A Day in The Life

8:00am -- Get up for school. Usually I am woken up by my little host brothers' screaming, but occasionally I am actually able to sleep until my alarm goes off.

8:30am -- Breakfast. Homemade toast, jam, noodle soup, chocolate, and soy milk are staples here.

9:00am -- Start school. I understand just about everything in my classes now, my current challenge is paying attention. My schedule changes daily, although I have roughly the same classmates for every class.

11:45am -- Break. We get a twenty-five minute break where we are allowed (read: forced) to go to the courtyard, even when it is super-duper cold outside.

2:00pm -- Lunch. Everyone goes home as classes let out for lunch, I'm lucky enough to live reeeeeally close to the school, so my walk home is short. Some people have to walk nearly 20 minutes to home and back, which really eats up your lunch hour. My host family and I normally have coucous or rice with vegetables, and, depending on the day, meat or fish.

3:10pm -- Return to school. Afternoon classes start, but only on a couple of days of the week. On Wednesdays, I come to the school to give conversational english classes.

5:00pm -- Freedom! This time we really are done. With school, that is. Quiet evenings are a rarity in my life here.

6:00pm-9:00pm -- Music lessons (piano or drums) or hanging out with friends. If I end up at home, I am usually downstairs chatting with the endless stream of people that come through my busy host home.

9:00pm -- Dinner. Everyone gets home by nine o'clock for dinner (except on Fridays and Saturdays, when everyone has things going on). Dinner is usually pretty similar to lunch, or includes pasta and sauce. Everything is very mediterranean and includes a BUNCH of olive oil.

11:00pm -- Time for bed. I consider it a good day if I am in bed by 11:00, and by that I mean that I normally don't get to sleep until 12:00 or later, but don't worry, I don't have anywhere to be tomorrow until 9:00am!