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Jake in Madrid: March 2011
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I just got home from the gym, where I went to take a sauna. Recently, I've gone to do that every Sunday night because it relaxes me, and I always feel better and have more energy Monday morning to start the week on the right foot. But tonight, I think I got more worked up than relaxed from doing that. But, that hour in the sauna was much more interesting than usual. When I got in, there were about 6 or 7 other guys, all in deep conversion. Absolutely. On the United States. The best part, was that just be...
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Jake in Madrid: January 2011
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The 10 of us that were there. From left to right: Mary Beth (Minnesota), Catherine (New Zealand), Pinja (Finland), Sarah (Portland), Linda (Iceland), Me, Zeke (St. Louis), Danielle (Houston), Caroline (Boston), and Mackenzie (Phoenix). See the premier of the latest Harry Potter movie, and have a white elephant gift exchange, and let me tell you, we still have a long list of things to do together. And she had no idea. We got into Segovia at about 11am, and the plan was to meet in front of the Aqueduct, th...
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Jake in Madrid: April 2010
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More Host Family Info. I've been emailing back and forth with my host family a little bit, and I've learned some more about them from that. Also, it turns out I have a second sister. Her name's Sara, she's 27, and the reason I didn't know about her is because she's moved out. Although Marta says that since she has an apartment close by, they see her almost every day. My brother's name is Mateo, and I hear he's very excited to have a brother, and someone in the house that cares about soccer. My host famil...
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Jake in Madrid: September 2010
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I just added pictures to old posts, so make sure you go back and look at them. 27 September 2010 / / 1 comments. This last weekend was full of Spanish culture for me. But Sunday was amazing. After church, we took the metro to this Japanese restaurant to have lunch with part of Alfonso's side of the family. (It was soooo funny how all the waiters and waitresses spoke Spanish with Asian accents, just like they speak English with Asian accents). But hey, I got my fair share of culture this weekend. Stil...
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Jake in Madrid: May 2011
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I've had a few countdowns going on lately, and I just completed one late last night when I got home from Valencia. On Friday afternoon after school, 8 of us AFSers caught a bus to Valencia so we could have a weekend on the beach. It was nice to finally get to enjoy the nice weather to its fullest exent. It can be kind of annoying sometimes walking around Madrid when it's 80 degrees outside because walking around the city in nice weather isn't the same as relaxing on the beach in nice weather. As the year...
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Jake in Madrid: February 2011
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Just because I'm not in the US, doesn't mean I can't keep to its traditions. And there's just no way I could've gone a year without watching the Super Bowl. I mean, come on. It's the Super Bowl. I watched the same game that everyone else did, but I was surprised at how different it still managed to be. I went to a friends house to watch it with him, and the first difference was, was that even though we watched it live, it was on Monday. With the time difference, the game started at 1am Monday morning.
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Jake in Madrid: December 2010
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Another AFSer just completed a video that he recorded about the trip from New York to Madrid that I thought I'd share with you guys. So all credits to Jacob Spetzler. Enjoy. 19 December 2010 / / 4 comments. Trimester One: Report Card. My classroom, chalkboard and all. My first trimester of school just finished, so I thought I'd share with you all how I did. So here are my trimester grades as they stand so far, best to worst (with a little comment):. English: 10 (no surprise there). Mathematics: 4 (the te...
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Jake in Madrid: Final Report Card
http://jakeinmadrid.blogspot.com/2011/06/final-report-card.html
I finished school on June 7th, but today I finally got my final grades. I'm so glad to be done. The whole Spanish school thing- been there, done that, not gonna do it again. But I do have good some good memories from it. So that's good. I passed all of my classes except for Philosophy, but I always knew I wasn't going to pass it. Long story, and that's for another time. But it's the first class I've ever failed in my life! Spanish Language and Literature - 8. Contemporary World History - 6.
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Jake in Madrid: August 2010
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So I guess some people were confused about my departure date because what I had written previously. When I wrote my first two posts, AFS hadn't officially given me an itinerary, so the dates were just speculation, so to clear things up:. I leave Wednesday, September 1 at about 6 in the morning. I arrive in New York the same day, and stay there for orienations before departing for europe on September 2 at 9pm. It's getting down to the wire.and I couldn't be more stoked! 30 August 2010 / / 2 comments.
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