Who's the New Kid?

Me. The American. You know, people told me that the kids in school would all try to practice their English with me, but really none of them did. They only used it when I didn't understand something... I'm still in this awkward phase when someone will ask, "How long are you staying in The Netherlands?" and I'll answer, "Yes, thank you!" So it helps that the kids speak English pretty well already.

Anyways, so the schedule at school is very confusing to me. We have different classes each day. For instance, I only have Spanish class two days a week. That's going to take some getting used to - I have to memorize each day's individual schedule. Also, sometimes there are classroom switches. There are screens by the staircases that look like airport arrivals and departures screens. You have to look at the screen to see if your class has changed rooms for the day. I don't quite understand it, but usually I'm in classes with the same group of people so it's easy enough to ask them where to go next.

Here is a list of all the classes I'm signed up for:

Homeroom, Gym, English, Dutch, Spanish, Geography, Geology, Chemistry, Biology, Sociology, Level A Math, Management and Organization, Dutch Culture, and Art Theory.

Well, they might pull me out of Art Theory, I'm not sure yet. And yes, I have to actually learn the English language. But they told me that it's also kind of like a literature class, so I guess I'll do fine in that one! Spanish was definitely my most confusing class of today. It was pretty easy, just because I've already had Spanish in America, but translating from Spanish to Dutch is a bit tricky! "Emily, what is fuego?" "Uhmm..." (Thinking: fuego is to fire as fire is to...) "Brand?" "Goed!" Oh, and the classes are very small! I was in one class with 12 kids in it today.

In other news, I made some friends today! A couple of girls invited me to eat lunch with them and their friends. It was very nice of them. We spoke Dutch, and they didn't seem to mind that I'm not particularly good yet. Some of the students think it's strange that I'm 18, while they are 16. It doesn't bother me that much, because the older kids are in more rigorous classes with lots of exams, so they might not have time to talk to me. Also, I don't think I need tough courses while I'm still learning the language. Oh yeah, and I can't do any homework, because I don't have any books yet. I hope the teachers don't get mad at me. I actually wish I could do the homework so that I could better understand what's going on in class. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to listen for now.

But mostly, the faculty is very encouraging to me. They make sure I know the instructions and know where to go and such, but I think I'll be able to figure all that out on my own soon...

Speaking of on my own - I went grocery shopping today by myself! But I didn't buy any Dutch candy... By the way, buying vegetables is different here. You pick out what you want, put it in a bag, put it on the scale (just like in America), but then you push the button on the scale that says the name of the vegetable. The scale weighs it, calculates the price per kilo, then prints out a sticker to put on the bag that tells how much it costs. Pretty cool. Except when you can't find the button for tomatoes. So you stand there staring bewildered at the scale. And the owner asks if you're okay. And then you finally find it but hit a blank button. And the owner pushes the right one for you. Well, the owner was really nice about it, but I guess I'll have to figure that out, too. Passing classes in Dutch and buying tomatoes. My new two goals. "So, Emily, what was your proudest moment during your year abroad?" "I bought broccoli all by myself!" Hahaha, let's hope that's not the case.

Oh, and I forgot to mention... I hear American music here all the time. My first week here, I heard "California Girls" playing, and I was thinking... I've heard this before... anyways, today during homeroom someone turned on some rap music, and I asked the girls behind me, "Do you understand all the words to this song?" They didn't even blink and said, "Yes." ...Okay... I don't know how they possibly could know so many slang/cuss/dirty words and still be allowed to play that in the classroom, but if this is culture shock it's not too bad.

Well, I suppose I should try to do as much homework as I can (meaning reading the copy of the first chapter of M&O I have and using Google translate to try and learn Spanish again... and reading the book about the school) so I'm going to go now. Big day tomorrow.

Tot ziens,

Emily