Language learning, or lack thereof

Ugh, romanian is so hard. Haha I have been here for I think 6 days now and so far, I have not accomplished what I wanted, learning how to conjugate verbs. There are four different ways to, depending on the last letter of the verb itself. But there are a couple deviants in the grammar section of my dictionary (which is my teacher right now, haha) that do not make sense to me! It seems like there is a unique rule for each and everything you want to say. I am sure I will get the hang of it soon, but I really want to speak in romanian. I feel bad everytime I speak english! I am not accomplishing my goal when I speak in English. Sure it is easier, and my friends can talk to me and learn more about me and america, but that is not what this exchange is all about. I know i am expecting too much right now. Like i said, i have only been here a few days and have learned a relatively good amount of things, but I still have these frustrations. OTher than the language, romania is fantastic. The people here are kind, generous, friendly to everyone and willing to help me. They say they have nothing to do here, but if you look, there are plenty of things to do. I am used to living in a town about a tenth or less the size of Slatina, so finding stuff to do is my strength! The town itself looks like it came straight out of a book on soviet russia. In many ways, it is modern, with clubs, shops and fashionable cafes and restaurants. But the first thing one sees when entering the city are the big cement apartment buildings. They are evverywhere. Cement was the main base for everything during construction as far as i can tell. And everything is also in a state of disrepair. There are potholes in the streets, sidewalks are crumbling, etc. But if you get past these downsides, the city has a unique beauty. It is situated on the olt river, which is giant, and is surrounded by flatness. Fields and farm cover the southern half of the country, through which i traveled in my way to slatina from the airport in bucharest. Another thing that would be shocking to many people is the amount of stray dogs running freely throughout the city. There are thousands of them. All sorts, living in the harsh city landscape, one which really does not provide for this many animals. Haha Mel, you would be so sad if you came, knowing you love animals so much. I feel sad too, but it is something that they live with everyday, and to the people who live here, the dogs are now all but invisible. So here i am, a new resident of Slatina, romania. It will be interesting. The language is my foremost goal right now. after tackling that, this city will truly be opened to me.