Christmas and a few other things

So..

Christmas abroad..

It's the one thing that everyone asked me about when I told them I was leaving for a year abroad.

“But what about Christmas? Do you get to come home? It's also the thing everyone warned me about. While I admit I was a little homesick in the weeks leading up to Christmas, it was actually not as bad as I expected.

Christmas in Spain is really just the start of a 12 day long holiday. January 6^th is the real holiday and as I've said before, that's the day everyone gives presents. Christmas eve is also an important day here. My host mom bought me a special dress just for the occasion. There was a huge dinner over at my host grandmothers house which while it was pretty fun it was also exhausting. Every time there's a family gathering I always get a bit “overwhelmed “ I guess for lack of a better word. It's weird, I know the word in Spanish but I can't remember it in English. Anyways, whenever there's a huge family gathering I just sit there silently and eat all the delicious food until someone talks to me because it's extremely hard to join in when everybody's yelling at the same time. My goal is to be able to join in on these family discussions by the end of the year. The other thing that's difficult about family dinners is the food! Don't get me wrong, the food is absolutely amazing. Well, I guess that's why it's so difficult. There is so much delicious food and I'm never able to eat it all because I get too full too fast. It's quite frustrating. Spanish meals are broken into multiple courses and in my family there are about about 6-7 courses. I usually get through the first three or four until I have to stop. (Partially because I need to save room for dessert.....obviously..) After dinner it's typical for the kids to go out and party but I was wayyyy too tired for that. I decided to go home and enjoy having the house to myself until about four in the morning when my family finally came home.

On Christmas day, my family didn't get up until around 2 so I just sulked in my room for a good five hours watching people update their Facebook status's about what they got for Christmas. When my family finally did get up we went to my other host grandparent's house for Christmas lunch where I again only made it to course four before I had to stop. I did end up going out with friends on Christmas though which was weird for me. I spent more time with friends than family. Another interesting thing was that almost everything was open. It was just like any other typical night in Jerez and it seemed like no one was in the Christmas spirit, which for me, was a little depressing. Aside from all that though, I did enjoy my first Christmas abroad. It was nice to experience how another country celebrates Christmas because there are definitely some differences. I'm excited to see what happens on the 6^th.

Of course the most important day of this holiday season is the day after Christmas. My 17^th birthday! I was actually extremely nervous for my birthday though. As anyone who I talked to on that morning knows, I had no idea whether or not my host family even knew it was my birthday. This was definitely a weird experience for me. I couldn't decide whether to remind them or not. Luckily for me, my host family, being the tricksters they are, did know it was my birthday and had planned a surprise celebration for me with my favorite food (paella) and a homemade cake. They even got me presents! They gave me one stuffed dog/bunny which even though I can't figure out exactly what it is, is still adorable. They also gave me this beautiful bracelet which I haven't stopped wearing since I got it.. I obviously wasn't expecting anything considering hosting me is a present in itself but, they still decided to do something which was extremely nice of them. I'm pretty sure I said “Gracias” about 9,000 times I was so thankful.

The next day, my friends threw me a surprise party consisting of the majority of my friends, cake, and more presents which I wasn't expecting at all. I honestly have the best friends here. I couldn't have asked for a better placement. My friends even convinced me to play guitar for them for the first time since I've been here. After some of my friends went home, the rest of us went to the central to continue the celebration. Overall, this was definitely one of the best birthdays I've had and I'm definitely never going to forget it.

Since then, I've basically just been spending my vacation sleeping during the day and going out at night. Yesterday, some friends and I went to Cadiz and I actually ice-skated which was something I was not planning on doing. It was funny because my Spanish friend and my Californian friend were teaching me, the Mainer how to skate. I won't lie I'm still terrible but it was surprisingly fun. I might actually be interested in learning how to skate now.

Today is New Years Eve which is again both scary and exciting. Yesterday my host sister asked me where I wanted to go for breakfast after the party which I guess means I will literally for the first time be partying all night.

Anyways,
I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas :)

Happy New Year!

-Libby