I think I will probably be able to finish describing the weekend in this post. Sorry that it took so long, but I did warn you that I had a lot to say. So, let us continue...
10:00. Out to the greentop for morning wake-up time. Activities as lame as usual.
10:45. Go inside to the activity/meeting room for closing activities. This is when I realize that we are not going to do any sort of hike or significant outdoor activity despite our location. Get pissed, start complaining.
10:50. Watch a 7 and a half minute video of people describing there AFS experience with single words. The video could have been produced better, but it was entertaining because the Chinese volunteer kept laughing when the different Asian people in the video started talking.
11:00. Given sheets of paper and told to write a letter which we will then open at one of the last orientations that we have. Most of us didn't right a serious letter. Looking around the table where roughly a dozen of us were seated, two were writing actual serious and in-depth letters, while the rest were writing short bits and then drawing or writing various short comments about other people sitting at the table.
11:30. We put our letters in envelopes, seal them, and hand them in. We now have free time until lunch at two.
1:00. Some of us get restless. Four of us, myself included, end up going outside. I was fine in my t-shirt, but the others got cold in their sweaters and sweatshirts, so we only lasted between 5 and 10 minutes before going back inside and once again joining the main group.
2:00. Lunch time. The last meal of the orientation consisted of chorizo, chicken, and garbanzo beans, as well as a soup.
3:15. We catch the bus back to town, thinking that we are headed to the train station to get on the train and begin the ride back to Madrid.
3:25. We do in fact go to the train station, but are then informed that the train doesn't leave for another hour, so we all break into groups and head out. Me and the kids I'm with end up walking along the streets and talking for the next 50 minutes.
4:15. We all return to the train station.
4:25. The train arrives and all but one of us get on. (The girl who didn't get on was getting picked up in the town). The train makes various stops along the way, and at two of them a girl gets out because it is in fact her town (meaning two girls got off before we reached Madrid).
5:35. We reach Madrid. Some of the group is going to go to Sol to hang out for a little while. Jón and I can't decide if we want to go with them or not, so we flip a coin. The coin says no, so while they head down to catch the Metro, we head up to say goodbye to the other students.
5:45. We realize we should have gone down to take the Metro, so now we do. We take it one stop to Plaza de Castilla, where our bus leaves from at 6:00
6:02. We arrive at our bus stop. Sadly, the buses seem to be some of the only things that don't run late here.
6:15. We are now outside in Plaza de Castilla to wander around and hang out. We promptly spot a McDonald's. We don't even have to speak as we both set out at a brisk pace for it. You know, it is quite interesting, but as an American living in the United States, you really don't care for McDonald's or Burger King or Wendy's, definitely when you live in Boulder. But as an American living in the province of Madrid in Spain who hasn't had an American style burger since leaving the States two months earlier, McDonald's and heaven are nearly synonymous. I mean, honestly, I have never been so happy that I missed a bus before in my life. Needless to say, Jón and I both go in and order Big Macs, sodas, and fries. We then spend the next half an hour eating and hanging out in McDonald's (they had free WiFi, which was quite nice).
6:45. We head back down underground to make sure that we don't miss our 7:00 bus.
7:00. We get on the bus and depart. We then ride the bus until we get off in Soto, where we part ways and return home.
I was right (like always), I did finish describing my weekend in this post.
Autumn Orientation Report Card:
Other Students: A (or since I am in the Spanish school system, 10)
I mean, honestly, I can't give them anything other than a perfect score. They are all incredibly easy to get along with and fun to be around. I can honestly say that I feel like they are some of the closest friends I have. They are all just great.
Activities: C (I would say 5 in the Spanish system)
They were neither incredibly fun or boring as hell. They were really just about average, hence the average score.
Volunteers: B, or 7
Although they were for the most part helpful and interesting, there were times where they were too controlling and would suck some of the fun out of stuff, so therefore I don't feel comfortable giving them a higher score.
Effectiveness/Successfulness (not really a word but effectively portrays the subject of this category, so I'm going to keep it there): A, or 9
I felt that the goal of this orientation was to get students in the Madrid area to connect to each other and share their experiences and know that they are not alone in their feelings, and I felt that this goal was well achieved. Now, I didn't give it a 10 because I was not sure if this was caused by the volunteers or not. There is the possibility that the volunteers are much smarter than I thought and purposefully planned lame activities in order to give us something to complain about, which would then make it easier for us to talk to each other and build rapport with each other, allowing us to open up about our experiences and feelings quicker and easier, thus fulfilling the goal. But, it is much more likely that our sharing simply stemmed from the fact that we spent two straight days living together in a hostel in the middle of nowhere. But, I can't really say. I guess it will remain a mystery.
Overall: A, or 9.5
I have said it before and will say it again: I had a great time this past weekend. Even though there were numerous faults in the orientation, I had an amazing time and can therefore not give it anything lower than a 9.5. Don't get me wrong though, I would still love to see the overall orientation improved, and because there is room for improvement I could not give it a perfect score, but I had a lot of fun nonetheless.
Well, there you have it. A near-full recap of my first AFS Madrid group orientation. Just so you know, I am going to start including class power rankings at the end of every post because I feel that some people (Mom) would like to know how school is going. But before I do that and sign out, I have two more thoughts to write down. At the beginning of this set of posts, I said I had a lot of thoughts floating around in my head, but there were two that really stood out from the others. The first was the realization that my placement was about as perfect as it can get (props to AFS). The second was that signing up for this program has become what I consider to be by far the best decision of my life. Well, with that I am done. Till next time.
Class Power Rankings: (nothing has changed since last time, so I am not going to include details)
1. English
2. Chemistry and Physics
3. Math
4. Philosophy
5. Technical Drawing
6. Sciences of the Contemporary World: just a note, but I have finally figured out that this is kind of like our earth science classes back in the States. Actually another American from AFS figured it out and then told me, but it sounds better if I say I figured it out.
7. PE
8. Industrial Technology
9. Language
Footnote: After reading those last two thoughts in the last paragraph, I have realized that they sounded a lot more profound in my head than they do in writing. Oh well...
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