Major Musings and 1" Día de Clases

Major

Thinking about changing my major from Econ + Certificate of International Relations (CIR) to Iberian Studies! (Iberian Studies = Spanish Major but focused more in the Iberian Peninsula as opposed to all of the Spanish speaking countries). Don't get me wrong, I love Econ, but I realized that I don't know how much I want to go into business or banking... And I know that those aren't the only two fields that and Econ major at Wes leads to, but I have more reasons for majoring in Iberian Studies than in Econ.
(Can you tell that I like lists, yet?)

1. I am pretty far behind in the Econ major. Not so much that I couldn't finish it, but it would be difficult to manage w/ the CIR as well. (And I really want to do the CIR)
2. I could finish nearly half of the Iberian Studies major while abroad in Madrid
3. This would allow me to enjoy and explore more History, Gov and Econ classes for the CIR.
4. I could (with a lot of work) possibly become trilingual!
5. I am more interested in jobs that would allow me to work internationally (which fluency in 3 languages would help with) than those that Econ would lead me to...
6. The director of the Vassar-Wesleyan in Madrid program (VWM), Antonio, is a professor at Wes, I absolutely adore him, and hope he will accept my request for him to be my advisor (after declaring my new major...)

Types of Classes

Today, I had my first day of classes at the Getafe campus of University of Carlos III (UC3M). So let me break down the kinds of classes they have here. They have the Cursos de Estudios Hispánicos, which are the courses provided for the American students studying at UC3M. They are more discussion based, similar to the ones you'd find at Vassar or Wesleyan. Those are the ones that started today.
Then, within the school, there are classes for normal Spanish students. Europe is currently trying to change the university systems to become ... a little more discussion based? I don't know the specifics, but its changing! So, there are Grados, which are of the new system and which only apply for Freshmen & Sophomores. Asignaturas Licenciaturas, which are the old system of classes, which apply only for the Juniors & Seniors. These classes are probably more lecture style, and the ones that we should be taking. Both Grados & Asignaturas start later.
Something interesting to note is that the word graduarse exists, but it's not really that common as of now. The word for graduate that has been used up till now is licensiarse, since that's what the classes are called (licenciaturas). In a couple years, graduarse will probably replace licensiarse in terms of common usage.

First Day of Classes

Today, I had my first CEH classes. Econ of Spain & Europe, Spanish Language (Superior Level), and Professional Spanish. Econ, I think I'm going to drop, not because it isn't interesting, but because I've heard that the class has gotten bad reviews in the past. Also, I can take a European Econ class as an Asignatura.
The language class that I placed into is two levels below the top, after Perfect Bilingual and Bilingual. I was pleasantly surprised. The class itself is not hard, but it addresses exactly what I need to learn. Since CEH's are classes meant for American students, the class targets the mistakes that most Americans tend to make!
Examples:

• Spanish folk don't say "Seventh grade" or "Grado Séptimo." Rather, they go by age. Also! New thing I learned today: the Spanish school system is such that there is no middle school but rather Colegio (Primary Education) and Ínstituto (Secondary Education).
  
• Spanish folk don't say "mi menor" for minors... In fact, they don't even have minors! You'd have to explain that it's like a "mini-major" or "mini-carrera."
• "Dormitorio" does not mean dormitory. It actually means your room at home. "Residencia" is dormitory!
  

The list goes on and on, but in short, this class is amazing and the perfect fit for me.

Professional Spanish is a class in which you learn Spanish used in the workplace. Resume & cover letter writing, interview language, and phone language... This I'm pretty sure I will take, but that may change depending on the class reviews that I am going to read tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'll be going to Colloquial Spanish, which is a class I'm very interested in and excited for. (Excited in Spanish is not excitado - which means sexually aroused - but rather, emocionado) ¡Estoy emocionada para (o tengo ganas de) la clase de Español Coloquial!

More to come later.

Besos,
CHO en España