Tuesday, I went with my host mom and Mariana to school to enroll. EVERYONE stared at me the whole time. I guess that is just a little taste of what my new school will be like. It was kind of weird because I go to a public school, but I had to pay to enroll. I always wonder how some of the host families are able to host due to money issues, but I have my answer! I pay for my bus ride each day, and I pay for my lunch at school. Then, at the end of each month, I tell AFS how much I spent, and they reimburse me. I guess AFS pays for anything school related. I got my schedule, and it is so complicated! The important thing to know is that I'm taking 13 different classes. Also, on Mondays I don't start school until 10am, and on Thursdays, I don't start school until 1pm. On the other days, I start school at 7am. Every day, I finish school at either 3:50 or 4:40. It's definitely different than in the United States.
Yesterday was a really great day. In the morning, I hung out at the house with Miguel and Caro. At 2:45, I met Caroline and Annika (two other exchange students) at the movies. I assumed that since we were seeing Ice Age 4, and since it just came out, that it would be in English. I was wrong! The entire thing was in Spanish, but surprisingly, I understood a lot of it. Going to the movies in Costa Rica is way different than going to the movies in the United States. It was more like going to a midnight premiere of a movie. It was really inexpensive. Wednesdays are the cheapest, so my ticket was only $2! Food for all three of us was only $10. Another difference? As soon as we got there at 2:45, we had to get in line to buy our tickets for the movie that didn't even start until 4:10. The line to buy tickets took about 20 minutes to get through, and once we were done in that line, we had to get in another line to get in the theater. Even though the movie didn't start for another hour and a half, the line was already crazy long, but if you didn't get in line, you weren't able to sit with your friends. We were lucky that we got in line when we did, because we got the last three seats together that weren't in the front row. We were in the third row, so by the end of it all, our necks hurt. At least we got to sit together! When I got home from the movie, a lot of my family was there for dinner. It was me, Miguel, Caro, Mariana, Mama, Henry, Jeimmy, Emily, Lucia, and Chema. It was so much fun! First, some of us played MarioKart on the Wii, then we ate. Henry is a big jokester, and I'm finally able to understand his jokes without explanation. It makes them much funnier when they don't have to be rephrased a thousand times. After dinner and hanging out a little bit. I Skyped with my mom for almost an hour. It was so great to see her (and the other people in the room with her). After that, I was able to call my dad using google voice, and it only costs one cent per minute. It was a nice way to end my day.
Today was supposed to be my first day of school. I thought it was a great day to start, because on Thursdays, I don't start school until 1pm. I was mentally prepared, and then I found out that my class has a test instead of our first two lectures, so then I wasn't going to go until 2:20. I just found out that they also have a test for our third and fourth lectures, so if I wanted to go to school today, I would only be going for 40 minutes. Because of this, tomorrow will be my first day of school. They also have a test tomorrow morning, so instead of starting at 7, I don't go until 8:20. As long as I actually go tomorrow, I think it's going to be a good time to start. Another exchange student, Eva, texted me earlier to see if all of the exchange students wanted to go out after school today. Hopefully we will be able to, because it's nice to be able to talk in English to people who are experiencing the same things as me.
I'm very happy here, and I think I am adjusting well!
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