Liza Stout - 100% manana!

So i have now been in Spain for three weeks. It is so crazy!!! It has gone so fast and although at this point, I am not doing very much in a day they all feel so full. I think that is because it is all in Spanish. So I will start with how everything is going from the begining. I have decided that everything here is without a doubt 100 percent manana! Haha, you warned me, but I have actually begun to like thinking more about doing stuff manana because it makes me more relaxed today. The first week I know I had culture shock and I never thought in a million years I would understand this crazy language Spanish! But now three weeks has past and I am able to carry on a conversation and understand a lot of what is being said around me. I am on my second week of school and enjoy most of my classes. I am studying drawing, sculpture, philosophy, science of the world, spanish, english, and computer technology which I don't like because it is very confusing even in english. I really enjoy here how I have 1 group for all my classes because it makes meeting people and making friends a little bit easier but it is for sure still a struggle. People are always very friendly but it is hard to make it to the next step of having people to hang out with and get to know better. But I am sure that will come with time and understanding the language better.

The food here is very different from back home, there are some dishes I love! and some I can't stand. But it is always fun to try something new. Probably what I miss most is starbucks and giant cups of coffee. Here it is all little shots and a lot of pastries which are good but I am a little concerned about gaining that fifteen, it's already working it's way on :)

My family is great and very kind. I am trying to find a sport or an activity to do after school which has been extremely difficult and here my school is not at all helpful in that area. My counseler here is not very supportive and I have only talked to her once on the phone but she promised to help me find an activity so I am just going to keep waiting manana :)

I hope all is well back in the States! I miss it but am enjoying myself here,

Thanks for everything!

Liza

Maggie Kriz - Ahoy po Spišská Nová Ves

Ahoj Steamboat Springs Rotary Club!
I have now been in Slovakia for an entire month and I am loving every minute of it. It is hard for me to believe that I have been here for so long, the time is moving so quickly that I can hardly keep up!
My host family is amazing and they have been warm and welcoming from the very start (when they picked me up from the airport they were ready with Slovak chocolates and the video camera). They have introduced me to a lot of Slovak food which is delicious but also very different from the food in the United States, I have to admit that the only thing I miss is Mexican food (which I am planning to cook for my parents just as soon as some spices arrive from America). I have also introduced Banana Bread to Slovakia and I think that it is here to stay, my family and friends cannot get enough! I am living right in the center of town which is amazing because I am only seconds away from everything I could possibly need.
I have now been attending school for about three weeks and it really amazing. All the teachers have been patient with the language barrier and my classmates have really reached out to me. I have so many friends already and have many opportunities to experience Slovakia as if I were a native teen. My friends have also been really great about teaching me the language (of course they laugh everytime I learn a new word and cannot pronounce it correctly). The language is very difficult (I have heard from my friends that it is one of the hardest languages in the world to learn) but I hope to communicate easily in a few months.
I have also gotten to see many of the landmarks in my region of Slovakia (that is the Spiš Region) one of which is the beautiful castle that is only about 15 minutes from my house. It is called Spišsky Hrad and is the largest castle in Central Europe. My town also has the largest church tower in Central Europe and my friends and I climbed the hundreds of stairs to the top where you could see the entire town.
My first district conference was in a small town about two hours from Spišská Nová Ves in a town called Strečno. It was a lot of fun meeting all the exchange students around Slovakia and the Czech Republic (there are about 60 of us!). They organized a trip down the river on these rafts that were guided by men dressed in Slovak traditional outfits and we also went to the castle that is in Strečno which was beautiful.
I wish that I could write more but I need to watch my little cousin (alebo bratranec po slovenský) who we call Dudo and he is not thrilled about watching me type... he wants to play with his toy cars!
I hope that everyone is doing well in "the boat" and thank you so much again for this amazing opportunity!
Maggie