Classes...

Classes started Monday, and my schedule is as follows:

M, W: Academic Spanish, Basque Language & Culture

T, Th: Grammar IV, Spanish Cinema & Lit, Europe in the World

I really like my professors so far, all of them are really animated and smart. They really know their stuff and I can tell I'm going to learn A LOT. In Grammar IV and Academic Spanish, the teachers don't let anything fly and correct us on any grammar mistakes. They also are showing us a lot of everyday sayings and phrases, which is really useful. Examples: "Me importa un pimiento" (It doesn't matter to me, but literally: "I care a pepper"), "Me deja frío" (It left me speechless), y "Hace un mogollón de tiempo" (It's been forever). The only annoying thing is that we have to know the vosotros verb tense, which I am really fuzzy on since I've never used it in the States. Also, apparently, we can't say "the States" here, and instead must say the United States (Estados Unidos) or we could be talking about a lot of places in Europe. Guess we're not the center of the world?

The only class I can see having trouble staying interested and awake in is the Basque Language and Culture. There are 2 sections of this class, and I think I'm in the boring one but we'll see. Also, the Cinema and Lit class, contrary to what I was hoping for, is mainly literature and we have to read 5 books. I just hope none of them are in Old Spanish, which I've had my fair share of at Mary Wash. Sorry, Dr. Sainz (and Locke) :)! In any case, the teacher, Francisco (we call all our professors by their first name), is AWESOME. He's so funny. He says that his ear blocks out any English words, which we found to be true. Someone in class mentioned Benjamin Button, but Francisco only understood what we were talking about when we pronounced it as "Benhameen Bootun". Similarly, instead of saying Little Ashes, he would say "Little Asses", and it took us a while to figure out he was talking about Shakespeare when he kept saying "Sex spear". :)

Other than that, I walk to school every day, about a 20-25 minute walk, which isn't bad at all and wakes me up in the mornings. I've found people to eat with during the day, and have met some new people. All of the people I've met are still in the CIDE program, but we'll see as the semester goes on... in the elevator I sort of talked with a Spanish student, so that's something. Right?