Daily Life

With a week of class completed, we've established the daily schedule: 

Monday through Thursday

• Commute to the CIEE center by bus or walking (usually we have to arrive by 9 AM)

• We drop off our school supplies and then do the Cultural Activity of the day: this includes exploring the community in various ways. We get to experience tours of different sites, workshops, and community interactions. We have required community conversations where we ask people questions based on the prompt given that day, whether they are from the local Spanish high school or a person on the street. 

• After the activity we have around 2 hours to eat lunch. There are different spaces inside and outside of the center but we can also go out to the various restaurants in the area. My host family packs me a lunch everyday, unless I tell them I will buy one from a restaurant. 

• Starting at 1:45, we have a 3 hour long Spanish class with 11 other kids in the same level as us, which I am in level 2 out of 3. We were placed in a level based on an extensive pre-assessment. We have homework every day for class, which entails talking with your host family through dinner time conversations and then putting that information into a slideshow and talking about it with your class. 

• After class ends at 4:45 we have free time to either try new foods, go shopping, go to the beach, or just explore the city.

• I like to return home around 7:30 so that I can rest before dinner at 8:00. 

• After dinner I finish my homework for the day and go to sleep!

Friday through Sunday 

• We don't have a cultural activity on Fridays so we just have class in the morning at 9:30. We present our presentation of the week and also check in with our program leader about how things are going. 

• Class is over at 12:30 so we have a lot of free time! I just try to make it home for dinner with my host family around 8. 

• On Saturdays we have day trips and we don't get back until later.

• Sundays are our own personal time that we can either spend with our host family or friends!