Keira’s Journals

November 1st in Spain is known as Día de Todos los Santos (All Saints’ Day). This is a religious national holiday which is meant to be spent with family and loved ones. Some people use this day to visit and reminisce the memories of those who have passed away. No school, no work - for most people. For me, this was a vacation! Friday morning, my host family and I headed off to San Sebastián or Donostia, as it is called in the Basque language. It was about 4 hours on the road but once we arrived, I stepped into the European culture of transportation;  walking. We parked the car for the weekend and traveled everywhere by foot - the beach, Airbnb, city center, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. San Sebastián is located on the northern coast of Spain and while we were there, we visited the beach, pier, and Monte Igueldo. At the top of this mountain, you can find a small attraction park and a breathtaking view of the town. My 2 favorite parts of this trip; the ocean and the tapas. Every night for dinner, there are no plans to be made and endless options to choose between. We just saw where the night took us! We went from restaurant to restaurant, snacking on different tapas and trying the famous Tarta de Queso (cheesecake) and the Tortilla de Bacalao (Cod) of San Sebastián. We left for Alcobendas on Sunday morning to stop in Burgos for lunch. It’s one of the smaller towns where my host grandparents grew up. We saw the main sites, the cathedral and the city council building, and headed home to rest a bit before school started again. 

I practically filled all my weekends in November with activities of all kinds. I had my first few volleyball games plus some more cross country competitions. I also went to my first ballet with my host grandparents and sisters. The next day, one of my Rotary friends invited me to a musical in Madrid called, We Will Rock You. It was a fantasized story that showcased the greatest songs by Queen and slightly harder to understand exactly what they were saying but nevertheless, I really enjoyed my weekend of fine arts. I was able to spend some quality time with my host family for my host grandparents’ Bodas de Oro (50th anniversary). Towards the end of the month, the Rotary club of Majadahonda hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for all the clubs in Madrid and I was happy to have a small reminder of our traditions from home as we continue our studies as normal. 

Small update on my studies, we finished the first evaluation in December. The school year is split into trimesters and we have different partials which are normal tests that each weigh a little bit more for the final grade and the last grade for some classes is the global which has all the topics within the trimester and counts for a large percentage for the first evaluation. There is a small percentage that accounts for behavior in class or daily work in place of quizzes. I actually passed all of my classes except for Spanish literature which gives me hope to have my credits transferred to my school when I come back. 

I think Christmas break came at just the right time to take a step back from studying and hit a refresh button on my mind. We didn’t travel too much during the break but I still kept myself busy with spontaneous plans. Madrid has two different Christmas markets that open during the holidays and I loved going to visit multiple times with my host family and friends. During the holidays, the most common sites to see are the Christmas markets and belénes . The belen can be small to fit on a table like the ones commonly found in people’s houses or it can be made of life sized figures taller than me. As the time gets closer to el día de los Reyes Magos , my host mom moved the three kings closer and closer to the baby Jesus. My host mom’s sister and her family flew from Denmark to spend the holidays with us. We took a day to visit El Escorial to see the cathedral and monastery in the mountains which are not too far from where I live. We also traveled to Extremadura to see family friends from Dublin. It’s a small, quiet town but it has a beauty that cannot be compared to the sights in Madrid. Each place is so unique that I can’t say that one is better than the other. 

We celebrated Noche buena (Christmas Eve) by gathering with my host mom’s family, including her cousins and siblings. Many of her family lives in the same complex and whenever we were missing plates or utensils, we would either walk across the hallway or down 2 flights of stairs to borrow some. We had a giant meal with 4 courses, ending with very typical turrones. This was very similar to the meals on Christmas day, Noche Vieja ( New Years Eve), and New Years Day. Christmas here is still widely celebrated with all the colorful lights around the city with every street lamp post decorated with Christmas lights and they hang string lights in the balconies of the flats. One thing that you’ll find different is that Santa won’t be coming down your chimney on the 25th. There is an additional holiday on January 6 called el día de los Reyes Magos (The Three Wise Men) which is when the Reyes Magos bring gifts to the children who have behaved well this year. We put our shoes in the living room to indicate which presents belonged to whom. We also left some cookies, a carrot, and some water for the Reyes (Kings) and their camels. After the Reyes came and visited in the morning, we came out to see presents in and around our shoes. We ate Roscón for breakfast which is always eaten on this day. There are 2 things to look out for when deciding which part of the Roscón to take; 1. A little candy and 2. A small figurine of one of the Reyes Magos. The pastry has a thick layer of cream in the middle and these 2 things are hidden in it. The person who grabs the candy, traditionally, has to pay for the Roscón . The person who has the little king is lucky and they get to wear a crown. Later in the day, we rented out a place to see my host dad’s side of the family and we did an amigo invisible (secret santa) with the cousins and one for the parents. 

In December and January, we had our last two Rotary orientations in Salamanca and Guadarrama. The second orientation in Salamanca was amazing. We had a guided tour around the historical city and its university. There are 2 major hidden architectural gems in Salamanca and we found both of them. Besides the tour, we had a good amount of free time to explore the city and decided to find tapas and visit the christmas market. Later in the night, there was a holiday light show in the plaza mayor that we saw before returning to the residency. Just 5 weeks later, we had our third and final orientation with the inbounds, outbound candidates, rebounds, and ROTEX. It was a shock to see so many people there, especially the large number of potential outbounds. This time, we didn’t explore the town as much and spent more time getting to know each other. We left the residency one time to go zip lining with the rebounds and that was my favorite part! It was a combination of an obstacle course and zip lines that traveled over a small lake in the center. Rotary organized a country fair where we could present our countries to the outbounds to help them along the process of choosing where to go for their exchange. Many of the students were relatively young, being 14 or 15 years old. I still can’t imagine how much my network grows through Rotary every time we have an orientation or meetings. Also, the week right before orientation I decided to cut my hair and the hair stylist was so friendly, talking to me the whole time. I scheduled and went to the appointment alone and I’m so relieved that there was no miscommunication during this process. Now I’m currently working on obtaining at least a fraction of Spain’s fashion.

I still can’t imagine that I am already halfway through my exchange but instead of looking at how little time I have left, I’m living in the moment and taking this day by day. Hopefully in a few months I’ll plan to write my next journal and keep you guys updated if anything happens!  ¡Hasta luego!