The first week of classes is almost done, and I'm finally starting to feel like I've got a feel for things around here.
The basic structure of classes is that students are divided into levels, and within each level they are divided into groups of approximately 15. With those 15 students, you have one language class that meets for 10 hours a week (on Wednesdays we meet for 4 hours straight, two of which are completely filled with grammar. It. is. EXHAUSTING.) We also work on basic reading and listening comprehension, and verbal expression, so basically your all purpose class.
My French language class may very well be the most challenging class I take. The professor seems relatively easygoing, but she speaks very quickly and makes very little effort to enunciate, which makes her very difficult to understand. That said, having her for 10 hours a week I'll have to learn to understand her, and if I can understand her than I'll be able to understand a lot of people.
There is also an obligatory Phonetics class (which I would probably take even if it was optional) in which we learn IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet, which I already know, so that should help) and will presumably study things about pronunciation and diction.
In addition to the two obligatory classes, we have our choice of approximately 8 electives, which meet once a week for two hours. I think that most of them will be pretty enjoyable. In contrast to my French language class, I haven't had any difficulty understanding the professors who teach the electives, which is a welcome change after hours of having to work for it.
One of the classes concerns the influence of Greek mythology on French literature. In it we study specific Greek myths and then read French works that reference them. Mythology + Literature = Win.
I also have a Translation class, which I think I'm going to enjoy. Almost as soon as we got into the first class, the professor handed out sheets of paper with an excerpt from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and had us translate parts of it. It will be nice to have a class in which I actually do things rather than just listening and taking notes as in most of the other classes.
Random note: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the British name for the book; evidently for some reason they changed it for US publication. On a similar note, The French title is Harry Potter à l'école des sorcières, which translated means Harry Potter at the wizard's school. Why they changed the title for this book I know not; all the others are pretty literal translations.
What might be my favorite class of all is actually the one to which I was initially the most drawn when reading course descriptions: Contes et traditions populaires, which basically translates to "tales and traditions of the people." Not only does it deal with the unifying elements that exist in all folklore and why those elements exist in relation to human nature (sounds awesome already, doesn't it?), the professor is amazingly energetic, engaging, and funny. It's my last class of the day on Wednesdays, and by the time I get there I've already been in class for 6 hours. Because she's so engaging though, I don't think I'll have much of a problem staying awake. My only worry about the class is that the professor seems to take very meandering routes to get to her points. She gets to them eventually, and most of what she says actually has a purpose, but if you're not paying attention it would be easy to get lost. Nonetheless, I think that that class will be awesome.
I'm pretty sure that when you add up the hours of my obligatory classes and all the electives that I plan on/am considering taking, you get a number around 20-22 hours. Oh well.
I still have the Phonetics lab and two potential electives to go to tomorrow, but my initial impression of my classes thus far is a distinctly postive one, and I think that I'll have a fulfilling semester, if rather challenging and busy.
If you've actually bothered to read this entire post rambling about my classes, then my commendations to you.
4 comments:
Great, I get commendations.
I knew a French girl through the exchange students here, and from what I heard from her, the French are hard arses in school. I mean some things here and there like... don't eat or drink in class or they'll smite you. So is that true? I just got the impression from her that they were all generally stricter or more old-schooled. No pun intended.
In Germany, people have been known to bring their dogs to class when they couldn't find caretakers for the day, though it's not common or anything. (Granted, the general canine population here is particularly well behaved, for some reason).
Hey, this post is remarkably similar to my classes post :p
Sounds like some interesting stuff too.
I haven't noticed any particular hardassedness in my classes; as far as what you do they seem pretty laid back. In my French language class people bring food and drinks all the time, and in my Contes class she explicitly said that we could eat and drink in class.
The dogs here are unusually well behaved too, almost eerily so. I couldn't see someone bringing their dog to class though, I'm not sure how that would go over. But people bring their dogs into stores all the time; a couple of weeks ago I saw this big huge dog in a very tiny absolutely pristine jewelry shop with glass shelves and lots of breakables. No one cares here.
And yay, rhias is still alive!
Is Kristen still alive?
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