En España

FAQ

2009-11-15T02:27:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. Sorry I’ve been such a failure at updating this past month. It’s just gone by so quickly! In fact, as of this past Friday I’ve been here for two whole months now! I’m going to be honest, when I first got here, I freaked out. I was just like, what did I just do? I can’t be alone for an entire year! That’s so long! That’s too long. I miss my family! I miss my home! Oh my gosh, what have I done... First week thought process, right there. But once school started I really started to realize how quickly a year can go by. I mean I’m already half-way through November! It’s kind of crazy. It’s just like, once you realize how quickly everything’s going by, you wish you’d spent less time panicking in the beginning and more time doing all those things you wanted to do here. Now I feel like I won’t have enough time!

Anyway, mini-life update. Now, I’ll actually write about the title of this entry, haha. *First, let me say that right now I’m in a town in Murcia. My host family owns a beautiful summer house here, which is where we’re staying. The temperature is in the low 70’s, a nice change from Madrid which is freezing. For those of you not particularly geography savvy, like myself, Murcia is a region in the South East of Spain, and it’s known for it’s fairly consistent warm temperatures. The ocean, which is right down the road and can be heard from the house, is the Mediterranean. It’s absolutely beautiful -crystal clear and aqua blue. When the sun hits it, it looks like pure silver. I’ve taken so many pictures (making the fact that my camera refuses to connect to my computer all the more frustrating). However, what I was getting at by explaining that my host family has summer home in Murcia, is that all of my host mom’s family lives out here, so I’ve been going through a lot of introductions and double besos. Part of the introduction process for me is the Frequently Asked Questions. Every person I meet asks me more or less the same questions, so I thought I would share them with you.

*I wrote this part a week ago.

1) DebEEn? No, DevIN. Yes, my name seems to give everyone here quite a bit of difficulty. I’m sure you’ll be amused to know that most people (including my host family) know me as DevEEn. No, it is never okay to call me this outside of the country of Espana. Needless to say you will be provoking unnecessary violence on my part.
2) Que tal estas? How are you? This is nice because it offers me the chance to reciprocate and get the questions away from myself.
3) Cuantos anos tienes? How old are you? This is more commonly asked by my peers. I’m not sure, but I feel like we don’t ask this question as much in the U.S. but maybe just I don’t.
4) Tienes novio? Do you have a boyfriend? Yes, this is within the first few questions people ask. And not in a creepy, hitting-on-you way. (I only mention this because when I told someone about that being one the questions I was asked upon introduction they made a remark to that extent.) It’s just a common question. Once again, to me this seems different than the U.S., but maybe I just notice it more here. I met my host mom’s uncle yesterday, who has to be in his late 60’s and that was one of the first few questions he asked me. I have to think it also has something to do with finding out my age.
5) Que tal en los estudios? How are your studies? By now I have the routine response of “difficult but rewarding” down. You know, they’re hard and very different from the U.S. but I’m learning little by little, everyone’s been really nice, etc. Occasionally, I get “School in Spain’s much harder than school in U.S., huh?” and I honestly have to resist the urge to hit people. First of all, do they not realize how rude that is? That’s really insulting! What if I was doing really badly in school in the U.S.? I don’t think it’s easy! I HATE when people say that. I think that they don’t understand the difficulty because their system of education is different from ours. They don’t have elevated classes the way we do. The way it works here is that you either pass or you fail. Not to say that everyone’s on pass/fail, I just mean instead of the way we have lower level classes for those people who struggle in certain areas, they simply fail students and they then repeat the grade again and again until it’s reached their level of comprehension. In this way, the ages of the students in my class range from 16 to 19. The other thing about their school system that’s different is that they really only have one form of obtaining grades, and that’s through testing. In the U.S. we have test, quiz, project, homework, and participation grades. Spanish students spend all their time studying. They don’t really get excessive amounts of homework or any projects really, so all they do is study study study. Conversely, in the U.S. we have all these different tasks to do, allowing for people who excel in different areas (i.e. writing, participation, speaking, rote memorization etc.) to do well in the classes. I feel like the U.S. way of teaching is more catered to meeting the needs of a variety of different students and that’s why the Spanish think it’s easy. (I also firmly believe that they are basing their knowledge of the U.S. school systems off of foreign exchange students who were kindly passed by their understanding teachers/went to school in a very obscure and not well educated part of the United States.)
6) What do the Americans think of the Spaniards? This is just asked by my peers, but I honestly don’t really have an answer. Our culture is so much a part of theirs that they have many opinions/thoughts about Americans and our culture and style of living just because they’re so exposed to it. But honestly, in the U.S. we aren’t really exposed to much of the Spanish culture, nor is Spain a really large part of the daily news in any way, so I never know how to answer this questions. I usually just say we don’t really have an opinion, which I hope is the least insulting.
7) How’s Obama doing? Oh, let me call him up and ask him.
8) What do you think of Spanish boys? Pretty handsome, eh? I’m serious. I get asked this question all the time. My answer? They’re exactly the same as American boys except with less blondes, more piercings, and more cigarettes.
9) Te gusta Espana? Do you like Spain? Yes!

Well, that’s all I can think of for now, but I’m sure I’ll add more later. I’m going to try to work on the whole updating-more-frequently thing. I have a ton of posts half-started and just never finished. Hopefully I’ll find some time to finally get those done! By the way, if there's anything you'd like me to write about, just let me know. :)

Today’s Sunday so that means paella for lunch and Madrid for the afternoon. I’ve got some shopping to do! So thanks for reading and have a nice day. :)

P.S. I wanted to make a shout out to Joe Manso whose wall post made me smile and I hope is feeling better. :)

P.P.S. I noticed that I randomly stopped translating my questions into Spanish like half-way through this. I’ve no idea why I did that...

¡Un mes!

2009-10-14T09:08:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, sorry I haven't really updated much in the past few weeks. I've been kind of busy & worn out. However, this is a special occasion because as of yesterday I have officially been here for over one month! I know crazy right!? So here's some things you might want to know:

My Language Skills
My comprehension, although I still love to complain about it, has, in fact, improved quite a bit. When I first got here, I had absolutely no idea what anyone was saying most of the time. Now, I understand most things (although often assume I'm wrong and ask people to repeat things, only to find I've been right all along) but the part I struggle with is being able to respond. For instance, someone will ask me something, and I will understand what they asked, but not be able to form the correct response to them in Spanish. And thus, they assume that because I can't respond, I don't understand, which is often frustrating. One thing I always have to keep in mind is that different languages don't just consist of different words. Sentence structure, phrasing, and expressions are all different. So, you can't just think of something in English and then word for word translate it into Spanish because chances are that whatever it is will no longer make sense. Funnily enough, I find that it helps me to phrase something in proper English (shout to Josh...) and then work on translating it to Spanish from there. Only because in America we use "did" and "do" a lot whereas here it's not really in their vocabulary. I was, of course, aware of this before I came, however, when everything's happening fast and you have to respond/understand in a moment's notice it's hard not to immediately think things through in your native language. So, for example, in the U.S. you would say, "Did you see that movie?" or "I didn't grab my bag!" but in Spanish you would say, "Have you seen that movie?" (Has visto eso pelicula) or "I haven't grabbed my bag!" (No he cogido mi bolsa). As you can see, I am learning a little. There are lots of frequent phrases and expressions that I've picked up, and even more that I recognize but haven't reached the point of being able to communicate them myself. Nevertheless, despite how frustrated I frequently get, I am learning and improving every day. Hopefully this process will start to speed up soon!

Social Life
No, I'm not a recluse. Hahaha. My class has all been really nice to me, and I have a good group of friends. I actually started a post about my friends that I have yet to finish, so I won't go into too much detail. But I will just say that everyone here has been really friendly and welcoming. I sometimes feel awkward hanging out with people and their friends just because I hate feeling like I'm intruding. However, at the same time, I've learned to recognize that when someone offers the opportunity to sit with them, or come out with their friends, it's never worth passing up. I really appreciate it when people accept me just because I know it could be really annoying to have this foreign girl who doesn't understand much just kind of hanging out with you and your friends, and it's really nice to see people go out of their way to make sure I have someone to sit with, or something to do on Friday nights, etc.

Activities
I am actually doing a lot of sports here, which is nice. Always good to keep up those endorphins. We're learning the Salsa in gym (yes, I know, I'm a terrible dancer, it is amusing) and so twice a week during Recreo I go to an extra practice for that. (I was kind of roped into that one.... crazy gym teacher.) There's also this great local gym in town and I go there four times a week. Twice a week with my host sister, Teresa for swimming, and twice a week with my host mom for this ever-changing work-out class which I find is easier to just call aerobics. I swim Tuesday/Thursday and do aerobics Monday/Wednesday. And then on aerobics days Mayte and I go to the gym afterwards and I get to run and use the machines and stuff which is fun. They also have no problem with me just going running, so I do that most days, too. On the topic of running, I'm also doing a school sport which is called atletismo, but is basically track. That's kind of cool just because I get to try to different things. School sports aren't as big here as in the U.S. so the team only consists of like 10 people, which would be nice were they not mostly all younger than me. However, I've found that I'm kind of enjoying the chance to try different events, because at home the coaches just kind of stuck you in what they knew you were good at and we didn't get much of a chance to try other things. Today I learned I'm not a bad hurdler! Of course, I am in Spain. Haha.

Host Family
Things are becoming less awkward and more routine now. When I first got here, I was really homesick and kind of anti-social. I was frustrated by how little I understood and just the Spanish language in general and didn't make much of an effort just because I was so frustrated. I also made some cultural mistakes like taking my shoes off... yes, the Spanish wear shoes at all times. I have yet to see a barefoot Spaniard. However, that is beside the point. What I'm getting at is that my first few weeks with the family, mainly just my host mom, were kind of rocky due to misunderstandings/language barrier/the fact that I GOT THE ONE FAMILY IN SPAIN THAT IS ANTI-SIESTA AND I NEEDED SOME SLEEP, no just kidding, there are unfortunately more anti-siesta families out there... it's quite sad. Once again, beside the point. Point is, I was jet-lagged and frustrated and confused, and kind of intimidated by the fact that I am going to be with the same family all year, but things are much better now that we're getting into a solid routine and school's started so I have things to do/a social life. They've all been very nice, asking what kind of food I would like when we shop and such and correcting my grammar mistakes. The only thing that still irritates me is the My Country Is Superior to Your Country game. Well. It's not a game. However, it consists of my host mom bringing up things we do in the U.S. and saying how they don't do that here in Spain, which I wouldn't mind but I always walk away feeling like I was just insulted... Oh well. The meals are very good, so that's what counts. ;] No, really, they are all very nice to me. And I can see it must be weird for them, too, to have this crazy American girl who puts ketchup on everything living in their house, so, all things considered, I'm pretty happy. :)

Well, that's it for now! I'm sorry for those of you who just want a quick update on my life... I was always the kid who wrote the six-page essays when everyone else wrote three. Which, if you live by the less-is-more philosophy, is not always a good thing. Nevertheless, I have a lot to say and that's who I am, so if you actually read all the way to the bottom of each of my posts give yourself a pat on the back and possibly consider why it is you have so much free time. ;] Haha, well, it's late and I need to make my host mom a Birthday card (her Birthday's tomorrow) so adios! I hope whoever you are, you're having an awesome day! :)

Beautiful Madrid

2009-10-06T13:38:00.000-07:00

Confessions

2009-09-30T14:58:00.000-07:00

When everything's quiet or too loud to make out individual words I pretend everyone speaks English.

I frequently hear Spanish and mentally convert the vowel sounds I hear into something said in English.

I've told multiple lies about my life or the U.S. simply because I either didn't understand the question or didn't possess the vocabulary to answer the question and was too lazy to figure it out.

In school Spanish always seemed like a class and not a real language. It's a real language.

El primer día

2009-09-17T14:54:00.000-07:00

Hello, folks. Today was my first day of school, as you all know, and I'm sure you'll be happy to hear it went quite smoothly. (Minus a few minor bumps. ;) I got up at 8:30 to shower and get all prepared and such for my first day. I then ate my lovely breakfast that had been laid out for me. And once I had finished, I cleaned up and waited for Mayte (mi host madre) to come pick me for school. (Since it started late today everyone had already gone for work and school.) I was really nervous when Mayte showed up, but she told me not to worry and asked if I had everything (bus tickets to get home, photos for the office, the house key, etc.). I had had plenty of time so I was prepared. When we drove up to the school, which is quite close to the house, there were TONS of students there. It was extremely intimidating and I felt like everyone was staring at me although no one knows that I'm foreign until they speak to me, but I guess I was just being a little paranoid. However, I managed to calm down my panicked brain and make it into the school with Mayte. Once we had squeezed through the crowd and made it inside we went to the office where they brought a girl named Sara, who they praised as a good student, to help me out and show me around because we were in "group" 1A together (which is like teams in the U.S.). Also, there was another new girl with us named Maria who speaks fluent Spanish and English because her mom's Spanish and her dad's from Mississippi. So I was really happy I met her because when I had no idea what was going on, she would tell me.
It also turns out I didn't really need to worry about knowing where my classes are because for all but one of my classes I stay in the same room. Here, the students have a classroom and the teachers switch, which to me seems more sensible because it makes for less craziness in the hallways. Also, the way the schedule works, you have two 50 minute classes and then a 20 minute break, so the schedule looks like this: CLASS, CLASS, BREAK, CLASS, CLASS, BREAK, CLASS, CLASS, Leave :) The students think it's crazy that we don't have little recesses like them, but it's basically the same as lunch. When the bell rings for the break or Recreo they all go outside and eat snacks and chat, so very much like lunch. Since today started late there was only one Recreo and I spent it with Maria and Sara and her friends. I ended up kissing a ton of people (on both cheeks of course, don't be crazy!) since it was the first day and I was new so I was meeting everyone. (Is this wise? They have posters up for H1N1 all over the place, but all it talks about it where to sneeze and how long to your wash hands...)
My favorite class (of course) was Ingles (English). I also had Lengua (Spanish Lit and Grammar) and Informatica (Computers). I had no idea what was going on in Lengua, obviously. Especially because the teacher just talked about what we would be doing the whole time which to me sounded like a foreign language. (Oh, ha! Right! It is a foreign language.) I quite enjoyed Informatica, though, because it's a Computer Class so we're going to do stuff with Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Photoshop, etc. and that is something I understand quite well. :) However, Ingles was by far mi clase favorito. When the teacher came in the first thing she handed out was a test and suddenly tensions seemed high. I, however, was the only odd one to be ecstatically happy. It was like Christmas! English! A whole document in English! The only problem I had with it was that it was Proper English, like in England, and so a couple of questions (they were fill in the blank) took me a few seconds. However, I still finished at least five minutes before everyone else. :) Finally, something I'm good at! There was applause in my head. I loved the choices too. They cracked me up because some of them just sounded so silly! Or just wrong. For instance, in Spanish, the verb molestar means to bother. So, one of the questions had a fill in for Juan is ____________ Julia by poking her with his pen, or something along those lines, and one of the options was Juan is molesting Julia.... I feel they should have caught that one.
My school day went smoothly, and when it was time to take the bus home I had my ticket all prepared and waited patiently at the bus stop with the other 40 some kids (not an exaggeration) for the bus. When the bus came it was literally like the students were fleeing for their lives, I felt in danger of being violently trampled, actually. However, I shoved a bit and was able to make it to a seat in the front across from the few friends I had made that day that rode the bus. Once, the rowdy crowd had all gotten on and taken their seats and we'd started moving, I realized that I had absolutely no idea where I was supposed to get off. This caused a minor panic attack and my heart began beating rapidly, but I told myself to calm down and just look around. The past few days I had walked/run around quite a bit so I was able to recognize places that were close to my house. Unfortunately, as we reached a turn I recognized, we did not turn. PANIC. ALERT. MUY MAL. VERY BAD. I thought, "Ok. That's okay. It must turn back." because I didn't think it could be so far from my house. But, as we continued on and passed places I recognized as being a bit further from my house I thought it would be good to ask someone, so I turned to Maria, my English speaking ally. "Does the bus go back around...? Because my house is back there..." "Oh my god, no! Get off now!" Oh dear. So I ran to get off just as the bus began to move and being that I know little Spanish all I could do was yell "No no no nooooooo!" Thankfully, that was all I needed. The bus driver halted, gave me an irritated look, and opened the doors to let me off. Thank goodness. From there I surveyed my surroundings and determined, if I knew anything it was that I was back in the other direction, so I began walking. Once I had reached the street corner at the end I recognized the huge flood lights for the futbol field that was by my house, so I used them as a reference point and just followed the streets that brought me closer until I reached the flats by my house. They were a little tricky to navigate because it's like a series of flats interjected with pools and tennis courts etc. but I just sort of guessed and found my way through with ease. I was quite proud of how calm I had remained. I made it to my house safely and before anyone was even home. :) (I have my own key.)
So overall, good day. :)

El desayuno.

2009-09-17T01:08:00.000-07:00

La escuela.

2009-09-17T00:54:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. I still have yet to write about what I've done these first few days, I've just been so busy! I've started swimming classes and pilates at the local gym and I can workout there and run everyday. It's great! :) Anyway, today is my first day of school and I'm super nervous. I still only know one rotary student and he goes to a different school soooo that leaves me very nervous. Also, my language skills are improving, but not to the point where I have an exact idea of what's going on, so that makes me nervous as well. Not to mention the fact that I have yet to sit down and look at my complete schedule! And I have no idea where my classes are... Luckily, school starts 2 hours late today because it's the first day, so that means less time to be lost, confused, and foreign which is always a plus. My host mom should be home soon to take me to school, so I'm just biding my time until she gets here and expressing my worries here. Speaking of which, the other thing that worries me is that I'm taking public transportation home. Unlike home, there are no big yellow school buses around here. If you go to a private school you take a coach-like bus, and if you go to a public school, you take public transportation (or ride those sweet motorbikes everyone has). I have no problem with public transportation, but I'm just worried I'll miss it! School ends at 2:10 I believe, so I think I'll just camp out at the bus stop. We bought bus tickets for me on Monday, so I'm covered. Alright, alright. I'm calm. I can do this... Adios!

Mis listas

2009-09-15T14:08:00.000-07:00

Since I am a big fan of lists, I often create mental ones during the day. Here are a few:

Words and Phrases I Use Frequently
1) Si - this word is my life and leads me to new experiences and many pleasant surprises since most of the time when I use it I actually have no idea what they just said to me.
2) Vale - if someone tells me something and they're just saying it but want quick verbal confirmation that I understand and that they are not talking to an empty shell I use this word.
3) Yo entiendo - people often feel that I am so extremely stupid and lacking knowledge of the spanish language that they have to explain things several times in several different ways. Most of the time this is not only nice but true and much appreciated, however there are those few times where I completely understand what they just said to me and need a way to shut them so I can feel proud of the fact that YES. I GOT IT.
4) Ah! Es muy bonita! - there are a lot of pretty sights in Spain and especially when people show you things they like, they like it when you respond positively. Since I don't have an expansive vocabulary, and this word seems to be engrained in my memory, whenever I see something I like this is my first response.
4) Gracias - I feel like people will like me more if I thank them frequently.
5) Yo no se - I don't know! Either I don't know the answer to your question or what you said to me but either way, I don't know!
6) Lo siento por mi espanol - I use this one a lot because people seem to respond positively to me when I apologize for my bad language skills as opposed to just saying "Mi espanol no es bueno" which is kind of like "Don't talk to me, my Spanish sucks". "Lo siento por mi espanol" is more like "I'm not very good at Spanish but I try" yet requiring far fewer words and brain power. :)

Things That Differ From Our Culture
1) When you meet someone here, be it your new swimming teacher, a friend, someone else's friend, a relative, someone else's relative, etc. you say "Hola" and then kiss them on both cheeks. Same with when you leave. Although the Exit Smooches are more common if you're close friends and then you say "Adios" and then *kiss kiss*. So, frequently I have to *kiss kiss* people since I am new and constantly being introduced to people. And they are legit kisses. Not air kisses because I was mocked for just kind of touching cheeks but not really kissing them. I think they think we Americans are prude-ish.
2) Friends are very touchy. For instance, the other day I hung out with a girl named Bea and her friends. Often times I would see one of her friends, generally male (but that could just be because there were more guys than girls), come over and sort of ruffle her hair and then kiss her forehead or give her a giant hug and kiss her on the cheek out of the blue. No, I'm not just stupid and am actually witnessing her boyfriend do boyfriend-like things. You underestimate me. I saw many of the kids doing this and my host sister told me on the first day that this is common between friends.
3) These parachute pants are popular with the teenage girls. I'm not sure whether this is a local or country-wide thing but they are the pants that are tight at the bottom and at the waist and made of light fabric so that the rest sort of billows around your legs. They're generally printed.
4) The keep their bread in a drawer... I'm not sure about any of you, but in my family, ours is generally in a plastic bag or wrapped up some how. Their's just sort of sits in one of the drawers in the kitchen and they serve it stale. I find this very odd. Also, they have a bag, like a store-bought chip or cookie bag, which contains bread that is cracker-like. Like store-bought pre-toasted bread. I was under the impression that the Spanish bought food fresh most days however that is not the case. In fact I haven't seen new groceries yet. Which brings me to...
5) They do the same with the cheese.... although they do refrigerate it, which is nice, they don't wrap it in anything and this morning I was, in fact, served moldy cheese.
6) After most meals they offer fruit they way we offer desert which is lovely. :)
7) A Spanish tortilla is a type of omelette. They cook vegetables (potatoes, onions, cucumbers) in a quarter inch of olive oil (the Spanish love their olive oil) and then crack and stir 5-6 eggs (differs depending on how many people you're serving and how big your pan is) and then combine them. Similar to our omelets, however they serve it both cold and hot and not with salt or ketchup. It's also very thick. For instance, on my first day, my host mom made it in the afternoon for the family party in the evening and then served the leftovers the next day during lunch. We don't do this with things containing eggs for the most part. They are big on preserving leftovers here.
8) They don't eat corn. My host mom was telling me this today during lunch. I'm not sure why, but they don't. I think she said it was because it doesn't grow naturally here so no one eats it. But then again, she said it in Spanish, so I have no idea. x)
9) When you swim in a pool, you wear a swim cap and goggles. Boys and girls. Big and small.
10) Their idea of breakfast is cookies, toast with jam/butter/cream cheese, (Philadelphia cream cheese :D) chocolate milk, chocolate Special K, or leftover cake. You would think I would like this but the truth is, I miss my Raisin Bran and Life Cereal<3
11) With most meals they serve bread, meat, and cheese. El pan, carne, y queso. So they just put out small slices of ham and chunks parmesan cheese along with the stale bread.
12) The doorknob for the front door is in the center of it. Really. And not just my house.
13) Most of the teenagers have motorbikes. You often see them riding home from school on them or taking them to go out with friends.
14) Most of the houses, unless you're crazy rich, are apartments, townhouses, or flats.
15) There's graffiti EVERYWHERE. This could just be because I'm living outside Madrid but I did not expect quite so much.
16) All of the houses have gates around them. This could be because they are very close together and want their privacy but I've never really seen that at home. It could also be because of vandalism but I'm not really sure. But every house has it. And most of the gates are covered so you can't see anything.
17) They use their hands A LOT when describing things and basically their whole bodies. And here I thought that was an Italian thing...
18) A lot of the kids got to private schools, like my host sister. (Not me, though.)
19) They eat lunch at 2:30 and dinner at 10 or so.

Wellllll that's all I can think of for now. Kind of am annoyed I stopped on an odd number, but oh well. I will probably add more later. It is quite late here, so I must be getting to bed, however, I will write more about the past few days tomorrow because everyone will be at work/school so I'll just be relaxing. I still have to do the Similarities list. Anyway, adios amigos. :)

El aeropuerto

2009-09-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

If you ever decide to take a trip like this let me tell you one thing. Walking through that gate will be the most terrifying experience of your life. To turn around and wave and smile and say goodbye for a year to the people who have taken care of you your entire life, the people who know every little thing about you and yet love you unconditionally, is far more frightening than you can imagine. Everyone was standing and waving as I walked through security and toward the gates and I kept looking back to make sure they were still there. Eventually, I had to stop looking back and look to the path ahead of me and that was scary. I took one last look and then walked straight toward my gate.
Getting to the gate and onto the plane was unbelievably simple. I showed up to the airport late, as usual, so I conveniently arrived about 4 minutes before they began boarding which honestly, I preferred. Less time to over-think and become nervous. I was a little teary-eyed from the goodbyes, but overall I felt fine. When I showed them my ticket they told me my seat had been changed to an exit row, which I hear is preferable because there’s more leg room. The woman asked if I’d requested the seat change and I responded no and she smiled and told me it was a good thing. I wonder if it was because I was in Rotary? I believe that that’s more likely because I think it’s unusual to randomly change someone’s seat to a more preferable one. Personally, I kind of like less leg room so I can curl up and put my knees against the seat in front of me and sleep. I was seated next to a very nice German man who looked like he was in his mid-to-late forties. Throughout the flight he proved to be very kind and attentive to me. (Not in a creepy way, of course. More in a way that he immediately noticed if I was looking for something like the light/bathroom/plug for headphones and showed me where it was. Actually, he helped me sleep for the short time that I could because when I was trying to sleep and couldn’t find a comfortable position in the Exit Seat he noticed my frustration and very graciously showed me several one sitting in an Exit Row can sleep.) I later found out he had a daughter about my age.
I had managed to stay surprisingly calm about the whole leaving-my-family-and-friends-and-all-those-who-love-me-in-exchange-for-a-country-full-of-people-I-don’t-know-that-don’t-speak-my-language thing as I sat and waited for the plane to depart and even after we had gotten into the air. I suppose it was because I had kept my mind occupied with reading (Bridget Jones’ Diary) and getting myself situated and such. However, once we about a half an hour into the flight I put my book down and tried to sleep which was when everything really set in and I broke down. I’m not really proud to say that I cried like a child on a public flight but I’m not ashamed either. I mean, wouldn’t you? The minute my mind was clear, all the thoughts I had been holding back just kind of came barreling in and set me off. I probably cried on and off for the next hour until dinner arrived. I think the flight attendant and my seat mate were a little concerned about me. How embarrassing. >.< I managed to calm down (for the record, I was not like absurdly loud/flailing about in misery... just sort of head head down with my hood over me) when they handed out the meals. My seat mate (I never got his name so from now on he shall be referred to as NGM...the Nice German Man) told the flight attendant in German that I spoke English which was nice, and once we were both settled and being fed he was finally being able to talk to me, and asked me questions about where I was headed. He asked whether it was my choice to go on exchange or whether someone had told me I should do it. After just breaking down I felt a little silly telling him it was, in fact, all my idea.
The flight wasn’t particularly exciting. I thought I had lost my headphones (they were in my bag) so I couldn’t watch a DVD or listen to my iPod, which was rather unfortunate, so I was limited to reading and sleeping. Reading occupied for a little over an hour and sleeping for about the same. In my absurd boredom I managed to go through every single setting on my new iPod as well as transfer all of the contacts on my phone onto it. Sad, I know. When I woke up I caught the end of Night of the Museum II which was exciting. (Yes, exciting.) And then they brought around a little snack and NGM woke up. We talked a little more until we were starting to land in Frankfurt. (For those of you who don’t know, my flight was a connecting flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Madrid, Spain.) Just as we were landing NGM revealed to me that his daughter wanted to do Rotary next year which I thought was a bit odd timing for that comment but I let it go. I wondered if perhaps the reason he was so nice to me the entire flight was that he had been thinking of what it would be like had his own daughter been in my position. Either way, it was much appreciated. As we pulled in I suppose I must’ve looked nervous because he nudged my knee and smiled at me and said “You’ll be fine, I’m quite certain.” It was so nice and reassuring and he helped me as we departed the plane as well because I help up the line when I was too nervous to ask the woman loitering by the compartment holding my bag to move. (There were some angry grunts from behind in German and I started to just move out of the way but NGM barked back at them in German and shut them up and then helped me get my bag out until letting the line go.) I felt very lucky.
Of course, knowing me though there has to hit a point where things go wrong and this was it. “I think I left something on the plane.” “Upstairs!” barked the intimidating security guard. “I should wait up there?” Head nod plus unclear response in German. I headed back up the stairs from where I had debarked the plane. I saw a help desk where there were a few other people lined up so I stood in line to ask whether I should wait up here and for how long. She told me she thought I should just wait until everyone had gotten off the plane. When it looked like the coast was clear I headed down and ran into a flight attendant. I explained to situation to her and she said to head on down. I was stopped by the angry german guard again but luckily the nice flight attendant came in and explained in german what was going on and he huffily let me go. Then when I walked in there was a whole group of flight attendants etc. all gathered together and they all had to know what was going on and why I was back on the plane so the flight attendant who had come with me reexplained to everyone what had happened and then several flight attendants started asking me in German where my seat was (I had no idea what they were saying to me) until finally my flight attendant stepped in and asked in me English. Next, one of the German speaking flight attendants headed back to my seat to look for it and returned thirty seconds later saying she didn’t see anything and what had I lost which was when I had to admit that it was a ziplock bag with a small white iPod cable in it. Finally, the flight attendant who had sat across from me during the flight went back again with the German speaking flight attendant and returned with my lost item, which it turned out was a plastic baggy with a small easily replaceable iPod cable and a pack of 5 gum. Yes. Leave it to me to make an international spectacle of myself before I’ve even made it to my destination.
But the list continues! Once I left I asked the nice woman at the desk where my next flight was, not realizing that I had the ticket in an envelope next to my passport. She asked what time I was going to Madrid. Originally, I recall being booked for a 7:30 (the flight to Frankfurt arrived at 5:30 in the morning) flight to Madrid so that’s what I told her and she said that I was to go to Gate B13. However, as I was walking towards my gate I realized that my ticket said Gate A40 so I figured it had changed. (I know. I am so foolish.) Since I had some time I went to the bathroom to spruce up and such. As I was doing my hair I heard an announcement for people taking the 7:30 SpanAir flight to Madrid leaving from Gate B13 so I hurried over there. It turned out it was at the complete opposite side of the airport so it took me forever going up and down elevators and across those fast-walky things. Just as I got there and plopped down they announced that it was boarding so I got right in line. When the man scanned my ticket it beeped so I figured my seat had been changed again until he looked up at me, pointed to my ticket, and said, “This is not your flight.” Great. I had just walked cross-country all the way to Gate B13 which was practically in Siberia and it wasn’t even my flight. Turns out my flight really did depart from Gate A40 and it was in the direction I had originally been going but of course further to the other side of the airport. So, long story short, I spent about half my time at the Frankfurt airport walking from side to side and the other half has been spent writing about it. Haha. I’m awaiting my REAL flight as I write this.

I like lists. SO, since I have been up and down the Frankfurt airport...

Cool Things About the Frankfurt Airport
1) The fast-walky things. No idea what they’re called but they go really slowly until you pass by to step on them and then you trigger something that makes it speed up. It’s sweet.
2) The chairs. They have these blue chairs everywhere that when you first see them look sort of uncomfortable but are actually very squishy and nice.
3) The marble-like flooring.
4) The large windows. (Since I got in at five in the lovely morning I got to see the sunrise through those windows.)
5) The televisions in the waiting areas and most of the signage is in English.
6) The janitorial staff ride around the airport on bikes.

Ahh, my flight is boarding. Adios!