Well, it's done. I'm not even gonna sugar coat it. I got absolutely CRUSHED on that exam. I feel like they introduce a lot of new concepts on these exams, and that's kinda unfair. On the other hand, I could honestly probably use some more time in level 1. As I was saying yesterday, we went incredibly fast through everything and I feel like I learned a lot but still need a lot more repetition.
I think I'm starting to learn that personally I need to be able to form a sentence first and understand it before I can pick it up when someone else says it. I tend to take my time forming sentences fully, then once it's set in my head I speed up the execution. I just literally haven't had the time to form that foundation in my head yet, and it really got to me.
From an outside perspective it was fascinating, the roller coaster ride of emotions I went through during the test itself. I started out relatively confident, though knowing I was probably going to struggle quite a bit on the listening portion of the exam. In fact, the initial part was probably just as difficult as the listening turned out to be.
The tests seem to ramp up in difficulty as they go on, which makes sense but as I said before I feel like they add things that we haven't studied, or have barely touched on. I guess if there are students who are capable of learning and doing well on these exams then there's no excuse, I'm just not used to it.
Anyways, as I said I went through a myriad of emotions. My confidence slowly faded to doubt, and then to complete and utter despair. I'm not kidding, I almost gave up at one point. Not to the point of quitting or leaving the room or anything, but just checking out. In fact, during the last portion of the listening exam I literally had to just guess.
I'm not ashamed of failing. In this case there's really not much I can do. Plus the fact that well, if I don't know it then I don't know it. There's no reason to pretend, I want to actually know the material. I can pick out phrases and words here and there when someone speaks Korean, but a lot of times it still sounds like gibberish to me. In the grand scheme of things I've still only been here two months, and only exposed to Korean for two months. As long as I continue to get better everyday I'll eventually be fluent.
Moving on, I came back to the dorm after my exam and YJS and Heavy G wanted to grab some lunch. We ended up going to the local homemade meal spot just outside campus. The food was excellent and it was all you can eat so I definitely made a dent in their food supply. After eating it was time to come home and nap.
Following the nap we all headed over to the K-PACE center to prepare for tomorrow's festivities. Heavy G got the students ready with a dance. They took about an hour and a half to practice, and then it was time to do some creative stuff. After that we headed back to the dorm and it was time to rest up for the big day tomorrow. I'll post again tomorrow to let you guys know how it all went! Thanks for reading!
Korean Word/Phrase of the Day: 끝났어요 (Ggeut Nasseo Yo) Finished! As in, this 10 weeks of Korean is in the books!
TL:DR I am blessed.
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