Learning a language

Firstly I wanna start by stating I have nothing but good things to say about my first couchsurfing hosts, Nico and Sol. These guys really took care of me, they showed me how to use the busses and cooked asado (argentinian bbq - boy do these guys love their meat!). On Sunday we went to the Zombie walk in the centre of Buenos Aires and then to this punk rock concert in the evening, there was a Ramones tribute band playing there which was badass.

I said my goodbyes on Monday morning and enrolled in a spanish language course in the centre of Buenos Aires, I was a bit late so I had a one on one catchup session and start the course proper today.

I arrived speaking almost zero spanish and in three days I have picked up at least 50 words and can make myself understood about 70% of the time with simple things such as directions or ordering food. I can tell you right now that anybody that says learning another language is difficult has never really tried it properly. Your brain has been honed over two million years into a finely tuned language learning machine. There is nothing it does better. When you totally immerse yourself into another language and suddenly it becomes a NECESSITY to speak and understand it, it is surprising just how fast you learn. I hope to be fluent by the end of the month and capable of holding a resonable conversation in three months. That's probably a conservative estimate.

I am currently staying with my second host, Eduardo, he seems to be another really solid guy. Buenos Aires is an electrifying city, I have a lot of good things to say about it but they will have to wait until my next post. Time to head off and start learning some spanish now, can't wait!