Recap

Hola a todos!  I haven't blogged a while so I thought I should fill you all in on what's going on here. This week was super, super, duper long.  My class seems like it is never going to end and the troubles that I have awaiting me next week are really putting a damper on right now.  It's as if I have a big dark cloud that I can see in the future but it's not quite here yet.  Yet.  It will be next week.

Next week I have to take my final exam for my class which is worth 45% of my grade.  No big deal, I know.  The following day I get to take yet another exam that determines my whole future.  This exam truly is either my ticket to graduating on time or the reason I don't.  While here, my plan is to take two classes with other international students and one class here at the university with students from Argentina.  In order to take the class at the university that I NEED to take this semester in order to graduate on time, I must get a certain score on the exam next week.  If not, I don't take the class, and then I have to stay at Eastern and extra semester, which might just be impossible because of how expensive it is.  I have worked my butt off for this Spanish major and it seems so silly to me that one exam can make or break it all, but it can.  Oh and on another positive note, the exam is hard.  Really hard.  Hard like my professor told our whole class we won't do well on it.  Not kidding.  She actually told us we all probably would not get the scores we need to.  How encouraging right?

I'm at this point where I care so much, I really do, but I also just don't because there is nothing else I can do. I just have to go and take the exam and do my best and see what happens.  If I pass, thank goodness, and if I don't, then I will just take it from there.

Other than all of that stress, Cordoba is slowly growing on me...it's becoming home.  I am getting a little bit more familiar with the streets and the colectivo so I'm more confident now.  This new house is also starting to feel like home.  It helps that my bed is made for me everyday, my laundry is done for me just about every day, food is made for me at every meal, and this home and everyone who enters are just overflowing with love.  I truly could not have asked for a better family or place to call home.

I also feel like my Spanish is improving every day.  Things that I never knew how to say are just coming out of my mouth, and I find myself constantly stopping and just being shocked by it.  Immersion really works.  However, with that being said I am currently struggling because the other students talk in English all the time when not in class.  I hate it, but I love them.  If we were all in the US not trying to learn Spanish I would have no problem with it.  However, due to the fact that we are here in Argentina, we all at least have a foundation in Spanish, and we are all trying to improve in it, I have been really frustrated by this.  I don't want to be rude to any of them, but I find myself very quiet during lunch times, and if I do say something I try to say it in Spanish, but then I just feel awkward because they all respond in English.  Therefore, I have found myself spening less time with them and more time with my family.  Instead of going out somewhere after class, I go home and have tea with mi abuela.  I love the students and I think they are all so great, but I came here to speak in and learn Spanish.  I have to do that.

Due to this, I am even more grateful for my family and my speaking partner- people who speak Spanish and who I spend lots of time with. I am hoping that I can meet more people from here so that I can have more friends, ones that speak Spanish.  However, for now I will continue trying to speak only in Spanish and will really monitor how much time I spend with people speaking English.  I feel so selfish to say that, but I just did not come here to speak in English.  I do think things will get better though, when classes start and we all have different schedules.  We will be forced to make new friends, and then I won't feel as bad for making myself an outcast like I have these past few weeks.

Oh and PS, when I finally get my phone in the mail, I will take pictures of my home, mi mama, mi abuela, la comida, el centro, el colectivo, todo.  Promise.  I just hope I get it soon!