Whew! I don’t have much time to write, but I’ll do my best to sum up my day fairly quickly. This morning I talked with my Romanticism professor about the great century confusion of yesterday, and he reassured me that I had no reason to worry about the test or its results. I had to take another test given by him in my Latin American Literature class this afternoon, so I spent every spare second of the morning reviewing that material. Going into this test I knew I needed to keep a level head and focus on writing my ideas clearly, even if I don’t have time to write as much. The test format was the same as yesterday, I was grateful to get three prompts that I was very confident in answering. Instead of rushing I took my time and made a quick outline before starting, and the whole test went much better.
We got our tests back in Romanticism, and I discovered that my professor graciously ignored everything I wrote about the 19th century and gave me credit for the information I presented about the 17th. The grade was not my highest preoccupation, but I was really grateful to see that he understood that it was our first test and I was overwhelmed. He did jokingly mention my over-ambition in covering two centuries in the time I should have taken to cover just one, and I was happy to know that we were on the same page and that he knew I understood the material I needed to. After reviewing the test, we went to the park across the street from our school to read a classic Sevillana legend by Béquer, one of the authors we’re studying. It turned out to be a wonderful afternoon.
After class, I went out for ice cream with some friends and then went to the park by my apartment to work on some homework before lunch. My goal was to get all of my homework for Monday done today. I mostly succeeded and only have a one-page composition left to write sometime in the next few days. We had a really yummy lunch, and then I went back to the park to pray for a while and do some more homework. I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed with things to do: I’m participating in a prayer group, Wednesday night services, Sunday school, a service project, trying to form a relationship with my intercambio, planning weekend and daytrips, keeping up with people at home, and studying Spanish, all on top of trying to walk closely with God, and sometimes I just need to take a break and surrender it all to Him.
Like I wrote about yesterday, I’m learning lots about trusting God and seeking His purposes, and taking some time to just be with Him is absolutely necessary sometimes. I left the park knowing that I was in God’s hands but still feeling like I had a lot to do, so I went straight home and got to work. I had studied my grammar a bit, but I still needed to review, and the biggest thing I was worried about was getting in touch with my parents about fall break plans. I was thankful to get to Skype with them and work things out, and then I spent the rest of the night catching up on things. I had lots and lots of unanswered emails and little details that I couldn’t keep putting off, so I ended up spending the rest of my day getting those little things done. It’s a relief to feel like I’m mostly caught up again, but I know that with another week will come another list of things to do, so I’ll try to keep working throughout the rest of the weekend in order to start next week off on the right foot. I’m looking forward to going to Cadiz with Corinne tomorrow and the break from reality that the trip should provide. It will be refreshing to get out of the city and hopefully go swimming for a while. This Mediterranean weather is something I could totally get used to…how many Minnesotans get to go to the beach on October first?!
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