Trips and Other Stuff

okay so I havent written a blog in awhile. I just havent really been in the 
mood, but last night I skyped with my family and my friend Emily (also my 
brothers girlfriend). My mom told me how people have been asking why I havent 
posted in awhile, and emily informed me the screen outside my schools main 
office advertises my blog. Therefore, I feel obligated to finally catch up and 
make a post. Since I havent written one in awhile this one might be pretty long 
and choppy with scattered thoughts. To start off, these past few weeks have been 
been pretty hard. I expected this to be hard but didnt realize how hard it 
would be. Hahaha If anyone has talked to my mom this past week you know overall 
how its going for me. Anyways I'll try to explain some of my struggles but for 
most of it I am just going to try and write only about the positive things.

I've tried to limit talking with friends at 
home, but still give in and have a few friends I'll talk to at least once a 
week. I finally skyped some of my friends for the first time last week. First I 
skyped 2 of my best friends Logan and Jenn. Right when I saw there faces I 
started balling my eyes out! Both because I was so happy to see them and I also 
missed them a lot! It was nice to catch up with them and hear about what's been 
going on in their lives. After I skyped with my friend Kurt, this time I was 
able to compose myself and not ball my eyes out like I did with Logan and Jenn! 
It's been weird not being able to talk with my friends that I am used to talking 
to everyday, but I was happy I skyped with them:) My friend Andrea, who I've 
mentioned in other posts, is another exchange student who went to my school. She 
had some problems with her host family and last week changed families. She's now 
in the center of Madrid. It's only been a few days without her in school, but I already miss her a lot:( Her last day we had to give a presentation for Chemistry/Physics. It did not go so well. I had everything written on a paper that I read from, which I think I did okay with. When the teacher started asking me questions everything went down hill. I was so nervous so I couldn't comprehend anything he was asking me and I just stood at the front looking like a deer in the headlights.He was nice though and told me to calm down and it was okay. When we finished he said we did a good job though. Anyways the past weekends I traveled to Cadiz and Paris! This was really awesome.

Cadiz:
I originally was invited to Cadiz for Carnaval before I arrived in Spain by a 
girl I became friends with through the exchange student Facebook page. She is 
really nice, but unfortunately she ended up leaving the program early. Luckily 
my friend Nirmala lives in Cadiz too, so I went to visit her and go to carnaval 
with her instead. It was amazing! Cadiz is a beautiful city! Nirm lives about a 
2 minute walk from the beach, which was great. We went to the beach a little, 
but it was really windy so we didn't stay for long. Andrea, nirm, and I all 
needed a haircut so we decided to just go for it and get our haircut in Spain! 
We were a little nervous that maybe they wouldn't understand us and suddenly all 
our hair was cut off! It turned out good though, and the people that cut our 
hair were really nice! Carnaval was in the center of the city so we had to take 
a bus to get there. Carnaval was so energetic and exciting with all the people 
dressed up in costumes and people singing and dancing on the streets. It was 
packed with people though, so it was hard making it through crowds with Andrea, 
nirm, and nirms friends. I'm not sure how to correctly explain carnaval so 
here's an explanation from wikipedia:

Los Carnavales is one of the best-known carnivals in Spain. The whole city participates in the carnival for more than two weeks each year, and the presence of this fiesta is almost constant in the city because of the rehearsals, recitals, and contests held throughout the year.

It is a widely held opinion that the city of Cadiz is blessed with the wittiest people in Spain, so it is not surprising that the main characteristics of the carnival in Cádiz are the acerbic criticisms, the droll play on words, stinging sarcasm, and the irreverence of parody. While some carnivals, elsewhere in the world, stress the spectacular, the glamorous, or the scandalous in costumes, Cádiz distinguishes itself with the sheer cleverness and fertile imagination of its carnival attire. It is traditional to paint the face as a humble substitute for a mask.





It is easy to get involved in the fiesta even if one is a visitor and knows no Spanish. On Saturday, everyone wears a costume, which, many times, is related to the most polemical aspects of the news. However, the Carnival of Cádiz is most famous for the satirical groups of performers called chirigotas. Their music and their lyrics are in the center of the carnival.


Now the weekend after Cadiz I went to Paris with my school. I loveeee Paris and 
for those of you that don't know, it was actually the reason I became and 
exchange student. So here's the story: I went to Europe over the summer with my 
school in the US. We went to London, Paris, Florence, and Rome. I fell in love 
with the city of Paris and thought the language sounded so beautiful. I am not a 
history person, but was actually interested in the history I learned about Paris 
when I was there. So I came home and had this desire to learn French, I bought 
Rosetta Stone with my own money and literally spent so much time in the summer 
learning French. I swear I'm not lying! My friends Logan, Jenn, and Alyssa would 
make fun of me because I was ALWAYS doing Rosetta Stone! So one night I was like 
hey! Being an exchange student would be cool, I'm gonna look into it. I did some 
research and then presented a slideshow to my parents of why I should be an 
exchange student. When they took the idea seriously we began to consider other 
countries. Spain ended up winning for several reasons, but mostly because I was 
actually learning Spanish in school, and French isn't even offered (I ended up 
exchanging my French Rosetta Stone for Spanish by the way) ANYWAYS MY PARIS TRIP

PARIS 
Obviously it was amazing because it's Paris! A majority of people speak some 
English in Paris, so at restaurants, stores, etc. workers spoke to me in 
English. For some reason I always accidentally replied in Spanish just by 
natural instinct because they weren't Native American speakers (whenever people 
in Spain speak to me in English I always reply in Spanish) it's hard to explain 
that feeling but it was weird. I did learn some simple phrases in French to use 
just so I could be somewhat respectful to the people of France (yes I don't 
remember any french I learned in the summer). I finally got my first Starbucks 
in Europe!! I'm not a huge die hard lover of Starbucks, but it's the closest 
thing I can get to my dads coffee shop Jo for the Road, which is 10 times 
better. It was funny because the language the French and the Spanish shared was 
English, so whenever we needed directions they asked in English. I don't know 
why the teachers never asked for Claire Andrea and I's help because we kept 
getting lost. I never knew when they were asking for directions though, or I 
would've listened to the directions we were given. Overall Paris was great and I 
had a lot of fun:)

Segovia
Segovia was just a day trip I took with my host family on Sunday. It was only 
about an hour drive north of where I live. First we went to a palace and 
explored the gardens, which were very pretty. After we went to the actual city 
of Segovia which was also very beautiful. In the city we at a "traditional 
Spanish" restaurant. At this restaurant they have this tradition when someone 
orders a baby pig to eat (yes the whole pig comes out on a platter). The person 
in the restaurant then presents the pig to the whole restaurant (idk what he 
said though) and then cuts it with a plate. He took a regular plate and just 
pushed it onto the pig everywhere. The meat is really soft to make this 
possible. After he finishes cutting it he simply just throws the glass plate 
where it shattered in front of us. The plate doesn't actually cut the pig into 
separate pieces so after the plate is thrown they separate the pig and serve it 
on plates for us. It was a pretty interesting thing to see! 


This week I'm finally going to go and actually explore madrid for our 
interhispania trip (interhispania is my Spanish company I came through and 
they've organized some trips for us) I'm really excited to see the other 
students and hear how there lives in Spain are going!

I'm too lazy to put all the pictures on my blog because it takes a long time to individually pick each one so heres a link to my Facebook album with my pictures from the past trips and other pictures I finally uploaded. 

https://www.facebook.com/camille.wyand/media_set?set=a.651584874899615.1073741832.100001443265031&type=3

One Month Down!

So I have officially been here for more than a month! I can’t tell if it went by super fast or slow (I think fast though). Last weekend was my one month mark and I was feeling really bad about my spanish, for I still struggle to understand a lot. After talking to some other exchange students, I found this was normal. There is another exchange student who has been here the whole year named Sophia. I know her through our exchange student facebook group and we have talked a lot. She also came with almost no spanish, so since she has gone through this all she always gives me great advice and makes me feel better:) I have been working pretty hard and try to limit my English. I have only listened to MY american music once(half their music on the radio is from the US though), and I have also kept myself from watching any tv shows or movies in English. This week I began reading the book The Fault in Our Stars in Spanish, which is called Bajo La Misma Estrella, which actually translates to “Under the same star”. I think I have spent more than 2 hours reading it and I am only 15 pages in. I have read those 15 pages several times though. I read and try to comprehend it, and highlight words I don’t know along the way. Then I go back and look up the words and try to understand the details of it, and then re read them. I read half of the book in English, so I am hoping once I get to the part I left off in English I will be able to complete it easily in Spanish. 

Last week I started taking ballet classes! I really like it:) It’s hard sometimes because the teacher shows the combination ONLY one time and then we do it. So trying to understand what she is saying along with memorizing the combination is pretty difficult for me. The teacher and other girls in the class are very nice though. Monday after ballet on my way to the bus stop I stopped at a pasteleria called Rosquipan (there are so many everywhere, which is awesome). At the pasteleria I met the owner named David. He is from London so we talked for a little in English. He was extremely nice and told me all the people that come in there love the donuts, but they only have them in the morning because they sell out so fast. When I told him I could only stop in in the afternoons when I have dance, he said he would set one aside for me when I have dance wednesday! So yesterday I went to get my donut, as I was walking down the sidewalk Vincente (the other worker I met monday) was outside cleaning the windows and greeted me with a big smile and an “Hola Camille!”. I was happy he remembered me! Then when I walked in David’s wife Anna already knew who I was and introduced herself and told me she heard all about me from David! After I got my donut I asked if I could stay a little and read before dance, so David got me a chair, told me to make myself at home, and offered me coffee. I assumed I was going to pay for the coffee but when David gave it to me I asked how much and David exclaimed, “No, no, you’re at home you don’t have to pay for it!” I thought this was very sweet and generous:) I ended up not reading but instead talked with David and Anna the whole time. Anna is an English teacher, and I spoke with her in Spanish and she would correct me when I would say something wrong or tell me words I didn’t know, which I really liked! They said I can come in every Monday and Wednesday before dance, which I look forward too because they brightened my day with their kindness:)

Yesterday was my last day of school for a week, Primero Bachillerato (my grade) has their finals Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. When they do finals here, there is only 1 or 2 a day and then they go home. I don’t have to take any so I don’t have to go at all! So today for lunch Andrea and I took the bus to Villalba (a larger town next to our town) for lunch. We had no idea where would be good, so we stopped in at Rosquipan to say hi to David, Anna, and Vincente and ask where a good place to eat was, and also buy a pastry for our dessert after lunch:) Anna told us about a restaurant close by. It was very good, I kinda like fish, but typically don’t prefer it, but Anna said the restaurant had great fish so I tried it and it was delicious! Andrea and I talked to each other in Spanish the whole lunch and mostly on the way back to the bus stop. We also stopped to get some snacks for our train ride tomorrow. Tomorrow for   the weekend I am going to Cadiz with Andrea to visit my friend, another exchange student, Nirmala, and go to Carnaval! I think my next post will be devoted solely to my Carnaval experience:) I am a little nervous to travel by myself though with Andrea, but Andrea has traveled more by train before and doesn’t seem worried.

Now just some random stuff from this week. My host brother showed me a tablecloth and said the word for it in Spanish “mantel” and asked how to say it in english. I could not think of the word!! I felt so stupid but Pablo assured me that it was good because that means I am thinking so much in Spanish. This also happened at dinner with friends when they were asking me what the song was we sing at the beginning of sporting events called in English. I could not think of the word anthem, and finally remembered when we translated the spanish word for it! A funny thing I learned this week is animals make different sounds in Spanish. Dogs don’t say “Woof woof!” but insead say “Wow wow!” and birds don’t say “tweet tweet!” but instead “pio pio!”. I never even thought about animal sounds being different. This weekend I went to a Real Madrid basketball game with my host family which was fun, and Real Madrid won:) On my bulletin board I have several pictures, and one is with one of my best friends John at his bowling match. In the picture is a sign I made that says “for a man twirler you’re really good at bowling!” (If you are reading this and not from the Howland area, this may not make sense to you, sorry!). Spain doesn’t have marching bands, so I had to explain marching bands to my host brother and sister, and then what a band major and majorettes were in order to explain the joke of the sign. I did this by showing them the Ohio State marching band to demonstrate what John does as the Drum Major for my school, and then found some videos of my high school band so they could see all my friends who are the majorettes. It was pretty hard to explain in Spanish, but it was cool to show them something that they don’t have in Spain but is pretty big in High Schools in the U.S. Thats another thing I learned, high schools in the U.S. are actually awesome, and I now appreciate my high school a lot more! Girls always ask me about Prom and Homecoming when I say I am from the U.S. also other people have explained how cool they think it is since sports are so huge at schools in the US too. Schools here don’t really have sports through the schools as much, and if they do it’s not like in the U.S. where for example we all go to the football games on fridays and cheer in the student section while dressed up according to the theme. In the U.S. we also have a lot more freedom and options for school too, like honors and AP classes, or our electives like choir, drama, different types of art classes, programming, etc. Here you pick a track either Humanities or Sciences, and then you are basically given the classes you have to take. In a way I think this is good though because you are already on track learning what you will need in college. Okay well I think that’s all I have for now so, Hasta Luego!

Great Weekend:)

This weekend was the best yet! Friday my friend Taylor, the other exchange student from China, brought me and Andrea out to meet a few of his friends. They were very nice, and we had a lot of fun. Taylor’s best friend in Spain knows English very well, so I would try to speak in Spanish but everyone ended up speaking mostly in English. I don’t like when people speak to me in English because I want to practice Spanish. When people just speak to me in English without trying Spanish, I sometimes tell them to speak Spanish, but then I am embarrassed when I don’t understand. Most people speak to me in Spanish first though, then if I don’t understand they will explain it in English. I like when people do that more. When I hung out with Taylor and his friends, I took the bus for the first time by myself! On the way there Sonia had to go to Basketball so she helped us get there (it was very easy). On the way home Andrea and I were a little nervous. Paty, my other host sister, was texting me reminders about the bus. One text Andrea and I thought was just information we already knew, but eventually asked Taylor to make sure we translated correctly. We didn’t. The text was telling us to press a button on the bus when we needed to get off. Andrea and I didn’t know this so thank god we asked Taylor! He explained that one of his first nights out he took the bus home and didn’t know that and long story short it was a really really bad experience for him! So I am happy that didn’t happen to us. 

Saturday I went to a surprise party for my friend Laura. I was really excited to be hanging out with only Spanish people, but I was also soooooo nervous all day! My spanish is getting better, but it is still a struggle for me to communicate and understand. At first I felt a little awkward because I had no idea what anyone was talking about, and therefore couldn’t contribute to any conversations. Eventually everyone was including me and helping me understand. I met a girl Clara at the party who I really like, but she doesn’t go to my school. She was very nice, and we had a lot of fun talking, dancing, and taking pictures! It was hard not being able to be my usual self at the party because of my Spanish, but overall I still had a lot of fun with everyone!

Sunday, Andrea and I went shopping! I brought a small amount of clothes so I could buy a lot of clothes here. Because of when our host parents could drop us off and pick us up we were there for a longgggg time. We didn’t mind though:) When we were there I realized it was near the town my friend Emilio lived. Emilio was an exchange student from Spain at my high school last year that I was friends with. I wanted to meet up with Emilio, but unfortunately he was really busy. We planned on hanging out soon though, which I am very excited for! I am hoping when we hang out I will be able to speak with him only in Spanish. 

School today was veryyyy boring because I was extremely tired from skyping my mom late last night. School is hard enough to pay attention in the U.S. when I understand the language and wayyy harder here because I barely understand what the teachers are saying! I finally performed my song for my English class though. We sang the cup song for our English song. For our Spanish song, we ended up singing the song Vamos a la Playa (several of us exchange students loved singing this song all the time in Barcelona). It was a pretty easy song to sing since part of it was in English. Andrea and I added some choreography which everyone thought was hilarious. Even though our voices were HORRIBLE the teacher loved our performance and gave us a 10 (grades here are 1-10, they don’t have A’s, B’s, etc.) We also had to record it, and later edit the video by adding cool effects, so maybe I will put it up on my blog when I finish. It’s pretty embarrassing though so I’m not sure!

p.s. To any of my English teacher’s that are reading this, I originally was trying to have good grammar and follow all the rules I have learned while writing these blog posts. I got too tired of paying attention to those detals. Please don’t be disappointed with my several grammatical errors I made or will make:) hahahah

Me, Clara, Pablo, and Julio at the surprise party:)

School and Food Differences

This week I met the other exchange student in the grade above me named Taylor. He is from China, but lived in Hawaii for awhile so is fluent in English. During break I went to the pastry shop by my school with him. He was very nice, and told me he wanted me to come hang out and meet his friends! He also told me he was only supposed to stay for the first semester, but loved Spain so much he is staying for the second! I am still working on feeling completely settled and comfortable. I don’t think this will happen until I can converse more easily though. I can tell my ability to understand and speak is getting better, but I still have awhile to go to reach where I want to be. I thought dancing here was non existent, but I finally met a girl that dances! She is very nice and told me where she danced. I think I might try and take some ballet and modern classes there. I am a little nervous to try and take classes though because of my lack Spanish, but I know it will actually help my Spanish and help me meet more people. I think I will go and watch a class first though, just to see what it’s like.

I am understanding more in Chemistry and Math because what they learn is the same in the U.S. I have realized though they teach things differently. In math I go crazy because the teacher NEVER factors any equation(which is faster) and instead goes straight to the quadratic formula. In my school in the U.S. we use the quadratic formula only when it can’t be factored or has larger numbers that would take a while to figure out how it factors. Also in Chemistry we are doing Lewis structures. The teacher always goes through all these steps I think are unnecessary, but the way I learned involves very few steps and is much faster. A concept I haven’t figured out in school is substitute teachers. I think when a teacher isn’t here they just don’t have class and instead it’s a free period. The other day my Chem teacher didn’t come to class, but I saw him in another class earlier and at lunch after. This confused me. 2 other different things I’ve noticed in school is all notebooks are graph paper, and I think notecards are barely used for studying. I wanted notecards to study Spanish and we went to a lot of different stores before finally finding these odd large ones that were lined on both sides. 

Today during lunch the gym teacher sat at a table with us because the teacher’s table was full. We ended up staying in the cafeteria the whole lunch talking with him. He spoke to us in English to practice, and we spoke back in Spanish. We discovered most sports in Spain are played through outside clubs and not through the schools. When I told him my school has a bowling team, he laughed and said “Typical americans” which I thought was pretty funny (my friend John on the bowling team wasn't so happy when I told him that comment though hehe). Also, sports in college isn’t like the U.S. you can play sports in college, but college sports aren’t very popular and shown on TV like in the U.S. There’s no such thing as scholarships for athletes to play at a college either. The gym teacher then told us about his opinions of the U.S. when he went to Orlando when he was younger. He explained how he thought it was cool that you could wear anything anywhere and no one cared. He said there were also more fat people and they didn’t seem embarrassed of their clothing, like when they wear tight clothes and short shorts. I thought this was hilarious! 

FOOD!!!! So I haven’t talked much about meals here. Breakfast is much smaller, and eggs are NOT a breakfast food here! Lunch is the largest meal of the day and is eaten around 2 or 3. Dinner is eaten veryyyyy late. We typically eat dinner around 9:30. When we eat dinner at my house here, we all eat dinner together every night. After dinner, we almost always have some type of dessert. I have discovered fruit is considered a dessert here. Dinner is longer too, for we spend a lot of time talking about our day and usually wait for everyone to finish eating before we leave the table. When we have hamburgers for dinner we use toast instead of buns, and sometimes use one piece of toast on the bottom and pile everything on top. If they use it like a bun, on the top and bottom, they cut it with a knife. I still eat mine with my hands though. Pancakes(my favorite food) are non existent here, but my family has maple syrup, which their exchange student last year gave them, so one day they said we will make pancakes, eggs, toast, and bacon, a “typical american breakfast”:) Since dinner is later everyone stays up later too, I think I am always the first one to go to sleep. Dinner may last until 10:30-11 so I usually go to sleep right after dinner even though I wake up much later for school (8 but in the U.S. I woke up at 6:45). 

After some complications I am officially going to Cadiz for Carnival! I am sooooooo excited, and also excited to see my friend Nirmala:) The weekend after Cadiz  I go to Paris, and it seems like almost everyone in my grade is also going!

2 Weeks Down

Week 2 is complete! This week of school was still pretty difficult, but it keeps getting easier. Chemistry has been so confusing (it’s confusing in English). Last week my teacher gave me a book and had me study the chapter on Ionic and Covalent Bonds. I figured he was just giving me the easy stuff to start with in order for me to build up to what they were doing. I was wrong, for Friday he began teaching this chapter. I think I had a huge grin on my face the whole class because I understood what he was teaching. When he started doing Lewis structures examples I was already a pro, and I think the class was actually confused! (Emelia if you’re reading this, I kept thinking how much I wanted to give you a high five for understanding, also I hope chemistry without me is going good:) ) I also am now officially going to Paris with the Primero Bachillerato grade in March! I am hoping through this trip I will be able to become closer with the students in my grade. Andrea, Claire and I are also planning on going to Cadiz for a weekend in March to see some of our friends and attend Carnaval! Carnaval in Cadiz is a pretty big deal I guess. 

I have become pretty good friends with the students in the grade below me. I went to dinner with a ton of them for Valentine’s day on Friday. It was a lot of fun. I have really clicked with a girl named Iris (who in my opinion looks just like Lily Collins, an actress in the Blind Side). She is very sweet and funny and we said we are going to go shopping sometime soon! I brought a small amount of clothes so I could have room to shop and bring back more. Also, a girl named Paula and I bonded over our mutual love for Joseph Gordon-Levitt at dinner. I was wearing my Tiffany & Co. heart earrings my best friend Logan gave me before I left for Spain, and when Paula saw them she explained how she loved the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s but never knew Tiffany’s actually existed! I was so excited to hear this because I also love Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Audrey Hepburn:) Overall, it was a great dinner!

My technical drawing teacher saw my sketchbook and was very impressed with my artistic skills. I also couldn’t understand the technical drawing stuff at all, so now my drawing teacher gives me artistic drawing assignments instead, which I really like! I really like my drawing class. There are two boys that sit next to me that are very funny and nice. I talk a lot with Patrick who I discovered wants to go to college at the University of Chicago! He told me his favorite movie is Never Back Down, and when I told him I met Sean Faris from the movie Never Back Down on a movie set my cousin worked on he was shocked and didn’t believe me. Even after I showed him the picture he kept exclaiming “No te creo!” (I don’t believe you). He also invited me to Madrid next weekend with his friends, which I am very excited about because 1. I haven’t gone to Madrid yet 2. He mentioned something about Starbucks (I miss getting drinks at my dads coffee shop every day and starbucks is very similar) and 2. This means I am actually making friends my age hehe:)

Last night my host family and I went to the mall to get some things I needed. It was a hugeeee mall and had so many stores that I can’t wait to eventually go through and shop in. One funny thing I noticed in stores is that all shirts with writing are in English! I don’t think I saw one shirt with a phrase or words in Spanish. We also went into a store which had a whole section with shirts that had U.S. colleges on them! I laughed and had to take a picture. After shopping we went to eat at Pizza Hut, which was kinda nice to get some American food I am used to eating at home.  

 Everyone after dinner!

Iris and I:)

 Claire, Me, and Andrea in our Uniforms

 Our gym uniforms

The view of the mountains in my town

The shirts with U.S. colleges that made me laugh

2nd Week of School

So today was a pretty funny day. In English class we all have to get in groups and sing a song. Everyone is singing songs in English, but Claire, Andrea and I have to sing one in Spanish and English. We listened to the songs everyone picked which included Demons by Imagine Dragons, Imagine by John Lennon, Let it Be by the Beatles, and The Story of My Life by One Direction. Manny, the teacher, was giving everyone tips on how to pronounce sounds that aren't in the Spanish language. One is the "w" sound. His example was wood. We discovered that some people would actually make a "g" sound so it would actually sound more like "good". For our English song one of the Spanish girls suggested "What Does the Fox Say". I loved this idea! I thought it would be hilarious and we could've done the dance they do in the video to make it even funnier. Everyone around me agreed it would be funny, but Claire and Andrea hate the song and think it's annoying so were not doing it:( We ended class by playing Just Dance, which was awesome!

In the library I saw my little friends, and met more of their friends. All the little girls played with Andrea and I's hair almost the whole period. I loveeee when people play with my hair, so I didn't mind at all:) The funniest part of the day was in lunch. I've noticed a little the past week that when we take our trays up when we're done the teacher's will occasionally tell people to go back and eat more. The teacher in charge today took this VERY VERY seriously. She first came up to me when I sat down and told me I HAD to get a piece of fruit to eat even though I didn't want one. Whenever a student got up the teacher would check if they ate all of their food, and if they didn't they were sent back to their table to finish. You literally could not have any food left on your plate (The amount of food we get is wayyy more than the lunches my school serves in the US). One student snuck past her and she actually ran across the cafeteria to check and make sure they ate all their food, it was ridiculous! I was able to run and sneak past her though. I was cracking up the whole lunch as everyone tried to spread their food around and hide it under the plates. I just think this rule is stupid because why should you have to eat all the food if you don't like it or if you are full?

Anyways, the grade I spend most of the day in is Primero Bachillerato, which equivalent to 11th grade in the US. In March, Primero Bachillerato is taking a school trip to Paris! So as of now, I am pretty sure Claire, Andrea and I are going to go. I love Paris, so I am very excited!

One Week Down

Well, it's been a week since I arrived at my host family's house. This week has been very good at times, and also very bad. I feel like each day my spanish gets a little bit better. I still can't understand a lot and always are asking people to repeat and talk slower. This really frustrates me, for I just want to reach the point where it all just clicks (I still have awhile until then though).

I finally got my uniform so I won't stick out even more than I already do. My main focus in school is to just learn the language for now. One of the best parts of this week was with these three little 9 years old girls. They kept walking past Claire and I's classes to look at us. Finally, one day in the lunch line we saw them whispering and looking at us. They finally ran up and started talking to us. It was adorable! They always come up to us in the lunch line now to talk to us, and whenever they leave they always give us a kiss on the cheek. I love seeing them in school, for they always smile really big and get so excited. They've even tried to set up play dates with us to meet them in the library during break. Unfortunately though, our break times are not at the same.

This weekend I went to Claire's house to work on our song for English class. All the students have to sing a song in English, but we have to sing ours in Spanish. We chose the song Vivir Mi Vida by Marc Anthony. After, we watched some of the olympics with her host family, and then hung out and talked with her host brother Javi for awhile. Javi, Claire, and I had a lot of fun just hanging out and talking (mostly in spanish) together. Claire and I then went to see American Hustle. Javi couldn't come because he had to study. When he told us this, Claire put an "L" on our forehead jokingly making fun of him, but him and his little brother Dani had no idea what that meant! We thought it was funny, but we explained to them making and L on your forehead signifies someone is a loser. Anyways, American Hustle was in Spanish, therefore we barely understood what the movie was even about. I still thought it was good though, mostly because I loved all the actors in it, especially Jennifer Lawrence!

My host family has been very nice! They have made me feel very welcome into their home. My host dad knows I like the show Doctor Who and found when it will be on TV so I can watch it in Spanish, which made me very happy. I also showed my host sister Sonia the game flappy bird, and now the whole family plays it!