Today was another great day of school!

After getting a locker from the Hausmeister, I went down into the basement of the school for my music class. Simon was in the class, and after introducing myself to the teacher I sat near him at the front of the class. The teacher spoke very very quickly but I managed to do okay. For the first hour we listened to two different operas of Orfeo and then wrote down differences between the two versions. The teacher seemed pleased with what I wrote down although I´m sure it was very simplistic and grammatically incorrect... The second half of the class was much more fun. We sang, accompanied sometimes by the teacher on the piano and also by Simon on guitar. It was really quite funny for me, because we were singing American rock and pop songs! The first one we sang was Come As You Are by Nirvana! That would never happen in America. Then we sang the song ´Hey Julie´ which is apparently from Scrubs? And then finally a song by Donovan. It was really fun.

I spent the break between Musik and my next class (chemistry) with Simon by the lockers. There´s no specific time for lunch at the school, so people bring or buy snacks and just munch in the ten minute or so breaks between classes. I met a few more people, including Igor who is from Russia (although not an exchange student). Then I was off to Chemistry.

In Chemistry I again introduced myself to the teacher, explained to her that I don´t need grades (thank God), and took a seat. Daniela and Linda were in this class but there were no free seats near them. For the first hour the class took a test, so the teacher gave me a book and showed me what they were working on (Orbitals for electrons... I could barely understand it in 11th grade in English let alone in German). After the test the teacher did a bit of a lecture on oxidization and reduction and ions and charges and such... which I actually followed because she wrote on the board. I even raised my hand and answered a question correctly! Needless to say that felt really good :)

After Chemie, English was yet again canceled so Simon, Gustavo, and I had two free hours. In German school they don´t really have subsititute teachers, so whenever your teacher is gone you can just do whatever you want, including leave the school and come back. Simon invited me and Gustavo to go into the city with him and walk and explore to pass the time. We got a ride from Patrick and Max, who also had free hours and were going back to one of their houses. We walked around the city, Simon got passport photos taken in a shop, and then we talked and drank coffee and hot chocolate in an Eiscafé. It was really nice to just talk and actually understand and learn about Argentina and Deutschland and share about my life in America. We then walked to the hospital to visit a friend of Simon´s who was working there for her Praktikum, which is like an apprenticeship/workstudy thing that is common in German schools. Then we went briefly in a small grocery store, got some gummis, and then got picked up by Patrick and went back to school.

The three of us had German class, so Gustavo and I sat in the back and did our own work again. I spent some time with my grammar book and spoke with him a bit. He goes back home in November, unfortunately, since he´s in the Southern hemisphere and has been here since February.

After school, I came back to the house with my hostmother, and my hostaunt came over to visit. We talked with her and I showed her the Maine book and gave her salt water taffy. Then we went on a bike ride with Bruno! It turned out to be a nice day, although it was rainy in the morning and always cold. Then we came back to the house, I did some German homework, and now we´re watching the German national women´s soccer team play Canada. I think it´s a prelim for the world cup. It´s 1-0 Germany!

That´s all for now!