Thursday, December 30, 2010
Spanish!
Woot. So I have a story. :) I'm at the National Institute of Health in Washington D.C. for my dad (who's awesome and a trooper.. love you dad) and I had a chance to actually practice my spanish just a couple of hours ago. There was a woman from El Salvador who was very lost and spoke basically no English. She was almost an hour late for her apt. because she had been wandering around the building completely lost. I got to help her find her doctor by speaking a little spanish and translating for her. :) It was awesome and so much fun!! Anyways, I'll try to keep updating. Happy travels!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Host Family
Hi! Since I last posted I have done so much to get ready for my exchange. I received my host family almost a month ago (really really surprisingly early) and have submitted my preliminary visa application and attended my second pre-departure orientation, which happened this afternoon. I'm starting to get scared about leaving now that I have my host family and its all becoming real. I'm finally starting to realize that I am going to be in Neuquén, Argentina for FIVE MONTHS. Crazy huh?
At the same time though, I am SO excited. My host family sounds amazing (shout out to Marcelo, Andrea, Ludmila, y Mariana) and I am thrilled that I will finally have siblings. I've emailed my host sister a couple times since I found out I was going to be staying with her, but communication has definitely been slower because of the language barrier. I'm realizing how difficult its going to be to converse in spanish 24/7 (especially compared to Spanish CLASS where the goal isn't necessarily to communicate everything you want to say, but just say what you can - if you know what I mean.) It's just insane realizing the culture shock I'm likely going to experience, largely due to the language change. Luckily (or unluckily..) my host family seems completely fluent in English, so I'll have that to rely on.. but not fall back on completely!!
If you have been reading my blog.. you'll have noticed I kinda edited my last post and made it shiny and NEW because it was lame. KEEP COMMENTING! You are all super awesome and interesting.
Before I sign off I wanted to thank Massive Studios for their generous donation for my exchange. You are all exceptionally awesome and super creative to boot. Check out their site: http://www.massivestudios.net/
To those of you traveling in February to South America, I'll see you all in Miami!
At the same time though, I am SO excited. My host family sounds amazing (shout out to Marcelo, Andrea, Ludmila, y Mariana) and I am thrilled that I will finally have siblings. I've emailed my host sister a couple times since I found out I was going to be staying with her, but communication has definitely been slower because of the language barrier. I'm realizing how difficult its going to be to converse in spanish 24/7 (especially compared to Spanish CLASS where the goal isn't necessarily to communicate everything you want to say, but just say what you can - if you know what I mean.) It's just insane realizing the culture shock I'm likely going to experience, largely due to the language change. Luckily (or unluckily..) my host family seems completely fluent in English, so I'll have that to rely on.. but not fall back on completely!!
If you have been reading my blog.. you'll have noticed I kinda edited my last post and made it shiny and NEW because it was lame. KEEP COMMENTING! You are all super awesome and interesting.
Before I sign off I wanted to thank Massive Studios for their generous donation for my exchange. You are all exceptionally awesome and super creative to boot. Check out their site: http://www.massivestudios.net/
To those of you traveling in February to South America, I'll see you all in Miami!
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