Volver al punto de partida

It is back to square one with me, now that I have officially forgotten how to speak Spanish.

Well, not exactly, but that's how I felt when my first Spanish class at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Complutense University of Madrid) began this afternoon. We started with the basics, the easiest verb tense, present indicative (I run, you cook, we talk, etc.) and I quickly realized just how out of shape my tongue really is with the language. It refuses to pronounce the syllables correctly and I sound like I'm trying to talk with a mouthful of food.

Additionally, my professor is both relatable and terrifying at the same time. She wants us to refer to her in the 2nd person familiar, but she began today by listing off the rules of what we absolutely must not do in her class. It also didn't help that I was unprepared for the first day because I wasn't able to pick up my ID card, which the professors use to take attendance and to remember the students' names. Afterwards, I had a flashback to my first Spanish class during my freshman year of high school. Back then I was just as intimidated when I realized that Spanish did not exactly flow out of me.

I am optimistic about it though. I think that it'll just take a little bit of time to get settled into speaking and thinking about the language. Until then, I look forward to more classes tomorrow and getting to know the foreign students in my class.