Academics

Today was the day for oral presentations in my Spanish class. I haven't posted a blog very recently because I spent most of my last few evenings working on it. I feel like it went okay, not awesome, but not terrible either. I accidentally went waaaay over on time--I took 20 minutes when the presentation was supposed to be 10-15. I think maybe my topic was a little too broad, so in order to cover everything on my outline, I just talked too long. I can't remember if I said "um" a lot but I know I wasn't as bad as one girl who--and I'm not exaggerating--said "um" between almost every word: "Creo que, um, mis fotos son, um, muy importante para, um, expresar, um, mi corazón." (I believe that my photos are important to express my heart (or creativity)). She didn't actually say that sentence but she said something like it and couldn't not say "um". There was another girl who was so nervous, just barely into her presentation she teared up from stress. She had to go outside to collect herself before beginning again.

My topic (that I chose) was the development and implementation of a season of plays and how one play is chosen, designed, and rehearsed Part of the reason why my presentation required so many hours of work from me was because it contained many technical theatre terms that were difficult to translate. I made a funny oops during my presentation that made the whole class laugh. Make up, in Spanish, is maquillaje. During my presentation I said mantquillaje by accident. I smooshed together the words for make up and butter (mantiqulla). OOPS! But it was funny and I think the professor was entertained greatly by my slip up, so I'm not worried about losing points for it.

What I am a bit stressed about still is that this week I earned/am earning 35% of my class grade. I earned an easy 5% with a reading quiz on Tuesday, my presentation today is worth 10%, and tomorrow I have a mid-term (midterm already? sheesh!) worth 20%. It's a bit stressful.

This weekend I'm going to the beach again, but this time to the Caribbean side. Next weekend I may or may not be going on a field trip with my photography class. It sounds like it could be really cool--some island somewhere off the Caribbean coast with lots of animals. Or something. My professor said he'd try to work out details with the school's travel agency but I haven't heard anything since Monday when he first mentioned it.