Viajes (Trips)

March 17th-24th I was really lucky to have participated in an 'exchange within my exchange' to Venice, Italy; an exchange trip offered by my school. I had the most incredible time living with my Italian host sister and her family that one week! Everyday the group of exchange students from my school in Spain and the Italian class would go and see a different part of Venice, typical sightseeing, and experience a little bit more of the culture. I was able to take so so so many beautiful photos of Venice and also of Verona where I went with my host sister and friends for a fun day trip. Getting to see another part of Europe was really nice! I was able to compare and contrast a little of the differences between Spain and Italy. When it was time to go back home and we were in the airport I started bawling because of the amazing week I had with all my new friends in Italy! I didn't want to leave! Fortunately, on May 5th the Italians come to stay with us in Madrid and I will get to see everyone again for the second half of our exchange.

It hadn't been much time since I had unpacked my suitcase from Italy when I had to repack again for my class trip. The two classes that make up my grade (1º bachillerato) took a five day trip to the city of Santander in northern Spain (we left April 27th). This was also such a fun experience for me. I got to see how beautiful northern Spain is and also build some new friendships with other students on the trip. We were really lucky to have had such nice weather on our trip too because the week we came home was absolutely awful, raining all the time... One of the days we went to the northern Spain beaches, another day to the mountains! Lot's of typical sight seeing and just being with our class was really great. The two classes really united and had lots of fun. I will try and post some photos on my photobucket account for everyone to check them out. My favorite part was probably when we took the gondola up the mountains. It was stunning! We all had such a great time taking photos climbing around and of course throwing some snowballs. We were all really sad when the trip was over, but since we returned to school the next day all together it wasn't so bad.

Apart from the two trips, I have been recently spending more time at the library and studding. Exams are coming up this week and it's my goal to pass the ones that are still troubling me and I really think that it's a more possible goal, especially because I'm able to do so much better in class now with the language and all.

I just wanted to post up a little THANK YOU on my blog to everyone who wished me a happy 17th birthday on April 21st! I really appreciated all the messages and everything! I had a really nice birthday. I would have normally had to go to school, but I had a field trip instead with my Latin class to see two theater productions and some old Roman ruins. It was a beautiful day out and we had a great time!

The following Saturday, I spent the weekend in Madrid and got to meet up with some of my classmates from Camden who were on the school Spain trip! It was so great seeing my friends, even though it was for only a few hours. Since I haven't seen anyone that I knew before my exchange since I got here, it was a little strange, but I am so glad that they called me and that we were able to meet up. I hope you all had a great time in Spain and I will see you all back home soon!

So today is my 50 days left point! It's a lot, but it's also very little at the same time. I'm trying to remember to just keep living my exchange in the moment and take advantage of every little opportunity until the end (and to take more photos)!

Un beso muy grande a todos!

Xoxo, Hana