Feliz Navidad!

Happy Holidays,

So today is my last day in Vitoria before leaving for my three weeks of traveling through Germany and Italy during my winter break. I will be spending the week of Christmas in Stuttgart, Germany with my friend Alli from Amherst and her parents who are now living there. I am very excited to experience all of the Christmas markets that Germany is known for this time of the year. I am also looking forward to be able to spend my Christmas with an American family and be able to speak English once again. I hope I don't forgot all my Spanish when I come back!
Right before New Years I will be flying to Milan, Italy where I will meet up with another friend of mine from the states who I went to OWU with, Mary. She is also an Auxiliary in another region in Spain and I will be traveling through some of Italy with her and two other Auxiliares from her city. So far we are planning on visiting Milan, Venice, Florence, Bologna and then flying out of Rome when returning back to Spain. I am a little sad to not be returning home for Christmas however I am so excited to have this opportunity to see all these new places in Europe.
As I mentioned in my last blog I went to Barcelona a few weekends ago over a long weekend. I absolutely loved it and it is probably my favorite city in Spain! All of the pieces of Architecture the architect, Gaudi, has created are amazing and without his work the city wouldn't be the same. I spent the weekend in Barcelona with with one student from Vitoria who is from Belgium along with two other Auxiliaries from different cities in Spain. One is if from Texas and the other is from England. We didn't know each other too well before going but decided to go together because we all wanted to see Barcelona. It worked out fine because we ended up having a great time with each other. We got tickets to ride on a double decked tourist bus two of the days we were there. It was great because it gave us a great view of the city and it made it easy for us to travel from one site to another . It was cool being up so high while riding along the beach and through the palm trees. Barcelona is such a large city with so much to see and I still feel like we didn't get to see everything but we were able to see many of the things Barcelona is known for.
The things we saw consisted of two of the most famous house created by Gaudi, La Perdera and Casa de Batllo. The architecture on the outside of both of the houses were both amazing along with on the roofs of the houses. There is seriously nothing like it. The two other works created by Gaudi that we saw consisted of La Sagrada Familia and La Parque Guell. La Sagrada Familia is a huge church begun by Gaudi and has continued to be worked on after his deaths by many other Architects. It is still not finished but the thought, planning and symbolism he had put into the construction has been continued by many others. We also took an elevator to the top where we could see the view of the city. The height and the temples of La Sagrada Familia stand out in the city and can be easily seen from higher elevations in the Barcelona. La Parque Guell is a large park on a huge hill. Unfortunately by the time we arrived to the park it was starting to get dark so we were unable to get an accurate feel for the area however the size and pieces of architecture in the park were really cool. This just gives me another reason to return to Barcelona!
We spent our first full day in Barcelona in a region called Montjuic. It is a large hill in Barcelona separate from the rest of the city which gives a really nice view of the city. There we visited a castle, The National Museum of Catalunya Art, The Olympic Stadium, El Poble Espanyol and the Magic Fountain. In the Olympic Stadium, the finals of the Davis Cup was being played there between Spain and The Dominican Republic. You have no idea how much I would have loved to get to tickets to see it. If only I had know it was being played there when we planned this trip! The Poble Espanyol is a little enclosed in area that consists of Barcelona's Plaza Mayor which is a type of plaza you seen in many cities in Spain. There were many small typical Spanish side streets with cute little houses. The magic fountain is a large fountain which has performances in the evenings with the water coming out in different colors with music playing in the background. We saw a Disney performance which was cool because we knew most of the songs they were playing.
Below I have posted some pictures from all of the major cites in Barcelona.

Parque Guell


The Magic Fountain


La Perdera


La Casa de Batllo


La Sagrada Familia (Outside)


The Port


The Olympic Stadium with my roommates
(I forgot to mention that Francesca and Julia both came as well)




It has started to feel a lot like Christmas in Vitoria. There are many lights in the streets. They have installed an artificial ice skating rink in the main plaza in the center of Vitoria, Plaza de la Virgen Blanca, with a Christmas tree in the center. Yesterday a few of us went skating which was fun. On Thursday one of the English teacher's at my school, Fernando, took me to the Christmas Market they have one day every year before Christmas. It was in the Plaza de Espana right next to the Plaza de la Virgen Blanca and consisted of my different vendors of typical food from Spain and the Basque Country during the holidays. Another popular thing during these markets is to have a bunch of live turkeys in a cage for sale. It was fun to see that but a little sad knowing that many people would buy them and bring them home to eat. Its nice how all of the teachers I work with are very supportive and want me to experience everything Spain has to offer.


Skating in La Plaza de Virgen Blanca with Lisa, another Auxiliary from Germany

This past week in class I talked about the different Christmas traditions in Spain and we listened to typical Christmas Carols and songs. It was definitely something my students enjoyed especially the class I had on Friday where they started singing along to them as well. When leaving class many of my students said Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to me in English which was cutel. Talking about Christmas in American and listening to these songs definitely has began to hit me that I will not be going home and participating in a traditional Christmas with my family but I have realized I will never have an opportunity like this again to travel through Europe.
Feliz Navidad y Feliz Ano Nuevo!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
So I have to admit not being home for Thanksgiving and being away from my friends and family has made me miss home a little. However, last night a few of the other Auxiliaries and I organized an American style Thanksgiving day dinner. We went all out and ordered two turkeys from the butcher shop along with preparing other traditional Thanksgiving dishes. I had the honor of cooking one of the turkeys in my oven and it actually came out pretty well. We invited all of the other Auxiliaries, our roommates and some of our other friends we have met here; many of them never have seen a Thanksgiving dinner before but all enjoyed it very much.



The Dinner


Me and my roommates at the dinner

I have had an eventful two past weekends. Two weekends ago I went on an Excursions for the day with my roommates and other students from their study abroad program to Pamplona and two other nearby cities. Every once in a while their study abroad program takes a bus to another region in Spain for the day led by one of their professors and if they're is extra space on the bus anyone is welcome. So I took the opportunity to go to Pamplona with them since I have never been. Our first stop was in Leyre Spain where we visited a monastery. There was a beautiful view surrounding the monastery with many mountains and a valley around the monastery.


My roommate, Francesca, and I






After we stopped in the center of the city of Pamplona, where we just had enough time to walk through the city. It is a beautiful city but unfortunately I wasn't able to see much. Francesca, a few of the other students and I had lost the group and were unable to take part on a small tour of the city. I would love to go back and see more. Pamplona is known for the fiesta of San Fermin where they have the running of the bulls every summer.



The Ayuntamiento de Pamplona (Town Hall)





Our last stop for the day was to Olite to where we saw the Palacio Real de Olite, which was a very large castle. There were many different towers to climb which did consist of very narrow stairways and were a little challenging to navigate when others were climbing down. There was a wonderful view from the top. My legs were surprisingly soar the next day from all of the climbing I had done. When I was at the top of one of the towers, I had asked one of my friends to take a picture for me in Spanish of course. There was another boy on top of the tower with us who must have recognized my accent and asked where I was from. It turns out that he is also American; he is from Pennsylvania and is studying in Pamplona for the semester. It is really neat occasionally running into Americans especially since there are very few I have met since coming here.












So last weekend I traveled to Leon which is another city in Spain in the region of Castilla Leon. Two other Auxiliaries who I had gone to Salamanca with a few weeks ago, Dana and Brooke, had met me there. While there we saw many different sites with the two most important consisting of the Basillia de San Isidoro, the cathedral and Convento de San Marcos. The Basilica is a church that has a bell tower which can see from the city when walking toward the center. When visiting the cathedral, We had the opportunity to climb up to the top of the Cathedral. The climb up was a little scary with several flights of stairs to climb outside but once we got up we were able to see a small view of the city. El Convento de San Marcos is a convent which has been converted into a very nice hotel with a museum. We also visited Casa de Boutines which is one of the only pieces of architecture built by Gaudi not in the region of Catalunya. It is an old bank with the bottom floor consisting of an art museum.


Group Picture

Casa de Boutines

The Convent of San Marcos

The Cathedral

Inside the Basillica

Outside the Basillica with Brooke





Teaching in the school has been going pretty well. I am definitely getting more accustomed to giving lessons and starting to like it a lot. It can be frustrating at times when the students don't quite understand me and I have to restate what I want to say in simpler ways. On Thanksgiving I taught two additional classes at the school right next to mine. It is the same school but consists of different students who I believe are typically at a lower level and have a higher percentage of immigrants. They had wanted me to give a lesson on Thanksgiving to these two classes. Their level of English was noticeably a lot lower and in both of the classes the professors would occasionally have to translate what I was saying into Spanish. However they were all very excited to have me in the class and couldn't stop asking me questions at the end of class. The teacher told me should would like me to come back and give lessons on other American holidays. She even wants me to start giving her English lessons as well. I am hoping as I become more experienced in the classroom I will be able to find more effective ways to engage the lower level classes in what I have to teach to them.

Next weekend is a long weekend and I will be traveling to Barcelona with my roommates and meeting a few other Auxiliaries there. I am very much looking forward to this trip since I have yet to see this city after all this time I have spent in Spain. It is definitely a good time to go as it is getting a lot colder here. I woke up this morning to the first snow but unfortunately now it is raining.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Stay tuned for my trip to Barcelona!

Back to Salamanca

Hi Family and Friends,

Sorry it has taken me a little longer than I expected to update my blog. I have been getting pretty busy with all of my tutoring sessions.
As I mentioned in my last blog, I spent two weekends ago in Salamanca. I probably would have rather travel to somewhere new and different but since I knew someone going there I decided to go. I met a girl named Brooke half way there along with other Auxiliares that live near her. So in total there was 6 of us. 3 Americans, 2 from England and 1 from Ireland. Brooke also has a roommate from Salamanca that met us there later and showed us around. It was great to go back. When I arrived on Friday, I met up with one of my tutors, Rocio, I had when I was studying in Salamanca. It was great to see her and she was so happy I contacted her. On Saturday we spent the day just walking around the city. I forgot how beautiful it really is. The hostel we stayed in was close to the cathedral so it was really pretty walking past it at night with all of the lights.
The Monastery with Brooke
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A view of the city of Salamanca with the Cathedral. I am with Dana, Joe and Fran.
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The three Americans overlooking the river and bridge. Its is a beautiful walk along the bridge and there is also a park that surrounds the area.

I also made a surprise visit to my padres house. When I was studying in Salamanca I had a host family I stayed with, they were called my padres (parents in Spanish). I wasn't sure how they would react to having me show up at their house with no notice but I am so glad I did stop by. They were so happy and surprised to see me. As I walked in they called me hija (daughter) and kissed me on the cheek. I stayed and talked to them for a while. They brought out some cafe con leche (Spanish coffee with milk) for me which they remembered I loved so much. They told me that I could come back whenever and stay with them since they are not hosting anyone this year. So that was really nice. I am definitely planning on writing to them and thanking them for everything!

Salamanca was the perfect place to go to for Halloween. Since it is such a big international city with the University there were many people out dressed in costumes and all of the bars were decorated. We all got some sort of costume to wear. Before we went out we all met in the Plaza Mayor, which is the main plaza in the center of Salamanca. There we saw many groups of people dressed up which was fun. It was nice meeting some other Auxiliaries. I am planning on possibly meeting up with them again and doing some traveling with them.

In our costumes in the Plaza Mayor

I spent this past weekend in Vitoria, which was nice just to relax and hang out with the other Auxiliaries here. I am starting to play in this tennis ranking league where I just play other people and move up the ladder when I win. I had my first match on Sunday. I didn't win but it was a close match and its' nice to finally get involved in something. In order to play tennis here I had to purchase an athletic card. So now I have access to all of the Civic Centers in Vitoria which have a variety of athletic facilities along with classes I can take at a lower cost. I have also started to hang out with my one roommate, Francesca, more. It is nice because it has allowed me to meet other international students here.

Last week I began tutoring two ladies in English one-on-one. Both of them are preparing to take an exam in December to get their first certificate in English. My first client, Ayoda, is an early childhood teacher and would like to spend time in England or the United States to teach Spanish. I am tutoring her three times a week for an hour each. The other one, Estibaliz, works in an employment agency and would just like to improve her ability to converse in English because she feels like it is important to learn. I am tutoring her once a week for an hour. Both are around the same level, so I have worked on similar skills with each of them. We have focused mainly on listening and talking in English, in addition to some grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. The English professors at my school have provided me with materials to use for these lessons, which has been helpful. Surprisingly, they have been a lot easier than I thought they would have been. Since so few people in Vitoria speak English they are just looking for someone to practice their English with and correct their errors. Today, one of the professors at my school approached me and would like me to tutor her 15 year old son once a week. She said she would just like him to work on conversations in English. So I will start my first lesson with him next week. Working in the morning at the secondary school and doing private lessons in the afternoon with definitely keep me busy during the week.
Last week I went on a field trip to La Rioja with a class of students from my school. La Rioja is a region in the north of Spain located directly below the Basque Country. I went on this trip with other teachers from the school who are not part of the English department. The English professors invited me to go on this trip because they thought it would be a good opportunity for me to see these sites. Despite the rain, I enjoyed my visit. We saw some monasteries and cathedrals along with some good sites. At the beginning of the day my interactions with the students was very minimal, since I hadn’t had any of them in class yet they were unsure who I was. Towards the end of the day and as they learned who I was they all became very interested and started to crowd around me talking in both English and Spanish.


Apparently I enjoyed my time in La Rioja so much that I wanted to go back. On Saturday I returned with three of the other American Auxiliaries from Vitoria. La Rioja is known as the wine country in the North of Spain, therefore we decided to go to a winery, also known as a bodega in Spanish. There we got a tour of the winery. We learned about the history, where and how it is made along with some wine tasting. It was a beautiful day, so after our tour we went to the center of Logrono, which is the capital of La Rioja. There we just walked around and explored the small city. We got lunch, spent some time in the plaza with the big fountain, saw the cathedral and walked along the river.

Since Halloween is coming up on Saturday, all of the auxiliaries have decided to talk about Halloween in our classes. So on Monday we all got together at one of the auxiliary’s apartment to carve pumpkins. It is nice being able to take part in holiday traditions with the other Americans here, I was surprised to find out they even sell pumpkins in Spain. One of the English teacher’s at my school was very impressed with my Jack-O-Lantern although anyone who knows me well enough knows that I do not have any artistic ability.


This weekend my school has a 5 day holiday in commemoration to All Saints Day which is on Sunday, November 1. So I have decided to go to Salamanca for the weekend. I will be meeting another auxiliary there who met I over the summer along with the other auxiliaries from her city. I am definitely looking forward to going back.

First week in the classroom and my birthday celebration

So this week I officially started helping out in the classrooms as an Auxiliary. On Wednesday I had my first two classes where I gave the students a short presentation about New Hampshire and Amherst to provide them with a better idea of where I come from and what my culture is like. My presentation included a lot of pictures and maps which I think definitely engaged the students in what I had to say and made it easier for them to understand my English. I wasn't really sure what to expect before getting up in front of the class but once I introduced myself and started speaking it was really easy to continue with my presentation. I found that I had to constantly be asking the students questions with the help of the professor to keep them focused and from losing their interest. They all seemed very interested in what I had to say and where I come from which made it a lot easier. I have no doubt that they will continue to enjoy all of the information I bring to the class regarding my culture. The two classes I did my power point presentation for are the higher level English classes. The students are in their last year of high school and they understand a good majority of what I say however I need to be constantly speaking very slowly with the use of simple words. These are the classes where I will be taking over once a week to present a specific topic or theme to the class such as an American holiday that is coming up.
In addition to these two classes I will also be helping in lower level classes. In these classes I will act more as an assistant to the teacher in class. My role in these classes will consist of helping with specific English grammar being taught in the class or directing a discussion on readings done in class. I may also spend a small portion of the class informally talking about my culture so they can learn about the differences of the American culture to that of their own. Most importantly my purpose is to encourage the students to practice both their oral and listening skills in the English language helping to improve their overall conversational skills.
So far I have only been assigned to work 7 hours in a week in the classrooms. However, I will be putting in a little time outside of class each week to prepare for my presentations. I am hoping that I will be able to find either students, parents, teachers at the school or other people in the city who I can tutor English to. That is something other Auxiliaries have done in the past to earn some extra cash and give them something extra to do. The English teachers at my school have not been too helpful with recommending anyone who may want to learn English but I have posted flyers at my school and the University and hopefully that will spark some interest. I have been given Mondays off so hopefully that will make easier for me to travel frequently on the weekends. I have spent the past two weekends in Vitoria which has been nice but my friends and I from my program are hoping to make it somewhere next weekend relatively close to Vitoria just to see something new.
This past week I also celebrated my 23rd birthday. Wow I can't believe I am already 23. I had a nice celebration with the other teachers in my program along with my three Italian roommates and my Japanese friend I met the first day on the bus from Madrid to Vitoria. They all came over for a Mexican fiesta at my piso. We made fajitas and guacamole, it was great to have a change from Spanish food. My roommates were all confused about what Mexican food was, apparently it is something you don't eat too often in Italy but they ended up liking it a lot. After our dinner my roommates surprised me with a cake in addition to the brownies I had made because I was craving some type of American sweet. Also, at midnight on my birthday the night before they sang to me Happy Birthday and gave me a pair of slippers because they were concerned that my feet were too cold. They actually have come in handy because it is starting to get very cold in Vitoria. Living with them has been a great experience however the language and culture barrier can be a little frustrating at time. I guess that is all part of the experience. My one roommate has even invited me to her house for Christmas. I have not decided if I am going to go but at least I have the offer.

So there is my update on how my first week of school went. I am sure once I spend more time in the classrooms, I will start to take over the classes more and have more of an influential interaction with my students.

(Above I am with my three Italian roommates)

The other Auxilliares in my program and my friend from Japan, Chisako.

So it has been another week and and I have done and accomplished so much. Last weekend I went on my first excursion and experienced something completely new in Spain. One of the English teacher's, Jesus, at my school invited me to his wife's pueblo(village) for the fiestas (parties),called San Miguel taking place overfor the weekend. We drove two hours with his wife and daughter to a small town called Agreda in Castilla Leon. As soon as we arrived his daughter Merriam and I went to something that looked like a small bull ring. I had no idea what we were about to watch. Then all of sudden children came running out into the arena dressed up in a variety of Spanish costumes. A little later a small bull came out and began to chase the children as they jumped behind the walls. There was much excitement in the stands as the children continued to egg the bull on to chase them. The festivities in the bull ring continued on several other occasions through out the weekend where adults began taking part in the activity. I was even able to get a picture with the cape of a Matador(a person who fights a bull in a bull fight) after he had shown me how to use it.
Later I was able to experience the running of the bulls. The first night I watched it from the balcony of Jesus's apartment on the top floor that overlooked one of the main streets the bulls run on. The next day I was a little more daring and watched it from the street, standing behind the gates that the small bulls were locked into. It was really cool to be so close to them and to see all of the crazy Spaniards run into the streets chasing them with sticks and then jumping back behind the fence before they got attacked. During one of the running of the bulls I was sitting on top of the second row of fences with such a great view of the bulls. At one point the bull stopped right in front of where I was sitting and all the men in the street climbed up on top of the fence to where I was and so all I could really do was grab onto the metal pole hoping that the bull would not go any further. I then decided it was time for me to come down and find another place to watch them.

Overall it was great to experience the sense of community in a small pueblo. In the evenings there were bands playing on a stage in the center of the plaza. There were many groups of people dancing all wearing a certain color jacket to represent the group of friends or family they were in. The jackets were designed specifically for the fiestas that took place in Agreda. There was so much activity going on in such a small place with all of the apartments and bars surrounding the center plaza. I even experienced a Futbol (soccer) game between Agreda and its' neighboring town. I was soon able to realize that everyone knew everyone in this town. I was introduced to many family members and friends. It was a little overwhelming at first with all the Spanish I was exposed to but Jesus and his wife really made me feel welcome by showing me around the pueblo and giving me a historic tour of all the sites.
In addition to my adventurous this past weekend I went to Bilbao on Wednesday with the rest of the Auxilliares in Vitoria for our orientation where we met all of the other students in our program placed in other parts of the Basque Region. We are all given the title Auxilliares which stands for Conversation and Language Assistants. There are not only American Auxilliares but there are also ones from Canada, France, Germany and England who are all teaching their native language. Our role in the class room is to take over for 10-12 hours per week presenting information about our culture to the children and engaging them in English conversation. They are not tested on any of the material we give them; it is done to help improve their conversation and comprehension in the English language. The orientation was helpful and gave me a better idea of what I am expected to do in the classroom. On Tuesday I will be giving my first lesson. I have created a power point presentation on New Hampshire with a focus on Amherst to give them a better idea of where I come from. Once I get through my first lesson I feel like it will get easier for me to come up with other lessons to bring to the class. All of the English teachers at my school are extremely helpful in making my experience here as positive as it can be. I will keep you updated on how my first week of classes go.

Vitoria, Espana

Hola Todos!

Well I have arrived successfully to Vitoria, Spain in the Basque Country. After arriving to Madrid I had to take a 41/2 hour train ride to Vitoria. At the bus station I encountered a girl who helped me with all of my luggage. Clearly I brought too many things for me to handle by myself. It turns out she was also going to Vitoria to teach Japanese at the University in the city. It was my first opportunity where I had no choice but to converse in Spanish since she spoke very little English and I know absolutely no Japanese. I have met up with her a few times since I have been in Vitoria which has been nice.
The night I arrived I met up with one of the Americans doing the same program as me. Her name is Kelly and she is from California. We went out for pinchos, which is like small Apetizeris in the U.S., with a few girls from Italy that she had met. I was once again forced to speak in Spanish with the other people in the group. They were all understanding of my inability to speak Spanish completely sufficiently since it has been a while since I have used the language. I have continued to hang out with several students from Italy along with the few Americans in the group which has helped me improve my Spanish already. This past weekend there was a medieval festival in Vitoria. The old section of the city was decorated to give it a medieval feel. There was a market set up outside with many different stands consisting of different types of foods, tapas and items from boutique stores such as jewerly, scarfs and leather items which is a very popular material in Spain. This festival also consisted of many different performances in the streets and many of the employees in bars and stores all dress up.
I just moved into my second piso (apartment in Spanish). As soon as I arrived I was in a rush to get out of my hostel and move into an apartment. I found that the first one was not very accommodating to my needs. My room was very small and I found it hard to interact with the others in my apartment. I am now living with three Italian girls who go the University here for a year. The apartment is much nicer and I have enjoyed spending time with them. This opportunity will definitely help improve my Spanish since they speak very little English. I am sharing a room with one of the other Italian girls who is very nice.
I have yet to start teaching yet. I will be going to Bilbao next Wednesday with the rest of the people here in my program for an orientation where hopefully we will learn everything we need to know about teaching English as a second language. I am planning on stopping at my school tomorrow to maybe meet the teachers I am going to be helping and find out more information about my job. I will definitely keep you all updated on how my job goes once I start.