oliviamadison

[oliviamadison]

This is watching the fireworks. At this point they were really loud and hurt my ears and head. There were tons of people.

[oliviamadison]

Well... Vamos a empezar

This is going to be random because my pictures are all out of order and not edited so my english will be awful...

March 30 I went to see a movie with my friend from school and her friends. It was a new Spanish movie by a famous Spanish director Pedro Almodovar La Piel Que Habito (The Skin  Live In). It was interesting. I don't recommend it if you have a queasy stomach.

April 2 I went with Laura and her friends again to eat Kebabs. It was really fun. They are all funny together.

That friday March 30 was the beginning of Semana Santa (Saint week). There are processions all week with images of Jesus Christ and the Virgin. The first month here I went to Chinchilla and I saw a statue with people dressed in KKK hoods walking with the cross. At the time I figured it had to mean soemthing else because I don't think they would have statues of the KKK in Spain and now I know. 

Each "paso" is held up on the shoulders by a group of people. Each one tells one part in the life of Jesus. Their are drums and horns as well. 

It was really beautiful and you could tell it meant a lot to everyone. 

This is a picture of one night when we ate dinner with the neighbors. I like the way they eat here

April 4th was my birthday

I cooked lunch with my host mom, croquettes and tortilla de patatas

That day I had one friend named Paula who showed up at the house and asked me if I want to go get a coffee or something and so we went. And we sat there and talked for a while. Then my host mom called and said that my host brother, Federico, didn't feel well and she asked us if we could come back to the house to look after him because they had to go to mass. So we payed for everything and went back to the house and in the kitchen there was a surprise party for me!

We ate pizza and cake and it was really fun and a complete surprise. 

That night I went to my favorite procession. The day Christ died where at 12 in the morning April 5th it's supposed to be pitch black and completely silent and people walk with the cross over their shoulders. Some people go barefoot, some go without shirt or pants and only underwear and some go with chains on their ankles through the street carrying a cross. Then the last things Jesus said are displayed on crosses. It was pretty intense when it's pitch black and all you hear are chains shuffling with feet and one drum. Although it's supposed to be completely silent, there are always those people who have to make a scene and they start talking or yelling. They just happened to be right behind us. 

The next day Mercedes came and we went to see some more processions. 

It was a very beautiful day

May 13 my host parents and the neighbors went to New York to meet up with and see their daughter who is in Missouri for a year. That week we ate at my host mom's mom's house and one day with another neighbor. I like how the floor we live on is like a little community and they all know each other. 

The time before they went to New York my host father was planning everything. He's always wanted to go to New York and he was really excited. My host mom and my neighbor were scared of the plane ride and weren't really excited or unexcited about New York but they never talked about it. They rather go to some place like a castle or more natural. My host mom said the first day there, her and my neighbor didn't like it and they thought it's just a bunch of buildings. But when they saw Manhattan at night with all the lights while New York by Frank Sinatra was playing they thought it was incredible. They went to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building at night and said the view was "precioso". Then they also went to Washing DC and they thought it was more beautiful than NY, in a different way, but more beautiful. The said they would be walking down the street and they would see something and they would understand some things that I do. In the beginning months I almost walked outside in sandals and they only wear sandals here for the beach and the pool and in NY they saw that everyone was wearing sandals. They said they like the chicken wings, the deli and the hotdogs. My host mom didn't like corn bread. They said the coffee was the worst thing. They said it taste like extremely hot dishwater, and it does. The coffee their is soo much worse than the coffee here. They searched the whole time for good coffee and finally they found one but really expensive. 

One thing they also said they noticed is the huge number of fat people there. They were amazed at how many people are, not just a little overweight, but huge and that they understand because one plate of the food you get in a restaurant can feed four people. That's USA for you. They bought my host brother a NY Yankees hat and they bought him and I converse. My host dad and my neighbor also bought iPads because they were about $200 cheaper. They bought some candy corn and marshmallows and kit kats (which are here) for Federico too.

But they said it was amazing and they had a great time. 

We go to a lot of places to have tea. This is one thing I'm going to miss a lot. There are a lot of little cosy places where you can just go to talk or hang out that don't cost a lot. You can go to e tea place to drink tea or smoke the cachimba (sp? something they do a lot here)

  There is one place called La Epoca that I really like. It has a whole bunch of old pictures and people leave notes on the wall and there's jazz music. It has a nice environment. Then there's lots a parks where people take their own cachimba and they sit in the park. It's not something I've seen often there in Ohio. 

Us in the park

Us eating at the mall

Another thing I'm going to miss is how easy it is to go from one place to another. You can walk to every place here. If people say it's far that means it's about a 30 minute walk. It's so easy to go place without a car and to meet with friends. Life is much more easier here. I'm going to miss the social life here. When you say you're going to have lunch with someone that means lunch starts at 2 and ends around 530 6 because you eat and talk and drink tea and coffee and dessert and it's nice. 

I'm going to miss the food because American food is... american food. I going to miss the cheese, ham, olives, tapas, tea, coffee, and paella and the way they have traditional dishes and foods and everything is normally fresh. They always have fish or meat and vegetables and fruit. There is always the first plate which is vegetables or something like that, the second plate which is meat or fish and the desert which is dessert or fruit and then they have tea or coffee. I'm going to miss how the whole family has lunch together at the house. 

But at the same time I miss the busy lifestyle of school, sport, home. I miss riding in cars to school in the morning and getting to sleep a little. I miss going barefoot. 

I miss my school. MVS is soooo much better (for me) than this school here. It's very unorganized. We had two days off of school and none of our teachers knew it until we told them. It's much more public and everything is based off of grades for college. It's not like there where it's based on grades and extra curricular and volunteer and interviews and stuff. Here it's your grades and an exam and money. One thing I've noticed is that in history class they learn about the whole world, Americas, Europe, Africa, everywhere and I don't ever remember learning about the history of Africa. The way they learn is much harder. It's much more remember stuff than learn stuff for a test. 

I miss not thinking that everything will eventually come to an end (even though it will but that's not what I mean). There's always July 3rd and knowing that I might never see this place again. This whole year has gone so fast and it's basically just a countdown until I return and knowing that everything is going to change, which is sad, but the saddest part is that life is also basically a countdown and every year for the rest of my life will go this fast. It's a little depressing.

Obviously I'm going to miss my family and friends here a lot. And I miss my family and friends there a lot too. I don't want to leave but I'm ready to go at the same time. Oh well, moving on.

April 26 I went to see Los Juegos de Hambre "The Hunger Games" with Paula. April 30 we all went out to eat and bowl. May 1st I started going to the pool. 

May 3 was my 200th day in Spain.

May 6th was mother's day and we went to the golf course and had churros for breakfast. 

Today and Yesterday it was 93-almost 100 degrees outside. People still wearing jackets and pants. I don't get it. May 11, today, my class had a huge history exam so we didn't have school two days before. Afterwards we went to eat and then to the park. And that's all for now...

[oliviamadison]

Wow awesome I would love to go over Spain which I will hopefully soon. Anyways my question how did it all start? Did you learn the language before you went? When you got there what was it like was it like what you thought it was going to be like or worse or even better than you thought?

It all started when I contacted my rotary club head and then they gave me the paperwork and I started on it and had some interviews. I got Rosetta stone two months before I went but I didn't know any spanish. Everything that I worried about turned out to be the easiest things to deal with and vise versa. I was mainly worried about my family, the language because a bad family can ruin a whole trip and not knowing how to speak can be a little lonely. The things I didn't worry about was making friends and the school work which all turned out to be very hard especially when I live away from all the other exchange students. But in general everything is better than I thought it would be.

[oliviamadison]

Hi, I'm Livi, I'm also in Rotary. I got Spain as well, so reading your blog is pretty awesome. Are there any sort of things you should definitely avoid doing in Spain, or any tips/advice?

One thing I noticed and was told is that you have to have both hands on the table when eating, they don't wear sweatpants unless they are working out or in the house, they iron everything right after they get it out of the dryer, and they don't go barefooted. There are other things but they probably vary family to family. ONe advice with the language would be to talk all the time, even if you sound like a toddler. Hope this helped!

[oliviamadison]

Valencia

Febuary 1 we had another strike but this time there was a manifestation and one of my friends went so I decided to go with her, plus I'd get out of school. 

We walked from a park to the building of culture and education where someone gave a speech on why they were protesting. I know that they were protesting on education because they think the gov wants to privatize education but then my host mom said that that wasn't going to happen so I still don't know exactly what was going on. But it was a good experience and, again, no school.

Then we went to the park and they tried to organize a shut in at a school. They are chose school number one, which is the one I go to, but I'm not allowed to go because there will be police.

On Feb 3 Federico had to make chocolate chip cookies to sell for the Scouts and so I helped them make American chocolate chip cookies. They didn't turn out the same. We used margarine, not butter so they were a little more thin, but good. 

 Feb 10 I went to a meeting with all the scout groups in Castilla La Mancha, Albacete is the capital of Castilla La Mancha. Of course, I forgot my camera but it was really fun. Each group had to do a part in a "talent show". Our group didn't because we didn't have many people and we weren't staying the whole time. We were standing in the parking lot area and some person was banging on a box or something, like he was playing the drums and then another person came over with a guitar and they all started singing and dancing very traditional sounding spanish music. It was cool. Then when we got to the auditorium where the talent show was happening there were about 2000 or more people and they had drums and horns, and whistles and music and it was really loud. They were all dressed up in there groups costumes for the show and it was interesting. When the show started one group would show a powerpoint about their group and with that powerpoint they would play a song. Everytime a song came on everyone was jumping and dancing and with so many people it got kind or crazy. After the powerpoint the group would do their act and then once they were done people would start playing the drums again and chanting and singing, so the show went very very slow. We didn't stay the whole time. It was fun, I wish I had my camera.

Feb 16 I went to Valencia to see the Fallas. It is a celebration of Saint Joseph. Each neighborhood in Valencia has a group of people that raise money and have fundraisers all year long to be able to make their falla. These fundraisers are usually dinners with a specialty of Paella. Each falla is eventually burnt. Usually ever falla makes fun of something that happened in the news of spain, or the world, but mainly in Valencia that year. Usually its very traditional valenciana but sometime there will be lady gaga or george bush. They work all year long to make these fallas which are five story high, made of paper, wax, wood. Each neighborhood also has falleras that dress up in traditional valencia dresses. 

I can't tell you what happened in the news that influenced the falla because all the signs were in Valencian. 

These are the falleras

There are also smaller ones for kids

This isn't a falla just a truck with a ham leg on it.

This is the bullfighting plaza

This is the train station

We went to an old spanish house and it was beautiful. We went on the balcony to see the fireworks.

This is on the balcony. You can see another falla. Usually the bigger and more creative the falla means the neighborhood has more money. This was a very big falla. Which makes sense because the house (apartment) we went to was huge.

This is a tree of famous Valencian oranges

There were tons of people. This isn't even a small portion of them

This is the entrance ceiling  to the building where the house is

This is the door

The entrance

Random picture

Another falla from the back. This is the falla of the ayuntamiento, which, I think, is like the town hall

Another random

This is the falla from the front

I just liked this building

More falleras. They just walked around the city or their neighborhood with music and a band playing

This falla was like a tribute to the artist who have died. Amy winehouse, james brown whitney houston

elvis john lennon

I think this is part of the cathedral

This is the front of cathedral

This is inside the cathedral. It was huge, pictures don't do any justice.

This is the hand of a Saint. It's real

This is the virgin and all the falleras bring flowers and they put the flowers on her to make her clothes. I only got to see it finished on tv but it was pretty. They don't burn this part.

This is a pic from the internet

This is another small church

This is the bull fighting arena

This is my favorite falla. Every year they choose one pice of a falla and store it in a museum. This falla had the piece on it. 

The past weekend I went to the bullfighting arena in Albacete and I got to see a school for bullfighters practicing. It was really cool and it's beautiful, the moves and the music. They weren't wearing the normal outfits but they were still cool.

These are the normal outfits

And also the bulls were very small

This is unfortunately when they killed it.

At the end the audience throws flowers if they do well. Also they get an ear of the bull or two and if they do really well they get two ears and the tail

What they do is the release the bull and then have three of four people with practice cape and they try to tire the bull or see how strong he is and how he moves. Then the bullfighter comes out and practices with him. Then someone comes out and sticks these two rods in his back. In the pictures they are the colorful things on the bulls back. After that the bullfighter uses the real cape (red) and starts bullfighting. I don't know how they know this, but when it's time the bullfighter has to try to stick a knife all the way through the bulls back. If they are good they kill him with one try. They cut the ear or tail, if needed, and then a horse drags the bull off. The bullfighter walks around the stadium to collect flowers and stuff that the audience gives him. It was a little hard to watch them kill the bull but the movements and the music is beautiful. 

[oliviamadison]

Random Stuff that has happened.

Some time ago my class had to help with volunteer. So I helped make a poster. There was another girl, Laura, Eduardo and 4 or 5 other boys. We arrive at the school and the other boys have the poster. When we find a room to do the poster in we realize we don't have anything except this poster and a pencil, no crayons, markers, paint or anything. So two of the other boys go out to buy some stuff for the poster but they also go out to get food for themselves. When they return they have their food but, they forget the stuff we needed, not that they didn't pay for it because they did, but they forgot it. So they had to go back out and get it. Brilliant people. 

So anyway the night of the talent show our poster was hanging up on the wall. It is for Manos Unidas. Alicia and Maiden were the presenters and Paula and Eduardo spoke as well on the project and the organization and the rest of my class was behind the scenes doing stuff.

Here is Paula and Eduardo with some other two people. I think they are with Manos Unidas.

This is Alicia and Maiden as presenters.

It was really nice and there was actually a lot of talent, dancers, amazing piano players, percussion on trash cans, a skit in german, and a girl sang Someone Like You by Adele. 

This is us at the program

This is from, a long time ago, when we went ice skating

One day my family and I were finishing up having lunch when the doorbell rang and I was expecting it to be Rosa to come over and have coffee or something but it was Amelia. She was on vacation and she came for a few days. 

For english we have to get in groups and do a sketch of Monty Python

Alicia, Maiden, Laura and I did the restaurant sketch. I was the Manager who stabs himself at the end

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdzqTGmEcZE 

Another group with Paula, Gonzalo, Pouty and Efrén did this sketch 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo

This is when I went with Alicia, Laura and Pouty. The picture is small because on Tuenti (which is like Facebook but I hate it and everyone here uses it) you can't download photos when they are big. Why, I don't know.

This is when I went to have tea.

[oliviamadison]

I'm not sure if I'm replying in the right place... haha. Let me know if I'm doing anything wrong ^^U. I'm at the university right now but my girfliend studied in Sabuco #1 ^^. Yeah, it's cold now, but not as previous winters. You'll miss this cold when summer comes!! It's incredibly hot!

This is the right place. I hope it's hot, this summer I'll be in southern Spain.

[oliviamadison]

Your blog is just amazing!!! Did you have to beat out a certain amount of people to get chosen or how does it work? are you becoming almost fluent in spanish?

Thank you! I think so. There were a lot of people that went to interview that I never saw after the interview. Right now I can understand everything if I'm not really tired and when I speak, phrases and sentences that I say everyday come out faster than stuff that I don't say much. I just need to widen my vocabulary and practice speaking more.

[oliviamadison]

Hello! i was wondering if you're family is also hosting a student while you are gone?

Hello. Nope, my family isn't hosting anyone.

[oliviamadison]

so how did it all start? did you just hear about it and then email the head person of your rotary club? i want to know because i am very interested in doing the same thing as you! is it hard to get chosen? whats the amount of $$$ i should be saving? (if that isn't too personal)

I just emailed the head of the rotary club in my area and told them that I was interested and what steps I need to take. Then they sent me an application and I started on it.  I don't think it's hard to get chosen unless you have like a drug history or something. You have to be open minded and show them the best side of you. I see people who are on exchanges now and I'm surprised they were chosen to go. :) Regarding money, you should just save it all. The plane ticket can easily be $1500, then you need money while you're in your country, and if you want to take trips they can cost another $1000. But if you really want to do it the cost is definitely worth it. 

[oliviamadison]

Hi! I'm from Albacete and watched your tumblr. Do you like it? ^^ Are you still here? For how long?

Hola. What school do you go to? I go to Sabuco #1 .I love Albacete, it's a little colder than I thought it would be right now though. As of right now I'm here until July.

[oliviamadison]

Los Reyes Magos

The next morning, January 1, we went to Alicante to take Mercedes and Amelia to the airport. It was a very sad morning. But it was very warm. After we dropped them off we walked around Alicante at the beach 

This is a castle which was right across the street from the beach.

This is the beach.

The city

Once we walked around we ate at McDonalds. Federico wanted to eat at KFC because he had never tried it but it was way t hot in there and it smelled really bad (it smelled like KFC). Then we got ice cream and then we returned. It was a great day of sun and calor.

I took a picture of the mountains

This is a Belen in the cathedral

On the day of the three kings, Jan 6, which was also Federico's birthday, 11 years old, there was a parade. I went alone because Federico was sick. There were floats with movie characters and then in between each one there was a king.

This one had Woody

Fineas and Pherb

Shrek

The next morning the Three Kings came. 

At night we put our shoes out and we write a letter to the three kings saying that we have been good and what we would like. Then we set out champagne and ??. For the day of the three kings we eat  roscu the night before for dinner and the next morning for breakfast. Sometime people put whipped cream in the middle and on the outside is nuts and dried fruit. I liked it, but only with milk. I didn't like it alone.

I got this jacket and some pants, a leather purse, a sweater and scarf, a necklace that the kings left me in Rosa's house, and a box for my jewelry. Federico got books, a nerf gun, a ball for his hamster to go in and run around the house, and for his birthday he got a mini-laptop, a shirt with LMFAO Everyday I'm shufflin' (the kings got that from the USA), and Call of Duty 3.

That was the end of the Holidays!

[oliviamadison]

Here is a "paper" I wrote for Philosophy. Aquí es un "papel" escribé para Filosofia.

I had to write on the behavior of a little sibling.

Yo tuve que escribir sobre de un hermano pequeño.

This is a translation more or less.

Este es un traducción mas o menos. 

I numbered the paragraphs to make it easier to read. He puesto numeros para ser más facíl leer. 

1. My brother Federico is 11 years old. Although I don't know much about the behavior of little boys because I have not been around many, I have seen that Federico, like I imagine little boys, loses his focus very easily. He can be doing one thing but when he is shown another thing that he likes he completely forgets the first thing he was doing. Another thing I have seen is that a lot of things need to be said to him a lot of times for this reason. But all of this is normal for boys and girls his age. 

2. But unlike other little boys I imagine, he is not selfish (or self-interested). He is not selfish like other kids his age are. This is a surprise to me because being the youngest of the family I have seen that normally the youngest sibling is more selfish. He is always sharing his things. I don't think many others little kids are like that.

3. Also he is a very calm kid. He is not always moving and yelling and crying. Some other kids I have seen are screaming and always doing something. They can't stop always moving and jumping  and they are very tiring. 

Overall Federico is a good kid. I have had much luck with him. (or having him as a brother)

1. Mi hermano Federico tiene 11 años. Aunque no sé mucho del comportamiento de chicos pequeños porque no he estado con muchos pero yo he visto que Federico, como imagino un chico pequeño, no presta atentión muy facilmente. Él puede estar haciendo una cosa pero cuando una cosa le gusta, él olvida completemente la primero cosa estuvo haciendo. Un otro cosa he visto es que ser le tiene que decir las cosas mucho veces por este razon. Pero todo de este cosas son normal para chicos y chicas su edad. 

2. Pero a diferencia de otro chicos pequeños yo me imagino, él no es egoísta. Él no es egoísta cosa que los niño de su edad normalmente si que lo son. También es mi sopresa porque siendo el mas joven de la familia yo he visto que normalmente la hermano mas pequeño es mas egoísta. Él siempre comparte todas sus cosas que tiene. No creo que muchos de otro niños pequeños son asi. 

3. También es un niño muy tranquillo. No está siempre moviendo y gritando y llorando. Algunos otros niños he visto estuvieron gritando y siempre estuvo haciendo algo. No pudo parar siempre estaba moviendo y saltando y está con ellos eran muy cansado.  

Total Federico está un chico bueno. Yo he tenido muhco suerte con él.

As you can see (or not) my english a little worse than my spanish right now or they're both bad. 

Como se puede ver (o no) mi inglés es un poco peor que mi español ahora o las dos son mal.

[oliviamadison]

Tortilla de Patatas

I made Tortilla de Patatas. It was pretty good. 

[oliviamadison]

Navidad y Nuevo Año!

On Saturday Dec 24 Noche Buena I went with Amelia to eat with some of her cousins. We went to one cafeteria and ate some tapas, which are little appetizers, and then we went to another place and had more tapas and hamburgers. We ate from 1-6. After they went to a place to dance but Amelia and went to the house because Mercedes came back from London. 

At around 930 we left the house and went to a little "cabin" were we were going to have dinner with mi madre's family. 

Federico and part of the dinner table

Me and the table

Two sisters of mi madre did a song

We did Amigo invisible which is Secret Santa. Each person had to sit in the middle of everyone starting with the youngest to the oldest and then your amigo would give you your present.

The next day I we went to Mass and then after we had lunch with mi padre's family of 40 or more people. 

Us (the jacket I have on was my present from mi madre's madre.

  This is the table I sat at

This is Paella it's a very famous typical dish here

For lunch we ate- bread (always), ham and cheese, croquettas, calamari, and then we could choose between fish, steak, or paella.

This is me at the mall where the three Reyes Magos sit

This when we had Gazpacho. It's very typical too

One day some cousins and Federico and I went ice skating 

  This is another day mi padre made Paella.

Once day we went to Chinchilla to see a huge Belen

This is teh castle. There is always a castle in the Belen (or at least the one's I've seen)

A stubborn donkey

This is Los Reyes Magos traveling. 

The lights would change from day to night. And mis padres said that some years they make it rain

This is when Mercedes and I went to the mall

ON New Years Eve everyone ate lunch together, meaning Mercedes madre, Federico padre, Mercedes, Raul, Amelia, Carlos, Federico and me. For dinner we all ate together too. We ate a lot of fish. Isabel was there for dinner through Skype.

This all of us and Federico took the picture

L-R Carlos, Amelia, Federico padre, Mercedes madre, Raul, me, Mercedes

We had champagne ready (which is disgusting) and 12 grapes. For every ring of the bells we had to eat one grape, and obviously there are twelve of them. This tradition started because a long time ago a man had way too many grapes and so he started the tradition for everyone to eat grapes (this is what I  understood). After some neighbors came over and we played playstation, Dance, singing, until 5 in the morning. 

more to come...

The next morning

[oliviamadison]

Madrid!

I have been a little behind and a lot has happened, so here I go

Tuesday, a long time ago, I said my scary story in English and I don't think many people understood me. I tried to talk pretty slow and I used simple words. Some understood me because at one point they laughed. Some of my classmates said that they don't think the english teacher understands me very well when I talk. I don't think he does either but everyone here learns British english so the accents are different.

In history we had an exam over about 200 pages so I accepted the fact that I was going to fail it. I read one or two pages in about 55 minutes so 200 pages is impossible in a few days. When the teacher gave me the test back he said that he was happy with my test even though I failed it. So it wasn't so bad. 

Also in Literatura we have two papers to write one with 300-400 words and another with 1200-1400 words on either Tartuffe, Hamlet or Death of a Salesman. I think I'm going to do it on Death of a Salesman.

One day I went with a friend Laura and her two friends and we ate tortitas, pancakes, and walked around. We mostly talked about Spain and the USA. We talked about New York, because one of her friends wants to go to New York, Hollywood too, and the soccer teams Real Madrid vs. FCBarcelona (but I will get to that later). The same girl who wants to go to New York said she wants to be the president of Spain like Obama. They asked me if I think shows like Date My Mom and Next have scripts or only have people with a lot of money waved in their faces. This was my first time going with people beside my family and it was really fun.

And I saw this and liked it

I learned a new pattern in knitting and I have started my scarf.

Everyone here is very helpful. When I was with Laura they all not only waited for me to talk but they also taught me some words and phrases.

Thursday I heard I was going to Madrid for the weekend to have Thanksgiving dinner so I got packed. At 11:00 I walked tot he train station, the same one with the movie theater. 

It was about an hour and 45 minute ride to Madrid. They played Charlie Saint Cloud and I understood enough with subtitles. When I got in the train station the doors were weird. They were automatic but they looked like I had to have something to get through so I asked some lady how I get to the metro and she kept saying go through the doors or the gate but I got confused because I thought I was missing some of what she was saying or how to get through the gate and I had to ask her 3 times. She had a really bad attitude but I figured it out anyway. I got on the metro and it smelled really bad like pee. I had to take the metro to Monclou (sp?) and then get off and walk to Calle Marques de Urujo (sp?). When I got there I waited in a cafe and had a smoothie. 

This is in Madrid

This is right outside of Monclou station

This is a street on Madrid, on my way to the Rotary office

This is a Corte Ingles, there are many and they are big

While waiting in the office I met a girl named Olivia. She is from Vancouver Canada and lives in Madrid. She had also only been here one month. We walked around and bought roasted chestnuts that they sell on the street. She told me about  her school and how since she came here late she got the "bad" school. She said people in her class curse at the teacher and do drugs during class and one girl tried to light her hair on fire. She thinks they have some mental problems.

Then we went to the restaurant

This is the sunset

Other exchangers joined us who also came late to Spain and some who didn't come late. We talked about the rules and the rotary trips. Then more people came and we talked more. After that we went upstairs and we ate. Por Fin. Everyone was hungry

We had many things, bread (siempre) sausages, croquettas, soup, turkey, potatoes, and then dessert. We sang American Pie and then introduced ourselves to the other Rotarians and parents. I said "Hola me llamo Olivia. Soy de Estados Unidos, Ohio y yo vivo en Albacete. These are the pictures of the feast https://picasaweb.google.com/esmc49/Thanksgiving2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCPCq0fG0isPQrQE&feat=email#

Then I went home with a family and another exchanger. Bennet, he has been here for 2 months and has studied spanish before so he can understand everything and talk very well. 

The next morning I went with Eduardo to the office. And then I walked around Madrid... by myself. It was either by myself or sit in an office all day. 

This is a cathedral and the government building.

On the street

There was a market in the park

In this park an old man came up to me and talked to me. First he said "Tu eres guapa" and I said thank you. He asked me if I was studying here and I said yes. But then things got a little creepy when he asked me if I was alone.  I thought he was being polite and just talking to me because you don't expect many old men to come up to you like that. Then he asked me if I want him to show me around Madrid so I said no and I hurried away. After that I was kind of paranoid, always clutching my bag, and anytime someone said anything to me I would walk away. 

  Then I saw this huge cathedral. There was a garden on the side of it.

This is a park in front of the cathedral

There were a lot of street entertainers

The garden at the side of the cathedral

Jardin de Sabatini, I knew I wouldn't remember the name

Real Cinema

Across from the Real Cinema

Calle de Gran Via

Christmas tree and movie theater

This was in a store and I liked it Spongebob and the Little Prince

Puerta de Sol. Sol is the place where everything happens. When we watch the news they are usually broadcasting in Sol or the news is happening at Sol

Sol Metro Station

This statue is the "symbol" of Madrid. A bear reaching up at a tree

This is a just sitting on top of buildings. Typical architecture here and people look at this everyday and think nothing of it.

And unfortunately this is when my camera died. After I went and had lunch with Eduardo and his wife. Then at 5 I went to Puerta del Sol to meet with Olivia and Holly another girl I met at the dinner. While I was waiting, of course when I didn't have my camera, there was a Mariachi band playing so I stood and watched. While watching an old man came up to me and again asked me if I was studying here and if I was alone and if I wanted to get coffee. So I said no, I'm not alone, and then he said "No you're alone" and he kept insisting. So I just stood there and ignored him and he finally went away. Then another man was standing next to me and he said "He went away" and I said yes. I was very hesitant to talk to him because of previous experiences. He told me that he had exchange students and that there are a lot of crazy people in Madrid. Then Olivia and Holly came.

We went to a yogurt place and had frozen yogurt. While we were eating a homeless man walked in and in this packed yogurt cafeteria he walks up to me and only me and starts pointing at my food and saying por favor. At first we thought he wanted a menu but, no, he wanted my food. And then another man shooed him out of the place. I don't understand why all the creepy people come to me. Holly and Olivia said that they had never had old men come up to them and talk to them and homeless men asking them for their food. But my second day in Madrid all these weirdos come up to me.

So we ate and went to a store that sold a bunch of stuff with bulls on it. Then we decided to go photo bombing. It was the first night that the lights were turned on (lucky me) and everyone was taking pictures so we had plenty of chances. Then we went to some souvenir shops and looked around. There was one man who very creepily hit on Olivia. It was really fun.

It's funny because it's amazing how fast you can make friends when you can speak to each other. I spent one night with them and know them but in my school I still didn't really talk to many people. 

After that I went back to the house I was staying with and we played Wii. Bennett's host father does special effects in films, which I thought was really cool and he had hundreds of movies in his house. 

The next day I went with the family I'm staying with and we walked around. We went to a market and then we drove around Madrid. I saw the humongous Real Madrid stadium (I want to go soo bad but it's really expensive). 

Everyone in Madrid kept saying that my spanish was really good for only being here one month and never studying it before. It's probably because Rotary put me in Albacete, more than 45 minutes away from other exchange students, so I have nobody to speak in english with whereas the kids in Madrid have 15 to 20 other people to talk with and they all hang out and speak english. So while I am lonely and late making friends I will speak more spanish. 

On Monday during Quimica the teacher never showed up so we took pictures. During physics some of my classmates told me what they think of when they think of USA.

They said cheeseburgers, good music and movies, cute American boys, and lockers. They really like lockers. 

More soon...

[oliviamadison]

I have a huge post coming up soon but in the meantime these are the pictures from the Thanksgiving dinner in Madrid

https://picasaweb.google.com/esmc49/Thanksgiving2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCPCq0fG0isPQrQE&feat=email#