Okay, so there’s no serial killer roaming the streets of Alcalá like the title suggests, however, today brought the first class of the new semester and already we have been launched into a hellish capacity. It took us about two hours to choose Universal Contemporary History from the module list, which was comprised of equally uninteresting choices, and within about 15 minutes, we’d decided that it was absolutely necessary to drop it. This decision was based on a compulsory task which involves teaching the class for 40 minutes and then proceeding to lead a debate (see blog below to understand why this would pose a problem). Added to this terrifying concept, the preparation for what would have been my presentation was to watch and analyse a Spanish film and then read precisely 672 pages. I thought my politics presentation last semester was a fair amount of work and that involved the reading of one page and the copying of ideas from Sparknotes.
Secondly, on being asked where to find the readings, the teacher shrugged and replied that they may be in the university library, or perhaps in the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library) – in Madrid. Madrid is a 40 minute train journey away. To put this more in perspective, it’s like telling students from Leeds that they need to go to Sheffield to find the books they need. What amazed me is that loads of the Spanish students were nodding and writing to this answer, acting as if it were a completely normal thing to say. Newsflash: this is not normal!
We went up to the teacher at the end of the lesson to ask whether we could sit the final exam (in order to avoid the presentation) and were told that we weren’t allowed to ask questions in the lecture hall – only in his office, despite the fact that no-one was waiting outside to come into the classroom. Instead of simply giving us a reply to our question there and then, which, in the end, turned out to be a one-word answer anyway (the negative kind, in case you were wondering), he made us follow him to his office, him at the helm and us all traipsing behind in a single-file line like little ducklings. Once at our final destination, be it the pond or his office, we had to wait as someone was already in his office needing to talk to him. A Spanish guy came up to us about a minute later and asked us whether we were in the queue. Obviously, we said ‘yes’, and despite his response being ‘okay’, he pushed past us to get into the office as soon as the other person had left! Note to self: ‘Okay’ in this country is synonymic with ‘So?’, ‘Good for you’ or ‘Whatever.’
After this little episode, we learnt that the field trips for our other module, Human Geography, are on Fridays, and that if you miss one, you have to do the final exam rather than the coursework. Putting anything on a Friday is pointless for us in the first place, as Thursday nights are notoriously the best in Alcalá, but I am also going home for a week in March, having a friend out to visit in April and potentially having my mum over later this month, which means that I am already missing three Fridays this term, and if the excursions fall on these days, which, due to the aptly-named Sod’s law they probably will, I am screwed. Added to this, I have enrolled on and paid for a learn Spanish online course, which, in a flat where the internet regularly undergoes bouts of either laziness or tantrums (or signal failure) resulting in a loss of connection that can last hours or almost entire days, logging on will most likely present more of a challenge than the tasks themselves.
Therefore, I have had to change most of my modules which I not only spent hours choosing, but also organised so that I only had Mondays in university, so that I could spend more (or any) time in the gym, with my intercambio, with my friends and on my blog (and in bed, and in the park sunbathing as summer coasts ever-closer). Now, I am in Monday through Thursday – although it does only amount to seven hours a week so I can’t complain too much. Not a great start to the semester – however, I am doing one less module than last term and the two new ones I’ve picked appear to have some substance and seem fairly doable. Plus, I’ve just come back from a chaotic but amazing holiday in Morocco, which I’ll write about in my next blog.
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