Short course plus snow equals crazy ride

Samantha Zoltanski

Samantha Zoltanski

So I thought this semester was going to be a bit more relaxed than my past semesters.

I was no longer having soccer practice multiple times a day, I was taking less than 15 hours, which has not happened in my four years at Missouri Southern, and I only had two traditional classes.

The catch: One class is Communication Issues with Kelly Larson; if you are a communication student or know of Kelly Larson, you know this class has not been so ‘”traditional.”

My other class is Intermediate Spanish 203-204, where the instructor, Dr. James Kilpatrick, teaches Spanish 203 for the first half of the semester and Spanish 204 for the second half.

The class meets four days a week for 95 minutes. So I knew this class was going to be a challenge, but I was ready to face the intermediate course. Or so I thought.

Week one started off with some review of Spanish 101 and 102. I was feeling confident, knew what was going on each class and was doing my homework each night. I even bought the textbook so I could take notes inside and keep it for life.

Week two and three came around, and I began to refer to each class as a roller coaster. I would understand everything and feel very confident for 15 minutes, and then five minutes later I would be lost in this language of accents and a million different verb tenses.

Add in all the snow days and I was on this roller coaster, stuck upside down in the middle of a loop and then all of a sudden it was week five or six.

I was weeks behind on my homework, trying to catch up on vocabulary during a seven-hour road trip. I downloaded Spanish apps on my iPhone to use in the so-called spare time I thought I would have.

Now don’t get me wrong, this intermediate course is not an awful roller coaster, it is just a challenge that takes a lot of attention and time management. It has helped me become more comfortable using the language since we had class four times a week. It helps students who are pursuing a major or minor in Spanish to get their lower level courses in at a quicker pace.

My classmate, sophomore Amber Farrar, will have a double major in psychology and Spanish.

“It’s tough to keep up with, but I retain so much more by having class four days a week,” she said.

Then out of nowhere, my instructor starts talking about the week of the final.

What?

Final? Already?

During week eight we had a paper due Monday, a conversation quiz on Tuesday, a written composition on Wednesday, and our final on Friday. The roller coaster had officially crashed.

Luckily, some sleet and snow came through the Joplin area, causing Southern to close campus on Monday, which pushed our final to the Monday of week nine.

Now we have an extra four days to study for the final. Thank you, sleet, snow and Dr. Kilpatrick.