Spain: Before You Read

(In reference to future blogs)

The ABC's. Reading with an open mind. thanks :)

As my next blog posts contain a TON of information, it is very important for you to understand the following things:

A) These posts are written by me.

I say this because I am an exchange student from the USA. My views and experiences will be different than those of a typical Spaniard. I don't speak Spanish...enough. There are times of possible miscommunication. I stick out as a foreigner here.

B) I say it how it is.

I don't want to be a negative blogger, or someone who exaggerates. Those are no fun. I try to avoid bias opinions, or make ignorant comments. At the same time, please remember that I also try to give my point of view as an exchange student. I won't be telling you the names and history of Spain, or the significance of the monument that "what's his name" built muchos años ago. Yeaaaaaa no.

And please remember I live in Madrid. I don't know the life of someone in the north, or the south, on the east, or the west. And I will not generalize Spain together as a country. Comments are only from what I have experienced. Just think. If you were to live in your neighbor's house, it may seem like a different country.

Lifestyles are different. It doesn't matter how far you go.

C) Cat is to dog, as tree is to...blog?

If you can give me two minutes of a second grader's imagination, imagine this:

A tree grows from the ground, starting with the trunk. The trunk supports the entire tree. Next come the branches which expand the tree, making it bigger. After the branches come smaller branches, and finally leaves. Leaves work together to give a tree it's pretty color. Some leaves are rotten, and no individual leaf is perfect- but all of the leaves work together to give an overall pretty color. With leaves comes change. Seasons change leaves. There's nothing anyone can do about it. It's natural. Some changes make the leaves look prettier, while other changes make the tree look rather...not the greatest. But even during the harsh winter months, trees still have their place in nature with the beauty of ice and snow.

A blog. You start from the basics and write stories after you have established the base. It is impossible to understand the stories without understanding the basics. Some things I write might be compared to the ugly truth, while others might seem like "that perfect leaf." But not even how perfect something may seem, it still gets weathered and eventually ends up on the ground. But not even how terrible something may seem, it still has it's place on the tree, filling an empty space. If you were to pick off all of the leaves on a tree leaving only the good ones, you would be left with very few. Probably none.

Stories. They have their ups and downs. Not everything is perfect, while what might seem bad is natural. In order to understand one thing, you must understand the source.

Trees.

Maple, Oak, Pine.....Tourist, Exchange Student, Native.

All share some same qualities. All have a trunk, all need the basics of life to live, all go through changes, etc. But within trees are differences, even though more or less it is the same concept.