Nuestro Groupa

Our group is a bit more diverse than I had anticipated. Some just cannot get enough of everything....i.e. tell me more! Some cannot get enough of the bar and night scene. This makes for some interesting dialogue about being on time, attending events, etc. Thus the ¨this is not a vacation¨ speeches. Most of the students are quite fluent in Spanish but a few have not had any Spanish courses at all. Those dont´seem to be as engaged in things as the others. At this point, the students seem a bit anxious about living with a new family and about how far they will have to walk to get to class. Some will live more than 10 blocks from the CEDEI university. It is quite a good thing that we have this time together as a group.

At first it did seem like a bit of a vacation time before we began classes, but I have learned that it would not be wise to just drop the students in a new culture. We are all learning about being safe (one student has already been robbed) about acting responsibly (a few have been caught drunk), about begin healthy (one student has already been the hospital for dehydration) and about being respectful of another culture. There are three representatives from CEDEI in addition to the three faculty from SU and we have ongoing orientation. But the orientation is working well and the group is quite enjoyable. They are fun to be with. And the events have been well planned for the given time and for providing cultural events that inform as well as capture the´students´ interest.

So far my only disappointment is that I rely too much on the group and fail to speak Spanish when I should.