Positive Thinking

I have finished my first week of school, and survived yet another weekend, so I am here to try and write down what my adventures have consisted of thus far, and hopefully be able to explain both the difficulties and the amazing experiences I have had since my last post.

The first day of school was…odd. We began with an hour-long meeting with all of the students crammed into the (not-so-spacious) gym. What this meeting consisted of…well…I will never know. Most of the students went home right afterwards, but my class all met in the classroom and chatted with our class teacher for about thirty minutes. Overall, it was a VERY uneventful first day of school that I doubt was truly necessary for me to attend (since I was at the school for a total of maybe two hours. Maybe. At the end of the day I also attended my first Rotary meeting where I gave a presentation about the United States, Arizona, and my life back home. I was able to have my host mom help me translate my presentation from English to Slovak (but I still presented in English…I am not nearly fluent enough for that yet). I also was able to watch three presentations from 2017-2018 outbounds who had recently returned from their exchanges. They went to Brazil, Colorado, and Mexico, and they all appeared to have enjoyed their exchanges to the fullest. Seeing their presentations made me pretty excited for the rest of the year, I want to be able to give such an engaging presentation to my rotary club back home as well (don’t worry Sunrise, I promise I will make it entertaining ;) ).

At school, we have a block schedule. This kind of schedule is completely new to me, but I think I enjoy it. Instead of going to the same classes, every day, at the same exact time; we go to about six classes a day (seven on Wednesdays), and each day the classes are mixed around. So although you might be attending a class you had the day prior, you aren’t attending it during the same time period. They also have fifteen-minute breaks in between each of the classes (which are only forty-five minutes long). The breaks seem a bit too long, in my opinion, but I do enjoy having time to just mess around in between the classes. Everyone at the school seems to be pretty nice, and the class is doing their best to include me and the Argentinean exchange student into their group (which is a blessing in itself, since they have known each other and gone to classes with each other for the past two years).

Time here is a pretty…interesting thing. It feels like I have already been on exchange for seven months, but at the same time, these past two weeks have flown by. It is interesting to think about, that I have another nine and a half months here, but I am finally getting used to that idea. Going to school does help some (although I am bored pretty much the entire time I am there…), but I have found that going and hanging out with people my age is what helps the most. Even if the communication isn’t completely there yet, it is still better than my communication with adults, and all of the teenagers seem to understand that this exchange isn’t just a vacation for a year. I am finding a lot of adults that seem to think that…

Overall though, I believe I am doing better. I have bought two bus tickets by myself, I have gotten to school by myself, and I am slowly doing better with the language. As everyone has been telling me, an exchange year is a marathon…not a sprint. It is definitely something I am trying to keep in mind. My language lessons are improving my skills, and the teenagers at school all want to help me as well. I have a lot of hope for this year, and I have a feeling it will go by faster than I could ever imagine, so I am trying my best to enjoy even the dullest moments. Keeping a positive attitude is my main goal for this next week.

Until next time, dovidenia!