Settling in

As I predicted-

Starting school has helped me settle into a routine which is a good thing because now I can consider my life here more normal and not new and scary.

Basically my day or the past four days have gone like this:

At 7:15 I wake up giving me 30 minutes to get to the bus. No one else in the house wakes up until after I leave so I have to be very quiet when I'm getting ready. Once ready, I sneak downstairs to the kitchen and make breakfast which usually is just bread and olive oil (honestly the best bread ever.. I'm not kidding Ben.. Denise would be proud). I try to leave for the bus stop at 7:40 but so far I've been late every day. Hopefully I'll be able to improve on that as the weeks go on. Next I walk out to the bus stop where I then sit next to this really creepy guy who likes to talk to himself (Nina). I've haven't had the opportunity to talk to him yet though because about five minutes later this other creepy guy who has some sort of creepy obsession with skulls pulls up and picks him up...

Once I get on the bus I just find the first empty seat because for me it's to early to try and embarrass myself making conversation. For some reason the sun doesn't rise here until about 8:30 here so I have a really hard time staying awake on the bus.

So far, each day at school has been different. For instance yesterday, I found myself not understanding anything and making no conversation with the people around me. Today though, was the complete opposite. I was actually able to pick out entire sentences when the teacher was talking. I think I've accepted the fact that I'm most likely going to fail this trimester. Yesterday I took a math test and I had no idea what the unit was even on. I know we're learning algebra but the problems are way different than anything I've ever seen. I didn't want to say anything though because I'm pretty sure the math teacher already hates me. Some teachers are really understanding with my reasons for being here and some I can tell just see me as a bother to the class and usually just ignore me struggling. English is still by far the best class obviously although it's getting a little boring considering all I do is just sit there. I don't even have to do the exercises. I literally just sit and pretend I'm listening. I had my first French class today. Surprisingly, even though I know absolutely no French, I found that knowing English and some Spanish I was able to make some connections. Of course that was just on months and numbers but it's a start I guess. I'm not to concerned about trying to learn French at the moment. Right now I'm more focused on the subjects I need to pass Junior year.

After school I always go straight home for lunch. I'm starting to love Spanish food. It's all so thoroughly prepared and always tastes really good. Usually, for me anyways, there's always a main meal, a smaller meal, kind of like an appetizer but it's served with the meal, and bread. For example, today the main meal was grilled pork in olive oil (amazing), served with a side of fresh shrimp and mussels, with another side of some sort of tomato salad, and bread. Lunch is served as soon as I get home for my family and you're expected to wait until dinner to eat which is anywhere from 9-11. Dinner is optional and I usually just skip it because that's also the time when I'm able to go downstairs and use the internet. Yesterday at 9:30 my host sister asked me if I wanted to go for a run which was actually just a really fast walk. We walked right past an outdoor band which was pretty interesting because it consisted of kids as young as 6 to adults. I'm excited to run more by myself and explore more of the city by foot instead of car.

Sunday I was able to go to the beach for the first time. Beaches here are a lot different than in Maine. I'm pretty sure everyone must go to the beach on Sundays because it was packed. I even saw one of my friends from Boston there. On the beach, I noticed that many women didn't wear bathing suit tops. This took some getting used to. I just stared at the sand until I decided to go swimming. The water here is so much warmer than Maine yet only a few people were swimming. Hopefully I'll get to go back soon because until I find a club to join I'm pretty sure that's the only way I'll be able to swim.

Anyways,

I think I have an Economy test tomorrow,

I should probably study for that,

Ha

Jokes.

-Libby