I hate blogging. I want to do it every day, or heck maybe once a week, but it's been basically a month! Pathetic. I am writing this epic story about my trip to Barcelona, but I just want to include EVERYTHING. And it is seriously so difficult. Obviously, I cannot include everything. But it was such a great trip with highlights around every corner, that I don't want to lose anything. But alas, it is nearing the end of October and almost an entire month has gone undocumented. I'm leaving for another trip tomorrow, and now that my packing is done I need to get this done, it's my homework. Nothing MAJOR has happened since Barcelona, so I'll try to just give an overview of how I'm doing.
I LOVE my host family. More and more everyday. I have been making conversation with Marí Carmen and PePe, and they have FINALLY learned my name! One day, I came home from school and was in my room changing, when someone knocked on my door and was like, “MacKenzie, comida...” I nearly fell out of my room in complete shock as I darted into Court's room. “Do...they know my name?” Apparently before I got home from school they had asked Courtney how to say my name, so after nearly 2 months, I finally am referred to as something other than “chica” or “rubia!” Exciting right!? I have fallen in love with baby David, who is becoming less and less of a baby everyday. Last week, I experienced the excitement of his very first steps! We were playing in the living room, and for a few weeks he's been walking with help, but all of a sudden he just walked from the chair to the bathroom door! I turned around, jaw at the floor, to Marí Carmena and PePe, who were just as surprised as I was. Since then, he's been walking everywhere, and talking more all the time! The thing about Spain is everyone is so chill. Sometimes it comes across as lazy and it gets annoying, but in a positive explanation, I just think they're chill with things. For example, I never once saw them try to get David to walk. He just kind of started doing it all in his own time. He's 14 or 15 months now I think, which I guess is pretty old to start walking, but hey, he did it when he was ready, and now he's waddling around everywhere. It's interesting the random things that I think are better than the traditional American ways I'm used to. I've grown up with the feeling of always being in a rush, or always needing to improve, excel, reach the next best thing, the highest level. But the Spaniards, they've taught me to chill. Everything will work out in good time. Whether we're talking about David walking, or me figuring out my life. No pasa nada. :)
I think my Spanish has been improving tremendously. Again, there are times when I totally freeze and choke on my words and sound like an idiot, but for the most part I can communicate fully with my family, and I have been more and more on a regular basis. And sometimes an entire conversation will occur, or I'll speak so fast that I haven't a clue what I said or how I said it. Which makes me so excited because that means sometimes I'm speaking naturally, like I don't have to think about it first. Yay! I still am frustrated with my lack of effort to make friends with Spaniards, but it is much more difficult and awkward than one would think. Which brings me to my latest struggle. Yesterday we had our meeting for the API students who are staying a full year. The meeting was about academics, plans for Christmas break, and housing options for next semester. Prior to the meeting, I was positive about staying in my homestay. After all, I absolutely love my family and my only qualms with living there are the hot water/shower issues that sometimes occur and the lack of internet. But Carmen, one of our resident directors, kind of is starting to change my mind. She highly recommends to all of us to live in flats/apartments with Spanish students next semester. I have until November 15 to decide. Her thoughts on it are that at this point, we are comfortable, and living in the host family may not be as much of a challenge as it once was. And when I think about it, she's totally right. Studying abroad is about stepping out of your comfort zone, and at this point, I have my comfort zone established, and I'm not meeting lots of Spanish people my age. So, I feel like my decision is mostly made, regretfully, as I will miss my host family very much. But in the next two weeks I'm going to ask around to get opinions and facts about prices, because ultimately it comes down to which option is financially more feasible. I hope it works out though, because I think it would be a good experience to find an apartment, live in Spain with Spanish students, and be scared again. Because at this point, I'm not scared. And one of the things I've learned coming here is that being scared is kind of a good thing. Shows you what you can take.
Hhhmmm...what else do I have to report? Well, I have been getting fat. Surprise, surprise. I am not totally certain about numbers, but I know I have clothes that fit differently than they did in the US, and my love handles have expanded. Ick. Awesome. However, what could I expect? In the US, I exercised somewhat regularly and never really drank, and here I drink somewhat regularly and never really exercise. So, as you can imagine, it really creates the opposite effect. So...that's been hard. It's frustrating too because I love food, as you all know. If you know me at all you probably know that I inherited the terrible trait from my dear father that I absolutely will eat anything put in front of me if it is edible. So it definitely doesn't help that PePe always tells me, eat more, eat more! No pasa nada! Ahhhh it's awful. So looks like I need to be firm with myself and cut back...Story of my life right?
Tomorrow my friend Eric and I are leaving for 6 days to go to Vienna & Budapest! I'm stoked! 3 days in Vienna, then the evening of Halloween we'll take a train to Budapest. Honestly, I don't know what we're going to do when we're there. I don't even know what sorts of touristy stuff there is to do! But we'll find stuff to do I'm sure, we can ask at the hostel and tonight I'm going to look online to get an idea of what we're interested in. I am just so excited to see these cities because I loved Prague so much, and I think I just like the vibe of Eastern European cities in general. 6 days with Eric though! Should be interesting. :) My friends Kelly & Tony traveled together to Morocco for the same amount of time, and were a little sick of each other when they returned, haha. But they also had a very intense travel experience, so hopefully our excursion will go smoother than their whole Africa experience. It's going to be a ton of fun, I can't wait! Except our flight leaves Granada at 7 am so it's going to be an early morning...
Speaking of travel, today I learned that I have spent an un-Godly amount of money since being here. I started to stress out about it because I have no idea how I spent so much money, or what I spent it on. And I've realized that I absolutely cannot continue to spend at this rate, otherwise I will not have money to spend for the whole year. Also, it was my intention to buy a car next summer, and that definitely won't be possible if I continue to spend so much! I hate credit cards though, I am honestly really annoyed that Grammy told me not to bring my debit card. I actually feel really stupid. Everybody here has debit cards, because with a credit card you're doing a cash advance, and I get charged $15 every time I take out money! So frustrating. Anyways, the verdict is I need to cut back, but unlike with food, where I know I need to lay off the bread and potatoes, I have no clue what to cut back on my spending because I don't feel like I've been spending unreasonable amounts!
Transition to something positive, yay! I spent 30 euro (oh, stuff like this, this must be where my money goes) for 8 salsa lessons! A bunch of friends and I are taking lessons on Tuesday and Thursday nights at Salsero Mayor, from 10:30-midnight. Our teacher is Latin, not Spanish, and I think he's gay but he's so cute and fun! And we all like his nice butt! His name is Miguel and he's seriously such a good teacher! I've only had 3 or 4 lessons, and I've learned so much already. I can't believe I never went to salsa club at WWU, and when I get back I'm definitely going. I love salsa though, it's really easy once you learn the basic steps and if you have a good leader. It would seriously suck to be a guy because you have to lead, I thank God for being a lady every time I'm at salsa. For once in my life I feel delicate and graceful, and I'm definitely taller than Miguel but it's so fun dancing with him because he's such a good lead. And there aren't really guapos at Salsero Mayor, but after my trip to Vienna/Budapest I am going to start going out more often because everybody that goes to Salsero Mayor knows how to dance! I don't really care if they're old, ugly, whatever. I just like to dance salsa, and I want to get better! I am so excited to come back to the states with something new (besides Spanish of course).
Well, yesterday Mandy called me and although we only talked for less than 5 minutes it made me so happy! And Dad & Lena called yesterday too, so it was really nice to talk to them. I'm so glad Dad is back in the US with Lena! It's strange that I'm the only family member abroad now! I can't help looking forward to going home to the States for Christmas break, but at the same time I do NOT want to rush it along, because I have less than 2 months left with these amazing people I'm here with, and most of them aren't coming back to Spain next semester! :( I also can't wait for when Mom comes to Spain in the spring to visit, because I can't wait to take her to all the places I frequent the most! Honestly, despite the stress of money, weight, and my plans for housing next semester, LIFE IS GOOD. Really, it is wonderful, and I have to be thankful for every single day that I have here, because it has been an experience like no other, and the stresses I have are nothing more than lessons I have to learn to get through to my next adventure. :)
Till next time, which will hopefully be NEXT WEEK when I get back from Vienna & Budapest!
