The last of the classmates
Well, last day of classes here, tomorrow is Moderation. So, this is one of the last chances I´ll have to drop a note to you until I a) come across a free laptop with endless internet access or b) find a really cheap internet cafe or c) move home and just tell you all about it during the picture party that is apparently taking place in Lansing (as well as other places around the world) with free flowing beer and a never ending supply of burgers :)
But first- the last teaching group.
If the first group is the "adventurers" group, the second group the "strong personalities", the third group is the "quirky people" group.
First - the least of the quirky - Dershna
Dershna is actually very normal. She´s Indian decent (as in, from India), but is British, so she´s got the accent that everyone else here seems to have. She´s very funny, incredibly sarcastic, and just over all fun. I think sometimes she´s embarassed by the loud Americans, usually announcing "Watch out, the Americans have arrived" whenever we meet up with her at a restaurant, but for the most part she tolerates us with a smile and a laugh. I have no idea what she´s doing after the course, which is unfortunate, because she´s the person that I most regret not getting to know that well. She lives with several other students in a flat owned by the director of the school, so she usually hangs out with those students, rather than our peer group. :( However, I dont´hold this against her, because she does make it out occassionally. That´s about all I can tell you about her. Which is sad, seeing as we´ve been in class together for a month. Oh well.
Then there´s Graham. The quintecential British man. He´s 28?, had curly blond hair, but buzzed it off not long ago. He´s a quiet person, likes to go to pubs by himself, and if he goes with the group tends to sit in the corner watching things happen. He has a habit of talking very fast without moving his lips, which makes it impossible for us to communicate, seeing as I cant´understand him, and I talk too fast for him to understand me. But what I do understand is funny and witty, and usually about some strange person who stopped him on the street, or the conversation he had with the drunk person at the bar last night. He tends to be very OCD, stacking the books in order of biggest to smallest (bottom to top), making sure everything is square on the table, he fidgits a lot, and seems to always have something in his hand. He sits like a beatnic - one leg cross over the other, and bent to one side, with his chin resting on top of his hand (holding the pen) - I know this because he always sits in the same place in the classroom, against the wall opposite the door, and his habits have become something of a game for the rest of us. He´s just an odd little man, although incredibly nice and very approachable, which might be why he attracts such strange people in the pubs. In Grahams own words, "if there´s a person in pub who was just let out of jail because twenty years ago he clubbed someone over the head with a lead pipe, and is now reborn and wants to tell his life story" he finds Graham. Poor quirky Graham.
And last, but not least, there´s Hannah.
Hannah is from Japan, but grew up in an English speaking environment, speaks very little Japanese, and lives in Kenya with her family, where they run a non-profit school. She does speak Swahili. She didn´t need to take this course to teach at her parents school, and the exchange rate is not good from Kenyan currancy to Euros, so it´s a big deal for her to be here. Shes incredibly thin, I have never seen someone so thin. She eats very little, but likes to sample a bit from everyone elses lunch. So I buy an extra peach every morning. She has glasses, and a small nose, and a small body, and is just small in personality, speaks very quietly, and not often. What she does say is always positive, and incredibly group supportive. She came to Barcelona a month before the rest of us to take a Spanish course, and hated the people in her class, so she is very relieved to find us all just as studious as her (yes, she said I was dedicated to my studies. If I have HER fooled, I must be doing pretty well at pulling this off). She´s SO SMART! Very quick with answers when called upon, but not one to call out the answers. And she collects paper, foil, sandwich wrap, anything she can. She folds it up neatly and puts it in her bag. At restaurants, she´ll bring her lunch and take home the placemats. I have theories as to why she does this, but nothing is solid. Hannas ankles were swollen for the last three weeks. She thinks she sprained them, but they weren´t bruised and they weren´t sore. Just swollen. She misses home and looks forward to going back, calls her family just about every day (dont´get jealous Mom and Dad), but doesn´t come out with us to even the events that are free. She´s just not the social butterfly that we are. And that´s sad too, because I would love to have gotten to know her, and learn about her life and her family like I´ve learned about the lives and families of the other folks in the class. She´s very introverted, which is unlike most people who take this course. Unlike me, she struggles with the advanced group but works great with the elementary - I am the opposite. I guess she´s the opposite of me in a lot of ways. maybe that´s why she runs when I ask her to hang out with me :)
So, that´s it. That´s the class that I´m with. And it´s 4:30 on Thursday. the day before my Moderation, and really my last day hanging out with these people. I´m not sure what I´ll feel tomorrow, but today I feel unreal. Where did the last month go, and what do I have to show for it (nothing yet, because the pictures haven´t arrived!) We´re going out for drinks tonight, then we´re going to watch one of the mentors bands play - then, I´m not sure. It´s a numbing feeling to know that you´ve worked hard for this moment, I´ve run my ass off this past month, doing lessons, and research, and projects, and reflections, and somehow managed to fit in the sightseeing, the tourist things, the shopping and socializing, and not fail the course. And I´m not tired. Wow.
Now what do I do?
But first- the last teaching group.
If the first group is the "adventurers" group, the second group the "strong personalities", the third group is the "quirky people" group.
First - the least of the quirky - Dershna
Dershna is actually very normal. She´s Indian decent (as in, from India), but is British, so she´s got the accent that everyone else here seems to have. She´s very funny, incredibly sarcastic, and just over all fun. I think sometimes she´s embarassed by the loud Americans, usually announcing "Watch out, the Americans have arrived" whenever we meet up with her at a restaurant, but for the most part she tolerates us with a smile and a laugh. I have no idea what she´s doing after the course, which is unfortunate, because she´s the person that I most regret not getting to know that well. She lives with several other students in a flat owned by the director of the school, so she usually hangs out with those students, rather than our peer group. :( However, I dont´hold this against her, because she does make it out occassionally. That´s about all I can tell you about her. Which is sad, seeing as we´ve been in class together for a month. Oh well.
Then there´s Graham. The quintecential British man. He´s 28?, had curly blond hair, but buzzed it off not long ago. He´s a quiet person, likes to go to pubs by himself, and if he goes with the group tends to sit in the corner watching things happen. He has a habit of talking very fast without moving his lips, which makes it impossible for us to communicate, seeing as I cant´understand him, and I talk too fast for him to understand me. But what I do understand is funny and witty, and usually about some strange person who stopped him on the street, or the conversation he had with the drunk person at the bar last night. He tends to be very OCD, stacking the books in order of biggest to smallest (bottom to top), making sure everything is square on the table, he fidgits a lot, and seems to always have something in his hand. He sits like a beatnic - one leg cross over the other, and bent to one side, with his chin resting on top of his hand (holding the pen) - I know this because he always sits in the same place in the classroom, against the wall opposite the door, and his habits have become something of a game for the rest of us. He´s just an odd little man, although incredibly nice and very approachable, which might be why he attracts such strange people in the pubs. In Grahams own words, "if there´s a person in pub who was just let out of jail because twenty years ago he clubbed someone over the head with a lead pipe, and is now reborn and wants to tell his life story" he finds Graham. Poor quirky Graham.
And last, but not least, there´s Hannah.
Hannah is from Japan, but grew up in an English speaking environment, speaks very little Japanese, and lives in Kenya with her family, where they run a non-profit school. She does speak Swahili. She didn´t need to take this course to teach at her parents school, and the exchange rate is not good from Kenyan currancy to Euros, so it´s a big deal for her to be here. Shes incredibly thin, I have never seen someone so thin. She eats very little, but likes to sample a bit from everyone elses lunch. So I buy an extra peach every morning. She has glasses, and a small nose, and a small body, and is just small in personality, speaks very quietly, and not often. What she does say is always positive, and incredibly group supportive. She came to Barcelona a month before the rest of us to take a Spanish course, and hated the people in her class, so she is very relieved to find us all just as studious as her (yes, she said I was dedicated to my studies. If I have HER fooled, I must be doing pretty well at pulling this off). She´s SO SMART! Very quick with answers when called upon, but not one to call out the answers. And she collects paper, foil, sandwich wrap, anything she can. She folds it up neatly and puts it in her bag. At restaurants, she´ll bring her lunch and take home the placemats. I have theories as to why she does this, but nothing is solid. Hannas ankles were swollen for the last three weeks. She thinks she sprained them, but they weren´t bruised and they weren´t sore. Just swollen. She misses home and looks forward to going back, calls her family just about every day (dont´get jealous Mom and Dad), but doesn´t come out with us to even the events that are free. She´s just not the social butterfly that we are. And that´s sad too, because I would love to have gotten to know her, and learn about her life and her family like I´ve learned about the lives and families of the other folks in the class. She´s very introverted, which is unlike most people who take this course. Unlike me, she struggles with the advanced group but works great with the elementary - I am the opposite. I guess she´s the opposite of me in a lot of ways. maybe that´s why she runs when I ask her to hang out with me :)
So, that´s it. That´s the class that I´m with. And it´s 4:30 on Thursday. the day before my Moderation, and really my last day hanging out with these people. I´m not sure what I´ll feel tomorrow, but today I feel unreal. Where did the last month go, and what do I have to show for it (nothing yet, because the pictures haven´t arrived!) We´re going out for drinks tonight, then we´re going to watch one of the mentors bands play - then, I´m not sure. It´s a numbing feeling to know that you´ve worked hard for this moment, I´ve run my ass off this past month, doing lessons, and research, and projects, and reflections, and somehow managed to fit in the sightseeing, the tourist things, the shopping and socializing, and not fail the course. And I´m not tired. Wow.
Now what do I do?
posted by Chandi at 4:32 PM
1 Comments:
Tempus fugit Chandra. Even more so when your mind is occupied. Just a little more than a month and I will be there. Those are mighty interesting classmates, so I can see how time would fly.
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