Spanish is HARDD!!!!

Buenas Noches to all!

Spanish just got really hard really fast. We have our midterm for our 2nd class of the semester tomorrow  (remember I am taking 4 levels during the time of this program) and have learned so many tenses in only the past 2 weeks. The hardest part is that these tenses don't exist in the English language.

Let me try to explain...
In English, if you wanted to ask someone to tell you the truth, you could say:

Tell me the truth.
or
It is necessary that you tell me the truth.
or
I think that you'll tell me the truth.
or
You need to tell the truth.

Nothing changes-tell me the truth is always present.

In Spanish, however, the verb tense changes with each change.

Tell me the truth is a command-Dime la verdad.
-
It is necessary that you will tell me the truth is subjunctive-Es necesario que me diga la verdad.
-
I think that you'll tell me the truth is indicative-Pienso que me dice la verdad.
-
You need to tell the truth is the infinitive-Es necesario decir la verdad.

Di, diga, dice, decir. And that's not even including past tense, imperfect (another form of past tense), future, conditional, etc etc.

    My Spanish teacher says that there are so many different verb tenses because Spanish is a romantic language, and there is a lot more emotion put into each sentence. Thus, when the emotion of the sentence changes (from a command to a suggestion to an emotion, etc) the verb changes as well.
    While English is a very direct language, there is a lot of uncertainty in romance languages like Spanish. In English, when you say you are going to the beach, it is simply a fact and the verb will never change. In Spanish, you may say that you are going, but you may also say that you are thinking about going or excited about going and each time you change that level of certainty or emotion, the verb changes.
    And they change that level of certainty a LOT.

Aaanyway...

This week has been good so far! I played soccer today and made this kid on my team angry because I was so bad. Whatever! And this weekend starts our first spring break, so I am off to Nicaragua and Northern Costa Rica until next Sunday. If you want to have some idea of where I will be, look up:

Granada, Nicaragua
San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
and
Rincon de la Vieja in Guanacaste, Costa Rica

That trip ends on Thursday (it is with the program) and then some of us are going to travel more through Gunacaste and return on Sunday.

It is going to be amazing! I am so so so so so excited.

I will check back in sometime 2 weeks from now to post a summary of our trip =)
Until then,

PURA VIDA
<3 Rachel