¡Listo!

Today, I had a meeting with Cheryl, one of the directors or co-directors of the program (I'm not sure which), and Ángeles, my wonderful Spanish language profesora during the first few weeks of the program.  Both are wonderful, both I respect greatly.  The meeting was to discuss classes that I could take at the University of Sevilla; as part of my program, I'm required to take at least two there, and the remaining out of four at EUSA, this hybrid center for study abroad students from all countries.

Luckily, being the paranoid that I am, I had made sure that the classes I wanted would (a) have at least one other student from the program in them, and (b) were classes that were passable.  Over the course of the week, several of my fellow students had had similar meetings, wherein Ángeles told them whether or not they would survive the classes they wanted.  So I wanted to make sure I had that sorted out before going.  The other thing about our registration is that we think it's first come, first serve (and at one point it was, but then they reneged on that), but we're not sure.  The University of Sevilla only allows four students from our program per class, so the slots could fill up pretty quickly.  So it was pretty mandatory for me to make sure I had all my affairs in order before I went in.  Sure enough, everything was fine!  Nothing is set in stone yet, but they assured me that I wouldn't have a problem.  I am (hopefully) taking a class regarding the history of linguistics, and another that covers history and technique of photography.  Add that to two classes at EUSA, one of Spanish literature and the other of the EU, and I've got a pretty packed schedule.

So that was a huge relief.  However, all the work put into it was not easy.  Spain's educational system is confusing, to say the least.  And way different than in the U.S.:

From about the age of 15, you are supposed to start having ideas about what you want to do with your life.  That's a scary thought to most people in the U.S., especially those who have changed their major at the age of 18 or 19 (like me).  The reality is that deciding for Spaniards is a custom.  If you want to change halfway through, it involves taking more classes, going to school for a longer period of time, and altogether losing that time to find someone, start your own family, et cetera.  So they generally stick with it; however, when they hear about our educational system and how we're able to choose, they think we're really fortunate.  So that's definitely something I'm not going to start taking for granted.

So, once you're enrolled in a certain program, you're in it.  However, the programs of study in Spain are much, much, much more specialized (though that's about to change -- we'll get to that later).  Instead of having several survey courses, such as Literature from 1700-1900, they might have a course solely dedicated to Cervantes or Lope de Vega.  5 months on JUST Cervantes or Lope de Vega.  Granted, there are courses at UNC for that, but they're electives.  These are recommended and encouraged.  Plus, at UNC, they're like SPAN 618 or something like that, I don't know.  So though you're locked in, at least you get to delve deeply into something you're really interested in.

This presents somewhat of a problem for us study abroad students.  Being from the U.S. has gotten us used to general education and being able to take classes in whatever department we want.  And we can do that.  However, we have to choose a central facultad (or area of study) in which to put ourselves in order that we can mesh with the university system.  That's fine, too, it's not a problem, it's just different.

Otherwise, here's how the classes work.  Because it's a progressive system, wherein you build up from the very bottom with an end product in mind, each class is like a stepping stone.  This one gets you to the next one and so on and so forth.  For that reason, their exams at the ends of the courses are akin to our perpetual assignments throughout one single course, in that each exam advances you towards the big, huge final exam at the end of 5 years of study at the University.  It's kind of crazy.  So basically, I'll just be lectured and taught at for 5 months while my grade relies on one single exam at the end of the course.  AH!  It's different, but it'll be cool.

On top of that difference, the Spanish system is definitely more relaxed than our system at home.  FDOC at Carolina is mandatory, but in Sevilla, the professor doesn't necessarily show up for the first week of classes.  It depends.  Also, the room numbers listed might not be actually where the class is held, and on top of that, the number system is completely ludicrous (as in 9 could be next to 13 which could be next to 2, etc.).  We don't really know.  And what's more, if you are taking classes from different facultades, they aren't going to necessarily share the same building, so you could have to traverse the city for different classes because the University of Sevilla doesn't have a central campus.  (Luckily, I don't have that problem with my classes.)  Guess I'll just have to play it by ear!  I'm also having to take my exams early because we leave Spain before most classes have their exams.  (I don't know why they have the program structured that way.)

The other requirement we had to have for our classes was that we could only take those in the upper levels, in accordance with The Bologna Agreement (which is the anti-specialization thing I mentioned earlier).  I'm not sure why it applies to us, but needless to say, it's been causing trouble for more people than just us too.  The Bologna Agreement seeks to standardize schools across Europe in order that it would be easier for transfer students to travel about Europe to different schools and such, and so that it would be easier to get a job in certain fields because the manner in which you study is internationally recognized.  However, this means that you have to generalize classes within several universities, generalize the courses of study, and ultimately lose the specialized nature of the previous system.  Which is complete bull, in my humble opinion.  And even while the system under the Bologna Agreement would be more general, it doesn't mean that a European student can take whatever they want, like a general education system would.  They would still have to choose their course of study pretty early.  So basically, they're pigeonholed into a career in which they're not going to be as specialized anymore, but with which they could get a job more easily (that is, if jobs were available to be gotten).  When I talked with a native Spaniard girl who told me she was under the Bologna system, she said she hated it.  She didn't really get into it, and I didn't really ask.  Needless to say, public opinion is down.

Anyway.  I was lucky to get the classes I wanted, and I was lucky that the classes I wanted were approved by Ángeles and Cheryl.  Hopefully everything will work out fine!  I'm sorry that post was so long.  (There was just so much to talk about!)

Nick

(p.s. Throughout this entire post, I had been confusing my English pronouns with Spanish ones, that is to say, that I have been using the English equivalent of the Spanish pronoun I would use if I were speaking Spanish.  Example: in English, you say "take classes at EUSA."  In Spanish, you say, "tomar clases en EUSA."  And I was tempted/did write, "take classes in EUSA."  I suppose I should be annoyed, but really I'm just delighted that maybe I'm slipping into Spanish mode more and more easily.  ¡Será!)