We still haven't hunted together yet.

That needs to change.

That sounds like it can be fun, depending on what you're researching. I'd probably get a kick out of studying outer space or planets.

Ooh, kitties! :3 And crap, I forgot to show you my pets! I shall have to do so tonight or tomorrow night. (Depends on how much time with my computer Super Mario Galaxy 2 lets me have. )

Sheba looks uncannily like my own cat (Pandora)--and funnily enough, because my cat is so haughty, fussy, and finicky, we sometimes call her the "Queen of Sheba." =P

Are you a Potter fan? Yeah, I'm excited! This will be my first ever con of any sort. And (assuming it's not included) I'll be touring the studio where they filmed the HP movies.

So do you currently do any sort of research? I mean, like, do you work in a lab or something?

Hello--and yes, I do have pictures of my pets! Alas, they're on my home computer (I'm at work), so I'll have to show you some after I get off. :3

Wow, you are doing lots of traveling! Too bad you won't be in the Carolinas (which is where I am). I'd love to go to New Zealand one of these days! That's right up there next to Britain for me. Anyway, I'll be in the UK for a couple weeks--most of the first week will be in London. (I'm actually going to be at LeakyCon, a four-day Harry Potter con. ) Then after that I'll be traveling throughout England, Scotland, and Wales--not sure of the exact locations yet. I'm stoked, though!

I've had a few classes kinda like that, in that attendance didn't matter much or the class was just so easy that it wasn't necessary. This semester there was usually one or two people absent for all my British Literature classes and there were only nine of us in there.

Wonderful Do you have plans yet for when you get out?

Yeah, even in my undergrad classes it's fairly common to see people who'll just show up once a week, or miss a decent amount of days (you either have a class 3 times a week or twice a week), I don't want to imagine what they'd be like if your schedule is even more fluid. But, I do appreciate having more freedom than high school.

How much longer will you be studying for?

So you just sort of do your own schedule, then?

Haha, nothing like mixing up words

So how've you been? Is your semester almost over?

So is it a problem if, say, you're sitting in a quiet area with one person and talking? It's nice that you've learned how to deal with it for the most part.

One that I often misheard was Alice in Chain's Man in the Box - I always heard "fear in my eyes" when the lyric is actually "feed in my eyes".

I see. Does it affect you that much on a day-to-day basis?

I don't have any problems (I don't think), but sometimes the subtitles can be helpful. I really only have problems hearing words in songs.

No doubt it'd be difficult, but what's life without challenges? Anyway, being bilingual also comes with the reward of knowing I'm the first person in my family to speak another language fluently. I have an uncle who's first language is Italian, but I believe that's it.

Depends on the movie for me. I imagine you're the same, sometimes there's too much going on to properly hear the entire sentence?

Yeah, some words I learned through text first but didn't actually realise how it was pronounced until sometime down the line - example, "kärlek" means "love" in Swedish, but it's sort of like a noun. In English saying "I love you" and "I give you my love" is both "love", but in Swedish the first sentence you'd use "älskar" and in the second "Kärlek". And because of the "ä" you pronounce kärlek like "sharlek", not "karl-ek".

I do intend to keep on learning. Swedish first since, I think I may immigrate there, afterwards I'd want to take a look at French, German, or Spanish. Moreso for the literature and movies and whatnot. I suppose we'll see whenever the time comes.

It's posted in Farore, perhaps whenever you return you can take a look.

well I've only ever half-assed Spanish for school, so I can't say.

The grammar can be a bit confusing at times. For example, to say "Do you love him?" It's "älskar du han?" Because Swedish doesn't have a "do you/did you" when asking questions. Or, "Idag gick jag till affären" = Today I went to the store, but directly translated is "Today went I to the store." The grammar can get even funkier, but I don't think I'll get to that harder stuff for a bit longer.

But it's related enough to English that I don't find it too difficult, but the pronunciation can be difficult. For one, Swedish rolls the "r" sometimes and I'm incapable of doing that, so I have that to go against. Grave accent (often the second syllable is said at a higher pitch than the first syllable) which doesn't appear in English at all. Certain combinations can make letters sound different, like "kök" which means kitchen, be pronounced sort of like "shoirk" - the first k gets this "s" sound because of the "ö". Then there's words like "skit" which means "♥♥♥♥" or "crap" and the "sk" is pronounced like... this airy thing. The closest thing I could compare it to is the sound you make when you say "cool hwip" and you emphasis the h.

Typed conversation is easier, and I can at least make myself understood even if my grammar is off.
There are also some words that are easy for me to relate to in English and thus remember easily. For example, a dog = en hund, "hund" is very much like "hound", or "man" = "man", but basically said Swedishy.

If I had to sum it up: in the beginning it was difficult, and a part of that was because I knew I was making mistakes a lot and it made me feel a bit discouraged. However, I have the passion and I work at it every day, even if only a little bit, and I also try to watch movies, read Swedish, and speak in Swedish to the Swedish ZUers. I definitely won't be fluent until I actually spend some time there, but in the meantime I plan to try and learn as much as I can before I go there.

We all get lazy I went for a walk last night, haven't gone for an evening stroll in awhile. I started up my (technically third since I've abandoned my second for now) novel the other day. Other than that it's been the usual, learning Swedish and going to school and all that stuff. Looking forward to this summer when I'll transfer and be living in a dorm.

Have you been doing well this past week?

Well, being an American, I think I'd relate the most to it

Thanks! I'll be sure to check them out.

Hey Asta, do you have any good Feminist reads for me? I'll be finding myself a lot more free in about a week or two once classes end and finals begin, and one of the things I'd like to do is read some actual feminist literature instead of just snippets of things here and there, y'know?

You've Become The Office's Alpha Mean Girl

thought you'd find this interesting

Thanks!