The trip to Madrid!

Last weekend (March 2) we had a long weekend (four days). Two friends, Alex and Jono, and I 
decided to travel somewhere, and we chose the capital of Spain: Madrid! It was my second time going, but the first time I was only there for two hours, so I didn't see much. This second trip was for three days, and in that time we were able to do many things. 

We left Zaragoza early Saturday morning at 8:50 am. We rode the bus, which took about three  hours. Once we arrived in Madrid we took the metro to the place in which we were staying, a 
youth hostel, which was situated near the center, about a ten-minute walk away. I had only 
brought my backpack because I didn't need a lot of clothes for such a short trip. Packing was 
easy for me. 

That afternoon we went to two museums: the Prado and the Reina Sofía. First, we went to the 
Prado. Unfortunately photography was prohibited. I wish I could've taken pictures of the 
paintings! Obviously we didn't see the entire museum. It's too big to do all at once. We walked 
around where we liked. But one painting we did make time to see was Las Meninas by 
Velázquez. We entered the room where it was and I could tell right away where it was on the 
wall because a crowd of people was in front of it. It felt quite amazing to finally see this painting 
myself because I had heard about it for such a long time. It was a lot bigger than I thought, but 
that way it's easier to add a lot of detail in a painting I guess. I really liked all of the paintings in 
the Prado. There were a variety of themes. For example, one was about the Greek myth that 
Cronus would be usurped by one of his sons, so he ate them. The painting showed Cronus 
taking a bite of the body of one of his sons. It was disgusting but interesting. Another painting 
showed a nun who started to grow a lot of body hair when she was older. I thought she was a 
man at first, but then looking at the title I realized I was wrong. In the Prado there are only  paintings I think. I don't remember seeing any other type of art. 

In the Reina Sofía, there is a lot more modern art, including photography, paintings, sculptures, 
videos, and written work. I found out while walking through the museum that I liked the Prado a  lot more because of the paintings. The more modern art was more difficult for me to understand. That's probably why I liked it less. 

We returned to the hostel, and I was so tired that I took a nap. We had walked so much that day. 
I'm surprised that walking, which seems so simple, can tire one so quickly. After my nap we  went out to get dinner. Alex, who had visited Madrid before, knew a really good Chinese 
restaurant, so we went there. I was craving some Chinese food. We had to go down stairs to get to it. It was below the ground in a sort of tunnel with other stores and restaurants. It was also 
small. My friends and I had to wait in line for about half an hour before we could enter. I ordered 
fried rice and beef wrapped in bread. It was delicious! It was worth the wait. We went back to the hostel after that and soon I went to sleep. 

The next morning (Sunday), we woke up pretty early so that we had time to eat breakfast in the 
hostel. Breakfast was included thankfully in the fee. That day we wanted to go see the Palacio 
Real (Royal Palace), which is the home of the monarchs, and a third art museum, the Thyssen. 
On our way to the Palacio Real we stopped to buy churros and chocolate, but Alex didn't want 
any. We finished quickly and continued on our way. We got tickets at the entrance of the Palacio Real and walked in. First we had to climb some wide stairs up to the second floor where the rooms were. Even from the beginning I could see all the luxury that surrounded the monarchs. Everything was exquisitely decorated and perfectly symmetrical. It was breathtaking to see. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos. On the second floor there were many groups with guides going through. Alex and I followed them to learn about each room. Jono had already been to the Palacio Real before and so went ahead of us. The guides explained them purpose of each room and how it was decorated. There were also signs that one could read about the rooms. The king had different rooms for everything he did. He ate breakfast in one, 
ate dinner in another, slept in another, got dressed in a different one. I thought, "Why?" But he's 
a king and he can do whatever he wants I guess. We also saw a huge dining room with a very 
long table that can hold more than a hundred people! In another room we saw the silverware and other eating utensils used before. They were all in class cupboards. 

Me, Alex, and Jono.

At the end while we were in the souvenir shop, Jono and I saw our Math teacher, Jen. She was 
also in Madrid for the long weekend with a friend from the school she teaches at in the US. We 
said hello to each other and she told us that we needed to go see the armory. It was her favorite 
part of the Palacio Real. Jono and I went. There were two rooms fulls of swords and shields and 
armor. And the armor wasn't just for the men but also for horses. It was very impressive. I can't 
imagine how heavy all that metal was. The men and horses had to move really fast while 
wearing something that weighed so much. It sounds pretty hard to me. Jono and I met up with 
Alex outside and we rested a bit. It was sunny and warm and really nice. 

Then we went to the Thyssen. All the paintings are part of a collection of the Thyssen family. 
Together they collected about 800 paintings! We saw mostly everything. Alex is in the 
Contemporary Art class, so she knew some of the painters/paintings in the museum. She 
explained them to me. She was really interested in them. She would spend several minutes 
looking at one painting to really understand it. 

Jono and I became tired of being in the museum, but Alex wanted to stay, so Jono and I left 
and went back to the hostel to rest. I took my second nap of the trip. When Alex came back she 
also took a nap. After we woke up we all went to get dinner together. We wanted somewhere 
close so we walked around looking for a restaurant. We found one called La Vaca Argentina 
(The Argentinian Cow). It was expensive, but we decided that since we were in Madrid we
should have at least one fancy dinner. There was one other couple in the restaurant. A man led 
us to a table and gave us each a menu to look at. Alex and Jono both ordered meat and I 
ordered "Falso" Risotto. It was delicious of course. We ate slowly and savored every bite. 
When we finished we payed and left. 

We wanted to walk some more so we headed towards the center of Madrid. We passed through the Plaza del Sol, which is the point from which all the main roads of Spain are measured. That's very cool. We made a big circle basically. Once we arrived back the hostel I went to bed. 

The next day (Monday), we wanted to go see a castle in a pueblo outside of Madrid called Manzanares el Real. We took a 45-minute bus ride out to the pueblo. The castle was high up on   a hill, a good vantage point, and looked very cool. We walked to the ticket booth and read a saw that made our hearts sink. The castle was closed on Mondays. Of course. I wasn't mad, but 
Alex was. Jono didn't care as much either. Alex found a map with different routes we could walk 
in the pueblo, so we decided to do that instead. We had all day. In order to show us the way, 
there were little red signs with arrows in the right direction. Even though we didn't get to see the 
castle, we still saw really pretty landscapes. The red path led us up a hill and we could see all 
around us. When we finished the trail we went to eat lunch. 

The red trail that we followed.

The mysterious castle.

After lunch we returned to Madrid and went to see the Reina Sofía again because last time we 
hadn't seen everything. We stayed for about two hours and then went back to the hostel to pack 
our things. 

We left the hostel and rode the metro back to the bus station. Our bus left at 7:30 pm and we 
arrived in Zaragoza around 11 pm.

I am very glad that I got to go to Madrid and do so many things. Of course many more things 
remain to be seen and done, but at least I saw a large portion of them. Next week the whole 
school is going to Andalucía! We will be stopping in four different cities: Córdoba, Granada, 
Sevilla, and Cádiz. It's going to be so much fun! I won't be able to bring my laptop, but I'll tell 
you all about the trip afterwards. Hope you have a good week! 

The trip to País Vasco! (Basque Country)

Two weeks ago (Friday, March 22 to Sunday, March 24) I went on a trip to País Vasco (Basque 
Country) in the north of Spain with my Art History class, several other students from 
Contemporary Art, my Art History teacher, Sole, and Mr. Morse, the director of the school. This 
trip was mainly academic since we went to visit two different art museums, but at the same time 
we were able to visit a different part of Spain and see what it's like there. 

Map of País Vasco.

We left Zaragoza Friday afternoon at 4 pm. We took a bus to the city of Bilbao first, which took about three hours. Once we arrived we walked to the hotel and were given our rooms. Half an hour later we all gathered in the lobby to walk around the city before dinner. Mr. Morse led the way. Bilbao is very industrial, although it has a old section also. We walked through the old section that night, and after an hour, we headed towards the restaurant where we would have dinner. País Vasco is known for having the best food in all of Spain, and so we got to taste it for ourselves that night. The food was very good, and there was a ton of it! We ate like five different plates. First we had food like appetizers, then the main dish, which was beef, and finally dessert. And all through the meal we ate bread, lots of it. Everytime a basket became empty, a person came to replace it with another filled with more bread. The whole dinner lasted for about three hours. Long, right? But I enjoyed it because I got to know some of my classmates better. 

We left the restaurant close to midnight and walked back towards the hotel. I was so tired. My roommate and I turned on the TV and watched a movie that was playing called "The Sixth 
Sense." She had seen it many times before. It was my first time. It's a scary movie. It's about a 
young boy who can see ghosts. I think it's worth seeing. The ending is very good. When the 
movie ended we went to sleep. 

The next morning we woke up early and went down to eat breakfast. Afterwards we gathered in 
the lobby again and left the hotel together. It was sunny but cold and a little windy outside. First 
we visited a market. All the stalls were inside one giant building that was made out of glass and 
cement. It was very cool. The building was right next to the Nervión River, so we followed 
alongside it on a walkway. Our next destination was the Guggenheim Museum. I was very 
excited to see it because I had heard a lot about it and it's a well-known museum. The shape is 
very easy to remember because it's so different from any other building. Some people say it 
looks like a boat, others a flower that's opening its petals. I think it looks more like a boat, but I 
can picture the flower. Sole, my teacher, knew the Guggenheim well, so she was our tour guide, 
She took us around the first and third floors. The second floor was blocked off because they 
were setting up a new exhibit. We saw paintings, sculptures, and other works of art. In one room were minimalist sculptures that were very big. They were basically long pieces of wood that were curves or spirals that you could walk between. If the second floor had been opened, we would've been able to see these sculptures from above, which would've been cool I think. 

The market building.

All of us in front of the market! Sole is at the far left.

The Nervión River.

The Guggenheim Museum!

All of us in front of the museum.

 After the Guggenheim we had free time to wander around and eat lunch. I went with a group of 
three friends. We went to the mall for lunch since we knew we could find someplace cheap to 
eat. Once we finished we walked around the mall a bit and then around Bilbao. We all met at the bus mid-afternoon to go to our next city: San Sebastián. 

The bus ride was about an hour. San Sebastián is in the northwest of País Vasco. We stayed in 
a hostel, not a hotel, but the hostel seemed just like a hotel. It was pretty expensive for a hostel, 
so maybe that's why. We went through the same process as before. We were given our rooms 
and half an hour later we gathered together and left to explore the city a bit. We visited a church 
that was very pretty. All the churches in Spain have amazed me so far. They're so old but also 
very serene and peaceful. The architecture is impressive. 

The church.

San Sebastián is known as a beautiful city. It's right on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea and during the summer the beaches are packed. The city is also important because it's where the famous Spanish film festival takes place in the summer. People from all over Spain go there for that event. We passed by the building that night. 

While we were walking, a very strong wind blew. It was so cold! Finally it was time to head 
towards the restaurant where we would have have dinner. The room in which we sat was very 
fitting for our trip because on the walls hung many paintings by famous artists, O'Keefe and Dalí 
for example. Again we ate a huge meal that lasted for three hours. And all the food was 
delicious of course. After we finished we returned to the hotel, and I went to bed. 

The next day we visited another museum. It was called the San Telmo Museum. It had a large variety of art. Sole had never gone before so we had to get a guide. Next we went to the beach! We walked the whole length of it, and that's when things got interesting. On this trip only one boy came. He swims, and I guess he said out loud that he wanted to swim in the ocean there. So a girl said half jokingly, "I'll pay you 20 euros if you go swimming." With a little encouragement from Mr. Morse, he went! He took off all his clothes except for his boxers and jumped into the ocean twice! I can't imagine how cold the water was. I've never gone swimming in the ocean during the winter and I don't plan to. When he came out of the water he put his clothes back on. He wasn't phased at all. He said he was fine. He wasn't cold. That surprised me. I would've been freezing. 

The beach!

All of us in the beach. The boy who went swimming is
at the far right.

Mr. Morse told us that we were going to see some sculptures at the end of the beach, so we 
followed it. The sculptures were big metal rings called the Comb of the Wind because they stick 
out of the rocks and the wind goes through them. 

Me and Alex in front one of the sculptures.

Afterwards we had free time to walk around and eat lunch. I was with the same three friends as 
before. We ate in a small restaurant and then went somewhere else for dessert. Everyone met back at the bus at 4 pm and we returned to Zaragoza. I slept for most of the way.

I had a great time in Bilbao and San Sebastián. I would definitely go back and spend more time in both of those cities. Returning during the summer would be the best because that's when they really come alive. There's a lot more activity, a lot more people, and it's a lot warmer. But the cities during the winter are also very nice, and I don't regret going. 

The trip to Santiago de Compostela!

Hello everyone! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you. I just have been pretty busy of late to 
dedicate time writing on my blog. But you won't be disappointed with what I'm about to write! I've had an exciting adventure in the northwest of Spain, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Two things you should know about Galicia are that it rains quite a lot so everything is green and that it has the best seafood in all of Spain. 

Zaragoza is in the big pink region to the right. Santiago de Compostela
is in the green region to the far left. The train's route went from
Zaragoza to the north towards Navarra and then turned west towards
Galicia.

Santiago de Compostela is in A Coruña.

I went to Galicia as part of a program in SYA Spain called Cinco días en... (Five days in...) another city in Spain. The school chose where all the students would go. I was really lucky and they gave me Galicia! 

Tuesday, February 12 was the big day. I woke up earlier than usual to get ready. I packed 
everything I thought I would need, including one umbrella, one pair of rain boots, and one rain 
jacket. I really didn't want to get wet like when I was in Pamplona. I learned my lesson then. I 
went to school with all my stuff because my train would leave at 11:30 am, and I thought that I had to go to the one class that I'd have time for. But it turned out that since my train left so soon 
after the class I actually didn't have to go to it, so I was excused. All the students going to 
Galicia left around 10:30 am for the station. There were 11 of us total, 8 going to Santiago de 
Compostela and 3 going to A Coruña, a city on the northern coast of Galicia. 

We boarded the train and sat down. According to the tickets that the school had given us, the 
people going to Santiago sat together and the people going to A Coruña sat together. The 
departure and arrival times were also shown on the ticket, and we would be riding on the train 
for about 10 HOURS straight. It was going to be a very long trip. I tried sleeping--that didn't work. I had brought my computer, so I watched some videos I had on it. The route the train took wasn't directly to Santiago. First we traveled north through the community Navarra and then we headed west along northern Spain. 

We arrived in Santiago a little past the scheduled time. When we got off, the coordinator, Javier 
González, was waiting for us. He spoke to us in English. He had a strong British accent 
because he had studied English in the UK. He led us to our new host families who were all 
standing outside. It was deja vu. I had the sensation of doing this almost exact same thing five 
months before. I met my host sister first. Her name is Gemma. (The G is pronounced like an H.) 
Next I met the mother, Isabel, a younger brother, Isidoro, and the father, also called Isidoro. The 
youngest son, Rodrigo, had stayed home because only five people fit in their car. They drove 
me to their house which wasn't very far away. The first thing I noticed was that their house was 
very big, much bigger than my host family's apartment in Zaragoza. I loved it because there was 
a lot of space and it didn't feel tight or cramped. They showed me my room which was on the 
top floor, and then gave me a tour of the rest of their house. Once we finished we ate a little bit 
so that we weren't hungry and then went to bed. 

The next morning I got up around 10:30 am and went downstairs to eat breakfast. Gemma, 
Isidoro, and Rodrigo were already there, and the parents had left earlier. After breakfast we went up to the TV room and relaxed for a little bit. Even thought it was Wednesday, we didn't have school because they were still celebrating Carnaval, which is a huge festival that occurs right before Lent. It's like Mardi Gras in the US. 

Around noon Gemma and I met up with another Spanish girl, María, who was hosting another 
American girl, Nina. We first visited El Museo de Pobo Galego. The name is in Galician. In 
Spanish it's Pueblo Gallego, which means the Galician People. The museum is solely about 
Galicia and its culture. One of its more well-known aspects is its three spiral staircases which 
lead to the different floors with the exhibitions. I thought the staircases were really cool. We saw 
boats and ships and fishing equipment used by the Galicians, traditional clothing, what old 
rooms looked like, and the church that was connected to the museum. Afterwards we visited the famous cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. It was amazing to finally be standing in front of this ancient structure that I had heard about for so long. We entered the cathedral, which you can guess was very impressive. There's a part that painted all in gold which contains a statue of St. James that you can hug. I did not do that. Another part contains the remains of the saint in a 
silver chest. I did see that. When we finished Gemma and I returned to her house to have lunch.

María on the left, Nina on the right.

Model of a fishing town.

Traditional women's clothing.

The spiral staircase! (Can you see the three
different stairs?)

They're floating!

Model of an old kitchen.

Model of an old classroom.

Scary costumes.

The cathedral.

After lunch we went back out again. This time we visited La Ciudad de la Cultura, meaning the 
Cultural City. There are a lot of academic buildings, for example, a library. All the buildings have 
really interesting shapes. Instead of being perfect rectangles, their roofs slope up and down to 
form hills. You can even walk on some of the roofs that aren't too steep. The architect who 
designed them is Peter Eisenman, an American. Some of the buildings aren't finished yet. The 
City just began construction a few years ago. 

Look at the weird roofs!

A really creative sculpture in front of the
library. It looks like a donut made out
of books. 

We met María and Nina again, plus another Spanish and American pair, Jaime and Will. We 
walked back towards the center of Santiago de Compostela and met more host siblings. We all went to a bar and sat and talked for awhile. More Spanish teenagers came and sat down with us. We were easily fifteen people, very possibly more. When it was close to dinnertime, Gemma and I left for her house.

For dinner we had mussels and fish. Both were very good. The parents asked me a lot of 
questions about Zaragoza and my home in the US. I found out that the father studied abroad in 
the US when he was my age! He stayed with an American family in Maryland. He showed me a 
photo album that has pictures and papers of when he went. It was really cool to look at them and to know that he had gone through a very similar experience like what I'm doing now. We share that in common. 

The next day was school. I had to wake up at 7:30 am. School started at 8:20 am. I walked with 
Gemma and Rodrigo to the school building which was near by. Once we arrived Rodrigo 
headed towards a different building for the younger students. When we walked into the 
classroom, several American students were already there. We all sat next to our host siblings. 
The first class was History. They were studying the Russian Revolution, but the teacher took 
advantage of our presence and decided to ask us about our knowledge of the subject to see 
how much we know about Russia's history. He called on me first and I was unprepared, so I 
didn't say much. Plus I was pretty embarrassed. But one of the other girls was able to supply a 
lot of information. The teacher seemed pleased. The next class was Economy. The class is 
usually in Galician, but since we Americans were there, the teacher spoke in Spanish so that we could understand. The next class was Contemporary World Sciences, and at the moment they were studying Biology. That class is also usually in Galician, but the teacher spoke in Spanish for the same reason. I recognized some of the topics from my freshman year of Biology. Next was Math, which I was looking forward to. They were doing limits, which I've done a little of before, but not much. I had no clue how to solve the equations on the board. I think they were more advanced than my level of math, but I'm not sure. Like the previous two classes, it is 
usually held in Galician, but the teacher spoke in Spanish for us. The next class was Galician, 
but Javier González, the coordinator and English teacher, took all the Americans and gave us a 
tour of the school. It's a very old building that used to be a convent. We saw the old part that's 
made out of granite and then the attached church. We met the director of the school, a very nice 
old lady, who also showed us around and explained the history of the building. At the end of the 
tour Javier took us to his English class to help out. Like I said before, he speaks with a British 
accent, so the Spanish students are accustomed to hearing that accent and not the American 
one. First we listened to a recording about how to survive if you're alone outside and answered 
questions about it. Then Javier split us all up into eight separate groups: one American and the 
rest Spanish. We looked at pictures in their workbooks and the Spanish students had to 
describe what was happening in English. It was a new experience for me and I liked it. 

For lunch the Spanish kids decided on a restaurant called Muerde la Pasta, which means Bite 
the Pasta, in the mall. It was perfect. It was a buffet full of all-you-can-eat pasta and pizza. There 
were so many types of pasta, I couldn't choose. There was even chocolate pasta! I didn't try it 
though because I wanted to save room for dessert. I had a bowl of soft-serve ice cream. Yum. 

For the rest of the afternoon we walked around the mall. Some people bought stuff. Gemma and I returned to her house a little before dinner.

The next morning (Friday) I had to wake up at the same time, 7:30 am. Gemma, Rodrigo, and I 
walked to school together again and parted ways once we arrived. The first class was  Economy, a class we had had the day before. During the next period, instead of being in class, 
Javier took us on another tour of a local market and another part of Santiago de Compostela. 

Even before we saw the market we could smell it. The fish smelled so strong. It wasn't pleasant. 
We first walked through a long building full of different stalls selling different foods. There was 
meat and cheese and fish and other seafood. Everything was definitely fresh. A lot of the 
seafood, like the crabs and shrimp, were still alive and moving. In some of the meat stalls, I saw 
pig heads and feet and livers, full chickens, and even cut-open animals with their insides 
spewing out. Not what I expected to see, but it was interesting. 

Live crabs!

We left the market and walked around a different part of the city while Javier explained it to us. 

All of the buildings looked really old. 

We returned to the school in time for the next class, which was Physical Education. Gemma told 
me that her class was putting on a play, so we had to walk to the auditorium. Two other 
Americans, Jordan and Nina, came along, too. We three sat in the seats and watched the class 
rehearse the play. At the end they were going to bow and then do the Gangham Style, but it 
turned out to be too hard, and so they switched it to the Macarena. Jordan, Nina, and I got up on 
the stage to do it with them. That was a lot of fun. The next class was Spanish. I thought that it 
would be like what Americans consider English, but it was a little different. They were doing 
debates. The topic for that day was about the usage of technology. The teacher asked me and 
the other Americans what we thought about technology in the US and whether it's a good or bad thing to allow students to use computers during class. We came to some good conclusions. After Spanish was English. All the Americans came to this class again and we did the same exercises as the day before. The last class was French. The students listened to songs in French and the teacher went around the classroom asking questions. It was very relaxed. 

That afternoon seven of the Americans went to visit the western coast of Galicia. We visited an 
island that used to be a Celtic settlement. Galicia has a lot of Celtic influences. We road in two 
separate cars and it took us about an hour and a half. When we neared our destination we could see the ocean from the car windows. It looked so beautiful. It reminded me of Maine a lot. To reach the island we had to walk down a very long trail. It took us maybe 20 minutes. At the end there was also a nice little beach. There were also people there already. We crossed the beach to the island and started climbing. There were rings of rocks which used to be rooms. We climbed atop some big rocks and looked out across the water. The view was spectacular. It felt as if we were on the top of the world. We stayed on the island for several hours. I didn't want to leave. It was so amazing. We returned to the school where the Spanish kids were waiting for us. Gemma and I returned to her house, and her family and I ate dinner. 

The beach!

On the island.

The next day, Saturday, my host family planned a trip to Pontevedra, a city south of Santiago de 
Compostela. My host dad was born and grew up there. We left Santiago around noon and 
stopped in a city to eat lunch. We ate in a fancy hotel on the water. In order for me to try the 
seafood, the parents ordered octopus, small shrimp, something that looked like clams, and 
lobster. Everything was delicious, even the octopus! I want to try it again. For dessert I ate a 
traditional pastry that is made out of the crepe bread and filled with chocolate. It was so good. 
After we finished we went outside and walked around the area a bit. I saw a very old church that 
was completely covered in seashells. It was very pretty. 

Me with Gemma, Isidoro, and Rodrigo.

 We got into their car and continued to Pontevedra. Physically it looks very much like Santiago. 

The streets and buildings are very similar. The only main difference is that it's a lot smaller. The 
father told me a lot about the city. He showed me where he was born and explained the 
buildings and the plazas. He knew a lot. After several hours we got into the car again and 
returned to Santiago. 

Me with Gemma.

My host family in front of a church.

That night I stayed in the house and got ready to leave early the next morning. The past four 
days had flown by so fast. I wish I could've stayed longer. I enjoyed every minute of it. 

The next morning (Sunday) the train left around 8:45 am. The parents and Gemma drove me to 
the train station. The two brothers stayed at home. We arrived at the station about 15 minutes 
before the departure. There were already several Americans with their host families. Everyone 
looked tired. The rest of the students and their host families quickly arrived after that. When the 
train pulled into the station, we all walked to the platform and I said my last goodbyes to my host 
family. I had had such a great time. They told me I'd be welcome back anytime. 

The train ride back to Zaragoza felt a lot shorter than the one to Santiago de Compostela. It was technically shorter and I slept for most of the way. It felt a bit weird being back in Zaragoza 
because we hadn't been there for the past five days and everything looked familiar and new at 
the same time. 

I loved being in Galicia. Not only did I have a wonderful host family, but the scenery was also 
breathtaking. It felt alive. I think my host family and I were matched very well. We shared a lot of 
interests. First of all, the father had studied abroad in the US for a year like I'm doing now. The 
mother has also studied English. As for their children, they all play the piano. Their piano is in 
the bottom floor. Rodrigo loves to play video games, so one night he and I played together on 
their Wii. He also showed me some computer games he really likes and I showed him one I 
really like. Isidoro is interested by math and sciences. He built his own computer! He bought the 
pieces and put them all together. He showed me the finished product. I saw the inside with all 
the tiny and complicated wires and buttons and knobs. He even personalized it a bit by adding 
blue lights. It was very cool. Gemma was a very nice host sister. She helped me a lot with 
adjusting so quickly to a new city. I really appreciated it. 

I miss Galicia. I definitely want to return again to see more of it and to visit my host family. They 
told me that they want to visit Boston so I told them to call me if they're ever there. It'd be so 
cool to see them in the US and to show them around where I live. I'd be returning their favor in a 
way.