Classes

My intensive grammar session ended with a final exam last Saturday (February 6th) and my regular courses started a week ago as of today. I had originally signed up for 5 courses: 3 'Cursos para extranjeros' which are courses offered only to exchange students at the University of Sevilla and 2 classes offered through my program at the CIEE study center. I quickly realized that I didn't want to have to do the work for 5 classes if I didn't have to (I'm still trying to adjust to the STUDY aspect of study abroad) so the plan was to go to all of my classes for the first day and then drop the class I liked the least. And they are...

(U of Sevilla) Cultural Anthropology of Andalucía
(U of Sevilla) Cultural Anthropology of Latin America
(U of Sevilla) Contemporary History of Modern Spain
(CIEE) A History of the Three Cultures in Spain: Jews, Christians, and Muslims
(CIEE) Art and Fiesta: Andalucía and Her Popular Traditions

I was more nervous about my University classes, I didn't know what to expect from Spanish professors or what the class structure would be like. The University itself is an enormous stone building located at the center of the city, very close to the Cathedral. It used to be a tobacco factory way back in the day, and is built with large open-air courtyards throughout. I still haven't gotten used to having these open areas inside, especially when it's raining and I need to use an umbrella to walk through the building.

Anyway, I thought that I would like my CIEE courses more than the university classes but after my first week I am surprised to say that I love (almost) all of my university courses, and have dropped the 3 cultures course. The content of the 3 cultures course looked really interesting and the professor definitely knows his stuff, but on the first day of class I was barely keeping up with what he was saying and the rest of the classes were going to be pretty reading-intensive. Having all of my classes taught in Spanish adds an entirely new academic element - not only do I have to think about and understand the course content but I also have to pay close attention just to understand the words the professor is saying. There is no room for zoning out, even if you just stop paying attention for a second or two there is no way you can absorb anything that is being said. But all of my professors are really good about speaking slowly and repeating things using different vocab if we aren't understanding them. The transition from english classes to Spanish classes has been much easier than I thought it would be, and that is really exciting. My comprehension level is miles above where it was a month ago when I got here, and hopefully my speaking skills will get there too before it's time to come home.

A quick walk-through of my classes...

Cultural Anth. of Andalucía (11am - 1pm T/Th)
This is my least favorite class so far, the first week has been very dry but hopefully that will change once we get past the introductory lessons. My professor loves powerpoint presentations and has so far spent most of his time talking from his desk while we copy down random facts and figures. For the first 2-hour class we went over 'what is anthropology?' Being an anthropology major, this was all review but it was interesting to see it explained in Spanish by a non-Beloit professor. I'm very interested to see how my anthro classes in Sevilla are going to compare to my anthro classes at Beloit as far as teaching style and theory goes. We shall see...

Art & Fiesta: Andalucía and her Popular Traditions (5-6:35 T/Th)
This is now my only non-University class. It is taught in 'el palacio' which is the name of the CIEE study center building. It used to be a civilian house but now all of the rooms have been converted into classrooms or administrative offices (my classroom used to be the triclinium, or the dining room, and is one of the largest enclosed rooms in the building). The building is absolutely beautiful, with colored walls covered in intricate tiling. The center of the 3-story palacio is an open-air courtyard with a fountain on the ground floor. The 3rd floor of the building is a flat open-air rooftop patio with benches and several enclosed offices for CIEE professors. In my Art and Fiesta class my professor explained to us that the building was built in typcial Roman style because of the many cultures that have lived and ruled Andalucía and the rest of Spain over the centuries, Rome was the first. They laid the base for Andalucían civilization, most importantly reflected in the language (Spanish is a Latin language), organization of the territory (city structure with a large cathedral in the center), diet (heavy in olives, wine and grains), and religion (Sevilla and the rest of Spain has a very strong Catholic tradition). Sorry for the tangent, there is a little cultural history lesson for you all.

Contemporary History of Modern Spain (9-11am M/W)
This is the first history class I have taken in a long time, and I am loving it. The first week of this class has made me realize how truly ignorant I am about the history of other countries and people. My world history classes from high school just aren't cutting it. In this class we are covering the history of Spain from roughly the early 1800s until present day. My professor is very nice, and absolutely loves what he teaches. Taking notes in this class is a little tricky because he covers the entire chalkboard with timelines, dates, arrows and lots of little pictures/sketches to get his point across. At the end of every class period he makes us ask 10 questions before we can leave. At first this was annoying but as it turns out, almost everyone has something they aren't quite sure about but probably wouldn't ask otherwise.

Cultural Anthropology of Latin America (3-5pm M/W)
This is by far my favorite class. I feel inspired every day when I leave. My professor reminds me so much of my grandpa in appearance, demeanor and his view of the world. He has high expectations for every member of the class, and he is one of those people that you naturally want to impress and to have think highly of you. This class is a general overview of Latin America, its countries and people and their individual and shared cultural history. In groups throughout the semester we will be researching a specific group of indigenous people from a Latin American country (who they are, where they live, their lifestyle is like, interactions with other groups of people, interactions with their own government, interactions with foreign governments/companies, etc). I'm way excited for that. My professor is a social (in the United States = cultural) anthropologist who has done most of his research in Latin America. His goal as an anthropologist is to combat ethnocentrism, the idea that there is any sort of cultural hierarchy. True anthropologists look at how cultures are distinct from one another, never how they are better/worse or more/less advanced. This idea resonates with me very strongly, and has shown me an important connection between my education major and my anthro major. If I can take this idea of intercultural understanding and oppostion to ethnocentrism and make it a central part of my classroom, regardless of what subject I may be teaching, and expose my students to this ideology at a young age I feel like I can contribute something important to the world.