Howdy,

So these past two weeks have been full of changes. The biggest of which is that I changed host families! It was a long process, but eventually my family and I decided that the best thing for me to do was change completely. I am now staying in the house with my best Spanish friend, Carlota, and am absolutely loving it. She is so full of energy and spirit and invites me everywhere with her. Honestly, I feel a little guilty because I always have to study instead of going out every afternoon, but soon I will be able to once all my exams finish. Her mom (our mom!) is a professional chef, and every day I come home to fresh homemade food, and a salad just for me! She is very busy because she runs a restaurant and a dress store, but that means that she also embodies the energy that both those places have. There is never ever a dull moment here. I have my own room, which is a lot smaller than my old one, but is full of all my things and little English sayings that my host family finds in little shops. One day, I came home to them giving me a sign that said “happy birthday,” not because it was my birthday, but because they knew it was English and didn’t know what it meant. Isn’t that so cute!! I’m so busy and feel like I literally never have time for anything, but that’s a good thing as it means that I don’t miss home as much. Recently though, I’ve been feeling pretty sad. All my American friends are leaving on Saturday, which is in 2 days. That is honestly heart breaking. As amazing as making Spanish friends is, it is equally as hard, and so I often find myself relying on Americans as my rock. When they leave, I probably won’t get another opportunity to see them for a very long time… Which brings me back to my positivity: imagine how much better my Spanish is going to be!! Without them, I’ll literally be completely alone here, and it will force me to interact with Spaniards more. This semester, I am going to try to focus on the little things and being positive and happy and free. Compartmentalizing my life will allow me to see each day as a new day and not worry about anything else. So yes, right now I am very sad. But I’m trying to see the sun come up on the other side and I am positive that this semester will be a million times better than the first.

Peace,

~Parker Grove

Howdy,

I know that it has been some time since I’ve updated this blog, but I’ve been so busy with finals, my REAL FAMILY COMING TO SPAIN, the holidays, and settling back into school that I haven’t had any time.

So I took about 10 final exams. 10 final exams in Spanish. And SOMEHOW I didn’t fail any of my classes. Was I close? Yes. Do I understand my classes when I am learning them in Spanish? No. But it’s amazing what the fear of failure and sheer boredom will do to a person. I somehow learned biology in Spanish. Yay!

The spanish grading scale is 1-10, so you would assume that a 9 is a 90 and anything less than a 7 is failing. However, this is quite the opposite, and it roughly translates to:

9-10 = A

8-8.9 = A-

7-7.9 = B+

6-6.9 = B

5.5-5.9 = B-

5-5.4 = C

and anything less than a 5 is failing. However, if you have a number in between (4.7, 8.6, 6.5, etc.) they will bump it up to the higher grade.

My grades for the trimester were:

• biology: undecided because I wasn’t at school for the first two and a half months of school and she wants me to learn the initial material BY MYSELF and then take the tests on it before she will give me my final grade. However, on her final, I got a 7
• french: 5 (which I consider very good seeing as everyone else in the class has been taking French for 4 years, I have never taken French before, the teacher refuses to help me or give me extra work or grade me more easily, and the fact that I’m learning a foreign language in a foreign language…)
• history: 7
• math: 9
• Spanish Literature: 6
• Catholic Religion: 5 (which he gave me because I’m not Catholic…)
• Technology: 5
• PE: 6 (I didn’t know the names of muscles)
• Physics and Chemistry: 5 because I didn’t have the periodic table memorized…
• English: 9 (SHE GAVE ME A 9 BECAUSE MY MARGINS “weren’t big enough or straight enough.”)

All in all, I think I did very well seeing as I still don’t have a firm grasp on the language, I came into the school almost 3 months late, and I haven’t failed anything like I was pretty sure I was going to.

After finals, my REAL PARENTS CAME TO VISIT ME IN SPAIN! I showed them around Sevilla, they got to know Oliver, and then we went to Córdoba, Granada, and Madrid. I had so much fun with them, and spending a year abroad really makes you grateful for your real family. You don’t really realize how uncomfortable you are until you find that complete comfort again. Also, it was nice to not have to think about what I was going to say because they actually understood me. However, I think we both noticed that the other party had changed a little bit. When I asked my mom if she thought I had changed, she said that I seemed much more mature and independent. I guess I expected this, but I hadn’t really thought about how they might change too. In my mind, I had left them on pause and expected to be able to walk back into their lives like nothing had changed. Instead, I saw that their family dynamic had changed, my little brother had really grown up and matured and I am so so so proud of the person he is becoming. I think my sister has struggled a lot from me being gone, but if anything, this has made her a more present member in our family, and she has learned to speak up for herself. It’s really amazing what only 4 months away will change, and I kind of feel like an old grandmother commenting on how much her grandchildren have grown. I think my family enjoyed Spain, but my sister was tired of Spanish food after 2 days, and we ended up eating a lot of Japanese and Tex-mex (which I was so happy about because there’s really only so much tortilla de patata and jamón that I can take at one time). My family got to meet my host family for a dinner, which wasn’t as awkward as I thought that it was going to be, because my host mom can speak a little bit of English, and I translated the rest. It was very interesting to see my two families interacting, though it felt a little bit weird. Christmas was fun, though we didn’t do much, it was nice to just be in a house with my family, joking and arguing and playing around just like we used to. Honestly, I think my parents loved how cheap everything in Spain is above anything else. In the beginning of the trip, they were happy to sit down to 20 euro per person meals, but by the end, they would only eat at places in which you could have a whole meal for 5 people for 20 euros. It was actually really interesting to see what I experienced through the eyes of my parents, and for them to see where I had been spending my time for the past 4 months. Saying goodbye was impossibly hard, but I just found out that there is a possibility for me to spend Spring Break with them too, and I’m already looking forward to that.

After my time with them, I took a train to Castilla de la Mancha, the hometown of my host parents. It is a very very very small town but they have a house there that they always stay in for the holidays. I absolutely LOVED seeing my older host sister again, as I have always been the oldest, and it is so cool to have someone older than you as a mentor and role model. She lives in Valencia and it is very rare that I get to see her. We went to the movies together (in Spanish of course) and I understood the entire thing!! We talked all the time and I helped her find an apartment to stay in in Germany, writing letters to the owners in English. In Spain, there is a tradition of eating 12 grapes in the first 12 seconds of the new year, and with every single one, making a wish. It seems very hard, especially when your host mom buys grapes the size of apples, but I still managed to stuff all 12 in my mouth, and almost finished them all.

We came back to Sevilla just in time for Día de los Reyes, a holiday very similar to Santa Claus in the United States. Here, there are huge parades, in which all the kids of the town paint their faces black and dress up in huge robes, throwing out candy to their families on huge parade floats. This was very difficult for me to grasp, but the Spaniards did not see eye to eye on the matter.

The next morning is January 6th, called Día de los Reyes. We all woke up late and opened presents together that “the kings” brought us.

A few days later, school started again, and I had to stop my ridiculous sleep schedule. Now I am back in the groove of things and honestly it’s kind of nice to be able to have something to do during the day.

Peace,

~Parker Grove