Class Time

Monday and Tuesday were my first two days of class. I am in the intermediate class along with four other students including my roommate, Mark. During the orientation, we had to sign a contract that said we would not speak any English while at the school, forcing us to use Spanish even if we do not know how to say something. Personally, I like this because we learn to work around words that we can not remember or do not know.

Class here reminds me a lot of elementary school because we have the same teacher for both classes in the same classroom. Our teacher's name is Ana Maria, which is easy for me to remember because it is the same name as my cat. 

My classes only last from 10-1:30 every day, giving me more free time than I have had in a very long time. On Monday, I used this time to go to a coffee shop with some other students. The atmosphere in Spain much more relaxed; when people go out for dinner or to the cafe, they typically stay there for a couple hours, talking with one another, instead of leaving once their food is gone. 

I made a friend while running on Tuesday morning. I planned to do a workout, but a few minutes into picking up my pace, I passed another runner. He started asking me questions when I ran past him, so I decided to let him catch up and talk with him instead of continuing my workout. The combination of the man's deep breaths in between words and my lack of knowing Spanish perfectly made it hard to understand him, but it was still exciting to have a running partner for a little while. 

On Tuesday night, after an extra long siesta, I practiced my Spanish with Mark and Luke. We did this by going through most of our Facebook pictures and describing them in Spanish. It ended up being a great way to learn about one another along with using Spanish.