A Jumbling of Thoughts

There are so many things running through my head that it's hard enough to keep them straight without trying to coordinate them into coherent phrases. Not to mention that spelling in English has become obnoxiously difficult (I just spelt coherent as "coherant" and obnoxiously as "abnoxiously" -- thank goodness for spellcheck).

My room is a mess, clothes strewn all over the couch, a half-packed suitcase and unused boxes covering the floor. In the corner a pile of boxes sit, leaning precariously to one side waiting for the right breeze to blow them all over. It won't be my room for much longer, but by then I will have erased my presence from every wall, every shelf, every corner. I wonder if my host brother will, when he comes home, be able to feel any remnants of my five month stay here. Most likely I will never know.

The blue Rotary blazer hangs on my door, decorated in pins and dripping with keychains. A constant reminder that this year is more than just a year of my life, each time I see my jacket I feel the need to go out, experience more, and make the most of this every-so-quickly fleeting year.

I never would have thought I could go this long without a haircut; my hair falls down in it's usual not-quite-straight, not-quite-curly fashion, and I can't wait for summer to turn me blonde once more. 

Marbella is beautiful and sunny, and my host dad keeps complaining that winter seems to have already passed us by. Myself, I'm fully enjoying the sunshine and looking forward to wearing shorts again. That, and being able to go and lie out on the beach :).

Things seem to be moving forward: I've made more friends recently, which should help my Spanish improve. My teachers are expecting more of me this trimester than they did in the last one; I'm glad they think my Spanish is improving, but I very much enjoyed the relaxing aspect of these past four months. Looking back at the beginning of the year, when I had to use google translate to understand the textbook, I'm incredibly proud of how far my Spanish has come. I may not even have to try much harder and my grades will still continue improving (one of the pros of being an exchange student).

For those of you waiting to hear more news about the mysterious blue-eyed boy, I'm sorry to disappoint but my life has taken a turn in a different (but still very cliché-movie-moment-esque) direction.

I'm finding it very hard not to laugh in my Spanish Literature class at the moment: my teacher has taken to using a microphone in class. No one is exactly sure why she does it, but she's a bit frightening so we're all to afraid to ask. She also wants me to start writing essays for her, but in English. Though I've tried to explain to her that I'd rather do it in Spanish and receive no scores for her class (I don't need credit for the course), either I'm not doing a good job getting my point across or she's just ignoring what I'm saying. I've talked to some of the other teachers about it, and they said they would talk to her for me.

Just the other day I sent in my confirmation for Spain's Rotary Trip; we get to travel through southern Spain, go to the world conference in Lisbon, and then make our way up through Portugal. I'm sure you'll hear much more about it as I get closer to the trip, which is in June.

Well folks, that's pretty much all the stuff bouncing around in my brain at the moment. I switch host families on Friday, so look for a post about that in a week or so. I hope everyone at home is doing well and enjoying being back to school.

I miss you all!
Love from Marbella,
Shonabell