Week 21: New beginnings!

This week has brought some bittersweet endings, but also some exciting beginnings - not the least of which has been my move to Toledo! I have been so sad to see France go, but I also can’t wait to see what Spain has in store for me.

Monday was our last day in Lisbon, which was a fantastic end to a fantastic trip! Of course it's never a happy event to say goodbye to a great friend, but we said our goodbyes and well wishes, and then made our way back to Brussels airport. Once we landed there, we had a few hours to kill until our bus back to Lille, and so we decided to explore Brussels a bit. We made our way around the city, checking out the main square, the store dedicated to The Adventures of Tintin, and of course, the little peeing boy (Manneken Pis). It was an excellent way to spend a few hours! After ending up at the bus stop a few minutes early, and then sitting through a 2.5 hour bus ride with some enjoyable conversation about the previous semester and the one to come, we finally made it back to Lille, and walked fast through the cold to get back to our respective residences. All in all, a great day!

Our last view of Lisbon from the plane: Europe's longest bridge the Ponte Vasco da Gama, measuring 17km.

Part of the Berlin Wall in front of the European Parliament building.

A marker of the Camino de Santiago in the main square in Brussels!

The main square itself.

Walker in front of a Tintin mural.

The little peeing boy.

Thanks for a great few hours, Brussels!

Tuesday was my last day with Alex! What a sad day… we spent the afternoon watching Netflix and cuddling up. I packed all my things, sat on my suitcase, and zipped the last zipper. Since my flight was early in the morning on Wednesday, I had booked the last train of the night to Charles de Gaulle airport from Lille, and so Manon, Fatima, Alex and I grabbed some kebab on the run while heading over to my old residence for one last goodbye (for now!). Walker and Anna met us there, and we said our goodbyes - one of the more melancholy moments of the evening… but, as I keep telling all my friends from Lille, it’s just goodbye for now! Then Walker, Fatima and Manon were nice enough to help Alex and me take all my luggage to the train station, and I ended up being just in time for the train, thanks to their help getting all my suitcases to the station (you guys rock!). As the train door closed, I watched my friends waving back at me as I whizzed away, and my heart broke a little. I had just gotten to see Alex again; did I really have to leave so quickly? And of course I didn’t want to leave all my new friends behind for a big unknown! But, in spite of the heartache, I had to keep up the positivity, otherwise I would start getting seriously sad, and possibly even homesick, which surprisingly I really haven’t been much of, all these months in Europe. (More on that later.)

Instead of sleeping in the Paris airport, as I had planned, I ended up working on my blog all night. I got two full entries done, which was way more than I expected, and then it was time to board the plane! I checked my two big bags at the gate, and then went over to go through security… who sent me back to the gate, because my carry-on suitcase and my backpack were considered two carry-on items, and not just a carry-on and a purse, but thankfully the nice gentleman at the gate let me check my carry-on suitcase for free. After that nonsense, I grabbed my backpack and made it through security. After constant second-guessing myself as to if I was in the right place to be waiting for the plane, I finally just grabbed a seat and relaxed for a while. I got another blog entry finished up and published, and then it was boarding time!

A giant lit globe keeping me company in the Charles de Gaulle Airport for the night.

I took in my last views of France for the moment while walking down the hallway to board the plane (at o dark thirty). For the short amount of time that I was in a physical position to use my laptop/phone but couldn’t due to technical rules, I sat and reflected on the last semester. It’s now officially over! What?! Craziness. I still can’t believe it! Then the plane took off, which is always my favorite part, and since I hadn’t slept during the night, sleep overcame me for most of the flight. When I woke up, it was dawn in Madrid, and I got my first sights of Spain!

Hello Madrid!

It was 9:20AM when I arrived in the Madrid airport. As I had been told to meet with the people from my program in Spain at 10:15, I was anxious to get all my luggage and try to find where I was supposed to meet up. Strangely enough, I had actually missed the whole experience of actually having checked luggage to pick up (something about those luggage belts just does it for me, I guess), and then I walked out into the main terminal hall to try to find the meeting point. The description of the spot was accurate, but when I went there before 10:15, there was no one there, and so I wandered up and down the hall a bit until closer to the time, which is when I saw two guys in unmistakeable highlighter yellow vests with the name of my program (Fundación Ortega y Gasset) on them. I was so relieved, especially when they offered to take my two big suitcases, and we made our way to the bus where the other students had come in earlier on the group flight from the United States (Minneapolis, to be precise). We loaded everyone’s luggage in the bus, and then I hopped on, and I even started speaking in Spanish with one of the American students on the bus!

On the way to Toledo from Madrid, along with testing out my Spanish speaking skills after a semester of speaking almost no Spanish, I took in the magnificent views of the Spanish countryside and eventually the city itself. When we got off the bus, we got to leave our luggage to some nice hefty guys to unload, and the students living in host families got to go straight to a meeting about things like how to greet your host mom, adjusting to daily life in a Spanish family, and what to do in case we want to switch our host family. (A side notes here: for St. Norbert it’s actually required to stay with a family in Toledo, but the program itself offers the option of its own residence.) This meeting also served as our orientation, and so at a certain point we were joined by the other students who would be living in the same building as the school. They told us about a lot of things, including even a tiny bit about homesickness and culture shock (and an earful about pickpockets), and we also got a student manual (which, as usual, no one will ever read). Before too long, the meeting was over, and it was finally time for me to meet my host mom!

A beautiful view of the valley surrounding the city.

One of our first views of the entire city!

One of the two bridges that first connected the city to the valley, the Puente de San Martín.

An amusing street sign found around Toledo :)

Found at the post office: some fierce mail slots!

The main plaza in Toledo: the Plaza de Zocodover.

The beautiful cathedral!

My school for the next few months!

The spectacular view from the top of the school building. Oh Toledo...

María Carmen, or Mamen as she likes to be called, is a spectacular lady. I didn’t know it in the moment I was introduced to her, but I soon would find out! Right from the first moment, something just clicked, and I could tell this was the right choice of family for me to stay with for a semester - kudos to the Fundación. My host mom then went and got her car, which turned out to be a little bit of a difficult task due to the tiny streets in the historical neighborhood, but I finally got to load all my luggage into the car, and off we went so I could see where I would be living.

When we arrived, I helped Mamen lug all my suitcases up the stairs and into my new room. It turns out that my new home is a 3-level piso, and so the living room/dining room and kitchen are on the first floor, girls’ bedrooms on the second, and boys’ bedrooms on the third. (The levels aren’t that big.) After leaving my suitcases in my room, Mamen took me on a little tour of the place, telling me things along the way that I would need to know, such as which bathroom to use, where I would need to look for sugar for coffee, and using the remote control for the television. Before too long, other family members started arriving, and Mamen introduced me to each one of them: Ignacio, my 24-year-old host brother; Teresa, my 18-year-old host sister; Edith, my 16-year-old host sister; and Alonso, my 12-year-old host brother. It was great to get to meet them all right away, and it definitely jump-started my Spanish practice!

I had a little bit of time before dinner, so I unpacked all my bags and settled everything into my new drawers, closet and shelves. Ignacio was then nice enough to take my empty suitcases up to the attic, to get them out of the way. Not long after, we all sat down for dinner, or most of us anyways, and I started the process of adjusting into family living again. As I hadn’t heard much Spanish for the past 5-6 months, I was a little overwhelmed by the fast conversation, but I picked up what I could, and I participated when I could get a word in edgewise. In the host family orientation meeting earlier, they had told us that Spanish families tend to eat dinner around 10PM, but my host family usually eats dinner around 9PM, because Alonso has to be in bed somewhat early to be able to get the sleep he needs. What a great first day in Toledo!

Thursday was a chill day; classes don’t start until Monday, and so I had a mostly free day to do whatever I pleased. I had a lovely breakfast in the morning, put together by my amazing host mom, and she then proceeded to take me to the bus stop to make sure I knew how to get to school every day. I don’t have to take the bus if I don’t want to, it’s not that much longer of a walk, but we do get bus passes paid for us, and so I think I’ll end up using the bus more often than not. My host mom then walked me from the bus stop to the Fundación, after which I thanked her profusely (and tried to memorize as much of the route as possible), and then I had a writing test and a grammar test to take, so that the personnel at the school could get a better idea of our levels in the language. Fortunately, we got to know our results just a few hours later, and I found out that I had done fabulously on both tests (with my major mistake on the writing test being that I didn’t take enough risks by not having used more complex grammar structures, ironically enough). Coming out of the test, I was discussing the results with a lot of different people; the atmosphere reminded me of my first day of college in my freshman dorm, where everybody was introducing themselves to everybody, and we were all talking to everyone. It was a great environment, and an awesome way to meet new people! After exploring the Fundación and a little bit of Toledo with some new friends, we got to pick classes, which went really well for me because I got everything that I wanted without any schedule clashes.

A tourism center near my house, called Toletum, the Roman name for Toledo.

A statue of Spanish King Alfonso VI, who conquered Toledo for the Christians in the 11th century.

Then, we all had lunch in the school’s cafeteria, which turned out to be amazing! The food in the Fund is almost as good as my host mom’s meals. (More on the latter, later. :)) Shortly after, I had a meeting with one of the coordinators, Miguel, to find out where I would be doing my internship, which is officially a high school called Sefarad! I’m super excited, because not only was I told that I would be helping out with English classes, but they also have a strong program there in French - so I’ll get to practice French as well as Spanish! We figured out when I would be free and able to get to my internship, as it will be 8 hours each week, and Miguel will be talking to Sefarad about when works for them as well. After all that work, I went to chill and have a glass of sangria with the Puerto Rican students in our group, which was a great way to enjoy meeting new people! (As well as have my first authentic Spanish sangria, haha.) After spending a good part of the afternoon with the Puerto Ricans, we made our way back to the Fund for dinner. After the once again lovely food, I chatted with my new friends for a bit, then made my way back home and to sleep.

In the morning, I had breakfast with my host family again, and then the Fund took us on a walking tour of Toledo. We met in the school itself, and then we made our way around the city with expert tour guides who told us the history of more than a few places, including famous names like El Greco, Saint Teresa of Avila, and Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. It was interesting to get a jump-start on getting to know the city I’ll be spending these next few months in. After another wonderful lunch in the Fund, I went home for the afternoon to relax and unpack some more, and after a great afternoon of relaxing and settling in, I met people up in the main plaza of Toledo, and we went out for some sangria! I got to know more people, and we had fun sipping our sangrias, and even dancing at the end of the night in a night club called La Nuit (which holds certain irony for me, haha).

Saturday was much the same, in a relaxing kind of atmosphere, but I did get to meet up with some friends and get a private tour of Toledo from the surrounding valley by my host mom, who turns out to be a retired history teacher! After hearing about some of the legends that lie in the hills, such as El Arroyo de la Degollada and others, my friends and I thanked my host mom very much and made our way to a café for some churros and hot chocolate (which I highly recommend to anyone who ever comes to Spain!). We ended up playing go fish, because multiple people had brought along some playing cards, and so we had a great time, and all too soon it was time to leave. I then watched most of The Maze Runner in Spanish with my host sisters, and we had a nice little chat afterwards about the movie and differences between America and Spain. Then, we all made our way to bed (fairly late).

My host mom tells me that Sunday is la fiesta de las calorías, or a calorie-fest, which is just as well because I’m used to a huge American brunch. I ended up having more churros and hot chocolate for breakfast, and then Mamen and Edith and I headed to a hospital not too far down the way where they usually go to mass on Sundays. On my application for this program in Toledo, on the host family information portion, I had requested a family that goes to mass on Sundays, because I wanted to be able to go with them instead of going on my own, and boy did I get my wish there! Mamen actually goes to mass every single day, and there’s always at least two or three family members who go to mass at the hospital or elsewhere on Sundays. Then, before heading home, we stopped at the grandparents’ houses - Mamen’s parents, and Paco’s parents. It was really cool to meet the whole family basically right away! And I got a lot of Spanish practice in, haha. When we got home, Mamen was cooking some paella, the most typical dish of Spain, and we had an excellent lunch at the dining room table, and I got to hear more and more arguments and discussion going on between the family, and I’m already slowly starting to understand more Spanish. (I’ll get there someday, haha.) I helped clean up after lunch, and then I sat down and wrote some post cards to my family and friends.

My Sunday night was actually really exciting - I watched the Packer game live with my parents and twin on Google hangouts! (THEY WERE SO CLOSE.) After watching the last half of Cold Mountain in Spanish with my host sisters, I headed up to my room, and my whole family and I virtually “hung out” for the Packer game! I was so excited to feel so connected to home and my family, and my team of course! Unfortunately, the Pack didn’t quite get there this time, and so with a heavy heart I said goodbye, and eventually fell asleep. What a bittersweet end to an altogether fantastic week.

This week has been an excellent start to my time in Toledo - I can’t wait to see what these next few months bring! If these first few days are any indication, I will be having a fabulous time here in Toledo, if for no other reason than my fantastic host family providing me with such a great place to stay and great company! For now, I’m off to get ready before my classes start tomorrow, so I’ll write you all next week - ¡Hasta pronto!