Classes, etc.

Yesterday was the first day of classes. On Wednesday we took a placement test to determine our level. We take the classes we're in now, which are a grammar class and a conversation and writing class, for the first 3 weeks of the semester and then we start the regular term and take 4 or 5 classes each. I can't remember exactly what classes I signed up for, but I now one is Spanish literature, one if Spanish history and one is Spanish cinema. I like my classes so far, even though today was only second day, and my teachers are good too. I think I was placed into exactly the right level so the work is a good level for me.

Yesterday was a really fun day because after classes I went shopping with a few other girls and for almost the entire afternoon we spoke almost entirely in Spanish. It was a great confidence booster that it's actually possible for me to communicate in Spanish. Lots of time when we're together with the whole group, we mostly speak English which I want to try to stop doing as much because it makes us stand out more (not that our accents don't stand out anyway) and because the more we speak to each other in Spanish the faster we'll become really comfortable with it. During our shopping trip I bought some postcards of Madrid and a pair of really pretty earrings from a nice guy that was selling jewelry in the corner of the plaza. He asked us to go to a store down the road and buy him some bottles of water, so he gave us money to buy it and we said we would. Then when we got back I decided to buy the earrings and he gave me a discount because we got the water for him. 

I'm starting to get to know the other people in the program more which is nice, especially the two girls I live with. I already knew a bunch of the people who are from my school, but it's fun to spend time with them outside of classes, which is how we mostly know each other from school. Having people in the house with me is definitely helping me settle in. There are certain things about being here that I'm still getting used to, like wearing slippers all the time in the house because bare feet or socks in the house is frowned upon here. I love being barefoot inside so it's taking some getting used to.

Another thing that's cool here is the cars. Most of them are really small and even the companies that we know in the U.S. have different models of cars that I've never seen or heard of before. There are also several common companies that I don't recognize at all. I've also seen several Smart Cars. :)

Well, I guess I should stop for now. I felt like I had so much I wanted to write about but now I can't remember it all. I will try to add pictures if I can figure out how.