First Day of School! First Day of School!

Hola a todos y todas!

The first person to tell the class from where the title of today's blog entry comes will win a prize. Of a hug. When I get back to the states. :)

So, as the title suggests, today was my first day of class! I successfully navigated the bus, with some help from Nena. She is the person who lives in our apartment whose name I did not know right away! I subsequently got to my first class on time, unlike the professor! It's a Spanish for Foreigners class, so everyone (minus one Canadian) is from from the United States. I feel competent and confident in my ability to succeed in the class, which is Introduction to Ecuadorian Culture. There is a chap, Kevin, from Carbondale, and another person who goes to U of I. When Alexis heard me say Elmhurst College, she got really excited. I'll likely ask her about on Thursday. I talked a bit with the professor during the get-to-know-each-other activity because there are an odd number of us. I also contributed probably more than the rest of the class? For some reason, I feel more confident here than in the States. Maybe this is because I need to use Spanish more in my every day life? There's no way to check out of the language.

Normally, after this first class, I would go to an Intermediate Conversation course, but it won't start until next week. Subsequently, I had 4 1/2 free hours! I found a nice spot on some grass and read for two hours. I got up to stretch and see if anyone was in the IPSL office (fail) and Kevin from Carbondale ran into me and we went to get lunch. It was a bit awkward because I would ask questions and he would say "yes", "no", or other such responses. It was nice to get off campus with a potential buddy. I came back to campus, and met someone else named Emily near the international office as well. I read more on the grass. I am proud to say that I read all of Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian in one day! Thursday, I will likely end up finishing Voyage of the Dawn Treader. At 2:30, I went to my art class. That will be ...intense because I am not an artist. It was good to hear that we will not be graded on skill. I need a ton of art supplies and will likely purchase them tomorrow morning before my first Service-Learning class. I am one of two international students in a class of 5. The other persons name is Lauren.

After class, I came home. I can anticipate already that I will grow tired of the commute. It's about an hour long. I almost got on the wrong bus home, but I (obviously) made it! So, the bus challenge? I'd say that is conquered. See my facebook for the photos of the view I had out my bedroom window when I got home.

Con amor-