My first days in Uruguay

Blog entry No. 2 20.8.19

Hello,

today is Tuesday and I have been here in Uruguay for almost a week.

And this is how I spent the first days.

On Thursday, we arrived at around 10 o'clock and were picked up at the airport by the Yfu volunteers and other exchange students from other countries who had arrived before us.

(The volunteers are young adults who work voluntarily for Yfu and prepare us for our year here during these first days.)

Then we all went by bus to a youth hostel, where we had something to eat and waited for the remaining students who were still missing.

When they arrived, we were about 30 teenagers and 10 volunteers.

We spent the rest of the day doing ice-breaker activities.

However, we were all so tired and had jet lag that no one could really concentrate.

In the following days, we covered many topics and learned a lot, which was quite exhausting. You could tell, because we fell into bed like rocks every evening.

But the days were really very helpful and it was great to get to know all the teenagers and volunteers.

It's winter here at the moment and it's very cold most of the time.

The sun shines a lot and it's warm in the sun (with a sweater and winter shoes), but in the houses it's usually so cold that you have to dress as if you were going outside and still feel cold.

Here, the houses don't have heaters, only something like air conditioners, which don't really help against the cold.

But the winter is not that long anymore and it's supposed to get very hot here in the summer.

On Sunday, those who live near the youth hostel were picked up by their families and the rest of us went back to Montevideo, where we were distributed to different buses that took us to our cities.

In Salto, the city where I live, we are even five.

During the ride, we became more and more excited. But positively excited.

When we arrived in the evening, we were warmly welcomed by our families at the bus station.

At home, they showed me everything and we talked a little, but I was so tired that I went to bed soon.

The next morning, I was able to unpack my suitcases and sort out my thoughts and feelings in a relaxed way.

I have to say I was a bit overwhelmed and had some doubts whether this is really the right thing for me and whether we will eventually feel like a second family.

But when my host brother came back from university at noon and showed me the city, and in the evening my host mother came back from work and we spent the evening together and got along really well, the doubts disappeared again.

They are both really nice and open-minded.

Today I had another day to settle in and from tomorrow on I will also go to school here.

I'm very curious and excited about how it will be.

But I'm positive and hope that it will be great.

Have a nice week

Your Mara :)