It had so wonderful sports pitches that it isn’t strange almost every student practised a sport. It had even a swimming pool. Before going to USA I could read in its website that it had an old tradition in sports and I really could verify it.

My american sister, Amanda, played volley-ball, a much more popular sport than here. She stayed at school for trainning after classes almost every day, as many other students. For that reason I couldn’t be so much time with her and I used to talk with her mother much more often.

At school they also were very fond of soccer -similar to european football-.

But the most popular sports in USA are -american- football, baseball and basketball. All spanish students we went together to Boston to a Celtics’ basketball match. I didn’t feel very encouraged but, at the end, I must recognize, it was an amazing show. My father envied me a lot; he still remembers Larry Bird (he must be now a lovely old man…).

Well, I’ll have to go on with my story myself.

About TV, I have to say that I haven´t watch TV much time, although there were lots of channels to choose. But we do have now in Spain such a lot of them and usually I also prefer to do other things. In USA I had almost always better things to do, as going out with friends, travels, playing PC games or -what I enjoyed more- talking to my family or friends; and, of course, WRITTING FOR THE BLOG…

Sometimes I watched, with my american mother, “Desperated Housewives”; I knew it in Spain but I couldn’t watch it because it began very late in the night; in USA these serials ended at 22 h, when in Spain they are beginning at that hour.

I also watched a few times some some cartoons and I knew there also were “The Simpson”, “Family Guy” or “Futurama”, that I usually watch in Spain.

It was very curious for me when a day the president Bush appeared on TV telling a message to the country; you could see him in almost every channel!

Before going to USA my parents told me watching TV was a very good exercise for learning english but, as I told before, there were too much interesting things to do.

The story comes from the very ancient Ireland. Leyend tells that Jack O-Lantern was a very “dark” man with dark heart and bad intentions. He was so bad that he even dealt with the devil. When dead arrived to him he had a terrible problem: heaven doors were closed to him but he neither was accepted in hell because devil has agreeded not to accept his soul. Devil gave him an ignited piece of coal to light his return path to Earth, that he put inside an empty turnip. Since then, his spirit wanders looking a place to rest in peace.

When irish emigrants arrived to the USA and saw the great amount of orange pumpkins changed the turnip by the pumpkim. People believed that in Halloween (coming from All Hallows’s Eve) night ghosts and spirits would appear to take them to hell, so they wore fancy dresses to frighten them; besides they left them food and presents in their doors to keep them satisfied.

The “trick or treat” tradition was so implanted that in america is performed till nowadays.

As I could see there, Halloween is really a very important feast for american people. They had decoraded their houses several days before. At the Hight School, the week before halloween was special: people could go fancy dressed to classes! Each day there was a different subject for dressing. I am not very sure about how it was, but I think on monday it was the hats day; on tuesday, hippies’; wednesday, pirates’; thursday, I didn’t understand very well; and we couldn’t see more because we had to come back to Spain. It was a pity, how I would enjoy with fancy dresses! It would be a great idea to do like this at our spanish school.

I only got fancy dressed one day -when I realised-, on wednesday, I dressed like a pirate to go to the H.S.

I’d have enjoyed a lot if we’d stayed there for halloween night, to see for myself what I have always seen on TV films. But, at least, we had a halloween party before we went back. I dressed like a “dark angel” and let my friend Bea another dress of vampire woman. I love fancy dresses!

Bea and me 

In the party there was a lot of food and there was a contest about cutting pumpkins to make them faces. Mine was inspired, but nobody understood my art…

This is my happy pumpkin

-Yes, Carola is so much busy that we must do all her work!

-Mmm… Let’s start.

On Tuesday 9 Carola knew her timetable. She must go with Amanda to all her classes.

-Yes, it was a big disappointing because we had always heard that in American schools there are many different classes more interesting than we have in Spanish schools and we wanted to know them.

-I must say that most of Amanda’s classes were a bit boring but her French class was very interesting. I’ll tell us how is a normal day at school.

Carola woke up at 6:30 (as anybody else can see Yan and me we don’t need furbish ourselves so we could sleep more time) and we went to school at 7:40. At school we went with Amanda to her locker and later we go to her homeroom*. Here we waited they recited the hymn looking to the American flag and later we went to her first class.

Amanda had Language as her first class. She took this class in a very big room that had all the desks and the teacher’s table in one side and in the other side there were a big table and some chairs. The second side was always in the dark because they didn’t use it and Spanish students who were in this class were sitting there. It was a very good place for sleeping because there was no light and it was too early and we were very tired. There were three more Spanish guys in this class: Javi, Ines and Raquel.

-Yeah. And we don’t know if this class was interesting because Carola and us were always sleeping xD.

-Next class was maths. I agree with Yan. It was so boring because we couldn’t understand anything. But I think the teacher was very nice. She was always talking to us, and she spoke a little bit of Spanish. In this class there were two more Spanish: Godoy and Charly, who lived in the same American house. They were always sleeping too.

-And Biology was also a very boring class and I didn’t like the teacher.

-After Biology we had a break to take our lunch. All the people went to the eating place; they could take lunch from their home or they could buy at school. We could have free lunch at school because we for being the exchange students, so Carola brought her own lunch from home and took another one from school too.

-Yes, she thought she will return to Spain like a cow because they ate everyday pizzas, hamburgers, etc…

-That´s true, we missed Spanish food a lot.

After lunch we had the most interesting class: French class. It was the best class because we could understand everything and the teacher was very nice. This year Carola don’t take french at her spanish school but she participated a lot in this class in Milford. It was very interesting.

When the classes ended we went back home with Bea´s mother because we were neighbors and Amanda had always voleyball training.

Homeroom: is the class where students go before starting their classes and where they recite the hymn.

Today I have a little time to write this diary myself so I’ll tell you about our trip to Boston.

On Monday I woke up early because I had to be at school at 8:15. There we got again into a yellow school bus. Bea and me were sitting together and we were listening to music from my Ipod all the way.

Some time later we arrived to Boston. Then I thought that I didn’t like that city; I’m not sure why, but I didn’t like it. I think it’s ugly.

We went to the Science Museum and we got into a Duck Bus. It is a Bus that can go by the road and by the river. We made a visit around Boston from the river and for the streets. The travel for the river was very nice because the river was very misty and it was so nice.

Later we came back to the Science Museum and we got in to visit it. There was an spectacle or activity about the CSI and I was very excited for seeing it but we hadn’t got time enough.

But Bea and me decided to see the Museum, that was very interesting too.

Here I’m in the math’s room.

Here I’m in a space rocket.

-Yes, the first party was boring and the second one was boring and pretentious!

-No, that’s not true.

First party was a lunch with all the families at Ines’ house. It was a very big house. And here there were all the families with their exchange students. We ate hamburgers and played football.

And second party was a dressy dress party. It was a party where all the people must wear elegant clothes. It was a birthday party All there were like an American movie because there were fountains with ponche, it was in a gym, all the people were young students, etc… It was very nice.

-But the dressy dress party was very, very long because it lasted from 19:00 to 23:30. And the songs were stupids! I was very tired.

-I don’t think so. It was interesting because it was like a movie and Carola wore a very pretty dress.

-Yes that’s true. I think that her friends won’t believe it unless she shows them a photo. She never wear dresses!

Oh! Excuse me. I think that I have no time to write this diary everyday. I’ll be helped by my pair of “duendes de hombro”. I’m sorry because Yan, one of them, is very pessimistic. However I think the other one, Yin, will be very nice for you. Thank you and sorry for the changes.

- Hello I’m Yin and I’ll tell you all the story.

-Hey! I want to talk too.

-Ok, ok… He is Yan and he will help me to tell the story. Well, let me see what we were talking about. Oh! I know:

As Carola was saying, she woke up too early and as she hadn’t got anything to do she went to a supermarket with the others Spanish girls. At 12:30 they had to come back to the hotel to collect their baggages.

Spanish students went by bus to a big department store, that in USA are called “mal”. That mal was called Wretham Village. It was very nice because there was a lot of places for shopping.

-I don’t think so. It was bad because it invited to the consumerism and I don’t like it. Besides the weather was too hot and I was bored.

-Shut up! It’s me who is telling the story. Well, as I was saying they were at the mal a very short time. At 1:30 they arrived to Milford High School.

Carola saw a girl who had a paper with her name and she walked towards her. It was how Carola met Amanda and her mother, Christine. They went to their house and Carola with them. She was established in her new room.

That same day she went with Amanda for “baby-sitting” with her in a house but she was so tired that she felt asleep in the sofa.

-Yeah, it was a very intense day. And I was so tired too.

-I’m tired now. I think we must go to bed. Ok?

-Ok we will write more tomorrow. Good night.

Our fly was postponed and we boarded at 14.00 hours. I think the plane took off at 15.00 but I’m not sure.

We were in the plane for 7 hours. Everyone said the flight was very long and boring but I think it was amazing. I was amused all the time. I spent the time drawing, watching a film, walking up and down the plane and daydreaming. Flights are very interesting. I enjoyed looking through the window; it’s very funny because you can imagine that you are walking in the clouds.

The plane landed in Boston where there was a man waiting for us. When we exited the plane we had to pass through the customs. It was very strict: we had to answer some questions about us and our intentions. I think that it is so stupid: a terrorist don’t answer an inquiry saying “hello I’m a terrorist”…

We passed the customs, we met the man and we got into a yellow school bus. It was like the school bus in the Simpson! There, our teachers told us there had been a mistake and our american families couldn’t pick up us that day. We had to sleep in an hotel near Milford and next day we were picked up by our families; but that’s another story…

I’m Carola, a spanish girl. I’ll travel from Spain to USA for 3 weeks.

I go with my school in a exchange with an american girl.

I’ll use this site to talk about the things that I’ll do there.

Thanks for reading me ^^

See you.