School (Yes, I do actually have to study while studying abroad)

So I thought I would take this time to procrastinate a little bit and talk about school. It has actually been a lot harder than I had previously thought. I think that I might have chosen the wrong classes because somehow I am stuck writing 3 papers (that need to be 10 pages each... in spanish) while most of the other students I have talked to only have to write one or two... oh well. I probably should be working on them right now, but being the queen of procrastination, I need something to replace my usual vice--baking. (This is actually probably a lot better for me since I seem to be gaining a lot of weight here and baked goods are the last thing I need!).

Anyway, although my classes are difficult, I am enjoying them for the most part. In my art history class we go on excursions throughout the city almost every week. It is so interesting to be able to see everything I am learning about in real life! I also get to see a lot of the artworks during my independent travels (including some of my favorites like "Las Meninas").  My professor is also pretty awesome and easy to understand. The class only has 6 people in it so it is very interactive and we get a lot of personal attention which is very different from my 500 person lecture halls at Madison.

My phonetics class is insanely boring. (It is also really early every morning which I am sure has something to do with my opinion of this class). But Kylie and Xylia are both in the class which makes it a little bearable. I thought we would be focusing a lot more on how to actually pronounce words and how to converse, but it is a class of around 26 students and the professor doesn't even know our names, so there is not much conversing in the class. It is my easiest one though so that is good.

My history of Medieval spain is probably my hardest class. History is just not my thing (sorry grandpa!). Writing papers is also not my thing. When you mix those 2 together it is pretty awful.  I also had to read a spanish history textbook and I have to write a paper analyzing each chapter.... I have no idea how to analyze things, my brain just does not work that way, so it will be very interesting to see how that turns out. (I can't even write in english for goodness sake!)

My favorite class is probably my Novel and Cine class. For this one we watch 9 different Spanish movies that are adapted from a novel and compare them to their literary counterpart. We each have to read one of the novels entirely, and write a paper comparing the novel and movie.  One thing that I think honestly helps the most when learning a new language is watching movies and television shows in that language, so this class has been a huge help. At a certain point, you don't even realize that it is in a different language because you are understanding everything. (Sidenote: I went to see Catching Fire, the second hunger games movie, in spanish this weekend. It was pretty great. It is hilarious to see Jennifer Lawrence with a completely different voice. The names are also pronounced really strangely)