For some reason I always wanted to learn Spanish. When I was twelve I wanted to learn Spanish because I was going to Costa Rica and I couldn't go anywhere without annoying the locals. When I was fourteen I wanted to learn Spanish to prove I was smarter than all the other kids in my class (I really had my priorities straight back then). When I was sixteen I wanted to learn Spanish because it sounded really cool. And when I was almost eighteen, I wanted to learn Spanish because I was going to Peru and not talking to locals was still a no-go. So last summer I picked up a book and started learning Spanish.

From Envy's Make it Happen List
#9: Learn Spanish
Status: Awesomeness Achieved

It's been a while since I made something from my Make it Happen List happen. College was killing me, my internship was not what I expected it to be and I found myself literally burried in with homework on more than one occasion. However, there was one thing that made college awesome over the last eight weeks: I started taken extra classes. That doesn't sound awesome at all, I know, but those extra classes were Spanish classes. One of my long-time dreams came true and because I already knew some very, very basic stuff, I leaned back for a while and enjoyed the ride.

I find myself laughing way too hard at lame jokes like these since I went to Peru. (Source)

The classes started with the very basics, which meant I didn't have to pay much attention during the first three classes. After all, I had learned enough Spanish to laugh when someone said 'Buenos dios!' (which means 'good gods') at breakfast in Peru, instead of 'Buenos dias!'. And while travelling through Peru, I also learned that phrases such as 'Pelicano kaka' meant a pelican could poop on your head. On top of that, I could already introduce myself and say how old I am and that I'd like to have beer and eggs (though I don't like beer and eggs). But when I had to say anything else, or order something in a restaurant that wasn't beer or eggs, I was at a loss for words...

During eight weeks of classes the sweetest Mexican woman I've ever met (okay, I've only met one Mexican woman in my life, but she was very sweet) taught me how to count to a million, how to tell all about my daily life and how to describe my family. I learned the days of the week, the months of the year and the seasons. I learned a ton of words and verbs. But best of all: I can finally understand people when they speak Spanish to me! They have to speak as though they're talking to a person with an IQ of 75, but if they talk slowly I can totally understand Spanish!

Learning a language isn't something you do in eight weeks. Nor in eight months. But I've finally made that one big step. I can speak enough Spanish to survive on South American streets (or Spanish streets, though I prefer South America) and understand basic conversations. There are now 406 million more people in the world I can annoy with my pointless conversations! I can read a paper (all those Latin classes finally came in handy!) and I don't want to brag, but I'm finally smarter than Dora the Explorer when it comes to Spanish! Admit it, being able to say that is totally worth the extra classes.

Stay Awesome!
PS. I couldn't resist adding this lame llama joke to the post.