Day 31
Last Friday and last day of class. That's one last I'm not so sad about! After class ended, I was hit by the realization that I had 21 hours left before my finals began and I had barely started studying. So I hit the metro, rushed through my lunch then sought out the best study spot possible. Of course the weather was perfect on Friday; whenever I have to study, beautiful weather enjoys mocking me. But luck was on my side in my endeavor because our neighborhood in Madrid is very quiet and our apartment building has plenty of courtyards for the stressed out college student to utilize. So I packed up my books, sunglasses and Nutella (can't study without some motivation) and studied for a few hours in the peacefulness of my urban oasis. I also realized - this is random - that this was the first chance I have had in Madrid to be barefoot outdoors! I had forgotten how nice it is to be able to kick off my exhausted sneakers and relax without most of the stresses that characterize city living. The rest of my day was taken over by studying but the fact that I'm currently in Spain eased my stress. Also, my classes are pretty interesting/useful. I'll take a minute to talk about my classes since I don't think I've mentioned them very much.
Grammar Class
One of the classes I'm taking here is an intermediate grammar class. In this class we've learned more thoroughly topics that are covered in the first two years of Spanish. This class was probably one of the most helpful classes when it comes to learning the language. And it was barely a class; it never felt like work. Everyday we would learn one grammar topic, review our homework from the night before then present and discuss articles from Spanish newspapers. And since there were only eight of us, it was very informal and basically just an hour and a half long discussion on things that were actually relevant and interesting to us. If any of you readers are Baylor students and need to take a lower level Spanish class, take Dr. Spinks. You don't have any other options. He is the coolest professor plus he's hilarious. You won't regret it, he's a boss!
Culture Class
Our culture class was also very interesting. I couldn't imagine not taking it in Spain because everything we read about in our textbook we got to see on our trips around Spain. As a big history fan, I always want to study more about the world but learning a very thorough history of a country isn't an everyday opportunity. Learning a very thorough history of a country while being IN that country is even more rare. The class was a lot of work at times but I'm coming away from it with a pretty great knowledge of Spain, a country I knew almost nothing about before coming here. Opportunities like these are so special; I'm very fortunate to have been able to take these two great classes in this great country! If any of you are on the fence about doing a study abroad program, I very highly recommend doing it. I'll never forget my time here in Spain with Baylor in Madrid and I know I'll cherish these memories and experiences for many years.
Now I'm off to explore Madrid some more!!
Carrie
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