Swim team has started so with that and homework I really don't have that much time to think about it, but neither do I have much time to study polish. I usually end up cramming on the weekends, but on the bright side I am almost done with declension. Declension is probably the hardest part of polish and it just involves changes nouns into seven different forms depending on grammatical aspect and the three genders, plus another 7 for their plural variants. Don't panic though some of it overlaps and maybe one word can really only be changed 10-14 various ways.
Anyways back to the orientation, it was very long I have to say.We got our blazers that we were measured for the previous time and we got to learn more about culture shock and different situations we have to deal with. We also went over monochromic societies and polychromic societies and how there are many things that we don't notice in each others cultures because we assume they are the same. For instance, the fact that the U.S.A is very time obsessed and everything must be at a set time as opposed to many latin american countries that are more relaxed and tend to not worry so much. At the end though we got a great dinner and we danced or something similar to that; I don't think many of us were very talented, but me and my friend ,an outbound to Brazil, turned it into a sort of crazy tango.
The following day we went through a lot of the same, it sometimes gets receptive but I guess they really want us to get the B's down. However, the highlight of it was meeting the rebounds. Especially when they told us about reverse culture shock, how you come back from your exchange and you are sometimes angry, and you stop agreeing with so many of the things your country is. They also emphasized that people don't really understand you are gone for a year how you come back and people think you are the same person but you have totally matured and you may not have the same interests of mind set, and that that is the most difficult part of reverse shock. I loved that I got to hear this from students who actually were there because they are always the most valuable source of information.
They also told me to just have fun and like everyone else that knowing the language is really crucial especially when you are at school because you are only interesting for a couple of minutes until they find out you can't say anything. It was overall very helpful and I am glad we have these orientations.
Now that two weeks have passed since this date, many people already know their city,and it makes me cringe with jealousy because I won't get to know til around July: waiting really is the hardest part. I have also begun to watch polish films and I watched Bad teacher in Polish although they call it Bad Woman. I am not sure why. It is really helpful to watch them with polish subtitles because like I said before reading is number one. My friend has also lent me some cd's and I have been listening to a lot of polish music; I am posting a link to those who want to know how it sounds.
Na Razie,
Angel Salas
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