One week later

I have been with my host family for one week so far. I feels like it has been forever, but also feels like I just got here earlier today. Wednesday was my first day of school and thus far I have come to the realization that learning a different language is REALLY hard. My teachers have been pretty helpful so far, saying that it isn't a necessity for me to write down certain things and that I don't need to worry. I made my first friend, Ivan, only because the teacher was talking to me and I had no idea what he was saying so Ivan stepped up and translated it for me. It turns out that Ivan is also a new student, who just moved to Spain from Colombia, and he speaks really good English. I try to listen and pay attention in classes but it is really hard when I don't understand what is being said.  I write my notes (as much as possible) and copy from Ivan what I don't understand. Overall, my Spanish is better than it was a week ago, when I first arrived. With that being said, I still suck. I feel like I can speak much better than I can listen, because most of the time, I listen to peoples conversations and only pick up one or two words. Or if someone is talking to me, I almost always end up saying "que," "repite," "no entiendo," or "despacio por favor." It really is not what I expected it to be, but not in a good or bad way. I miss my family more than I expected, but I feel like that goes along with me not being able to understand things people are saying. BTW the other day I went to a fiesta in Ablitas, a neighboring city to Tudela, and I ran with the bulls. Best time of my life, I definitely hope that I get to do it again.