greek vocab in a cafe

Spent an hour or two today revising my Greek vocab lists; wrote out the Greek words, tried to learn the English. Not too hard. Then, reversed it. Still getting caught up on spelling (is that a long e – eta, or a short e – epsilon sound??), so the words that I couldn’t remember or spell after a few goes, I used for declension practice, writing out 8 different variations for each. After that, the spelling starts to sink in.

All of this was done in the corner of a cafe. The barista / waiter asked me what I was doing, then wandered away scared. I can’t really blame him. Strangely, the noisy, bustling atmosphere of a cafe provided just the right level of distraction: too little, and I’d be lost in the repetition, too much, and I wouldn’t actually be doing any study.

Next, more repetition, and a push to learn the different declensions for feminine and neuter nouns. At the lecturer’s advice, I read ahead to chapter four – it all looks rather daunting, but more about that next week, once we’ve covered it in class.

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1 Comment

  1. Ah, that brings back memories!

    Incidentally, Natalie Goldberg has a very interesting chapter about writing in cafés (well, restaurants, but same diff):

    Oddly enough, writing in a café can work, too, to improve concentration. But instead of reducing stimulation, the café atmosphere keeps that sensory part of you busy and happy, so that the deeper, quieter part of you that creates and concentrates is free to do so. It is something like occupying a baby with tricks, while slipping the spoon full of applesauce into her mouth. Mozart used to have his wife read stories to him while he was composing for the same reason.

    Writing Down the Bones p. 156.

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