mi acento muy americano

clearly...i know this. i've always been a better writer than speaker. but i do love to talk so it gets frustrating when i can't express what i'd always like to say...well for the most part i'm good cuz i can use the words i know, but it's the commenting on things that get hard once in a while. sooooooo 2 night ago, after dinner, yo, Pura, y mi hermana espanola were chillen at the table and i had brought my homework down to work on it. sometimes i go over it with them and ask questions so i'm prepared for class and understand everything so i'll have minimal questions later on. anywho. LANGUAGE BARRIER. i have issues understanding them sometimes and vice versa. i've met lots of people from all over and it's awesome to hear their accents when they speak spanish, i can only imagine mine in spanish tho. yikes! but Pura told me a had a strong american accent haha really its nothing i didn't already know but i thought it was getting better. it better be getting better! that's why i'm here! my one goal while studying here to to improve my spanish, especially the speaking portion! sooo tyda during lunch again, she continues to tell me...listen to more radio, TV, yada yada yada...I"M TRYING!!! and continues...speak less English...i know! i'm trying with that too! i speak more spanish with Pura but it's frustrating cuz we have issues understanding each other gahhhhhhh this probs sounds worse than it is but it's hard to understand each other. i understand literally everyone else better.. grrrrrrr.

so this past weekend when i soley talked in spanish for the most part, my confidence sky rocketed because it was good and i could understand everything and was able to say everything i wanted, only to be brought back down upon my return. coolio. and so month 2 begins...

back to reality...spain is not a vacation

although while being in spain is a great opportunity to travel europe and well around spain too (and we have been!) the language is finally starting to hit me. today was hard but well worth it. pretty sure i was on the verge of tears i nclass today. (and this is why i hate that this blog is public...for these kind of comments i make) it was just stressful and i was anxious to be done particpating cuz for the life of me, today was just one of those days that i could not speak spanish

i just got back from mi empresa/practica (ugh i hate switching the spell check back and forth from spanish to english gahhh anywhoooo) and i need una siesta. me duele la cabeza. so much to take in! although it was hard and a lot, this is what i'm here for and this is what i want even if i complain that its hard. i didn't think it was going to be easy by any means. a deep part of me (idk if that makes sense hmmm) wants it this way cuz this is how i am going to learn. 

i have 20 more pages to read of the novel by Thursday but a group of us are meeting up at a cafe to read together. i like reading it on my own, but i'm going to go out anyway to hang out and just make sure i am understanding what's going on : )

i've been here how many days...?

and just learned we have 2 bathrooms in this small house. i turned the water on to shower this morning but it lacked any and all sense of getting cooler...(as in warm. i call it getting cooler cuz it starts off at a freezing cold temp) or warm. so i didn't shower this morning. don't worry tho, i showered last night, so no biggie. i just didn't look my best today, that's all. during lunch, Pura explained to me i should shower downstairs when the weather is this cold because the warm water won't make it to the upstairs bathroom that i utilize. go figure, the only rooms i've been in are my room, what i thought was the only bathroom (would've saved me much trouble if i knew this earlier), the TV room (where we eat dinner while watching the news), and la cocina (aka the kitchen).

people have countdowns on how days we have left here...as in they wanna leave soon! que ridículo! when i see the countdown...my reaction: "i only have that much time to become fluent?!?! ahhhhh! necesito mas!" i don't get what's not to like about here. i came to learn the langauge and i intend to do so. i don't understand my fellow travelers at all!

my hobbies

i'm making spanish my hobby...this isn't a vacation altho the weekends are great for trips...i'm crackin down and reviewing my grammar and my goal is to learn 8 new words (on my own...so in addition to what i learn during the day) a day. sound like a lot? well by the time i leave i will have expanded my vocab

Arriving en España

Well the flight wasn't too bad.  Although it was easily recognized that I was Americano. I sat next to a Spaniard. But we did meet various people studying abroad in Spain so we exchanged numbers in case we decided to visit each other's areas.

Gene (the director person who is responsible for Loras College students) picked up us from the airport. Fortunately it wasn't raining, but the skies were pretty darn grey.  The poor bus driver had to carry all of our luggage back and forth on the bus. She looked like she was struggling a bit. WHOOPS!  As soon as we got on our nice and compact bus, it started to "pour" good thing I packed mi paragua (umbrella)! Gene called out our names. I was called 2nd pero Pura, mi mama espanola, was not anywhere to be found.  All of the other parents were there waiting at the school.  I felt like I was being adopted.  In a way I was.  Just imagine a bus full of small and cute puppies (yes, that would be us) and you have all these parents outside waiting to see which one of us will be theirs for the next 4 months.  I would be living with this woman and her husband for the next 4 months. So ya know, out of all people this would happen to me of course. Mi mama did not show up after multiple phone calls were made. So I got to see and wait en la oficina de Gene (quien es responsable para los estudiates de Loras College).  Finalmente, my familia espanola came to pick me up.  We had dinner (noodles and chicken broth, chicken, and potatoes).  Then I was asked if wanted a nap, but I was doing better since our connecting flight. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out cold and didn't wake until right before landing. I showered and unpacked most everything and found my casa nueva en el mapa that I was given.

the nerves & the lisp

As if arriving in Spain wasn't stressful enough with my nerves spiking, mi mamá was not present during the pick up of us lovely Americans.  I could not, for the life of me, understand much of what mi mamá was saying the first day.  Talk about language barrier.  It didn't help that I  was zoning out and not paying attention.  I was exhausted and hungry. But to my surprise (y gracias a Dios!) I could understand her better the next day!

I'm not at all used to the lisp with the "th" sound. I though i'd be okay cuz I've heard it before but I didn't expect to be this lost at all. Tonight mi mamá y yo were talking while she was preparing me dinner and was asking if i'd like this or that.  She asked me if i wanted "pitha" (English pronunciation "pee-tha") ...it was the "th" sound so in my head I was like"pisa? ...floor?...what?" I could not for the life of me figure it out. So she take out "pizza" so show me. OHHHHHHH!  I told her i was still getting th hang of this stuff.