/crawls back out from the depths/

Hi…

It’s been a while, hasn’t it…

Long story short: Part-time job + college + depression and anxiety + preparing for events + people = @_O

I’m doing better now though. The job I was doing was only during October and it’s getting closer to the end of the semester so things are starting to ease up a bit. I’ve recently got more Korean study time in HALLELUJAH BLESS YOU BABY POSEIDON. Japanese however…

Let me tell you about my Japanese class.

Great professor- This is my third semester with her. Great teacher’s assistant. Good book we’re working from. AND WE ARE BLOWING THROUGH THINGS LIKE CANNON BALLS THROUGH PAPER TOWELS. Everything is taught well, but we race through things. I’m doing well in the class, but I’m not retaining anything for long-term. We learn vocab by studying a long list for a vocab quiz on 10 random words. The tests don’t really test our knowledge of the material (Kinda good because we’d all fail if it really tested us. Bad because it barely tests us.) The activities we do in class are from the textbook and lord of oreos they are too easy. I’m talking “add whatever grammatical term you just learned to the end of the sentence” easy. The homework from the workbook is great. It makes you think and tests what vocab and grammar you understand. Every other way we try to use what we learned is honestly a flop to me.

I’ve been doing language exchange with someone from Japan who is currently living in America (She’s a sweetheart). Her and I have been studying English and Japanese, respectively, for about the same time. Now I know it’s not good to compare, but I must say her English is a lot better than my Japanese and that’s great. BUT! When it’s time to speak in completely Japanese I forget every word, grammatical term and hoop-lah that I have learned. I mean, yeah I can speak to her a little, but it’s not where it could be. With the words and grammar I’m supposed to know from class, I’m not where I should be. Now I do take responsibility for myself and believe I should study more effectively, but since I’m taking a college class, I WISH I could get more solid practice out of it. If I’m putting hours and hours a week into it, I would like to get something out of it. When I study my way, the information is there for long-term. It’s stuck with me and can’t leave or else I’ll kidnap it back into my brain. When I go according to the class, holy discount coupons it does not work. I’m not even sure what I’m trying to say anymore. Okay, lets try again.

I’m not where I want to be because I haven’t been studying in the way that’s best for me.

THERE WE GO! (I rhymed…)

So yeah, conclusion: Study the way that works best for you. Even if you’re taking a class, do what you need to go so that you fully grasp the information and it’s not floating around your brain to the point where you forget that you know it.

I should drop off that load of reviews I’ve been promising. >.>