¡Hola, mi nombre es Giovanni!

That is the only Spanish I used to know before moving to Peru when I was starting seventh grade.

I must admit, I was terrified. But I knew my family would put me into a school that spoke, for the most part, English. There was a school in Lima, Peru called Colegio Franklin Delano Roosevelt that was an all-American school I wanted to attend. Well, that did not work out and I ended up going to an all-Spanish speaking school called Colegio San Jose de Monterrico. Hearing my mother tell me I would go to an all-Spanish speaking school was terrifying, especially since I barely knew the language. How would I actually learn the material and make new friends?

I remember walking in on the first day and shaking since the atmosphere was completely different.

Hearing all the other students speaking Spanish at 200 words a second was making me dizzy. The person leading me to my classroom barely knew any English and pointed to my class I would be in and left. That was it. She left me in the classroom without any knowledge of what was to come next. I sat down, and the bell rang. All these students started to walk in and sit in their assigned seats. It was that awkward moment where the teacher came in, and I had to introduce myself. The teacher knew how to speak English (thankfully).

I was happy to figure out that I was not the only one who knew how to speak fluent English in my class, so it was not an issue to finally meet some people I can hopefully be friends with.

As soon to come, I found out that my "teacher" was just like a homeroom teacher, and the people would come to teach us each subject. Being honest, I did not learn much since taking notes in Spanish was probably the most challenging thing ever.

Eventually, I started to learn how to speak and write better in Spanish.

It was very hard, but with determination, I was able to overcome that barrier of not understanding a word of what people were saying, to entirely speaking, writing, and communicating with my teachers and classmates. I ended up being seventh in my class for that year. Sadly, I had to leave to return to the United States. It was a great experience, and I made life-long friends. I also have the great opportunity to meet with them every year, since my mother and other family members live there.

Maybe I should have practiced my Spanish before landing myself into a foreign country.

Though, at that point in time, I am glad that I did not because learning through actually immersing myself every day like that got me speaking Spanish how I am talking today — fluently.