A day in the Life...

of ME :)!

Durring the school week my day begins at 7am, when my alarm goes off and I can´t beleive that its already time to get up again (being an exchange student is tiring, plus I´ve been actually dreaming here (I don´t usually!) and waking up not as rested, I think I´ve read that its also from processing the langauge while you sleep? I don´t know).

Then I get ready for school (just like at home :) ). But I don´t use a backpack, instead I have a big purse that I put my books in, just like all the other girls here. Also, I actually have to carry textbooks, which isn´t as tragic as it would be in the US because they are all paperback and not THAT thick (except for physics and chemistry...uuugh lol) but the weight still does add up. Then its down the stairs for breakfast (oh, another random note, I have PE two days each week and on those days I wear my nikes to school, again just like all the other kids, all the other days its flip flops, there is no dress code here so you can wear whatever you want :). Also, no PE lockers, in fact the locker room is just like a bathroom with a little empty thing attached for changing, and four showers, which we only use after the pacer (for the adults, pacer= evil thing where you run A LOT) )

Ok back to what I was saying, breakfast. Thats probably the most ´normal´ (meaning US like) meal of my day, I usually eat oatmeal, and my host mom eats cereal. After that, at about 7:35 I walk to school (22minutes, usually) then look in my planner and figure out which classroom I´m going to (different everyday). The beginning of school consists of a lot of kisssing cheeks while we´re saying hello and waiting for the teacher (who sometimes shows up like 10minutes after the period started! lol). My class schedule changes everyday, but school begins at 8am, break is from 10:45-11:15 (I always go to the same caféteria, alone, because my brain needs a break! Plus I like the consistency of having one thing the same in my constantly different days) Then three more classes from 11:15 to 2pm, when I walk home.

My subjects in school are Industrial Technology, Math, Spanish Literature, General Science, Physics and Chemistry, Philosophy, PE, Study Activities (dont´ask me what the class is for..I have no idea :) ), Tutoria (like advisory, except for better, the person is actually supposed to help you, and its good because your with the same kids all day, so if a problem between kids were to occur its good to have an adult to help sort it out), and Apollo Idiomatica (Langauge Help, like ESL, but for learning Spanish, just me and one other girl though :) ). I have some of the classes above 4times for week, others twice per week, and tutoria once per week.

When I get home at about 2:30 its time for lunch, the biggest meal of the day. Depending on when my host parents get home (and how hungry I am, meaning how long I can wait to eat) I eat with them. Usually there is some sort of a soup, either potaje (i dk how you spell it) (it´s a creamy soup that I think is cream of potatoe, with other veggies and some sort of meat, i´m not really sure :) It´s very tasty though!) or chicken noodle (with really small noodels, mostly broth, again I like it :) ). For the main dish there is usually some sort of meat, and some sort of starch. Also, they LOVE fried food here, I know, go figure :). Like probably a third of the time we have french fries with our meal. I really like the paella they make with rabbit here. Paella is flavored rice, with some veggies and rabbit (it takes like chicken, cliché i know, but true!), very spanish. Also we eat a lot of fish here. Deep fried fish, fried fish, etc :), my favorite is breaded bacalow (again I have no idea what it is in english, but some sort of light white fish). Basically everday there is also salad and desert. Oh another food that we eat here a lot of cuban rice (i don´t know what its like, rice with garlic and other things, its really good!), barley fried eggs (not high on my list...), and fried bannanas (YUM! TRY THIS RIGHT NOW :) Seriously, go grab a bannana (preferably from here because its amazing, but I guess yours will do lol) and toss it in the fry pan with a bit of olive oil. Yum Yum Yum :).

After lunch its over to the TV room to watch ´Amar en tiempos revueltos´ Love in times of revolution. It´s a spanish soap opera set durring the era when Franco was in power. My host mom loves it, and watches any eposode she misses on the internet later. About half the time I take a nap after that until about 4:15, then its studying, shopping, walking, violin, etc, general free time activities. Dinner is eat what you want, when you want, and then I usually go to bed around 10, or 10:30 (early for the Spanish, but as I mentioned being an exchange student = a lot of energy!)



One other food that I REALLY like here is Bocadillo de Tortilla Española. I usually get it when we are eating out (which is fun because it really doesn´t cost that much here, for example a hamburger at a café, or a Bocadillo, or a Sanwhich, etc costs about 2euro (3 dollars) ).

Whoops! Internet here is quite unpredecitable! I started this post on Monday ( I think...:) ) and it then the interent died part way through, I think there was more (I know, even LONGER :) ) but here´s what there is. I don´t really feel like reading through the whole thing, if there is some essential element missing let me know!

Thank you so much for your comment Rosemary! The rest of you should try it too now! Down below this there should be something that says ´Comment´ Click it, type what you want, and hit send! Hope all is well is Oly,
Molly