Finally in Spain

Ahhh we finally made it to Spain today. I am exhausted though. I met all the other exchange students in Boston and have gotten to know them the last two days that we've been in Boston. I really like everyone! There's 4 other girls that will be in the Madrid area and 2 will go to the same school as me. Luckily I've clicked with the girls that will be at the same school, their names are Claire and Andrea! Yesterday in Boston we took a Spanish assessment just to measure where our Spanish is at so we can see how much we improve when we take it at the end of the stay. I did HORRIBLE. An avatar asked us 15 extensive questions in Spanish and we had to give extensive answers back. I think I fully understood 1 question! Other people did really bad too though, which made me feel a little better.

All our traveling to Spain was overnight. I think I got a total of 3 hours of sleep, so I'm struggling to write this since I'm exhausted(sorry if I don't make sense)! I sat by a girl in our group named Nirmala on our plane to London and Barcelona, so because of that we've become really good friends! The plane ride to London was cool since the flight attendants had British accents (we flew British Airways). I was waiting for the bathroom when a guy asked in a British accent "are you waiting for the loo?" This made me giggle a little. Unfortunately from the traveling I'm starting to get a little sick:/

So now were in Barcelona until Sunday when we all go on trains to our cities to meet our host families. There are 6 girls staying in my room, 4 I already knew from Boston, and 2 we just met. One girl is from California and the other is from Italy. I feel bad, the girl from Italy doesn't know much English so we've been struggling to communicate with a mixture of English, Italian, and Spanish. For now, were sitting in the lobby waiting to leave for the day. There's a whole group of boys on some sports team in the lobby, and I am really enjoying looking at them as I've waited hahaha! I was going to add pictures to this blog post with my friends I've made but I'm too tired to figure that out right now, but those pictures along with the future pictures of Barcelona will hopefully be added to my blog soon!

Goodbyes and Lots of Crying

Today is the day. I really felt like it would never come! I am writing this blog post as I am sitting on the plane to Boston. I go to Boston today and tomorrow for orientation with all CIEE exchange students, then tomorrow night all Spain CIEE exchange students fly to Barcelona for Spain orientation. 

My whole last week was pretty sad saying bye to everyone. I am really excited to go though! My last day yesterday, and this morning were filled with several tears. I started my last day off watching my last Doctor Who episode with Matt Smith playing the Doctor (I get very attached to characters, so I am a little embarrassed to admit that my day of crying began as I watched the end of the episode hehe). As I was doing my final packing, I shed some tears every hear and there, especially when friends and family called and texted me wishing me good luck. My friend Logan ran some last minute errands with me so we could spend as much time together before I left. My parents made me breakfast for dinner, which is my favorite! Unfortunately, I couldn’t eat much of it because I’ve been kinda nervous. My neighbor, and also best friend, Emily came over with her family and her friend Erica to say their final goodbyes! She also informed my mom and I she will be visiting my closet frequently to steal clothes. EMILY IF YOU”RE READING THIS NOTHING BETTER BE MISSING WHEN I GET HOME!!! Next, I went to Starbuck’s with one of my best friends Kurt. We decided to make our names on our cup Amy and Rory, two of our favorite characters from Doctor Who! Kurt also came over to hang out and play my ukulele named Lilo with me for the last time:( I really wanted to bring Lilo with me to Spain, but there was no way she would fit in my suitcase. I said my goodbyes to Kurt and then met up with my best friends Logan, Jenn, and Alyssa. We went to our friend Vernon’s for a little so I could say bye to all my friends there. After, we picked my brother Jake up and went on our final nightly Taco Bell run, which we do VERY frequently. My friends spent the night and we stayed up really late just talking and hanging out. Even though I had to wake up at 4:15 this morning, I don’t think we went to bed until around 2. I am surprisingly not tired..... yet.  

This morning was filled with A LOT of crying as I said goodbye to my brother and my friends. My parents and I stopped at Jo for the Road, my dad’s coffee shop, so I could have my final drink before I left! I also couldn’t eat from nerves, so my mocha helped my hungry stomach a little. It was extremely hard saying goodbye to my parents at the airport. Only one parent could come to the gate with me, so my mom did. I don’t think I have ever seen my dad cry but when I said bye at security he was, which made me cry even harder. Then when I boarded the plane my mom and I hugged and were crying really really hard! It still doesn’t seem real that I won’t see them for 5 months though. 

I am apart of a Facebook group with all of the Spain CIEE exchange students that have been in Spain since the beginning of the year. When I got on the plane a boy in the Facebook group named Parker messaged me asking when my CIEE group will be in Barcelona, for him and the other exchange students in Barcelona want to come meet us! As I’ve talked to the students in this Facebook group, and read their own blogs, I have discovered they all become really close and often travel Spain to visit one another. I even have been invited to different parts of Spain to visit some of them already! They also have been very kind and helpful offering advice, and answering any questions I have. It makes me extremely excited to meet the other exchange students in Boston. It’s also cool, yet a little weird to think within the next weeks I am going to meet so many new people from several different places that I will most likely become really good friends with! 

One week until departure!

Here we go, my first blog post (thanks Lauren and Audrey for suggesting blogger). Well to start, for anyone that doesn’t know, my name is Camille Wyand, I am 17 years old, and I will be spending my second semester of my Junior year in Spain. I will be living in a town called Alpedrete, which is about 40 minutes north of Madrid. I will be living with a spanish speaking family. When people find out I am going to be an exchange student I get several of the same questions, so my first blog post will be dedicated to answering those. 

“What made you want to be an exchange student?”

I have always had an interest in traveling around the world to discover other cultures and the desire to learn new languages. My cousin did an exchange program for a few weeks in France, and then had a French student live with her for a few weeks in the United States. Also, my mom had an exchange student from the Netherlands and Italy that lived with her family when she was in high school. These factors put the idea of being an exchange student in my mind. When I got back from Europe this summer the idea hit me and I began to do some research (I actually put together a huge slideshow of why I should be an exchange student to convince my parents).

“What made you choose Spain?”

When I came home from Europe I fell in love with France and began learning French on my own. I chose France originally, but once my parents started to take the idea of me being an exchange student seriously we began to discuss the idea of other countries. There were several factors that went into choosing Spain but the main reasons were because I am learning Spanish in school, I have never been to Spain, and I believe the culture in Spain will give me the most enjoyable experience as a high school student. 

“Do you even speak Spanish?”

This is my favorite question because several people are very shocked/confused by my answer: Not really. I am in my second year of spanish in high school (I have 1 year of italian too, which actually was pretty helpful for Spanish). So I know the basic phrases and words I need, plus a little more. I also use rosetta stone, watch movies in spanish, and listen to spanish music to help me improve. I am going to Spain partially to become more fluent in Spanish though, and even though several Europeans speak English I will try and use it as little as possible. 

I have one more week in the U.S. so I will be spending my last week packing, cramming in as much Spanish as I can, and hanging out with my friends:)