Una Adventura is the Spanish word for adventure—a perfect description of Emma Lauren’s junior year. Instead of attending North Penn this year, she is studying abroad as an exchange student at the Nuestra Señora del Pilar in Madrid, Spain.  After six months, the halfway point of her endeavor, Emma reflects on her experience thus far.

Q: How much/what did you pack?

Emma:  Well I pretty much packed my whole entire wardrobe; my suitcases were filled to the top.

Q: What was your first impression of Spain?

Emma: One of my first impressions was that there is no diversity. I honestly asked my host dad why it is not so diverse. Being a big major city, I thought that there would be more diversity, but there isn’t. And that everyone smokes and has a watch.

Q: Do you participate in any clubs or activities?

Emma: Yes, I teach English to third year kids every Wednesday during school, which I love. All of the kids are so adorable. I also play field hockey for a club team right outside the city.

Q: Are there any major differences between North Penn and your school in Spain?

Emma: Yes, I go to school from 8:45 until 5:15. We have three classes in the morning, and then a break from 11:30 until noon, then two more classes, lunch from 1:45 until 3:15, and then two more classes. That is still something that I am getting used to. Whenever I look at the clock and see that it is 2:30 and I haven’t eaten lunch yet, I usually freak out. But I’m getting there. We can also leave during lunch, so normally my friends and I hang out or go shopping. I also go to a catholic school, so we pray, a lot.

Q: What is your host family and house like?

Emma: Well, we live in the city, so we live in a flat in the middle of a busy area, which is a little bit different than my house in the suburbs. My host family is great. My family actually lived in New York for a couple of years so my family can speak English very well. It’s great because they can explain things to me in English, which is extremely helpful. I have two younger brothers, who are a little bit insane, but they are fun to hang out with.

Q: How has the transition between languages been?

Emma: It’s been good. It was hard at first, but there is definitely a learning curve. Now I can understand everything very easily. Talking is a little bit harder, but it has been good. All of my friends know a decent level of English, so when I’m trying to explain something, they can always help me out. Some of my classes are still really confusing, like physics and history. Both of those teachers talk incredibly fast with really long words, so it’s hard to understand them, but other than that, I pretty much understand everything.

Q: How is the fashion?

Emma: Well, sweatpants aren’t really “in style” here, and neither are flip-flops. Everyone here dresses nice everyday. I actually get a lot of weird looks when I wear shorts on my way to field hockey. Boots are really in style, from leather boots, to timberlands. And watches, everyone has a watch.

Q: What are some of your favorite meals and snacks?

Emma: I love rabbit. We had it for dinner one night, and by far that has to be my favorite. I also love French bread. We get in everyday so it’s always fresh to have with breakfast lunch and dinner, which I love. And the ham. That tops the rabbit. This ham is not even comparable to American ham. I hate American ham, but the ham here is the best thing that I have ever had.

Q: Are there any major difference between teenagers in Spain and teenagers in the U.S?

Emma: Everyone smokes. But other than that, everyone’s normal.

Q: What do you miss most about North Penn and the United States in general?

Emma: I miss my family and my friends. But other than that, o wait, the cookie corner too, but other than that, I can’t really think of anything else.

Q: What is your favorite experience so far?

Emma: It’s things like riding a moped during the sunset, playing with my younger Spanish cousins, going to the new “Abercrombie & Fitch” and taking pictures with models, trying octopus for the first time. I don’t know which is my favorite.

Q: Have you had any embarrassing moments?

Emma: There has been a couple. Like when you try to say that your coach is a tough coach, but you actually say something sexually instead. When your teacher calls on you, and you have no idea what the heck she is talking about. Or when you just can’t roll your r’s, which is pretty important for the Spanish language….

Q: What do you do on a typical weekend?

Emma: I either go to field hockey and shopping, or to our other house in a city called Bejar, or to the family estate in the middle of nowhere, close to our house in Bejar. We see a lot of our extended family, way more than I see of mine in the U.S.

Q: How did you celebrate the holidays?

Emma: For Thanksgiving my host family made a turkey and stuffing, but that’s not normal. Over Christmas break we went to see both sides of our grandparents, our house in Bejar, and the family estate. On New Years, at the stroke of midnight we ate twelve grapes for good luck. We celebrated Christmas, but Santa is not really big over here. We celebrated “Los Reyes Magos” or the Three Wise Men instead on January 6th, which would be more or less equivalent to our Christmas. I was just lucky and got to celebrate both.

Q: What kind of music do you listen to in Spain?

Emma: We listen to whatever you are listening to over there. Any popular song, we have it here too. There are a lot of popular Spanish songs, but for every popular Spanish song, there is an American one too.

Q: Do you have anything special planned for the next couple of months?

Emma: I’m going to Barcelona. I’m so excited to go, but other than that, I’m not really sure.

Q: When do you come home?

Emma: I come home sometime after June 26th, my last day of school, and July 5th, because I have a date with Coldplay. The first thing that I’m going to do is.. Get my permit? Probably.