Welcome to my second Maximize Your Month Linkup post. Hosted by myself, Shannon of Eurolinguiste, Esther of Local Adventurer, Mariah of Food, Booze and Baggage, and Hsiao-Ting of Shouting Chow, the idea is to share our monthly goals and inspire you to do the same. Check the bottom of this post for more info you you fancy joining us!

Let’s start by taking a look at my goals for July…

July Goals

Finding this delicious fruit in my local supermarket made me ridiculously happy this past month.

Go to this month’s spanish meet-up

Yay! I was able to get back to this, which was great. Unfortunately, I’ll be on holiday next month but in September, straight back in there is the plan, especially as I’mm be preparing for final Spanish exams.

finish my OU course!

I may have sped through the last 3 chapters, but there’s no assignment on them and I know I’m not doing my final dissertation on that topic so it’s cool. I’ve done it. Woo!

4 new scripts

This started well but Telugu didn’t quite get the attention at deserved, squashed in with a quick glance at the end of the month. One to add to my list for October/November. Still, I’m happy to have been able to give the others a real chunk of time.

get moving again

Oh dear. The “post-viral” whatever-it-is lingered well into July. However, I did try to go for a run mid-month…and nearly died 300 metres in from coughing. Ok, slight exaggeration, but still, I took my doctor up on that chest x-ray and spent the next 24 hours convinced I had something super serious. When the doctor called back so soon, this confirmed my fears. Surely, if it was nothing, there wouldn’t be such urgency, right? The woman’s speedy and panicky voice on the phone didn’t do much to calm my nerves but thankfully, everything was ok, and the x-ray came back clear. Phew. I have since been for two short runs, and have started slowly with the 7-minute workout app when I can. I’m hoping that by September, I’ll be able to pick up where I left off in terms of health.

August Goals

It seems kind of weird to set myself some goals for August as I’ll be on holiday for most of it and working super hard for the last week teaching a summer school. I’ve left it as a blank month on the Language Script Challenge, and a blank month on my Spanish OU course to give myself some brain space before jumping into the final exams in September. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean I want to sit around doing absolutely nada.

learn the basics of 5 languages for travel with #IGLC

As I mentioned in last month’s post, we’re off to Brussels, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Helsinki this summer. I’m so excited! However, being so busy right now and visiting places with different languages on this trip, I haven’t had the chance to take a look at the languages as I normally like to do before a holiday. So, I’m going to use the Instagram Language Challenge to get to grips with 5 languages! Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Russian, and Finnish. I’ve decided to add Russian because I feel it will be useful if people we encounter in the Baltic nations don’t speak English and if I forget what to say in their language. Also, well, why not.

However, I’ll actually be coming home on the 20th, which means that I’ve already prepared my images for this month’s #IGLC so they’re of use to me stored on my phone!

bike 100km on the Curonian Spit

When I was planning this trip, I was torn between the Curonian Spit in Lithuania and Pärnu in Estonia. We didn’t quite have time to fit in both. But as soon as I mentioned biking down a teeny tiny spit of land that takes you pretty close to Russia (Kaliningrad), Ash’s eyes lit up. I thought that might happen. So we’re biking 50km in one day from Smiltyne to Nida, and then 50km back the next day. Ashley normally bikes to work everyday, granted it’s 5 minutes not 50km, but he still does. I don’t. But, hey, I’m up for the challenge and hoping I can do this without bailing out and getting the bus!

get as much Spanish exposure as possible

I’ve already starting watching clips of telenovelas when I’d previously be listening to Japanese or reading German. This month, no matter where I am, the spare time that I’d normally devote to absorbing other languages, I’m dedicating to Spanish. This will continue into September too, when I’m planning on doing as much speaking and listening as possible in preparation for my final exams. Eek.

Join Maximize Your Month!

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How did your goals go this month? What have you got planned for August? Share in the comments!