Oh yeah, I have to take classes here...
Trip Start
Aug 03, 2008
1
8
23
Trip End
??? ??, 2008
Buenos Aires, Capital Federal District, Argentina
Monday, August 25, 2008
So after having Monday off for a holiday for San Martín *, I started classes on Tuesday. Now, as I mentioned earlier, I was able to secure a four day weekend. This did come at a price, however. In addition to having to take all my classes in English, I have an extremely jam-packed schedule on Tuesdays:
9:30-11:00 - This is my Spanish reading/writing workshop, taught by a young Argentine woman. I think it will be pretty laid-back. There was a mix-up with the scheduling of classes and workshops, so I've only made it to about half of this class, and don't really know much about it.
11:00-1:00 - This is my actual Spanish class. The teacher is probably in her 40's, and she seems like a bit of a slave driver, which is great in terms of me learning Spanish, but scary in terms of me being a tad... indolent. (I'm sort of in vacation mode, haha)
1:00 - 4:00 (notice how there are no breaks between these classes) - Cultural Icons as Global Commodities. The class is taught in English, and I think the professor may be able to hold a conversation in English, but he probably averages 20 words per minutes. The material is very interesting though, we basically just learn about different famous things in Argentina.
4:00 - 5:30 - Native Peoples of South America. Thought it was going to be more of a history class, but we're just learning geography that my non English-speaking prof seems to have memorized out of an English-speaking book. Rough! I should've just taken this one in Spanish.
5:30-6:30 -First (and only) break of the day!! This is when I stuff my face and take a nap at the IES center.
6:30-8:00 - Impact of Globalization. Super interesting. The professor looks JUST like Fred Flinstone would if you made him wear a suit and tie, including profuse perspiration. Marcelo Simon is the professor's name. He has a booming voice, and always sounds like he's out of breath (I think there may be a few decades of heavy smoking in action here). He basically just gives each lecture as a big story about how Argentina landed itself in its current economic situation. I love this one.
The other days, it's just a mix of one to three of these classes. It'll be good, I think. Another strange thing, nobody in Argentina buys text-books for college classes. Ever. It feels kind of shady but I've paid enough money in text books so far in my life to not feel guilty. They just go to a "fotocopiadora" and ask for X book, and then you get a photocopied stapled packet of what is in the text book. I don't even know if I could buy the text book in a book store if I wanted. Nice! So 'books' are costing me about...$50 this semester, as opposed to the usual $500.
*San Martín is a big, big deal in Argentina. I don't know if any Argentine has been ambitious enough to count the number of streets, buildings, plazas, holidays, and parks named after him. Also known as "the Liberator", he is credited with obtaining independence for Argentina. If you get bored, read up about him. Interesting figure.
