Chloe en España

On vacation

Chloe is away on her trip through southern Spain and away from computers. She'll be back in Pamplona on March 10.

Hehehe

My new hero is this man. Please look at this. It makes me even happier because this song is the theme song for my trip here (it's the ultimate European club/bar song).

ONE DAY

It's Friday, and I'm leaving on Sunday!!!! YAY!!! I'm so excited. I'm a little worried because I haven't started to pack. I need to get all my clothes, get hair products (which will probably take up about half of my bag), get all my passport/visa card stuff together, and then make snacks for the bus ride down. That's where I miss having my mom here, she's the ultimate snack maker when it comes to car trips and stuff like that. Anyways, so I have to do all that tomorrow. Then the next day I'll be gone!

Today was suppost to be the day of lots of tests for me, but it actually wasn't too bad. My history teacher forgot about my test, and so she told me that I'm doing good in that class and that she'll give me a good grade and to have fun in Andalucia. Philosophy was not hard, and my teacher went over it with me, and told me that my answers were well thought out and well written, but one wasn't entirely complete. That was because she told me to study the wrong chapter. But oh well. And my Spanish final was easy. And my economy teacher didn't show up, so we had a free period. And now I don't have to go to school for two weeks!!!

Study time

It's been a while since I've posted something. This week I've been studying my brains out for all the tests that my teachers have piled onto me because I'll be gone during the final exams (hahaha). I just did my math test, and I got a whopping 48 out of 80. I wouldn't be happy with that grade in the states, but it passes, so I'm happy. That leaves me with history, philosophy, and the last part of my Spanish final tomorrow. I'll write more tomorrow after I'm done with everything.

¡¡Baile!!

Last night Abby and I went to the second day of a new dance class in her town to try it out. Her mom read about it and thought we might like it. It was really fun, we both really enjoyed it, but at 10:00 at night dancing isn't my favorite thing to do. The instructor was the best part. He was this little guy, in his early 20s I would say. He wore a tight black tank top, low riding sweatpants, and a black baseball hat with sunglasses perched on top of the bill (Abby's host mom said he wears those to every class that she has with him, and they never fall off, so they must be sewed onto the hat). He reminded me of Jack on Will and Grace. Before we would start a new round of the dance he was teaching us, he'd do his own little dance to Britney Spears or Janet Jackson, then we'd keep going. He was really nice and talented though, and gave me a good laugh.

I can understand you

I hate it when people just assume that you don't understand anything, and they don't even give you a chance. Many times I've been walking with some people, and someone will ask a question about me, but since they thing I wouldn't understand, they ask my friends, or host mom, or whoever. Usually when that happens I answer the questions, to catch them off guard and let them know that I actually do understand. For example: the other day I was in the car on the way to school with my friend and her little brother. The brother asked Alba (my friend) when I'm going back to England (the brother and dad think I'm British). She was like I don't know, ask Chloe. This has happened many times, and it makes mad.

Aleluya (don't know how to spell that in English)

I love being and exchange student. And I love Rotary trips. So, this trip that we're all going on (in 10 days!!!!!!!) to the south of Spain happens to be during final evaluations at school. I was a little concerned, because not only would I be missing almost two weeks of school, but also I would have to figure out how to make up all the tests. Since my teachers here are wonderful people, I don't have to take the Spanish Literature final, economy final, history final, and I'll have to do something when I get back for Religion. So that only leaves me with math and philosophy. YES!!!!! I'm oh so happy.

Another thing that makes me happy: getting packages. I've gotten about 5 in the last two weeks. I'm not joking, I've actually gotten five. Thank you Ma, Michelle and Maren (I got the CD today! Could he be any more amazing? Think not).

Differences

A good thing about living in a country with so many different types of people is that you learn to tolerate and accept different races, beliefs, and ways of life. Since America is such a huge mix of people from all around the world, we're exposed to all sorts of different people. Most of us realize that even though this person doesn't do things the same way we do, that doesn't mean that he's doing it the wrong way, or that he's stupid and should change his ways. I'd say that's not the case here. Because everyone here is Spanish, and all of their relatives are Spanish, and everyone they know is Spanish, they're not exposed to so many different people, and are therefore not as accepting. I remember being quite shocked and upset when my host dad asked me if there were Jewish people at my school, and when I told him not many (that I could think of), he said it was better that way. I'm not Jewish, it just made me mad that he would say that about people he doesn't know. One time Abby and I were with some friends in Peralta for the town festival. We were walking down the street, and two Muslim guys were walking behind us. One of them burped, and the girl we were with said, "Ugh, gross. Those aren't our guys, they're not from here."

Another thing is how women are treated here. I know that there are still a lot of countries like this, but coming from a country where women have all the same rights as men, it's hard to get used to women being a lower class. The other day Abby, Kat, Kalin, and I were eating lunch with a family and we were talking about how a guy in Pamlona had killed his girlfriend and then himself earlier that day. The dad tried to justify it because she was a woman. He was laughing, and said he was joking. Would that idea even enter my father's mind? I'm pretty sure it wouldn't. Women cook, they clean, they serve the men their food, and they also work (this last fact has only been true for the last 30 years in Spain, though), and still Juan (I'm not going to mention real names here) still calls his wife "woman" instead of her real name.

Okay, enough with that essay that I just wrote. I'm off to Abby's house now. Later tonight we're going to a free dance class that's being offered in her town. Should be fun, I hope.

God bless the U.S. of A.

I've realized that people here aren't nearly as interested in America as I thought they would be. I'm not saying that I expected everyone to be obsessed, but I had always heard that everyone outside of America was really interested in us (well, not everyone, but you get what I'm saying). That they listen to our music, watch our movies, wear our clothes, all that. Well, that's not really the case. Sure, they listen to our music and watch our movies. If something big happens in the news about the US, they mention it on the news, but just like we would mention something big that happened in a different country. Of course, the elections were a big deal. It was kind of weird that so many people were watching our elections. Okay, so they are more interested in us than in Argentina or Canada or any other country, but not like I thought. The only time people ask me about the US is what type of food I eat there, about my family and friends, school. All normal questions that exchange students get asked. Yes, the US is a huge, very powerful country, and I love it to death, but sometimes I think that we think too much of ourselves.

yahoo

I will be on a bus down to Madrid and then on to the south of Spain in two weeks from today!!!!!! I am sooo excited.