Yikes! music theory is not quite what I expected

I am the epitome of a guitar hobbyist - I delve into things as they interest me, and  usually launch myself at them with little thought of an overall plan.  This, up to now, is how I've pursued my classical guitar hobby.  However as I pass the 5 year mark taking CG lessons with the same teacher (who apparently has the patience of a saint), I am determined to learn a little more apart from how to sequence my fingers to make a pleasant sound on the guitar.  As I have now officially retired from my full time position, I have been able to enroll in music theory 101 in a local college.  The class is small, and as expected, I'm the only old person in the class.  That being said, because the students are all different - performance majors, education majors, music minors... with instruments varying from clarinet to percussion to voice,  it's quite an eclectic group even without me.    So far the theory is pretty basic, but moving fast - in a couple of lessons we've already been through the major scales in every key, plus notation in treble and bass clefs.  I'm glad I remember something from piano lessons as a kid because everything is based on the piano keyboard.  I tell myself this is because the piano is so much easier than the guitar. 😉

The challenging part is the ear training. Who knew that singing solfege was going to be a major part of it?  Oh well - it's other peoples' ears that will suffer.  Actually the ear training is the main reason I'm doing it in person rather than online - I'd probably do fine with an online theory course such as that offered by ABRSM, but the ear training is another matter. I figure it's got to help my playing (and my eventual goal to arrange music for the guitar)  to be able to "hear' the music without actually playing it ...

Progress forward on actually 'playing' the guitar has come to a grinding halt.  While life is getting in the way, I'm taking a break from trying to inch my playing up a notch and instead am going back to relearn some easier pieces.  First on the docket is Birds Flew over the Spire by Gary Ryan.  It would be nice if I can do a more convincing performance of it with the benefit of a couple of years practice.  We shall see.  I've also been half-heartedly looking through the pieces for orchestra, which are great pieces that however are full of funky Latin rhythms ( I can just see the conductor getting increasingly steamed as we totally botch it).  Today's project is to get some of them into musescore because  counting just isn't cutting it...