I live in Spain.

¡Buenos días!

Ciao a tutti!

 Sorry it's been so long, it's just that nothing super exciting has happened recently; I've just been settling into my routine of classes and homework and hanging out with the other people in the program.
   I know you guys have talked about this before, but I can't remember if you said you were friends with everyone in your program before you left or if there were some people you were meeting and getting to know after you got to Germany. For me, its basically all the latter (with one or two exceptions) because even the couple of people I did know bfore coming here, I only got to know at the very end of spring quarter so I still don't know them very well and vice versa. The point of that rambling is that it's been really fun getting to know peope on the trip, expeially because we probably never would have become friends back at K. Also, it's funny to realize that every single one of us is actually just a huge dork--I mean, we all go to Kalamazoo College!
   My host sister gave birth about a week and a half ago (she doesn't live with us) and I got to meet him for the first time last night! So beautiful and tiny! I can't remember if I told you about all of the people living here right now for the occasion, including an 11mo. year old baby girl and a 5 yr. old boy but they've been here with their parents (my other host sister and her husband) for about 2 weeks. They're very nice and the kids are very cute, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't slightly relieved that they're leaving tomorrow. It's just pretty chaotic, and they're all sick and I'm pretty sure I've caught whatever it is they have, so I've just been sleeping a lot recently.
   As far as my Spanish goes, I think it's improving, but right now I'm just a little frustrated with it because there are always words that I forget, or things that I want to say but am too nervous to or don't remember how to conjugate the verb. It is better than when I got here though, so at least there's some improvement! My Engish is getting worse though I think haha.
 Big news! There is this thing called National Novel Writing Month, and it takes place in November and the goal is to write a novel (first draft, no editing) of 50,000 words over the course of 30 days. Sounds impossible, I know, and I might not finish it, but my friend Nick and I are going to try it! So I'll keep you updated on how thats going! Also, if you're wondering, I'm going to be writing it in English :)
  I'm also realizing how hard it is to keep in touch with everyone who isn't here. I'm going to try to pick a specific day a week to write and e-mail and update pictures for everyone, but it's hard to find the perfect time to do it each week. I'll do my best though!
  Love and miss you all very much!