one of *those* weeks

I knew that this past week was going to be a tough one for language study, and I even alluded to that in my previous blog post. Looking ahead to the conference I was planning, I knew that Friday and Saturday would be mostly off the table for Luganda study.

However, throughout the course of the past year, I have learned many tricks for dealing with fitting language study into busy weeks. I tried to implement as many of these as possible as I planned for my week. I set aside time Monday through Thursday dedicated to language study, and I moved my appointment with my language mentor to Wednesday to ensure I would still be able to practice with him. I decided that I would do the best I could do with the time resources I had.

That basically sums up the week - I feel like I did the best I could do. I did a lot of Quizlet on my phone as I waited for buses, I kept up with my studying early in the week, according to my scheduling. Unfortunately, my language mentor forgot about our meeting on Wednesday, and I couldn't reschedule for later in the week, so I missed having that time with him.

There was one point during the conference where I was sitting at the registration table at the end of the day, with nothing to do. I logged on to Facebook for a second, planning to idly fill the time, and then I was struck with a burst of inspiration, remembering Kathryn's description of her studying during down-time while she attended a recent conference. So I clicked out of Facebook, opened up my Quizlet folder, and did a bit of vocabulary practice for the minutes I had to spare.

Overall, I don't feel like I accomplished anything grand this past week, but I feel good that I thought ahead and that I didn't let Luganda go completely. I really wish I would've had time with my language mentor, as those sessions are starting to feel much more fun (and much less scary) than they once did, and they continue to be the place where I feel my language abilities growing the most. But some weeks - those weeks, that everyone has every now and then - sometimes just don't go as planned, and that's okay.

This upcoming week is somewhat similar. No rest for the event planners, it seems. I've been put in charge of planning a bachelorette weekend for a group of 10 in Charlottesville, Virginia, that goes from Friday through Sunday. My plan is to schedule in time during the week as normal, to ensure that my conversation with my language partner happens on Wednesday, and to prepare some work that I can do on my flights back and forth from the east coast. Hopefully diligent work throughout the week will make up for a weekend mostly away from my studies.

Ultimately, I have learned a lot this year about how to integrate language study into my life no matter what, and this week is evidence of that. Rather than become completely consumed by the event, I made time where I could. Apart from the language study itself, this week shows me that I have gained some important life and study skills. I hope that this coming week proves the same!


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