I'm in a fairly bad mood at the moment, but in general it was a pretty good day. I finished my assignment with lots of time to spare this morning and then rode my bike to class... and it turned out we didn't have class, that the teacher was going to miss another day (one of her close friends passed away last week). So we stuck our assignments in her pigeonhole and Lotte and I went shopping in the centrum. She bought shoes, a bag, and a few small presents for people. I didn't buy anything, but saw lots of stuff I liked... there are these earrings in Six that look like those balls Catie and I used to play with when we were kids. What are they called? They're made of long rubbery stretchy strings - we had a red, yellow, and blue one, and then another one... Anyway, these earrings look like those, and they glow in the dark, and they're exactly what that cute little girl in the train had on yesterday. So I'm definitely going back to buy those. And I saw those long plastic things that hang on the wall with pockets for photos - the things Marrit had last year that I so desperately wanted - but now I'm twijfeling over whether or not I really want them, so I didn't buy them... I'm sure I can find them online somewhere, but I can't seem to come up with good search terms. What do you CALL those things, anyway?

Anyway, so then we got sandwiches at Bakkerij Bart's - panini Spaans, lekker!!! - and while we were in there I got an SMS from Martin that he had booked the trip. So we ARE going to Spain, on 9 April - YAAAAAAY!!!!! (More about that later.) Anyway, so then Lotte and I looked in some other stores and then Lotte went to meet a friend and I went home. The first thing I did was dump my laundry in the machines downstairs, and then I checked and realized that the UF registration schedule for fall was finally up! So I figured out my schedule, which took around an hour and a half, meaning my laundry sat in the machines for a lot longer than it needed to. Oh well, at least it's done - it's hanging all around my room now, drying.

As for my schedule, it's great. I wanted two classes which didn't pan out - Accelerated Introduction to Portuguese (accelerated since I've already studied Spanish) and Frisbee (yes, they have a class for that) - but I was patient and found other options. I can't officially register until 10.15 (which means 16.15 for me) on 29 March, but I have everything written down so I can be as fast as possible when that day comes. So now my schedule is:

LIN 3201: Sounds of Human Language
LIN 3460: Structure of Human Language
SPA 1612: American Sign Language
MAC 1105: College Algebra
PEN 1122: Swimming II

15 credits total. Nice, hey? Those first two are required for linguistics majors, and I'm 'overdue' with them, so I stuck them both in there, and I also have 1 math requirement that I still need to knock off, so I'm doing it in the easiest way possible - college algebra - LOL! And I wanted some sport, and I've already done basketball, so swimming won. And yeah, you're all wondering about the sign language. Well, it's something I've always been interested in, and all linguistics majors are advised to take at least one non-Romance, non-Germanic language, so that we can get a better idea of what actually constitutes 'a language'. Sign language was one of the ones recommended, so I'm taking it. When I first started learning Dutch, I often used Spanish words without meaning to, until my vocabulary grew. And now that I'm on a higher level, I'm 'losing' my Spanish because I don't use it anymore. So I wanted to continue with languages in a way that would not compromise my skills in Dutch or Spanish, and this seemed like a good happy medium. Plus Aunt Kathie can help me. (Right??? LOL!)

So why, you ask, am I in a bad mood? Well, first of all because I'm sick - but I do seem to be getting better; I'm entering the 'dry cough' phase, which usually signifies the end for me. But also because two of my friends really made me angry today. However, I do know that they did so out of concern for me, so I can't really be mad. I get tired of having people worry about me, but I suppose that's what friends (and parents ;)) are for. I just don't like it when they 'touch a sensitive spot' (I know we have an English expression for this, but all I can think right now is 'gevoelige snaar aanraken', the Dutch version) and make me question myself. Normally I can handle it, but at the moment I'm sick and I've also had a lot of stress lately and those two factors combined do NOT make me a pleasant person to be around...

Okay, I've got to go translate now. Oh yeah, that's the other reason I'm in a bad mood - this translation is of a part of Robin Hood, and it's the most difficult one we've done yet - archaic English, with 'thy's and 'thou's and all. So I know I have to use 'gij', and David just helped me on a certain aspect of that, but really, there are certain sentences in here that *I* don't even understand, and this is English! I'm curious how the others will react...

Bye now.