I’m loving life. Every minute of it ;) Praise the Lord for His faithfulness and for His never-ending supply of blessings!
Today marked the beginning of classes, introducing an actual routine into my life for the first time in about 6 months when regular classes ended in Costa Rica and we began traveling more. Since then I’ve enjoyed the variety of a non-scheduled life, but routine is something I’m welcoming back into my life with two outstretched arms. Corrine and I started this morning on the Metro again because her foot is still hurting her, and I woke up feeling pretty out of it due to my cold. We were a pretty rough looking pair on the way to school.
Once classes started, I was excited to find out who my teachers are and how classes will operate here. I had four classes back to back starting at 9 and releasing around 12:30. All of my teachers seem really nice (they’re all very understanding and speak clearly so we can understand!!), and the classes will surely be interesting. I’m looking forward to getting to know the other students in my classes and improving my Spanish reading and writing skills. It’s a schedule I think I’ll really enjoy. Corrine has another class after my last one, so I will probably work on homework for an hour in the park near school most days in order to walk back to the apartment for lunch with her. Today, however, I was feeling pretty sick, so I decided to go home right after class and take a nap.
After sleeping for about an hour I felt a lot better, and I worked on reorganizing my things for a little bit before Corrine came home and we ate lunch. Rosa asked about classes, and we talked about some of the social problems here in Spain. My choice conversation topics will forever be influenced by LASP and the requirements there to talk to everyone about issues of every kind. I enjoyed the conversation and the meal, and one we finished I dove into my homework.
Apparently I started with my hardest homework, my reading for Latin American Literature. We’re going to read one novel in its entirety for sure this semester, and we started it for homework today. While I understand the general idea of the writing the first time through, the vocabulary was way over my head, and I ended up with a 2-page list of words to look up. Once I looked up all of the words I didn’t know, I re-read the selection. The reading was much smoother the second time around, but this approach took much too long. I won’t have a couple of hours to devote to every 10 pages I need to read for homework.
Soooo, I tried another method with my next assignment, an introduction to Romanticism, my other literature class. The vocabulary in this reading was much closer to my level, and instead of making a separate list, I defined words I didn’t know in the margins. This was much more effective because the definitions are right with the context I need them in and it saves lots of writing and time in general. My final assignment was for my class called “3 cultures of Spain.” It’s a survey of Spanish history though the perspectives of the three religions that have been prominent in the country at some point, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. I would say this reading was exactly where I was at, and in comparison to the other two assignments I flew through this one.
Figuring out a good way to get things done and learn as much as possible will be key to my success here. Spending hours on end doing homework is not something I’m hoping to do every day here, and I was a little discouraged after working on my first assignment for so long. Once things picked up, I felt much better, and I know I just need to give myself some time to get the hang of academics here. By the time I finally finished my homework, I was pretty much going stir crazy, so I went for a walk to cheer myself up and in hopes of finding a good study spot outside of the apartment.
My venture was successful in both respects. The Spanish sun brightened my mood as soon as I stepped out of the apartment complex, and the beautiful, wonderful park just down the street made me feel even better. The park was full of families, kids, and people walking their dogs. I loved everything about it: it was huge, there were fountains and the benches were ample, and none of the dogs there tried to become my best friend. On top of all that, there is a really cool play set for the kids right next to a few pieces of exercise equipment for the parents. I think that was one of the best ideas I’ve ever seen. Another SIS student was studying in the park, so I got to say hi to her, and then I headed back to the apartment for a relaxed evening, during which I ate dinner with Rosy and Corrine and caught up on my blog.
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