Tempting, oh so tempting...

Two down, 28 days to go. There were serious temptings yesterday...

First, there were tears - not mine, however, though seeing the other student's tempted me to lose it, too. How could one retain so many details in just two days?? Is the human brain capable of this? We were taking apart Greek sentences (that's parsing, right?) by noon yesterday. To do so, of course, meant that everything that passed through the hearing system of the body in the last 48 hours had somehow managed to stick and would flow back out in instant recognition when taking Day's Two's quiz.

Are you wondering if I passed the quiz for Day One? The one for which I knew just about every answer? It wasn't collected. Bummer. Who knows, that could have been the tipping point between passing and failing.

Second, there was tension with how to study, where and with whom? Three of us are hanging out in a cool meeting room in the library where we can speak (and rant and rave) while forcing our brains to wrap around new shapes, sounds, constructs, minute details to the nth degree. Memorize, memorize, memorize! But we are at different places of needs already. Do we find a common point of connection? Or given the demands of time, push forward with what you each needs, connecting occasionally? One was fighting serious doubts - thus the tears. Do I modify my goal to get her through? Tempting to forge ahead, but... Maybe the priest and Levite were in Intensive Greek and stopping to help the beaten man would mean flunking their class!

We all helped each other memorize - and then it seemed we naturally drifted to the area of importance for each. No study buddy last night. I knew I had to keep trying to stay in the rhythm of class, study day's material, take quiz on day's material, study for next day's materials, class...

Third, the quiz! Oh my gosh!! Wake up call! The first one took about 35 minutes; this one took ME (need to add that) about three hours! Why? What I thought I had memorized evaporated. It hadn't stuck; well, a lot of it. Basic, basic stuff that I had spewed out of my mouth as mastered escaped. Nerves? Hmm, I think it was more a good jolt to determine asap if I am a verbal or visual learner or both. I thought verbal. Today I will try a different approach.

So picture me alone, in our office at home, with the test in front of me - and that sinking feeling that I should know everything on this and yet it was hiding in some corner of my brain. Come out, come out, ___ words! And the answers were on a chart just immediately to my left. Who would know if I looked or didn't look? Oh, so tempting!! I wanted so badly to pass this first serious quiz! 51% would be just fine!

So did I?

No. Sigh. I'll eat the consequences.

Lastly, though it was 9:30 PM when I finished - there was a lot of staring into space, thinking, "I can't believe this! I JUST memorized this!" - and feeling wiped out from starting the day at 5:30 AM, I knew I absolutely had to study the next day's materials AND do the workbook exercises. Tempting to just call it a day, a very LONG day, and give into all the body's pull to bed.

But I started back in. The prof had warned us that Day Two and Day Three had the most heavy content and then it lightened up (yeh, right; INTENSIVE, remember?). So after learning all the noun case endings, a ton of vocabulary, which was which and why ("I'M GOING TO ASK YOU THE FUNCTION!") I started in on prepositions and adjectives. Each is worth a WEEK of classes in regular Greek!

Managed to get through two chapters of workbook exercises (well, left the last two questions) and dropped in bed at midnight.

But then I couldn't sleep...AUGH!

LOTS of praying going on...

Pass the coffee.