ILoveOrangeSoda

Oh boy. I had an exchange student in my place when we were in High School. He was taking AP Spanish, so his level was pretty good. But when he was trying to understand people in my country (Dominican Republic) he was so lost, because we tend to cut some letters in the words and speak really fast. Just tell whoever you are speaking to that you are still learning, and that you need for them to be as clear as possible they well help you!

I don't know how Dominican were your roomates, because we don't tend to say that. They were probably making fun of a Spaniard, or have an annecdote with that word. In "Dominican" Spanish there is A LOT of slang. There are a couple of dictionaries online, check them out. There is a word we use (and I know other Latin American Countries use too), vaina. This can work as everything in a sentence. In an awards ceremony a monologue was done referring to this. Please watch it! https://www.google.com.do/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjw6IWTuIzPAhWGLB4KHXX6BmMQtwIIHzAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DBzg3bbuvvOs&usg=AFQjCNHrbXyhyM8qT_j8DIHSqta-aw96wA&sig2=-HEc8usRwjXyS3rNOX7t4g

Everytime you see tú it refers to the pronoun you. Tu is used when you refer to the possesive of that person, as in your. The difference between tú and tu, is the same as the difference between you and your. For instance see this sentence I just made up : Tú tienes un gran futuro por delante, y la publicación de tu libro lo demuestra. In

Hi! You are right, CH was considered to be another letter, and that happened too with LL. Until the 21st version of the Academic Dictionary, both letters had their own chapters. Please see this translation except of the RAE's website. http://www.rae.es/consultas/exclusion-de-ch-y-ll-del-abecedario

@linguaholic it would depend were are you. If you were in Spain, you'd call them zapatillas (for instance, there is a song by a Spanish group called that way). In my country, you'd call them tennis. There are other words as well for other kinds of shoes, besides of what has been pointed out before. For instance, there are the apargatas (called espadrilles in english) and menorquinas.