Depende

As a student ambassador for the country of America, I'm quite often asked questions that require an exceptionally assumptive answer. It gets rather annoying, having to make broad generalizations about one of the biggest countries in the world, especially over and over again. So, I repeatedly give the same answer: "depende." Here are some examples of questions to which I respond with "depends."

• Do Americans eat fast food all the time?
• Do you go far away for university?
• Is it easy to pass classes?
• What're the traditional foods that Americans eat?
• Is there a beach really close by?
• Are there a lot of Muslims/blacks/Asians etc.?
• Are there gangs?

I'm sure I'll be updating this as new ones come along. But the moral of the story is, there are very few things that you can say that would accurately sum up all of America.

Today is Wednesday

Hello everybody! Today is Wednesday and it's my first day back to school after two days off. Spain has a lot of random holidays that we get school off for, and this time it was for a world fair or something. I don't really know. I was sick all weekend (still have a bad cough and a bit of a headache) so I didn't get to go, which is a bummer but I guess that happens.
A couple days ago my mom told me over Skype (something that's become more and more recent in the last few weeks) that the wonderful crew over at Domestic Square Peg would like me to write a series of 5 articles for their teen section about my experience adjusting to a different culture. I'm really excited- I always love an opportunity to get my work published! However, I do need some ideas on what to write them about. I feel like I've gone through so much that, if it were up to me, I'd write an entire (very opinionated) autobiography on this year. That would certainly exceed my 200-500 word limit, so if you have any ideas, please share them!
I passed the 7 month mark yesterday and, while I'm pretty much ready to go home, the idea that I only have two more months here scares me. Especially living in a new town, I feel like I have so much more that I'm supposed to do with this experience. I'm constantly comparing my exchange year with those of other exchange students that I know, and I feel like I'm supposed to be doing more than I have. This is silly because I'm obviously going to have a different experience than other people. This is scary because I don't want to look back and regret not doing enough this year.
My iPod broke on Friday (something about bad software, according to Yahoo Answers and the Apple forums). This happened to me once back home, and it was completely devastating. It occupied me for weeks, and I do believe I may have cried once or twice. Here, it was just another thing that happened. Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I mentally made a list of solutions, and decided not to worry about it until there was something I could do. While this may not be a story relevant to my actual experience here, I do believe it shows a lot about what I've learned during these last couple months. Apparently whatever it is I'm learning here is applicable in "real life" situations.
Other than that, nothing's really going on in my life. I've been watching Disney movies and eating bizcocho and walking to and from school and trying to pay attention in Filosofia and speaking Spanish. Life isn't super exciting, but it's not bad either. I'd even go so far as to say I might just be content with it.

Time Warp

I never knew time could be so fickle. I've been here ten days, though depending on the minute that time could feel closer to ten weeks, ten hours, or anything in between. The time doesn't pass by quickly here, but it sure doesn't drag on either. The days I spend in Malaga, Spain seem to wax and wane unpredictably.
Sometimes this time warp is good- like when I can't tell how long I've had my friends here because we're already so comfortable with each other. Or when I can mostly understand the teachers but they still don't make me do any work. Or when I can just hang out with my host family and I don't feel like I have to do anything extra special, but I'm still new enough that they get to ask me questions (which I like answering).
However, it can also affect me negatively- like when I think I can go to bed when everyone else goes to bed, but I can't because I'm still a bit jet lagged. Or when I hop on the bus and think I know Malaga really well but instead end up stranded 30 minutes away from my school with ten minutes to get to class. Or when my Spanish "skills" deceive me and I end up saying "yes" to something I didn't want to do.
All "good" and "bad" aside, however long the time has been that I've been here has been incredible. I think one of the reasons my hours seem like minutes and my days seem like weeks is that I have so many new things jammed inside my head. Apparently when your brain can't take anything else in, it loses its knowledge of what "time perception" means. And it makes sense that I have no room left- I am learning about culture, people, Malaga, Spanish, customs, the world, and even Greek (I am taking 5 language classes in case anyone was counting). But most importantly, I am learning about myself in relation to all of those things.
Regardless of how quickly or slowly the time passes, the time I've spent here has been time well spent. Every day I am grateful for something new, and I realize how lucky I was to have certain things back home as well. I like the contrast (proof that I am my father's daughter) and look forward to more of it in the near, or far, future.

If you'd like to know anything specific about my exchange experience, email me at hannahleahgold@gmail.com or message me on Facebook.
Keep calm and travel on.