Voyages of the Bewildered

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 09:50:38 GMT

So, I'm horrible at keeping people updated.

Sorry.

Ask me a question.

Home Stay et cetera

Sun, 19 Jun 2005 10:10:44 GMT

Hola from sunny España!

Uh, yeah. Good times, great oldies, and motorbikes, oh my!

I´m at the family stay now. I arrived on Friday afternoon in El Puerto from Sevilla, in a car with broken air conditioning and people from my group who can´t speak Spanish (or don´t try to) and thus made us all seem like the stereotype of stupid Americans. -cough- Anyway...

The accent is a lot different here than in Madrid, and especially than in Mexico. They really do have the Castillian (?) lisp.

My host sister is awesome. She had an English exam yesterday and one right now, but other than that she´s been taking me places with her and whatnot. Yesterday we went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant with three of her friends (where I found out that an Enchilada in Los Estados is very different from one in Spain...), and then to a party. The party was on the street, though, rather than in a house or a club. Era interesante...

I think my Spanish is getting better. Maybe. My host parents don´t speak English, but Ana (my host sister) is pretty good at it. I can communicate most of the time, but it´s hard to respond. Like... I understand more than I can communicate that I do, even though the accent makes it difficult. They also speak really fast here (as in, faster than in other parts of Spain), so it´s kind of like studying English for three years and then going to New York. Gah.

Today we´re going to the beach. Yay. I kind of need to shave, but around here it´s not really important so... Stubble! Tomorrow I´m going to go shopping with Ana. They have this really awesome style of jeans here that seems really popular, but there´s no way I could get ahold of them in the states. I want a pair anyway, and since I couldn´t find the soccer stuff I wanted, I have a bit of money I can spend on that. Hopefully they´re popular in Germany too - I´ve noticed a lot of stylistic similarities here.

Anastasia lives across this little... sidewalk bit from me, and our host sisters are friends (even though mine is a year older), so we hang out a lot. That´s cool. Stasia gets homesick easily, and yesterday was pretty bad, but she said talking to me helped. While I was with Ana, Stacia went to their school where her host sister was helping with an end of year party, and apparently a lot of other kids from our group were there, which really helped.

My host parents are adorable. I wish my real family was more like them. I adore my mum, but, you know... Yeah. The atmosphere here is much nicer. Though... I miss my frequent showers. (I still take them daily here, but not in the morning necessarily, and the air is much heavier and the climate much hotter.)

I don´t know what else to say... I really like Europe and this is making me even more excited for Germany, but I really miss my closest friends. Por ejemplo, Carolyn. -sends her virtual hugs and kisses-

I also have realized I really need to get stuff cleared up with a certain boy -this summer- or it will never be, and it´ll drive me crazy next year. Yeah...

Pienso que es todo. Adios!

Fri, 10 Jun 2005 19:41:35 GMT

So... looks like I never did get those Florida pictures up. They'll be coming eventually, I promise.

Also, the Walgreens photo website thing hates me. :(

I leave for Spain tomorrow. My host family there is... interesting. The parents are both teachers, and have a 16 year old daughter.

I got my Germany host info today. I can't read all of it yet, but my host father is an Engineer and my host mother is a house wife. I have two host sisters, ages 12 and 14, and a cat. Mreow.

I have waaaay too much to do. I have this horrible habit of packing the day before I leave (or at times, the day that I leave). Need to work on that.

Florida stuff will come... eventually.

Thu, 26 May 2005 22:16:58 GMT

I finally uploaded the pictures from Florida to my computer a few days ago. My computer doesn't have internet access at the moment, though. I'll see what I can do.

I gave out this journal to a few people in yearbooks. I'm probably going to email the rest, to tell them.

I should make a better icon. An explanation? More posts?

Tomorrow morning I fly to Albequerque for Orientation. My arrival is 9:53 am. We're waiting at the airport until approximately 1 pm, when everyone is supposed to have arrived by. Someone's flight will inevitably be delated.

Hours in an airport, with no one I know. It should be interesting. I'm bringing homework, but I know I won't be able to focus on it. A camera and a notebook, something to read. Maybe I'll bring my yearbook, who knows. CD players are nice, but I want to get to know people. I don't know what to expect.

After that, two hours on a bus with 49 teenagers I've never met before, save from maybe 2 or 3 from the Colorado interviews.

I'm terrified, but at the moment I'm so emotionally drained it's hard to feel much.

Today was the seniors' last day at school. Last night was the final orchestra concert, during which David, Shane, Sarah and I all played solos.

I'm happy and sad and anxious and terrified, all rolled into one. But that doesn't have much to do with travel, so I'll stop here.

The First Travel-Type thing I have to put in here.

Sun, 03 Apr 2005 18:16:48 GMT

Within the United States

bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C. /

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

...Obviously I need to visit the East Coast.

I will be going to Orlando in a couple of weeks for an Orchestra competition, and it will also be the layover spot going both to and from Madrid.

I will be in New Mexico in late May, for the CBYX program.