Mary Bryan
Media Hour
Over the course of an hour, I studied Spanish through these youtube lessons. I learned conjugations of various verbs, some of which were irregular. I learned how to tell where the irregularity lays within those verbs, (first syllable if the verb itself is two syllables, and in the middle syllable if the verb itself is three) and that irregularity doesn’t apply to the ‘Nosotros’ (we) conjugation. I learned how to hold my tongue in my mouth while pronouncing certain letters to make my accent sound more authentic. I learned numbers 1-100,000, food, family, and descriptive vocabulary. The instructor also taught about food culture and what dishes certain countries were famous for. (Ex. Paella in Spain, Api in Bolivia, and Llapingachos in Ecuador.
Nature Hour
Van Dyke Park in Fairfax, Va.
As I walked around the trail, I saw a cat. “A stray?”, I wondered. It was small but didn’t appear to be a kitten. It was white with gray spots, and didn’t have a collar. It was very friendly though and came right up to me. I pet it’s soft little head for a while, and it went off to a drainage pipe and got inside. I was worried but it eventually left. I think it was just exploring, probably goes to the park to get more head pets. A cat that friendly couldn’t be a stray. I saw plenty of people walking with their dogs, strollers, or both. Some people were having a little gathering under one of the shelters that has picnic tables underneath. There were kids playing on the playground with their parents. Squirrels and birds rusting leaves as I walked past. I heard Blue Jays calling. I also heard the sirens of ambulances and firetrucks in the distance, but not that distant. This park was very small, and to be honest, pretty disappointing. From anyway you look, you can see through the trees at buildings beyond them. At the end of the trail, you see a park, but just beyond that is a pretty busy road and parking lots.
What I learned:
From my hour of media I learned a lot of Spanish. I learned words, dialect, and culture of various Spanish-speaking countries. This hour will definitely help me be able to understand and speak with my professor, and do better on written assignments. Over my hour in the park, I learned that there’s possibly a stray cat living in a drainage pipe. I learned that one lady goes to the park to let her dog run loose on the tennis court. I learned that there are kids around me that like volleyball, and at least one that likes to swing. The hour in the park made me miss Roanoke, where I could very easily drive up to the parkway (seriously, it took about 10 minutes to get up there.) and feel immersed in the forest, wildlife, and fresh air– with little to no noise pollution. Just the rustling of leaves in the wind and such.