My Dutch class is keeping me very busy! If you consider the number of hours of class time that I have, it is actually the equivalent of taking three courses (except that it is only for 5 weeks). Needless to say, I spend a lot of time working on the lessons outside of class.

The course that we took in Vancouver was not as in-depth and did not have any tests – in fact, it didn’t even have a text book. The only requirement was that you knew the material so you wouldn’t feel dumb when it came to class interaction.

This current course also requires me to learn the weekly material and be prepared to participate in the class discussions. However, we also have a text book, online exercises, an audio CD and new vocabulary to memorize each lesson. And of course, tests. Three of them in total.

I spent my free time on Saturday and Sunday preparing for my first test which was on Monday. It has been a very long time since I had a test from a University course. Um, that would be over 6 years! And while I’m not taking this course for credit, I do want to do well.

And after class on Monday, I spent all afternoon preparing the lesson for Wednesday. Today I also spent the afternoon preparing for Wednesday because we have two lessons to cover. My house work is definitely suffering!

And emailing and blogging are being neglected too – my mom keeps emailing me and asking if I’m okay. I keep saying “yes, I’m okay, but all I do all day is go over my Dutch lesson.”

But it is working! I can occasionally understand what people are saying to me – at the store, at the restaurant, at IKEA, on the train – and I can definitely understand what I’m reading if I know all of the vocabulary. So I think this hard work is paying off.

And to those of you who are going to speak to me in Dutch: Alsjeblieft, spreken jullie langzaam en duidelijk.