The Spanish University system, at least the system at the Centro de Lenguas Modernas, is a little different that what I’m used to in the U.S., but I have adjusted readily, and I already enjoy it’s perks. My schedule:


Interior patio of the CLM, classrooms encircle the patio and have windows to the patio and outside!

Monday & Wednesday:

8:30 – 10:30: Gramática

10:30-12:30: Cultura Islámica en España

12:30-14:30: Introducción al Español de los Negocios

18:00-20:00: Producción Oral y Escrita (POE)

Tuesday & Thursday:

8:30 – 10:30: Literatura Hasta Siglo XVIII

I have class straight from 8:30 to 2:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays, a little intense, but it makes my Tuesdays and Thursdays much lighter. Also, Aurelio, my professor for Islamic Culture, is absolutely hilarious, so I get just as much comedy as I do lecture from 10:30 to 12:30. Every teacher usually gives you a ten minute break in the middle, and some stretch time before and after each class, which maintains levity, and keeps our eyelids open.

My classes are challenging, there’s lots of new vocabulary, but the professors know we’re here to do more than study, so we don’t have too much homework. Between my grammar and POE classes, I have already become a lot more comfortable in using the weirder tenses of Spanish, and I know I will be more fluent than ever when it’s time to head back to the States.

A closing Spanish idiom: To say someone is a huge gossip, or just doesn’t watch what they say, you say that they don´t have hairs on their tongue. That’s my favorite so far, more to come.