3/6/2024- 96 days left

I've been here for so long, and yet it feels impossible to me that I have less than 100 days left. This month has been full of fun and exciting things! From the 9th to the 16th of February, I was in Spain with my host family! I was so grateful that they included me in their vacation plans, and I'm so glad that I was able to see everything with them, especially because Spain was one of the countries that I had on my list originally for exchange. I was a little disappointed all those months ago to not be able to go there, but God knew my dreams and gave me the opportunity to see it anyway! And, I get to go back there in April for a few days during the Euro tour, thanks to everyone's support back in the USA.

We started our trip in Malaga, and then every day or two we would move to a new city. There was so much to see, and everything was so beautiful. I took so many photos! After Malaga, we ended up visiting Estepona, Tarifa, Ronda, Gibraltar, Setenil de las Bodegas, Cadiz, and Ardales (not in that exact order), before we drove back to Malaga for the flight home. I'm so excited to return and see more someday. When we went to Gibraltar, there were multiple times where I could look over the water and see Africa, and the coolest part about that was that at the same time that I was there, my parents were in Africa at the same time! I was able to see Morocco, and they were farther away from that point at that time, but it was still pretty cool to be able to feel a bit closer to them.

After Spain, I returned to "normal" life for a bit. On the 22nd of February, I had an English presentation at my host mom's school with a boy who was in Arizona last year. Two days after that, I packed my bags and got on a train headed for the High Tatras in Slovakia, where I met with most of the other Rotary exchange students for a ski week! It was soooo fun. For five days, we would leave in the morning, ski/snowboard all day, and then return to the hotel and participate in different fun night events. I started the first day and a half skiing because I thought it would be more fun to do something I was already good at than to try and learn to snowboard by myself and just end up falling all week. But what I didn't realize was that we had instructors! My ski group had a pretty fun instructor, and we did learn something, but most of it was pretty easy for me and I was ready to try something harder. So, halfway through the second day, I switched to snowboarding.

It was really hard, but a lot more fun than I thought it would be. My instructor didn't speak much English at all, so I learned in both English and Slovak (Slovak is very similar to Czech, with just a few differences in words and accents). The first few days I fell all the time, but I learned to fall in ways that didn't hurt much. The only downside was that my clothes were absolutely soaked by the end of every day, but luckily I had packed extras. After three or four days, I really started to understand it! I learned to carve, which is a faster and better way of turning on a snowboard. I was able to go faster and trust my front edge more, and I fell a lot less. On Wednesday, we all visited a local waterpark. Most of us spent most of our time in the hot tub because of how good it felt on our sore muscles! I'm so glad that I switched because now I know both skiing and snowboarding and hopefully when I'm back in Pennsylvania, I can continue snowboarding with my friends and family.

That Saturday, I left Slovakia with some of my friends and took the train back to my house, where my new host mom picked me up! Yep, after six months with my first family, it was finally time for me to switch. My old host family was so amazing to me these last six months. They helped me integrate into the culture, showed me around the city, and became as close as family to me. I hope that this next family will be the same! I was really nervous, but so far my new family has been amazing. My new host dad doesn't speak much English, so it's a good opportunity for me to practice my Czech. I have two new host brothers, and both of them are younger than me (15 and almost 17). They are all so nice, and they all have a great sense of humor as well. And, I have a new host dog and cat. Both of them are adorable. So far I've only been with this family for a few days, but I think it's going to be a fun three months!

I don't know what will happen this month, but I'm sure it's going to be exciting! See you soon!

Here is a link to my photos! Click/tap the link to find them: https://photos.app.goo.gl/CVuq562eLVyC9rny5