2017 Recap
I'm back on the blog, which can only mean that:
A. I am out of the country again.
B. I have recovered from finishing my Master's Degree.
C. I have been hit with a craving to make a list of some sort.
D. All of the above
If you answered D, congratulations! You are right. While I still doubt whether option B is true or not, I believe I am at least 95% fully recuperated from the mayhem that was this past spring semester. So here it is: writing to you live from Córdoba, Argentina and in true December Year-in-Review fashion, here is a recap of my 2017:
January-May
How's this sound for a fun challenge:
1. Receive a reading list of roughly 130 pieces of literature including textbooks, reference books, novels, essays, poems, theater scripts, academic articles, and article reviews.
2. From the options including Descriptive Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Medieval Literature, Golden Age Literature, Latin American Literature from the Colonial Period, Modern Latin American Literature from 1900-present, and Modern Peninsular Literature, choose four in which you would like to be examined.
3. Read, read, read, read some more, make an outline of what you read, meet with your classmates for study group, read, read, read, go to class, plan and teach your own class, read some more. Memorize authors, plots, historical contexts, theories, definitions, and all that you can until your brain is fried. Eat and sleep when necessary. In photographic form, this is what your life will look like:
4. Take four 90-minute exams in the span of eight days.
5. Anxiously wait a few weeks (which feel more like centuries) to hear your fate. Thankfully, I passed all four of my exams in Descriptive Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Golden Age Literature, and Modern Latin American Literature from 1900-present. Whew.
June-October
I bid farewell to Madison, a city I became quite fond of during my two years there, and returned to Minnesota for the summer. I spent approximately five months back at Concordia Language Villages in northern Minnesota, working among good people from all over the world teaching culture and language to groups of participants ranging from elementary/middle/high school students, families, retired adults, adult professionals, and military personnel. One of the best perks of the job is living in the middle of the woods where our only neighbors are deer, woodchucks, and squirrels.
November-December
Upon finishing my contract with Concordia in October, I went back to my parents' house in central Minnesota to (perhaps) relax a bit and figure out what my next adventure would be. As can be seen in the photos below, we spent some quality family time basically the only way my family knows how...at sporting events. Naturally.
During that time I also started working as an ESL teacher online and booked a trip to Argentina (Minneapolis to Córdoba via Chicago-Toronto-Atlanta-Buenos Aires). I took a day to recover after having five flights in 26 hours, and began to fully enjoy the transition from spring to summer as opposed to the dawning winter that was upon the northern hemisphere. That brings me to the here and now. Contrary to my family's conclusion during conversation on Thanksgiving Day, I do plan to be back in Minnesota at some point in the future. I simply do not know when.
So, that is my 2017 in a nutshell. I plan to write more about my Argentine adventures in future and more frequent posts. For now, I would like to wish everybody a Happy Holiday season wherever and with whomever you may spend it.
A. I am out of the country again.
B. I have recovered from finishing my Master's Degree.
C. I have been hit with a craving to make a list of some sort.
D. All of the above
If you answered D, congratulations! You are right. While I still doubt whether option B is true or not, I believe I am at least 95% fully recuperated from the mayhem that was this past spring semester. So here it is: writing to you live from Córdoba, Argentina and in true December Year-in-Review fashion, here is a recap of my 2017:
January-May
How's this sound for a fun challenge:
1. Receive a reading list of roughly 130 pieces of literature including textbooks, reference books, novels, essays, poems, theater scripts, academic articles, and article reviews.
2. From the options including Descriptive Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Medieval Literature, Golden Age Literature, Latin American Literature from the Colonial Period, Modern Latin American Literature from 1900-present, and Modern Peninsular Literature, choose four in which you would like to be examined.
3. Read, read, read, read some more, make an outline of what you read, meet with your classmates for study group, read, read, read, go to class, plan and teach your own class, read some more. Memorize authors, plots, historical contexts, theories, definitions, and all that you can until your brain is fried. Eat and sleep when necessary. In photographic form, this is what your life will look like:
4. Take four 90-minute exams in the span of eight days.
5. Anxiously wait a few weeks (which feel more like centuries) to hear your fate. Thankfully, I passed all four of my exams in Descriptive Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Golden Age Literature, and Modern Latin American Literature from 1900-present. Whew.
 |
| My shiny diploma. |
I bid farewell to Madison, a city I became quite fond of during my two years there, and returned to Minnesota for the summer. I spent approximately five months back at Concordia Language Villages in northern Minnesota, working among good people from all over the world teaching culture and language to groups of participants ranging from elementary/middle/high school students, families, retired adults, adult professionals, and military personnel. One of the best perks of the job is living in the middle of the woods where our only neighbors are deer, woodchucks, and squirrels.
November-December
Upon finishing my contract with Concordia in October, I went back to my parents' house in central Minnesota to (perhaps) relax a bit and figure out what my next adventure would be. As can be seen in the photos below, we spent some quality family time basically the only way my family knows how...at sporting events. Naturally.
 |
| Go Badgers! |
 |
| Here I am! |
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