language

languages are a fascinating thing.
i've always wanted to speak like 10 different languages.
but i never had much motivation to actually learn.
my grandfather taught himself to speak...about 6 languages? (plus english)
(off the top of my head: italian, french, german, polish, russian, hawaiian...)
that amazes me. no formal training. never been outside of the US.
yet he knows the nitty gritty grammatical details and understands how they work.
hopefully i inherited that gene.

the states have plenty of diversity and people that speak many different languages.
but traveling to other countries where english was not the native language gave me a different perspective.
i've been having a desire to learn as many languages as possible and i don't know where (or how) to start.

i have a decent foundation in spanish. i've had intro spanish classes since elementary school but never have been fluent. i've got a good handle on grammar and alphabet and an ok vocabulary (the words escape me after periods of non-use). due to many (lame) reasons, i only took 2 years in high school (the minimum to get into university). only to arrive a UCI and learn i needed 3 years to eliminate my foreign language requirement. so i have had the need to complete basically one more spanish class looming over my head for the past 2 1/2 years. what have i been waiting for?
a. terrified by rumors that UC language classes are insanely intensive. every day of the week for at least an hour during the quarter plus studying outside of class.
b. looking at class websites from past quarters and reading something along the lines of "this class needs to be your priority, it will take the majority of your time and you will not pass if you fail to do so." um...not compatible with civil engineering thankyouverymuch.
c. worrying i wouldn't remember enough to transfer straight into spanish 1C and therefore would have to take spanish 1A, 1B AND 1C. an entire year of intense spanish...and failing engineering.
d. learned from my academic advisor i could just take Spanish 2 at community college and that would count (and be WAY easier...no offense to community college kids but sometimes UC's get their class priorities a litte mixed up)

so d. was going to be the answer to getting that requirement out of the way.
and then i went to europe.

and now i want to learn french and italian. desperately.
so i should just take one of those languages right?
except i have no foundation in those, so it would require starting from scratch with intensive language class. back to square one.

i found UCI offers a condensed version for summer school. basically French or Italian 1AB first session and French or Italian 1BC second session. it's still intense. each class is 3 hours/day for 5 weeks. but it's summer and i won't be taking engineering classes. and a friend of mine expressed interest in taking french before graduation.

so here's the dilemma:
*take spanish 2 this summer to get rid of the requirement?
OR
*take french 1AB and 1BC this summer to learn something new?

p.s. then i saw "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" by Woody Allen and have since been obssessed with visiting Spain, thus spanish...