10/25/2023- Two months!

Time flies when you're on exchange. I have a lot to write about, but first, I should mention my GoFundMe. I have been given the opportunity to go on a two-week-long trip all over Europe this April! It is very expensive, and with my birthday coming up and Christmas right after that, I decided to make a GoFundMe. Here's the link, I would appreciate it so much if you checked it out: https://www.gofundme.com/f/eurotour-2024?type=copyLink

Anyway, this month has been full of adventure! The first week, my host family surprised me by telling me that we were going away to Croatia! My host grandparents have a sailboat that we stayed on. The weather was perfect. I had never been on a sailboat before, so it was really cool to experience how it worked. It was so relaxing to be on the water and hang out with my host family. I got to swim every day, try new food, and I even learned some Croatian. It was an amazing trip.

After we cleaned the boat and packed everything up, we started driving. I thought we were headed home, but we stopped after about an hour and went hiking. The area was so beautiful, I felt like I had stepped into The Hobbit and entered into a new world. Then we finally headed back home. The drive was really long but incredibly worth it.

I have been settling into a routine pretty quickly here. It is a little bit strange to live a "normal" life while I'm somewhere so different than what I'm used to. My classes are hard, but my teachers have been working with me a lot to help me. The class that I feel the best in is Spanish. My teacher is fluent in English and she is also the one who has helped me with my schedule and everything else I've needed. She gives me an extra Spanish lesson once a week and has helped me learn so much. It makes me happy that I get to learn Spanish here because that was my original hope for going on exchange. It is hard to focus on two languages, but it also makes some things easier. Some words in Czech make more sense if I think of the Spanish translation because English doesn't have the same words.

I have also felt a lot more comfortable around my classmates and peers this month. friendships take time and effort, and it was hard to start fresh with so many people. But in the past few weeks, I've felt like I've been able to connect a lot more with my classmates. I have started to feel like they are really my friends. My host siblings and I have also gotten a lot closer. I've gotten used to my city and have spent time with my friends in the parks and cafes, and am starting to feel more comfortable navigating around my area.

The language is still very challenging, but I've been trying hard to learn. I have a lesson in the morning every Tuesday, and if I'm awake enough to think, it helps a lot. I have picked up a lot of vocabulary just by being around my friends and host family, and I try to use it whenever I can. I'm excited to learn more and experience more in the months to come!