I'm in Honduras!

Wow, so, I’m here. In Honduras! I got here yesterday afternoon and was greeted in the airport by AFS volunteers and the other exchange students. Only two of the others are actually students, Luisa, who is from Germany and Juri, who is from Japan. The others are all from Germany or Belgium and they’re here for community service. We’re staying at a hotel just outside of Tegucigalpa-- when we got here the volunteer laughed and said “This is not a luxury hotel…this is a Honduran hotel,” but actually the hotel is quite nice. It’s spacious and there’s a huge pool and good food. Definitely nicer than some of the ones I’ve stayed at in the US! The only thing is that a hotel in the US would never allow the noise this place allows. The bar (or our neighbors?) were partying well into the AM…there was literally music blasting through the main area of the hotel! It was really hard to sleep.

The drive here was mesmerizing. People here sure don’t drive like they do in the US! Slamming horns and brakes, nearly killing pedestrians, and going ungodly speeds in completely the norm here. I found it sort of exciting, like a roller coaster ride. I can’t get enough of the architecture and design tastes here. The buildings are yellow, orange, blue, green, pink, purple, or all of the above! There are murals! Cobblestones! Every city should look like this! Oh yeah, and the dirt is pink. It’s weird.

I get to my host family tomorrow morning which is really great because I must admit I’m getting pretty bored here. There’s no one really to talk to…Juri and Luisa don’t speak much English and are pretty shy, and the rest speak fluent English but mostly just use German. At least when I get to my host family I won’t be jetlagged!