After My First Day of School

Today was my first day of school at IES Jorge Manrique, which is located just 1 minute walking away from my house. I gave the school a packet from AFS that was basically about what to do with me and the proceeded and welcomed me and gave me a tour and led me to my class.

Let me explain the Spanish school system first. After 6 years of what I would call "elementary school" (ages 6-12), you go to ESO (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria), which lasts for 4 years. I'm a Sophomore and I'm 16 so I'm in the last year of ESO, which is 4o. At my school, there are 5 classes/groups of the fourth year of ESO and I'm in group 4C. 

You stay in the same class almost all day with the same set of people. The exceptions are classes like lab science where you need to actually go somewhere. 

School Differences Observed:

1. Students are much more casual with their teachers, talking to them like friends and using "tú" form. 
2. Teachers are also called by their first name or "profe"
3. The students stay in the class and the teachers come to you. 
4. In math, decimals and numbers greater than a thousand are written differently. ex) 3.14 is 3,14 and 2,500 is 2.500 and 0.75 is 0'75
5. You can choose where you want to sit.
6. People still raise their hand if they really want to speak and get the attention of the teacher but generally, people just shout out. It's really fun actually.
7. The notebooks are taller and filled with graphing paper. And the binders have 4 rings instead of 3.
8. Guys here, contrary to the stereotypes, actually have very pretty handwriting.
9. Homework is very minimal and only a couple of the teachers give it. I'm pretty sure they rarely check it so no one really does it.

This is my schedule for school that I got. It's a little difficult to understand but people are pretty helpful. They tell me things like "Terrence, si no entiendes algo o necesitas ayuda, dime, vale?" Schools starts at 8:15 and on Mondays and Fridays ends at 2:25. The rest of the days go till 3:20. 

Everyone in the school (called un Instituto) was really friendly and nice. They welcomed me and wanted to get to know me. They ask a lot of questions about the United States and California. And probably because I look pretty different and stand out, they often approach me and try to befriend me. It's really nice. In "la clase de ampliación de biología", they all sang me happy birthday. On WhatsApp, the main social network of Spaniards, they have a group chat for the class and they added me to it and welcomed me. We talk about what we need to know/study, test dates, homework help, etc.

People here don't seem to hate school and I find myself looking forward to the next school day.

I'm excited for the next few days of school to really get settled in and I can already feel my Spanish improving. Sometimes, I go a full few minutes understanding everything that the teacher is saying.

Pretty exciting.