I remember being in Latin class when the teacher asked me if I was interested in studying Ancient Greek. Of course, I replied, and soon I got the email. The form was clearly made to entice people to join: it said that 'the word dinosaur comes from two Ancient Greek words meaning "dangerous lizard"', which I didn't know at the time. The form was filled out and handed in, and I began learning Ancient Greek for a few hours after school.
We got a textbook which had various different stories in them, which were often amusing, combined with classic myths such as ones about Odysseus and the Cyclops. We went through all the Greek letters, which I had learnt beforehand, partially because they cropped up in maths, and partially because I was interested in the language. The teaching was nice, and I didn't mind giving up an hour after school on Mondays for it - I had to do the same for Thursday and Friday, due to clubs, anyways.
Yet the content wasn't the most straightforward; I couldn't balance it with my other subjects, since I had so many, and oftentimes lessons had to be cancelled so I'd forget everything I learnt. The class dwindled in size, and it soon became me and about three other people. This, coupled with me becoming more bleak in mindset at the time, pushed me towards dropping Ancient Greek.
The final straw was when it turned out we would begin having regular vocabulary tests, and, knowing I'd likely not do particularly well on them, I decided to go. I gave my textbook back, knowing I'd still have Latin lessons which would be very similar in scope to how Ancient Greek went.
I suppose I'd like to thank my school's Classics Department for offering Latin and Greek at school, even if I ended up abandoning both in the end. They made for a nicer contrast to the standard maths and English lessons, and if anyone reading this post would like to study them, I reckon you should.
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