Okay, I know what you're thinking. TWO POSTS in ONE DAY? Suzanne, you went a month without posting a word, and now this? What is going on? Well, I am not really sure myself. I think I just finally truly settled into a routine, and plus I am not traveling again for a while. (Thank goodness, four weekends in a row is too intense for me.) And also I am trying to catch up with this blog, because I want to share all of my many adventures with everybody. So this post is all about my classes! Some are great! Some are...not so much with the greatness.
SPA400 Writing Seminar MWF 10:45-12:15
Professor: Ariadna Saiz aka Ari
This is one of my two favorite classes. Ari is hilarious. She is really superstitious and likes to psycho-analyze things, even our names, but she is so funny and so nice. Her favorite phrases are as follows: "Tenemos que matar los gollums!" This phrase refers to Lord of the Rings. You know how gollum has two personalities? Well she says our brains do, too. One side is Spanish and one side is English, and we have to get rid of the English-thinking when we speak Spanish. The other is "Este es el typical mistake del nivel avanzado." She says this all the times when we make one of those really common errors that even native speakers say all the time. It's funny; I will imitate it for you when I see you. I also really enjoy the class itself. It's not a lot of work, and we actually talk about grammar. I know this seems like a strange thing to enjoy, but I haven't actually had a grammar lesson in Spanish for about three years, so some of it got a little rusty. I am now much more clear on certain issues and have corrected many of my "typical mistakes." Ari also came with us on our study trip and made it much more entertaining. :-D
CAT101 Intro to Catalan MW 3:45-5:15
Professor: Pep Ingles (we call him Pep)
This is my other favorite class. I know. Why in the world am I taking Catalan? It's completely useless! Well this was meant to be my fun class, and that is exactly what it is turning out to be. The professor is hilarious; he seriously makes my day, even when he's making fun of me (or someone else). It's actually also surprisingly easy to pick up Catalan. I can pretty much write and read fluently now. Speaking is another story..... Also, it is an easier language than Spanish. There are way fewer exceptions, and I could teach anybody the past tense in about thirty seconds (I won't try though, don't worry). It's not too much work, but it's decently challenging. Great class!
MG3XX Social Challenges for Business in the 21st century.
Professor: Antonio Marquez
This is one of my favorite business subjects in the world. Trex and Raysa got me interested, and I love it now. But this man is KILLING MY PASSION! This is hands down the worst class I am taking this semester, and may even be the worst class I have taken in my life. First of all, it is important for everybody to realize that this class is in Spanish. Okay, that's fine. No problem. That means that the professor has to correct our Spanish. Also not a problem. But he does it in a way that is so rude, degrading, and embarrassing I can't stand it. I have NEVER been embarrassed about a mistake in my Spanish grammar before, and I've been corrected probably hundreds of times, but he is so condescending. Sometimes he literally laughs. His new strategy is to set up the projector and type all of our mistakes on the computer while we are talking. He says it's "to be less disruptive." But moving on from that issue, he himself is the most boring man alive. He talks in the dullest, most monotone voice ever. Also, he is so liberal that even I roll my eyes sometimes. Yeah, he's that liberal. And if you don't agree 100% he will literally start arguing with you in the middle of class. And will interrupt you. And cut you off if you actually have a good point. Argh! Our class by the end of the second week had dropped to a measly five people because everybody else ran away, but I figured my love for the subject would get me through it. (I think I was wrong.) We just had our midterm on Monday. Right before it, the rest of my class was talking about literally boycotting the class because they didn't think he could fail us all. I disagreed, and fortunately talked some sense into them all. At least the midterm seemed easy, but we'll see when I get my grade. I'll keep you posted on this one. Sorry for the rant.
IB450 Global Marketing: A European Approach
Professor: Ana Penn
So I don't like this class. I don't hate it anywhere near as much as the previously listed. But I don't like it just the same. The professor is a very nice woman who owns an internet company. Who apparently doesn't know how to use the internet. Or a computer. Or her brain. All we do in class is summarize what we already read, or read powerpoint slides out loud. Every comment anybody ever makes receives the same response. "Exactly." Even if the answer is COMPLETELY wrong. No seriously, one time I was literally staring at the answer to a question on my computer, and somebody gave a definition of a marketing term that was way off, and she agreed with him. Basically, she doesn't know the first thing about marketing. We haven't learned any marketing concepts or terms, and just discuss random cases which we can't fully discuss because half of the class has never taken marketing before and doesn't have the background knowledge to understand. She also can't hold the attention of the class. I actually feel really bad for her, because if she pauses for even a few seconds, the entire class starts talking. It's really rude. We just had our midterm in this class, and it was pretty much a joke. One essay, completely open note, book, etc. I'm not sure how she will be grading them. We'll see. Beyond all of that, though, some of our cases are actually really interesting (even though I'm one of about four people who actually read them on a daily basis). I particularly enjoyed the case about Magnum ice cream. I have never laughed out loud reading a marketing text before, but there you have it.
IB343 Business Ethics in an Intercultural Framework
Professor: Ana Penn
Since this class has the same professor, most of my comments apply to this class as well. One difference is that we watch more movies in the class, though. We've watched two full movies so far and many other clips. Except she can never get them to work, so we waste about half an hour each class trying to load the online videos. I actually like the marketing class better than this one, though, just because of the material. There is never a "right" answer to any of the questions she asks, and even though I accept that most problems have more than one solution, I never like questions that have no wrong answer. The question is always "what would you do?" Obviously you can't be "wrong." It's also interesting to see who admits that they would do something not ethical in a business situation. This class also makes me worried, because we're presented with a nonstop barrage of examples of evil businesses and evil people within them, and this is the world I want to be a part of someday (maybe). Yikes.
And that's it. The end of my class schedule. This was a really long post... The next time(s) I write you will all get to learn about Sevilla, Cordoba, Belgium, and differences between Spain and America. Good night!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment