Birthday

Well, today is my Grandma's birthday. I was originally going to send a postcard, but since I have yet to mail off the Christmas presents, I kind of knew that the postcard wasn't really going to be sent on time (although it will be sent before the end of my time here). So, as a "temporary" place holder for the postcard, I am writing this post.
Now, if I had to guess, I would say that Nonna would ask me "How is it going in Spain?", "Are you enjoying your time there?", and "What have you been doing?". Normally, the answers to those questions would be "Good", "Yeah, definitely", and "Not much. You know, just normal stuff like school and basketball". But, because it is her birthday, I will go into a bit more detail:
So, how has it been going?
Well, it has been going pretty damn great. I am loving everything about here. My family here is perfect, my friends are great, the chicks are hot. Really, the only thing that could be better is school. It is a tad boring, but I am passing most of my classes (minus Lengua, Philosophy, and CMC or Sciences for the Contemporary World). But overall, I am loving it here.
Well, am I enjoying my time here?
Without a doubt. You could infer from my above answer that I am enjoying it here. I mean, and this will be a tad cliche but, What's not to enjoy?
Now, what have I been doing?
Well, only having what is probably the best year of my life so far. Now, I don't know if Nonna has been reading my blog since I don't think she has a computer, and if she does I am almost positive that she doesn't use it, so I will go ahead and give a brief summary of what I have been doing since I got here. (If you want more detail, Nonna, feel free to head over to your oldest daughter's house, have her put my blog up on her computer, and read my earlier and future posts). So, starting from the beginning, here is what I have been doing:
In September, I arrived in Madrid, and met some of my fellow exchange students. I then got picked up in Madrid by my host family, and was introduced to their home in the town of Soto del Real. My second day there, I woke up to find almost all of my host dad's family getting ready to eat, and so I met all of them. After a couple of days there, I went out with Dani to meet some of his friends for the first time. As the month continued, I met more of his friends. We then went to the birthday of a girl named Carol, and there I met the rest of the group of kids Dani usually hung out with. School then started, and I met my new classmates and teachers. I also got to see just how much I could understand in Spanish (at that point, not a whole lot). Basketball also started, and I met my new team and coach. Then, as the month ended, we headed to a town about two hours away, where I met my host mom's parents and one of her brothers. And then came October.
October wasn't really as busy as September. I turned 17, and the following weekend celebrated and met the rest of my host mom's family. School continued, and my understanding of Spanish improved. I had an AFS orientation, and got to hang out with my fellow AFSers from the Madrid area. As I listened to them talk about their problems and how they were missing home, I realized that I was incredibly lucky with my placement and that I hadn't really been missing home a whole lot. Then, Halloween came, and I spent it hanging out with friends and realizing that winter was coming.
And so I entered into November, my third month here. I spent the first part missing my AFS friends that I connected so well with. I then got slammed with a week full of exams. The weather started getting colder, and I we started to hang out inside more often on the weekends. Dani's friends stopped being "Dani's friends" and started to become "my friends". Thanksgiving passed, and I missed everyone back home a bit more than usual.
And around rolled December. I got to see the majority of my AFS buds again as we did a Free Hugs Campaign event and followed that up with a lunch the next day. I again had a week full of exams before escaping into Winter Break. Christmas was a quite affair. Home started being Boulder, and Soto started being home. New Year's Eve was spent with Esperanza's family, and New Year's morning was spent celebrating at my friend's house.
January started with a 24 hour bus trip to the French Alps, where I spent the week skiing. The week ended with another shitty bus ride, and I returned to school. The weekends were spent indoors instead of outdoors as the temperature continued to drop. Basketball continued, as did school, and life in general.
And so came February. I went to see bulls for the first time, and the following weekend headed out to Toledo to have another AFS orientation, which was better than the first. Carnaval came, and I partied with all of my friends here. And then I realized that I am more than halfway done as I started choosing classes for my senior year at Boulder High.
And now I am here, sitting at my computer in my house here in the wonderful little town of Soto Del Real, in the Madrid province of Spain. And as I have been writing this, I have realized just how much I miss all of you in Boulder.... Zero.



Just kidding. I have actually realized that I miss all of you a ton, and am really wishing that I could be having dinner with all of you tonight.

Happy Birthday Nonna. I love and miss you all.
-Nico



P.S. Another post about the ski trip and the early part of February is in progress and should be posted before the week ends.