On the first week of Junior year I found myself sitting in a small Spanish class of nine classmates. Out of 53 students from Spanish Level 2, only five of us decided to continue their spanish education; the other four were native speakers who were part of the english language acquisition program. We heard the alumni’s warnings constantly- “If you want to keep your sanity, do not take Spanish 3,” “Senor Pysher will definitely not have pity on you as a Junior,” and my favorite warning- “It’s worse than any class I’ve taken, even my APs!” However, I did not listen. I enjoyed Spanish class dearly and I was determined to continue my studies.

Everyday in Spanish Level 3, I walked into a storm of irregular verb conjugations, latin american geography …show more content…
I remember my persistence in learning the names of anything I saw and repeating in correct pronunciation to myself- “door hinge, shoelace, reflection...” This is exactly what I began doing with spanish.

During my walks home in the dimming afternoon, I recounted the names of every observation- “La lluvia, los carros, el pavimento...” I often wrote my physics notes in spanish; every week I checked out a spanish translated children’s book from the library; I watched spanish comedy skits on youtube. Most special to me was my discovery of spanish musicians- from contemporaries like DVICIO and Juanes to the timeless sound of Ibrahim Ferrer. I began to view the spanish language as music itself; this compelled me to get in as much speaking practice (or shall I say singing practice) as I could in class.

Indeed, my worst fears did come true. The fluent spanish speakers teased me for my mispronunciations; Senor Pysher at times grew slightly impatient when I had trouble asking for outside class help and lapsed back to english. But I learned that all these fears were petty, people don’t hold those small mistakes against you. Failure in paradox was my only way to success. I later rounded out the first semester with a