Yesterday was the first day of classes so Fabricio took me to UPC where I met up with my friends for orientation and WE SPOKE ENGLISH!!! We all had been thrown into the world of Spanish for 2 full days. Doesn't sound like much but boy o boy it was overwhelming! It felt soooo good to talk and not have to think so hard about what others are saying, I've never been soo relieved! As soon as a friend of mine and I saw each other we hugged and said in unison "ENGLISH!!!"
After orientation and class I went with 2 friends of mine to see their houses. First we went to Mary's and she lives right across the street from UPC so we had no trouble getting there. Then we decided to go to Derek's house. He had walked with his host mom that morning and was sure he knew the way. We started out and we were walking, and walking, and dodging cars (pedestrians DO NOT have the right away!) he soon realized nothing looked familiar so we asked a man for directions and we tried to take his advice but it definitely didn't help. All the while, I was making fun of him because how could he not know where he lived!? Little did I know I would get lost later, on the way to my house! Still, we walked and walked and could not find his street so eventually we decided to retrace our steps back to UPC. Once we got there, Mary went across the street to her house, Derek called his host dad to come pick him up, and I started to walk home. I got to a roundabout in the road and I took a left. I didn't think I had to pass a park on the way to school but I thought maybe I had been concentrating on my conversation with Fabricio and had just missed the fact that there was this big park. Finally I hit the corner where my apartment building should be and when I looked up, it definitely was not my building and the street sign did not say the correct avenue! So I stayed calm (I'm very proud of myself for this!) and I turned around and went back to the roundabout. I was considering my options. 1. I could try to find Nela's work and tell her I was lost 2. I could go to Mary's and tell her host parents I was lost or 3. I could try a new street. While options 1 and 2 would be intelligent, I chose number 3. So I tried a different street because I recognized a restaurant on the corner and I walked and walked and I began to think I had chosen the wrong street. But, when I got to the corner there was my apartment and the sign said "Encalada Avenida"!!!! Boy did I let out a sigh of relief!
That night, Nela was telling me that the next day I would meet her for lunch at 1 before my class at 2. But, the catch was she would be in a different building than the one I knew for work. She she gave me a hand drawn map. The next morning I left at 12:40 so that I could be early but not have too much time to spare. I got to the roundabout and began looking for the street she had written down. It wasn't on any of the signs! So I asked this nice looking lady where it was and she pointed me in the right direction. Well, she tried to. I took the road she pointed out to me and it did not lead to the street I needed! So, I asked a couple passing by where this street was and they pointed me in the right direction. I got to the street and I needed to get to the 12th block so I walked and walked and when I got there none of the buildings had the correct number on them! So, I really was out of ideas at this point so I just went back to the roundabout and was walking around aimlessly when I heard "NICKI!!!" I turned around and it was Nela! She had seen me and ran after me! Phew! At this time I had been lost for 40 minutes so I didn't have much time to eat. I snarfed my food down and made it to class just in time!
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