Day 13: September 6

The morning came way to fast. Had problems sleeping because we are right of a main street. Hopefully I’ll get used to the noise soon.

Woke up at 7:30 and was out the door by 8. Evan came with and we took the metro to the bus stop. From there we took the bus to campus. We got to campus by 9:15 and I made it to class just on time.

At ALI the first half of the day is taught in formal while the second half is in colloquial. Within 5 minutes of being in my formal class, my fears about being improperly placed where confirmed. Another girl and I tested out and left to go talk to the advisor.

We both got moved up a level and went to go find our new class. We arrived a few minutes late but without any problems. The new class feels allot better because the kids in there seem more at my level. The grammar seems a little behind where I was at UCSD, but I also felt a bit behind at UCSD. At the accelerated pace of this class the teacher told me we would end up beyond where we previously where in my old class. This sounds good to me because I can review the subjects I am weaker on before moving into the harder areas.

The formal class is divided into three sections: grammar, vocabulary, and media. I have grammar and vocabulary on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday; and media on Monday Wednesday. So far my grammar and vocabulary professors seem really nice and into our education. In vocabulary we all took an assessment quiz to gauge our breadth of knowledge and the teacher seemed pleased that we all placed around the same level.

After Modern Standard (formal) we had a brief break before colloquial. Myself and one of the girls from MSA where in the same colloquial class and headed over together. I was really excited for the colloquial class because I feel like I have been learning so much colloquial on the streets. However, I was really let down when I was the only one who had previously taken colloquial and none of the students had bothered to learn the differences. What was supposed to be an intermediate course ground to a sudden halt.

By the end of the class it was clear to me that I needed to switch into an intermediate section with other people that had taken colloquial. After class the professor called me over and apologetically told me that he didn’t think we would be getting as far as he had hoped. He suggested that I switch sections so that I would be more challenged. I readily agreed and headed back to the advisors office. She matched me with a more appropriate intermediate group and I look forward to our discussion section which meets tomorrow and Wednesday.

After meeting with the advisor I walked to the bus stop and caught the bus home. As the bus was exiting the parking lot I got a call from Evan wondering if I wanted to catch the bus home together. Apparently he had waited for me and I didn’t know it. I felt like a jerk because I assumed he had already left… oops.

Anyways slept on the bus home and then took the metro to my apartment. Evan arrived 20 minutes after me where we both discussed our classes. He is a little disappointed with his MSA class but has heard wonderful things about the professor. He has till the end of the week so he’ll wait and see if it gets any better. He started studying and I called Sara. We talked for an hour about life and the upcoming MCAT. I know she’ll do fine (love ya babe).

Got off the phone and started to study and do homework. The people I have talked to who previously took this course suggest you study at least 4 hours a day if not more. At orientation the student speaker said she studied from the time she got out of class till she went to sleep. Sounds scary, huh?

After some studying we left to find some food. We found a restaurant a bit north on Kasr El Eine. I got some shish tawook. It came with rice, bread, and hummus. It was really good. We talked with some of the employees of the restaurant while eating. Walked back and got some juice on the way.

After we got back Evan and I studied until bed.