Piragüismo

       Before I start this post let me just say I'm writing this the day after because my arms were like wet noodles and I could barely keep my eyes open past 10pm.

      As some of you may know I'm enrolled in Environmental Science as a course this year (we call it Ciencias Ambientales). Every Friday we have the 2 last periods of the day to do excursions or labs for the class, and it being the first Friday of the year of course something amazing was planned.

    Our plan for the day was to go kayaking down the river (piragüismo). We rode two person kayaks that you sat on down on top of instead of inside. Cooper was my partner for the whole kayaking experience, and also my personal radio because he would sing to me, and the whole group, a wide variety of songs from Frozen to Nicki Minaj. Within the first 10 minutes of the trip we were all soaked from splashing each other with our paddles which is no surprise because who doesn't love splashing around, but later on it became more relaxing as we looked at the beautiful scenery around us. We took a 20 min break in the middle of the trip and stopped on a shore to talk about the river. All of us were thinking, "man this river looks beyond dirty", but during our break we talked about the river and the fact that the reason it is a weird brown color is actually because of the sediment in river. We also talked about structural issues with some areas of the city with rain water pipes and faulty flood structures, but I won't go too much into that because I'm clearly not an expert... yet.

     As we kept paddling we saw the empty Zaragoza water tower, which looks like a really nice office building to me, and we paddled by Pilar, both of which were so beautiful. In the last few minutes of our trip the sun started to set and created all these amazing colors in the sky around Pilar (because our trip was about 5 hours or so). I can definitely say now that Envi. Sci. is my favorite class so far :).

    Also on a side note this morning when I was talking with my host mom about how my arms were sore she told me that honey helped with that (which I didn't know) and so she put some honey in some warm milk for me, which I have to admit I was skeptical about, but it was so delicious!! The best way I can describe the taste is by imagining the sweetness of chocolate milk but more of a vanilla honey flavor. If you're feeling adventurous I highly suggest trying it.

          Hasta Luego!
                      Lauren

Alquezar y Huesca

      Finally!!! Orientation finished and so the past Thursday and Friday the whole SYA class went to Alquezar! Alquezar is a small pueblo in the mountains about an hour or two away from Zaragoza. We traveled in a double decker bus where we sang songs, slept, and chat with our friends (mostly in english sorry Profe! we will get better i promise). The buildings in the town were all very similar in architecture and antique making the setting very cohesive, and not to mention beautiful!

     During our drive up there we took a mini excursion to some caves in the mountains! we hiked along trails for awhile and eventually came upon some very steep sets of metal stairs leading down to two different caves. We split up into groups, so the caves wouldn't be so crowded, and talked about the cave paintings on the walls. Our teacher, Nacho (short for Ignacio), taught us how cave men painted and how we could try to understand what they were drawing. They drew things like deer, men, women, and fire. When we weren't learning about cave paintings we got to look at the beautiful, and also frighteningly high caverns! I couldn't believe how high up we were; if someone were at the bottom they would probably look like an ant.

     When we arrived we had lunch in the restaurant under our albergue, which is a hostel, and the food was really good. After lunch as we were unpacking our backs something very strange happened; IT STARTED HAILING! All of us were very shocked, especially my friend from Hawaii who had never seen hail before. Needless to say the hail caused us to stay in our rooms longer than we had planned, but that gave us all time to chat with each other, laughing and having fun.

     Once the hail had disappeared we all emerged from our hostel to go see Alquezar. We visisted the Catedral on top of the hill of Alquezar. We learned that it was built at the highest point as a place of defense against military attacks. Personally I thought the Catedral was on the highest point because it had the best view. While seeing the intricate pedestals and monumental sculptures, we also got to see the inner greenery and buena vista of Alquezar! My favorite part though was when we got free time afterwards to explore the town before dinner. My group of friends and I walked around the town and found a woman with a new black puppy that was too cute!

    That night when we were all going to bed my room began talking about our home towns and things that they had in common like good or bad sports teams and school rivalries. It eventually spun into conversations about our favorite actors, movies, books, and the fact that not many people want to be part of Huffle Puff in Hogwarts. At some points we were laughing so hard that the teachers next door had to knock on the wall to tell us to quite down!

    The next day we woke up bright and early to a buffet style breakfast of cereal, toast, chocolate croissants, and all sorts of delicacies. I especially liked the chocolate croissants and filled up on those. Soon after we headed out to another mountain trail to see a water fall. The hike so far was my favorite because it was the perfect temperature and weather for a hike, not to mention the trail was really fun. there were rocky up hills, and down hills on the trail, but the most exciting was the metal walkway attached to the face of the giant rock wall. It was a grated walkway so we could see the water flowing beneath us, and boy was it going fast! We were going to play in the water for a little bit, but because of the rain and hail the water had risen and become quite precarious.

     On a major bright side though it gave us time to explore the town again letting us go to shops and cafes to enjoy some snacks or drinks. My friend Jada and I wandered around aimlessly talking, until we found a jewelry stand near one of the restaurants. The lady there was selling braided necklaces with some sort of tusk (not real) on the end. Jada and I got matching necklaces with different colors and chat with the lady. She said our Spanish was really good (probably the biggest compliment we could receive), but also that we could work on our accent. She assured us though that it wasn't that hard because she was from Romania and had learned Spanish and also German too. Jada knew some German and said a few words to the lady, but I sadly do not know German or what they said. It was nice to have a semi-long conversation with a local though!

     We left Alquezar and began our journey home, but the adventures were not done yet. For lunch we stopped for a couple hours in the town known as Huesca (where my host mom was born I found our). We were given the challenge to take a selfie with each of the sites the profes had circled on our printed out maps. Jada and I took this challenge with energy and planned a strategic way to see all the sites and the town in one whole walk. This really tested our sense of direction, because on the map the street names were so small and in Spain the street signs are tiled to the walls, so they can be hard to find at times. We were successful in our challenge though taking a selfie with the Parque, Casino, Catedral, Ayuntamiento, and Museo, not to mention the fantastic ice cream and bocadillos we found along the way. We finally made it to the bus with a few minutes to spare, full and worn out. When we finally arrived back in Zaragoza all of us wanted to just relax and take a siesta.

      In other words you can get a lot done in two days with SYA, a mental note for when we all start planning for independent travel after winter break.

         Besos
             Lauren

Las Reglas

       Today was a mix of confusion and touring. Today was my first day taking the bus alone to school which thankfully went well, although my timing wasn't exactly the best on when I'd arrive at school (I got there with a minute to spare!). I have lots of time to get better at that though.

       We started off the day discussing a blog we had read last night about a woman from the United States who prefered working in the OR of Argentina. We reflected on her personal account of her time in Argentina and her time in the United States comparing the two with three categories: pensamos (what we thought), vimos (what we saw), y "I wonder". the "I wonder" category was my favorite because we really got to discuss thought provoking questions like whether someone could be patriotic and not ethnocentric.

       After starting with a fun activity we had to get into the grind and learn the rules of the school. Some rules were the common rules like no cheating and no plagiarizing, but the most important part about us learning the rules was so that we didn't have to ever face the consequences. When someone accumulates enough minor or major strikes against them it can cause major disciplinary action, and while this was scary to talk about it also was settling to know how I can avoid those strikes.

    My favorite part of the day though was the bus tour!!!! I cannot explain how refreshing it is to finally see most of the town I'm living in haha Zaragoza is a lot bigger than I thought it was! we zigzagged through streets all over town through neighborhoods like Torrero and La Jota seeing beautiful architecture everywhere. We toured Zaragoza on a double decker bus, similar to the ones you see in London or New York, but they weren't nearly as red, in fact they were blue. My friend Jada and I power walked to the bus so that we could get good seats on the upper deck and boy did it pay off! we got to sit in the very front and see all of the sites from the big glass window in front of us. Our inner photographers took over and we began taking as many photos as possible of Zaragoza leaning this way and that to get the best angle for the shot, and now that I look back at it we must have looked very strange to the people on the street. I took so many photos that when I got home and loaded them on my computer it took me an hour to go through and delete all the bad ones (I had over 100 photos!!).

    After school I got some gelato with my friends at a shop down the street, and after a hot day in the sun it was like heaven on earth. When I tried to go home is when things got interesting. I, being the forgetful person I am, could not remember where my bus station to get home was, so I ended up walking back and forth down a street looking for the right bust station. Sadly I didn't find the station, but I did see my bus in the street and I began chasing it down so I could find its next stop. Luckily its next stop wasn't far and I successfully caught the bus and I was very worn out by then. As I got home I also remembered I didn't know how to open the door to my family's apartment building, so I spent 20 minutes with my key trying to open the door, and then after that struggle the next obstacle was opening the door to our actual apartment. Luckily mi madre saved the day and let me inside, but afterward I had to be taught how to open doors (embarrassing!). So you could say I rode two buses today: the tour bus and the struggle bus.

    I know I'm going to be sleeping well tonight :)
             Besos
                     Lauren

Orientacion

Good Evening Everyone (in a European time zone)!
               Orientacion was definitely not your average school orientation. I was one of the oh so lucky few to have to take the math placement test in the morning meaning i had  to be there a little more than and hour earlier than the start time (I had to be there at 7:50 and school starts at 9am).
   
         Mooses, mi padre, showed me which bus to take and which stop to get off on in order to get to school. I hadn't really seen much of Zaragoza to begin with besides on the 4 hour bus ride to the town, which was mostly on the outskirts. Honestly the more I explore the more beautiful Zaragoza gets. Our school is in a beautiful building nestled between two other just as beautiful buildings. The arcitecture here never ceases to amaze me.

    Orietacion consisted of meeting the teachers, taking a spanish placement exam, meeting everyone else officially, and getting a walking tour of Zaragoza. My tour guides were Antonio and Mark and as Mark said Antonio knows everyone so there weren't many moments when people were not saying hello to him. I would have pictures from the site seeing tour, but sadly I left my camera at the school. Majority of the day was us walking around Zaragoza taking pictures and learning new things, but besides the tour my favorite part of the day was Lunch.

    For lunch we went to a restaurant called La Mafia and had delicious meals varying from pizza to cod which we each chose at the beginning of the day, but the best part was getting to know the people at my table. Besides the traveling day today was the first real day that we got to spend together not stressing about our passports or families. It was definitely a day full of energy though with all the commotion and excitement; I definitely needed a siesta when I got home! I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds for us since today was so great!

The Firsts Update

I know a lot of people asked me before I left what I would be eating in Spain, so here is a post answering some of these questions.

     Yesterday I asked my host mother what time meals were normally at. She explained that we have breakfast when we wake up then typically lunch at school will be at 2pm (if I'm at home it will probably be at 3-3:30) followed by a late dinner at 9pm. Not mentioning the countless snacking throughout the day. The meals I've had so far are amazing! The first meal at home I had meat with a pasta salad and bread which was at around 3pm. The 9pm meal I don't yet know the name of but imagine quiche without the crust filled with potatoes, meat, and some sort of vegetable. Along with that dish we had bread, salad, an assortment of cheese and ham, and some cucumbers. Typically I can be a pretty picky eater, but to follow the advice of Elena I've been stirring the blood (it's a personal experience story that has the moral of not being afraid to try even the newest/scariest of things). I have loved everymeal I've had and I can definitely say my host mother is a fantastic cook.

     The language barrier is still pretty hard to crack but I am starting to get the hang of it. What really helps the most is saying that I don't understand and then they simplify what they said and I understand. My siblings help a lot with that. This morning I watched my first TV show in Spain which happened to be the cartoon The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. I used to watch that cartoon all the time with my brother, so it brought back fond memories. I could understand generally what was going on in the show, but the dialog could be hard to follow at times.

         Now it's time for my siesta! (aka nap time)
                  Besos, Lauren Archer

Not sure what day it is...

Today I had to say goodbye to my home town and my family. They are my biggest supporters for my year abroad and I thank them so much for that! For those of you wondering (including my family) how the travel to Spain went here is the story of my journey.

     The plane ride to Spain took a total of 7 hours. Before arrived at the airport we did not know our seat set up, so you can imagine all of us in a clump asking each other what row our seats were in. Personally, I have never been out of the country so riding in an international plane made me very nervous. The best part of the plane ride was that each seat had its own individual screen with lots of recent movies (even some spanish films!), tv shows, music, and games. I was one of the lucky ones who got a window seat, and my oh my the view was amazing. The sky ranged from a rainbow colored sunset above the clouds to a dark and starry sky over a black ocean. I watched in total 3 movies and finished my summer reading on the plane which is what I call very productive.

      Afterward we went through customs for an hour or so due to the fact that the line was insanely long. Then after hunting for our luggage on the conveyor belt we took 2 big buses to shuttle us from the Madrid airport to Zaragoza. The bus ride took 4 hours most of which I slept through, but I did get to enjoy the scenery which looked like a mix between sunflower farms and the Grand Canyon.

    This next part was the most nerve racking. We went through this whole process of waiting in the bus for the SYA teacher to call our names so we could meet our families, and it felt a bit like when you come home from a camp trip and they reunite you with your family. I was greeted by my sister, Julia, and my spanish mom, Mercedes. We then took a taxi all to their apartment, which from the balcony you can see Zaragoza stretch over the horizon.

     My room is a bit larger than a single room in college and I have a small bed, desk, and closet. My brother and sister live at home and are the two rooms next to me. My favorite little companion though is their dog Quena who loves belly rubs. As I write this I just finished dinner with my family (at 9 pm) which was probably my 6th meal of the day, (1 with my family at 8am, 1 at the airport at 3pm, then 2 on the plane, 1 on the bus, and finally the dinner with my family). To say the least I am stuffed beyond imagination. It's weird to think that I left in the afternoon of thursday and now am in the evening of Friday.

   A tip of advice: when doing a year abroad you pretty much have two options to avoid a painful jet lag. 1.) you stay awake the entire time until it becomes nighttime in the new country or 2.) Sleep every second you can like on the plane, on the bus, waiting in the customs line, etc. Sleep is super important! Without my nap on the bus ride I probably wouldn't have understand my family as well, which by the way was super hard! My years of spanish help the transition, but the language barrier is definitely real. Well that's all for today unless we do something tonight. I'll keep you posted! and if i don't....

         Goodnight, Good morning, and Good afternoon! :)

                     -Lauren Archer

Closing time

So the time has come. I've packed my clothes, gotten all my documents, booked the flights, and now I'm about to start my journey. My flight leaves tomorrow but I'm currently seeing my brother at college one more time before I leave. I'll admit I am a bit scared to leave the comfort of my home, family, and friends for a year, but the excitement I am feeling over powers that fear. Things I'm really looking forward to is meeting my famiy (especially my sister because I've never had a sister before!), finally meeting my classmates who I've been chatting with on facebook for the past couple months, and going to Europe for the first time in my life. I was placed in a host family with a mother, father, older brother, and older sister (yay big families!). I have had a wonderful time this summer making lifetime friends on my service trip and spending my last days with my friends and family. I couldn't wish for a better way to start my year abroad. This quote I think really summarizes how this year will change me.

   "Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living"
                      -Mary Ritter Beard


I can't wait for my journey to begin!


  -Lauren