Letters from Abroad

Dear Patch,

The last few weeks have been so busy that I didn’t get a chance to sit down and write about everything that’s been going on. I have a little less than three weeks left here in Spain, and I’m trying to fit in as much as possible before my time’s up.

The last week of April I didn’t have school, thanks to San Prudencio, a holiday that only exists in Vitoria. I spent the first weekend of vacation in Jaca, visiting a friend, and in two short days, we did a lot of things. Saturday morning we visited El Monasterio de San Juan de la Peña [1-3], a monastery in the Aragon Mountains that was important during the Middle Ages. We saw parts built in the 11th century, parts that were added on during the height of the Roman Empire, and parts that were added on later under Spanish Kings. That night, I tried a kebab for the first time [4] (spoiler alert: they’re really good) and we went out with some other friends in Jaca. Sunday morning we all went for a hike to the top of Peña Oroel [5], the tallest mountain in Huesca (5,804 ft). We had a little picnic near the top, and took some great pictures. That afternoon we spent a little over two hours paintballing [7], and by the time I went to bed that night, I was pretty tired.

I spent Monday getting back home and the next two days catching up on sleep and studying for the upcoming finals. Thursday morning my host family and I left for Barcelona, which I was really excited about. We rented an apartment for four days with some family friends, and for the four days we were there, we either walked or took the metro everywhere. Thursday night we went for a walk to see the waterfront and have some coffee. We spent Friday sightseeing, starting at the house without straight lines designed by Gaudí [8]. Throughout the day we also saw La Sagrada Familia, El Arco de Triumfo, La Catedral, and El Fuente Mágico [9-11].

The day we got back from vacation, we started finals, which was tough, but I just got back my grades on Monday, and I passed al of my finals! Woohoo! And what’s even better, I got high enough grades in Economy and Lengua (Spanish Language and Literature) this trimester that they made up for the low grades I got in the first trimester! That means I passed all of my classes this year!

That Saturday, I got to go to my first professional soccer game with one of my friends, and I had an amazing time [12-13]. That Saturday specifically, they were giving out T-shirts to everyone who went, and El Deportivo Alavés (Vitoria’s team) won 2-1. They are in second place in La Segunda Liga, and if they keep it up through the end of the season, next year they will move up to La Primera Liga, where they will play against teams like Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

This past weekend I went to Toledo for a Rotary weekend with all of the other exchange students. On Friday night we went to the Rotary Spain’s Mutli-District Conference, where we got to listen to Rotary International’s President speak [14]. On Saturday, all 120 of us went to see the beautiful city of Toledo [15-16] and the Royal Palace of Aranjuez[17-18] and on Sunday, we went to Madrid. In two days I took almost 300 photos, both of the pretty views and the amazing people I was with [19-21]. Throughout the weekend I traded some more pins and my Rotary blazer is looking better than ever [22].

Since I only have about five weeks until I'm back in the US and three of those weeks will be spent touring Europe with my fellow exchange students, my next (and last) post will probably be at the end of June. By then, hopefully I'll have lots more to talk about.

Until next time,

Nagisa