September 26, 2008

The official class is over...now the real test begins.

This is a close-up of from the garbage bin outside of the wine show; not my PERSONAL consumption of wine because the Spanish language had me a little stressed out.

Today marked the last day of my Spanish class and as I finished my exam (we had one every Friday) I realized a couple of things. One, I can’t believe that four weeks went by so quickly! I feel like it was just yesterday I was taking the placement test to my school and looking at the essay section and seeing the work “pais” and having no clue what it translated into in English but knowing that the entire essay had to be written about that “pais” we lived in. Don’t worry, I soon learned later that it meant “country” but of course I thought it meant “place” and ended up writing about New York City instead of the United States.

The second thing I realized is that I learned a lot in the past four weeks and can actually have conversations with people in Spanish (though I still need to stop and think about which of form of the past tense I need). I also understand when and where and how to use pronouns in Spanish; or at least I did well on that section of my test today.

It will be weird not to have the regularity that school provided for me in my days, and to have a distinct mark between Monday and Sunday, but I think its just the end of this part of my stay here. Though my formal education might be done, what will really come into play is the practice of the language in everyday situations. And for that, I am living with two great professors!

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