Monday started my regular schedule of classes at IES. I still had my Business Spanish class at 9 that I've been having since last week. So far, I'm liking this class because we're reviewing some common grammar mistakes, like the differences between SER and ESTAR, but within business articles. This way, we also get a chance to use our Spanish to express our opinions on the articles. We are not allowed to speak any English in this classroom, so I'm learning a lot of new vocabulary as well.
This class ends at 10:30, and I don't have another class until 3:45. So, during this long break, Daniela and I wandered through the Las Ramblas area, and found a place to have a cafe con leche. Afterward, we continued walking around the area, wandering in and out of different stores. We had lunch at a really great pasta bar that was run by some local Italians.
After lunch, we headed back towards IES, and I began my 3:45 class, Management Across Borders. This was the class that I was probably the least excited about, because I didn't think the topic sounded very interesting. However, after attending the first class, I'm very excited about it. We're going to learn about a lot of different cultures and how this culture affects how a business is run. Throughout the semester, we have to get in groups and actually interview different people in Spanish businesses in Barcelona. We also have to compare these business to one located in a country that we travel to during our time abroad.
After Management, I have Art History: Great Catalonian artists of the 20th Century at 5:30. I think that this class will be very interesting, but I also think it will be my hardest class. We're focusing on Dali, Miro, and Picasso. We also have several field studies throughout the semester in the Museo Picasso, MNAC (Museo Nacional de Arte de Catalunya), and the Miro Foundation. So, I'm excited about visiting all of these places. However, the workload for the class was kind of intimidating and I don't have as much of a background in art history as many of my classmates do. Hopefully, I'll be able to catch up quickly, if not, I will still be exposed to a lot of great artwork!
After a long day of classes (9 to 7), Daniela and I headed home and Angeles cooked us a dinner of some sort of casserole with carrots, that was very good and a hamburger patty.
My Tuesday/Thursday classes start at 10:45 with Sport and Society in Spain. I will be very knowledgeable about sports when I get out of this class, because, just in one day we were asked to research several different sports figures that I was not familiar with. We're also taking several field trips in this class to the Olympic stadium and a tour of Poble Nou (where FC Barca plays). I learned that this class is the most popular class in the program, so I'm hoping that its also a lot of fun!
After my class ended at 12:15, I walked around on my own for awhile in La Boqueria because I love looking at all of the different displays. I then headed back home to make a sandwich and get started on some of my reading. Class began again at 3:45 with Food as a Cultural Expression. The teacher began the class by saying that it was going to be very difficult, and that it was not just a fun class. However, after reading the syllabus and hearing her description of the class, I think that I'm going to learn a lot of really interesting things about, not only Spanish food, but the culture as well. I've been asked to keep a food journal, with my reactions to different things that I try here. So, I guess y'all will get to hear more about what I'm eating, haha....One of the projects in this class is to do a presentation on a typical Spanish food and to make this food for everyone in the class. At dinner that night, I told Angeles that I would need her help with this, and she was so excited! After discussing many options, we decided to make gazpacho. Senora can't wait.
After dinner, we actually had a lot of homework to do. I'm hoping that I'll get used to the workload as the semester goes on, because its hard to do work when it feels like you're on vacation!
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