"Corre, alemana, corre!"

Bon dia! (I just wrote in Catalan! yayyyyy!)

So, due to this strike in Barcelona and the surrounding areas, most of our teachers decided not to come to school today, so we weren't required to attend either. It's actually been quite a nice day since I got to sleep in and now have time to write this! Although the rest of my day will be filled with lots of math…oh well. Anyway, let me begin.

Woah man! What a crazy week couple of weeks. Getting off the plane in Barcelona, orientation, and even my first class seems like forever ago. The good thing is, it's actually been pretty great so far! I was pretty terrified for the first day of school because I was almost certain I would be a loner and my classes would be a waste of time due to my lack of comprehension. Luckily, I was wrong! As soon as I walked into Math on Tuesday, everyone turned around and smiled and said "Hi Nina!" Later they all introduced themselves and they helped me get to my classes for the rest of the day. There's a small group of our class (1B) who has almost all their classes together, so I wasn't ever alone or lost, which was good. Compared to Hohenfels, Angeleta is pretty big. It has four whole floors! Haha. A few of my friends here want to practice their English, so we have a system where they speak to me in English and I answer in Spanish. Now they're starting to speak to me in just Spanish though, because they know I need to learn. We all have a lot in common, as girls often do. Haha. So far we've had many conversations about language, culture, music, maybe some Gossip Girl...and all that good stuff. We're going to the movies on Friday to see "Eat, Pray, Love" or in Spanish…"Come, Reza, Ama." 

So, the following is my schedule at school! It's a little more complicated than at home, since there are no A or B days, and school even ends at different times sometimes. I'm getting used to it though :).

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8:15-9:15	History of Music	Math	Philosophy	History of Music	Science
9:15-10:15	Philosophy	Universal Literature	Spanish Language	Math	Catalan Language
10:15-11:10	History	English	History	Spanish Language	History
11:10-11:40	Break	Break	Break	Break	Break
11:40-12:40	Math	History of Music	English	History	English
12:40-13:35	Universal Literature	Catalan Language	History of Music	Universal Literature	Math
13:35-14:30		Tutorial		Physical Education	Universal Literature
14:30-15:15
15:15-16:15	Physical Education
16:15-17:15	Science

So, some more interesting stuff about la escuela:

• None of the teachers have their own classroom. Instead, the different subject groups have offices. So basically it's always the teachers who are late to class, not the students. 
• Grades...1-4 = bad, and you don't pass (suspendido!!)  5-10 = good and, you pass! woohoo!
• There's this period of the day, the 30 minute break, where everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, eats a bocata, or a baguette. There's a lot of eating here in general…but I'll tell you more about that another time. 
• There are always people in the hall yelling and screaming, but the teachers don't mind.
• In English class, the students learn British English, so the textbook always has words like "mum" and "rubbish." The teacher even has a bit of a British accent, and we literally spent our entire last English class talking about fish and chips, pubs, and double decker buses. So stereotypical. Haha :).
• Also, regarding English, everyone speaks English pretty well, since they have been required to learn it since primary school. I wish we had to learn another language!. 
• Not a lot of homework is assigned, so when there's a test, it's a big deal. I have a math exámen on Friday…yikes.
• Spain is apparently the least formal of all the Spanish-speaking countries. Therefore the students call all their teachers by their first names, and loudly. I still raise my hand because I can't bring myself to call out "VICENTE!" every time I need help in math class…haha :). 
• For lessons, the teachers use Youtube all the time! I think that in at least half of my classes since I've gotten here we've watched a video on youtube. 
• A lot of kids come to school on a motorcycle. I'd like to learn to drive motorcycle…
• When a teacher is done teaching, you can leave class, even if there are 10 minutes left until the bell rings.
• Everyone has really great note taking techniques. They'll all neat and multi-colored…I suppose they've had a while to develop this since note-taking is the most important part of class. 
• In Physical Education, we've done a lot of skipping while holding hands. And running holding hands. And jumping over things holding hands. Basically there is a lot of holding hands, and we're moving around to Spanish pop music. It's very effective and in my opinion, and definitely a lot better than kickball and all that other nonsense.

So, I suppose that's about it. I'll let you in on the non-school related things soon :)

Love always,

Nina

Running in PE class wearing a Deutschland jersey:

Boy behind me: "Corre, alemana, CORRE!"

(Run, german, run….run, Forrest, run….haha)