Classes

The building which houses most of my classes.

We American students all got here a month before classes in the Universidad Complutense de Madrid actually began, and in that time we took an intensive course over Spanish history, politics, art, architecture, grammar, and composition. Four hours of class a day for a month, which equates to one course in Bloomington. It was very intense. It appears now that I passed, barely. Now our actual university courses for the rest of the semester are beginning.

I'm enrolled in five courses right now. They are: Spanish Linguistics, Latin American Literature, Religion and Society, Spanish Foreign Policy, and Novels in the United States since 1950. The last course is actually conducted in English, which is refreshing though not at all conducive to the goal of immersion. Most of these classes seem doable. I had to immediately drop Spanish History from 1492 to 1808, because, although the topic is very interesting to me, the professor was utterly incomprehensible. A couple of my fellow Americans felt obliged to drop it as well, for the same reason. I'm looking forward to Religion and Society, which also has a nearly incomprehensible instructor, but after our first lecture he asked the foreigners to meet with him after class. If I understood him correctly, and it's entirely likely that I did not as he speaks incredibly fast, he requested the three of us (an Italian, a Mexican, and me) to write an essay comparing the religiosity of our home cultures to that of Spain, in lieu of a final assignment. I gathered that it was as much an merciful exception to the requirements to which the Spanish students are held as it was a personal interest of the professor's. Although he could have been requesting the paper on top of the other requirements for all I know. I still have some work to do on my comprehension skills.

The other classes are more or less unremarkable. Most of the work is piled up into two weeks at the end of the semester, as our grades are entirely based on a test or two and a final paper, but it would probably be wise to keep up on outside readings. At the beginning of a class the professor generally provides a basic syllabus of things the course will study, as well as a recommended bibliography. It's the student's responsibility to track down whatever books might be helpful and supplemental to the lectures. Maybe one or two books are to be actually purchased (four in my American Novels course), but the rest are optional (as there's like twenty of them). A 35% in any given course here is transferred to Bloomington as a passing grade. I interpret this as an omen of the difficulty of the final exams more than a break, so I think I'll be gauging my studying effort accordingly.

K! Adios.