I just took the final exam. Well, the final exam is really just an assessment exam that tells you whether or not you will be able to move up to the next level. Like I mentioned earlier, it is all about feeling out how things work, except that I found out today that we had this exam. I was just getting adjusted to my class' operation. I had been in the class for a little over one week. I realized that there is a difference between just having words that are unknown, but are necessary to understand the whole idea, and words in questions that require the student to think, but are feasible. I guess it is good for the student to not know the material entirely sometimes.
Que pasa! It is the end of my second week in Quito, and it has been quite an experience so far. I´m learning a lot of Spanish. In class this week, with my new teacher (we switch teachers every week) we did irregular verbs and I leaned a bunch more vocabulary. For the first two hours of class we did worksheets and practiced the irregular verbs. Then for the beginning of the second half of class we did activities or games using the irregular verbs and vocab for practice. For the last hour of class we would have group discussion in Spanish. These were very helpful because I could use the vocab I learned and incorporate it into the discussions.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a school as beautiful as this one. Nestled in a valley between coffee and sugarcane plantations, it’s not at all unusual to see a family of cows wander by the classroom window. The classrooms are simple but comfortable; one even replaces chairs with hammocks.
Hola. It has now been one week since I arrived in Guanajuato. I feel much more at home now as I am in a routine. Every day I wake up at 745am and eat breakfast at 830 with my house mom and my roommate from Japan. We eat a plate of fruit covered in yogurt, usually melon, papaya and mango. I never liked papaya before, but now I love it! It's supposed to be very healthy for your stomach too. We also eat toast with jelly. One thing I found is that peanut butter is incredibly expensive here compared to the US, but it's one of those things that makes you feel more at home.
When I arrived at the airport, my host parents, Belinda and Cesar, were there to pick me up with great big smiles on their faces. I explained to them that I don´t speak much Spanish yet, but that I wanted to try to speak as much as possible. They were very understanding and they have been very welcoming. That first day they explained to me that to avoid a bad case of altitude sickness, I needed to drink some coca tea and go straight to bed for a few hours, and so I did. That evening their family had a huge family gathering because one of their nephews, who now lives in New York City, was coming in for a couple of days, so when I woke up I had a lot of friendly faces to meet. The food was fantastic—lots of vegetables and some grilled meats such as chicken, sausage, and even slivers of cow heart of a stick. It was all really tasty especially when dipped in a special sauce that they made with various herbs and spices.
Last week we posted the first of four great videos by Bella L., AmeriSpan Guest Blogger. After her Madrid Spanish immersion, Bella moved on to learn Spanish in Sevilla Spain. Check out her video below for some great perspective on the school and city!
By William P., Chile study abroad participant studying Spanish and skiing in Santiago
Today was my second day and I was still very frustrated that I was having trouble understanding even the basic words that I know I should remember from high school or that I know on paper. However, at least I was starting to understand most of what the teacher was saying today as she spoke to us in phrases that an intermediate beginner would know. I know that learning a language does not occur overnight but because I know I am not very good yet I realized I was getting very nervous in front of people and ultimately too scared to talk. My nervousness would make me forget simple verbs and phrases that I easily remembered later but was stuck without words at the time. It also is very difficult to conjugate verbs on the spot and while I may know it on paper, speaking them efficiently will take many hours of practice. Therefore, I did not have a lot of confidence in my abilities at all today.
By Guest Blogger Liz L., Spanish study abroad participant blogging from La Ceiba, Honduras
In every third world country I've visited, dogs have been a large part of life. Dogs guard houses, dogs offer companionship and sometimes, dogs even provide food. Honduras is no different - every house has at least one guard dog and at any given time one can find a dog or two roaming the nearby streets.
Guest blogger Bella L. recently returned from an incredible AmeriSpan trip to four different locations after deciding she wanted to learn Spanish in Madrid and expand on her immersion with a multi-site program. Check out her first video after the jump to see part of her experience in Madrid!
The first adjustment: nearly everyone spoke English to me at the San José airport. Like some of the more tourist-oriented towns, the prices switched to dollars. While I understood when the airport staff converted to the prices to colones, I still wondered why they said "thousand" instead of "mil" for the amount.
My name is Courtney and I am studying Spanish in Cusco, Peru.
I am 23 years old and I am from the state of Kentucky in the United States. I study at the University of Kentucky and this year I will graduate with two degrees, one in International Studies (my specialization is in the developing world) and the other in French. For my degrees I spent one year studying abroad in Caen, France and two summers doing volunteer work in Uganda. After I graduate, I plan to obtain a Master's degree in Public Health focusing in Global Health.
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By Guest Blogger Liz L., 
