Today, we took the placement test for our classes. We had a writing part for 30 minutes, grammar multiple choice for an hour, and then did an individual oral test. I was placed in the 5th of 9 or 10 levels, so I’m pretty happy with that. The professor said that my grammar placed me a level or two higher, but my speaking needed a lot of work (no kidding, that’s why I’m here!). He said it like it was news to me, but I’m really looking forward to improving my conversation skills.
After the test, Veronica, the program director, took us for a tour through the city. One of the professors led us and told us the history of the city. The cathedral is one of the focal points and changed from a mosque to a cathedral when control switched over. It is the only cathedral in the world that depicts the archangel who was banished from heaven and sent to the underworld (el Diablo). We saw gypsies in the street near the cathedral yelling at one another and carrying around rosemary to “read your palm.” We saw a cute marketplace with semi-tourist type gift shops and I want to go back. They had aprons and I’m tempted to get Nikki one for her cooking shows. You know, in case she ever does a Spanish one.
After that we went to a café to use wifi because Veronica was going to send us an email with our class information. We ate dinner at 9:30 (scrambled eggs and ham, tomatoes, which I managed to choke some down, and more fruit) and met up with the rest of the Central College group for sangria y tapas (my first legal drink! Kinda).
So far, I’ve noticed that people are way less concerned with the time and don’t rush anywhere. I’ve barely used my phone to check the time and only do to be back for a meeting or dinner. Our host mother is getting more and more talkative and even praised me for using a Spanish phrase in conversation. She’s very helpful and really tries to get us to say what we mean.
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