Monday, September 19, 2005

Reality Sets In (aka Deep Mierda)

Well, it has been really nice being here in Barcelona for a month, and I'm really going to miss it when I fail out of school and have to leave.

Today was the first day of precourses. My schedule was as follows (and will be the same for the rest of the week):

9:45-12:30 - Introductory Accounting
1:00-2:00 - Lunch
2:00-3:15 - Basic Quantitative Methods (aka math review... though I hadn't seen a lot of this stuff before)
3:30 - 6:15 - Spanish

Accounting went okay. I had read everything and done the problems I was supposed to have prepared in advance. I followed what was going on in class. Lunch was short... our accounting professor really likes to talk and class was half an hour longer than scheduled.

After lunch, we had this math review course. As I said, I hadn't seen some of the material before (I never had to do Calculus, and I haven't taken math since I was 16) so when people started walking out because it was too easy I felt dumb. But I was also glad that so many people stayed behind. Unfortunately, the professor just wizzed through everything and I started to feel a knot growing in my chest. By the time class was over, I thought I might throw up. And I still had to sit through two hours of Spanish.

I have been trying to read the 4th chapter of my accounting book (we had to read 3 chapters before the first class) tonight and I just can't figure it out. Why is something called a "debit" when you are gaining assets and a "credit" when you're losing them? This makes no sense. And here I thought I'd at least have an advantage because I understand the English language. Clearly I was mistaken!

To everyone in the States... if you have missed me, fear not. I will be back sooner than you think.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Look at it this way, you'll really get your tuition's worth from this education. You should really pity the people who already know it all and still have to pay for it!

frenchlion said...

Noelle - Just caught up on your Spanish life from your blog. Sounds like tons of fun and a bit of school stress. You'll get accounting before you know it, all you really want are assets anyway! Soccer started last week and we lost 1-0. The team is an interesting mix, but somehow we managed to keep a strong core. Nikki is back which helps the pain of losing Tanya and you. Who cares about Aurore! Anyway, lovely blog, can't wait to hear about the continued adventures. Love, Christa