La Universidad de Sevilla

After four weeks of pro-seminars (culture and grammar classes at the Center), I finally started taking classes at the University of Sevilla. There isn´t an actual campus, because the buildings are spread across the city. Fortunately, all of my classes are in the same building, which isn´t too far from home or the Center. The building used to be the Real Fábrica de Tabacos, home to the cigarette factory of Bizet´s Carmen (you know, that famous opera). There are a lot of open patios placed inside the building, so it´s easy to catch some sun (or rain) between classes. Some students also enjoy a quick smoke in the patios.

Here are the classes I´m taking:

Historia de Al-Andalus (Historia of Al-Andalus): Al-Andalus is the Arabic name for Andalucía. The first day of class was cancelled, because of the damage from the rain. The sign on the door said that the class was moved to a different classroom, yet still it was cancelled (apparently it´s normal around here). But we did have class the next day. One intersting fact: the name Al-Andalus is derived from Atlantis, the mystical island from the Greek classics. The Arabs, familiar with Greek knowledge, believed Andalucía to be an island.

Sociolingüística Andaluza (Andalucían Sociolinguistics): the professor is very engaging, and very nice. The first thing he said to us was, it doesn´t matter if some of us speak Spanish as a native language, and some of us don´t -- in his class, we´re all equal. We haven´t covered much material, but I´m excited to learn about the way the people of Andalucía speak.

Historia Medieval y Moderna de España (Medieval and Modern History of Spain): Except for one older gentleman, nobody showed up to the first day of class, including the professor. We ended up going to the aconsejeria (counseling services) of a few departments, asking what happened to the class (the guy did most of the talking, I should say). We were provided very little answers, and the counselors didn´t seem active in figuring out what happened. I don´t think I´ll be taking this class, due to the extremely low student enrollmenet.

Sociedad y Literatura en Hispanoamerica (Society and Literature in Hispanoamerica): the class is packed with extranjeros (foreigners -- probably all American). I think only four or five of the students are actual Spaniards. The first day of class wasn´t that exciting, as the professor only talked about the life history of one of the autors we´ll be studying. In general, it seems like professors here like to doddle on unnecessary details, such as the history of things (when the class isn´t about history).

Relato Hispanoamericano (Hispanoamerican stories): located in a medium-sized lecture hall, which surprised me a bit, because I´m not used to having literature classes in this type of a classroom. The type of work is similar to the other class, Sociedad y Literatura en Hispanoamerica, but this professor seems more interesting.

Cartografía de la memoria colectiva: la Guerra Civil y sus presentes (Cartography of collective memory: the Spanish Civil War and its presence): a class at the Center taught by an actual Penn professor, so I´m sure I´ll receive credit (which is also why most people are taking this class). The material sounds fascinating, but the readings are supposedly challenging and the professor tends to talk rapidly.