Alright, so I know I’ve basically failed at this whole blogging thing. My sincerest apologies but to be honest, I had a feeling this would happen. Life somehow got busy (surprise, surprise) and I’ve just been living it to the fullest hence the lack of time to blog. However, this being the first weekend since October that I will be home in Granada, the goal of the weekend is to update you all on basically everything that I’ve done since I’ve been in Spain! So, I apologize again for the tardiness but I hope you all will forgive me and enjoy reading about all of my adventures!
So, I figure a good place to begin would be to talk about the classes I’m taking this semester – I know, shocking, I’m actually here for school and not just to romp around the world (sometimes I forget too). So, let’s rewind a good month and a half to October 6th, our first official day of classes at the CLM. After the month-long intensive course, I went up one level and tested into level 6 which has been perfect; I feel like I’ve been learning so much!
Although Stonehill will only accept five courses to transfer back (including the intensive course) I opted to take five classes this semester as opposed to four. I figured since I was already here and already paying, and I wanted to learn and apply my Spanish as much as possible, this would be the best option for me and I’m happy to say that for the most part, it has been. So, here’s a little blurb about each of the classes.
Producción Oral y Escrito (POE) – POE is a class that everyone below a level seven has to take to work on our written and oral production skills (as the name implies). This is my smallest class at the CLM, there are 12 students, in order to allow for a lot of participation. In my class we have a debate/discussion every Monday morning about any topic from corridas de toros to the Spanish elections and then we write a summary of the discussion for the following week. We have also been reviewing different grammar things and applying them in small creative writing exercises which have been interesting. I really like my POE class and I feel like it has reinforced a lot of what I have been learning in grammar and other classes.
GRIIS Seminar – The GRIIS seminar is the class that our director, Amalia teaches for the nine of us in our program. The seminar is focused on Spain past and present and we’ve been learning about the different groups of people that have inhabited Spain. We’ve talked about everything from women to the 15-M movement (that proceeded/inspired the Occupy Wall Street Movement) to immigration to the Spanish Civil War to the roles of Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the history of Spain. Also, every Monday we all bring in and present on a current event that is related to the class which is probably one of my favorite things about this class. Since taking my political science classes last semester, I have felt much more informed about what is going on in the world and since I’ve been here in Spain and watch the news everyday at lunch and dinner, I feel so much more informed than I ever have been back home. Although this class is probably the most demanding work-wise, it is probably my favorite class and it is the class where I’ve definitely learned the most this semester.
Spanish Grammar – Pretty self-explanatory, I’m taking a grammar class to do basically what I would do in a normal Spanish language class at Stonehill. For the most part, we’ve been doing a lot of review with tenses and pronouns and things like that but I feel that after this class I have a much better grasp on a lot of grammatical things. Although it has been a lot of review, sometimes it is difficult because I feel as though I have to forget everything I was taught in the US and re-learn things. Not to say that I learned incorrectly but as many of my professors here have mentioned, when US teachers try to teach Spanish grammar to Americans, they tend to oversimplify and so when students get to Spain they find that there are more rules/uses for things such as the subjunctive and it is more complicated than they’ve ever learned. So although that has been a struggle for some things I feel like I definitely have a better grasp on many of these things that I have learned in the past.
19th & 20th Century Spanish Literature – This literature class is the fifth class I chose to take which I have had mixed feelings about. The first day of class was a little confusing/overwhelming because there are about 35 students in the class which I know isn’t large but when you go to Stonehill and you’ve never been in a class with more than 25 students, it’s noticeably different. Also, unlike all of my other classes, my literature professor is not very strict about speaking Spanish in class. In the seminar, grammar, and my culture class all of the professors have said, as soon as you step foot in this room you have to be speaking Spanish – obviously, that’s why we’re in Spain, to learn Spanish. But needless to say, many students speak a lot of English (myself certainly included) and especially so in this class which at first was a little frustrating. Also, unfortunately this class is kinda boring and I don’t feel like I’ve learned a ton like in my other classes but I am maintaining a positive attitude and doing my best work to get something positive out of the class.
Civilization and Culture of Spain – This is the last class that I’m taking and the one that I’m grateful that I have at 4 pm. I could not possibly imagine having to sit through any of my other classes from 4-6 pm twice a week so I’m certainly glad it’s this one. In this class we basically talk about food and holidays and Spanish customs so it’s something that I find very interesting. This professor is very strict about speaking Spanish in his class so that has been good for me because I’ve had to practice my Spanish with my other American peers which often times can be intimidating. All in all, a very good class.
So, my friends, that is quick summary of what I have been doing here class-wise. Although having 8:30 am’s every day is sometimes rough, especially the days where I have 6 hours of class (each class is 2 hours long), I like my classes and I feel like I’m learning a lot which is what I’m here for after all. Needless to say though, finding motivation to do work while you’re here is incredibly difficult. It seems as though no one bothers to mention to you that when you go abroad you have to do homework and give presentations and write papers and take midterms which is not at all fun. My motivation has certainly taken a beating since I’ve been here which I know has shocked everyone but it has definitely allowed me to be a little more carefree and enjoy myself while still making sure that everything gets done. The latest countdown for the remaining days of classes is less than 10 days at this point which is unbelievable. I feel like we’re just getting started but here’s to hoping that I can pull through the rest of the semester and make it through exams!
xoxo - S
