Have just finished challenge 24, level 2 (South). This is an absolutely AMAZING process. My brain is all scrambly again - not only is this a sensation that I have learnt is full of positives and NOT a sign of failure, but I’m actively seeking it out now. I’ve begun grinning to myself as I recognise what is happening! 
There is more Welsh thundering round my brain than ever before! It feels as though I have covered years worth in the two and a half months I’ve been here. I admit to having been on the merry-go-round of learning Welsh some years ago, but this feels almost like a different language.
The latest challenge seems to go over a lot of the stuff we’ve previously covered. It all came back.
All. Of. It. As if it were just sitting there in a comfy armchair, waiting for its turn!
You cannot believe how that made me feel (well, actually, if anyone can, you lot can). More grinning! I wasn’t expecting it to - I was expecting to do ok, and to feel ok about doing ok. That’s the other thing - what I say to myself about my learning has changed. I’m not worried about the bits that don’t sink in at first, so my attention isn’t on them. I can truthfully say to myself that it will come. My attention is on what I can do. I put this down to the magic of SSIW, and also to the sheer strength of support of the folks on this forum. I have seen you all give newcomers, including myself, a warm welcome and such complete reassurance as to lift us up over the bumps.
Interestingly (to me), I did the working memory test and scored badly! Between 4 and 4.5 for every time I did it. I have read here that this might make it harder for me to use this method. It doesn’t feel that way at all to me - PHEW!
I thought now would be a good time to say all this (and I apologise for the lengthy ramble) because as I approach the end of level 2 I see that there are only six challenges so far in level three. I think I’m going to feel like I fell off a cliff!
A massive, massive diolch to you all.
Ramble over. As you were!
I reckon that is the most inspirational post I ever ever read on the Forum! I can feel your excitement from here! Well done! 
YAY!
Da iawn ti!
2+ months! Absolutely great and inspiring!
Now a bit of reality:
- The Challenge 25 is a revision of everything you’ve learnt so you might enjoy it even more!
- The 6 challenges you’re talking about are Northern (unfortunately). Southern version didn’t start Level 3 yet.
So, you might try to tackle Northern version or just do each Challenge 25 to compare both.
Hwyl!
Tatjana 
Hang on then! You mean, when I finish this level (probably today as my addiction to this stuff knows no bounds) that is kind of it for now???
NOOOOOOOO!
I guess the cliff edge was somewhat closer than I thought…
It’s crazy - I feel as though I’ve only just started!
I have seen people talking about the old courses - is it worth looking at those too? Do they work in the same way?
Love this!
I have seen people talking about the old courses - is it worth looking at those too? Do they work in the same way?
They do. In fact, I did the courses rather than the levels because I’m a comparative oldie on here (I just hang around for the interesting conversation). I bet you’ll find them easy, but why not go ahead and do them while you’re waiting for more level 3 stuff to come out?
Are you able to go and use your Welsh in the wild? Honestly, the fun ride continues (and gets better and better…)!
Yeeees. But the race continues in not so distant while …
Yes, @sarapeacock is on here way longer then me but I’ve done old Courses too. Some find old material easier (me for example) and some find new material easier so no particular decider about what’s easier though. If you want to try, the old course you’ll find under “Old material” tab. Try Course 1 Lesson 61, 62 and 6b (just for the fun of it. Oh, and in old material you have 2x10 Vocab lessons (10 in Course 1 and 10 in Course 2) which might be interesting especially if you’re amining to go to the Bootcamp in some future. They provide you with approximately everything you need to “survive” the bootcamp. And yes, old material surely works too although @aran says new lessons are much better structured. I love @iestyn’s explanations in old material in particular. My experience is that there is more of this then in new material but it can be just my feeling though and it’s actually not true.
Yes, this!
Well, @cat-1, you have shot past me because, although I have technically done all those Challenges, I have not done them well. Well done you!
I too got 4.5 and put it down to age. I know my memory is not what it was. My theory is that, as we shove more and more in, the links get tangled up and finding any one thing gets harder! Of course, it could be Alzheimer’s, but I prefer my theory!
Re-your current dilemma, why not give the Northern Challenges a go? It helps with TV made in Gogledd Cymru, it helps with corresponding with Gogs, it would help if you fancy visiting, say, Caernarfon or the Eisteddfod on Ynys Mon!
@henddraig clearly, 4.5 is a score only for the select few. We are obviously special! I’ve always jokingly compared myself to a pigeon (having read somewhere that pigeons discern between what we would understand as 1, 2 and three, but it all gets a bit fuzzy after that) and it seems I’m right. I know where the three dots in the test go, and after that it’s all a blur! But then, during the challenges it feels as though you only have to remember three blocks of language, even when the sentences get long and tricky, eg (Do you think)+(I should)+(wait for them), or (He told me)+(that she wanted)+(to tell me what to do). My pigeon brain says that’s ok!
I like the idea of a tangled brain! What might be hiding in there? The Answer To The Universe And Everything?? 
The wild round here is a bit leafy Oxfordshire. I don’t seem to bump into Welsh people very often! There’s not much in the way of just jumping in and trying it, and it is fearfully difficult to manage actually searching speakers and learners out with three small kids at foot! I have a friend who is learning and we speak every week which is fabulous. I tend to bark Welsh at unsuspecting bystanders!
I, too, only scored 4.5 and, like Marvin in Hitchhiker’s G.T.T.P., I have a “brain the size of a planet” 
We know we have vast clusters and tangles of neurons so I dare say, if only we knew how to get them all working on the problem anything might be possible! Meanwhile, the weekly Skype sessions that @ramblingjohn organised are on holiday for the summer! Maybe you might like to join in when they start again? I am terrible at keeping in Welsh, so tend to stay quiet and then let loose confused utterances stopping suddenly for lack of a word!
ps the difference between a genius and most people is how well the brain works, not its size!
I think there’s a Welsh learners’ group in Oxford, as it happens… (Used to meet at a pub that no longer exists, so I don’t know where they meet now.) I think @ramblingjohn might know (and I see that I’m not the first to tag him in this thread!)
My eldest lives in Headington at the moment - if I’m going to have any free time next time I’m over I’ll drop you a line 
This was published 3 days ago in Oxford Welsh learners group. Appearantly it’s downstairs in the Jericho Cafe.now.
You also might be interested in Oxford Walks thread where they posted 6 days ago organizing the “Welsh walk” and their next walk according to this post in the topic will happen on 10th June.
@johnwilliams_6 is the right person to tell you more or go through just mentioned topics.
Hwyl!
Tatjana
I did the Courses first and am now most of the way through Level 1. I would say it is definitely worth doing the Courses. You will find a lot of it easy, which is still good review, but you will also learn new things.
@hewrop and @henddraig - I am in jolly good company I can see!
@hewrop - I’m going to have to read everything you write from now in Marvin’s voice!
@sarapeacock - I did see about the Oxford group, and as soon as I can organise the three headed wild beast that is my small family into some sort of order, I will be there, but it’s SO hard to get time off when they are still little! Please DO come and speak Welsh to me when you come this way - that would be utterly amazing!
I know what you mean - when I finished the Courses, I was so glad to know I still had the Levels to do. I would have been really sad otherwise!
Diolch, Tatjana!
@cat-1 yes, please do come and join us when the time’s ripe. If you’re based in Oxford itself, do you think a meet up in a park from time to time might help, i.e. allow you to keep a watchful eye on the kids but still join in the chat?
Hwyl, John