Day 1

Here’s a portion of an email I sent to my mom late at night on March 30^th, my first day in Spain!

Hola mama,

I'm currently sitting in my bed at my house family’s house and just figured out how to use the converter. I would have sent an email sooner but the converter kept on buzzing and the "surge" button was blinking like crazy. Guess I needed to change it from the "convert" setting to "adapt."

I've been up for more than 30 hours and I'm exhausted from travel but it's necessary to adjust to the time zone. I just got back from going out with my friends and it's about 1am here. I'm only guessing because I don't have a watch, phone, or a clock in my room. I only have the time on my computer that's still set to Oregon time at 4:30 PM. 

I flew from Portland on Thursday March 29 at 7:55 AM to Dallas, Texas. Then I caught a 9.5 hour flight from Texas to Madrid, and finally a short flight from Madrid to Santander. I traveled with 5 other girls who are also part of the program. I was so relieved to have them there every step of the way. When I arrived in Madrid, I called my host family to tell them I was close. I talked to my host mom Lourdes on the phone and I was super nervous. She was very easy to talk to and very excited to hear from me. She got my email and said I had good written Spanish. Who knows if she was being truthful or trying to make me feel better. I told her what I looked like so she could pick me up at the airport. She told me she would find me based on my blonde hair and purple shirt. All I knew was that she had dark hair. The other girls I traveled with had to figure out the bus system and walk to get to their houses. . I felt like a princess because my host mom insisted on picking me up from the airport. Once I arrived in Santander I said goodbye to my friends as they caught Taxi's and rode the bus. I ended up waiting in the airport of Santander nervously for an hour. I looked at each dark haired Spanish speaking person longingly as if they were my host mom. This is the one time I tried to look as lost and American as possible. After an hour of waiting, I decided to call her and see where she was. I called her cell phone and she was no more than 50 feet away. It made everything easier. I met her and my host dad Jose at the airport and we chatted about basic things in the car and pointed out landmarks along the way.

When we arrived at the house it was beautiful. It's in the center of Santander with a small little porch that gets sun all day long. The weather was perfect and sunny. Lourdes gave me a tour of the house which is 3 stories plus a basement.. I was excited to find out that I have my own room with a closet and my own bathroom. There is some sort of large exercise machine in the corner of the room too but who knows, maybe I'll decide to lift weights every day during my siesta. I unpacked all my things and then my host mom made me a grilled cheese sandwich and a cheesy pasta and ham dish.

Once I finished eating, Lourdes encouraged me to meet up with my friends and explore the city at night. She proceeded to call all my friends to arrange meeting up with them. She told me her sons were going out and I should too! While Lourdes talked to the other moms to arrange a play date, my host dad pulled out a giant book of pictures of Santander. He showed me pictures of everything in the city and from multiple angles too. I think he really likes geography and likes to teach me things. It made me laugh on the inside because his favorite thing to talk about was they ferry and the bay in Santander. Don't ask me why, but he would show me where the ferry was in every single picture. It must be a special ferry. I was grateful though because I could listen to him talk without being expected to talk back. I tried my best though and would ask clarifying questions. My favorite sayings so far are “que” and “que significa” which mean “what” and “what does that mean.” Every time I say either one of those, they talk slower, break down the words, or try to use more simple words. They don’t make me feel stupid because I can tell they truly want me to learn Spanish better. And if I don’t understand they move on and bring up a new subject. I’m getting good at smiling, nodding, and responding with “vale” which means “ok.”

After we went through the million pages of pictures of Santander, which I actually enjoyed very much because I’ve always been good at city vocabulary, my host dad pulled out a new book he bought. He has been learning English for a couple of years and has a 35 book collection of English textbooks. He’s on number 9 but just bought number 35 for later. He told me some of the words in English he knows including key, building, and fire. He also knows how to say “it’s sunny.” It made me feel right at ease because he was vulnerable sharing his few English words with a native English speaker as I was sharing my broken Spanish with a family of native Spanish speakers.

I got connected to the internet via one of my host brothers, Oscar, earlier today. It was an awkward encounter. He's 19 years old and I introduced myself and he handed me a card with the access information for the internet. I asked him if the paper was for me to keep but he looked at me funny because I probably said it all wrong and he walked away. Oh well, I'll try to say something more intelligent next time.

After dinner my host mom walked me around Santander and showed me around the city as we walked to “El Correos” or the post office where many young people meet their friends before going out. I had only been in Santander for a few hours and I was already pushed out the door. On the walk she showed me where the bus station was for going to school, to the center of the city, how to get to the beach and other good spots for shopping. I felt at such ease having her show me around for the first time. It was difficult for me to walk and talk with her because I couldn’t look at her face as she talked to understand the words better, otherwise I would risk running into a pole. When I met up with 3 other friends at El Correos we all shared about how much we love our host families and the funny things we have done or said so far. Before my host mom returned home she told all my friends that they weren’t allowed  to let me walk alone at night. It made me smile because 1, I know she cares about me and my safety and 2, she’s just like my real mom back home.

One funny thing that just happened to me on the way home after a night out was that I had to climb the gate to get home. On the way out my host mom showed me where a key to the door was and how to get in the gate for when I would be letting myself in later that night. She and showed me how to unlock the gate using your credit card or something like it so I wouldn't need a key. When I got home I struggled for several minutes trying to unlock the gate with the same ease my host mom did. I tried several different credit cards and ID cards as if it would make a difference. I couldn’t figure it out, so my two options were to ring the voice box thing outside and wake up the whole family or climb the 7 foot tall gate. To save myself some dignity with my family I climbed the fence in my frilly top, skinny jeans, and nude flats. Now that I was in the front yard, my next obstacle was getting inside the door. I found the key hidden under the chair cushion outside with ease but couldn’t figure out how to unlock the door. I turned it left, right, and a combination of left and right hoping one way would work. I must have made a lot of noise because I heard my host dad whisper at me through the window in his Spanish accent “Pay-j, un momento” and he came out to help me. Without choosing it, people call me pa-hey or pay-j because “Paige” is too difficult. Growing up I always wanted a nick name so I find the way my dad call me Paige endearing. I felt embarrassed that I couldn’t figure out how to open the door but I reverted to one of my other favorite sayings “lo siento.” He was happy to show me how to unlock the door and said he waited up to make sure I got home safe. I thanked him multiple times and we parted ways and went to bed.

Despite the frequent embarrassing moments, I’m having a blast! I’m trying my best to look at these embarrassing moments as a learning experience. My host family is great and they make me feel at ease. Even though I’ve done some silly things since I’ve been here like waking my host family up at 1 am or giving deer in the headlights expressions as they talk, I know it is only going to get better. I’m learning so much in the few hours I’ve been here already. I’m exhausted and only running on sleep from the couple of wrestles naps I took on the plane from Dallas to Madrid. I’ve been up for 34 hours. I’m safe in Santander, having fun, and looking forward to orientation tomorrow!

Hasta luego,

Su hija Pay-j


Here are some pictures:

Natalie, me, Jen, Michelle, and Danielle
These are my travel buddies and I at our last meal in America at the Dallas Airport in TGIF Fridays. We had chicken burgers and cheeseburgers since we were unsure if we would have either for the next 3 months.

Here is my first spanish boyfriend who we met in the airport. He kept on wanting to stand by Alex and I because we have blonde hair. His mom said to him "encantas muy rapido" which means "you fall in love fast."

Jen, Natalie, and Alex at the Madrid Airport

Do we look tired? Are we there yet?

My room!

My little closet and the workout machine (or suitcase holder) in my room

The little bathroom I get all to myself