Long Time, No Write

The last time I wrote was almost two months ago. I am so incredibly sorry for the long awaited blog posts, but it seems like as the time goes on, it just gets that much harder to find the inspiration to write. These past two months have been filled with amazing adventures and I can't even begin to explain how great things are in Valladolid.

Things are hard, but things are easy. Three months left on exchange, and I can't even begin to wrap my mind around the fact that soon I will be boarding the plane to come home. Three months is far off, but at the same time three months is absolutely nothing. I remember counting down the days before I left for Spain, I remember when there were five months left. Now look at me, three months away from returning to the city where I was born and raised, to finish up my senior year. Leaving behind all of my new friends, my family, and most importantly my country.

I will try and post some update posts from my trips to Segovia, and Galicia (Camino de Santiago) over the next few weeks. I will try, but I won't make any promises. At the beginning of my trip, I honestly thought the most important thing was that I needed to document every detail, I needed to keep everyone updated. But in reality, I need to live. I need to live every moment, and not let one second go. Because the minutes are limited here in Spain, and I need to take advantage of every single one.

These past two months I have been learning how to do that, I have been learning to take advantage. To take advantage is to not let go of an opportunity. One of my favorite spanish words is "Aprovechar". "Aprovechar" is "to take advantage of". I end up using this word a lot, because it is so relevant to my life. It has become relevant to my life, but I have realized that whether in Spain or not, it should have always be a commonly used word.

Now why has it taken me so long to start writing again? For the exact reason why people don't have blogs. People write when they have something to say. When they have news to tell. No one thinks that people want to hear about daily life. And life here has become daily. Life here is unbelievable, but it is normal. I wake up, I go to school, I hang out with my family, I go out with friends, I go to sleep. Life is life. And I guess I have become adapted to life and culture, and I don't find myself in as many awkward situations, funny stories, or even as confused about the culture or language. I find myself living just like I lived ten months ago in America, only new and improved.

I hope you all understand that life is great, and Mom please remember that no news, is good news.

Mid-Stay Orientation (The truth behind the name change)

This orientation, we were in a much smaller group, and instead of meeting in Ponferrada, we met in Valladolid. My city. The other kids from our chapter got there on Friday night, but Paige, Esther and I arrived at the youth hostile Saturday morning. We arrived to a group of about eight kids begging us to bring snacks from our houses. Apparently the dinner the night before had been pretty bad. We settled into our rooms, Paige and I ended up in the boys room... which was trashed, and on top of that just smelled like boys. After making our beds, we all went downstairs to the room where all of the activities would take place.

The first activity was to draw ourselves, a way to introduce ourselves to the group. We then had to surround our picture with certain things that explain our lives, or just things we love to do. I started to draw my objects, of course the first thing I drew was my cheer bow and pom poms. I realized after I'd finished that that particular thing is no longer significant in my life, nor explains who I am. Yeah I can tell people I play sports in America, but here that means nothing. I went three years of my life being defined by three sports, and now I have begun to realize that they mean nothing. They don't actually define me, I am so much more than that. I am Megg, I speak Spanish, I love to take pictures and make videos, I would love to travel the world, and learn to speak every language. I love food, and more than that I love the culture and the stories that come along with each plate. I love meeting people, but most of all I love getting to know people. I love that here in Spain, I can be a person known for and appreciated by my personality, my attributes, instead of my sports and grades.

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So, I wrote this beginning section at the end of january, so I can't give you exact details on each activity but I will try and give you an overview.

Now, there were a lot of significant moments throughout the weekend, but one of the biggest, a moment that will stick with me forever, was when I decided to change my name back to Meg. If you didn't already know, my name is Margaret, but I was born with the nickname Meg, with one G. When I was in seventh grade I decided Meg, just wasn't good enough. Also, take into account that seventh grade was the worst year of my life. Anyways, I started spelling my name with two G's. Which I loved, honestly everyone loved it. By the time I got to high school, no one even remembered that it was originally spelled with one G. As you are hearing this story, I am sure you are thinking wow this girl is crazy, who cares how many G's she has in her name? I guess I care. And that is the reason for the name change, because I don't need two G's to be original, to be cool, to be different, to be more Me. My name is Meg, and I am one hundred percent sure that I can be those things with our without the G. The extra G is irrelevant. But after four years I finally began to realize that what I needed was an attitude change and a confidence boost, not a G. So as you see, the last G is crossed off in the picture above, signifying the Meg, not the new one, but the original one.

Overall, the weekend was amazing. Getting together with my fellow AFSers is always a pleasure, and it is so sad to think our last orientation is this coming May. But I thank every single one of you, for helping me realize who I am, and I who I am striving to become. I am so lucky to have you all by my side, I don't know what I would do without you.