Soooo.... I decided I might get back into this blogging thing. Sorry I have been so inactive lately, to be honest writing in my blog has been the last thing on my mind for MONTHS.
So I have returned home from my exchange, and I miss it terribly. Everything is so different, so hard to get used to. Being at school again is interesting, there are so many little kids everywhere that I just want to scream sometimes, but in general it is going well. My grades are back up to their usual 90%+ (after my 65 - 75% average while I was away), which is really nice. I am looking at universities, trying to decide which ones I ought to apply to and which ones I shouldn't. It is all quite stressful. Work seems to be a never ending part of life, and then homework and volunteering, so, to put it lightly, I am a pretty busy guy.
That being said, I am going to keep this entry short as I have to do some homework.
Always remember, "Enjoy life, and smile"
Tuesday, 30 October 2012
Sunday, 8 April 2012
WOO!
Hey Readers,
Sorry I haven't written for a while. I don't really have a good excuse so I won't bother making one up.
I got my grades from school on Wednesday, and most of them had improved, and I only failed two classes! To me and most Canadians that is going to sounds ridiculous, but first of all they were both in my provincial language, not in Spanish, and secondly I failed less classes than over 60% of my classmates. Not bad, eh?
My Rotary Club and I are currently organising a reunion for the Inbounds in my area, and hopefully we will also invite the Outbound students to come for the day.
Living in Trudy's home is going great, another completely different experience from my other two families. I still keep in touch with Paul, my first host father, nearly every Wednesday I go to eat with him and his son after school.
As of yesterday I only have 3 months left in Spain. It is a rather sad thought to think that I have to go home in so little time.
My school choir had it's first mini concert on Monday of last week, we sang just for the students of my school, but it was fantastic. We got lots of compliments afterwards.
Sorry I haven't written for a while. I don't really have a good excuse so I won't bother making one up.
I got my grades from school on Wednesday, and most of them had improved, and I only failed two classes! To me and most Canadians that is going to sounds ridiculous, but first of all they were both in my provincial language, not in Spanish, and secondly I failed less classes than over 60% of my classmates. Not bad, eh?
My Rotary Club and I are currently organising a reunion for the Inbounds in my area, and hopefully we will also invite the Outbound students to come for the day.
Living in Trudy's home is going great, another completely different experience from my other two families. I still keep in touch with Paul, my first host father, nearly every Wednesday I go to eat with him and his son after school.
As of yesterday I only have 3 months left in Spain. It is a rather sad thought to think that I have to go home in so little time.
My school choir had it's first mini concert on Monday of last week, we sang just for the students of my school, but it was fantastic. We got lots of compliments afterwards.
Sunday, 26 February 2012
WOW
Holy crap! My five month anniversary has come and gone, I got sick for the first time since I've been here, and I received some letters and a package from home!
The time is just passing by too fast, I will switch families soon and in just 5 months, 3 days, and 8.5 hours I will be getting on my first plane to go home to Canada. I absolutely love Spain and the lessons I have learned here. I feel already like I am a completely different person. Being here in Spain has showed me that I want to travel during my whole life and I want to see the world and try living in different places, but Canada will always be my true home.
This year has been worth every second of hard work I did. It has already changed my life completely and so I have to say every crappy job I did, all the long hours at work and organising fundraisers, all the fights, blood and tears have all been worth it. There is nothing I would rather be doing with my life this year. Life as an exchange student is hard. There are days where you lay in bed unable to sleep and just cry, there are days when you have to remind yourelf constantly that you would hate yourself for going but those hard days are overshadowed by all the good that comes out it. A second or third or even fourth language, experience living in another culture, new friends and families from all over the globe, and most importantly, finding out exactly who you really are. When you go to a new country you get to be whoever you want to be. It doesn't matter how you were at home or what people might think because you have a fresh start to become your future, more adult self.
The Evening Rotary Club of Powell River changed my life one day in October of 2010 and I wouldn't change the events that have happened even if I could. Things have gone wrong, it was bound to happen, but they have all worked out in the end and I am much stronger for having been through them so far away from my family at home.
I have nothing more to say tonight, I hope everyone who is reading my blog is enjoying it and I cannot wait to see you all again!
Un besito,
Clayton.
The time is just passing by too fast, I will switch families soon and in just 5 months, 3 days, and 8.5 hours I will be getting on my first plane to go home to Canada. I absolutely love Spain and the lessons I have learned here. I feel already like I am a completely different person. Being here in Spain has showed me that I want to travel during my whole life and I want to see the world and try living in different places, but Canada will always be my true home.
This year has been worth every second of hard work I did. It has already changed my life completely and so I have to say every crappy job I did, all the long hours at work and organising fundraisers, all the fights, blood and tears have all been worth it. There is nothing I would rather be doing with my life this year. Life as an exchange student is hard. There are days where you lay in bed unable to sleep and just cry, there are days when you have to remind yourelf constantly that you would hate yourself for going but those hard days are overshadowed by all the good that comes out it. A second or third or even fourth language, experience living in another culture, new friends and families from all over the globe, and most importantly, finding out exactly who you really are. When you go to a new country you get to be whoever you want to be. It doesn't matter how you were at home or what people might think because you have a fresh start to become your future, more adult self.
The Evening Rotary Club of Powell River changed my life one day in October of 2010 and I wouldn't change the events that have happened even if I could. Things have gone wrong, it was bound to happen, but they have all worked out in the end and I am much stronger for having been through them so far away from my family at home.
I have nothing more to say tonight, I hope everyone who is reading my blog is enjoying it and I cannot wait to see you all again!
Un besito,
Clayton.
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Month 1
Hola a todos!!
The one month anniversary of me living in this house was yesterday. It was a very ordinary day, despite it feeling like such a milestone. My 5 month anniversary in Spain will come in 10 days, and I am sad to think I only have 5 months left.
I am so happy that tomorrow is Friday and that I have a weekend to relax and go to some fiestas! Sunday I go to Denia to visit some other exchange students and I am so excited, I love visiting with the other exchange students.
Well that is all for tonight!
I'll write again soon!!
The one month anniversary of me living in this house was yesterday. It was a very ordinary day, despite it feeling like such a milestone. My 5 month anniversary in Spain will come in 10 days, and I am sad to think I only have 5 months left.
I am so happy that tomorrow is Friday and that I have a weekend to relax and go to some fiestas! Sunday I go to Denia to visit some other exchange students and I am so excited, I love visiting with the other exchange students.
Well that is all for tonight!
I'll write again soon!!
Sunday, 29 January 2012
3 Weeks
Hola a todos!!
So today is officially 3 weeks in my new family and they have been an interesting three weeks indeed. I have been to two Manifestacions (protests about the changes to the education system), started running on a regular basis, and given Rotary my presentation about my life in Canada and what I have been doing here in Spain.
School has been the same, except I joined the choir that meets during the break time. There are about 40 of us in the choir, about 8 are guys, and about 3 of those guys can actually sing without making you want to scream.
My Rotary presentation went really well, they were impressed with how much I had learned in just four months and loved that I brought my lovely red jacket to school with me so I could wear it at the meeting.
My health is holding up fine, I have the sniffles right now but other than that I am healthy. I have lost about 8 or 9 kilos so far, which is spectacular, and I recently started running on a regular basis so hopefully I will lose more.
That's all for now world, it is time for me to sleep.
I will write again soon!
Un abrazo,
Clayton.
So today is officially 3 weeks in my new family and they have been an interesting three weeks indeed. I have been to two Manifestacions (protests about the changes to the education system), started running on a regular basis, and given Rotary my presentation about my life in Canada and what I have been doing here in Spain.
School has been the same, except I joined the choir that meets during the break time. There are about 40 of us in the choir, about 8 are guys, and about 3 of those guys can actually sing without making you want to scream.
My Rotary presentation went really well, they were impressed with how much I had learned in just four months and loved that I brought my lovely red jacket to school with me so I could wear it at the meeting.
My health is holding up fine, I have the sniffles right now but other than that I am healthy. I have lost about 8 or 9 kilos so far, which is spectacular, and I recently started running on a regular basis so hopefully I will lose more.
That's all for now world, it is time for me to sleep.
I will write again soon!
Un abrazo,
Clayton.
Sunday, 15 January 2012
New... Everything
New Year's came and went, and now, I am living in a new house.
It is so different here. I went from living in a house with two other guys to a house with 3 women. Needless to say there is a lot of noise. I am enjoying my time in the new house though. The language coming much faster now that I am in a Spanish only house.
Made friends with another group of people this past week and they are... interesting. A lot different than the people I have been around for the past few months, and it is always nice to have more people to hang out with.
School is as boring as ever, especially because some classes are in Valenciano, the language of this province. Most of my teachers know that my grades here aren't necessarily important and as long as I don't interrupt the class they are leaving me well enough alone. I do all the work for classes like math and chemistry because a lot of the things are similar to english or I can just figure it out easier, but other classes, mostly the ones in Valencian, I just can't do. It would be similar to walking into a grade 11 French Immersion class not speaking any french.
The last few weeks have been hard because my Grandfather passed away, but I have had a lot of people around me to support me and help me get through it. My families, especially my dad in the first family, have been absolutely incredible.
Well I gotta go make a presentation for Rotary now!
I'll update y'all soon!!
It is so different here. I went from living in a house with two other guys to a house with 3 women. Needless to say there is a lot of noise. I am enjoying my time in the new house though. The language coming much faster now that I am in a Spanish only house.
Made friends with another group of people this past week and they are... interesting. A lot different than the people I have been around for the past few months, and it is always nice to have more people to hang out with.
School is as boring as ever, especially because some classes are in Valenciano, the language of this province. Most of my teachers know that my grades here aren't necessarily important and as long as I don't interrupt the class they are leaving me well enough alone. I do all the work for classes like math and chemistry because a lot of the things are similar to english or I can just figure it out easier, but other classes, mostly the ones in Valencian, I just can't do. It would be similar to walking into a grade 11 French Immersion class not speaking any french.
The last few weeks have been hard because my Grandfather passed away, but I have had a lot of people around me to support me and help me get through it. My families, especially my dad in the first family, have been absolutely incredible.
Well I gotta go make a presentation for Rotary now!
I'll update y'all soon!!
Friday, 30 December 2011
Diciembre!
Hola amigos!
So, December, and 2012, are drawing to a close and I have recently passed the 3 month and 100 day marks here in Spain. Christmas was so different here than it is with my family in Canada. Some things like a big family meal were similar, but most things were different. Christmas was a very difficult time, as it is very important in my family and it is one of the few times of the year I get to see everyone. My host family, immediate and extended, is amazing. Yesterday Arthur (host brother) and I returned from 2 days in Valencia with his cousin and her boyfriend. The cousin is around 55 ish and the same for the boyfriend, and apparently they come every year around Christmas. It was so much fun, we saw the beautiful buildings of La Ciudad de Las Artes Y Ciencias, the huge park in the city, the main plazas, and of course, the beach. Never have I seen such beautiful architecture.
I move families in a little over a week, which I am both sad and excited about. I love my current family, they have been so great to me, but at the same time I will be happy to live with an all Spanish family and really get the language drilled into my head some more. I think I will still keep in touch with my first family though, maybe have lunch with them once every week or two.
Well friends, it is 4am and tomorrow is New Years Eve so I need my beauty sleep. Feliz año and felices fiestas a todos! Os quiero, besos!
So, December, and 2012, are drawing to a close and I have recently passed the 3 month and 100 day marks here in Spain. Christmas was so different here than it is with my family in Canada. Some things like a big family meal were similar, but most things were different. Christmas was a very difficult time, as it is very important in my family and it is one of the few times of the year I get to see everyone. My host family, immediate and extended, is amazing. Yesterday Arthur (host brother) and I returned from 2 days in Valencia with his cousin and her boyfriend. The cousin is around 55 ish and the same for the boyfriend, and apparently they come every year around Christmas. It was so much fun, we saw the beautiful buildings of La Ciudad de Las Artes Y Ciencias, the huge park in the city, the main plazas, and of course, the beach. Never have I seen such beautiful architecture.
I move families in a little over a week, which I am both sad and excited about. I love my current family, they have been so great to me, but at the same time I will be happy to live with an all Spanish family and really get the language drilled into my head some more. I think I will still keep in touch with my first family though, maybe have lunch with them once every week or two.
Well friends, it is 4am and tomorrow is New Years Eve so I need my beauty sleep. Feliz año and felices fiestas a todos! Os quiero, besos!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)