And.... Scene! That's a wrap, everyone!

Scene 1-- The Good Kind of Teacher:

Them on the first day of school: Hi! Do you understand very much catalan?

Me: Very little, but don't let that deter you, I will just catch what I can.

Them: OK, perfect, I will make sure to pronounce things fully, and speak clearly, etc.

Me: Thanks! That's perfect!

Them: *actually does what they said they were going to do*

Me: *understands a good part of what is going on in class* *is very happy that the teacher isn't making the whole class wait on me.*

Scene 2 -- The Less Good Ones:

Them on the first day of school: Hi! Do you understand very much catalan?

Me: Very little, but don't let that deter you, I will just catch what I can.

Them: OK, perfect, I will make sure to pronounce things fully, and speak clearly, etc.

Me: Thanks! That's perfect!

Them: *pronounces things clearly, etc., but checks in with me after every sentence, no matter how insignificant*

Me: *smiles apologetically at the rest of the class, because we have now spent 6 hours trying to get me to understand something I would have figured out on my own five minutes later* 

Me: *leaves class slightly exasperated about how slow that was, while still understanding that the teacher was, actually, trying to help*

Scene 3 -- That One Teacher:

Her on the first day of school: Hi!.....

Her: *waits for a couple of seconds to make sure I fully understood* 

Her: How

Her: *waits for a couple of seconds to make sure I fully understood* 

Her: Are

Her: *waits for a couple of seconds to make sure I fully understood* 

Her: you? (Continues in this manner)

Me: *can hardly understand her because it is actually difficult to understand someone when they talk 7.344 times slower than a snail moves.*

Her as soon as her back is turned to write something on the board: huble shomotalfid ancu hitlando.

Me: *can understand even less because it is actually difficult to understand someone when they talk at 7.344 times the speed of light.*

Me: *leaves class frustrated because I not only didn't learn anything whatsoever, but because it was not at all apparent she was even trying*

Scene 4 -- The Music Lessons :

(Note: this scene has two parts : Pt. I : the Flute Lesson; and Pt. II : the Piano Lesson.)

Part I: the Flute Lesson

My host sister: This is the American girl who is staying with us, she's taking flute lessons, and Castillan Spanish is best for the moment.

Me: *grateful that she had shown me where to go, and introduced me exactly as we had discussed* Thanks! And hello! I would like to let you know that I don't know very many music terms in Spanish.

Flute Teacher: that's ok, we will figure it out fine!

Me: Awesome!

*after lesson*

Teacher: see you next week!

Me: yup.

Me: *thinks the teacher is great, but remembers why I quit flute in the first place*

Part 2: the Piano Lesson

Me: Hi, I am the American girl staying with Neus's family, I am taking piano lessons, and for now, Castillan Spanish is best. 

Piano Teacher: great! I here you already play piano a bit.

Me: *explains my piano history*

Me: *plays the one song I know still*

Teacher: oh! You still know how to play! I kind of figured a break would have meant you didn't know any songs!

Me: *glad I exceed expectations, as opposed to falling short of them*

*after class*

Teacher: have a nice week!

Me: *absolutely loves the class, and can't quite remember why in the world I quit piano in the first place, seeing as it is amazing!*

Scene 5 -- The Home-Coming

(If looking for a realistic interpretation of the play, insert a version of this after every day of school and music lesson and other excursion)

Me: Hello! I'm back from ------!

Whoever is home at the time: how was it?

Me: exhausting, but great! The people were really nice, and I managed to say "--------" without messing up!

Them: well, it's normal to be exhausted, and I'm glad people were nice.

The family: *laughs hysterically at whatever the latest event of the house is*

Me: *happy to be at the house, because it is starting to feel like home, and everything is familiar*

Scene 6 -- the Night Time Conversation with Life

(Note: I am not, in fact, crazy. I simply needed to format internal thoughts to the play, without the use of asterics, because I am sick of them)

Life: how's this whole 'abroad' thing going?

Me: good, though very lonely at times...

Life: you were warned it would be.

Me: I'm well aware, but the last couple of days, I have been finding a good routine, with which I am really happy.

Life: that's good!

Me: yeah, yeah it is... I also get a lot of hope from other people's blog posts from when they were abroad... Most of them say that at about 5 months in, everything starts to feel normal, and gets easier.

Life: oh, you have got plenty of time gurl, you've only been here two weeks!

Me: I know... I am going to be fine :)

Me *already regretting the use of asterics* *drifts off to sleep contentedly, knowing that I have a lot of time to make friends, learn the language, and other wise immerse myself in the culture*

THE END