A for effort por favor?

I told myself I would take today off from blogging but I lied. Maybe tomorrow will be the day? We'll see if I can stop my obsessive need to type entries about my life, it's unlikely though.

Today has started off on several high notes. For once I had an extremely positive Spanish class. Not only did I understand the subject matter but I received more than 100% on my first quiz of the semester. I've spent the last semester and a half at Hollins not being able to comprehend anything in that class because well, it's a foreign language that I don't speak. But that's the funny thing about foreign languages, isn't it? We don't understand them, much in the way we don't understand why we don't always get what we deserve or work for.
In high school I was an honor student, I made excellent grades and was always one of the top students in my classes, with the exception of math. I never thought that I would get to a class and actually have to do extra work to understand it until I took Spanish. I decided to take Spanish because I had taken so much French in high school that I wanted to try something new. I also assumed that because I made straight A's in French that a new romance language would be easy and that I could coast by, but I was so wrong.
I have struggled in Spanish just to earn B's and make C's on most of my tests. While it isn't fun and I dread the class most days it has taught me something. Never go into anything expecting it to be easy. When you sign on for a task, whether it's work related or school related you have to go in prepared to put forth your best work and the most effort you can. Of course all of your effort may not lead you to an A or a promotion but you will leave with the satisfaction that you tried your hardest. When it comes to Spanish it has taken me a while but I've finally started to pick things up and get better at it.
I'm not getting the grades I want yet but I've learned that going in and expecting to try my hardest and give it my all has helped me advance myself in that class. Until A's are given for effort alone I know that I'll have to continue working this hard but I also know that when I'm finally done and have earned my foreign language credit I will feel successful. I won't feel like it was just some class that I had to take, I'll feel like I actually accomplished something and learned valuable lessons.