OVERDUE UPDATE

SOOO! this is so overdue, but nonetheless an update.

first things first, I AM DOING FINE!

actually after 5 weeks of being here, i can confidently say that i feel pretty good here, don't get me wrong there are hard parts to come, but for the time being i am feeling pretty good. This experience has been so crazy, they always use the "roller coaster" metaphor, but what they forget to tell you is that this roller coaster is like the craziest one at the fair that your friends double dog dare you to go on, it can change from laughing with my host mom making lunch on Saturday listening to the British radio station chalk full of old American tunes, to feeling anxious and starting to cry when i hear a song like Bette Midler´s wind beneath my wings and all i want to do is hug and kiss my parents. even now as i just wrote those sentences its hard to hold back the tears. PLEASE don't get me wrong, nothing is wrong here, i am making friends, i am getting invited to birthday parties, i am getting used to the music and food and it is almost scary how normal and comfortable i feel here, but being gone i have really realized what a wonderful community i come from and really what a great family i have. it´s half happiness that i am so proud of my parents (i know that is usually said in the opposite direction, but its true) and half sadness that i don't get to share every tiny moment of this incredible experience with them.

So I am taking some classes, and art class two times a week for 2 hours each, i have been working with watercolors but i have discovered i am not a patient artist, which is necessary when your paper is soaking wet... i think i will begin oils soon. I am also taking a Spanish grammar class. I bought an exercise book and it has been helping tremendously. It feels so good to know what your saying is correct!

Sooo, I know I am supposed to be separating from Ashland but i love so look at Ashland Daily Tidings online, It is a guilty pleasure... About a week and a half ago I received my first package from my parents with the Sunday comics included, what a treat! The day that I received my package I had stayed home from school, still trying to kick the sickness thing... Just seeing my mom and dad´s handwriting made me cry, but sometimes you just need to! I ended up going back and reading all the letters that i had been given before I left and cried some more. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR ADVICE AND KIND WORDS emails count too!

My biggest challenge is dreaming and waking up. I can fall asleep fine, i drink some sleepy time tea (also included in the package!) and read a few pages of children's books in Spanish, and go off to sleep. The problem is how realistic my dreams are, even if they are bizarre they still feel so real. The worst so far was a dream where i went home for the weekend and i had all my stuff and mom and dad but they had moved into a different house, and i didn't have a return ticket so I had to find one quickly and get back before anyone noticed! The other more recent and weird one was getting a surprise visit from my parents and my Grandma Janet and Grandpa Ron, then all of us going to a casino and meeting chad and meeting a pregnant Michelle Phifer who apparently was a good friend of my moms and they used to work at that same casino together years ago before she was famous. Obviously these are insane. But when I wake up and I am in Spain, they feel even weirder. I am learning to get from my dreamy American head into my exchange student Spanish brain quicker in the morning. It is taking some effort. HAH! RIDICULOUS!

SO my best connections here are Alicia who is Spanish but spent last year in Ashland who lives in Valencia (hour away by train) and Kaitlyn Heater who is from Newport OR who i met before i left and she is also living in Valencia. It is so nice to hangout and talk with them, it isn´t long distance to call so they are such good supports. Its not even being able to speak English its just knowing that all the feelings that you have felt and thought were weird they have felt them too. A few weekends Alicia and her family and neighbors came to my city for a Sunday and we went out to lunch and ate arroz negro, black rice, which is a paella which consists of rice squid flesh and then the whole thing is squirted with the squids ink, hence the black color. I am getting used to the strong flavors here and finding out what i like. it was explained to me by Alicia that the flavors are so strong because here they have the idea that if the flavor isn't strong then what are you paying for? interesting..... anyway after lunch we took this AWESOME hike along the coastline of "las rotas" you have the rocky coast on one side and a mountain on the other, and at the end of the hike is the SWEETEST ocean cave, like pirates of the Caribbean and the count of monte cristo combined, SO NICE i will defiantly be taking my family on this hike. Another Sunday I had the opportunity to go visit Kaitlyn in Valencia my host mom and I went by train and met Kaitlyn and her host mom at the train station, we spent all day exploring museums and old churches and just walking around the city. This was one of the low days on my roller coaster, I'm not sure why because it was an awesome day but somethings like ancient cathedrals overflowing with choral harmony just make you cry and miss things. This weekend Alicia and Kaitlyn took the bus together and came to my house last night and we went to a birthday dinner then to a pub/disco and then came home and talked until 5 in the morning, I haven't really figured out the sleeping thing yet so I am updating you while they are shnoozin´Anyway they will stay the day here and we are going to make Oregon Blueberry pancakes today, I AM SO EXCITED! Next week is fiesta on Thursday and Friday so I will be spending 3 nights in Valencia with Kaitlyn just chillin and going out and doing whatever. My host parents are really good and logical about travel. They know Alicia and Kaitlyn´s parents and as long as we will be dropped off and picked up on each end they are good about letting us see one another.

My host parents. After re-reading my last blog I am surprised at how negative I sounded. After a semester of Philosophy and Lit I cant believe I forgot my favorite idea, its so simple but SO TRUE "attitude is everything" I am learning to have different bonding experiences with my host parents, i just sometimes get caught up in observing that I forget to be myself i just turn into a fly on the wall and i am learning to morph into me more often, when i do, the results are amazing my host parents like me and think I'm funny, and the more honest i am the more comfortable i feel and the more comfortable they feel with me. My host mom talks a lot about taking advantage of travel. She talks about maybe a Paris trip and then we could go see my friends Laurel Mehaffey (she is an au pair this year) and Janai Deckwar (who is doing a 5th year exchange through a different program). She talks about a possible trip to Milan and Italy to visitor her daughter who will be working there after the new year. She is also fine with any of my friends who are in Europe coming to see me. After the new year Miles Rooklyn will be in Grenada and she is already excited about a February trip! But I´m getting ahead of myself.

They say December and Christmas time is the hardest part of the whole exchange, well knowing that fact I am doing everything in my power to distract me from that. On December 14th my brother is coming to visit me until the 20th, hes got his tickets and now we have just got to plan what we want to do, i think he wants his trip to be a Hawaiian vacation, but ill be honest humidity whether in heat or cold makes everything worse, it is not hot here by any means. The sun is much more intense when it comes out, but when it is hidden by the clouds, its chilly. Plus when it rains it really pours, its like the sky just decides to pick up a chunk of the Mediterranean and spills is all over Dénia.... ANYWAY Chad gets to visit and I am so excited! Also my good friend Alex Amarotico will be spending a month in Europe visiting her old host families in Denmark and also sometime visiting me! And I definitely saved the most incredible for last....... drum roll please........... I GET TO SEE THE FREAKING SPICE GIRLS IN MADRID ON DECEMBER 23RD WITH KAITLYN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could write exclamation points for days. It may not seem that exciting, but to me this is once in a lifetime!

Just had DELICIOUS Oregon Blueberry Pancakes. My host mother loved them, and the dog loved the leftovers. No syrup but nonetheless wonderful.

Well I know the last question is where are all the pictures, i have no excuses, i will work on those next.

Love and Blessings, feel free to write emails or letters or anything, a touch of home never hurts.

Shanay