Sometimes, we go to class.

Last week was the first official week of abroad classes! It was very exciting. Unlike every other semester I’ve been in school, I didn’t waste an obscene amount of money on pens, pencils, binders, notebooks, flashcards, folders, and a fancy planner. I got my planner (“agenda escolar”) a few weeks ago at the market by CIEE for 1,50 euros. Quite the bargain! It’s also bright safety cone orange so I won’t lose it/mistake it with anyone else’s.

The exciting thing about taking classes abroad (at least on my program) is that the grades don’t transfer back to Tufts. This means that I don’t have to stress about getting good grades while being abroad and doing all the cool abroad stuff. They’ll be on my transcript but I’m not concerned especially because I’ve heard that abroad classes are definitely not as hard as Tufts. Which, after going to one week of classes I can already tell is true. YES.

I’m taking four classes, which is the normal load for my program. I’m taking one Curso para Extranjeros (classes taught at the university but specifically for foreigners) and the other three classes at CIEE. My four classes are: Contemporary Spanish Film, The Novel and the Cinema: Two Ways of Telling the Story, Survey of Spanish Music in the 20th Century, and Mass Communications in Spain. Short recaps of my classes…


• Contemporary Spanish Film: The first day of class she explained the semester to us and it sounds fantastic (read: easy). Basically, we watch Spanish movies and talk about them. She also told us that if we needed to make a phone call, use the restroom, or eat something, we could just leave the classroom without saying anything. And if we miss a class or need to reschedule the midterm because of illness or travel, it’s okay. This is pretty much the class I’ve spent almost three years looking for at Tufts.

• The Novel and the Cinema: Comparing Spanish novels and books to their movie versions. I’ve heard good things about the teacher and he knows a lot about movies and likes to make jokes.

• Survey of Spanish Music in the 20th Century: Teacher is awesome. We listen to music and she sings along. We’re also learning about social, cultural, and political things that have happened in Spain and the music associated with them.

• Mass Communications in Spain: Media in Spain (WhatupCMSminor). Our teacher is great; she’s done a lot of media related things. At one point she was some sort of paparazzi in Spain until Antonio Banderas punched her cameraman and his bodyguard grabbed her by the hair and she thought, “What am I doing?” From there she went to work at different television and radio stations. Now she works for Canal Sur in Sevilla. Last week she took us on a tour of the station and it was really fun and interesting.


All and in all I’m really happy with my classes. None of them seem too hard and it seems like I’ll be able to understand everything that’s going on (always a plus when you’re taking classes in a foreign language). Yay!