Midterms and Halftime

The week of midterms was tough. I had to give a presentation in Spanish about France, to a room full of Argentines. This is harder than speaking in front of your comrades in Spanish class because they are also learning Spanish, whereas the Argentines know Spanish pretty well. The presentation went well, because I had five Mendocinas standing next to me, giving me a thumbs up and nodding fervently to whatever I said. The rest of my midterms I passed...kind of. For one of them, the professor pulled us aside and said "you passed, but that's because I went easy on you since you're foreign. Do better on the final or you won't pass." Ha ha. So, now we know what to expect. Aside from being written tests in a language I only started learning two years ago, they were over information I don't even know about in English. I can tell you all about movie sets, cranes, camera angles...in Spanish only. Moreover, they were over information different than what we were told would be on the test. Something I noticed that is different is that they test the students on concrete information, rather than a thoughtful synthesis of the information.
Because you're expected to read information, memorize facts, and comprehend ideas, in Spanish, then recite them back...in Spanish, even the simplest of information gets jumbled in your head. That's alright. Onward.

Midterms, coincidentally, came at the same time that half-time did. It seemed everyone had been experiencing a sentiment of weariness because we have all been here two and a half months, and have the same amount of time to look forward to. We are past the honeymoon, things aren't quite as new and fantastical. We all have lists of things to complain about. At dinner the other night we were complaining, and a friend said, "we have things to complain about...that only means we're actually living this now." So, I mean to say, it has all settled in now. Here I am.