3 Weeks in Spain

Hello Everyone,

      I have been here for 3 weeks now and I am having a very good time. With everyday my Spanish is improving and it is getting easier to understand people. During school I still struggle very much to understand what is going on but when someone talks to me one on one I can understand them very well. Everyday after school I usually have a headache from constantly translating in my head what everyone says to me. I cannot wait for the day when I don't have to translate everything and Spanish just comes natural. I am getting a Spanish tutor and that will hopefully help me a lot. This past week I have joined a gym which I work out at after siesta. For those of you who don't know what siesta is, it's during the afternoon around 2-5 where you just hang out and relax. My host parents come home from work and all the shops in the city close. During siesta I almost always fall asleep because I am always so exhausted. Anyways, after siesta I go to the gym and it feels really nice to work out. My host family also signed me up for a gym team. I am not really sure what this consist of doing but I am excited to find out and I will be with kids my age, so it will be a great way to make more friends.
     This past weekend I went to Santa Pola to my host family's beach house and it was a great weekend. I have always loved the beach and so it was so nice just to lay down at the beach and relax. Their house is about a 20 second walk from the beach so it very easily accessible. This weekend was a little cloudy but the temperature was great. On friday I had my first Paella from Spain. It was so good. Paella is a dish that is very traditional in Spain and it is rice with meat in it. I will upload a picture to Facebook of it along with many other pictures. I also had snails for the first time as well too. They look pretty intimidating but they are actually pretty good. No matter how gross a food sounds or looks I always try it because I want to try everything! Generally I have liked all the food here so far and there hasn't been anything where I absolutely hated it. I do miss American food a lot though. On sunday we went and watched a duathlon. They ran and then biked and it was really cool to watch, everyone was cheering for all the people. If I ever had to do a duathlon, I would want to do that one since they were running along the Mediterranean and it was really pretty. After watching that my Rotary counselor Fernando and his family came to Santa Pola from Alicante to have lunch with me and my host family. It was nice to meet them and they are really nice family. They have a daughter who is 18 and a son who is 14. I will be spending the first saturday of every month with them and I am excited to get to know them.
     As for homesickness, I randomly get it. Sometimes I am really happy and so glad I am here and other times I really miss home. Overall, I am glad that I made the decision to be an exchange student. I have been here for 3 weeks and I already can see myself growing as a person. The things I have had to experience have made me so much stronger. I now know what it's like to not understand what's going on around you, to feel like you don't fit in, to not know whats right from wrong and so many more feelings. Even though all of these feelings are really hard to experience I am so glad I got the chance because it truly has made me a better person. When I go back to my high school in America I will not hesitate to go up to someone and talk to them if they are alone. I know what it feels like to be alone in school and it is a terrible feeling. Although now I am making many friends and have plans to hang out with them on the weekend, it was still difficult in the beginning All of this has happened in 3 weeks, so I am so excited to see what this year has to offer for me. I know it will make me grow as a person, and make me become more mature. Also I have realized how blessed I am to come from the family I do in America. I always have taken for granted the time I spent with them and when I get home I definitely will not do that. I am happy I was raised in Midland, Michigan, and feel so proud to tell people I am American. I have so much more pride in my country now that I am here in Spain, and realize how lucky I am to live there. Until next time!

Adios,
Brandon Dull