Oh spain.

My two new best american friends, Greg and Alex, and i
at the Rotary Exchange weekend!

Hello all! sorry i haven't posted in awhile everything has just been so hectic! Well first off I had my rotary exchange weekend and LOVED it. there are 70 students in spain this year, and they are all so awesome. i made some really good friends from the us that i cant wait to hang out with and go on our trip together! One of my really good friends i made, alex, lives about five minutes away in a different town, and lots of them live in Madrid a 10 minute car ride away! I have been playing rugby with the team here, and LOVE it. I almost forgot how much i loved rugby with being hurt all year and am SO happy to be able to play again! the team is so nice and helpful and explain to me everything i dont understand. School is going pretty well for me, i can understand a lot of what the teachers are saying, i just dont quite comprehend what they are saying just yet! but everyday i feel school get better and better! i have also made some friends at school! haha thank goodness. two of my new friends i went to madrid with this weekend to a lovely park and around plaza del sol, and seeing the sites of madrid. i also got to hang out with a previous foreign exchange student, marina, who went to florida last year. i went and ate dinner with her and her friends and it was so much fun! this week im signing up for photography classes at the youth center for my town and i cannot wait! i am also going to the fiestas de la rozas, a town close to mine, this friday with some friends and am taking a little family trip this weekend! i am having a wonderful time, and the people, culture, and experience are making themselves known to me day by day and making me so happy that i could enjoy this experience!
Write again soon!

My two friends from school i went to madrid with!
Ali on the left, Nerea on the right!

Sarah Evelynn☮ツ

during my first week here!

these are some of the skaters! Almudena, my mom, is in the pink shirt
and my two maria friends are, the little girl inbewteen the adults
(the maria with lots of personality) and the girl to the right of the
adult in gray, another teacher. 

Hay all! well, where do i begin, this first week here has been absolutely amazing for me. there have already been some challenges, but nothing i couldn't handle. my host sister 'ale' is really awesome and we are already really close. my family continues to be amazing and helping me all the time with my new life here. yesterday i went to my first skating lesson, my real mom and i thought my host mom was an iceskating teacher, but as it turns out, rollar skating is the thing to do here. so when i went to the store to buy my skates, you can imagine my surprise at skates with wheels. also my host mom told me i would be in the beginners and there wouldn't be many people my age, when i showed up, i was a good head taller then everyone there (which is saying something!) and different in age by about ten years with everyone! haha i made two new friends, both named maria, who are eight years old and call me iron girl, cause of my knee brace i have to wear. Maria bossed me around the whole time and i laughed and laughed because she was so cute and determined to help me get better. the whole time i felt like i was playing leap frog over all of the little kids! it was so scary cause i didn't want to smoosh anyone! It was a good learning experience but really scary for me haha

my first day!

This is my half, with my bed and desk. 

well today, September 11, is my first real day in Spain! I am really excited for the new experiences to come, but what I can say is will they come already! I never thought I'd be one to miss home, but there's something different about being 5,000 miles away from home and gone for ten months as opposed to a few hundred and at camp for a couple weeks. Yesterday and last night were hard, being overwhelmed with all the Spanish and not yet having my brain switched onto Spanish mode, and of course missing everyone. Being on a cramped plane for 8 hours doesn't help with anxiety, or a steamy hot rotary blazer for that matter! I woke up at the normal time here, still pretty whipped out, and took a quick hot shower and organized. Later I am going to the market with Almudena, my new mom, and then were are going to a street market/party later in the night. I enjoy Almudena and Oscar, my new parents, a lot they are very nice, and Oscar knows english so it makes it a little easier with words i don't know yet. Lucas, my new eight year old brother, is exactly like my little brother at age eight, wild and rambunctious. Going around playing games with himself, and talking a mile a minute though most of us, especially me, have no idea what he's saying. I share a room with my new sister Alejandra, who i have yet to meet, and this is what it looks like.  There are amazing views of Madrid at night with all the lights, and almost every room in the house has a patio off of it! i look forward to having more cool adventures!
Sarah ☮ツ