Last day of classes was yesterday! Well technically there are actually classes on Monday but one of my professors just gave us an exam that we have to turn in and the other said that he didn't want to have class. So my classes are over and now I just have to worry about finals. I got my final done for my Latin American history class and I have a take-home one that I have to write for my other history class. That one I have no idea what I'm doing. I have to write two two-page essays based on two of our three possible questions. It's due on Wednesday but I don't really have a good grasp on any of the stuff that we talked about in class. Looks like I'll be living in the library again! But then I just have a Literatura Policial final (which I started studying for but then got distracted with blogging... My bad....), and then my Grammar final. I think I can |
come up with something for my Policial exam (and even if I don't, I have a high enough grade in the class that I'm going to pass it) but my Grammar exam is worrying me. My professor is giving me extra time, and I get to ask her questions about everything, but I'm still worried about it. I really can't get anything lower than a C in this class! I really wish that I would have switched into the lower level. But I guess if I can get through this then I can get through any class. And once I'm done with this semester, and pass everything, I'll be done with my Spanish major. That doesn't mean that I'm still not going to do whatever it takes to become fluent though. The plan still stands that I would like to come back after I graduate. But this summer I might be taking a lower level, basic Spanish grammar class to help better my grammar. It all just depends if I can get into the class as a spectator because I don't want any credit for it. I just want to take it for fun.
Well since it was the last day of classes, I decided that I should finally take pictures of the posters behind the desk on the second floor of the library. It's the floor that has the Puerto Rican Collection, which is also one of the two places that I lived this semester. The other place was tutoring on the 4th floor. It's so weird that Monday is going to be my last day of tutoring. I'm going to have to take pictures with everyone since I saw them so much. It's also just weird to think that pretty soon school will be over and I'll be on to bigger and better things. I really hope this summer goes how I want it to! I want it to be filled with fun, exploration and lots of learning Spanish. But I digress: back to the posters. Every time I went into the Puerto Rican Collection, I was always curious as to what they said (I was always too busy/lazy to read them). So yesterday I decided to take pictures of all of them. I'm pretty sure the people behind the counter thought I was weird but whatever: I'm foreign.
Speaking of foreign, the bugs here love me because of my "exotic" blood...
Speaking of foreign, the bugs here love me because of my "exotic" blood...
I had written a blog earlier in the semester about how I started using miracle water because of this, but I've also started using hydrocortisone because these are horrible! This is the most I've had at one time, and they're also the worst. In total, I think I have 14 or 15... And I was literally outside for 15/20 minutes showing my neighbors some hoop stuff. I'm wearing bug spray from now on like it's perfume. And it's not even mosquitoes that are doing it. I can't remember what the actual bugs are called, but they aren't fun...
On a more fun note: we went out the other night! It was pretty fun, since we don't really go out that often. Every time I go out, I feel like I get better and better at actually speaking Spanish in a loud environment and feeling more confident with it. But I also learned that I can only do accents while under the influence of alcohol. Usually I just start laughing because I know that I suck at accents. We also got to put our salsa dancing skills to the test. I still think that I suck, but Fran seemed to think I wasn't that bad. I think he's just lying to me. But I still have over two and a | |
half months to practice before I return to the states. That seems like so long from now!
But oh my gosh I got to play with a puppy yesterday!! My friend Adyam and her boyfriend, Vincente, just got a new puppy and he is so adorable! His name is Atom (after the DC comic book character). He is seriously the cutest thing! And yes, I know I haven't seen a puppy in a while so that might be a factor, but I don't care. It was like back in Green Bay when they would bring in the dogs to the library for us to play with to de-stress at the end of the semester. It definitely helped! And I felt really productive afterwards. |
I ended up getting a lot done. I wish I could say the same about today. Although I did learn a lot of Spanish stuff, like jokes and expressions since my friend Maria was here. But back to the puppy. So he hasn't really grasped the concept of walking yet, so he trips over his feet all the time. And when you watch him run, he almost falls over because his feet kind of tuck in underneath him, almost tripping himself. He also couldn't really get up or off the step into our house very well. A lot of the time he would just give up trying to get up the step and then look at us all defeated. I missed the time that he was trying to go down off of our step and he just face planted into our patio floor. But he's a white German Shepard and he makes me miss |
having a puppy to play with. At least I get to live with dogs this summer with Maria. She has Burbuja (re-named Madonna). So that should be fun.
And one final piece of fun before I force myself to clean or do homework. Deidre and I were messing around yesterday with balance and this happened. I was actually able to balance the hoop on my face for about a second while she took a picture. Then I did a lot of edits and design overlay to get this edit. I know that it's a total stereotypical girl thing, but I still think that it looks awesome!
For anyone that is interested in knowing what is going on here in Puerto Rico right now, here is an article in English talking about the protests. There are a lot more articles that are out there (most of them are in Spanish) but they say a lot more about what is happening to make the protests necessary. If you are interested in becoming more knowledgeable about what's happening, you can do a Google search. I just wanted to add this article in case anyone was interested. It's written by Omaya Sosa-Pascual and Emma Graves Fitzsimmons of the New York Times.
XOXO
Ericka
XOXO
Ericka