So I have to admit, I had my first case of homesickness last weekend. It was strange to not be at home for Halloween. I missed the decorations and the neighborhood kids trick-or-treating. Halloween is celebrated here, but on a way smaller scale. Some trick-or-treaters came to my apartment and I had to tell them I didn’t have anything for them, which was definitely a first. Other than that though, between Pilar, school trips and life in general, October flew by. The quarter ended last Friday and my parents are visiting in a month and a half—I can’t believe the year is going by so quickly!
Two weekends ago I went up to the Pyrenees with about half of my classmates and 2 teachers. We got in late on Friday and stayed in a hostel then spent all day Saturday hiking. It was definitely a challenging hike, but a lot of fun. It was nice to be with a smaller group and the Pyrenees were gorgeous! On some levels it reminded me of being home and at our cabin, but the mountains were also so different. It was so crazy to be hiking in hot weather at the bottom and by the top be in 5 inches of snow and still have it be warm enough for tennis shoes, leggings and a t-shirt.
Last weekend was my host mom’s boyfriend’s daughter’s birthday, and mine is this week, so they took us to the pueblo where he grew up. We stayed in some cabins on a campground owned by family friends of Joaquin’s and went to a mountain springs heated pool. The next day we went to a monastery with the most amazing park imaginable. It’s filled with waterfalls and caves and takes about two hours to walk through. The monastery is famous for two other things as well: a wine museum and for being the first place in Europe to make chocolate. The coolest thing about being in the pueblo was seeing what a community it is and how deep peoples’ roots go there. Though Joaquin had moved away around 20 years ago, people still asked about his family, and he knew everything about their families. The idea of a pueblo is so different from anything we have in the U.S. A pueblo is unlike a suburb (it’s not as developed) and it’s not like a small town in the Midwest (it’s less spread out and more independent). It is very modern (they have a hotel and restaurants) but it’s like it’s from another era. It has 400 people and a 30 person school.
As far as school goes, it gets a little more normal everyday. We got our grades this week and I was happy to see that I am passing all of my classes, though a fair amount of people who are otherwise successful in school are on academic probation. It’s definitely a different way of teaching, a lot less guided, a lot more up to the student to decide how well they’ll do. Though it started off as my least favorite class, Spanish Literature has become one of my favorite classes because it’s one that I can see and feel clear improvement from week to week. Another class I really enjoy is my Mediterranean Art History class, but that is because I love my teacher, Aalvaro. This entire week the school is splitting into three groups and going to three different parts of the country, and I’m really happy that Aalvaro is the teacher for my group, along with Oriol, who I don’t have but everyone loves. The groups are about 21 students each and are going to Salemanca (where I’m going) near Portugal, Madrid, and San Sebastion.
I’m really happy I’m here, it’s been such a great experience and I’ve gotten to see and do things I never could at home!
