After the second semester exams this year in June (which really
were quite taxing for me with loads of assignment deadlines close to the
examination date and five examinations with three of them back-to-back), I desperately
needed a break. So I treated myself to a holiday to Italy and France and I will
write about those experiences at a later date. On return from the much deserved
vacation, I realised that my postgraduate classmates had already begun working on their
dissertation and with the interim project presentation just ten days away, I
began to panic. Ideally, I should have relaxed for a couple of days after the
vacation and shaken off the inertia (posted all my excellent snaps on Facebook,
checked the number of likes and replied on the comments) before I could gear up
for my next goal i.e. the presentation. However, I did not have any such
luxury. Ten days of hard work and I was ready dressed in a suit outside the
lecture theatre for my presentation. The words of praise from the project
supervisor meant that he was convinced and in turn, I was happy. I knew that
the rest of the summer would be spent working for my dissertation. However, the
summer got a kick-start with an opportunity to attend the Santander Spanish
classes. Undoubtedly, the Spanish course was one of the best things I did this
summer.
My love for the Spanish language dates back to my school days.
However, being a science student in India hardly leaves any time for you to
pursue such desires. One finishes school, joins university and gets busier day
by day. Therefore, I had made up my mind that I would push my luck and somehow
do a Spanish language course here at the University as the Centre for Foreign Languages at the Avenue Campus is one of the best in the
world. During the initial few days here at Southampton, I remember visiting the
Avenue Campus and putting in an application for a Spanish language stage 1
course. I did attend the lectures for two weeks with the most fabulous
instructor Cristina G Hermoso. But I was disappointed when I got a message from
the Programme Co-ordinator asking me to reconsider my decision of undergoing a foreign
language, as the masters course I was enrolled in was quite intensive and thus,
would leave me no time for any other course. I remember speaking to a friend of
mine that evening and telling him that “Maybe, God does not want me to learn
Spanish” and thus rested my case of learning Spanish by shifting the blame on to God and forgot all about it in a few days.
An email from the Career Destinations team in May asking for applicants
for a fully funded Spanish course from Santander revived my love for the
language. Santander Universities sponsors Spanish
language training for a select number of Southampton students. Career
Destinations, in collaboration with the Centre for Language Studies runs two
beginner-level, intensive Spanish language courses in June. Students need to
attend lectures for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon for
a week and also complete a self-study project at the weekend, besides three
hours of self-study daily. Well, I did apply and very meticulously
drafted my statement of purpose and was glad to get a call during my vacation
in Italy that I was selected. To say the least, I was overjoyed.
I had enrolled for course 2 and it began on 20 June. I was greeted
by a group of students from various disciplines; Humanities, Medicine,
Geography, Electronics and Computer Science and Business. There were students
from first, second and third year and two masters students including me and
even a PhD student. In short, it was a good mix of students from various faculties
of the University. The course began with an introduction from the ever-enthusiastic
instructor Cristina. She warned us that we needed to progress on a daily basis
to be able to cope with the class and also advised us that we should make the
most of the opportunity as we were selected amidst a number of applicants.
It was indeed a very hectic course and I realised this as the days
progressed. It was simpler to grasp for students who knew French, Greek or
Portuguese but not so very easy for me (an English speaker) and one could see
the students from Japan and Vietnam struggling as it was really very different
for them. However, our instructor made the course as much fun for us as
possible with speaking lessons, conversation tutorials, participation games and
a few competitions to keep the interest alive and kicking.
All smiles - Santander
Course 2 students with the instructor
As the week drew to an end, we realised that time had indeed
flown. We had made some great friends and spent some wonderful moments
together. There was so much to learn from each and every one of them. We had an
oral exam on the last day and we really needed to practise hard for that.
However, it went well and the instructor was happy with our performance. I
was really grateful to the University which gives so many opportunities to a
student to learn and perform. At last, my wish of learning Spanish was
fulfilled and I realised that it was not all that difficult. Better late than
never!
Rohit
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