Week 4 & 5 Savings and School Update

From September 19 to October 2, I have spent $50. With that said, I have saved $105 between those two weeks which I will be adding to my savings. This puts my savings at a total of $270.51!

Baseball playoffs begin! (September 30, 2011)

The work load is starting to catch up to me and I think I might have to drop one class (however, I will still be full-time). I have also been thinking about my future. The more I’ve been thinking about it, the more I am leaning towards just focusing on going to San José State. The best reason for this, is the fact that San José State actually has a linguistics program, while San Francisco and East Bay have it’s under English. I have also heard that SJSU linguistics program is pretty good. The other reason is how much more convenient in terms of location SJSU is. It’s only several minutes away, while the other two are about an hour. However, the downside is that I have to wait until Fall 2012 if I plan to go to SJSU, but there is a positive side to this. I can drop my public speaking class, and since I won’t have anything to take (other than physical education) spring 2012, I can take it then and put my entire focus on doing well in the class. It also allows me to work several months more (possibly full-time) to save for college. I will have to make my decision by the end of the week, but I think I have a strong idea which path I might be taking.

Interesting truck with powerful messages. I've seen this several times before. Finally got a picture! (September 29, 2011).

Other than that, school is going well. I got a B+ on my first stats test and I have turned in all the homework with a 100% grade, the quizzes with 95% and the computer assignments at %100.

The music class, my first test didn’t go well but my essay boosted my grade so I have a solid B, and since we are getting into the era of music that I find interesting, I am sure I will do A work from now on.

English 1C I have turned in everything with a 100% grade.

Astronomy I got a B on my first test and I have gotten about a 90% on the homework assignments.

Girlfriend's birthday! (September 29, 2011)

My public speaking class requires a lot of time because I am required to spend time practicing my speech, but because of how long it takes to complete stats work, English papers, readings, and considering the time I dedicate to work and personal time it is very difficult to do. I have felt very worn out the last couple of weeks. Mainly because of having to prepare for my speeches. I think I am overworking myself. I am not afraid to give speeches, but I don’t like going up there and not doing it in an organized way. For that reason, I believe it will be best to drop public speaking so I can focus more on my other courses and have more personal time. Like I said, I am still a full-time student (13 units) and I have a free semester. Why try to rush everything?

Most epic bus ride to West Valley College (October 3, 2011)

Another Crazy Week

Today I had my frist stats test, tomorrow I’ll have my first music history test and yesterday I had my first speech. I might be busy, but I am not complaining. Heck. I am glad that there is much school work to do, because it is making it go by faster. Before I know it, I will be getting ready to make the yearly trip to Christmas in the Park in downtown San José and I will be rushing to buy last-minute gifts! Up to this point I have done well in all of my classes. I have turned in every assignment for every class, and the workload has not gotten to the point where I am freaking out. Not that I would if I was in that situation .

Oh. Yesterday I gave farewells to my love of almost five years. My Rebel XTi has been sold to a lucky person in Florida. I have taken hundreds of wonderful images with that camera, and it has gone with me to the many trips I have made. I will miss you good friend, I know you will make someone else happy!

The first day with my Rebel XTi. I will miss you good friend! (March 21, 2007)

Perhaps that was a little too much ‘love’ for a camera, but that is how I feel about it. I used the money from my Canon XTi and bought myself a new camera. It is a Sony NEX 5N. I have taken several images with it already and I am having a lot of fun using it. This is going to be my new friend that will share and capture many wonderful moments with me for the next 5 years. I hope.

New camera. Sony NEX 5N. This thing is unbelievably small!

With that said, I will update my weekly finances hopefully tomorrow! Now I must turn on the television and watch the Red Sox choke away their playoff hopes (I hope!). Good bye .

Week 3 Savings

Things are starting to pick up! I haven’t had much of an opportunity to sit down and post my savings from last week. I just had an astronomy test last night, weekly online quizzes for stats, and several papers for English. Next week will be more an intense. My first speech for public speaking, first stats exam, first music history test, and whatever other small assignments come up. I have to prepare for the test and my speech, but I will keep updating my weekly savings. However, I don’t expect doing it on the usual Sunday/Monday, but we’ll see how my work progresses . Here is a quick summary of my savings. I did better than week two, but not better than the first!

 

Week 3 spending

Coffee: $2.95 [$24.50]
Food: $0 [$25.00]
Public Transportation: $20.00 [$24.50]

Total Savings: $54.55

I will be adding this total to my college savings .

Week one savings: $56.76
Week two savings: $54.20
Week three savings: $54.55

Total savings so far = $165.51

Savings Week 2

Okay week two ended yesterday and I finished calculating my cost for that week. This is what they look like:

**Numbers in brackets represent potential spending**

Food = $2.75 [$25.00]
Public Transportation = $6.00 [$28.00]
Coffee = $14.55 [$24.50]

Total: $23.30 [$77.50]

My typical lunch; pasta with tomato sauce, some kind of bread, two nutri-grain bars, and a water. This lunch has been a money saver! (September 12, 2011)

With that said, I have saved $54.20 in week two. I will be transferring this amount into my college savings after I finish typing this post. Last week I said this would be a good way to keep me motivated, and how do I feel about that so far? I think it is 100% true. I enjoy opening my excel worksheet and writing down my spending each day. Mentally, this saving experiment challenges me to be cautious when I get that temptation of dropping $10 on a coffee and Subway.

Week one savings: $56.76
Week two savings: $54.20

Total savings so far = $110.96

Improvement goal for week two: Lower my public transportation cost by $2.00 **Accomplished**
Improvement goal for week three: Avoid Starbucks/café, $0.00 on coffee.

The Sign that Fall is Here

Okay. Technically fall doesn’t officially begin until September 23, but for me it comes early every year (since 2007).

Back in 2007 right before my 11am French class, I decided one day to pay a visit to the Starbucks in Mercado Shopping Center right behind Mission College. At this point I had already become an avid coffee drinker. I remember walking in sometime in late September. Around this time, the weather was starting to get cool and windy. When I entered the familiar environment I noticed several people buried in their laptops, some patiently waiting for their orders, and others sitting around exchanging words followed by a sip of their favorite lattes. As I approached the counter , I noticed they were advertising something that appeared very strange to me. Some kind of latte with pumpkin and spices, or the clever name given by Starbucks “Pumpkin Spice Latte”. I must have felt a little wild that day or I didn’t mind losing out on a few dollars, for I went ahead and got myself not a small one to try but the largest size.

“What the heck. A Venti Pumpkin Spice Soy Latte please”

Since then I don’t think I’ve spoken anything that has sounded as complicated. Well, maybe when I was practicing German with my buddy

“Kannst du mir bitte sagen, wo die beste Sehenswürdigkeiten in Deutschland sind?”

Could you please tell me where the best sights are in Germany?

The first PSL of 2011! Due to the cost and my desire to save, more home recipes this year? (September 7, 2011).

Anyways. I made my way back to Mission College and I still had half an hour until my class. I sat in the center space where all the tables are and I pulled out my French work book and completed the grammar drills that would be due in some short minutes. I took a few small cautious sips of my Pumpkin Spice Latte and I took several seconds to make out the flavors. Forgetting the warmth, the first thing I noticed was how sweet it was. It must have been because of the soy milk. The other flavors where obviously the pumpkin taste and then the mixture of nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger. At that moment I realized I found something very good. I was in love. I headed to room N2-301 and finished off my Pumpkin Spice Latte, which helped me have more energy than I needed to get through the daily oral exercises.

“Ouuui! Je comprends tout maintenant!”

French classroom where I meet great people and drank countless cups of PSL (September 1, 2011).

The center space (October 3, 2007).

After that day it basically became like a ritual to me. Or rather it was a routine. I did this for the rest of the semester. Go to Starbucks, order a Venti Soy PSL, go to Mission College center space, French homework, and be ultra energized for French! Unfortunately, this drink is only seasonal and comes every early September, until I believe, the end of winter. When I could no longer get my new favorite drink, It was a long long spring and summer. The following years up until now, I get excited for early September. Every time I take a sip of the oh so good PSL I get nostalgic and it brings me back to that day when I first tried it. If only I knew then how hard it would be for me to resist spending some $20 per week on PSL, I would have made a more cautious decision. Do I regret it? No way. Am I going to spend $20 a week on PSL this year like I did before? No way. Heck, I loaded my Starbucks card with $10 (which is going to hurt my weekly spending on coffee!) and I promised myself that I would not let the irresistibility of that luscious drink get to me. Especially now that Starbucks has raised the price of their coffees. Back in the day, I could get a Venti Pumpkin Spice Soy Latte for $4 and today it cost me $5.05 for a Grande size. I definitely won’t be spending much this year, so I will have to come up with a home recipe.

Ah, the good ol’ days of Fall 2007. Those were some good times, and I believe that is when my life started to take form. However, it would take three years for it to mature.

Savings Week 1

In a previous post I made a reference to the amount of money I could potentially be spending . Just to quickly summarize what I calculated;

Food = $25
Bus = $28
Coffee = $24.50

Total of Potential spending: $77.50

*Based on a weekly basis and if I were to spend money on the above listed categories every day Monday through Sunday*

I've saved lots of money making coffee at home!

It is a small group, but this is because I am only interested and focusing on what I spend in one semester while I am at school and work during that period. I am mostly going to be at school to do homework while I wait until my next class. I have a couple of gaps, Monday and Wednesday, so it especially important for me to bring food those days so I don’t spend money on the expensive food at school and the surrounding area.

Let’s take a look at how my first week went. I have used a spreadsheet from OpenOffice to keep track of my spending.

Spreadsheet used to track my weekly spending. I use C for coffee, F for Food, and B for Bus. *Click for larger view*

As one can see from the image, if made larger, I spent the following from each category:

Coffee [C] = $3.90
Food [F] = $5.09
Bus [B] = $11.75

Using the totals from what I could potentially spend and what I actually did spend, this is how much I saved

Coffee [C] = $3.90 of $24.50
Saved: $20.60

Food [F] = $5.09 of $25
Saved: $19.91

Bus [B] = $11.75 of $28
Saved: $16.25

Total Saved: $56.76

The above amount I will transfer to my college savings. If I average out $50 dollars a week, I could save a total of $800 for the semester (16 weeks). I think keeping track of my spending is a great way to keep me motivated, and give me an insight on what I could improve on and what I am already doing well.

Trail that can take me to Mission College. A 45 minute walk.

Improvement for new week: Try to lower my bus cost by $2.00.

 

First Week Complete, Thoughts

At exactly 1:51 pm today, my intro to Shakespeare professor dismissed us from class. This was the last time I would take part in the class. As I left, I took one last look at the room, my classmates, and my professor. I wont be returning. This also marked the end of the first week of school. First of all, why did I decide I would no longer be taking Shakespeare? Honestly, right from the beginning I didn’t really get a good feeling for the class. The students and the teacher were fine, but for some reason I felt it wasn’t for me. We were required to make one or two trips to watch a play, which actually could not fit in with my schedule of then 19 units. Like I said, I didn’t really get a feeling like this was a class for me. It didn’t seem to be a difficult course, but why stay if I know I probably wont try? It’s better to make a decision now and still get me refund of $118 for the class and prevents me from later on getting a ‘w’ or poor grade. However, this doesn’t affect my chances of transferring. I will still have 60+ units required for me to transfer, the only down side is that I will have to take a replacement course for this at CSU East Bay, if I decide to go there.

West side of the main building. Mission College sign.

One other change that I made to my schedule is that I swapped geography (online) for astronomy (lecture). Both of them fullfil the science section required to transfer, however I am not fond of online classes and I had previously enrolled for astronomy, but I had to be placed on the wait list. The class is Wednesday nights, so I went there last night to see if I could get in. Obviously I did and that is why I swapped my science classes. I also heard that the astronomy professor is very lenient and easier to pass with an ‘A’ than the geographer instructor. I definitely found that to be true last night. I know I should be challenging myself, but because of the number of units, I want to focus on the more difficult courses such as stats and public speaking. I will have to make changes to my blog and update the classes I am taking. So this did bring down the number of units I am taking from 19 to 16. I did that number spring 2011 and I managed to get 4 A’s and 1 B. I think this should be doable if I replicate what I did that semester. I will do my best to do that!

Looking at the main sitting area from the third floor. There were hundreds of students the first few days. I'm sure it will be more calm after the first mont. It always is.

I have assignments and/or readings due for all of my classes and I am using this Mac app called Schoolhouse which is used to organize one’s courses, due dates, and progress. I do like this little wonderful app, however I find it inconvenient at times. For instance, sometimes I am ready to start studying, but I have to take out my computer, open it up, and go to the app. This isn’t as bad as it sounds, for I do not completely shut down my macbook pro, but it would be better if I just had an agenda were I could write this stuff. I am thinking I should look into buying one perhaps today when I head to Target to buy food for my cat. Can I go a week without going to Target? I feel like I make an excuse to just go there sometimes!

Here is a quick overview on what I have due next week

As of September 1

Astronomy: 30 question multiple choice homework.
Due next Wednesday.
English 1C: Quote response paper and 4 paragraphs describing two websites.
Due Monday after labor day.
History of Rock: Read chapter 1 (dont have book yet).
Due next Wednesday
Public Speaking: Read chapters 1 & 2 from book (32 pages).
Due next Wednesday
Statistics: Sections 1.1 and 1.2 (50 questions total)
Done.

Just light work for the first week.

Things to get (possibly):
• Lexmark Ink
• Planner

Back to College!

With the first and second day of school officially over, I have a pretty good idea how this semester at Mission and West Valley would be like. So far I have been to 5 of my 6 classes (one being online). The only one I havent been to is my history of rock music, which is only one day a week on Wednesdays.

Overall I am happy with how the first two days have gone. The only thing that has prevented me from entirely enjoying it, is the fact that I did not sleep well the past two nights. I felt sleepy going in to all of my four classes, however this did not prevent me from being interested and being able to sit and let the information sink in.

The first thing I did when I got to school was to pay a visit to my favorite room, MT-03. Before entering I noticed that the room had new windows. I remember during summer they were remodeling the entire portable class rooms. They must have waited to do the rooms that were being used by the summer classes, because as I entered the room I noticed how different it was; new carpet, new desks, windows, and electronics.

Before

I didn't mind the 1980's look of the class room. This was taken back when I was taking English 908 (November 22, 2010)

Now

I like the new look. From a students perspective, the rooms are more appealing (Fall 2011).

In the morning this place was full of students!

The way to the movies, Starbucks, In n Out, Jamba Juice, and....free parking

Public Speaking

I arrived an hour early to school, as I always do, so I can take sometime to walk around, find out where my classes are, and get the seat I want in class. The class where my public speaking class was going to take place was being occupied by who I found out was my public speaking professor. She teaches the same class and it ends 15 minutes before the start of mine. When I entered the classroom, there were still students from the previous class, but I went anyway to pick out a seat. Slowly my fellow classmates started trickling in as the start of the class approached. I glanced around to see if I would see any familiar faces, but they were ones I have never seen. Our professor began the class by asking us to turn to our neighbors and quickly introduce one another and tell each other why we are taking public speaking. From the corner of my eye I noticed that a girl was sitting to the right of me. When I looked over to greet her I recognized her.

Where I will be giving a lot of epic weird speeches!

“Weren’t you in my math class last semester?”

She quickly nodded yes to let me know that she recognized me also. I didn’t really talk to her before. There was another girl that she sat with during our spring 2010 math class, and that girl was actually in my summer math class, and as I found out today, she is also in my statistics class. I thought it was pretty funny. Anyways the class was for the most part interactive. We did several activities that required us to talk to our neighbors so we would feel more comfortable. I definitely felt that way at the end of class. From the syllabus, it seems like this will be a typical public speaking class. Do a few speeches, create outlines, and various in class group activities. I am only feeling a little nervous about doing speeches. Hopefully as the class moves on, I will feel less nervous.

Gap between classes (12:20pm-6p)

I walked around Mission after my public speaking class. Also, I made a call to my girlfriend. I couldn’t think of what else I could do, so I decided to just head over to West Valley a little early. Luckily there is a bus that goes between Mission and West Valley, otherwise it would be difficult to get there. They are about 12 miles apart. Here is a map I got from Google that illustrates the distance.

View Larger Map

When I got on the bus I felt my eyes wanting to shut, and despite me making an attempt to stay awake, I found myself drifting into a light sleep. After 20 or so minutes, I found myself almost half way to West Valley. This is where it gets a little interesting. A young guy, that I eventually found to be in his 20′s, approached me and asked me if he could catch a certain bus at West Valley. I told him that I wasn’t sure, but that I could check on my phone. I noticed he had a map, and on it there were directions, which made me think he wanted to talk to me for some reason. After I told him that the map showed that the bus he was looking to transfer to did make a stop at West Valley, he began talking to me. I didn’t mind so I would respond to him and ask him questions. We basically talked about our current life situations, and I could tell that he was going through a tough stretch in his life. I’d rather not go too much into detail about this because this isn’t what I want to share in this post, but I will say that this was one of those moments that I am glad I choose to get on the bus earlier, or else this wouldn’t of happened. At the end of our hour talk, I gave him my number if he ever wanted to talk more. I could tell that he was happy that he had someone to talk to, and he exposed much about his life to me, which is why I was more than happy to tell try and keep in touch with him. I felt bad for him because of his current life situation. Perhaps I will write about this experience some other time.

At West Valley

I didn’t take many pictures there, but the place has changed a lot since I was last there. There were many new signs, several buildings, the book store and cafeteria have been moved. I didn’t do much exploring, perhaps I will later in the semester. I went almost straight to my classroom.

English 1C

Returning to West Valley after a year and a half. My English 1C class. Interesting people in this class.

The classroom is located in the language arts building and all the rooms there are very old. This is the same building where I had my German and Russian classes. When I got to the classroom, I was about 40 minutes early and the first one in class. The next person didn’t show up until 20 minutes before the start of the class. Usually a handful of people like me would be there almost an hour before the start of the class. For a moment I thought I might have gotten the wrong class. The majority of the class didn’t arrive until 10-5 minutes before class. When everyone arrived, it was a small class. Maybe 20-25 students. The first thing we did was go over the syllabus. Next, we had to find a partner and interview them. Once we interviewed them, we had to write about a page of what we learned about the person and introduce them to the class. I wasn’t really nervous doing this, in fact I like classes that do this, because as I have mentioned earlier, it creates a more familiar and out going atmosphere. This took a good chunk of the class. When we finished the activity, our teacher mentioned to us that we would not meet next week (it meets once a week on Monday nights) because of labour day. For that reason, he gave us several writing assignments to turn in two weeks from that Monday. Oh I forgot to mention, our professor was nice enough to bring snacks for us. He let us out an hour early. Because I had a lot of papers out and I have a ton of stuff in my backpack, it took me a while to get everything packed up. A girl and I were the last ones to leave, because we got into the conversation about Russia. The professor is a third generation Russian so he doesn’t speak it. The girl I found out was Ukrainian but was not exactly fluent in Russian. The reason I was involved is because during the interview, I mentioned that I studied Russian so the three of us discussed this for several minutes and eventually left.

Tuesday

Statistics

Where all the fun stats learning will take place.

Again, I got to class an hour early and sat in front of the class. Actually, in all my classes I did this. A guy came in shortly after I did and we talked for a bit. I was getting sleepy so I took a quick 10 minute nap. Eventually the entire class showed up, but I couldn’t really tell who was in the class. The first thing we did was give a little introduction the class about ourselves, such as our name, what we are majoring in, and where we plan on transferring. When I turned back to focus on the person speaking, I managed to catch two familiar faces. One was a guy I have known since I was in elementary school, but don’t really talk to anymore, and the other was this one girl that was in my last three math classes (spring, summer, and now fall). The class went all the way until the time it was scheduled to. Most of it was the teacher going over the syllabus and how we would be doing our homework and computer assignments. We didn’t really cover much material.

Intro to Shakespeare

This class was by far the smallest of them all. I think there must have been no more than twenty students. Just like all courses do, our teacher went over the syllabus and talked about what kind of things we would be doing in the class. The she called role and asked each of us how much we knew of Shakespeare and why we were taking this class. I have very little experience with Shakespeare, and I was happy to find out that most of the class was in the same boat as I. After this we got our first assignment. We are going to do a Shakespeare “scavenger hunt” in which we are each required to do a 2-3 minute presentation on a certain aspect relating to Shakespeare. I am doing it on his educational background. This was pretty much all we did and the class ended 10 minutes early.

After my last class, I headed over to Our Lady of Peace Church where I sat on a bench eating my lunch and enjoying the nice warm day.

Yup this pretty much sums up my first two days of class. I already have a decent size “to do” list of homework assignments that I have to work on. Actually as soon as I finish this blog post, I plan to take a quick 15 minute nap and begin reading the first chapter for my online Geography class. I’ll keep reporting at least once a week of my academic progress! Stay tuned .

Summer Recap 2011

The last moments of summer are winding down. School starts tomorrow and looking back at it now, I can’t believe how quick it went! Probably because I kept myself busy just about everyday, that I didn’t have the opportunity to just sit around and do nothing. This summer was an interesting one, and despite having spent it around the area, I can say that it will be a memorable one. Here are some of the enjoyable things I did this summer.

Baseball Games

I went to many baseball games this year. This includes games at the Major League level and Minor League.

Visalia Rawhide @ San Jose Giants (June 2)

First game of the summer.

Girlfriend excitingly awaits the start of the game...or maybe the Garlic fries?

Bakersfield Blaze @ San Jose Giants (June 15)

We had fun

Lead to a single up the middle.

Philadelphia Phillies @ San Francisco Giants (August 4)

On Caltrain to the game!

My brother at his first Phillies game. For a moment, I felt we were actually in Philadelphia!

Lidge was getting into it with a rowdy Giants fan. Fan asked Lidge how it felt to lose the NLCS to the Giants. Lidge kept it class. "You did it buddy" - Lidge

The god of pitchers. Halladay!

Hamels throwing to Halladay.

Baltimore Orioles @ Oakland Athletics ( August 17)

My Buddy Jose. He loves the A's as much as I do, even though they've been awful!

This is the first time I've seen the A's win in person. My record is 1-7! Better late than never. The A's made it interesting in the 9th. The tying runner was thrown out at home to end the game. Quite a memorable game.

The Colosseum on a typical day. Pretty sad. Sell out must only be on opening day...maybe.

Stockton Ports @ San Jose Giants (August 24)

Nothing like free tickets to watch a ball game.

A reason to go to a baseball game. Garlic fries

Summer School (June 6 – July 28)

My favorite seat in room MT-03.

Math in the summer is no fun.

First day of summer school.

Looking towards Mercado on a summer's day.

Talking to my buddy after my English 1B class. Summer night.

Palo Alto (June 28 & August 22)

Waiting

The train is coming!

On our way

El Camino. This street I heard once went a little further north of Palo Alto all the way to LA/San Diego.

An Asylum?

Cupcakes first trip

Cupcakes first trip

Cupcakes second trip

Cupcakes second trip

Stanford Mausoleum

Arizona in Palo Alto

Pf Chang

Other notable moments

A rainy day in late June? I've never seen that!

Harry Potter 7B opening night. They had 23 showings for the night. We were waiting in line since 5pm.

Many evenings were spent playing baseball at this park in Cupertino.

The Rose Garden in San Jose.

I spent many days with this guy talking about life and attempting to write a book.

The fun three day vacation at the Wild Palms. Free breakfast every morning!

Fourth of July we have normally spent it at Central Park but due to the budget, we had to turn to Cupertino for a firework show.

That pretty much sums up my summer. No I didn’t spend a month in Paris drinking some fine French wine or taking a stroll around the Eifel Tower, but to me these adventures were epic. Some day I will do the whole Paris thing, but until then I will find ways to enjoy my summer in good ol’ California.

Tomorrow first day of school. I am excited but nervous because of the 19 units I will be taking on. I am confident I will pass. It wont be easy though.

Thanks for stopping by

I Love Learning Languages!

Learning languages is probably one of the most self fulfilling experiences one can endure. This feeling does not only come at a point when fluency is reached, but could be felt when one understands consciously or unconsciously how a certain grammatical aspect of the language works, or being able to form a sentence that is grammatically correct. Of course, there is also that wonderful feeling when there is an exchange of sentences that form a conversation with another, in a language that is being learned. My experience with learning foreign languages goes back to 2007 when I began French. Since then I have managed to achieve a high level of German, a solid background in Russian, and even a better understanding in my native languages English/Spanish. My excitement has given me what is called ‘wanderlust’ in languages, which is the desire to learn more and more languages. This can be a problem because one may begin learning a new language and spend a lot of time with it, but out of no where there is a want to learn a new one, thus hampering the progress of the other.

Sometimes it is just too difficult to resist!

Good Dutch course!

I have gone from studying French, to Russian, to German, to Italian, to Portuguese, to Dutch, and eventually to more random languages like Mandarin, Polish, Ukrainian, and Greek. However, I am not claiming that I know all of these languages fluently. Some I have studied more consistently (German, French, Russian, Dutch) and others I did only several hours (the remaining).

Some look at me weird and others with curiosity as to why I try to learn so many languages. Well my answer is simply that it’s like a hobby, just as one enjoys sports, reading, writing, photography, exercising, among other things. Some may see it as a waste of time, but I think that being able to express myself in a different language and using this way to communicate with others, has given me a feeling of belonging and getting a taste to some of the hundred different cultures that make up our wonderful world. As I have mentioned before, I have also gained a better understanding of the languages I grew up speaking English and Spanish.

I love learning German! My material.

What are my goals in terms of languages?

Honestly, I am not entirely sure. What I do know is that I would love to teach a language at the college level at some point. I was fortunate to have wonderful professors and they have inspired me to become a teacher. One other thing that I know and is a long term goal, is to get as close as I can to mastering an entire language family. What I am unsure right now is which language family to focus on. The three families that I am looking at are;

Romance:
• French (rust B2 level)
• Spanish (already fluent)
• Italian
• Portuguese
• Romanian

Germanic:
• English (already fluent)
• German (B2 level)
• Dutch (A2 level)
• Afrikaans
• Swedish
• Norwegian
• Danish

Slavic:
• Russian (rusty B2 level)
• Ukrainian
• Polish
• Czech
• Bulgarian
• Serbo-Croatian

**I know I did not give a complete list, but these are the ones that I am interested in**

As it appears, Germanic seems to be the family that I am more knowledgable in, but the Romance languages for some reason are easier for me to pick up. Knowing Spanish definitely helps and having a good command in French. When I studied Italian and Portuguese I realized how similar they all were. If I were to do Slavic languages, I would have to work harder, and they are far more difficult than the previous to families (in my opinion).

I study languages at family dinners! Not like I don't interact with the family . I just enjoy it very much!

As it stands know, I am leaning more towards the Germanic languages. I try to spend at least 15 minutes a day reading my German and Dutch material, and I feel more excited learning these, but of course the ‘wanderlust’ monster likes to make an appearance oh so often!

I think this pretty much sums up what my thoughts of the day were. I know how does this relate to my college experience? Well a lot! If it wasn’t for me taking French, I don’t think I would have at that moment discovered my favorite hobby and my language learning abilities.