A Few Days in the Life of Me :)

Wow. This blog has over 1,000 views - I knew that there were people interested in what I was doing, but to have only written five posts (this will be the sixth) and have gained that many views... it's an honor I could never have imagined. Not only am I amazed by the views, but also by my worldwide audience -- people are reading my blog from Japan, Argentina, France, Italy, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Spain, and, of course, the United States. It means so much to me that my words have reached so many different people, so many different places. Basically, I just want to say thank you to everyone out there who is reading this blog!

When I last posted, I had just gotten over being sick; I'm all better now :) On Thursday I met Vanessa Lusa, another Rotary Youth Exchange student living in Marbella, and accompanied her and her parents on a tour around Marbella. My host mom had already given me a similar tour around the city, but it was incredibly interesting to see Marbella from someone else's point of view (plus my Spanish has drastically improved over the last two weeks, so I understood much more of Vanessa's parents explanations of the city). Vanessa is a sweet, always smiling sixteen-year-old from a small town in Connecticut. Her Spanish is about ten times better than mine -- she studied it in school for three years before coming here (hmmm, why didn't I think of that!). Still, I have a two-week's advantage when it comes to the slang and common words here; it's very satisfying when she turns to me to explain or translate a word (usually it's the other way around). She's also writing a blog, so if anyone wants another view of Marbella visit http://vanessall.blogspot.com.es/2012/09/beaches-and-much-more.html.

On Friday I went with Ana, my host mom, to her work. She is a teacher, but school hasn't started yet so  she has a much shorter work day filled with meetings. While she sat in meeting after meeting, I helped the counsellors in the office with their filing, then went into the schools library and attempted to read some Spanish books. 

Saturday morning I was up bright and early (8 o'clock haha) to go to Bolonia with Vanessa, her host mom, and her host cousins. Bolonia is in Andalusia, like Marbella, but it is on the other side of Gibraltar (on the Atlantic coast). Bolonia is famous for two reasons: firstly for its beautiful sand dune beaches, second for the Roman ruins. Lucky me, I got to visit both in one day! 

The Roman ruins are in the process of going from an archeological dig site to a museum: in some places you can watch the archeologists digs artifacts from the dirt (which I find really cool!). Because I've studied Latin and ancient Roman culture, I was really excited to be walking on the same stones that Roman colonists walked on around two thousand years ago (!!). We walked around a temple dedicated to the god Osiris, who is actually an Egyptian god, but whom the Romans in this area dedicated their homes to. Houses, aqueducts, public baths, a forum; everything that I've studied in school was there before my eyes! I even got to walk through a Roman theater, touch Roman statues, and (attempt) to read Latin inscriptions. 

After spending an hour or so in the ruins we made our way to the beach. Unlike the beaches in Marbella, the sand in Bolonia is incredibly fine. There are seashells here and there, and the dunes are worth walking up. After a good long swim in the not-so-warm water, Vanessa and I ran along the coastline until, BOOM, we arrived (unknowingly) at a very, very nude beach. Trying not to laugh too hard, we took some photos at the beautiful rocks (which stick out of the water like knives) then headed back to stuff. Our lunch consisted of sandwiches, fruit, and melting chocolate cookies. Vanessa unsuccessfully tried to teach me how to do a cartwheel, but, upon realizing her attempts were futile, we made our way up the beautiful dunes. It was such a great day -- lots of laughter and goofing around with her host cousins (a 5-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl) -- I was absolutely exhausted when I got home!

Sunday morning Ana, Salvador and I went to the AAA (the animal shelter); the shelter was hosting a fundraiser fiesta and Salvador was making paella to sell. I helped Salvador to make the paella, then got to walk around the vendor booths - so many people donated clothes, books, jewelry, food, etc.! I was surprised by the vast amount of people who turned up -- the people in Marbella (both tourists and natives alike) really care about the animals.

A little before three, Salvador and I returned back to the house; he had to get to work and I had to change for the movies. One of the teachers at Ana's school has a fifteen-year-old daughter who invited me to go to the movies with her. We went to see Step Up -- it's the second time I have been to the movies, and again I was surprised by how much of the storyline I could understand. Even if I cannot comprehend each and every word, the theme, characters, and plot was easy to decipher. It was a fun night, and it's always good to meet new people.

Today was a relatively relaxing day; my host parents and I did a little bit of shopping and Ana showed me how to use the bus system in Marbella. Now I'm writing this blog! On Thursday I am going to Madrid for Spain's Rotary Exchange Student Orientation; I'm incredibly excited to see the city and to meet all the other exchange students!

Just a quick note -- in one of my earlier blogs I said my Rotary counsellor's name was Linda, but it's actually Nina :) sorry Nina!!

I hope everyone at home is doing great -- I miss you all but am enjoying my time here!!

As always,

Love from Marbella,

Shona