First Day of School

I had my first day at my Portuguese school today (1/19/2010). Before school, I was ready to barf. I could just picture myself getting lost, no one understanding me, and being confused. Though I was confused in History class, the rest of the day went by much easier than I thought it would. I have classes from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm every day so 3:30 am to 8:30 am NY time. (So I am finished with school, by the time students at South Lewis finish first period.) I only have three classes every day, but before you all get jealous, know that they are very long. Each class is 1 hour 40 minutes with a 15 minute break in between each class. The kids were very nice and they helped me a lot. They are really gracious and went out of their way to make sure I knew where I was going. Most of them speak English and they are eager to help me with my Portuguese.

I had a project class first. All the seniors must work on a project for a year and I joined a group that is doing their project about prejudice against homosexuality. Then I had gym and then history. History was very hard because it was all in Portuguese and I could barely understand anything and the teacher kept trying to ask me questions in Portuguese. Like, "What document started The Cold War?" At least that was the translation I got so I was confused. I could answer a little about what the Marshall Plan was and how it provided aid to Europe. The students know more little details about US History than I do. I kept turning to the girl next to me to translate the teachers questions. In History, they are learning about the Cold War and they have a test tomorrow. The teacher wants me to try to take the test with the book open, but the book is in Portuguese so it will be hard. Tomorrow I have Portuguese, Sociology and then History again. I also have a Psychology class later in the week. I was put in a Humanities track so those are all the subjects in that track. The school is on a week schedule, instead of a 6 day schedule like at South Lewis. So every Monday I will have the same three classes and every Tuesday I will have a different three classes and so on and so on. Some classes I only have twice a week, History I have three times a week. Everyday I will come back to my host familys home for lunch since I do not have afternoon classes. I may get a tutor to help me learn Portuguese in the afternoon so I can actually understand what the teachers are talking about. So all in all my first day was not too bad. Hopefully, I will learn the language very fast so I can participate more in classes.