Adjusting to living in a different country is one of the most challenging (yet rewarding) things I have ever done. There are two main, obvious challenges: living with a new family and speaking only in Spanish.
I’m an only child with a single mom, so I’m not used to living in a busy house with four other people. It’s so different! I’m not used to eating meals together and always being surrounded by others. At first, it was really overwhelming, especially because I couldn’t fully communicate with everyone and I was really confused. I live on the second floor in my own room, and my host siblings share a room next door. All three of us share a bathroom. My host parents live upstairs and have their own bathroom. On the bottom floor is the kitchen and living/dining room. It’s a really nice house and much bigger than I’m used to because at home I live in an apartment.
Although I’ve been speaking Spanish for six years now, being immersed in a Spanish-speaking family has been super different. They all have strong Andalusian accents, too. This means that they pronouns Zs like “th”s, and drop the “d” sound in words that end in -ado, such as “he mirado” which becomes “he mir-ow”. They also speak really quickly, and one of my host siblings has braces.
