Listopad

It’s the middle of October and I can’t believe that it’s almost over. I have been here for two months and a half and really can’t believe that. It seems like yesterday that I boarded the plane and was hoping that the next three months would speed up because I was homesick and lonely. But now that I have somewhat of a life I am very happy to be here and am so blessed to have this experience. I think I am picking up more Croatian by the days and I really enjoy trying to learn it. Even though I have been told we exchange students are not expected to fully understand I desperately want to come back home and speak Croatian to my family to prove to them I actually learned something! Looking back on the past two months I know I went through some trials of my faith and as a person for sure. And now when I do look back I feel that I have grown so much stronger from experiencing all that I have here. I also feel like I know  myself and who I am know a lot better than I did when I was back in America.

So some things have changed since I last posted my blog like my school and travel opportunities. Okay, so about two weeks ago I asked the head rotary lady and my rotary counselor if it would be possible to switch schools where I would be doing something rather than nothing because I started to feel like I wasn’t learning anything or that there was no reason for me to be at a school where the teachers ingore me and I just sit there and do nothing. Yes, believe I tried to teach myself something in Croatian and do translations. I even bought a Croatian magazine and started to translate that but my attention span lasted for about fifteen minutes. So I thought I would ask because if you never ask you never know what the possibilities are. The next day, I got a “no” from the head lady and when I went to school that day, I realized I could make the best out of my situation and came to the conclusion that this is the way it’s meant to be and I can’t change it so let’s move on. I was ok with it. So the next week I find out that my rotary club is making all these plans to move me to a different school. I was in total shock and told my host parents repeatedly that I was fine where I was and that it’s ok, that they didn’t need to do this for me. But the night that I was told that it was in progress I went to Croatian class where my friend Paulo told me that someone from America from Gym. 18 was coming to his class. So basically the decision was already made without me in the process! Basically there was a lot of miscommunication between me, my host parents and my rotary club. And after finding out all that they had done for me I was very grateful and happy that I could change schools but I know the head lady from RYE is not happy with the changing of schools because there are four of us exchange students in one class. I completely understand that she doesn’t want us to buddy up and only talk with each other and since I have been to my school I have tried really hard to talk with the Croatian students and make friends. And I really my school now. I have five classes in English and it feels like a real high school instead of my other one. I was so happy to actually feel like a part of the class in my new school. so that’s the story with school.

Since I have switched schools I am not going on the trip to Austria to Bratislava with Gym 18 students and the RYE district conference is not this weekend anymore it’s going to be in December soooo no traveling for me this month.

Other than that, that’s what new in my life. I am really looking forward to craving pumpkins with my host family soon because Halloween is my favorite holiday.

things are looking a little more like home

Rujan is officially completed and done with and I am so happy about that fact. Usually, I hate the fact that time slips away from you and you can’t believe that it has gone by that fast. But today I am especially happy that Rujan and gone and over with because that was possibly the hardest, just adjusting month of my life. I feel like I have changed a lot from just that one month and I am completely out of the funk that I was in. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t think about home, I do, but I would much rather be here.

I was just thinking about (I have a lot of time to think) how I have grown to like my new surroundings and how it’s not weird to me anymore. When I first came here, I thought that the calendars were really weird and the showers…ohh those darn showers!…I am still forcing myself not think about how it is back home with the showers! ha-ha. Anyway, my new host home is lovely, and I don’t feel weird about being here anymore. I really thought that feeling of uncomfortableness would stay with me but luckily it hasn’t.

School is going by faster these days with my new coloring book and thankfully my classmates have started to label things for me and even started to quiz me…which I don’t like but I will eventually start to memorize. There are a lot of things to look forward to this month. Starting this Saturday, I am going to the zoo in Zagreb (OMG!) I am super excited because my friend Nora got to go last week with her class and now me and my friend Sierra are going with her host parents. I don’t think I’ve been to a zoo since I was in middle school and now it’s even more exciting because I am going to a foreign country’s zoo! Last night I was so excited about going to the zoo, I started to make flashcards with animals names on them!

Then on the 17-19 of Listopad (October) there is a Rotary District Conference in Salzburg! I am sooo excited for that because we get to meet everyone in the eastern European countries! And I get to miss school! YIPPY. Then the next weekend (24-25 of October) I am going to Austria AGAIN with my class to Bratislava and Bec. We are going on the biggest river in Europe, exciting, and just doing some site seeing!

Croatian classes are going ok, I guess. I feel like I try really hard to understand the grammar and what the teacher is talking about but sometimes I just want to speak Spanish because that’s what I know! I am going to get my Croatian book today hopefully so then I can really start to study the language.