School and Stuff

This is my school, Institut Josep Lluis Sert.

School: 

          Yesterday was my first day of school. Although my first day only lasted from 9:15 to 11:15 that didn't make it any less nerve racking! Ana Maria drove me to school and walked in with me so I wouldn't be completely on my own. Once we entered the school gate the secretary informed us that we were too early and that I would have to wait to look around. At that point my nerves jumped to an all time high! How was I going to manage a whole new school, not knowing where my classrooms were with a whole bunch of strangers milling the halls!?! And then to top that off Ana Maria mentioned that she had to go to work!

          It was then I think that the secretary realized exactly how nervous I was and she disappeared for a second and returned with two teachers. One was the new English teacher (who did not talk to me in English) who needed showing around, and the other a teacher of I don't know what who knew the building well enough to show us around. So we walked around the campus, pointing out different rooms and different teachers we met along the way. We found my classroom and then we found my teacher. I can't remember her name either (I had a lot more on my mind than learning names!), but she was very nice and spoke English very well because believe it or not she spent a year living in Catskill, NY! 

          So she and I walked up from the teachers room where we met and into my new classroom. She opened the door and I found a seat with two open chairs beside me. To my relief two girls sat next to me rather quickly so I didn't look so out of place. Then we went through the typical first day procedure, attendance, handing out schedules, reading rules and regulations (I'm pretty sure there is no dress code here which is nice. I don't understand the point in a dress code anyway.), and handing out books. Damn, I have a lot of books.
         
         The rest of the school day was pretty much light socialization and handing out of new papers. The girls sitting next to me introduced themselves and I'm pretty sure I made an idiot of myself by replying with my name while they were asking something else, but  hey live and learn. Oh, did I mention that after attendance was taken my teacher decided to do the classic, "We have a new student here named Emily. Emily has come to us all the way from New York in the United States" bit that was totally mortifying!

          Anyway, the school day ended and I made my 15 minute journey home all by myself without getting lost once, and let me tell you, those books were so heavy that by the time I reached my door my arms were shaking uncontrollably! But I was home, and I had survived my first day of school. My next challenge was going out and about the town all by myself. 

And Stuff:

          So around 1:00 I set out to explore the town for myself. And it was perfectly fine! I'll keep this part short and just show you pictures of the things I saw.

PALM TREES!!!

This is the castle of "Castelldefels"!

                                                       That's all for now folks!