Clases de primavera

And now, a rundown of my courses this semester.

• SOCIOLINGUISTICS: Not too sure about this one yet. Essentially, Sociolinguistics is the field of linguistics that studies the differences in language based on geography, age, social status, etc. In theory I think this stuff is fascinating and I like the fact that this field is used to counteract stereotypes based on dialect or accent. However, I'm having trouble seeing the forest for the trees with this course. I'm not getting much out of our readings yet, but I'm hoping it'll start making more sense soon.

• DON QUIJOTE: This one's pretty much what you think it is. We're reading Quijote (or, to be more accurate, The Ingenious Nobleman Don Quijote de la Mancha) in its entirety in Spanish. Paco, who you may remember from my Ode to Paco last semester, is a Cervantes expert and has taught this course for years. My mind is blown in class pretty much every day. Miguel de Cervantes was a crazy genius. Also, Matt and Susannah have decided they're going to try to read it along with me (in English), so if anyone else wants to jump on the bandwagon, let me know!

• SPAIN & LATIN AMERICA: THE CONSTRUCTION PROCESS OF A COMMON CULTURAL SPACE (or, in other words, ANTHROPOLOGY): The title of this course is so long that it made me not sign up for it at first. That was a mistake. I LOVE this course. It's like I'm back at Brown every time I sit down in the classroom. In exploring how the Spanish Conquest has shaped Latin American culture, we're forced to question our own values, beliefs, and cultural expectations. I haven't been forced to think like this in years. Our professor is eloquent, super-knowledgeable, and friendly. And most importantly, unlike some Brown professors, we're allowed to disagree with her.

• THE FANTASTIC NARRATIVE IN HISPANOAMERICA: The title of this course makes it sound like "Hispanoamerican Narrative -- F*ck yeah!" However, do not be mistaken. Although I do think the stories we're reading are pretty awesome, "fantastic" here refers to a literary genre. There's a whole book out there defining this genre (By Tzvetan Todorov. It's good. You should read it.), but to sum it up, "fantastic" refers to stories in which something out of the ordinary occurs and there's no clear explanation about what's going on. The explanation could fall within the laws of nature (e.g. dreaming, insanity) or could be due to supernatural powers (e.g. ghosts, witchcraft), but the reader doesn't know which one it is. At the risk of turning you against this genre, I will say that M. Night Shyamalan movies are good examples of the "fantastic," even if they blow.

• EL CAMINO DE SANTIAGO: I signed up for this class for one reason and one reason only -- hiking is a requirment. I've been interested in El Camino de Santiago, a pilgrims trail across Northern Spain, for awhile, so I figured this course would be a good excuse to walk part of it. Granted, the hike takes up one weekend and only a small portion of the trail, but I'm looking forward to it. Class time is spent looking at the history of the trail, what the big deal is about Santiago (i.e. St. James), and how all of this plays a role in Spanish culture. It's been interesting getting a religious perspective of the culture, especially since it explains a lot of what I've seen in my travels thus far. Also, fun fact: although for centuries pilgrims have traveled to Santiago de Compostela to worship the saint's remains, it is pretty likely that that ain't James buried down there. Just be careful who you say that to. Our professor has been ostracized for saying it in academic circles.