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[aspiring-wannabe]

Friday, July 16th

Today was one of those magical days in which everything flows and you're just happy. The weather was nice enough for me to set up the outdoor table and do some homework in there.

Also, I took the leap and opened an Instagram account. The @ is aspiring_wannabe in case anyone feels like joining me over there.

Hooray for the weekend, hooray for today.

[aspiring-wannabe]

Thursday, July 15th.

Today was a weird one, I'm telling you. The nice part was that I got to eat a little treat while pretending to pay attention in class.

There's no work tonight and I was hoping to go out for coffee. However, it has started raining so I don't think I'll manage anything.

I'm cracking open a new book, "Six graves to Munich", by Mario Puzo. I hope to like it.

[aspiring-wannabe]

Wednesday, July 14th

From today's exam review. Despite my lack of confidence, I got 49 out of 50 points. The listening comprehension portion was awfully complex and yet I managed to get all of the questions right. It's fair to say I'm a proud cookie.

After class, I wrote the final report for yesterday's group. I'm getting very good at being all positive and nice, even if it takes me like two hours to complete five reports.

And then, I finished reading "Any way the wind blows". I can't believe the story is supposed to be over so I'll just wait for a surprise sequel.

In conclusion, it was a good day.

[aspiring-wannabe]

Tuesday, July 13th

Every couple weeks I get this dumb urge to buy myself a gaming desktop computer. I've always wanted to get good at PC games and my laptop just won't cut it most of the time.

However, today felt a lot like trying to fit a bus inside another bus. I spent at least a third of my day pushing stuff around to try and get comfortable; no place for two monitors and an XL mousepad.

I also had my final class with a group that was equal parts delightful and frustrating. In the end, it was bittersweet knowing I probably won't see them again. They learnt a lot and only got better during our time together.

Cheers to them. May they continue to learn and grow.

[aspiring-wannabe]

One exam down, three to go. I'm tired af and the futuro semplice is not as semplice as I was hoping for.

[aspiring-wannabe]

The best part of having bought a stupid amount of Italian textbooks is that I don't think I'll ever run out of study material.

I have a test tomorrow and my brain has decided to panic because I apparently "Don't know nearly as much as I should". I'll probably leave the session here and get a bit of rest now.

Goodnight, y'all.

[aspiring-wannabe]

Friday!

I do not have work today, so I used the extra time to finish some of my notes from the past Italian course. I was scared of not remembering a topic I thought was complicated, but I'm happy to report it is not as difficult as I believed. I want to use my weekend to drill and test myself on some of the stuff I should have down to an art by now. I know I've said it before, but it really feels like I'm starting to ramp up the learning curve: Today I wrote a whole paragraph about my house and the teacher said it was basically perfect.

Overall, I did not quite succeed at staying focused during the entire class. I re-downloaded the Forest app and deleted it again in the span of 10 minutes. Online school has really messed with my capacity to remain fully immersed in one thing. I guess I'm just overexcited with stuff.

[aspiring-wannabe]

Day two of the Summer period, 18 to go. I still feel like I'm understanding everything, but today was very bad for my focus. I'd reach out for the phone every few minutes and every task took at least twice the time I had planned.

We are learning a new verb tense tomorrow, so I'll make it a point not to get distracted while the teacher explains. Also, I have to do some homework for my Saturday class. Luckily, that one is about to be over.

[aspiring-wannabe]

Last first day of school. At least for now.

It's amazing how much stuff I remember from last year. My teacher is the loveliest and I really like how everything is starting to come together. I can't wait to be in the upper intermediate levels and run away to Rome.

The kinda sad thing is that I only have 19 days left to enjoy it. After that, a friend and I will ask the teacher to give us private lessons outside of school. That's going to be nice.

I also sent some emails and finished a report for my internship. Those people better free me ASAP.

[aspiring-wannabe]

Some of y'all were not hoping for the best and it shows. Literally, the day before the Summer period began, police broke into campus and decided everybody had to leave. My third world country, everyone.

But whatever, it's not as if I was planning on going back, so tomorrow we log into online school again. Did I review everything I had to? No. Does my head hurt a lot? Absolutely. Am I signing off for the day? You bet your sweet butt I am.

[aspiring-wannabe]

This is what cramming looks like when you're a Linguistics major and there's only one Italian class standing between you and your diploma.

The best way to review my second language notes is by rewriting the most important ones; I have a notebook for class, all ugly and scribbled on, and this prettier one, which I use for individual study time. Since I'm not hurrying to catch up to an Italian lady, I get to be slow and deliberate with my writing. This helps me solidify the theory of things before I test myself and practice production.

I'll continue with some preposition and body parts vocabulary tomorrow. There's literally no point in exhausting myself when the Summer period hasn't even begun (and might not begin, considering only four people have signed up for the class). Wish me luck with that one.

[aspiring-wannabe]

It just dawned on me that the summer period starts in three days and I'm not nearly as prepared as I feel like I should be.

Not looking forward to Monday and Tuesday.

[aspiring-wannabe]

Fridays are for being lazy and unproductive, even if my brain insists in guilt-tripping me for it. My worth is not proportional to the work I get done, and that's something I must accept.

The book is still not great. For some twisted reason, it has even started to remind me of my pre-pandemic life. The main character misses when he and his wife lived in the same city in which my university is located. It's just sad, thinking about how many things I lost, and for something completely out of my control.

My uterus insists on attempting murder every couple of weeks, hence the pijama pants and old blanket. It's just been a day for feeling all mopey and sensitive, so there's not much to share tonight.

[aspiring-wannabe]

At nights, we teach.

Today my group was surprised with a random visitor who came to stay. He did not give us a reason for transferring, but I did my best to make him feel right at home nonetheless. Out of my five regular students, three decided to miss class in favor of watching a soccer match, which honestly feels a bit dumb to me. Good thing the topic was not particularly interesting or they would've been in trouble.

I started reading a new book today, and I am sorry to inform you that I am not enjoying it. My suspension of disbelief just won't allow me to visualize a dude with a plague doctor mask right in the middle of 19th century Mexico City.

And yeah, I woke up early to catch a videogame localization conference. It was pretty amazing and I'm seriously considering throwing 100 USD at a company in order to be a part of the following events. In the meantime, I'm stupid tired.

[aspiring-wannabe]

A little something about my daily routine. I usually wake up around 8 am, that is, if my dog allows me to. Usually, she'll just whine next to my bed until I'm well awake.

I noticed some of my laziest hours happen right after I wake up. I'm not hungry enough for breakfast, nor do I feel like tackling something particularly monumental. For several weeks, I'd just let this time go by watching YouTube videos or dragging my ass around the house.

Instead, I now use my time from between 8:15 and 9:45 to catch up on my Coursera courses. It has been very nice having something enjoyable and bite-sized to ease into the day.

On another note, I had my first class with a new English group today. I am exhausted, but it's for a good reason this time! They are the most enthusiastic people I've ever met. We even sang and some of them said "That was a good class!" as we were wrapping up for the night.

I'm crazy excited for what's coming next.

[aspiring-wannabe]

Yeah, so, I forgot to upload a picture yesterday. So much for # 100 days of productivity.

Anyways. Something I've really gotten into has been anatomy and other body-related sciences. I blame The Good Doctor for that one. My best friend was nice enough to share some of her books and notes (because she's a real Girl in STEM) and I've been loving the challenge. Who knows? Maybe I'll wind up going to med school, or some craziness like that.

I also uploaded the final report for an English group that really took all of my strength. I'm not sure how I'll survive teaching while studying in the Summer period.

But oh, well. Let's see where it takes us, I guess.

[aspiring-wannabe]

On Saturdays we study Italian.

I've found it very hard to stay focused on these classes. I chose to enroll in a Beginner - A1 group because I thought that would help me review everything before my next intensive program at uni; however, the class has been really slow and every time I find myself thinking "I already know this stuff".

Here's to hoping stuff picks up the pace soon!