Birthday, Halloween, & Finishing October

Happy November!

I know it may sound strange, but there is no greater feeling than accomplishing another month as an exchange student. As of now I have officially lived two months away from my family (torture) and have eight months full of potential left to go (which doesn't sound that long to me to be honest). 

Let's start off with my birthday! My birthday celebration started right off the bat at 12:15 AM on October 30th with a Skype call to my family! They sang to me and held up a cupcake with a 1 and a 6 candle and we took a family photo and blew out the candles together and it was literally the cutest thing ever! I love my family so much! After that I opened the package they had sent me. Inside was, a t-shirt from Digitour that I unfortunately missed because I was here (love that shirt by the way!!!! Thanks guys!), a silver necklace with a silver pendant of flowers with an inscription on the back saying Happy 16th Birthday, and 2 packages of Pringles! Oh and I forgot to mention, they sent a crown with 16 written on it that I wore throughout this whole Skype call! We basically could have been in a scene of a movie it was just that cute!

After the skype call, I went to bed and woke up to part two of the birthday celebration! I woke up to find a link sent from my sister in my inbox. I had been warned of a birthday surprise coming my way by her before, but this video topped ALL and ANY of my expectations. If you haven't seen it yet here is the link. Its a must watch! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyzn-S5CmcM&app=desktop When I got to school the kids there were exactly like how they would be in the U.S. They sang to me in the middle of a lesson, and then for the rest of the day repeatedly wished me a happy birthday! 

When I got home from school I had a nice lunch with Emma and Ana who were off from school for the week. During lunch I opened cards and packages sent from the rest of my friends and family! After lunch we played  Monopoly. We called it a 3 way tie because we had to leave half way through. Before we left, Emma, Ana, and Roman presented me with a gift. It was a like a cable knit sweater with a preppy blue button up underneath! So excited to wear that and so glad it was winter clothes, because I didn't really think to pack much of those.We left to go to the movies and see Elyssium which just gives you an idea how delayed some of the movie releases are here. However, its a bit strange because some movies come out before the U.S., some the same time, and some late. Not sure how that works, but I do know that We Are the Millers is about to come out here and Emma and I are soooooo excited! Sorry a bit off topic...

After Elyssium we went to dinner at Hollywood Fosters for an American meal. I had a fantastic cheese burger with fries, so that was exciting! During dinner Emma and I realized that the table next to us, a table of like 4 college aged boys, were definitely exchange students, talking in English to each other and Spanish to the waitress, as all exchange students do. Now we didn't introduce ourselves or anything, saying we were exchange students as well or anything. Instead we eaves dropped on their conversation for awhile hearing them say things like, "Wait what did we even order?". Emma and Roman, being the hilarious human beings they are, plotted things to say like "Oh you like horse meat too?" or "That's a great choice, the rat here is just fantastic!" Fortunately for the boys, we left before their food arrived. 

We skipped dessert at the restaurant  because waiting at home was a personalized cake with a 1 and 6 candle on top! They sang to me and then had me cut the cake, which I wasn't even half bad at! Ana skipped the cake because like Mari she just doesn't like it. Can we take a moment  to recognize that Mari and Ana have scarily similar mannerisms ? The other day I walked into the kitchen, there's Ana laying on the floor. It is the greatest thing to see some sort of bridge shared between two of my sisters. 

After cake it was bed time and the birthday celebration was over. It was a great, low key day, and I have got to say I am now relieved of two things.

1. The stress of throwing a Sweet Sixteen

2. Getting through my first (and DEFINITELY my last) birthday away from my family.

They say your birthday and Christmas are the two main lows during your exchange and I have successfully made it through one without a having a hard time!

Halloween.

Let me start off by saying that I have never been a huge Halloween fan. Sure its a nice excuse to eat a lot of candy and spend a late night with your friends, but I didn't think it was going to be something I was going to miss. Well I was wrong. I will officially be going trick-or-treating for the rest of my life because I am an American, and America, EVERYONE all over the world is jealous of trick-or-treating and I am going to use and abuse it for the rest of my life just to rub it in their faces!

Anyway... since they don't trick-or-treat here they just party instead. Now since I am officially 16, I am officially "clubbing" age in Spain. I am not sure how many of you are aware of the delayed time schedule they have here in Spain, but this night was a perfect example of how it goes down in Spain.

8:30 PM: Emma's friends came over and we ate dinner together.

9:00 PM: Went to Emma's room to finish last minute makeup / "costume" preparations.

9:30 PM: Left the house to go to the train station.

9:45 PM: Met up with more of Emma's friends by the train station.

10:10 PM: Hopped aboard our train.

10:45 PM: Arrived at the train station in Barcelona.

11:00 PM: Found our way to the club, which I should mention was right on the shore of the Barcelona beach.

12:15 AM: FINALLY made our way into the club after running from one line to another, and cutting the second line we found (what rebels we are ;) ).

12:30 - 4:30 AM: DANCED  ALL NIGHT LONG!!!

4:45 AM: Successfully hailed a taxi.

5:00 AM: Returned home safe and sound!

Ya. THAT is Spain for you! I would just like to say a huge thank you to Emma and her friends for including me in their plans and making me feel like a part of the group! I had an amazing time and truly feel like I had the true Spanish experience of Halloween! Thank you bunches! Hope you all had a Happy Halloween in the U.S.!!! 

The Halloween Crew

Our matching homemade t-shirts!