Back at it!

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After several weeks of vacation, this past week I was fully back to my Luganda study.

At the end of the fall semester, I made the decision to really take time off from my study. I knew I would be traveling quite a bit over the winter break, and I didn't want to set an expectation for myself that was unrealistic. So I took advantage of the weeks off, and recharged.

Coming back to Luganda after several weeks away was a little bit daunting. I was worried that getting back into the rhythm I'd established in the fall would be difficult, and that I had forgotten vocabulary and other grammatical concepts. 

Indeed, during the first week it was hard to find time, and hard to figure out where to begin. With a new, completely different, schedule, my weekly rhythm was hard to find. I worked around the edges a bit, but I didn't dive in to intensive studying. During my first session with my mentor, I definitely felt the effects of time away. I had a hard time recalling some words, and was slow to form sentences. It was a good lesson nonetheless; the mistakes I made and uncertainty I felt motivated me to refocus.

The second week, and my first full week back in class, went pretty well. I found chunks of time to study, even though I still haven't found my weekly rhythm. Additionally, I started thinking about new ways to use Quizlet flashcards, apart from simply using them as ways to memorize vocabulary. However, despite some more dedicated and thoughtful time spent on Luganda, my session with my mentor was even worse than the week before! It was probably just a combination of not being fully awake and having a moderately bad headache, but I was very sloppy and slow to start. I think poor Simon wondered if something was seriously wrong with me - or if I was drunk. In any case, I persevered and made it through. Again, though, my poor performance makes me really want to master the week ahead so I feel like I'm moving forward, not back!

Creating my Independent Study Plan for this semester was extremely useful in terms of getting me focused and thinking about my study in a structured way. I am looking forward to receiving feedback from my classmates and Professor Thompson and to finalizing the plan for the road ahead.


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