Well, just to liven things up around here, I've signed up to take Spanish online this summer. I figure that if I really and truly want to become bilingual (which has always sounded cool to me), I should learn the language I might actually encounter on a regular basis. Plus, I'd love to read those magical realists in their native tongue . . .

I figure I should start the language in the summer, because I'll need to devote lots of time to learning vocabulary and structure, and I won't have it during the school year. My experience with German showed me that the language got easier the more I learned; I'm hopeful that if I work hard this summer, I'll be able to take and keep up with second-semester Spanish in the fall.

Class officially starts tomorrow, and I'm excited. I feel like the past year of German sharpened my language-learning chops, and I'm ready to learn an entirely new language. I intend to take advantage of all the resources available to me - Spanish television broadcasts, publications available in the community, the Spanish versions of ATM menus and voice menus . . .

As part of my 'immersion,' I'd like to read novels translated from Spanish . . . so if you can recommend any, please do. And if I turn up any good ones, I'll recommend them here. (Ditto for movies, btw.)