This morning, I woke up at 9:30 to get ready for my first day if school at I.E.S. La Madraza. Normally, I would be waking up at around 6:30, but classes began at noon today.
I had terrible jitters! I was so nervous that I was my hands were shaking and I couldn't eat breakfast. But I was overreacting, right?
So wrong.
When I got to school, my host mom introduced me to some girls in my grade and then introduced Karly to her new English teacher.
I did the cheek-kiss thing and stood with a group of about 6 girls...who totally and completely ignored me. It was awful! It's already muy dificil to understand what one person is saying directly to me, but when there are a half-dozen teenage girls babbling rapidly to each other, it's impossible (the nerves didn't help, either).
Once in the school building, I heard some students speaking familiar words. I was desperate to understand anything that was going on, so I asked them, "Are you speaking English?!" Sure enough, I was talking to two exchange students (one from Denmark and one from Norway) and a boy who went on exchange to Fresno, California last year.
Never in my life would I think that I'd be excited to hear that someone lived in Fresno!
It was such a relief to comprehend at least a little of the craziness around me.
When the bell rang, I followed my three new friends into a classroom (luckily, it was my correct class).
This is where my day really starts to go downhill.
I have no idea what class I was in. I just know that the teacher called my name while taking roll (a major plus). He wrote this very confusing schedule on the board which we were supposed to copy and handed out forms which we were supposed to fill out (I copied the board, but I just stared blankly at the form).
When the bell rang, I went to the office with the two other exchange students because we didn't know our schedules! After getting my schedule that I didn't understand printed out for me, I found out that the break was only 5 minutes long and that I'd probably already missed my next class.
I followed the other exchangers back to the same classroom we were in before (we were late) and I soon found out I was in the wrong class.
I was then escorted into my correct class and, while trying to hold back the tears, sat in my math class completely and utterly confused and embarrassed.
After that class was over, my math teacher, who thankfully speaks a good amount of english, took me to the office to get my schedule sorted out.
When we got to the office, I saw Karly- who was equally as lost as I was.
My math teacher helped us out and now I know where to go when. Unfortunately, I spent the majority of my first day of school in the office feeling 100% out of place rather than making friends.
After I got my schedule correct, my math teacher escorted me to my last class of the day- French.
Now I was absolutely dreading French due to the fact that I know literally nothing of the language.
Luckily, I had a wonderful French teacher who speaks some English and understands my total lack of French knowledge. When the kids were introducing themselves in French, my teacher let me introduce myself in Spanish and English instead.
Finally, the moment I'd been waiting all day for arrived- the final bell rang.
Not even acknowledging my fellow classmates, I walked straight for the doors. Hallelujah!
Soon enough, I saw my host brother, Samuel, and some of his friends who I had met before. I finally felt like I wasn't totally alone all day.
When Samuel and I began walking home, we saw Karly. Both Karly and I were so exhausted from not only trying to navigate through a new school, but from trying to navigate through a new school where everything is completely different and everyone is speaking a language you don't understand very well.
After eating lunch at home (which is totally rad), I fell asleep.
When my bedroom light went off, my brain could also turn off.
All day everyday in Spain, especially today, my brain is on. I am always thinking about what people are saying and translating it. It is incredibly tiring.
Thank God for siestas.
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CLARIFICATION:
I don't know how often all y'all read my blog (if you're even this far, I thank you immensely), but if you read it fairly often, you may have noticed how I post about "last night" or "tomorrow morning". The thing is, I often times write a post when I don't have internet and actually upload it when I'm in a wifi zone (which is seldom). So I may post something saying "today" or something and it was 2 days ago. Also, I may upload like 3 posts at a time. I don't know why I feel I should be telling you this, but I already typed it all out.
Muchas gracias! xo
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