After hearing about some wonderful experiences my friends have had… I had a idea of what my experience would be living with a host family in Spain. Making new friends, interacting with the family and their activities, etc… well…. it didn’t work out so good for me. lol  The school placed me with the woman who was 72 years old that was so particular about everything…. she had a such a long list of rules in her house that it was intolerable for me living there. I was supposed to be there for entire month… I only lasted 3 days.

I could not go into the kitchen.

I could now wash my own clothes, she had to do it for me.

I could not make any meals.

My showers were limited to per one day and no more than 15 minutes.

I could not use any toilet paper to blow my nose at any time –  I had to buy my own Kleenex.

She had full blown OCD and if anything was out of place she would have a very annoyed attitude.

One time when I was in my room at the computer with a desk light and an overlap headlight on, she turned off the overhead light because she thought the desk light was just fine and I didn’t need both.

She was very annoyed when I didn’t finish my meals she prepared because I was too full.

She talked very quickly and I could only understand about 20% of what she was saying. When I asked her to slow down or repeat herself one or two times she would get very irritated.

She would not put the heat on, so it was so cold that I felt like I was camping outside when I slept, granted I am very sensitive to cold temperatures, but it was pretty miserable.

And the big topper….she actually went into my room twice and rearrange my belongings!

So… I spoke to the school and once they heard the story, they wanted to move me immediately. I packed up and moved everything to the residency building for students. So now I have a room that has a tiny little window, but at least I have privacy and a very nice private bathroom. 

The good news?? 

I escaped from an overbearing, snooping host. It only takes me 10 minutes to walk to school rather than 30. I am bonding with my fellow students more. Yippee! So, no total immersion – but that really was not going to happen with my regular communication in English on the Internet. 🙂

My school experience is really fantastic. I am studying at Don Quixote, the school is over 30 years old and has locations all over Spain and in many other Latin countries. The teachers are professional, knowledgeable and really make the learning experience quite fun.

Initially they put me in a level of higher that was not totally comfortable for me, and if I had plans only to be there for two or three weeks, I probably would’ve toughed it out and stayed in that higher-level class. But considering I have three more weeks in Barcelona and a whole month and Valencia and I didn’t see the point. My foundation is a little weak, so I thought it would be a great idea to practice what I do know and keep on learning things I don’t know, then next month I’ll go to the higher level. This makes the experience much more relaxed and fun, which is my priority. Plus… listening is the hardest thing for me and at the lower level they talk slower for you. Totally what I needed!