My Time in Palencia

Hey all! So my last blog didn't contain much about my life here...it was mostly just about the shock upon my arrival. well at first i did feel a bit of contempt towards Blanca...how dare she take my family away from me?! But we have become pretty close and i can see why she wouldn't want to be far away from here, or her parents. Today (Thursday) we went on a walk around the park and then shopping. Palencia's Calle Mejor is dead when school gets out at 2pm until around 6pm..and then it is quite packed!! I have enjoyed exploring the churches and beautiful cobblestone streets. You can look out the window of my house and see an old stone church and then to your left there is a bridge and the river, just like the pictures on the internet, now i have some of my own!

So I have been living quite pleasantly with my first host family. They are always asking me how i am doing, if I'm too cold ( i am somewhat sick right now), if Imo hungry, if i would like to go out, the list goes on...Nieves (my host mom) does most of the asking while Blanca translates what i don't understand, even if i do understand Nieves wants to be sure that i know what she's asking, and Anselmo is usually in Salamanca. That brings me to my first actual fully-Spanish conversation. It was dinner and Anselmo hadn't showed up i asked Nieves where he was and she proceeded to tell me that everyday after he comes home from the school he gets ready to go to a fiesta of the toros. Not exactly fiesta but all September there are bull fights in Salamanca and EVERY night he goes and comes back for school in the morning...talk about dedication!! Anyways, i understood the whole explanation...aka my first spanish conversation haha. Besides that i am actually speaking in some spanish now and i have stopped, for the most part, taking advantage of Blanca's and my friends at school english speaking skills.

Good time to start talking about school. One word that would describe it completely is confusing, the language, people, atmosphere, schedule, classes, and i love almost every second of it....i say that because of economia class. UHG. no me gusta economia clase y economia professora. **side note: I'm listening to blue scholars and its so crazy how music can take you to such a peaceful place. wow I'm actually relaxing.** Okay so School. You have a set of classes...these classes may be on some days of the week or may not. Most classes you have every day but every day they are in a different order and different classroom. I have only been in two classrooms: one exception i'll explain later. Then at 11:30 you have a half hour break to go walk in the park, smoke (i don't) and i picked friends that don't either!, eat a snack and so on. There is no such thing as lunch at school. that is done at home around 3pm. I thought that i had a general idea of this down: I go into the hall after my first class and I see the group of girls i know i have classes with and i say "no sabe mi clase ahora" "I don't know my class now" they get the idea and say "con ella" "with her" and i follow whoever they point at. So that worked until today when i was standing with two of my friends and then the halls suddenly cleared (bad sign) because neither of them had a class with me next and nobody was there to take me. I was abandoned. then they took me to a classroom; opened the HUGE door and told the prof. that i was the american exchange student and i was lost. oh no i recognized the teacher... Economia ...what are the chances. i found an empty seat. After looking around ( i do that a lot in my classes) i realized none of the faces looked familiar meaning i was in the wrong class and this was my one exception i was in a classroom i had never been in before. i worked in my spanish workbook and kept checking my watch until the class was over. They don't have clocks in my school...so i actually have a reason to wear a watch now! thanks for that thoughtful christmas present uncle mike! So i go into the hall hoping for a better turnout and just when i was losing hope i saw a cluster of faces i recognized. i followed Isabella into the class and sat by her....we waited for the prof. (they switch classes more than the students) nooo wayyy.... it's the prof. for Economia again! Pretty much the most boring two hours of my life...don't ask me how economy can be more boring than learning latin taught in spanish, but it definitely is. So the classes I've had so far are: Psychology, History *ask me some other time about my history teacher!, Tutoria (study hall), Economy, Latin, Ingles (that prof. loves me!), Lengua (spanish), and i guess i was supposed to go to geography during that dreaded first hour of economia today. So thats my little anecdote. Another quirky thing about my school is that the bell signaling the end of break rings and everybody stays put chatting it up. At first i was confused but then i saw that once the prof. of your class is spotted everybody books it to the class. Once that looming green door is shut, you better sneak in or else you get a pretty harsh glare. There are no such things as tardies here. Some people see the end-of-break-bell as a signal to leave the class and start talking as long as the professor hasn't come in yet. Sometimes it takes them 5 minutes to show up!

I haven't hung out with anybody after school besides blanca. Right now it would take too much effort since I'm moving tomorrow. Plus, I have been recovering from Jet Lag pretty bad. today was my first day not napping after school. I think i have finally gotten used to it. I have gotten used to a lot of things in Palencia and with my family and tomorrow I'm leaving for bigger...much bigger things. Palencia is 88,000 people (about the size of bellingham) to Madrid...the capitol of Spain...MILLIONS of people i don't think i have quite grasped that yet. Im so excited!!! Everything will be surrounding me...RealMadrid, Concerts, Theater, Fashion (who knows how many H&Ms). everything besides the ocean. that is one thing that i have been able to comprehend missing. i miss the smell of the ocean and just being able to go to the beach. Anybody still in anacortes take of video of you by the ocean and send it to me on facebook please! haha. So yes, I'm so very happy about my move to Madrid but it will be quite the upheaval since i have just started to recognize people and names in my class and they have begun talking to me. Its going to be hard being the "new girl" twice in a week when i've never had to experience it before this week. I'm holding up pretty good though. I haven't had anything close to a breakdown except for when i cried a little over my broken phone ;) not saying goodbye to my family at all; The sweet british lady sitting next to me on the plane was very comforting and understanding. yes i broke my phone throwing it 20 feet to my parents after entering security at the airport. Nobody caught it! Sorry lulu i guess you'll have to wait a little longer to text your friends!

Anyways tomorrow I am lugging ALL my luggage to a bus station and riding three hours to Madrid where a rotary person will take me either to the Exchange Conference or my new family's house. I'm not sure yet. I really don't know anything right now about my new family, much to my parents disappointment (in Anacortes), but i seriously know nothing besides both my host parents are dentists and the ages of the 3 host brothers. I'm quite excited for this weekend because i get to meet other exchange students for the first time in Spain. i met none in Palencia. I get to see Cassandra this weekend...a familiar face!!!! and i get to meet Carlota's parents and their exchange student from Pennsylvania. For those of you who don't know Carlota is my dear friend from Madrid that is in Anacortes this year on exchange with Rotary.
Okay so this has been very scattered but i hope it all made sense for the most part, and it was semi interesting! My mind is very scattered too, this is as organized as it will be for quite awhile. Until my next post....Oh yes! something exciting for me; i've started accidently typing spanish words instead of english! crazy how my mind is already starting to work that way! yay! progress! love it! and i love you guys too.