Updates!
Hello everyone! It's been a while since I've written on here, which was definitely not the plan when I set out to start a blog, but became kind of inevitable as I started getting busier back in October. My time here has absolutely flown by and a lot of things have happened over the past several weeks, so here is a long post with updates on all of them.
1.) I've been going to school
Back in September when I talked about going to school what I really meant was that I was going to my Spanish intensive course, which lasted for three weeks and was mandatory for our participants of our program. This semester I am technically studying at the University of Granada, but am a student at the Center for Modern Languages (CLM), which is like the international student hub of the school. My intensive course was four hours a day, five days a week at one of the two CLM buildings, and was aimed at improving grammar, reading and writing skills in the language. I really enjoyed my class; I was placed into level 5 (high intermediate) and spent my days with about six other students from different schools and countries. We had two teachers who switched off at the two hour mark, and both of them were complete characters, so I came away with a lot of interesting stories.
At the end of the intensive course we took a test that evaluated what we had learned over the past few weeks and determined whether or not we knew enough to be in level 6. I, however, chose to take yet another test that, if I passed, would put me in level 7, skipping 6 altogether. My reasoning behind this is a little complicated to explain, but basically at the CLM there are two categories of classes: Spanish Language and Culture (level 6 and below) and Hispanic Studies (level 7 and up) and Hispanic Studies offers you more options for classes. I ended up passing both the intensive exam and the challenge test, so now I am a level 7 student in Hispanic Studies! Hooray!
Since October, I've been taking subject classes at the CLM: Current Sociopolitical Themes in Spain, an NGO volunteering class and Grammar, along with the culture class through my program. My politics class has been fascinating, especially since Spain's politics are kind of a complete mess right now, and it's been so cool to be able to understand the news and have intelligent conversations with people about current events. My grammar class is both terrifying and super fun, and over the past few weeks we've learned a lot of idioms that I've enjoyed trying out in my essays (sometimes I get them right and sometimes I'm way off). I'll talk more about the NGO class later on.
2.) I took a salsa class
The original idea was to do flamenco, but as it was explained to me, flamenco requires at least five years of classes to really understand, and it's also incredibly expensive because you need to have the proper skirt and shoes. So I decided to go for the more laid-back option and started going to a late-night salsa class at a flamenco school. I'd never done real salsa before, and my friends and I joined the large class of young Spanish and international students, all led by a very patient young teacher, and tried to understand everything that was going on, all in Spanish. The class unfortunately ended at the end of October, but I had a really good time while it lasted.
3.) I've been taking a cooking class
One of the extracurricular options that our program pays for is a cooking class, and several of my friends and I jumped at the opportunity. It turns out that the class is taught by my host mom's friend, and is held in her apartment. The first day of class she greeted us at the door wearing her apron and red bandana and led us into the small kitchen where we crowded around the counter and learned how to make sugarless Arab desserts. While they were in the oven she brought us tea in the living room and asked "do you all like Freddy Mercury?" before putting on a Queen CD. Since then, we've made paella, marzipan, tortilla de patatas and buñuelos, all of which we can bring home to share with our families.
4.) I've participated in an intercambio program
A few weeks ago my program director more or less cornered me and asked if I wanted to do a one-on-one intercambio with a Spanish student. When I said I wasn't sure, she said, "No, Sophia, the answer is 'yes, of course I want to do it.'" So that's how I found myself meeting a stranger at a café a week later, armed with a bunch of discussion questions and unsure of what to expect. But it went well! Basically, the idea of intercambios is that a Spanish and an American student with the same skill level in each others' languages meet once a week and talk about life, current events and other conversational things in both English and Spanish. My partner's name is Bea and she's a recent graduate from the University of Granada who's now on the job hunt. We've met twice now, and it's been a lot of fun practicing my language skills and getting to know someone my own age.
5.) I've been teaching English
Remember that NGO class I was talking about? I signed up for it back at Willamette because it seemed like a really cool way to understand the social community of Granada (especially as a politics student) and get out of the exchange student bubble. We had the opportunity to chose which organization we wanted to volunteer with, and everyone in my class chose to work with INLAYAPAS, a group that offers free workshops to immigrants, including classes in English. To be honest, I was apprehensive about this at first; the culture of young, affluent white students traveling to other countries to teach something they aren't properly trained in is a real issue of white saviorism, and I wanted to avoid that. However, the way this program works makes me feel better about the situation: the students voluntarily use the resources out of their own interest, and it feels much more like peer tutoring than a real social hierarchy where I'm given more power than I should have. I'm partnered with another American student from the CLM, and together we have a class with either two or six students, depending on the day. Many of the students are around our age, and come from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Argentina, and it's been a really interesting experience to teach a language in a different language that I'm still learning myself. We've also had a fun time comparing Spanish words from other countries and regions, and finding ways to translate things so that they make sense for everyone. My language skills have grown so much since being here, but this experience especially has made my mind expand as well; I now find myself thinking about language differently, and paying a lot more attention to the little things that we say and how they relate to our identities. It's also forced me to look at English differently, and from this angle it's a pretty weird language.
6.) I've traveled to Gibraltar, Cordoba, Sevilla, Madrid (and surrounding areas) and the U.K.
It's a lot of places so I won't say too much about all of them, but I will say that I've loved being able to travel to new places so easily, and still being able to come back to class on Monday. Some of the trips, like Córdoba, Sevilla and Madrid, were through my program, so we spent several days seeing the sights, exploring and doing cool things like going to Arab baths as a group. Others, like Gibraltar, were just amongst my friends and myself; for that trip, we stayed in an inexpensive Airbnb sailboat and spent time exploring the giant rock and hanging out with the monkeys on top. And then there was the thing that my past self never would have done: gotten on an airplane and flown to another country by myself. This past weekend I went to Birmingham, England to visit my lovely friend Liz, and from there we took the train to Aberystwyth, Wales. I had never been to the U.K. before but had always wanted to go, and being in the Welsh countryside with freedom to explore felt like a dream come true. There aren't very many weeks left in the semester, but looking forward there's a trip to Barcelona coming up, and possibly one to Morocco as well.
Those are the big updates that I have for now! I'll try to be more active over these next couple weeks, and hopefully make a whole post all about Spanish food (as everyone will tell you, the most important part of the culture). Happy November :)
1.) I've been going to school
Back in September when I talked about going to school what I really meant was that I was going to my Spanish intensive course, which lasted for three weeks and was mandatory for our participants of our program. This semester I am technically studying at the University of Granada, but am a student at the Center for Modern Languages (CLM), which is like the international student hub of the school. My intensive course was four hours a day, five days a week at one of the two CLM buildings, and was aimed at improving grammar, reading and writing skills in the language. I really enjoyed my class; I was placed into level 5 (high intermediate) and spent my days with about six other students from different schools and countries. We had two teachers who switched off at the two hour mark, and both of them were complete characters, so I came away with a lot of interesting stories.
 |
| The CLM main building. |
At the end of the intensive course we took a test that evaluated what we had learned over the past few weeks and determined whether or not we knew enough to be in level 6. I, however, chose to take yet another test that, if I passed, would put me in level 7, skipping 6 altogether. My reasoning behind this is a little complicated to explain, but basically at the CLM there are two categories of classes: Spanish Language and Culture (level 6 and below) and Hispanic Studies (level 7 and up) and Hispanic Studies offers you more options for classes. I ended up passing both the intensive exam and the challenge test, so now I am a level 7 student in Hispanic Studies! Hooray!
Since October, I've been taking subject classes at the CLM: Current Sociopolitical Themes in Spain, an NGO volunteering class and Grammar, along with the culture class through my program. My politics class has been fascinating, especially since Spain's politics are kind of a complete mess right now, and it's been so cool to be able to understand the news and have intelligent conversations with people about current events. My grammar class is both terrifying and super fun, and over the past few weeks we've learned a lot of idioms that I've enjoyed trying out in my essays (sometimes I get them right and sometimes I'm way off). I'll talk more about the NGO class later on.
2.) I took a salsa class
The original idea was to do flamenco, but as it was explained to me, flamenco requires at least five years of classes to really understand, and it's also incredibly expensive because you need to have the proper skirt and shoes. So I decided to go for the more laid-back option and started going to a late-night salsa class at a flamenco school. I'd never done real salsa before, and my friends and I joined the large class of young Spanish and international students, all led by a very patient young teacher, and tried to understand everything that was going on, all in Spanish. The class unfortunately ended at the end of October, but I had a really good time while it lasted.
3.) I've been taking a cooking class
One of the extracurricular options that our program pays for is a cooking class, and several of my friends and I jumped at the opportunity. It turns out that the class is taught by my host mom's friend, and is held in her apartment. The first day of class she greeted us at the door wearing her apron and red bandana and led us into the small kitchen where we crowded around the counter and learned how to make sugarless Arab desserts. While they were in the oven she brought us tea in the living room and asked "do you all like Freddy Mercury?" before putting on a Queen CD. Since then, we've made paella, marzipan, tortilla de patatas and buñuelos, all of which we can bring home to share with our families.
 |
| Our paella |
4.) I've participated in an intercambio program
A few weeks ago my program director more or less cornered me and asked if I wanted to do a one-on-one intercambio with a Spanish student. When I said I wasn't sure, she said, "No, Sophia, the answer is 'yes, of course I want to do it.'" So that's how I found myself meeting a stranger at a café a week later, armed with a bunch of discussion questions and unsure of what to expect. But it went well! Basically, the idea of intercambios is that a Spanish and an American student with the same skill level in each others' languages meet once a week and talk about life, current events and other conversational things in both English and Spanish. My partner's name is Bea and she's a recent graduate from the University of Granada who's now on the job hunt. We've met twice now, and it's been a lot of fun practicing my language skills and getting to know someone my own age.
5.) I've been teaching English
Remember that NGO class I was talking about? I signed up for it back at Willamette because it seemed like a really cool way to understand the social community of Granada (especially as a politics student) and get out of the exchange student bubble. We had the opportunity to chose which organization we wanted to volunteer with, and everyone in my class chose to work with INLAYAPAS, a group that offers free workshops to immigrants, including classes in English. To be honest, I was apprehensive about this at first; the culture of young, affluent white students traveling to other countries to teach something they aren't properly trained in is a real issue of white saviorism, and I wanted to avoid that. However, the way this program works makes me feel better about the situation: the students voluntarily use the resources out of their own interest, and it feels much more like peer tutoring than a real social hierarchy where I'm given more power than I should have. I'm partnered with another American student from the CLM, and together we have a class with either two or six students, depending on the day. Many of the students are around our age, and come from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Argentina, and it's been a really interesting experience to teach a language in a different language that I'm still learning myself. We've also had a fun time comparing Spanish words from other countries and regions, and finding ways to translate things so that they make sense for everyone. My language skills have grown so much since being here, but this experience especially has made my mind expand as well; I now find myself thinking about language differently, and paying a lot more attention to the little things that we say and how they relate to our identities. It's also forced me to look at English differently, and from this angle it's a pretty weird language.
6.) I've traveled to Gibraltar, Cordoba, Sevilla, Madrid (and surrounding areas) and the U.K.
It's a lot of places so I won't say too much about all of them, but I will say that I've loved being able to travel to new places so easily, and still being able to come back to class on Monday. Some of the trips, like Córdoba, Sevilla and Madrid, were through my program, so we spent several days seeing the sights, exploring and doing cool things like going to Arab baths as a group. Others, like Gibraltar, were just amongst my friends and myself; for that trip, we stayed in an inexpensive Airbnb sailboat and spent time exploring the giant rock and hanging out with the monkeys on top. And then there was the thing that my past self never would have done: gotten on an airplane and flown to another country by myself. This past weekend I went to Birmingham, England to visit my lovely friend Liz, and from there we took the train to Aberystwyth, Wales. I had never been to the U.K. before but had always wanted to go, and being in the Welsh countryside with freedom to explore felt like a dream come true. There aren't very many weeks left in the semester, but looking forward there's a trip to Barcelona coming up, and possibly one to Morocco as well.
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| Gibraltar |
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| Córdoba |
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| Sevilla |
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| Segovia |
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| Aberystwyth |
Those are the big updates that I have for now! I'll try to be more active over these next couple weeks, and hopefully make a whole post all about Spanish food (as everyone will tell you, the most important part of the culture). Happy November :)
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