Ellinor

Hello y'all!

This week started off with a try for the Cambridge examination. Only to check on our skills and see if we're improving our skills. I passed so I hope it will lead to another success in August, especially when the test cost 275$. This Monday, my roommate Jennie had to move out from our room and move to Cliffton, a hotel students can choose to live at through the school. Apparently there had been some problem in their booking system, so she didn't have a room at all. So she moved out and we got a new roommate, Sofie from Germany, we had the same class together in the beginning before I went to Cambridge, a nice girl. So a bit of rearrangements in the room. But everyone seemed to be happy, so me and Fosca helped Jennie to move all her stuff to Cliffton and then we ended the day with a cold drink at Starbucks.

Tuesday - Speaking task
The morning started with the Cambridge Speaking exam. It's probably the worst part, because the situation makes you stressed. It's limited time and you have to speak as much as possible and of course, with correct grammar and pronunciation while there's another person participating in the test as well. After the test, I had a couple of hours off so I went to the gym and ran for an hour. Then I went to the All Star Fan Fest of baseball, which is in Miami Beach this year (I promise, I took a shower before). When we went to the baseball game a couple of weeks ago, we won tickets to this event and Tuesday was the last day, so I thought that I would at least check it out. My visit lasted for about 30 minutes, maximum. It was 150% baseball enthusiasts but I enjoyed walking around and look at the different activities that were going on. After class I went to the dive center to book another divetrip. I was offered a great deal on Advanced course, but I decided to just do another fun dive but this time at Neptune Memorial. In the evening me, Jennie, Rikka and Mercedez went downtown to attend a Swingdancing-class, but when we got there it turned out that they had closed it down for like 3 months ago...so no dancing there. We went back to Miami beach to check out some Salsa classes instead at Ocen Drive, but the 35$ fee was not so interesting so me and Jennie decided to skip the dancing and return home. 

 

 

At Thursday I didn't start class until 12:45, so I could sleep in and relax a bit more. I found out that I had got the job as a PAL! I'm one of 4 new PAL's and my first worktime would be the same day at a poolparty. I went to Lincoln road and bought myself a rash guard, it's a swimsweater you can use while surfing or diving. I also bought a new underwatercamera, since I had finished the first one already. After having take-away lunch from Rosetta, the fine italian bakery, I went back to school to attend my afternoon classes. After dinner I started to work as a PAL and got my pretty pink t-shirt where it says EF Staff on the back. I helped our RA Adriana with the activities at the poolparty, we had some hula hoops contest etc. but in the beginning when we got there, there was a bunch of italian teenagers that had a waterballoon-war. I actually remained dry until the end when we were going to bring all the equipments inside and a girl throw a wet noodle (the one you float on) at me when I kindly asked her to hand it over....kids these days. It was a nice evening, but I really enjoyed hitting the showers afterwards and just relaxed in my room the rest of the day. 

 Friday off!! Woho!

Our teacher Joanna were going to fly to Scotland Thursday night, so we all had the Friday off. But we had extra lessons in the beginning of the week, so we earned it. I had my divingtour booked this day and I wasn't supposed to be there until 12, so I had a calm morning, having a long breakfast, skyped with my brother and parents and even had the time to do some laundry. At 12 I entered South beach diver shop and got my gear. It appeared to have been mistake done by an employee, so at first there were no guide booked for me. But the Midge, the guy who worked this day, became happy because that ment that he would "have to" be my guide. Apparently he works most of his time in the shop so he was very happy to get the oppurtunity to go diving that beautiful day. We went of to the harbour and got on the boat that would take us to Rainbow Reef and Neptune Memorial Reef. Along with us we had a guy, originally from Dallas, but who lives in north Miami Beach. Our first dive at Rainbow reef was nice, not so much action though, just some small fishes and nice corals. But the second dive!! Oh my, that was one of the best dives I've done. Neptune Memorial was like a small Atlantis altar at the bottom of the sea, but had also become a memorial for people who died while working for saving the marine life or at the military. So there were some memorial stone shaped like seashells spread out at the spot. It was beautiful. Pillars covered by corals in many different colours and lots of fish swimming around. We saw 3 white/grey Sting Rays and some curious Barracudas watching us. It was great, I'm very fascinated by underwater life. When I go diving I forget time and space, it's such a wonderful feeling and I highly recommend to go to Neptune Memorial if you're a diver visiting Miami! There were some freedivers/snorkeling people who went down too, but to freedive to a depth of almost 15 meters can be dangerous so I recommend to do a dive with full scuba gear. So I had a fantastic day and felt so satisfied. I've done the 2 dives on my bucket list for Miami, we'll see if I'll do any more dives during my last 6 weeks. After dinner at night I went to meet up with Rikka and Mercedez. It was Rikka's last night in Miami, so we went to grab a drink and have some nice conversations at Oceandrive. I was very tired after my adventurous day at sea so I enjoyed getting back to EF and my bed later that night. 

 

 

My weekend have been very calm. I had some ideas of visiting Miami Seaaquarium, but I'll save it to another day. Sometimes you just need to have a quiet weekend too. I spent my Saturday at the beach followed by a visit at Seagul hotel's pool with Jennie and the RA's Alexis, Dorina, George and Randy. It was nice, we had some funny conversations and had a good drink and tried to teach some of them to float. Nice evening, ended with That 70's show and a cold Coke Zero.

Today, Sunday, I skyped with my parents and my brother who visited them, then I also skyped with my sister, I really miss my family. Look forward to come home and meet them all again! What I miss most while being far away from home is the ability to spontaneously see friends and family, to have my own room and apartment and cook my own food. After 7 weeks I'm used to living with 3 people in a small room. I think what makes it easy is the thought of that I definitely will come home to my own place in the end of August. 
During the afternoon I spent some time at the gym, followed by 2 hours studying with my classmate Sasha from Slovakia. It's always easier to start to study when you have a time sceduled with someone. So we will try to do it more often to prepare as much as possible for the exam. After dinner I went to the beach and had a nice swim in the sea and then I just sat on the beach philosophizing. It was relaxing until a strange middle-age guy came and started to talk to me. In the beginning it was okay, but he just stood there for a long time and started to ask me weird questions about Sweden when all I wanted was to be alone, so it ended with me leaving the beach instead. I'm too kind to ask someone to go away so I thought it was easier for my to just leave. 

A shower later and I'm now back in my bed. I have a couple of hours left of the day and there's a risk that I'll end up watching some episodes from That 70's show, it's just so hilarious so I can't stop watching ;-) 

I wish you all a great week!

Hugs and Kisses from Miami Beach

//Ellinor