Norskkurs

I have been going to my Norwegian class since January. A couple of weeks ago, all the students in the school took a placement exam. I guess I scored really well, because they decided to move me up into a more challenging class. (I am not all that bright, I am just phenomenal at taking standardized tests...I wish there was money to be made in the test taking industry! Seriously, I can barely add and subtract, but in college, I was placed in calculus for pre-med majors after taking a standardized math placement exam!) For the past two days, I have sat in a classroom with students who have lived in Norway for several years, who know all the verb tenses, both regular and irregular, who can understand rapidfire Norwegian spoken with a slight Bergen accent. For the past two days I have felt so stupid, my head has ached, and smoke has poured out of my ears as my feeble little brain burned.
I'm not alone in my frustration. The other American was also placed in this advanced class and she also feels like we're in way over our heads. Luckily for me, she spoke up, and it sounds like by the end of the week we should be in an intermediate class. If she hadn't said anything, I probably would have tried to plow my way through the class, gritting my teeth and hating every minute of it, because I NEVER quit! (I have a Master's degree in substance abuse counseling that is proof of that. I knew by the first semester of my program that I didn't ever want a career in the counseling field, but with grim determination, I continued, getting straight A's and accruing quite the student loan debt! Because, again, I NEVER quit!) So I'm sitting at home now, kind of freaking out because I did give up. The words, "I can't do it, the class is too hard," didn't actually come out of my mouth, but I did stand behind my classmate and nod vigorously as she said them. Too bad she wasn't there with me in college to get me out of that awful calculus course....