OCAAT -- Ah, sweet memories!

As I was leaving class yesterday, it suddenly occured to me why this transition has been so much smoother than some of the others I have endured. My Spanish class lasts 5 hours a day with a short break and then I have another 1-2 hours of homework, plus the necessary study time to really learn what we are covering. It is OCAAT all over again! That is One-Course-At-A-Time for those not in the know. I spent my undergraduate years at Cornell College, which operates under this calendar model. All of us, faculty and students, only had one course at a time for three and a half weeks. Then we had a few days off before our next Block, as our terms were called, began. I truly love learning this way of learning because it allows me to focus on one area while recognizing the multiple ways in which it connects to other subject areas and life in general.

One cannot be a procrastinator under OCAAT. Already I have realized how many distractions compete for my attention here in Xela. The school offers multiple field trips or supplemental activities every day, in addition to the typical lure of the international travel scene. Unlike most of the students in Xela, I am here specifically to study Spanish and feel beholden to those back home who have helped make this possible for me to stay focused. Most of Xela´s students are traveling for a long or short amount of time and this is one of the many things they are doing. Not everyone, but the majority. I have taken advantage of a couple of the shorter day trips already and spent some social time with other students, but this weekend is all about studying. I cannot move forward if I do not LEARN what we covered this week. To be able to put it to practice and become confident with the material, I need to be able to pull it from my head rather than my notebooks.

So, I have set some goals for my time and will reward myself with some of the more dynamic multi-day excursions when my Spanish skills have earned it. Until then it is nose in the books with reasonable allowances for needed distractions. Perhaps it will be good pre-training for law school.