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Estoy en Costa Rica.  Es muy grande y hermoso.  Me gusta tener conversaciones con los ticos.  Sé español básico, así que cuando hablo con ellos, es para comprar comida o saber el tiempo.  Voy a la escuela en Costa Rica para aprender español mejor.  Vivo con una familia costarricense.  Ellos viven en la playa.  El cuarto en el que duermo tiene una brisa oceano.  Mi familia también vive con la familia costarricense.  La naturaleza en Costa Rica es tan hermoso.  Me gustan mucho las flores.  Mis comidas favoritas son Gallos Pintos, Casado, y Frescos.  ¡Son deliciosos!  Me gusta cantar.  Me gusta lo mucho.  También me gusta ir al centro comercial.  Me gustan los salones de belleza.  Mi madre no.

"Costa Rica." Costa Rica Travel Guide - Wikitravel. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2017.
<http://wikitravel.org/en/Costa_Rica>

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Vivir en Costa Rica es diferente de vivir en los United States.  Puedo hablar con los estadounidenses mejor que los costarricenses.  El inglés es mi primer idioma.  Debido a esto, puedo hablar con la gente para todo en America.  En Costa Rica voy a la escuela sólo para el español, en America, voy a la escuela por mucho más.  En Cosata Rica, la familia con la que vivo en la playa.  En America vivo en la playa.  Vivo en Wilmington, North Carolina.  La naturaleza en Wilmington es hermosa como la naturaleza de Costa Rica.  En Wilmington, me gustan los árboles.  Mis comidas favoritas en America son bistec, papas fritas, y tostadas.  Vivir en Costa Rica no es tan diferente de vivir en America.  Me gusta cantar en Costa Rica y en America.  También me gusta ir al centro comercial y los salones de belleza.

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Spanish is a language that I believe everyone in the US should know a bit of. Our country is right above a lot of Spanish speaking countries. One of the major differences in the Spanish language vs. the English language is the grammar. English actually uses incorrect grammar compared to all other languages, however us English speaking people have adapted and gotten used to it. The Spanish language uses verb changes for sex and the context of talking. In Spanish, there are like six different ways to say “to run.” In English we just say the context or sex of the person or thing, then say the verb.

The Culture of these Spanish speaking countries are different in many ways compared to us. Learning the Costa Rican culture was actually quite exciting. I liked to learn how their everyday life was and what they do. Learning about the Costa Rican food however I feel was the most interesting thing. It’s kind of funny how much they eat rice and beans in their meals. Plus, compared to America, they have some healthier eating habits. However, the stranger part in learning that was how they packaged their food, quite different I would say.

Studying the Spanish language is hard yet simple at the same time. Learning the words for items and places is okay, but trying to get the grammar and verbiage correct is hard. I plan to continue studying the Spanish language some more, but I don’t plan to become fluent in the language. That would take a long time. However, in studying the Spanish language, I also hope to learn more about the culture and people than just the words. I enjoyed learning Spanish this semester because we got to learn about the Costa Rican culture. It was fun.

Learning a language in an online class can be both furiously annoying or very languid and simple. I enjoyed this course for the fact like I said earlier that we got to learn in depth about the Costa Rican culture. It was simple for the fact that the assignments were set and you knew what you had to do. However, there were times in this course that I did not enjoy. For example, my brain could not wrap around one of the units. It simply did not make sense. I could not remember the vocab well and trying to use the verbs we learned was hard. Plus, sometimes it was a bit hard to get a hold of the teacher or there were some misunderstandings, but we could still get through with it.

Trying to learn the Spanish language is something that you definitely want to do slowly so that you can grasp it and make sense of it. One of the things that I did to help myself was to draw a graphic organizer for the verbs we were using in the unit. This helped me because then I could use them in context with the sentence of the person or thing that was doing it. It helped give me something tangible to look at and help me.  A thing that I could improve on is memorization because I had some trouble remembering the word for items. I should have made myself some flash cards or a Quizlet to help me with.

An instructor definitely has the hardest job of us all by trying to teach us, the students, the Spanish language. One of the things that my instructor did to help me was to give us the daily announcements. I know that that might sound very miniscule, but she would put helpful information in those announcements. Sometimes she would put up a video on the verbs we were using in the current unit, a due date or two, Quizlets, or even a shout out to some of the students for doing a good job on their work. I don’t think that she could have done anything better because the work, notes, and vocabulary were all there for you. It just takes some motivation to do it.

Idlewild. "Learn Spanish in NYC- Best Language Classes." Idlewild Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2017.
< https://www.idlewildbooks.com/languages/spanish/>