Really not sure how to title my blog today!


Advertisement
Spain's flag
Europe » Spain » Andalusia » Cádiz
September 13th 2011
Published: September 13th 2011
Edit Blog Post

El Mueso PradoEl Mueso PradoEl Mueso Prado

The Prado Museum
I’m not 100% sure how to start this blog. Today was a day that changed from being very withdrawn and thinking of home, to for the first time feeling like I perhaps belong in Càdiz.

Maybe let’s start with the boring part: Our trip to El Museo de Càdiz (The Càdiz Museum).
Not boring because Càdiz is boring, nor is its history, it’s just that, well…the only way I can describe our tour guide is, of course, with a movie line.
“Buller…Buller…”
Yes. Monotone. We were there for an hour and a half and got through 3 rooms. I tried so hard to keep my focus on the cute little Gaditano historian, but alas, somethings just aren’t in the cards. Problem easily fixed when our resident director, Juan, invited us out for ice cream after. Good call, Juan, good call.
P.S. The pictures I put up are actually from Madrid. I realized I didn’t have a blog when we were in Madrid so you guys missed some of that stuff!!
Also, fun Spanish fact of the day! They do not have a “Friday the 13th” here as the day of bad luck. They have Martes el 13 (Tuesday the 13th)
Las MeninasLas MeninasLas Meninas

I snuck a pic.
which is their day of bad luck. Don’t worry, the day is over and I was not trampled by a bull or stomped to death by a flamenco dancer. I made it through Martes el 13 unscathed.
This evening, instead of eating dinner in, some of the Erasmus kids invited us out for tapas! Natalie didn’t feel like going and neither did any of the other kids in my program, so when I arrived to meet the group going out for tapas I was the only person from the United States! I was really, really nervous actually! I knew a few of the girls from my Spanish class at the University, and I had met a few of the others just in between classes, but I had never really hung out with them before. There were a lot of kids from Germany (the Germans far outnumber any of the other nationalities), a few from Italy, a girl from Sweden, a girl from Poland…and I think that’s about it.

When I arrived everyone was kind of split off a bit talking in their own languages…being the only American there I was a bit lost trying to follow German/Italian, neither of
Not a Statue!Not a Statue!Not a Statue!

Its a realy guy!
which I know. A few minutes into it one of the German girls I have mentioned before, Anna-lu, said, “Oh, I guess that you are probably pretty lost Devin since we are all talking in German. We should probably talk in Spanish so you can understand!” How interesting. They should probably speak in Spanish so that I can understand. So for the rest of the evening the whole group hung out and spoke in Spanish. None of us speak it perfectly, but at least we are practicing! The conversation at dinner actually felt really normal. Now that I think about it, I don’t even think about how difficult it was to get my point across, or how much harder I had to work to give my opinion in Spanish, I just think about the topics we discussed and how much I learned about the other student’s lives.

One of the girls was from Italy (her name currently escapes me, whoops 😞 ) and she had been here for almost three months working as a nurse as sort of an international practicum thing. She is very interested in going to the United States though. She had a lot of questions
Nebraska!Nebraska!Nebraska!

We saw three driving through Madrid!
about whether or not our hospitals are good, if they are well organized, how our medical system is run, what I think about Obama’s heath care plan, and what I think about Obama in general. Actually, when the topic of Obama came up, the whole group started to join in on the conversation. The Europeans are very much supporters of Obama and have a very good view of him. Unfortunately for these kids, I am not the person they would want to ask these questions too! I got a B in political science my freshman year because I was unable to pick sides or debate because I just don’t understand why everyone can’t just get along!! I specifically said that I was excited that I was leaving for a year so that I didn’t have to listen to any more political stuff about the upcoming election, which is still over a year away and already it is all that was on the news! However, I did my best to explain what little I understand about Obama and American politics and how not everyone in America is completely happy with Obama and its possible he may not win the next election.
Invisible ManInvisible ManInvisible Man

Can you see his head? Its not there!
“Who else would become president?” they asked. Good question. I named off the few people I could remember from the news before I left. Didn’t ring any bells. Probably better that way because I can’t tell the difference between any of them. However I was able to explain how certain states are more conservative than others, so what you feel about certain parties or candidates is greatly influenced by your surroundings, so what I hear in Nebraska or South Carolina may not be how the rest of the country feels.

While everyone knows that politics is not my strong point, I really just enjoyed being able to hang out with kids my own age and practice my Spanish. On most of my outings, well pretty much all of them, it has just been us API kids and so, we spend a lot of time just speaking English because it’s faster. I feel a bit guilty when we do it, but sometimes things get so confusing it just lessens the stress when we can at least understand each other. I could tell a huge difference though in my Spanish after I got back from dinner. After spending nearly 3 hours
ToledoToledoToledo

Toldeo was really really neat, and the streets were all narrow, like Cadiz, only much curvier.
just speaking in Spanish constantly, I got home and was able to speak fluidly with Pepa to tell her how much I had enjoyed the evening! Apparently I missed out on some crazy antics by my family, and a lesson in flan-making with Pepa and Alba, but I was also glad that I got to go out and meet some new kids. Give and take, I suppose. Pepa was also very happy that I had gotten to meet some kids and practice my Spanish more.

Making new friends here and having a normal night out makes being in Càdiz easier. It was a good way to end a day that had been somewhat difficult at the beginning.
One of the girls in my API group was having a rough day today. We had no idea, but she lost her brother just last year and so naturally good and bad days vary. Add on top of that trying to adjust to a new country where, again, you never know how you are going to feel from day to day. I think she is the most courageous person in our group. It takes a lot of personal strength to study abroad, but even more to do so when you know the struggles your family is facing at home. Eventually things do get put back together, and while it is essentially your own task to do, you don't have to handle it on your own. Being so far away from her family must be very, very difficult. We have not known her for very long, but I know our group will try our hardest to be a support system for her.

Here it has been ten years since Kyle passed away. I don’t think that there is such a thing as a “normal” day when you lose a member of the family, but I do think there are ways of finding normal-cy, and I think my family has done an extraordinary job of it. The past decade has been one of many struggles, but we have been there for each other. My family has been the best support system for me than I could have ever asked for.
I have been receiving the e-mails that my family is sending back and forth about the Market to Market run coming up on October 1st. I really appreciate getting to read them because it keeps me somewhat in the loop, and I am very sad that I have to miss the race. My mom suggested that now that I am starting to get to know my family better, maybe I should explain to them about my cousin Kyle and the Market to Market run and explain the T-shirts we made and why my family is participating. I am still a bit uncomfortable with my family here. They haven’t really asked Natalie and me about our lives back in the United States. They asked what states we were from, but they haven’t really asked what we are studying, if we have siblings, what our parents are like, nothing like that, which leads Natalie and I to believe that maybe they just aren’t super interested in our families back home. For this reason, I am still hesitant to have such a personal conversation. My family here knows that I like to go for runs, but I think to explain to them how running connects with me on such a deeper level may be difficult.

Running is not just how I relieve stress, or have alone time, or work out, it is something that my whole family has a tie to; something we all have done at one time or another; more importantly though, it is a thread that links us with Kyle even though he is no longer here. Running was something that was so important to Kyle, so it is a physical action that I can do that reminds me of him every time I am out for my run. I think it is so great that my family has a Market to Market team; it’s something very special and spectacular way to honor Kyle’s memory. It’s very hard for me to think of October 1st coming around, me waking up and going for my run even before my family in the states will be awake, and being with people who don’t know my family and don’t know Kyle. However, I have had ten years to cope with it, Hayley has barely had one.

Sometimes we get so focused on struggling to stay sane adjusting to Spain, you begin to forget about other struggles that people may have besides culture shock. Personal hurdles do not get left behind with the other things you couldn’t fit in your suitcase. Once the adjustment to a new place is nearly finished and life starts to have a sense of normalcy you start to focus again on yourself, not yourself in a new country, if that makes any sense.

Its days like today that I am so thankful my family has really been there for each other the past ten years. If we had not been loving and supportive I think that things may not have turned out as happy as they have. I know my family is going to have a great time running from Market to Market. They will be with me that day and I hope I will be with them, and I know Kyle will be with all of us.

Love always,
Devin 😊

Advertisement



14th September 2011

M2M in Spain
Devin, this blog brings tears to my eyes. Honey, your mamma is so proud of you. You\'re every bit as much a member of our family M2M team, you will be with us in spirit...just running your segments in Spain.

Tot: 0.263s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0646s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb