This week has been full of studying, studying, a little homesickness, and more studying. We had “finals” this week, which were actually midterms. Our semester is divided into two trimesters (the first trimester was in the fall before we arrived) so these were our finals for our first trimester. A little bit of homesickness has been creeping up on me this week as well, but I think that might have to do with the fact that I couldn’t really skype with any friends or family because I was constantly studying. I’m sure I’ll be back to normal next week. Anyway, for the next trimester, I will no longer have Culture class and may possibly be getting a new class? Not entirely sure. Now we are just starting to work on our “Trabajo Monográfico,” which is a 10-page term paper on some sort of aspect on Spain. We could choose from many cultural topics, like bull fighting or flamenco, historical topics, geography, literature, art, even grammar, in which we could talk about the past tenses of Spanish for ten whole pages. I don’t even think I could write one page on grammar. Yuck. My paper will be on the National Parks of Spain. I haven’t yet started researching, because we only just got to choose our topics, but I’m hoping to finish it before spring break. I think it’s due around three days after we get back from spring break and I don’t want to come back from two weeks of traveling to have to worry about finishing my paper.
Plans are starting to come together for spring break. The first week, before my parents arrive, I will no longer be traveling to Greece and Italy, but instead Switzerland and Italy. Greece is at a really poor economical state at the moment and has stopped running their trains. We’re using a “Eurail” train pass to get around to all our cities and would need to take a ferry to Greece, which could take around 29 hours. I’m kind of short on time with having to meet up with my parents so we decided to change it up and they will continue on to Greece after I leave. I’m super excited to take photos in Switzerland. It looks gorgeous. I also wasn’t too crazy about seeing Greece anyway, but that was their plan so I had to go with it. Santorini would’ve been cool but I didn’t really care about seeing Athens. I am liking the new plan much better. I also have bought my plane tickets home from Riga so it is set in stone that I am going to Latvia for sure! I cannot wait to see the country my family comes from. I think it’ll be a great way to end the semester.
Not sure if I wrote this already, but I did finally talk to my host mom about the food a couple weeks ago. Kelly wasn’t there and Dioni commented, once again, on how I didn’t eat very much and I told her in the nicest way possible that I just have not adjusted to the food. My body isn’t accustomed to this type of food and it’s really different for me to eat fish every day. I think I might have hurt her feelings just a tiny bit, but she listened. She sat down and we talked about the types of food Kelly and I like and it’s been a little better now. She makes chicken and pasta a lot more now, which we like, and we still have fish often but not every day. So now the food is much more tolerable.
Not much else is new. I’m about halfway done with the semester already. I can’t believe how fast time as been flying! It feels like I just got here a few weeks ago! I’m definitely not ready to go home yet. I think I have changed a lot here, though. Living abroad has made me feel so much more independent in every sense of the word. I feel like I’ve gotten to know myself better here and I’ve made so many new connections. I really am living the life I always dreamed of having right now. Traveling and going on adventures and doing things completely out of my comfort zone; this is what I dreamed of when I was a kid. I never thought I’d actually be able to do something like this. I think I’m getting old.
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