The Hunt for Classes

So as you may recall (it took me a second to remember too) I’m here to study abroad, which inherently means I need to attend classes at the local university. I actually have the choice of attending classes at two different schools here in Mendoza, Universidad de Cuyo (student population 30,000) and Universidad Congresso (student population 1,000). The first two weeks of the semester are designated as “shopping” for us exchange students, so that when we realize we don’t want to take Organic Chemistry in Spanish we can still switch out and try something else instead (like Ceramics). I’m now one week into this process and think I’ve come to a conclusion about what classes I’ll be taking for the next 15 weeks, but shopping for classes was certainly a necessary component to reaching this final goal.

The contestants when I first started classes on Monday were as follows:

• Advanced Spanish Language (required, so end of story there)

• Tango (for beginners mind you)                                       

• Violence Control and Social Work

• History of Social and Political Ideas

Let the shopping begin!

Well I missed my Tango class (anti-clamactic I know. A better story would have been I met an incredible Argentine man whose suave moves enabled me to discover my hidden Tango talent and my instructor insisted we enter a competition which we won and my gringo self became the new love of Argentina for her graceful Tango moves… but that’s not quite what happened). Part of shopping is actually discovering how disorderly and crazy classes are here in Argentina and a series of misinformation resulted in my showing up two hours late for my Tango class. Oops. Nonetheless I think I will thoroughly enjoy learning the dance of Argentina and so I’ve decided this one’s a keeper. Total price so far: 5 Credits

Violence of Control and Social Work was interesting because I’m the only exchange student in the class. I think I understood maybe 25% of what was said and at one point the professor said, “Am I speaking Japanese or do you understand?” Ah irony. Regardless of the difficulty of the course, I think I’m going to hang on to it, just because I find the content interesting (how do we control violence within our socially constructed societies) and because I need to push myself. Total price so far: 10 Credits

History of Social and Political Ideas is not, in fact, the history of Argentina. It’s analyzing Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates and how they relate to our society today. In both this class and my social work class, I amused myself by “taking notes” which was really more of making statements with question marks after them because I wasn’t sure if that’s what the professor actually said. I also made some commentary (see photograph for example). This helped me keep my cool while the professor lectured for three hours but at the end of the class, I decided it was a no go because a) Aristotle is hard enough in English and b) it’s an 8am class.

New Addition! History of Argentina and Latin America. I found this course to replace my other “history” class and I think it’s going to be very interesting. Since I’m living in this country, I should probably better understand it’s history and so I’m looking forward to attending this class throughout the semester. Total Price: 15 Credits.

So here’s where I stand now:

• Advanced Spanish Language – Easy understanding level. I’m with all IFSA students and our teacher treats us like we’re in elementary school, which is true language wise, by repeating everything and speaking slowly.

• History of Argentina – Medium understanding level. There’s a high percentage of students in the class from out of the country so the professor does a good job of speaking slowly for us, but still without boring the other students in the class. I usually understand 60% of what he says.

• Tango – Easy understanding level. Luckily I’m fluent in body language.

• Violence in Social Work – Hard understanding level. I want a class I’ll really have to push myself in and this is it. I understand maybe 25% of what is said right now. Wish me luck!

This concludes Lisa’s shopping period here in Argentina and luckily, I don’t have class Tuesdays or Fridays which brings me to the conclusion that I ended up with some pretty sweet deals. I’ll keep everyone posted on how things go!

-Lisa en Argentina