Final Orientation

This past weekend was the final orientation of the 2013-2014 year program of the Catalunya area.... Let us just take a second to soak that all in. 

As expected the orientation was even better than the last following the pattern that has been set from the start. All of the exchange kids this year are finally completely comfortable around one another and our true personalities were shown full force this time which was just fantastic! 

It all started Saturday afternoon. I caught an hour long train to the station and when I got there I saw a bunch of other AFSers, as expected since it was the only train that would get us there on time. When I say on time I mean a half our early so in that time we could easily find the hostile which we have to walk to on our own right? Wrong. After doing a few circles around the town failing miserably at our map reading skills we were found walking along the beach by one of the volunteers. 

We thought it was sort of strange that the dude had the time to come and find us (only about six out of the group of thirty) considering there was a whole orientation going on already which included ALL of the students going away next year from the area (about like fifty of them!!!). 

We then asked him how the heck he knew to come get us with all that going on and his response was "Well this is the time in the orientation when the sendings (those going away next year) are to ask you guys their questions about being abroad and it's been hard to do because there are only about three of you guys there." Easy to say we could not stop laughing or feel comforted by the fact that a bunch of the others were lost too or just taking their sweet time getting there.

So once we go to the hostile it was complete MADNESS! Instead of asking questions the volunteers had the sendings play a getting to know you game going around asking peoples names, age, languages they knew, and were they were from / going the follow year. I guess they had been playing for awhile because when we opened the door we were MOBBED and added to their already incredibly long lists of names and ages.

Then more of "us" showed up and we were sat in a huge circle. One of the volunteers asked who was from America, which I didn't actually hear, I was just told by a Spanish kid next to me to raise my hand. By the time I had it was too late to realize I was the only "volunteer". I was assigned about six Spaniards going to the US the following year and we were told we had two hours to go and talk about all their questions about their coming year that I would OBVIOUSLY know the answer to... kind of.

My group was actually the bomb and we made some real quality progress in there "Have you ever shot a gun?" "Do you own a gun?" "What do you eat for breakfast?" "Are the school buses actually yellow?" just to give you a few examples. One of the coolest things about my group was a girl from my group, who is a host sister of one of the exchange students here now, already has her host family and she is headed just outside of Boston, Massachusetts only about two hours away! Woot woot!

Lucia, the one in the middle, is the one who is headed to Massachusetts.

After this dazzling activity came a separation time sendings in one room hostings (as we were called) in another. We talked about what we learned from the year and such then began to plan out our super special ceremony for the night. 

Next came dinner which was quick seeing as right after we had to prepare for our ceremony that the hostings would be putting on for the sending (which the volunteers had preformed for us way back in October). We all changed into togas (a white, strategically tied bed sheet) and painted our faces and bodies with some crayon stuff. 

I can't find the group pictures we took (because as anyone here will tell you I don't take my own pictures, I just hop into others and wait for them to upload them because its just easier that way), but this gives you a good idea of what we looked like.

We then headed into a room lit some candles and danced around like animals until the sendings came in and we had to get all serious. I am not too sure if I am suppose to be explaining how the ceremony goes down for those who may be doing an exchange may be reading this and the whole point is for them to ask questions about it and "learn from our ways" so if you are really that interested on hearing how it goes down you can ask me about it in a month when I come home.

Next the sendings were sent free and the hostings got down to the serious, emotional stuffy stuff. Half of the candles were blown out and half were kept lit. The lights were kept off and we were told that the next half hour would consist of us individually coming up as we please to either light a candle and explain a positive that we experienced throughout our last nine months in Spain or blow one out for a negative. 

At first everyone was a bit hesitant to share and there were plenty of struggles with the lighter, but then more and more people came forward and opened up about their time. It was actually super emotional and this was the first point throughout my whole exchange that I truly realized my time here is actually going to come to an end and I am going to have to say goodbye to some of the coolest most incredible people I have had the privileged of knowing in my entire life. Exchange students are all like that you know. We all come from incredibly different backgrounds and home lives and for just ten months we have come together and experienced some of the hardest situations of our entire lives together and formed a bond that is truly unlike any I have ever had before. 

After about forty five minutes and a few laughs mixed with tears we were freed to go, which just turned into a huge hug session. Then we were off to talk and mess around and do as we pleased for the rest of the night.

Next morning came and well nothing too exciting happened that day. We got our exclusive AFS Catalunya t-shirts which are... bright to say the least. We took a lot of photos to immortalize the moments that we know we will look back on with nothing but smiles. Then we separated again as we pleased, half of us going to the beach and half of us going rock climbing up one of those rock wall things. I went for the beach where me and a few others just sat around in the sand talking about TV shows, our exchanges and really whatever else came to mind. 

All too soon it came to an end and I found myself having to say goodbye, well actually about a million goodbyes, then walking to the train station with a few others. Then from then on I was just kind of in shock thinking of how in just one short month (to put time into perspective I was just in Italy a month ago. I know that feels like yesterday!) I will be meeting with these guys for the very last time to head to Madrid to head our separate ways home from there. WHERE DOES THE TIME GO!?! I just don't get it.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend and I am so incredibly lucky to have made the friends I have on this journey! 

Now I am off to study for finals... maybe... stress on the maybe...

Hope you all had fantastic weekends as well and I will be seeing (most of) you in just one month! Take care!

The Color Run

This past Sunday a bunch of AFSers from all over Spain and I joined over 20,000 people in a Color Run through Barcelona!

For those of you who don't know what a Color Run is, it is a 5 kilometer "race". Every one kilometer or so there are checkpoints of a different color (ex. after one kilometer you reach the orange station). At these stations powdered paint is being thrown by volunteers in every direction. The idea is that by the finish line you are covered head to toe in a rainbow of various colors!

My personal Color Run experience started bright and early at the train station of Barcelona Sants to meet up with all the other participating AFSers. There we changed into our super stylish (least flattering t-shirts I have ever seen) and pinned on our numbers as you do before a 5k. From the train station we walked to La Plaza de España to meet up with all the other THOUSANDS of people also participating in the run.

Plaza de España (stolen from the internet)

So once we made it to the starting line we had to wait a good half hour or so to start the race because they only let about one thousand people leave the starting line at a time so that the color stations didn't get too filled up. While we waited there was a DJ pumping up the jams getting us ready to go. However that was not the only source of entertainment! While waiting we saw quite a few interesting costumes including horse masks, pigtails and LOTS of tutus! Also while waiting we used the time to take a few group photos!

When we were finally able to start we ran... for all of two minutes until we realized we were going up hill. The first station we reached was the orange station. We quickly figured out that if you enter the color stations (they have a blow up ring around the entrance and are fenced in until you reach the exit) and walked along side the barriers you would get far more colorful than if you walked through the center because the people holding the color were right along them. 

Walking through these stops it is a VERY good idea to be wearing glasses of some sort because there is literally powder EVERYWHERE. Honestly if you looked inside my lungs after the whole thing I have no doubt in my mind it would look like a magestic rainbow in there because that stuff was just all over the place! It was so much so that some people wore those doctors masks over their mouths and noses while walking through because it was so bad!

Also at these stations there is obviously powder on the floor as well so if you didn't want to wait for someone to throw the paint directly on you, you could easily pick it up and do it yourself or roll around on the ground like some sort of animal to get covered from head to toe. There was plenty of both!

Moving out of the orange station we ran probably another two minutes, if that! Also while running to this station we past along side runners who had already gone through the next station and by a literal 1 in 20,000 chance I spotted Emma who was also doing the run with her friend and had come completely separate from me!

The next station we reached was the yellow station and these paint throwers were more energetic than the last! We passed through this station a little slower wanting to get as completely covered as we possibly could. Another 1 in 20,000 chance of running into my other host sister Ana who had also come separately from both Emma and I occurred at the yellow station!

They next stop (I am convinced it was not a full 5k because these stations were like five minutes walking distance apart and came way faster than you would expect) was the blue station! Again, these people were crazier than the last! Actually blue may have been the absolute craziest! You could barely see a foot ahead of you because the air was so thick of powder! The powder was super soft by the way, like literal colored powdered sugar! Unfortunately it did NOT taste at all like the stuff and equally as unfortunately it continuously found its way into my mouth.**

Moving right along we came to the green station. While I was walking along in this station one of the paint throwers looked straight at me and said "LOOK LOOK LOOK" and he was pointing at the ground right in front of me. Because I am 1000% gullible (or maybe just 1000% cautious and considerate of what other people have to say) I looked right where he was pointing. He then poured his ENTIRE bottle of green powder like straight into my ear. (It is been two showers later and I STILL have green dust coming out of my ear!)

After the green station was a drink stop where they gave us super good lemonade and then it was a little ways more to the finish line! The AFS group and I decided to sprint the last 50 meters or so and crossed the finish line as a team!

Once you had made it to the finish line there were about  a million things going on at once! You could get your picture taken in a photo booth (which I did I just don't have the pictures yet because they only give two strips to a group of freaking seven people), eat food, and most importantly enter the concert area! 

As you entered the concert area (keep in mind twenty THOUSAND people) you were handed a packet of powdered paint. On the stage on a part of a screen that was shopping random pan shots of the people in the audience (also made it onto that screen which was harder than you might think!) was a countdown. This countdown started over ever twenty minutes and when it reached zero the packets were thrown into the air so it would be a beautiful, powderful, colorful warp! 

Throughout the concert there were more paint packets being thrown into the audience, t-shirts, sunglasses THE WORKS! I am not too sure what time the concert actually ended (there wasn't an actual band, just a DJ and a bunch of prerecorded music) but we stayed until maybe one in the afternoon in which time we somehow, as a group of maybe fifteen or more, worked our way all the way to the very front of the stage where all the action was happening! 

After we made our way to the exit we took a bunch of group photos!

Once outside of the Color Run area it felt a bit strange to see strangers looking all clean and well not covered head to toe in paint! It took all I had not to run on up to someone wearing a clean white shirt and give them a huge ass hug just to see their reaction, but in the end I decided to play nice and let those lucky souls be. However, I guess our group in particular was quiet extraordinary or amusing or something because even though there were about a million other people covered in paint taking pictures only a little ways away, passersby came along and asked us if they could take pictures with the group. So that was pretty cool too I guess! (Unfortunately for me they did not ask for hugs.

After all that commotion we made our way to the train station. There we said our goodbye and parted for our separate ways. Lucky for me I wasn't the only color runner on my train, however that didn't stop anyone from giving me strange looks. I couldn't really blame them either! Once finally in my town I spent the entire fifteen minute walk to our apartment stretching and releasing (does that make sense?) to get the powder to come off leaving behind a rainbow trail in my wake. 

While doing this some guy came running from behind me and happened to be wearing a Color Run t-shirt as well. He kinda just stopped and looked at me for a minute until I gave him a knowing nod and point to our shirts. He then just smiled and kept running. He probably expected to be doing a bit more running during the "race" but let me tell ya the majority of the people there were not all about that and it was so crowded that it actually made it quite difficult for the poor actual runners to pass by. 

After that I finally reached home and took probably THE most colorful shower of my life and without even making a mess of the bathroom, which was a pretty big accomplishment if I do say so myself!

All in all it was a great experience and something that I won't be forgetting anytime soon! I hope you all had equally exciting weekends. I have my last AFS orientation coming up this weekend which I am sure will bring a few more stories to tell! Until then have a nice week! ADIOS!

The Italy Chapter

I think it's about time I do a short rewind of my trip to Italy. The majority of this post is just going to be pictures and explanations to go along with them instead of a fully detailed day to day experience. Here we go!

Here we have the classic airplane photo. I am BEYOND thrilled to report that there were no airport mishaps leaving or returning from Barcelona and I mean nothing! No delays, no forgotten passports, no security run through's NOTHING so that was pretty exciting for me! That night I was picked up at the airport by my cousin Daniela who I thought was going to be difficult to recognize (seeing as I hadn't seen here in person in  6 years or so) but nope! I step into the waiting room area and see a blonde wearing a hot pink coat and somehow I just knew it was her!

Fast forward to the next day and another cousin, Gianpaolo, drove in for a visit to Milan.

In Milan, in front of the famous Duomo (Cathedral) of Milan I met up with Feli, an Italian exchange student who was living in New York and good friends with Emma last year so that was really, really cool to be able to meet up with her again!

After our short trip to Milan, there is actually not too much to see there besides the Duomo and loads of over priced clothing, GP and I said goodbye to Daniela and were off to Trentino (a district kind of like Catalunya or Dutchess County) where we would visit some more towns like Trento and Stenico.

Now we have already established that I am no photographer so this picture was borrowed from the internet and isn't exactly where I was staying, but this is the kind of scenery that I was surrounded by the whole time there. It was such a refreshing change from the city like scenery that I have been living in for the past eight months, which don't get me wrong is nice too, but deep down I think I will always be a mountains and fresh water lakes person just like home! 

The next day we were up for a road trip 'round the mountain!

First was a walk along this river and crossing paths with a massive water fall.

Then we bought sandwiches and ate lunch on some park benches in front of these bad boys! Then one last short hike to a hidden mountain church overlooking another river. There we saw a bear (in captivity) because the story of the church was that "It was built by a man who just wanted to worship alone and in peace. For his trip he carried the things he needed on the back of a donkey. At one point during the trip a bear came along and ate the donkey so the dude just harnessed up the bear and brought him along to first of all carry his things and second of all protect the place from visitors." SO NATURALLY there was a bear there like a massive biggest-damn-bear-I-have-ever-seen-in-my-entire-life there, not doing such a great job keeping away all the visitors since we were all standing there gawking at it anyway.

After that little adventure it was back to the house for some down time then dinner. 

The next day we went for a walk around a local park with this view! 

So ya just a casual stroll there eating Gelato until it was time to head back to eat lunch, which was real Italian lasagna (it was just as good if not better than you are imagining right now) and I got to meet another cousin, Silvia, whom I became really close with throughout the rest of the trip!

After lunch we headed out to Riva, a touristy town with lots of little shops and a big lake!

(Silvia left, Lia right)

The following day GP and I did a bit more exploring in the morning then we picked up Silvia from school, ate lunch, then drove to Verona!

Some random street in Verona.  

This is the famous balcony of Romeo and Juliet. If you look closely at the bottom right side of this picture you can see the statue of a woman (Juliet? Maybe? I'm not sure.). Apparently it is good luck to go up and touch the poor girls boobs. Unfortunately I did not go up to experience the umm phenomenon because there were a lot of people waiting around so I didn't want to ruin their chances of touching the golden boobs themselves when I simply could have cared less.

This, also in the plaza of Romeo and Juliet, was a wall COVERED in chewing gum. At first we were completely grossed out until I realized that there were flakes of paper stuck to the gum as well so I think the wall was used to stick love letters to the wall... we can only hope. Also to the right (in reality, not the picture) there was a wall of locks ya know to lock in your love or something I don't know!

Here, the entry / exit walk way to the Romeo and Juliet plaza were two walls covered floor to ceiling in hearts with names written in them. Instead of getting creative and writing something clever, Silvia and I decided on just writing our two names together in a heart in the middle of the madness.

Next was a short walk along a canal, caught a bus, returned to the car and headed back home.

The following day Silvia skipped school so we could all go on a family trip to Venice! This was by far my favorite day of the whole trip! 

Venice is famous for their elaborate face masks and you literally can't escape these things. They are EVERYWHERE! There is Venice they have Carnival, similar to Spain, and everyone dresses up in fancy dresses and wheres one of these for the event. How freaking cool and completely terrifying at the same time!

Here we have the famous cathedral of Venice and to the right is where the Duke of Venice makes speeches. If you look really carefully about four or five windows to the right of the churchy part there is one reddish orange window which is only for the Duke. Legit, like royal king mine and only mine mentality going on there!

That orange brick building in the background is actually a tower where you can see all of Venice from. We didn't go up for two reasons. One the line was a bit long and two it was getting close to the top of the hour, which according to Silvia if you get stuck up there at the top of the hour when the bell chimes you will basically want to throw yourself out the window because it's so damn loud! 

Another fun fact about this tower is that way back when in some year that no one knew BUT SURELY EXISTED, the tower fell down like London Bridge is Falling Down style! Right there in the square. All throughout the plaza you can find pictures of people sitting at tables in the square having lunch with the tower just crumbled around the square in the background. So ya, that was a thing!

Next we have the entry to the main canal of Venice. In case you didn't know there are no cars in Venice, literally none. You either have a boat or walk your ass where you want to go. Here we have some gondolas which we didn't actually go in because they cost something crazy like 80 euros which is equal to 100 dollars or maybe a little more. Plus there were like seven of us so we probably would have had to take two. FUN FACT gondola drivers actually do wear striped shirts! They stand in the middle of busy squares and if you want a ride you just walk up to them, tell them you wanna go, and they take you to their "ship". 

And here we are, Silvia and I after stepping off our ferry we took up the main canal right before heading home. That night we went over to her house for dinner then played Just Dance after dinner for the whole families entertainment. At about ten or so Silvia and I walked back to her grandparents house where I was staying, since I stayed late after dinner to play. (The schedule change time wise like calling ten o'clock late for a school night was really strange to me! Spain has got my times all mixed up! OH and I eat slower now! Literally I was the last to finish every time! Readjustment may feel stranger than I thought!) After we got to her grandparents house we said our final goodbyes since I wouldn't be seeing her in the morning before I left. 

The next day we went to Trento for lunch before heading to Burgamo, a very rich city close to the airport were I would be flying out of. 

While there we got caught in a thunderstorm, which after I thought about it was my first thunderstorm in eight months! Ya it rains here in Barcelona, but there is never thunder or lightening, another thing I miss about living in New York. 

While in Burgamo we saw a few churches which you can see in the background above. They were super impressive, just as you would expect Italian churches to be. There I learned that the holy water thing I saw in Santiago is in fact a common thing because there were about three of the metal water holders in each church, goes to show how much I know thinking it was a one time thing!

Finally after a final dinner together of pizza *Side Note: In Italy you eat your own pizza. Like a full freaking medium sized pizza SOLO. I couldn't handle it, meanwhile the respectfully seventy something year old grandmother I was with could finish off her own in the time I ate a half... Safe to say us Americans are in fact NOT the biggest eaters in the world. After spending a week with them I can safely say it is hands down the Italians who win that prize? Moving on...* we went off to the airport where I said my last goodbye and boarded my flight home without a problem!

The plane was under booked so the flight attendant told me I could sit in the very spacious emergency exit zone all to myself! Let me tell you, you have never lived until you have had two full plane arm rests to yourself for a full plane ride! 

Then there I was back in Barcelona with a sense of home, which was such a refreshing feeling. Barcelona is truly my home away from home where I have a family whom I truly consider to be my own! Finding Roman went without a problem this time (unlike after El Camino...) and I was home by 1 AM in bed for 6 hours before going off to school the following day! 

So there it is! Italy in a nutshell for you! A big fat thank you to everyone who made this trip possible for me, you guys are the best! That's all for now I guess! Have a nice week! Ciao!