Contest Winner

The other day I found out that I won a contest for my blog. The contest was hosted by CIEE (the program that brought me to Spain.) If I remember correctly in the contest we could enter photos, stories or a link to our blog, which I did. Months later BBBAAAMMM! I get an email telling me that I won. I am lucky and grateful for all the opportunities that I have in life. Thank you for reading my blog and following me. http://www.ciee.org/hsabroad/contest/index.html

Muchas Gracias

English Presentation / Exams / Weekend

I have been doing extremely well since my last update. This past week I had quite a few exams and I also had if you remember the ENGLISH PRESENTATION!! The English presentation was for my friend's English Academy. I spent a lot of time in the house working on my presentation and studying. The reason I say ENGLISH PRESENTATION!! is that I haven't spoken English in a while and I was nervous that my pronunciation would come out funny.

The exams soon passed and the time came when I had to present my work. It went very smoothly. I arrived at my friend's Academy and met several teachers who had very strong British accents (here and in Europe they study British English and yes there is a huge difference.) I went to the class and talked about the American customs and my life in the USA (school, transportation, habits & customs). The students seemed very interested and enjoyed my presentation. Shout out to my cousin Jack Mills. In the beginning of my presentation, as an icebreaker, I showed a video that I made with my cousin Jack a while ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkoudy2dUXc The class was 5th level English (I believe it was the highest level there.) The students understood (well at least it seemed like) everything I said. The ages of the students I would say ranged from 30-50. That is of course besides my friend who was the youngest one there.

The week finally ended and I was very pleased with my exam results. Last Friday I hung out with two groups of friends: a group from Primero Bachillerato and Segundo Bachillerato. I played soccer with Primero. It was exhausting (more exhausting than writing these blog entries.) I cannot remember the last time I ran so much. I have been going to the gym and pumping iron ;) but haven't done much cardiovascular exercise. It was a lot of fun playing futbol.

Later that day I went to a surprise Birthday for my friend, Valeria. It was fun to be with my friends from Segundo Bachillerato. To tell you the truth I hang out with Primero Bachillerato more outside of school than Segundo. It was a lot of fun and the surprise party was a success. It was nice to hang out with Segundo.

Valeria's Surprise Birthday Party (2nd bach)

On Saturday I went to Cerdanyola (a city about 20 minutes from Sabadell) to join in the celebration of the birthday of Feli's father. He turned 77. He is a very humble man and he always seems happy when I see him. I now have met all of Feli's family. We ate at a restaurant in Cerndanyola to celebrate. I had a tostada (bread with tomato and tuna), bistec (meat), and my favorite... flan.

On Sunday I went to Barcelona with Feli, Angel and Oscar. We went to Montjuic where the 1992 (that is when I was born, no big deal) Olympics were held. We entered a stadium and I was surprised to see many cats taking advantage of the abandoned stadium. It reminded me of my cats. Apparently since I am in Spain and my brother is studying at U of M our rooms are being used by my cats. Unfortunately, it began to rain and that finished our day. The weekend finally ended it was a long one.

Montjuic (Angel, Yo, Oscar & Feli)

Science Project/ Carnaval

Last week my friends and I presented our "treball de recerca" (research project) to a group of faculty and students at our school. It was major research project that is an important requirement for graduation from Segundo Bachillerato. The topic of our group project was "Odontologia I Prevencion: Collutorios" (teeth and mouthwashes.) My group consisted of Oscar, Gerard and Juan Antonio. We spent many days and hours working on the project.

My friend Juan Antonio and I

There was a lot of information about teeth, which was difficult to comprehend, but we finished our presentation strong. Since the project was in Catalan my contribution was small. However, I did help to make our presentation entertaining and comprehensible in the area of experiments. In our project we had conducted three experiments dealing with teeth and mouthwashes. So we made three quick videos of the experiments. As the scientist/presenter, Dr. Ryan Sanchez I described what happened in each experiment in English. My friend, Gerard, came up with the brillant idea of the videos. In Spain, he said, most documentaries are in English and are dubbed or subtitled in Spanish. So that is what we decided to do with the experiments. My other friend, Juan Antonio, put the video scenes together and added great effects. So in the end, we had three amazing videos of our experiments in English that were subtitled in Spanish.

"Dr. Ryan Sanchez"

Last Tuesday we had to present our project at 3:30 PM. We did not have classes all we had was the presentation on Tuesday. The presentation went smoothly. I introduced the group and concluded the presentation. I felt I did my part pretty well. In the end, the teachers loved it. They did not have any questions for us and just commented on the fact that it was a good presentation.

Science Project

This past weekend Carnaval was celebrated all over Spain. Carnaval is particularly popular in Italy and Brazil. Except for New Orleans, we don't really celebrate it in the U.S. as these countries do. Here, Carnaval is somewhat similar to Halloween. Many people dress up and roam the streets having a good time. There are parades and lots of celebration all over. In Spain, Carnaval is celebrated over a span of three days Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Carnaval

On Friday, many of the students of the schools of Spain dressed up. School was optional for me so I decided to go to Barcelona with my friends of Primero Bachillerato. I dressed up as a "cave girl," but my friends did not wear costumes.

I didn't get the memo...

When we arrived in Barcelona I noticed that the only people that were wearing costumes were kids. As we walked along Las Ramblas, I felt hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at me--it was awesome!! My friends and I began counting and by the end of the day I had received about 40 compliments.

Carnaval, La Rambla

Carnaval, La Rambla

On Saturday I went to Barcelona again, except this time I went with Feli, Angel and Oscar. We visited some of their old friends. They were very nice. We had "tea" with them and then went back to Sabadell. It had rained that day so there were not many people out.

On Sunday I went to Badonola with my friends from primero bachillerato. We took the train there from Sabadell and it took quite a while. We went to a discoteca (dance club) there called "Carpa" and waited in line for over an hour. We danced and had a good time.

Discoteca Carpa

Today, we did not have school because of Carnaval. So, I am preparing a presentation I will be giving in English at my friend's English language academy. I will be giving the presentation this Thursday. It should be fun. I will let you know how it goes.

The Days Are Going...

I have been very busy lately. My classmates and I have had quite a few tests and I have a huge project due today. Three of my friends and I started working on the project at the beginning of the year. It is only for Segundo Bachillerato and is worth a large portion of passing Segundo Bachillerato. It is a major research project and our topic is on teeth and mouthwashes. Unfortunately, the project is all in Catalan so I couldn't really help when I hadn't even perfected my Spanish. I also just finished a book called "Manolito Gafota." It is a really well known book in Spain. It is about a kid with huge glasses "Gafotas" and his adventures of everday life in the barrio of Carabanchal in Madrid.

Last Friday, the 5th of February, marked the halfway point of my journey (exchange experience). I am sad to see that time is going by so fast. Before I know it, I will be headed back home. I also can't believe I have made it this far. The beginning was tough but I quickly learned to adjust to a different lifestyle. It is going to be tough to adjust back to my American lifestyle.