch -- mushrooms and ham all the way. I must say it was delicious. In the afternoon I tried my first Italian ice cream, also delicious. For dinner we had amazing lasagna, and by that time I was convinced that Italian cuisine is the best out there.

A part of one of the Vatican musuems 

Paula, Elaia, Georgia, Lucia, and me in St. Peter's Square

I don't remember where this was, but all of the ceilings were either painted or decorated in some way. 

Me and Lucia in Saint Peter's Square

Saint Peter's Square

The whole group

Me and my lovely English friend, Georgia

Day Three: Rome

On this day we went into Rome with a local tour guide who explained the history and it's significance today of all the sites. In the morning we explored ancient Rome and went to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Piazza Venezia  In the afternoon we visited "Baroque Rome", including the Piazza Navona (in the Piazza della Rotonda), the Pantheon, and the Trevi Fountain.The tour guide was super awesome and explained some things in English for me (seeing as understanding ancient Roman history in Spanish can be difficult at times). After the tour we went back to the hotel for a while. That night we went back into Rome to have dinner and then explored the city more until 2 am or so. May I just say that Rome by night may be the most beautiful thing I've seen? That night we were able to visit the Plaza de España, which not only happens to be one of the most important Plazas in Rome, but Spain's Plaza.

Yoli, Laura, Lucia, Georgia, me, and Isa in front of the National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II

Me at the Trevi Fountain. I made sure to throw in coin to come back to Rome!

The National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II

Some of the ruins

The Colosseum!

Marcelo, Ricardo, the best tour guide ever, Enrique, and me 

The Pantheon

The whole group out during the night

Day four: Pueblos

Sadly, we had to leave Rome that morning. I really wish we could have stayed longer. It was such an amazing place that I know I'll have to return to someday. But anyways, we all got on a bus in transit towards Florence. On the way there we stopped by two cities: Assisi and Siena. Assisi was full of beautiful churches, views, and architecture. While there we went to The Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi (St. Francis) which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. In Siena we didn't stop to discuss much history, but we did walk through the city a bit. We got to the hotel at about 7pm or so, and by then we were exhausted after a long day of travel. Although we didn't go out to Florence that night, we had quite a fun time in the hotel as it was the Spain-Portugal soccer match (Eurocup). We all got out our flags out and showed our Spanish pride. Spain ended up winning so it was a good night.

Views from Assisi

Assisi

Me enthusiastically holding water bottles in Siena

Well that's the first half of my Italy adventures! I'll try to post Part 2 soon. I just got back from Italy on Wednesday (five days ago), and since then I've been relaxing and enjoying SUMMER. The 4th of July is the day after tomorrow and I'm planning on having a BBQ with a few friends to celebrate. Other than that I don't have many plans. June was a crazy month but now I'm ready to chill out with friends and make the most of the time I have left. I'll talk to you guys soon!

Besos,
Josie

In short . . .

Hello readers! I am sorry there hasn't been an update in a while but I'm telling now that life has been pretty good lately. Busy, but good. It's actually 1:30 in the morning right now, and I'll be leaving for Italy with my class in a matter of hours! With that being said I'm going to give a short summary of what's been happening recently and I'll probably post pictures when I get back from Italy.

On June 4th my lovely friend Jessica from Melilla came all the way to the mainland to visit me and experience the Marbella Feria. We spent Monday-Wednesday exploring Marbella and eating chocolate/peanut butter/ice cream/etc. On Thursday we went to Granada for a Rotary conference and stayed there until Saturday morning. During that time we were able to see other exchange students, visit La Alhambra, and explore the amazing city of Granada. Visitting the Alhambra was especially interesting because first we ate dinner overlooking it, and then we got to tour it during the evening which turns out to be pretty exclusive. Bill Clinton said a while ago that the sunset of Granada is the most beautiful in the world, and I must say, it was stunning. While in Granada, I bought a gorgeous tea pot and Jess later taught me how to make Moroccan tea.

We stopped by the beach on the way to Granada and had lunch "on the rocks" above the sea.

Me and Jess before the Rotary dinner, overlooking the Alhambra.

On Saturday evening, Hannah met up with us and we went to the Marbella Feria (fair). If you don't remember from the San Pedro fair, feria is basically a bunch of amusement park rides, dancing, bars, and carnival games.

Us at the fair with Leo, Naroa, and Max

 Although Hannah had to go back to Fuengirola on Sunday, Jess stayed at my house all the following week since her school ended a while ago. Having Jess in the house kind of felt like having a sibling again and it was sort of amazing. Then on Sunday (two days ago), Jess, Hannah, and I went to our very first bull fight. I think I speak for all of when I say I'm not a fan of bull fighting.

During the bull fight

Us outside of the bull ring.

That evening Jess went back to Melilla after beeing here for nearly two weeks! I had to say hasta luego -- until later -- to both Jessica and Hannah because they are going back to the US in a few days, and I won't see them in Spain again. It was really hard and strange and it makes me sad thinking about it but we have this plan to do a road trip in the US together with my sister and Hannah's sister and Jessica's dog (or was it Hannah's dog?) . . . Anyways, if you guys are reading this, Os quiero y ya os echo mucho de menos! (Pero bueno, un dia viviremos en un castillo y nos llamaran meh lady.)

Today was my last day of school here and in the morning I'm headed to Italy with my class! I'm really excited and I can't help but feel like my life is morphing into The Lizzie McGuire movie.

So this has been brief but I'll tell you guys more when I can!

Besos,

Josie