Fact: I suck at learning languages. I love them, once I know them I can use them pretty well, but getting a foreign language into my head doesn't work. So naturally, I'm spending a semester trying to force myself to learn Russian rather than going off to college like normal intelligent human beings. It's frustrating, but my god is this fun.
I actually get Russian grammar. For all intents and purposes it's Latin grammar with a funky accent. Sure, they have different endings following different types of consonants, and I refuse to accept that there's any valid reason to have different endings for inanimate and animate objects in some cases but not others, but overall it makes sense thus far. Speaking is a different story. I've got “I don't understand” down pretty well. Still, there are a lot of pointing, charades, and English going on in my day to day conversation. Oral exams are traumatizing. I smile and laugh, then spend the rest of the day wanting to strangle the next person to speak in Russian. Homesickness isn't a problem for me, but frustration certainly is.
Granted, I'm glad I'm here. I'm going to pick up the language by the time I leave (God help the poor fool who tries to help me). I struggle with memorization. I'm shy and don't like to start conversations in Russian. However, the one thing more frustrating than trying to learn the language is not being able to say no to the disturbingly young girls asking you out on movie dates (more about that in the next post) so I'm getting this language down. Thanks for listening to me complain, more next week =D
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