Post 6: A Coruña

It’s time to update about my journey to A Coruña, because the past several days have been crazy. This is probably going to be an extremely long post, but a lot has happened in the past four days. I’m currently typing this post on a train ride, which is 6 hours long, as I make my way from Madrid to A Coruña. Also, before you read this, I barely have had wifi since Tuesday night, so it’s really hard for me to answer texts. When I get settled in with my host family, I’ll try my best to post this update.

So on Monday, September 29^th, 2015 my mom and I woke up around 4:15am to get ready for our day and night in New York City. We grabbed a train around 7am at the Hamilton Station in NJ and got off at Penn Station in NY. IFC paid for my mom and I to stay in a hotel and gave us some money towards the day trip, because they wanted us to have a stress free day before I left for Spain on Tuesday. We decided to go see the 9/11 Memorial Museum, which was incredibly touching. We got some lunch and then decided to take a free ferry that gave us an amazing view of the Statue of Liberty. After going back to the hotel to rest for bit, we went out and took a cab to Times Square, and I couldn’t believe how busy it was. There was a grown man dressed as a baby, which means he was only in a diaper, shaking a raddle, but he had the creepiest mask on. My mom thought this was hilarious, so she took a picture. We went to Shake Shack for dinner, got my host family a I <3 NY magnet, and went to the American Doll store to take a picture out front for my Meme. We got back to the hotel around 8pm and started to get ready for bed, so we weren’t tired for the next day.

On Tuesday, I had to be at AFS’s headquarters on Wall Street (which had a hilarious Snapchat sticker) by 10am, so I could begin my orientation. My mom and I took a cab, got some Starbucks, and made our way to their office. After an AFS official gave us a tour of the place, my mom and I had to say our goodbyes. Since my mom is my best friend, saying goodbye for 9 months was hard, but I know it’s worth it for the experience I will have in Spain. After she left, a lady named Mary Showers, who is so kind, gave me a very quick AFS orientation and took me out to lunch to a nearby sandwich shop. I had about three hours to kill before another person from AFS had to take me to the airport, so they set me up at a desk in their office.

When it was time to go, we realized that it would take forever to get to the airport, because of the traffic caused by the United Nations. However, made it there with plenty of time for me to get checked in and go trough security, and it’s a good thing we did because we had some problems right from the start. So this was first time ever in an airport, which meant it was also my first time flying, and apparently the carryon I brought was too big for a carryon. I only had euros with me, so I had to run downstairs and get $100 out of the ATM. The man checking me in wouldn’t give me my passport back until I paid for it, so I was a little worried. When I paid the baggage fee, I went back to the man, and he told me that there was a problem with my visa (NOT AGAIN!!). He explained that my visa said it was only valid for 90 days, which contradicted the amount of time I had told him I would be there for. I stayed calm, and explained that once I arrived in Spain, I had 90 days to go to a local police station and get it checked for the right time frame. He didn’t believe me, so he called his manager, which was the fourth time by now, and reluctantly said that I was free to go to Spain.

After that mess, I went through security, where I met a very nice man from Ghana. He told me that he was in New York for the United Nations and showed me his passport, so I could see how much he had to travel for his job. Anyways, I called my mom and told her about everything while I was waiting at my gate. I boarded the plane, and then we were delayed by about 30 minutes. After about an hour, the flight attendants started to serve dinner and drinks. I was flying through Swiss Air, and since this was my first time flying, I didn’t have any expectations. Shout-out to Swiss Air for being amazing though, because they gave out blankets and pillows and served breakfast and dinner. I was sitting next to a man who decided to drink whiskey and beer, and his breath smelled really bad, but he fell asleep very quickly, so that was good. The flight was seven hours, so I wanted to try to sleep for much of it, but I ended up only sleeping for about three hours.

My layover was in Zurich, Switzerland on Wednesday morning, but since my original flight was delayed, I had to rush to get from one terminal to another. It wasn’t that hard, because I took the air-train, and by the time I got there, they decided to board 30 minutes late anyways. This flight was about 2 to 2.5 hours long, and I had a window seat! I was sitting next to a lady from Switzerland, who was visiting Madrid, Spain with her family, and she once she found out I was studying abroad in Spain, she insisted that we speak in Spanish throughout the flight.

After flying for my first time, I was extremely tired, but overjoyed to finally be in Spain. I grabbed my bags and started looking for the person from AFS who was supposed to pick me up from the airport. I had no information about the person, so I was looking for someone wearing an AFS t-shirt or holding an AFS sign. However, a pretty young guy with no indication that he was with AFS came up to me and said I was supposed to go with him. He was very friendly and kind, carrying my luggage and paying for my ticket when we took the metro. However, on our was to AFS’s office in Madrid, Spain, he explained that I was supposed to stay in a hostile with just him overnight and he would take me to the airport, so I could fly to A Coruña to meet my family the next day. I didn’t understand how AFS could imagine that I would be ok staying in a hostile with a complete stranger, because I just felt uncomfortable about the situation. When we arrived at AFS, I talked with one of the staff members in charge and he was genuine when he apologized. He wanted to make sure I was comfortable, and when another woman came in, the two began to speak in Spanish. I was actually able to understand the gist of their conversation, and the man explained that the woman, Mafé, wanted to offer me to stay in her home with her family for the night. She speaks fluent English and is probably the kindest person that I have ever met in my entire life.

While we were walking through Madrid to get to the train, Mafé explained some history and important buildings and took my picture with a few of them. When we got to the train station, I was going to pay for my ticket, but she wouldn’t let me, which was very generous of her. Her husband picked us up at our stop, and on the drive home, they pointed out different buildings and explained their significance. I met their three kids, two older girls about my age and a boy a bit younger than me, when we arrived, and we talked a lot about our lives with each other. We all switched back and forth between English and Spanish, and they taught me some differences between the Spanish in Colombia (where Mafé is from) and the Spanish in Spain. Mafé decided that we would have Colombian food for dinner, so I helped her make Arepas (I think I spelled that right; I don’t have wifi so I can’t check), and they were amazing. After dinner, Mafé gave me some pajamas, so I didn’t have to open my bags, and I shared a room to sleep in with her oldest daughter, Mari.

We had to be out of the house today (October 1^st, 2015) at 7 sharp, so I could catch the 7:20 train to A Coruña. I woke up at 6:30, and Mafé had breakfast ready for me and even made me a lunch to take on the train with me, since it’s such a long ride. I can’t describe how grateful I am for Mafé and her family. They welcomed me into their home for a night and treated me like their own. The whole family kept telling me that I am welcome in their home whenever I want, and if I visit Madrid, that I must visit them.

So that brings me to right now. It’s 9:00, and I still have about 4 hours until I reach A Coruña, which is literally the last stop for the train. I keep pausing so I can look out the train, because the landscape here is absolutely beautiful. I’m actually not too tired, which is surprising, because my computer is still set for the US time zone, and I just realized that it’s 3:03 am there.

I am so excited to finally meet my host family today. I wont get to meet them right away, however, because my host parents (Susana and Alberto) have work. AFS assigns their students liaisons, so my liaison and his wife are going to pick me up from the train station, take me to lunch, and then take me to my host family. This probably doesn’t make sense, but it doesn’t feel real yet that I’m in Spain. Being in another country is something very new to me, so it’s making me that much more excited to be here in Spain. It hasn’t been easy to get here (or to my host family haha), but I’m trying my best to go with the flow and learn as much as possible.

Update: I don’t feel like fixing this whole post so it matches the days. The rest of this post from here to the end has been written on October 2^nd, 2015. Yesterday, I was supposed to be picked up in the train station by an AFS volunteer, but it turned out that my host dad (Alberto) and my host grandma (abuela) were able to get me. This was such a pleasant surprise, because the only people I had wanted to be with were my host family. The two were so happy to see me, but I think I was the happiest. My host dad was making fun of the shirt AFS made me wear, because it was huge and bright yellow. My host dad had to go to back to work, so I went grocery shopping with my abuela, and then she drove me around A Coruña, so I could see the city. My favorite part has to be the beautiful beaches, because that’s not something you see in Lansdale, PA. We went to a café and waited for my host mom (Susana) to be done work. My abuela saw Susana walking to her car and told me to run to her, so I did. We were so happy to finally meet each other in person after weeks and weeks of problems. I went with Susana to pick my host brothers (Antón and Alvaro) up from school. Again, it was great to see them, because I had been waiting forever to see my host family. Susana and I dropped Antón and his friend off at soccer practice, and then we went to my school to see if I could get my schedule, but it was closed. When we got home, I unpacked all of my things into my room, which I’m in love with. My abuela made all of us dinner, and then before I went to bed, Susana and I were talking about our lives, family, and friends. It’s a bit odd how similar her and I were raised, because it kind of feels like she’s the older version of me; It’s hard to explain. Also, I was showing Susana, Antón, and Alvaro pictures from my Instagram, and Alvaro couldn’t stop laughing at the pictures with my mouth open.

Anyways, Susana woke me up around 8am this morning, and I was really confused at breakfast, because they eat their cereal in coffee mugs with hot chocolate milk. I never would have thought to eat my cereal like that. We dropped the kids off at school and then met up went with Alberto, so he could take me to my school. We met with the principal to talk about my schedule, books, and bus. Alberto had to go to work, so I went with him, which was so much fun. He drives a bus in La Coruña for public transportation, so I just sat up front, and he told me all about the city.

At one point, he was at a stop to pick people up, and he said, “Espera por cinco minutos.” That means wait for five minutes, and he was talking to the passengers. He told me to follow him, and we started running towards the beach, because he wanted to take my picture in front of the beach. This was absolutely hilarious, because he made people wait so he could take my picture.

After about two hours, we met up with my abuela, and I went back to my house with her. We spent much of the day doing chores together, and she seemed really excited when I told her that I wanted to help her, Susana, and Alberto around the house.

I honestly think I have the best host family in the world (sorry to all the other exchange students out there), because they are just so caring, kind, patient, and fun. I can’t explain it, but I can say that I love them very much, and I’m very happy to finally be here.

Abrazos y besos,

Taylor Young