¡El Primer Día de Escuela!

¡Hola a todos!

Now that I am about to enter Week 2 of school, it figure it's probably a good time to talk about school in general.

My school, CEGRI, specializes in educating American students about Spanish language and culture. This summer, we have about 52 people in our program with the majority from the Universities of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Wisconsin-Madison and then a few other students from University of Illinois-Chicago and South Dakota State- Black Hills. It's such a different experience to go to class with students from other universities and hear about their college experiences!

The door to CEGRI

 

 Inside the courtyard

 Stairs off the courtyard (lefthand side) to the classrooms

A table, some artwork, and plants in the courtyard

Mi horario lunes a jueves (My schedule Monday through Thursday):
-Oral Spanish: 9:05
-(20 minute break)
-Cultures of Spain: 11:05
-Lunch with my señora: 14:30 

I decided not to keep Practical Review. I did not have the prerequisites for Cultures of Spain (taken at U of I). The day of the placement exam, our director, Miguel Ángel, informed me that I couldn’t take Cultures since it’s pretty difficult with a fair amount of writing and some deeper concepts.

I insisted that I wanted to take it because culture and history really interest me. He said that I could sign up for Cultures, and he would let me into the class if I did well on my placement exam. Just in case I didn’t, I should sign up for Practical Review. It looks like I did alright on the exam, because I got into the class! So it looks like it's two classes for me this summer!

My classes have been going so well. I absolutely love my teachers, Monica and Julia, and my classmates. We have very small classes. Oral Spanish has 7 and Cultures has about 12. It is a perfect learning environment because it gives everyone an opportunity to participate.

I don't know if I mentioned this, but all of my classes are completely in Spanish. They teach, and we ask and answer questions in Spanish. All of our homework, reading, and tests will be the same. 

The school environment in general is different from school in the U.S. I feel like it is more relaxed here but not in a bad "lax" way. The teachers know what they need to teach, but they let our knowledge run the lecture. Our discussion feeds more discussion and makes us curious to ask the questions that are the main points of the lessons. It's ingenious. I don't feel like I'm a number in a lecture hall. I am an intelligent student with things to share and opinions to contribute.


I am learning so much every day. I notice that things are already coming more easily to me than they did before. I don't think; I just know what to say/conjugate instinctively. When I pass by people on the streets, I catch more than a word here or there. I almost can tell the topic that they are talking about because I get a few verbs, nouns, and pronouns. It's truly an indescribable experience.

I wish that someone could have told me the week before I left, "Maggie, in only 1 week, you will be able to discuss the issues of the economy and unemployment rate in Spain as well as the conflict and desire for independence in the Basque and Catalunya regions in class. You and your senora will talk about family drama, tell jokes, and discuss the news and serious issues like racism." No way. I would barely know what to say about some of those things in English. I don't even know the word for "unemployment" in Spanish...

Yet here we are.

I've come so far, and I am so proud of myself.



For vocabulary I don't know, I have made it a point to write down the words in my journal and practice them. Here are a few from the past few days:

Vocabulario Nuevo:
·  Versiones - covers (of songs)
·  Pantalones pitillos - skinny jeans
·  Entornudar - to sneeze
·  Vegetariano - vegetarian
·  Lentias (de contacto) - contacts/contact lenses
·  Coche oficial - official cars for government figures driven by a personal driver
·  Expulsar - to expel; eject
·  Boda - wedding
·  Prueba - test
· Nuts: frutos seccos
· Postcards: postales
· Awkward/clumsy: trope
· Pomegranate: granada!! :)
· "Garden"/terrace of plants/courtyard: carmen
· Nieto/a: grandson/granddaughter
· Respeto: respect
· Dejarse/pedirle: to borrow

Hasta luego!!

"I didn’t know what it was to be American until I left America." -My cultural orientation leader