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Friday 29 November 2013

Christmas is coming

Day 80: 24/11/13

Ahh the 24th?? In one month I'll be celebrating Christmas, all the way across the other side of the world from my family, my friends and familiarity. There will be no over-crowded bed for me to rush to in the morning to wait with my family before bounding into the living room. There will be no summer sun beaming in through the windows like a typical kiwi summer Christmas. There will be no prayers of thanks and acknowledgement of Jesus' birthday before opening any presents. And the thing that is most on my mind is how there will be no Tuckers! One of the main reasons I'm not looking forward to Christmas is because I think that i will be very lonely and therefore, sad. I still don't feel like I am part of my Spanish family and so I'm worried that Christmas just won't feel like Christmas if you know what i mean! I am 99 % sure that I will cry, but I will try hide it from my host family... i wouldn't want to be a downer at Christmas!

But anyway, things definitely will be different this year! I am sure that it will be colder Christmas but I'm not sure of much else! 

Already, there are beautiful lights being hung up in the streets , there are window displays of mini Christmas trees and magical elves, Christmas songs, like Mistletoe by Justin Bieber, playing down the aisles of the supermarkets, television advertisements using santa as a means of capturing children's attention and then there are my friends... all talking about the wonderful things they will do with their families for Christmas...

It has surprised me how many people think that I will return to New Zealand for christmas... the shock on their faces when I inform that actually I won't be seeing my family until after my exchange in June... is pretty amusing. As much as I would like to be with my family, a few thousand dollars for a plane ticket for a long, uncomfortable plane ride home for a few days doesn't sound THAT appealing at this stage... Maybe if I won the lotto and could take my private jet. Ha! That's something that's pretty sad! I really don't have any money after paying for this exchange, and usually, I absolutely love giving presents to all my loved ones, so that's a bit of a christmas grinch! Haha love that movie. But yeah, I have no idea what to do about presents this year. I can't really afford the postage of sending presents across to New Zealand, and my mum won't let me anyway. And what am I supposed to do about host family presents?? I have no idea. I'm sure my host dad would pretend to like something, or even be genuinely happy with anything I got him, but I think my host mum would be very difficult to buy for and my host sister already has a lot, and I believe she's quite fussy (she does not like chocolate??). Ideas anyone? 

Oh Christmas, it's the most beautiful time of the year! I'm looking forward to experiencing Christmas in another culture and will just have to be content with being with my real family via good ole technology (Skype)! There will be an extra special gift given to my family for christmas this year. A new addition to the family, with my sister due to have a beautiful baby any day now!! I'm very sad to be missing out on this but so so happy as I have been begging my sister to have a baby ever since she got married! 

I can guarantee that I will take a lot of photos of Christmas and everything that comes with it so make sure to take a look when I post them! :) 

Ahhh, Christmas is sneaking up on us so fast!! It's nearly the end of this roller coaster of a year and the beginning of another! The beginning of a new part of my life started when I arrived in Spain, but  I am still determined to make 2014 one of the best years Of my life! I hope everyone is prepared for some amazing things to come! I sure am! 

Blessings and hugs! 
Victoria-Rose 


Snowflakes on a building in Barcelona :) 


Christmas treats :) 


Mini Christmas trees :) 


Sunday 24 November 2013

I know you've been reading my blog...

Day 79: 23/11/13

Hey you beautiful people! How are you doing?? I just wanted to share something with you! I discovered something really cool the other day! I mean I knew that most of you reading this would be my friends, family and acquaintances, people who are interested in my adventures, and who like to catch up on my blog when there's updates, but I just took a look at the statistics of my blog and saw something I didn't expect! This is the page views on my blog over the last few months. Check out some of the different countries my blog has been viewed! I don't know about you but I think that's super cool :) so if you're reading this from any of these places, you've contributed to this ;) 
EntryPageviews

New Zealand

701

Spain

506

United States

91

France

34

United Kingdom

27

Germany

24

Latvia

23

Australia

15

Belgium


I hope everyone has been enjoying reading my blog! It takes a lot of time to gather my thoughts so I am not able to write that often, but when I do I try to make sure that it doesn't bore anyone to death :b 


Here's a sweet picture I took as a nice way to finish my short post :) 




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Thursday 14 November 2013

Friends like these

Day: 70? (Who knows) 14/11/13

So it is past the 2 month mark now and I have been through some tough challenges but as you can see, I'm still here :p i have survived so far! In fact I think I'm doing more than surviving, I've had some really awesome moments here in Spain and it is becoming easier to find these moments. Dare i say that I'm proud of how far I've come and how much bravery and tenacity I've had throughout these past few weeks, yes i believe i can. Of course I've had to do a lot of it on my own but I can't help but mention how grateful I am to have found some amazing friends in two other girls also from the AFS exchange program. 



We are a group of 3, from different sides of the world, there is Žanete who is from Latvia, Katerina from Switzerland and myself, from New Zealand. The thought of this amazes me - how we can be from totally different sides of the world but this one, crazy thing that we have decided to do, has connected us all together in the same place and at the same time. We are each here for our own reasons and purposes, we will all go through our own completely different experience, and we are like the complete opposites of each other, but some how, we understand each other, and we just seem to fit together like a puzzle (is that cliche enough for you :p) 

I should probably mention that we had only meet each other twice before we became good friends, and only three times before we felt comfortable sharing the same bed, of sending hideous photos of ourselves to each other and now I would trust them with anything. They're my girls and I feel like I have been missing out on their awesome companionship all this time! 

 
Just two weeks ago we went out on a girls night to Barcelona, to have dinner and just enjoy the beautiful city! We put on our dresses and heels for the night and had some delicious salads and some great laughs! Walking arm and arm down the Main Street, all dolled up, speaking English, and giggling our heads off sure turned some heads! 


But yeah, just if anyone was wondering how i was doing friend-wise, if I was a loner or if I was hanging out with all the popular kids, I have to managed to find myself the best friends I could have asked for. I didn't mention that they speak like perfect English, so I don't have to continuously explain my jokes until it becomes awkward and not even funny anymore. They get me! Seriously though, I was beginning to worry that I would lose my sense of humour here, I have a quick mind in English but it takes me so long to process things in Spanish. 

But yeah, if you are thinking about doing an exchange, make friends in your other AFS companions!! #bestchoiceever 




"There's no place I'd rather be than to have you crazy freaks with me!" Xx