topmom101
TUG Member
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2012
- Messages
- 455
- Reaction score
- 91
- Points
- 238
- Location
- South Carolina
- Resorts Owned
- Harbour Lake, Divi Phoenix, Coconut Palm II
Brava.
Good for you, girl! You're going to do great! I'm taking a choral music class at our community college- not nearly as structured and disciplined as your Italian class, but, hey- it gets me out of the house and into the company of younger people.
We get out of the house and into the company of younger people every day when we pick up our grandkids from school. They are seven and five.
But Passepartout and Glynda I think you're doing great things! Keep up the good work!
@Glynda
Good on ya, girl! Gotta keep those little grey cells working.
One of the things that was high on our list when looking for a retirement location was availability of senior education. We found an "Academy for Lifelong Learning" program at our local small university campus that has filled the bill for us. We started taking classes soon after moving here. I've been involved on its Board for a number of years, plus have edited its monthly newsletter for even more years. More recently I created and continue to maintain its website.
Through this interaction we've gotten more involved with the University as a whole and do get a chance to mingle with the younger student population some. It's great, and helps keep us from getting too stodgy.
Good for you.
Sei giovane nel cuore e lo sarai mai.
I am 64 and teaching part-time at a college. I don't plan to retire soon, as I love the interaction with the students. I only started my master's program at 54, (to keep up with my husband and kids) and am so glad I did.
What an inspiration you are. It shows it is never too late to do the things you want to do. Just do them! As you have.
Never knew about the tuition program in SC. Almost at the age that I can look into it.
I used to host summer HS students from France. 3 weeks during the summer. I had some HS French .. passing with a "D" average as for learning a foreign lauguage, I am a total failure ... the "D" was a mercy grade as I was college bound.
I could NOT travel during the summer as I have construction work which I supervise. It was a riot .... these 16-19yo girls did NOT have to do any work, ate FAST FOOD for lunch everyday, usually witness a session of Eviction Court, visited Home Depot almost everyday and would spend a weekend visiting Maryland sister to see DC (usually THEN, a White House tour ... "this is really the home of the American President?")
I was invited several times to come & visit these French girls at their homes during the following Fall. I decided I had to DEFINITELY go to France to visit 2 of these girls & their homes.
I went for 2+ weeks in November. WHAT A BLAST! GREAT TRIP! The mom in Brittary would cook a French hot lunch each day for her & I .... the daughter would come home and ask her mother in French, what she made for lunch. Her response was the same each day "That is MY favorite" and her mother would promise to make it again soon for her .. there was NO LEFTOVERs. Her grocery shopping was true European ... just enough for each person who would be eating each meal.
The other family was closer to Paris ... the mother shows me the sights of Paris ... much like the tour of the Brittary invasion beaches with the prior family.
While with Paris family, I took off for a several day trip to Vienna. I just HAD to go see the Spanish Riding School. I stayed at a hostel via a booth at the train station. And I had to PROMISE my French host family to NOT go anywheres else. It seems all formal performances of the Spanish Riding School is PRE-SOLD far, far in advance. Practice sessions had NO MUSIC but the riders and horses are doing training (think of weight lifters in the tight uniforms, no music or comments, just lifting and grutting plus no order to their choice of leaps or steps or turns).
I really liked it .... lots of action. Not a packed crowd. Low key action in the arena ... I just enjoyed the time. I went back the next morning to watch again.
For me, life in general, and education in particular, is just like farming:
When you're GREEN, you GROW.
When you're RIPE, you ROT.
I prefer to stay GREEN.
Good luck with your schooling, and what an exciting reason to take Italian! If you can find someone who speaks fluently, you may find your conversational skills will increase substantially.
Dave
You know you’re going to ace that class.
Go Girl!!! Thanks for sharing your story and good for you for getting out there and doing it! I've been kicking around taking a college class next semester just to challenge myself. Had no idea about the SC over 60 tuition deal...if we move to HH full time in a couple of years I'll be just about the right age to take advantage of it. Awesome!
Thanks! I'm glad I could provide that information for you. It's a really good option for seniors. A senior citizen who sat down by me in the hall as we waited for our different classes turned out to be a woman that was born and raised in my hometown too. An
d even lived on my street many years after I had left the area. She's almost ten years younger than me. She is taking two courses and plans to finish the degree that she's always regretted not finishing.
My son took Spanish in high school got C’s and couldn’t speak the language. Years later my Son came home and started speaking to my housekeeper of 19 years in Spanish. I was totally confused and asked him when he became fluent in Spanish. He answered when I worked at McDonalds.
McDonalds was his very first job.
"Classroom participation" -- the scourge of my Catholic high school years. Ace the tests and the essay assignments, get a B on my report card for non-participation. Except in Spanish where you didn't have to raise your hand to be forced to participate. Four years of high school Spanish, 8 more quarters at UCLA, including reading "the classics", and I won't say Buenos Dias to the gardener!
My sister is studying Italian too, and is older than you.
I think that is awesome! Good for you!!
Awesome.
Proud of you, my dear friend....knew you could do it.
All the best to keep up the top-of-the-class ranking. It's no shock to me.
Mona and I are looking forward to seeing you soon. CinCin
Ohio has the same senior deal.
Right now I’m taking Instrument Flying Ground School with a group of wannabe Airline pilots. All are working on their Private Pilot license as the first step on a very long ladder.
I’ve taken a few other classes like conversational Spanish and Tai Chi and occasionally taught an introductory Engineering class.
Cheers