So it's not tomorrow

hahah whoops.

First I'd like to say..we had a french boy come and live with us for a week and I didn't like him at all. Totally into drugs, and that's all he talked about. I just wanted to punch him in his face >:) WHATEVER.



So the Holiday season is here <3 but it's really different here....like I would never believe it's Christmas here if I was totally unaware of the date, butt he bigger holiday comes a few days after New Years, which will be nice:) I get to see some of my extended family during the holiday break so that is pretty cool beans, too.

AND SO THE CATALAN CLASSES HAVE BEGUN! Each day I find myself falling in love more and more with Catalonia and the Catalonian people, but their language is a GIANT HARRY BUTTHOLE. TV is starting to make sense now, it's in Castellano by the way, it's always just been that the speaking was a little fast, but in most parts I can pick out the general meaning.

GO SEE THE NEW MISSION IMPOSSIBLE. I saw it in Castellano, not understanding quite a bit, but still it was freaking awesome. I was like really, really, confused in the beginning because of all the language switches. I had no idea what was happening. Good movie, though. This series seems to be the only thing Tom Cruise continually produces that I enjoy. ETHAN HUNT IS A MAN.

I get to laugh at all you silly Ohioans, and etc because I get to celebrate my holidays first...and last;) My break is longer, too!

Out of my 10 of my classes, I passed 6, failed 1, and didn't receive grades in 3 of them! If you ask me, that is pretty freakin awesome! Somedays I am just so worn out....unlike anything I've ever experienced, though. Like.. like learning in a different language is learning 10x. It is such a stress on the mind. Since it's not my native I can absent mindly listen like I'm used to and still get the jist. I have to listen very attentively, and even then I don't quite get what is going on. I consider myself a nice student, though, and I'm very pleased with my results

(even though I BARELY failed chemistry -.- I swear that class is impossible in any language...I barely passed last year at Badin hahaha)

Physics is a completely mind bending experience. That said, unless you want your universe rocked, I don't suggest taking it, haha.

It's about the 3 month mark for me (not quite there yet) so I think around this time I should really work hard at talking less and less English to my friends..even though they really want to learn. It's interesting hearing them all talk about someday they wish to have a job in America. They know English is currently the world's most important language, but they still thrive to know more languages. That is the kind of mentality that the United States needs.

You know...my host father brought up an interesting thing the other day. People refer to the U.S. as America way to much...more so than we should. Think about it...our president does, most citizens do, yet people from other countries don't. I mean, I am an American, but more importantly I'm a U.S. citizen. America is more than just the U.S. and especially in times like these...it seems as though other countries should be the role model for other countries to look at from American than the United States.

Anyways, getting less into those kinda of topics I've been thinking a lot lately about wanting to do something for my student friends at Badin. I want to inspire some people to do exchanges, even though it's to late to get involved this year. It's amazing how all the students at Badin see exchange students come every year, but don't think about getting involved themselves...truly amazing. I saw the Badin ramble from....October? I'm not sure what month.. but it talked about the intercambia's and it was really nice! Anyways, I talked to some of my friends, and they said they'd really like to see something I could put together for my friends.

By the by, Rotary here has gained a lot of respect, at our last meeting they had live jazz to play for us during dinner :)

It was totally groovy to say the least.

I JUST FOUND ACCENTS ON MY KEYBOARD:0

You know, when I went into this...my mom told me a lot about her friends who went on exchanges to other countries and said that they had a really interesting time coming BACK to Ohio and adjusting again..and I chose not to think about it much while I was gone, but I feel like after being gone for so long...things won't be quite like the way they were. And...it will be difficult. I am going to come back, different looking, different thinking, and different acting. I will have matured in ways I wouldn't have had I stayed in America. But.. I think it's for the better, even if it isn't quite ideal.

All in all, I'm a very happy happy man, and it's a nice holiday season.

CONTINUE TO CHECK OUT MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL PLEASE AND WATCH THE VIDEOS, LOTS OF STUFF THERE I DON'T HAVE THE SPACE OR ATTENTION SPAN FOR TO TYPE OUT AND SUCH. IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE VIDS GIVE ME TIPS TO MAKE THEM BETTER. HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SEASON EVERYONE! I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU ALL! (EVEN IF YOU'RE ONE OF MY FRIENDS FROM HERE IN VIC READING THIS, HAHA)

BON NADAL A TOTHOM!!!!!

big post tomorrow

Tomorrow I'll make a big post, but in the meantime I'd like to let people know that if you ever plan on coming to europe make ure you have a VERY STRONG DRINK when trying nee cheeses -.-

YUCKKKKKK

WHOA WHOA

So it's been a long time since my last blog and as much as I love blogging I hate typing so much and re-writing over again I also hate struggling to remember what it was I wanted to talk about when I first started typing:P

ANYWHO, life here is grand. Currently don't have school at all this week because of some holidays and then I go back for a week and then break again! These next few weeks will be nice! School is a pain in the butt, because the homework is never checked at or looked at, so you don't want to do it...but because you need to do it to practice for exams it's so difficult. My second round of exams finished up this past week so I'm glad those are done. Once again, I am confident I did well on some, however, in my other classes I know there is no hope of a passing grade. I am not worried, though because with each day I am understanding more and more, even if it's just a little bit, and even school will become very routine and passable.

I wanted to talk about an interesting story of a crime that happened here like two weeks ago, but I decided to make a video about it instead because it would be easier! Check out my youtube channel "Richexchange67" to hear more about it!

Currently my town is having like this medieval festival going on. It's like the Renaissance Festival only the things here are directly Catalonia/Spain related, also Morocco too, but not as much. For example, instead of giant turkey legs it's like giant slabs of fish and stuff hahah, the smell sometimes bugs me. I went yesterday, and today is an official holiday so it's very crowed today but I might go back for a while! MY CAMERA IS NOT WORKING NOWWWWWWWW. I want picturessssssss. I will probably go out and buy one today or tomorrow. Dad, if you're reading this I'd love to see if they have a better deal on the same model in America but because of the festivities I really need it now, and I can't get a camera from you in 2 days:/


I'm come to the conclusion that to understand the language even better I need to stop comparing it to English. It's very useful and analytical to compare things, but with 3 languages in my head at all times it's very difficult. HOWEVER, the culture and customs I love to compare to my home in Ohio. It increases my knowledge, it helps me learn, and it teaches others why some of the things I do may be different, or why I expected them to be.

Starting after the new year my host father said he'd begin teaching me catalan, which is awesome, but it also worries me. I currently have the present tense down really well in Spanish, but after I start catalan my spanish will be completely forgotten. I kind of want to continue my spanish work, though because it's definitely more useful than catalan, even though catalan is the better language and definitely the more useful HERE. Plus, with a mix of spanish and catalan I'll be switching between 3 languages in conversation now. Now, it's 2 languages, but it could be 3 soon enough:P

You know, I did expect these things, though. And with the way things are progressing my languages will be fine by the time all is said and done, and I am not worried. It's very stressful though.

I really hope I do not change families. My family and I are the perfect match. They are happy they didn't get the other students, and I am happy that I didn't get the other families. No offense to the other students and families, I am just so happy where I am and we have more in common than I could have ever imagine. Not to mention most host mother is really really funny.

The rotary program here is pretty bogus, not gonna lie. They never communicate with me (not that I need to communicate with them, but still) and it's always the "oh hey we'll send you information....soon..." It's like that american idea of the spanish word "manana" meaning "tomorrow". In Spain, tomorrow means some time in the future. ANY time in the future. But that is different here, though. People here are generally very prompt about things. I learn more and more about the differences of the two cultures every day especially with food. I hope to make a video about it someday, but at this point I feel like if I talked about it I would sound very ignorant because I only been here for just over 2 months and I don't really have a great understanding of the relationship (or lack there of) between the two cultures. However, with general elections having just passed I sure did learn a lot.

Before I finish up, the people here in Vic love Obama. As do I.

WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE U.S. RIGHT NOW?! Gosh, dang. The news here is amazing It actually talks about important stuff, and different things every day. People dying isn't the only news, you know why, BECAUSE THERE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS THAN A LOCAL MAN DYING IN A CAR. No disrespect to the guy who died in a car crash who was from the nearby town or anything of that sort, but this place really has their priorities straight when it comes to important news and stuff that doesn't happen every day. The american news is bogus, and doesn't show anything out of the ordinary. It covers up a lot, and censors way to much. I'm really disappointed with it. I figured being in a different country would increase my views and my knowledge on a lot of things in America, and here in Spain/Catalonia/Vic, but I now have worldwide knowledge. I'm learning things about america most americans never will, and I'm learning things about the world most will never know.

If any of my friends from Ohio, or the U.S., have actually made it this far and read this much, I applaud you. Now go read your book for school. Hahaha, no but seriously, for those of you "Stephen T" kids there I want to make some kind of presentation soon to maybe send back to and maybe you guys can watch it or something. I had a rough start into this program, but after being 2 months in there's nothing better in the world. Hopefully, I can inspire some kids to do this net year or the yearafter, cause it's probably to late to get started for next years, now.

That's all for now! Check out my youtube channel, "Richexchange67"!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sorry:(

I would've liked to make a post today but the internet has been super slow for the past two days, and I haven't been able to make a video or blog. In fact, right now I've waited 5 minutes for the computer to respond to what I am typing and I'm sitting here waiting and watching TV. Good news, I started reading my first book! (it's kinda a comic book, but in spanish nonetheless!!)

Hope to update you all sometime soon, maybe tomorrow! SowwyD:

On the John

So I'm sitting here on the John, and I thought...you know...I typically bring my laptop to "The Thinker" just for musical accompaniment but this time I want to actually do something while I kill time.
...
I haven't updated this blog in a long while, simply because....well....nothing special has happened recently! But to be quite honest, I'm kinda glad! Before I left all I heard was, "Noah, you gotta take a lot of pictures!", "Noah, you gotta visit things and travel..." etc. I always told them this wasn't a vacation, though.

I know right now it sounds like I'm saying I don't want to do any of the things, which is a lie, because I do. However, I'm not looking to accomplish all those things in the first two months I'm here. The goal is to live the life here like I would if I had grown up here all along. To learn the life, teach my life, compare, and most importantly adapt. Families who live in America go and visit museums and aquariums and historical places, too. But they don't do it all the time.

I'm perfectly content with living a life where I come home from school, eat, take a nap, wake up, do my homework, and spend some time with my family in the house. It's nice. It feels like the life. In fact, I actually found myself in a routine the other day, and as much as I hate routines, I was happy to find myself almost not even noticing that I was doing these things all in a routine. (I just re-read that...and it was confusing, but I think the point is clear).

The point is, I'm going to go visit amazing places, and it probably won't be soon, but I'm not worried about it. The time will come when the time comes. I'll get there, and when I do I'll be happy, and while I wait I also plan on staying happy!

Now onto the more "routine" (tehe) things. My spanish is RIDICULOUSLY better than when I got here. Even though I had been studying spanish for like 6 months (on my own) in the states it's safe to say that I knew nothing when I got here. I was in complete and utter shock at the language of Spanish. However, in this month and a half I've probably learned as much spanish, if not more than, a student in America (in an average high school) learns in 2 years. Most importantly, the spanish I'm learning I can actually speak, and the spanish I'm learning is useful in conversation. In my experience, half the things you learn out of the book are too awkward or literal and not practical like the things actual spanish speakers would say, in addition to that, learning out of the book, and learning to speak are two completely different things.

I think if I were actually in a Spanish speaking part of Spain my Spanish would be even better, but that is besides the point.

My Catalan, well it sucks hahahahahaha It's not good at all, I only know a few little phrases. I understand a little little little little bit more than before but I speak almost none. Sometimes I wonder why Rotary sent me here to learn Spanish -.-

I've found that watching a lot of TV helps with my pronunciation, and helps me get used to hearing it, as long as I actively listen. I have a TV in my room, right by my laptop, which I spend a lot of time on late at night (GOTTA KEEP UP WITH FANTASY FOOTBALL)

Anyways, that's about all I have for now, look for a video this weekend! and maybe another blog update to go along with it!!!!

P.S. Listening, focusing, and attempting to understand a language 24 hours a day is really tiring. More than you'd imagine.

Time

I get to be here for about 10 months and I already feel like there's not enough to get to do all the things I want to do! I've been here over a month, already! A whole month! Can you believe it?! Time has been flying these past few weeks!

I feel like now that I got the key parts of the Spanish language down, I will be learning very fast, now. However, Catalan will become a priority after I have become nearly fluent in Spanish so it's not really my concern as of now.

Tonight, might be going out, might not, I do not know yet. I don't know what's going on with Catalonia but it's been raining like the dickens here for the past week. Last week parts of Spain were totally flooded out the wazoo but with all the rain here there has still been no major flooding. Props to whoever built the sewage system in Vic!

Port Aventura was spectacular! I took a video on one of the coasters that I will upload tomorrow! It's really shakey but it's still really awesome. Most of you on Facebook already saw all the photos but fi you didn't you definitely should.

The 3 day school week was really nice, but this weekend is going by really fast, too. The life here is very fast paced. VERY, VERY, VERY fast paced. Before I came here I always heard that here it was like one giant party, and that people went out and had fun every single day regardless of what was going on. But I don't think I understood fully. NOW, now I do. hahahah it's crazy!

I've said it before, and I will say it again the people here are the nicest people in the entire world! I've really been growing fond of my family here, too. But my host father is gone often so it is hard to practice Spanish with him sometime. I spend a lot of my time doing things related to the blog or Youtube videos, and I love reading the other exchange student blogs.

At this point, there are only two complaints which I have about life here on my exchange. They're both very minor, which really says a lot about life here. The flies, and the Rotary club. I'll get into more detail when I post a vlog next.

You know, it's interesting....in America the exchange students come and nobody pays much attention to them and they end up grouping together and not getting the full affect of an exchange. However, here it was completely different. I had friends on the first day, and it's been incredible ever since. I'll certainly take a different look on exchange students when I get back to america.

I feel very welcomed here. I feel a part of the people. Even though, obviously I am not. Half the time I wear that face of "I'm totally trying to understand you but it's in one ear and out the other". Here in Vic I get the sense of family. It's a town of 40,000 and I'm pretty sure I've already seen all 40,000 at least 3 times. See what I mean? It's got a very homie feel. So does, Hamilton...but not in the same way.

Being here now makes me look at America as a tourist home. Like Rome has become, and the same with Venice. Even though over half of Vic's population isn't Catalonian, it still feels homie.

Anyways, that's the stuff that's been running through my head lately and what life is like here. Hopefully I'll have more time soon for a spectacular full in depth look on life. 0.o WHOO POW.

Waiting for the Video...

The Youtube video will probably be another our or so before it uploads so check back here for the blog update tomorrow or monday. It's almost midnight and I can't stay up to write the blog after it's done uploading, because I have to wake up early tomorrow.

Check back tomorrow:)

9 days

What's up, guys? I haven't blogged it up in 9 days....I know that means I'm off schedule but the past few days the internetz has been super duper slow but I'm determined to not fall behind schedule like this ever again!

GUESS WHO HAS A 4 DAY WEEKEND THIS FRIDAY?!:)

Expect a nice video Saturday and probably another blog post!

ANYWHO, some new videos on the Youtube channel so check that out if you haven't already. I've got another uploading as I speak!

This week and last week was filled with exams. I took an English exam today. (It will be a 10/10 no doubt). On my CMCO exam (modern sciences) I got an 8, and that class is in CATALAN! (Just an FYI, everything here 5 and over out of 10 is passing) I also got a 5.5/10 on my physics exam! I am waiting to hear back about my grades on my Catalan and Chemistry exams (the chemistry one will not be good...) And I have a Technology one to take tomorrow. That class is seriously the toughest thing ever.

I've almost been here for a month now, and if this first month is any indication of how well my language will continue to improve, then by Christmas I'll hardly be speaking any English. You reach a certain point where you can't quite speak it well, but you understand it, for the most part, and that's where I'm at. Spanish, that is. Catalan right now is looking pretty dang hopeless. It's a very very tough language.

This weekend is a 4 day weekend! I'm going tot he amusement park on Sunday so I'll be sure to write about that, and I am going to the disco again on Monday. It should be a nice relaxing yet fun 4 day weekend.

The weather here has changed so drastically in the last 3 days. It's been raining non stop and apparently in some parts of Catalunya it's been raining for the past week. Plenty of places, even places in Spain, are getting flooded like crazy! Some fo the worst flooding I've seen in a long time.

Anyways, Saturday's video will be about the differences living life here than in America, it will probably be a long video, so expect a long blog post to go along with it. The blog post may or may not be related tot he actual video though. Anyways, that's just a little bit to hold you all over until Saturday! I hope you all have a nice Friday, and enjoy your weekend! (I know I will)

2+ weeks!

2+ weeks and still goin strong! I am such a hauss. Man these two weeks have been rrrreeaaaallllyyyyy long and rly short at the same time.

It's safe to say that school is the most challenging thing I've ever done in my entire life. I think even if I understood the Catalonian language I would still struggle in school. I'm pretty confident they're ahead of the U.S. in academics. They take a very mathematical approach to everything. Nearly every class involved equations, formulas, power, work, energy, etc. It's ridiculous! My calculator is gonna die by the end of the first trimester! (haha sounded like pregnancy but whatevs) Yes, you heard me right. Trimester. School here is on a trimester schedule and you have exams at the end of each one, and some classes have exams in the middle of each one too. Do not fret, these exams are not lie the ones you're used to. (The 150 question ones, I mean.) Apparently these ones are fairly long, but are only about 10 questions or so. They just involve a lot of writing. My first exam is tomorrow, in CMCO (or modern science) and then Thursday and Friday I have one exam each day. I don't think I'm going to do very well considering how much of the total information I wasn't here to learn, but I've been studying my ass off and at this point I think any MORE studying would do more harm than good.

My school scheduling is very different from what I'm used to. It's a mix between the schedule of Moeller and MND (A day B day) and Ursuline's and X's ("block scheduling"). It was hard to get used to, but I've almost got it down now. The school is small in size so it's not hard to navigate. Also, everyone has a certain "itinerary" so when you choose your schedule you pretty much have every class with the same people (give or take 3 or 4 kids)

I find it difficult to NOT be busy while here. I want to have time to relax and maybe take a nap or just go outside and shoot some basketball, but it's hard to say no when my host parents or host brother or friends ask me to come with them somewhere because.....well I'm on an exchange and I want to do and see as many different kinds of things as possible! Eventually, though I'm definitely going to take a day to do nothing and just sleep all day. That will be the day!:)

The language is very, very, very difficult. I haven't really bothered to learn any Catalan yet, I just learn the words that stick with me when I learn it in Spanish. For example, I ask what something is called, and my friends tell me the name in spanish and then in Catalan. I will remember the spanish no matter what, but I will only remember the Catalan word if it's similar or easy. Most Catalan words are just shorter sounding versions of all the Spanish words, but others are VERY different. The spelling and pronunciations are oh so different as well!

To be honest, I think the toughest thing on this exchange so far has been a tie between two things. NUMBER ONE, saying the word "no" and NUMBER TWO keeping up with Youtube. Hahahaha not even kidding.

(and for you people thinking "well i thought he said the language was tough?" WELL DUHHHHH IT'S A NEW FREAKIN LANGUAGE. Rosetta Stone ain't got squat on actually living in a culture surrounded by people speaking gibberish! Of course it's tough as balls. I thought that was easily understood!)

If many of you don't know, I've got the most insane addiction for the youtube, and I love to watch videos, make videos, and critique videos, too! I now have 2 Youtube accounts:

RichExchange67 and Dreadlord67

The latter which I have had for the longest time, and I put every video I record on it. Although...it's hard to come up with new video ideas while over here in Catalonia...but I've been doing some brain storming and I've interested some of my friends here to do a video or two with me. So hopefully more videos will be around soon!

The first one, Richexchange67, as most of you know, is the account I made for this trip. I upload videos there pretty often, and it's a good way to hear or see something a little extra you won't get the chance for on the blog. If you didn't know about the youtube channel before, you do now. Go subscribe to the exchange channel for an e-mail with each new upload:)

Thank you all for reading so much! I hope I talk to you all soon! (It's fun to see what happens in America, and especially Badin, while I'm not there:D ) I've got some cool video ideas planned for the exchange youtube, so keep your eyes peeled!!! Adios!!


TL;DR...school is tough as balls. language is tough as balls. youtube is the bee's knees. check out my channel. Mushy love crap.

Next Topics!

Okay well, I have some down time before dinner so I decided to make another short blog post. In my next video I REALLY want to talk about the people here in Catalonia, and the culture here.

(Oh, and my friends. THE XEIKS.)

To give you an idea of what I'm getting at, when I'm here in Vic I don't really feel like I'm in Spain (except when I watch the news). On the other hand, I don't feel like I am a part of France either. Catalonia has MANY French influences and it is most notable in the language, Catalan, but these influences can be seen through other mediums as well. The people here are not Spanish or French. They are Catalonian. They are proud of it, too.

I've done some research e.g. talking to friends, wiki, CNN reports, etc. and a few years back there was quite the clamor for Catalonia to become it's own separate entity. It's very interesting stuff.

I'll go more into detail when I have time to make a video, but I just wanted to give you all (4 or 5 of you who actually read this haha) an idea of what the next video will be like. Look for it to be up Wednesday because it is a holiday here and I do not have school. So, I might shoot the video early in the morning here.

-Noah

OH! By the way, I'd like to hear your ideas for traditional AMERICAN foods that I can try to cook for my family sometime soon! I know it's difficult because the U.S. has food influences from every major country known to man, but think hard. Thanks for reading!

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Alright, every time I try to link a new video on to this blog it never works, so if you want to see the video that will go along with today's blog post, PLEASE, check out my Youtube channel "Richexchange67" and subscribe so you get an e-mail for each new upload, or check my facebook page "Noah Rich" (duh) every 3 days or so for any video updates! Every video I post to youtube from the exchange channel will automatically post on my Facebook wall.

Weekend!

The weekend is approaching! I will soon have been here for an entire week! It's hard to believe! Expect a nice video this weekend, and a good blog update. I've been very busy these first few days. And very tired! So much going on! It's tiring to hear multiple people at once speak to each other in a language you don't understand, because your mind works very hard to comprehend.

My Spanish is already improved exponentially, but it's not enough to carry on a full conversation with. And my Catalan is nonexistant hahaha, but Catalan will come 2nd. Spanish first, it's easier, and with fluent spanish I will understand half of the Catalan.

So Close!

The first video from my Youtube channel for this exchange! Thank you all for keeping with me on my little adventure overseas:)

So like I said in the video, I'm going to explain why I was delayed.

On July 1st a law was passed in Spain that changed the way visas were processed and issued from the consulate. Well, the consulate in Chicago (my consulate) did not interpret this law correctly and messed up the visas of the students in the area. The visas were sent back to Spain, and sat there while the Chicago consulate tried to solve things. Once the confusion was resolved, however, the visas got lost on their trip to the U.S. So, because of all of this there was a long delay where nothing was happening, which was basically when I was telling you all, "I don't know when I'm leaving."'

It was very frustrating knowing that I was only one of twelve kids who were being delayed like this for my departure. It certainly added a unique twist onto my story, though, which I definitely cannot complain about.

So tomorrow I finally leave the country and I will be in flight for over ten hours total! My sleep schedule is going to be a mess, but I arrive on a saturday morning so hopefully I will get everything in order by the time I hit back school on Monday! School is going to be very tough but I'm also extremely excited for what lies ahead!

I'll be sure to make a post when I finally land, and maybe even in between flights tomorrow:) Keep in touch!

Hasta Luego!

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog for my exchange! I hope you all enjoy reading the little bits that will I put her every now and again while I am gone. I'll link my youtube on here after I make my first video!