Ahogando.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL.
...I was trying to think of a good metaphor.. to describe how this morning felt.. but I realized,
you can just pretend like:
     you haven't produced a single academic thought in three months, and all the sudden:
     you're taking subjects that you don't particularly like in a normal circumstance,
     subjects you didn't take the prereqs for and thus are already at a knowledge deficit,
     in a place you don't know,
     surrounded by people you don't know,
     taught in a language you don't know completely,
     for four hours straight,
     starting at 8 en la mañana.
...and you'd be pretty close.

My school.

Because it felt like someone had poured poprocks in my brain by the time lunchtime hit. Or had been using my brain as a stress ball.  For real. I had to take it for a walk.


So... first day of school was good... I'm taking four classes, all in Spanish, and three of them are legit real classes with that actual Argentine students are taking at the university (the third is with other international students like myself).

The current tentative horario is:

International Politics
International Economic Structure
Urban Fictions: Latin American Cities 
International Commercialization 


(When I was skyping my parents earlier, I couldn't remember how to pronounce "commercialization" in English. It took me a few tries... I can only pronounce it in Spanish now apparently!)

The first two classes are going to be very very difficult. The kind that would be difficult in English and now I'm taking them in Spanish. I'm not entirely sure why I'm doing this to myself, excepto que I like a good challenge... and hey I only need to pass these classes to get credit so I might as well drown myself in the learning process... right?
...I hope I still agree with that thought process two months from now, but vamos a ver.


So I took a "first day of school" picture, you know, like you're supposed to. But it was entirely too unrepresentative of the day (the looking happy and naïve part), and so I took a real "first day of school" picture when I returned (15 hours later).

But hey, after one day I feel like my Spanish-entendimiento skills increased ten-fold, so I'm going to have this language DOWN frontwards and backwards by the time this semester is over! 

My Spanish-speaking friends will be happy to know that I will return with a wicked Argentinian accent.. it's already happening. I'm not going to stop it. 

Zho me zhamo Abigail y a-zher en la ca-zhe a-zhudé a mi zherno encontrar sus zhaves. Y zha tengo un po-zho amari-zho...pero gracias. 

Okay I need to go to bed, that's apparent now.

LOVE.