Classes

Here's what I've learned from the first days of class in Spain: Class registration is stressful no matter what country you're in. Here's the story:

The day I arrived in Madrid (last Monday), I went with S (my program director) to register for classes. There was a mean woman, named M, in the International Office, taking care of scheduling for the international students. I was tired, she was rude, and I was given my schedule:
-Cultura
-Literatura

-Cine Espa~nol

-Pensamiento Creativo

Throughout the next week, I emailed S about what I could take to satisfy my Elon course requirement for Translation. I also emailed R, the registrar at Elon, for permission regarding which classes would transfer, ensuring that I would complete the Spanish major with the courses I was taking.

S responded to say that she had found some other classes that be appropriate for me:
-Expresi'on Linguistica

-Comprensi'on y Producci'on

I researched other translation courses, and found:
-Traduci'on Inversa
-Traduci'on Directa
-Traduci'on Digital
-[etc.]

Out of six courses, the ones that R approved were:
-Traduci'on Inversa
-Traduci'on Directa

As I continued exchanging emails with S, my schedule became:
-Cultura
-Literatura
-Pensamiento Creativo
-Expresi'on Linguistica
-Traduci'on Inversa

What I didn't realize was that every single schedule change that S emailed me (about five changes in like three days), was UNOFFICIAL, and still needed to be approved by the International office at UEM. Encima, there was no guarantee that there were even still spots available in the classes that we were planning. How frustrating! I thought that we had been discussing REAL changes to my schedule, not hypothetical ones.

That's when I realized that I could probably be searching the disorganized and poorly-translated UEM site for other translation courses just as easily as S was. I really appreciated her help, but I think that having her as the middle-man was complicating things.

I met with S in person on Monday (yesterday), before I went to my first class. Together, we continued looking for a course that would be suitable as an Elon Spanish language elective, in case any of my other classes fell through, or didn't  have space available. The catch was that S was waiting for a response, on my behalf from N, who is the head of the Translation department. The question was regarding which translation course would be appropriate for me, as determined by whether I'm a native Spanish-speaker or Spanish-second-language-learner. By coincidence, N walked by right as S and I were talking, and she was nice enough to stop and offer her advice. The consensus was that I should take Traduci'on Inversa, as it would be the most suitable for my academic needs and abilities.

N had a different caution though: Pensamiento Creativo, in the Translation department, might be for native Spanish-speakers who are studying something besides English as a second language. That was a caution that would need to be confirmed or denied by the professor of the course.

As it turned out, Expresi'on Linguistica didn't fit into my schedule, and I already have Elon credit for Comprensi'on y Produci'on, which was Phonetics class. So I was stuck with Cine Espa~nol and Pensamiento Creativo as my Spanish electives, even though Cine Espa~nol wasn't incredibly interesting to me and Pensamiento Creativo might be taught in a different language.

After that meeting, I went and stood in line with the other international students who needed schedule changes, for about 1.5 hours. (Good thing I had left plenty of time before my first class, on Monday!) The International Office issues paper (not plastic-cards) student IDs, had no secretary, and they only speak English or Spanish. (That sucks for the foreign student who speaks no Spanish and only broken English!) Additionally, M, of the International Office, schedules appointments and takes walk-ins, so nobody (among the students waiting) was really sure who had priority. I ended up being helped by a guy named G, who was much more pleasant to work with. En fin, the only official change that was made was to add Traduci’on Inversa to my schedule of classes. Since then, my schedule includes:
-Cultura
-Literatura
-Traduci’on Inversa
-Pensamiento Creativo
-Cine Espa~nol

I went to my first class, Traduci’on Inversa, at 2:30 on Monday. My professor is a nice, funny British man who does free-lance translating for a living. He has us introduce ourselves, spoke to us only in British English, talked knowledgeably about language barriers between English and Spanish due to dialects, etc., and set an overall pretty positive tone for the course.

My next class wasn’t until 7:30pm, so I went home, had a late lunch (totally normal), and then bumped into Rory on my way back to school in the evening. Rory and I are registered for the same section of Cine Espa~nol. We arrived (with about 10 other students, which is apparently the highest number of students that show up to any classes!) at 7:30, and waited until 7:45, wondering if the 15-minute rule exists globally. (For those who don’t know: the 15-minute rule is that students can leave if the professor doesn’t show up after 15 minutes.) When we asked the other students, they also didn’t know. By 7:50, Rory and I, and most of the others decided to leave, but two boys said they would wait until 8:00.

So, what I have to show for my first day of two classes, was one class that had gone well, and one missing professor.

On my second day, today, I went to Literature in the morning, came home for lunch, and then went back for Pensamiento Creativo in the afternoon.

Literatura was interesting because the entire class consists of five American girls studying abroad in Spain: me, Carolina, Crystal, Jenna, and our new friend, Hali (who lives on my street in Villaviciosa and goes to school at App. State!) Furthermore, the class seems really self-directed, since our professor asked us to consider what time period we would like to study, and why we were interested in taking Literature. I resisted from stating the truth, which was “I don’t really care; I’m only taking this class a requirement.”

Going back to UEM in the afternoon, I learned that N was right: The Pensamiento Creativo class for which I am registered is intended for native Spanish-speakers who are studying French or German. Great. I left abruptly to email R another list of potential courses, in lieu of Pensamiento Creativo in the Translation department. Those are:

-Pensamiento Creativo in Journalism or Communications
-Habilidades Comunicativos in Journalism or Communications
-Tecnicas y Estrategias de Comunicaci’on in Journalism or Communications

R’s response was that since these are not Spanish or Translation courses (these are Journalism and Communications courses), she would need to wait for permission from the Elon Spanish department before confirming their acceptance as Spanish language electives at Elon.

So, now I’m waiting for Elon permission before I return to the International Office to switch out of Pensamiento Creativo, and maybe while we’re at it, Cine Espa~nol, and into Journalism or Communications courses that would be at least taught in Spanish and not French or German. Whew!

I’ll let you know what my class schedule is, as soon as I find out for myself ;)
Hasta Luego, ~Taylor