An update
Hi guys! Not dead. Just mostly on Tumblr these days. (Though I advise you to steer clear if you're not a fan of Tom Hiddleston, because it's pretty much been 90% him since I went to see The Avengers. I am smitten and I regret NOTHING.)
Things have been fairly quiet this last semester. Ancient Greek kind of kicked my butt (only managed 59/100) - the grammar is simple enough, especially after two years of Latin, but the vocabulary still refuses to stick in my head. I intend to keep trying, though! It might just be that I'm still adjusting to the unfamiliar script - mental transliteration is still very much a part of my reading process in Greek. I'm planning to read aloud more as I study. Perhaps it will help, even if I do feel like my lips and/or tongue are going to turn themselves inside out when I read Greek.
My other two subjects, Underworld & Afterlife and Latin: Epic, went quite well! I managed a 77/100 and a 74/100 respectively, both of which are scores equivalent to a distinction. I need to practice my Latin translation more, but I think that I'll be saying that for a long time yet! In the interests of that, I have purchased a copy of the first Harry Potter book in Latin. (I also have the Ancient Greek edition, but the grammar for that one is still a bit beyond me at this point - I should be able to limp through by the end of the year.) Underworld & Afterlife was very interesting as well, though I was hoping for less of a Greco-Roman bent - we only had one week each on Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia, but this is what you get when the subject co-ordinator is a classicist, I suppose. Not that I didn't learn some interesting things, but it didn't feel...well, it didn't feel like a very balance look at the ancient world.
Next semester I'll be taking Ancient Greek B, Latin: Historiography (Lucan, apparently, though I don't know or can't remember what text - personally, I'm hoping for Book 6 of the Pharsalia, I read some of that for U&A and it was great), Comparative Civilizations (which will be about Ancient Mesopotamia and I'm very excited for) and An Introduction to the Qua'ran. (The last is my 'well, why not?' subject, since none of the available philosophy topics looked particularly interesting and there are worse ways to spend my time than learning the basics of another faith.)
I'm still in Melbourne at the moment for my winter intensive subject, Akkadian - it's an ancient Near-Eastern language, and very interesting! After Latin, Syriac and Ancient Greek, the grammar doesn't present many problems, but the script is kind of a pain. It's a cuneiform script (it looks like this), which is something I've never learned before. In structure it kind of reminds me of Japanese, actually - it isn't an alphabet but a syllabary plus a collection of logograms, so there's a lot to learn! Not to mention that it wasn't designed to be written, per se...
But even so, I'm having a lot of fun with it. I'm really excited about it, in fact. Ancient languages are definitely what I want to learn and work with for the rest of my life - there is just so much to learn and do! I'm so lucky that I'm being given an opportunity to do that with Terry and his research team.
Outside of uni, well... My life has just been so much better, this semester. I really feel like I'm starting to get it together - to the point where I've been talking with my counsellor and my doctor about attempting to go off the antidepressants at the end of the year. I'm a lot happier than I used to be - more accepting of myself, more comfortable with who I am. There's still things that I want to change, but change doesn't seem so hard any more. I want to get out and try things more than I want to stay home and be safe. In fact, I'm planning to join some dancing lessons next semester, and a choir if I can find one. I've always wanted to learn to dance properly, and I miss singing badly. If there's a drama production I could get involved with just for fun, I'd jump at that chance, too.
Basically, life is good. Life is very good. :D
Things have been fairly quiet this last semester. Ancient Greek kind of kicked my butt (only managed 59/100) - the grammar is simple enough, especially after two years of Latin, but the vocabulary still refuses to stick in my head. I intend to keep trying, though! It might just be that I'm still adjusting to the unfamiliar script - mental transliteration is still very much a part of my reading process in Greek. I'm planning to read aloud more as I study. Perhaps it will help, even if I do feel like my lips and/or tongue are going to turn themselves inside out when I read Greek.
My other two subjects, Underworld & Afterlife and Latin: Epic, went quite well! I managed a 77/100 and a 74/100 respectively, both of which are scores equivalent to a distinction. I need to practice my Latin translation more, but I think that I'll be saying that for a long time yet! In the interests of that, I have purchased a copy of the first Harry Potter book in Latin. (I also have the Ancient Greek edition, but the grammar for that one is still a bit beyond me at this point - I should be able to limp through by the end of the year.) Underworld & Afterlife was very interesting as well, though I was hoping for less of a Greco-Roman bent - we only had one week each on Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia, but this is what you get when the subject co-ordinator is a classicist, I suppose. Not that I didn't learn some interesting things, but it didn't feel...well, it didn't feel like a very balance look at the ancient world.
Next semester I'll be taking Ancient Greek B, Latin: Historiography (Lucan, apparently, though I don't know or can't remember what text - personally, I'm hoping for Book 6 of the Pharsalia, I read some of that for U&A and it was great), Comparative Civilizations (which will be about Ancient Mesopotamia and I'm very excited for) and An Introduction to the Qua'ran. (The last is my 'well, why not?' subject, since none of the available philosophy topics looked particularly interesting and there are worse ways to spend my time than learning the basics of another faith.)
I'm still in Melbourne at the moment for my winter intensive subject, Akkadian - it's an ancient Near-Eastern language, and very interesting! After Latin, Syriac and Ancient Greek, the grammar doesn't present many problems, but the script is kind of a pain. It's a cuneiform script (it looks like this), which is something I've never learned before. In structure it kind of reminds me of Japanese, actually - it isn't an alphabet but a syllabary plus a collection of logograms, so there's a lot to learn! Not to mention that it wasn't designed to be written, per se...
But even so, I'm having a lot of fun with it. I'm really excited about it, in fact. Ancient languages are definitely what I want to learn and work with for the rest of my life - there is just so much to learn and do! I'm so lucky that I'm being given an opportunity to do that with Terry and his research team.
Outside of uni, well... My life has just been so much better, this semester. I really feel like I'm starting to get it together - to the point where I've been talking with my counsellor and my doctor about attempting to go off the antidepressants at the end of the year. I'm a lot happier than I used to be - more accepting of myself, more comfortable with who I am. There's still things that I want to change, but change doesn't seem so hard any more. I want to get out and try things more than I want to stay home and be safe. In fact, I'm planning to join some dancing lessons next semester, and a choir if I can find one. I've always wanted to learn to dance properly, and I miss singing badly. If there's a drama production I could get involved with just for fun, I'd jump at that chance, too.
Basically, life is good. Life is very good. :D