Just don't try and hold a conversation with me.

So guess what?
Last night was my very last "Level 1 Nederlands for Foreigners" class!  And you know what I got?!

Look! It has my name and everything!!
So...well...what have I learned?
Surprisingly, a lot.  It's one of those things where you don't notice the change.  But then suddenly. you realize you can actually understand what's being said around you! I like this class because unlike my high school Spanish, in which I took three years, and can basically say "Hola" we learned relevant conversation pieces.  Here's some things I've learned...

-clothing- how to buy, exchange, return, and mend it.
-directions - I can give and ask for them!
-compliments - because those are important in making friends
-past tense - actually quite easy...and I NEVER learned that in Spanish class
-food - including the ordering of, the buying of, the recipe-ing of, etc.  I am a pro when it comes to the grocery store/bakker/kaas winkel.
-time - oh Dutch time...i'll have to explain that, some post in the future.
-WORDS! - I know that seems like a given...but seriously...I have pages upon pages of words that I've picked up that have nothing to do with anything else we've learned.  I read them every Wednesday over a bowl of noodles in Leiden.

Sometimes I would come home from Dutch class and be so proud because I finally knew how to say something like "Shall we go to the beach today?"  And now, I can answer the majority of questions in very broken Dutch...but you would still get it.  I feel like Colin Firth in "Love Actually" when they translate exactly what he's saying in Italian.  But you still understand it.  And that's all that is important.
I'm so proud of myself and how far I've come!  It just makes me want to continue learning, and living in this culture.  I mean, I want to stay in Europe, but to attempt to learn another language when I haven't even mastered one? Ugh.
But maybe I can stay at least through Nederlands 2.  We'll see.

Word of the Day: Ik spreek Nederlands - I speak Dutch.