That month that always seemed so far away/Expiration date

June. That's tomorrow. What does that mean? No more school in the afternoon, now we only have from 830 - 200 every day. Final tests of the year (not finals, just my last 3 tests), warm weather, summer, schools out, fiestas, birthdays... Oh, and my last month. Its not time to reflect yet, Im still in my anteanteantepenultimate (5th to last) week, and after talking about it with my host dad I realized Id be so much better following his advice- until now I've been doing "vida normal," I settled in here a long time ago and by now I can get through my morning routine with my eyes closed. It feels like I've been living here all my life (most of the time), so why should I act or think any differently now?
I was going through a bit of an end-of-exchange crisis, but slowly I've pushed myself away from those thoughts (as a journalist once said "dont worry, or worry, but know that worrying is about as useful as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum") and I feel like a certain calmness has set over me. But this calmness wasnt something I lost because of the anxiety and the proximity of my flight date, it actually dissapeared a few months ago (between February and April, sometime) and after a week of complete stress (two projects that had to get done, a test to study for about a topic we barely had time to cover in class in spanish that I knew everything about but screwed up on the test, and a latin quiz about pronouns which I only had time to study for the night before) I feel relief but also a bit of the laziness where you get over a really difficult week but still have half of all the work to go and you just want to stay in bed and read all day for a few days. I kind of got off topic there and I know the sentence didnt really make that much sense, but what I was trying to say was, I haven't completely gained this calmness back yet because of the schoolwork and the gloomy weather, but I know its there, and Im glad it is.
To explain myself better, Id like to refer to a past blog post where I talked about how the warmth reminded me of the beginning of my year here and how there was a point this year where my mind had opened up to the world. That period was one of my favorite emotional states to look back upon because I felt more like "myself" (just generally more comfortable with everything I did) than ever and it was a stage where I often spaced out, caught upon a train of thought thatd appear out of nowhere and I felt a lot more inspired to learn, to read and especially to write. Now, a few months later, even though it feels like decades, and a lot of experiences later as well, I feel like I'm returning back to that state of mind, this time with nearly perfect language skills to express myself, and another language on its way (actually, Im writing a poem in my euskera class, which even I didnt know I was capable of). In general, I'm really happy with my experience here, and I think i'll keep doing things that way, expiration date or not.

Thirty-ninth week

Thirty-eighth week

This is how I spend my Sunday nights.

Me faltan horas en el día

I was just talking to a friend online and realized an important lesson I've learned. Sorry for the gramatical errors.


Thats what this year is about, losing yourself and finding yourself again. Itd be nice if we coud go back to the beginning and knowing everything we know now, do it a whole lot better (learn euskera, get rid of that accent, read in spanish more, personally, write more, get better grades, be more interactive with friends, not be on the computer so long, watch more movies...) but the whole point is that we didnt do all that because we didnt know what itd be like and thats exactly what this whole things about.one of the most important lessons ive learnt here is to truly value my time. Ive learnt to forget about stupid tv programs and take an interest in movies, ive learnt that writing poetry in another language thats not yours is not imposible, ive learnt to understand euskera and hold a basic conversation or talk about what i did yesterday and what im doing tomorrow, ive made a ton of new friends who ill never forget and miss dearly (not only from here, but from aroud the world), ive learned what its like to plan your own trips and deal with everyone thinking youre just too young, ive seen the three autonomous communities of spain, ive walked 112km in 5 days, i have read books in spanish even if they havent been at a very high level, ive even learnt a basis of latin. But the most important thing ive learnt is that there arent enough hours in the day everything i want to do, and thats the greatest feeling in the world.

The exchange experience

For those wondering what its like, as a general description, to go through a year of exchange, here's a link to a friends blog (living in the south of spain) who wrote about it. I'd try to describe it myself, but I don't think I could put it any better than she did. I'm in complete agreement with everything she says here: http://marybeth-afs.blogspot.com/2011/05/illusion-of-exchange.html

Relax, take it easy

The last two months of my experience here have been and will serve to basically enjoy every moment, now that I can communicate extremely well with the people around me and just knowing and having made a lot of good friends. My life here has turned into a more or less "normal" routine type of thing, and so I'm presented with the opportunity to now do 'more' than just the routine, because the routine used to be difficult and filled up all my time and kept me entertained (also studying was something to take up the time and a large responsibility, but keeping up with my grades now is easier as well). Monday, right after school, my friends and I rushed to the train station and 15 minutes later we were at the beach. I even jumped into the ocean with two of my friends. It was pretty cold but I really felt like jumping in and it was quite a great experience. We spent the afternoon doing homework in the sand, playing volleyball which later turned into soccer because the majority of us were soccer players and enjoying the sun and hot temperature. I plan on learning to surf with a friend who knows how soon enough and I hope to be able to go to the city for the day this weekend. Also, I went to the highest mountain in the area, which was only 800km hiigh, so not much of a mountain, and we hiked up to the top. It was a nice way to start the Sunday and really relaxing. I feel like the end of this experience is just a great way to take it easy.

Adventures in April cont

After the end of course trip, I went to Galicia with some of my fellow AFSers from all around Spain to do the last five steps of the Camino de Santiago. In total, we walked 112km, about 20 km a day, excluding the second day where we walked almost 30. The routine was wake up, eat breakfast, walk, collapse from the happiness of finally arriving at the hostel, eat lunch (some days we ate during the walk), take a siesta, do a few activities with the volunteers for an hour or so, relax, eat dinner, sleep and repeat. The experience overall was amazing. We walked from 5 to 8 hours a day, talking amongst our group, getting to know eachother, walking in silence and observing our beautiful surroundings. My favorite day in terms of scenery was the first, where we really walked through Galician countryside and everything was so green and the air was so fresh (although it wasnt too much of a change, living in the basque country, but coming from new jersey, I always appreciate it). I had a lot of time to think and reflect as well as look ahead, and I actually got so used to walking that two days after we finished it felt weird not getting up and starting the day off with a long walk. I would definitely consider doing it again, possibly alone and a longer distance.
After arriving at Santiago (seeing the front of the cathedral was such a relief, we all starting hugging and actually tried to get everyone to dance the macarena) we all went out to lunch, and I actually got into quite an interesting philosophical conversation with some of my fellow AFSers. I felt like the group dynamic between all of us was really good, and that if you wanted to join a conversation with people you didnt know from before (most people did know at least one person from their region from beforehand) everyone would welcome you to join. Even the volunteers felt like a part of the group, like friends. There was just an overall understanding between all of us, a certain similarity that even though some of us were very different in terms of personality, we all shared.
Returning back to the host family , we actually went to Catalunya to spend the rest of break there. I got to walk around Barcelona, see the Mediterranean, and I got to know what its like to have the car break down in the middle of the highway on your birthday. Overall, it was a great experience.

Thirty-sixth week

Aventuras en abril

The month started off with the Matt and Kim concert, which feels like decades ago by now. Then, after a week of tests and projects, we had an AFS orientation with those staying here as exchange students in the Basque Country as well as those from the Basque country going abroad this summer and next school year. Then, the Monday after, my grade and I went on the viaje de fin de curso (end of course trip) from Monday to Friday. We went to Jaca, a town next to the Pyrenees, to do rafting, paintball and other sports of the sort. We spent two days there and then went to Barcelona to spend the day there Wednesday. We spent most of the day in the bus, and when we went through Barcelona we had a guide come on the bus and talk to us as we drove through the city. We got off for about 45 minutes to see the park of Gaudi and about 5 minutes to take pictures of the Sagrada Familia, but we really didnt get to get a good look of all tourist attractions except for a glance from the bus windows. Then, we went to Calafell, a town in Catalunya, because the hotel was there. Thursday, we went to Port Aventura, an amusement park in another city in Catalunya, and spent the day there. In the hotels at night we all gathered in eachothers rooms, whcih was probably my favorite part. Later i'll tell the rest of the story.

Thirty-fifth week

Thirty-fourth week

Thirty-third week