Escuela -- School

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When I pictured going to school in Spain I pictured myself going to class Monday through Thursday for a few hours a day and having a few relatively easy exams here and there throughout the semester.

Upon actually attending Spanish school I realized that this was not the case. We do have class Monday through Thursday most weeks, but every fourth week we have class 5 days a week to make up for the days we will miss during the week of spring break. So basically 1/4 of our weekends are actually only 2 days long which makes it difficult to travel during those weekends.

What I really didn't anticipate is all the school work that we are assigned on a daily basis. The Intensive Language programs is split into 4 sections, and each section consists of 2 quizes, 2 exams, an oral presentations and 3 small papers, along with some small non-graded assignments. Since each section is approximately 3 weeks long, this means that there is something to be done each night.

For example, today both our third small paper and the oral presentation were due. Tomorrow we take our second exam. It feels like every night there is something that I should be doing or studying for.

In the end, I'm glad that we have work to do outside of class because it's not like I have much else to do at night, and writing papers and such will only help my Spanish skills. But I do still wish that there were more nights when I didn't have anything due the next day and could just take the night off.

As for my Spanish skills, I do get frustrated because I feel like I'm not picking it up as quickly as I would like to be. I think part of it is due to the fact that Spaniards speak extremely quickly and have a very thick accent, but is also due to the fact that I'm just not good at Spanish yet. I have to keep reminding myself that it's only been 3 weeks and that it will only come a little at a time. I do feel that I have improved a lot even since I first arrived 3 weeks ago. I need more patience!

So far my grades have been alright. I received a B on the first quiz, a B+ on the second one and somehow got an A on the first exam. At least the studying seems to be paying off. So far, so good!

Well, I should probably go study.

Ciao!

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