Snow Bunnies

 This past Sunday – Monday the family and I packed up the car and took a small road trip about an hour and a half north of Barcelona to the ski mountain of “La Molina”.  In addition to Roman, Ana, Emma, Ana and I, we met up with some of their close family friends Domingo and Ana, and their daughter Ana, son-in –law Paco, and grandson Francisco.

We met up at about 8:45 Sunday morning in the town of Gava, one town over from Castelldefels, and followed them the rest of the way to the resort. Even from a half hour away you could tell we were getting close because all of a sudden the roads became narrower and the mountains became crazy tall and.... SNOW COVERED! I know I am from a place that is NO stranger to snow, but for a whole year without it I was like a little kid on Christmas morning when I saw it in person again! Not to mention this time I got the best of both worlds, snow and sunny, high 40 degree weather! Honestly I don't know how the snow wasn't melted and slushy because it was sooo warm!

Anyway, once we got there we headed to the rental store. The workers there had this routine down to a science! I mean seriously it was packed, they asked our shoe size, weight, we were handed our equipment and out of there all under 20 minutes! I was impressed, not to mention excited out of my mind to hit the slopes for the first time in about two years!

From the rental store we went right to the mountain. We got ready right out of the trunks of our cars and bought our tickets. I was expecting the normal ski tag type thing they give you at Catamount, ya know the kind you loop through a zipper hole with a zip tie? But no! This place was fancy! Here at this mountain you were given a card, just like a hotel room key, that was to be kept in a pocket on your left side. Now, when you went up to a chair lift or the gondola (my very first gondola), there was a turn style with a monitor on the left side. You didn't even have to take the card out of your pocket! The sensor was strong enough to sense it through the snow clothes and then the turn style would let you pass! Just like that!

After that little process you moved into another space where you waited for the actual lift. Right before the lift were little gates, like where a race horse waits for the start of the race. These opened up after the chair passed by and just passed those gates was a conveyor belt that moved you along right until the point of sitting down. I don't know about you, but I was pretty damn impressed!

Another thing about this mountain was it was huge. Maybe not compare to some standards, but personally it was the largest mountain I have ever skied on! Here's a map to give you an idea. 

  

As I said before this mountain was located in the north of Spain. This being said, while riding the gondola you could see the mountains of not only Spain, but also of France and Andorra. So that was also pretty cool, in and of itself. 

Paco and I skied the most on Sunday skipping lunch just because the mountain was so nice. The snow was perfect and there was not a single cloud in the ski. It was basically any skiers dream! After about four or five solid hours of skiing we called it a day, partially because we were tired, partially because the mountain shut down at about 4:30. We walked to the car and took off our ski boots, possibly one of my favorite parts of a ski day is the part where I change from my ski boots to my snow boots. It just makes me feel so accomplished and comfortable haha! 

Hidden in the trunk of the car were sleds! So everyone took those sleds and headed on up the bunny hill to sled! And may I just say Emma is quite the ambitious sledder, pulling 360 stunts and raising the bar by finding higher hills to go down. Everyone else just followed her lead!

From there we headed to the hotel. Since we are a family of five we got once of those apartment style rooms that is two stories! It was a reallllly nice room, but we didn't spend too much time there just yet! We changed into our bathing suits and headed straight to the spa area. 

The ONE thing I did not like about this place was in order to swim in the pool or hot tube you needed to wear..... a swim cap. I HATE SWIM CAPS WITH A BURNING PASSION! I think I lost like half my head of hair trying to fit that thing on and take it off and repeat, and on top of all that, it was yellow. Emma had a normal black one, Ana and Ana had dark blue ones. The family friends brought normal ones from home, but no. Emily gets the one that was a typo in the vending machine of swim caps and came out yellow. Icing on the cake I tell you. On the bright side the water and sauna felt so incredible that I nearly forgot about what an idiot I looked like. **Dad I'm on your side about getting a sauna after this weekend... so I wouldn't be opposed to finding one in the backyard by the time I get home. Just sayin'.**

After our little spa experience all headed up to our room for a Spanish style dinner in, complete with cheeses, empanada (home made and with "La Molina 2014" written on top with extra crust), croquetas de pollo, and a bunch of other small tapas. After eating our fill and talking for awhile we called it a night and headed to bed.

Now the difference between an American ski trip and a Spanish ski trip is the time you wake up. For example, if I were out on a ski trip with my family in NY or Massachusetts we would be waking our butts up at the crack of dawn to get out to the slopes ASAP, here however we were able to sleep in to 10:30 before packing up and heading out!

Once we got to the mountain again, I realized we wouldn't be renting ski's again, but that was alright, we had other things on our minds! We brought out the sleds again and sled while simultaneously watching newbies learn how to ski... and fall on numerous occasions. Here is a video of a combination of all the above...

La Molina 2014

After awhile we sat down at the picnic tables for another Spanish style meal. I could not even tell you how many people walked by eyeing our food! They literally just walked by with their faces glued to the table. Sorry dudes, maybe next time! After lunch Paco lent me his ski equipment so I could go on another few runs before the mountain shut down! However this was the first time I had ever gone skiing with equipement that wasn't exactly my size and let me tell you... SIZE MATTERS! I only ended up doing about two full runs because of all the problems I had. 

First of all, the skies were too long so every time I went to turn one ski found its way on top of the other and decided to chill out there for awhile. Second of all, the boots were too big and I don't think I buckled them tight enough so they kept banging into the front of my shins which quickly became too painful to bare, and even too painful to walk in. On the bright side, since these skis weren't rentals they were not as scratched or as dull as the rentals, which allowed me to glide over the snow with a bit more ease. So after two runs I decided to quit while I was ahead (and not majorly injured) and call it a day.

After that we basically just packed it up and called it quits! We said our good-byes and it was back into the car for the return trip! I love long car rides here because I get to just relax and listen to my music while looking out the window and watching the cool landscape of Spain! I simply can't get over how it's windy mountainous roads one minute and then abandoned houses in the plains the next. Never a dull moment when in Spain! 

Now it is time to mentally prepare myself for school tomorrow and finishing up trimester exams (while Emma and Ana have the week off :/ ), however next weekend is another (or rather a proper) three day weekend, so that's something to look forward to as well as CARNIVAL (I will explain what THAT is next week)!

That's all for now folks! Wish you all could have been there with me because it was definitely an experience to remember! Hope you all had nice weekends as well! Have a nice week! Lots of love!

~Emily

Mid - Year Orientation

This past weekend was the mid-year AFS orientation for all the exchange students in the Catalunya area, and let me tell you, it all went by in a blur!

First of all... I got to leave school early Friday to catch a train to meet the others at the main train station in Barcelona (Barna Sants). From there we all took another train together that was about an hour and a half long to the town of Manresa which is to the northwest of my town here in Spain. This town (more like a small city) had a very cool vintage feel. The train station was right next to a small river with a very old stone bridge over it and a bit above the train station was a large, traditional, Spanish church. Also all through the town, like most towns in Spain, there were signs of older buildings that were broken or run down. I love these types of small imperfections they have here. They add character to the town and a story to the view!

Once we got our rooms and belongings all settled in we had dinner and went up to a meeting room in the hostel to start some activities like we always do. However, just as we were starting we heard drums in the streets. After all peering over each others heads and down at the street below us we saw it was one of those parades with the sparklers / fireworks that are so popular here in Spain. (Not sure if you remember, but I went to a parade similar to this one around Christmas time here in my town). Well, since Spaniards are so laid back and easy going, the volunteers let us ditch the activity, for now, and join in on the action.

Imagine, all thirty or so of us, racing through the very European (long, windy and narrow) streets searching the city for the parade. No worries, we found it! When we got there people were just starting to gather and everyone was beginning to get really into it. There was something so intense and irresistible about joining in on the fun of the parade and soon all of us exchange kids were running into the circle of sparklers (gritting our teeth and bearing with the burn) and dancing in line with the drummers.

We followed the band and fireworks down the streets a bit and just went at it! I mean there was sweat pouring down our faces, small shouts of pain as we got tiny little burns, and most of all, as cheesy as it sounds, smiles. We were having a great time and the people of the town, and in the band, and doing the fireworks were having a blast watching us enjoy it! They let us conga line in between the lines of drummers, and even play on there drums a bit. It was just so free and real, a genuine Spanish experience just like in the movies. After about a 45 minutes or so, the parade was over, we said our goodbyes to the people and headed back to the hostile feeling incredibly special to have had such an experience.

Once in the room, we did an activity where we traced each others faces to tape on the wall so everyone could write messages on them and have a poster of it all to bring home. Also during this time we were introduced to four new students from Austria. It was almost like looking (or maybe I should say listening) back in time and seeing how are Spanish was when we first got here. There was something comforting about knowing how much experience we already have from our stay, and being able to answer their questions about what it's like.

After the activities we kind of just called it a day and all did our individual thing for the rest of the night.

Saturday morning came and we had to be up and down at breakfast by 8:30 AM. Then we went into the activity room to play a game. We were separated into two different groups each given a blanket folded in half. Each team had to stand completely on the carpet and try to flip it over without anyone falling off. My team never finished all the way through like the other team, but we were actually really good at the not falling off part, which was harder than you may think, so that was a plus!

Afterwards we went and walked a bit into town. We checked out a the big church, did a little window shopping. I had probably the best frozen yogurt of my entire life during our "town time" as well. It was frozen yogurt over hot chocolate, Spanish hot chocolate which is a lot thicker than American hot chocolate and just better in my opinion, with Oreo's and strawberries on top.

We went back to the hostel after our little outing for lunch and then a few more activities that were just talking about our experiences and little stuff like that. Then we had a bit of free time so my friends and I went back into the town to do a little more exploring of our own. After coming back to the hostel we did even more activities that I can't really remember right now, but I am sure it was just some more talking.

Later after dinner we were called back to the room where we were told to organize the chairs to all be facing one way with an aisle down the middle, like a theatre almost....... suspicious. Written in the email telling us when and where the orientation would be there were instructions to bring "ropa por una fiesta" (party clothes), but no one would tell us what the party was going to be like.

Once the chairs were arranged we were separated into teams of four and given a mission. All of the groups consisted of one boy and three girls. The boys had to be dressed as girls and the girls had to be dressed as boys (that was enough of a party for me! I got to wear pants all night instead of dressing up into a skirt!!!). In addition each group was given a phrase that we had to make a little skit for. So as you can imagine once we were let loose, we went WILD! Literally our whole floor of the hostile was a mess of people running in and out of rooms gathering the right makeup, clothes, accessories etc. Lucky for me my whole team was staying in the same room so we had more time to actually apply things than just run around gathering them.

My groups line was "Las mariposas estan sonriendo" (the butterflies are smiling) so my group and I came up with the idea to do a news cast about people who are taking anti-depressant pills and then having hallucination of dancing butterflies. Another girl and I would be the news casters, then we would play a "video" of a man (another girl) taking the pills and having hallucinations of the butterfly which would be the one guy or "girl" in our group. This kid was SUCH a good sport! we got him to wear a pencil skirt and a lace bralet with blue eyeshadow and sparkly eyeliner THE WORKS!

Presenting time came and our skit went really well! The "crowd" went WILD when our "butterfly" showed up and started dancing and doing his this as a hallucinated butterfly would and just having a good time. Our skit was SO good that we won best overall and got chocolate because of it! We were not done tormenting these boys yet.

Next we played a game where all the boys, still dressed as girls, left the room while the girls prepared a bench (three chairs covered with a blanket) and one girl sat on each end. The boys outside were told to do who knows what, I guess act like a girl to their best ability, while we were literally just told to sit there. After the boy sat down once on the bench he was told he was doing a bad job and had to leave to try again. After he left the room we would pull out the middle chair of the bench so that when he returned he would fall straight down. NOT ONE BOY KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON! We literally had four or five different guys come in and do it and not one of them had a clue he was going to fall to the floor. No two reactions were the same, but all of them were completely priceless!

One last activity we did that night was called "Looking for my princess". For this one, one guy had to leave the room. While he was gone some volunteers were chosen to sit in a row. Each had to chose somewhere to point to on their person where the boy would have to kiss them. The last person in the line had to point to their mouth, and would have water in their mouth to spit out at the last second. I give this girl props, I mean if it was me I would have laughed so hard that I would have spit out the water before the time came and ruined it all, but she was able to control herself and pulled it off perfectly!

As you can imagine after all this activity we were drained and just went to bed.

Saturday morning came and we were all EXHAUSTED!!!! Literally we ate breakfast, packed our bags, stripped our beds, and all waited in the living room area in these extremely comfortable chairs, half of us sleeping, half of us watching TV fighting the urge to fall asleep. Next up, game time!

The first game we played was freeze tag. I love how carefree Spaniards are because while we were playing this game we were in a room that was basically like an auditorium without the seats, so just ginormous steps filling it up, now in New York at least, adults would be having a cow that we were playing in such a "dangerous setting" but here? Hell no! They're playing along with us!

The next game was ten times more entertaining. We all sat in a circle. The boys were each given a letter and the girls were each given a number. Once that was established someone was chosen to go sit in the middle. Then someone would call out a letter and a number. If the person sitting in the middle was a girl, the boy whose letter it was had to run and kiss her on the face before the girl whose number it was could kiss them on the face while the person in the middle just sat there hoping to make it out with their life. Depending on who kissed who first, the loser would have to sit in the middle and be the next  "victim".

This game was so damn funny! There were literally people tackling each other down, sticking hands in front of each others faces, and laying in the fetal position covering their faces with their hair all just doing what they had to do. Mixed in with it all was the confusion of who was actually suppose to be kissing who so there were some screw ups when a guy ran straight for the other guy and things like that. It was honestly one of the most entertaining games I have ever played in my entire life!

After all that moving around and energizing, they had us do one more activity talking about our experiences, ate lunch, then headed for the train home! It literally all flew by so fast, but I am so glad I was a part of it! All in all it was a weekend I will most definitely never ever forget!

Weekly Rewind

Buenooooooo, pues (alright so)

This was my first "normal" week in a long time. Well then again I don't know how normal you can consider a life abroad, but anyway. I didn't have an activity to do absolutely everyday after school, which I miss, and I had a lot of plain old free time. 

Monday was just a normal school day. I got back into the flow of things and braced myself for a long, routine week. 

Tuesday was another normal day to and from school, nothing special. I may have made brownies after school that day, I am not too sure but they were from a box so I mean... nada especial.

Wednesday hmmmm pretty sure just another low key family day after school. Wednesday I found out that this huge project that everyone else in my class has to do is started this year and completed next year, when I won't be here, therefore I am excluded and can leave school at 1:50 on Wednesdays while all my poor classmates have to work their butts off on some extreme project. 

That same day I was able to skype my family because they had a snow day which just made it so much easier time zone wise and that was fantastic! I love talking with my family and I am so glad I have chosen to keep in close touch with my them throughout this experience, talking a bit more than the program recommends. It has brought us so much closer and I love sharing little everyday details with them that may otherwise never be shared!

Thursday came and I was dying to go to dance! Especially because my class had a bit of a surprise planned! You see the previous Saturday was my dance teachers birthday and we wanted to do something special for her sooo we bought her tickets to the equivalent of a Broadway show. But that's not all. My classmates and I went to the theatre a little early for some preparations. We hung streamers, blew up balloons, and just made the room party presentable. There was even a cake!

This was all a surprise and it was so exciting having to be cautious and continually checking the door to make sure she wasn't coming early or anything like that. As we sat in the dark I realized this would be my first successful surprise party! 

Of course we had a few close calls and a few false alarms because of late comers, but finally we were all together sitting in a dark room waiting with confetti guns in hand waiting for our teacher to walk through the door. Finally we saw the hall light, leading to the room, turn on and we were sure, well as sure as we could possibly be, that it was her. 

She literally opened the door, didn't turn on the light for awhile, and just stood there. There were streamers hanging right in front of her face so I can only assumed what that seemed like in the dark, but when she finally turned on the light, the guns were popped, we sang happy birthday, all hugged each other and all jumped up and down in a huddle, as we have a habit of doing. 

I love this dance class! We are honestly more of a family than just classmates and teacher. I know it sounds cliche, but it's true. 

After a bit more celebrating we went on with the class and realized we had two new students! It was a bit strange having someone new, I wasn't the new kid anymore. I then began to think about it, and we have recently gotten a few new kids in school as well. I'm no longer the new kid there either! Its strange to think about, time passing and people coming and going, but these new changes just made me that much more aware of it! Time goes on, who knew!

After class we went outside as a group and had the birthday cake that someone had made together and just hung out for awhile enjoying each others company. 

Friday came and with it came another normal school day. However, after school my host sister Ana and I went to the public library with the rest of the people from dance class and theatre to put on a small show for the parents and the public. Each class just did a small dance number or sang a song, and it was kind of just like a small talent show.

All the students from my class received official certificates for the sports ceremony the Friday before. It was pretty cool to receive an official certificate, certifying you did something... cool from Spain. It's just cool to have I guess! Afterwards Ana and I walked home together, just talking about school and our days and what not. 

All of Friday night, Saturday and Sunday were low key family days spent at home, which may sound lame to some, but they were just what I needed. We spent some time watching the Olympics together and playing card games and just enjoying time off from activities! 

My first week of "normal" school actually ended up flying by pretty quickly, and its not going to start to slow down now! Wednesday I am going to a on of my AFS friends towns a few train stops away and we are going to buy some cheap, knockoff pennyboards that we are really excited for! I have always wanted a pennyboard, but at home we don't exactly have the best roads / sidewalks for it so I can't wait to take advantage of the usable sidewalks here! Then Friday afternoon is the start of a three day AFS orientation weekend which should be nice as well. 

So as everyone said it would, the time is really starting to pick up and I am trying my best to make the most of it. For me that doesn't necessarily mean going out and being busy 24 hours a day, but just enjoying every moment I have here. I hope you are all enjoying your school / work year this year, cause before we know it, it will be over and we will just be onto the next one! Have a nice week! Can't wait to tell you all about it next time! 

Glass Half Full

As of Thursday January 30th, 2014 my time here in Spain has been half lived. Now I have been thinking a lot about what this means to me personally and I am full of SOOOO many emotions that its impossible to sum it up in just one word. However if my life depended on choosing just one, it would have to be 'unforgettable'!

This past week was a bit busy and flew by so so fast. School was a blur of coming and going in and out of class. I passed another test (barely, but hey here a pass is a pass!)! And got a new seating chart, which sounds kind of lame, but its kind of the perfect way to meet new people within your own class that you may never have talked to otherwise so I am actually pretty excited about it.

Another reason this week has gone by so quickly was because my dance class was chosen to prepare a few numbers for an awards event in town which was super cool. We had all of one month to prepare five full numbers. OK well technically for me only four because one was a ballet solo for another girl in my class, BUT during that solo I had the responsibility of lifting and waving around a banner like water and stuff and getting the timing and such down for that to a song with no words is harder than you may think. Plus that thing was like forty feet long and heavy, so I am counting it as another number I was in anyway. ONE month, FIVE dances.

These rehearsals felt just like play practice at home, which I have been missing a lot, so it was really nice to have something so similar to do that filled the gap of home! The other four numbers were quite insane if I do say so myself. We opened the whole ceremony with a routine to "Give Me All Your Love" by Madonna (feat. Nicki Minaj) and based it off the Superbowl routine from two years ago... I think it was two years ago, well you all remember that halftime show! Not only did we dress up as cheerleaders (more like the baton twirlers in our schools marching band with the little skirts and everything) but in the background we had a acrobat duet act. It was crazy. Like I am literally talking about those people, one guy one girl, and the girl is seemingly weightless and thrown in the air with all kinds of twirls, flips, and cool stuff that. It was one of those acts that would have made my mom grab my arm and say "I can't watch this, I can't watch," and freak out like a little kid. (Love you mommy!) And as if that wasn't enough there was even a break dancer thrown into the mix!

Next we danced to "Space Jam" which was probably my favorite. We got to dress like people from a work out video from the 80's (I rocked the leotard over leggings with leg warms) and we danced it as a battle and our dance teacher was a referee! It was really exciting and hard not to laugh while staring at each other with our "game faces" on. Another break dancer came in for that dance and did all sorts of cool flips and stuff that break dancers do!

Following that we danced to a remix of "Rocky", "Eye of the Tiger"and "Survivor" which was incredible. Since it was a sports ceremony the town of Castelldefels lent us a bunch of sports uniforms of literally every sport imaginable. I was given a figure skating leotard dress thing which was really pretty and surprisingly comfortable. A little bummed we had to give them back. Anyway, the routine had many elements to it which caused a lot of nerves before hand. It started out with a boxing rink and two of our dancers acting out a boxing scene with above lighting which made it literally seem like you were in a stadium, however this damn rink was nearly impossible to keep from tangling and we probably spent more time practicing setting up the rink than the dance itself. Thank god all of that work paid off and it ended up going very smoothly. However the rink was only the first 30 seconds of the song. Next came the dancing..... with jump ropes. I had never danced with a jump rope before and it was actually a real challenge to get everything right on cue when its not just your body you have to control. In the end it was nothing short of awesome!

After "Rocky" was the banner number with the Olympic song with the torches and stuff. You know "da da da da da daaaaaaaaaaa", well you can't actually here me, but you get my drift! That all went well and the acrobats came back and did some more super impressive stuff and then it was on to the next one.

Here is the final number! (Sorry I don't have footage of them all, but I happened to be a little preoccupied at the time)

I Gotta Feeling

After the show was over the whole dance crew and I went out to eat, and celebrate our dance teachers birthday. Afterwards she drove me and a few girls home and I was actually able to give instructions to my house! Now you are probably thinking... 'really that's an accomplishment to you?' YES IT IS, because every freaking road here is a one way street and for living somewhere that you walk every place, yes, giving accurate directions is a huge accomplishment. 

So now I go back to my normal school weeks with dance only on Thursdays. Well, who knows! I may show up this Thursday and have a whole new list of plans laid out for me there! I can only hope!

Hope you had a great weekend. Enjoy the Superbowl tonight and see you in a shorter amount of time than I saw you last... if that even makes sense. Can't wait to see what the future here holds for me, and then I can't wait to tell you all about it! 

LOTS OF LOVE!
            ~ Emily