Colegio.

So, I realized I have never done a post about school and my classes and stuff. So here it is.

First of all, a quick explaination of the my daily schedule and the grading system in Spain. My schedule:
7.30- Wake up and shower
7.50- Pack up my backpack and go downstairs for breakfast
8.10- Finish breakfast and put my snack in my backpack
8.12- Leave and walk to school
8.25- School starts (I think...)
2.15- School Ends (Except on Thursdays when i have Septima and i get out at 3.00 (i think)... For more on that, see my previous blog post entitled "Septima...)
2.30- Get home and eat lunch with Fernando and Pablo (except on Thursdays i eat lunch by myself because they have already eaten when i get home at 3.00-3.15)
3.00-6.30 or 7.05- It depends on the day what time track starts (Wednesdays 7.00, Monday, Tuesday and Friday 7.30) but during this time i will waste time, look at Facebook, Skype with AFS friends, do homework
6.45 or 7.15- Leave for track
7.00 or 7.30-anywhere from 8.30-9.30- Track in the center of Tres Cantos.
Get home sometime after that, eat dinner and then go to bed.
Now the grading system: Here in Spain you get grades between 1 and 10. 5 and up is passing, and 4 and down is failing. Quite simple.

And my classes:

Mates: Ok, so it's full name is Matematicas, but who says that? Certainly not me. Anyway, Mates is fairly straightforward... We just finished the second chapter which was polynomials and synthetic division and factoring. It was super easy and I loved it. I really like Mates because I understand about all of it almost all the time. So that is nice. And the teacher is really nice. And it is really easy because i have done it before. So basically all pluses.

Lengua: Language. It is pretty much the Spanish equivalent of our English classes in the US. We do literature and grammar and stuff like that. I don't really like this class a ton. The teacher is OK, but i don't really understand much. Right now probably about 20-30% on the average day. Today less, other days more. And i have a test in Lengua on thursday (maybe... more on why later...). My goal: to pass.

Estudio: Study Hall. Pretty straightforward.

Fisica y Quimica: Physics and Chemistry. This class is ok. It is pretty boring and i understand some of it depending on the day but it isn't my favorite.

Tecnologia: Technology. This class is actually pretty cool. Right now it is kinda boring because we are just learning all of the electrical stuff and about circuits and stuff but later in the year we get to make robots and projects and stuff.

Historia: So I used to really not like this class (it used to be my least favorite...) but right now it is not to bad. I used to really not like the teacher because she would just sit in the front and read off her notes and we were expected to copy it all down and she was really strict, but now we switched seats so I am in the front of the class and every ten minutes she will ask if i am doing ok and when we have to copy stuff down she will make sure i copy it right and yesterday, she wrote something on a paper at the desk where she was sitting and i (being in the front) was trying to copy it upsidedown but she just gave it to me once she was done so i could copy it. So right now it isnt too bad. :)

Ampliacion de Matematicas: This is amplication of math. Basically we just do harder topics than we do in regular math. But it is a different teacher who i dont like as much...

Ingles: Such a great class. :) It is really fun and REALLY easy (obviously...). I really enjoy it. I think the teacher is nice, and every thursday we have an assistant who is from LA come in to help us with our pronunciation. :) I really enjoy that class.

Biologia: This class is ok. I understand some of it but i am not a huge fan of the teacher. Also it is just kind of a hard class. But today was quite funny. One of the few sentences i understood: "Estamos en un testiculo..." We were talking about Haploid and Diploid cells and how they are formed and cellular reproduction. It was really funny.

Etica: Ethics. Right now we are talking about the origin of humans (i think...). This class is ok. I only have it once a week (last class on Friday, whopee...) but the teacher is nice. I dont understand much but it isnt too bad.

Tutoria: This class i also have once a week. It is basically advisory or homeroom, and we just talk or fill out papers or play games and stuff. And my tutora is my math teacher that is really nice.

Educacion Fisica: Yay for not knowing all of my classes... :) Anyway, I have PE twice a week. It is a lot like PE in the US except you dont have a change of clothes for PE, you just wear sweatpants or athletic shorts all day. But it is quite similar. We run in the beginning and will either play sports outside or do exercises inside or outside. And there are the people that actually try (like me...) and the people that every 4 minutes pretend to be tying their shoes so they dont have to run.

So, i think that that is all of my classes. And the schedule is kinda funky. There is no rotation schedule or anything. The classes are just in some random order. And some i have 4 times a week (Mates y Lengua), others 3 times a week (FyQ, Tec., Bio., Historia, Ingles), others twice a week (Amp de Mates, Estudio) and others once (Etica y Tutoria). It is quite weird.

Also, one last random thing: I have noticed my English is getting worse. I misspell words all the time when i am writing in English. For example: (In parentheses is what i meant to say...)

• Shee (she)
• A (I)
• Straighforward (straightforward)

Or i will get ahead of myself and skip words... Anyway, i suppose that means my spanish is getting better! :)

Adios!