Classes (sigh)

...And so begins the studying part of studying abroad. Technically, that began a week ago with our "espanol intensivo" class, but there wasn't really any studying involved with that - mostly the professor staring us down with intense eye contact as he taught us random vocabulary and us writing and performing random skits.

But this week we've begun the part that actually affects our GPAs. And as if it weren't hard enough to study while abroad, all of our classes are in Spanish only - no English whatsoever. Thus far, this hasn't been a problem because we're all fairly comfortable with the language, not to mention, they've been American-only IES classes (even though they're taught by university professors).

What's semi-intimidating are the courses that we're taking through the University of Salamanca, which begin next week. IES has done a fantastic job of terrifying us as we register for classes. Apparently in the past spring semester, multiple students flat-out failed their USAL classes, which is pretty commonplace for Spanish students. Students can just retake the class the next semester, and the failed grade disappears. We are not so fortunate. We're just a bunch of nervous, grade-conscious, law-school hopefuls that would really rather not fail anything, ever. It doesn't really help that we're already at a disadvantage with the language...

Despite all this, I am looking forward to getting settled into a more normal schedule. And, nerdily (yes, I did just create that word) enough, I'm excited for my classes. Besides our standard Spanish language class, I'm taking Spanish Economy in the European Union, Political Regionalism in Spain, Literature and Cinema in Contemporary Spain, and at the university (tentatively) Judeo-Hispanic Culture. The topics all sound really interesting, so hopefully they live up to my expectations.

Oh, and I have no Friday classes!

Classes are not the only thing I have coming up, though. On Friday, a few of us are leaving for a weekend in Portugal! Stay tuned, kids...