I feel like I find myself writing my blogs mostly about what I've done, where I've gone, and what I've seen. These of course are all very important because my blog is mostly to let people see what it's like for me living in another country, and also for me to remember my experiences. I have now been here for 4 months and have only 1 month left, and I really think those four months have really matured me and changed my views on life in general. So one thing I think I've realized and really want to write about is my belief that it's all about who you are with to make somewhere special. I think if someone asked me where my favorite place was in Spain(besides Cádiz obviously) I would say Valencia. I have realized though that I'm not sure if Valencia is the most beautiful city in Spain, and I'm not even that sure of what all the amazing things there are, but I spent my time there with some amazing friends, I met awesome other people living there from all over the world, and I overall had the most amazing time just doing the most fun stupid things with my friends. Valencia I think was what made me really realize this idea that who you are with make a place and your experiences there so special. I also have been feeling a little bad about the fact I mostly hang out with exchange students and actually never hang out with Spanish people outside of school. I have spanish friends in school, and they are awesome! I have a tiny grade of only 30 students and every single one of them are very nice, and I love talking with them at school, but our friendships are only in school. I feel a little bad about this, but I've realized that some of the exchange students are people I will stay friends with forever, and we all have a much stronger relationship because we are all going through the same thing. I also came into this expecting my experience would be great because of the Spanish friends I would make, and never even thought about exchange students being my friends. I really believe the exchange students that I am friends with are a huge part of the reason I am having an amazing experience. Also because of becoming friends with so many other people from all of the world, I've grown a much larger appreciation and interest in other countries and cultures. I love when my friends talk about where they are from and what their countries are like, or even when our exchange student group chat suddenly starts talking in finnish/swedish/german etc. I just think this is so cool because we've grown up in countries that are so different and far away from each other, but were so close and have become such good friends. My feelings and opinions about this are really hard to explain and I don't think I am able to portray it good enough through writing, but hopefully you are understanding somewhat what I mean.
Okay well about this past week. My friends Lena, Andrea, and Gabriella came to visit Nirm and I, and to see Cadiz. I was excited to do some of the touristy stuff with them and show them around. It was pretty cool having them visit and showing them around because I LIVE there! It's my town, where I live, and I don't know it was just a cool feeling. I had the most fun doing the simple things like eating bocadillos(sandwiches) on the rocks leading to the San Sebastian Castle, stargazing on the beach walking through the streets of the old town, getting our nails done, and of course just talking with each other about everything. Nirm and I took them to Torre Tavira, which is a lookout tower used back in the day to watch the ships coming into Cadiz. From visiting that I learned that Cadiz is the oldest town in western Europe, which I thought was cool. We also took them to the San Sebastian Castle, which is connected to the Cadiz with a long bridge; Gran Teatro Falla, a famous theatre in Cadiz; and Catedral de Cadiz, the beautiful cathedral in Cadiz! We also went to La Punta which is a really popular spot in Cadiz for teenagers to go to. It is filled with discoteca's (clubs) and on top a long bridge thing right by the water. A night at La Punta starts REALLY late though (this goes for all discoteca's in Spain though)! About 2 am people start getting there but it gets most busy around 3-4 am! We had a lot of fun though. Since we didn't go until 2 am we started our night watching the Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid game for the Champion League Finals. It's funny because I don't need to watch the huge futbol games because I can hear exactly what's happening from the people screaming in all of the bars and in the streets when a team gets a goal! For those of you who don't know Real Madrid won WOOOOOO!!! After we hung out on the beach for a little with the other exchange students. Lukas, from Sweden, brought his guitar. I felt like it was just like the movies with all of us sitting around on the beach and Lukas playing the guitar and singing! It was an amazing week and I was really sad saying goodbye to the girls:(
Another thing I want to mention is Feria! Feria is basically like a festival, but obviously a Spanish festival. It was held last weekend in Jerez, a town close to Cadiz two weekends ago (they have more in other cities for different weekends too though). It was so cool with all these beautiful lights set up and sooooo many women and girls had on flamenco dresses which are BEAUTIFUL! One day Nirm and I said we are going to find a store with them and try some on just for fun:) They had rides and fair food in one section and then a huge park with a ton of people drinking and having fun. It was a pretty cool thing to experience!
Anne, Hilla, Leti, and Ellen at Feria
The lights of Feria!
Stargazing on the beach!
Lena and I in the Cathedral
Eating bocadillos on the rocks. (Fun fact my sweatshirt is from a popular Spanish store called Pull and Bear, when we were shopping and saw this we thought it was hilarious they had a tropical flowered sweatshirt with "Ohio" on it. Also typical shirts say New York, California, etc. so I was excited Ohio was cool enough to be on one, so I had to buy it!)
La punta!
