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Being a Really Heavy Sponge

sarahlorenzen2002

Here I am in the rapids of exchange. The part where everything feels like it’s going by quickly and slowly all at once. I’m feeling a lot of feelings that I haven’t felt since India. We used to refer to it as watching your life unfold through a screen. I feel like a really heavy sponge.

I’ll be starting Spanish classes next week online with a group of exchange students. The classes will go on for the next two months and I’m hopeful that they will be helpful. Something I wasn’t expecting when I started trying to become bilingual is that first I would become alingual. I can barely speak correctly in English anymore. I’ve been going to English classes with Florencia and sometimes when the teachers speak to me in English a cat takes my tongue away. It’s also proving to be super difficult to switch between the two languages, so I try to stay away from English throughout the day.

I don’t know how to describe Uruguay. It’s not as tropical as I thought it would be. It’s kind of a familiar mix of India and Washington climate-wise. The food palate here is much different than anywhere I’ve ever been. Usually meat, meat, more meat, meat stuffed with a different kind of meat, pizza of some kind of meat, meat stew, meat grilled, meat fried, meat wood-fired. For drinks, most days I can count on having coffee and grapefruit juice, mate if I feel like it and sometimes sparkling water. For breakfast and the fourth meal between lunch and dinner that doesn’t have a name in English there's cereal, yogurt, crackers, dulce de leche, sandwiches, ice cream, fruits, and leftovers.

I’m trying my best to enjoy the cold but I can’t wait for summer to come. In my head summer here represents being outside, going to the beach, siestas in the hammocks, and going out dancing.

I’m excited for this weekend because I’m going to meet two exchange students from Germany who live close to me. We’re probably going to become lifelong friends.

I’m finally getting used to the sleeping schedule here so I’m not completely exhausted by 4pm and it feels great to be able to stay up and talk with my host family. Last night my host sister found me a bunch of childhood books for me to practice reading.

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