Diving in

If there was one word to summarize my first week, it would be ‘crazy.’

Spanish 

On the first day class day of the program, I didn’t think jet lag would get to me - but it did. Not that class was boring, but I couldn’t help feel my eyelids shut on me. We were all a little nervous the first class day because we had a little test for Spanish class placement and I felt like my Spanish definitely wasn’t up to par. Luckily, everybody did pretty well and we got placed in classes that matched our ability. Having only a little bit of Spanish from class back home, I got into class and was a little nervous was again. My teacher seemed super nice (and ended up being super nice) so that kind of eased my nervousness but I was like “what?!” when I learned she didn’t know very much English so the class was actually going to be a real Spanish class. Despite this, our first day of class was so much fun and I looked forward to going to class every time! So far we’ve only had two classes but what separates this language class from one back home is simply that it really is in all Spanish. Back home, my teacher would try her best to speak in Spanish but kids would get her to speak English eventually because they didn’t understand the instructions but I think it’s vital to be placed in uncomfortable situations that make you more aware of what’s going on. In social situations, I get by with Spanish pretty well because I’ve learned not to be afraid of trying to speak Spanish as the people here actually appreciate when Americans actually try!!

First Impressions

To be honest, we all kind of felt a little lost on the first day but mainly because we just spent an entire day of traveling and our brains weren’t exactly processing any of what was being told to us haha. We didn’t know very much about our schedule so there wasn’t much interaction. Come the next day, we got a complete schedule which sparked some (good) conversation and people started to get to know one another. Activities in class as well as ice breaker activities led by our program leader Maureen helped out a bunch and by the end of this first week, we’re like one big family. Both the group and class brought up feelings of anxiousness because I’m in a foreign country with people I don’t know but every day is so much fun now! 

I have TONS of pictures to share but I’m having a little bit of technical difficulties so,

Until next time,

Jan Filip Alfaro