Lilac Colored Glasses

No, that title is not in reference to a succesful baby cow *insert rimshot here*.

Rather, it is Dutch for “much success” and it is taken from the e-mail I got this morning from my Level 1 instructor telling me that I passed the class and I start Level 2 tomorrow!

I passed! Woohoo!

I think I mentioned that my exam was on Monday a few times but I sort of let it fall by the way side to avoid stressing out too much about it. I hadn’t studied very well and when I sat down to take the test I was none too happy to see that what I had studied pretty much wasn’t important. What was important was sentence structure and comprehension of the little words (aan, om, op, bij, van, etc.) and both of those things are probably my weakest points in Dutch thusfar.

From what CB has told me, the little words serve to add nuances to what is being said. We really don’t have that in English and I’m having a hard time learning/remembering where each little word goes and how it affects what is being said. Also, sentence structure is giving me problems, as there seem to be more options that are dependant on what is being expressed. I’m trying not to liken it to English because, well, it’s not English. But when I am cold I want to say “I am cold.” So I say “ik ben koud.” But that’s wrong. Here they say “ik heb koud” or “I have cold.” And that’s an example of one I remember half of the time, as opposed to most expressions which I remember none of the time.

Anyway, so, yeah I looked at the test, drilled my way through it the best I could and came home. Since then I have pretty much pretended nothing happened so that I wouldn’t spend the past two days vomitting from the stress of convincing myself I had failed. But this morning I got the blessed e-mail and I’m on my way to level 2, a wiser and thoroughly chastised student. The test was a major wake up call for me and how I have to increase and improve my study habits. I’m just thankful that I can do that from the next level rather than being sent back to where I started.