Good lord I've been busy! So last week was the beginning of our classes at the university. It was a pretty smooth adjustment because our actual university classes didn't begin until Wednesday (as we found out Monday morning, in a rather disorganized fashion, but so goes the Spanish educational system). Second scheduling hiccup - trying to figure out why "miercoles" (aka Wednesday) is abbreviated with an X.
I have class at 9 on Mondays and Wednesdays, and 11 Tuesday/Thursday. My first is a history/culture class about Christianity, Judaism and Islam in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages, put on by a VERY Spanish professor. By this I mean that he wears really tight plaid pants and bright pink and purple button-up shirts, has sideburns shaved in a zig-zag formation, and is named Jesus. However, he is super nice, and the subject is so fascinating.
Next is Spanish film, which is shaping up to be the favorite - the professor is very deep and brooding, and we get to watch movies in class every Monday and discuss them every Wednesday. This week we watched Carmen!
On Tuesdays/Thursdays I have Spanish painting, which covers the period from el Greco to Picasso. I have always loved Spanish art, and am really excited to learn more - especially since I can travel and see all the works that we're talking about!
So classes up to this point are all "cursos concertados," which is U of S slang for "Americans only." So I have a good majority of people from my program in class with me, but it's not a genuine Spanish university atmosphere. As such, I am taking a legit university class called General Geography of Europe. The first day was so intimidating - I sat down by myself, and waited and waited for the professor to come and start class so I would feel less awkward, while Spanish students conversed all around me. It appeared that I was the only foreigner in the class (false, but I am the only American, as I found out). But then the professor arrived (10 minutes late, of course), and began to go over the syllabus and take roll. So it turns out that about 30% of the class is comprised of foreigners - only from other European countries, studying on the Erasmus program. For example, the people behind me in class today were talking in German. So I'm going to try and bond with my fellow foreigners, because it would be awesome to have other European friends! Maybe I'll find some Brits.
Monday was also considered a success because I managed to attend my first day of Spanish classes So after class on Tuesday, we realized: no homework=absolutely nothing to do. We're in this awkward interim between figuring out our schedules and beginning our extracurriculars, so essentially we are just left to do whatever. For me, this has been trip planning to the extreme: this semester I am going to Morocco, Barcelona, Galicia, Germany, Madrid, and London (at least). My friends and I did take a planning break to make an excursion to the Contemporary Art Museum, which is inside an old monastery (?). It was really trippy - the day was really gray and cloudy and we had to pass through this huge park with weird sculptures that were somehow emanating ambient music. But we arrived at the monastery/museum, and walked through the exhibit on optics (also trippy and mesmerizing). Such a cool museum! Of course, I WOULD forget my camera that day.
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