I survived!

I survived my oral!!! As you probably noticed, I was getting a bit stressed about it, and was even contemplating just not turning up for the test and forgoing the 10% of my final grade it counts for. But then the other day my tutor let slip that the lecturer who was examining us doesn’t believe in failing people in orals, and that basically if we turned up and said anything at all comprehensible, we were guaranteed at least 5/10. So I thought I’d turn up, not worry about whether I was speaking correctly, but just try and say *something*, and get my 5% (which could make the difference between a B+ and an A- for my final grade, and I really would like to stay in the A range if I possibly can).

And as a result, I was much more relaxed going into the test than I was last semester, so I didn’t go totally blank, and when I did make mistakes (which of course I did – the worst was when I tried to say that because MrPloppy doesn’t have a job, I support him, but realised when the lecturer looked puzzled and asked “Is that really what you meant to say?” that instead of using the verb mantener (“to support”), I’d used soportar, which means “to put up with”!), I didn’t let them phase me, I just corrected them and carried on. So although I probably still didn’t do very well (I won’t know my actual mark until next week sometime), at least I didn’t come out feeling sick like I did last time – it actually wasn’t that bad an experience at all.

And when I think about it, who cares if I made hundreds of mistakes. I had a 15 minute conversation in Spanish, and mostly made myself understood! I hadn’t thought about it that way before – I can communicate in another language!!! That’s a very exciting thought. So I don’t really care what mark I get for it – I’m just proud of myself for managing that.

I’m still NEVER doing another language paper, though! 🙂

Of course, I’ve still got the final exam to sit, but that’s three weeks away, so I’m having a nice lazy weekend this weekend, with absolutely no studying. I need to give my brain a break for a while.

I did spend the morning helping MrPloppy to clean the house (we might be having visitors tonight – for various complicated reasons we’re not sure whether they’re coming or not), and I’ll probably spend some of this afternoon baking something to give them for supper, but after a couple of weeks of spending every spare moment studying, even doing housework feels like a relaxing change. And I fully intend to dedicate at least part of this afternoon to sitting under a tree with a book. And tomorrow I might do some cross-stitch and listen to that audiobook I got out of the library, or play a game on the computer, or watch a movie… or maybe the tree and the book will call again. Whatever I do, it’s guaranteed to be pleasantly lazy 🙂

Currently reading: I, Cyborg by Kevin Warwick