Classes -- week 1

I'll go ahead and sum up my first classes. I'll re-edit this each day this week to put in the newest day's academic adventure.

Monday: Gestión Ambiental ("Environmental Management")
Observation 1: It is a lot easier to pay attention when you're terrified. Having to concentrate to understand what's being said to you also helps you maintain concentration.

My professor is actually really easy to understand -- he talks slowly (so slowly that I probably would be bored if I were a native speaker) and he enunciates well. I understood probably about 95% of what he said, and I felt good about that. Today's lesson was basically a run-down of everywhere our professor has worked and the jobs he's had. We also heard a lot about his teaching philosophy, which I like for the most part. He seems real big on student participation and on having us be critical of the information we're reading. I'm not a huge fan of the former, but the latter is a good skill to have. We have a midterm and a final (non cumulative!) and one 10 page max. research paper (written article-style). I think I can handle all that.

The final part of the day's discussion revolved around semantics. He asked us to think about what the words "Gestión" and "Ambiental" meant. He told us to raise our hands if we'd ever looked up "gestión" in a dictionary. I actually had, but I don't think he was referring to a Spanish-English dictionary. Then he asked us what the difference between "gestión" and "manejo" are. As far as I'm concerned, they both mean "management." This whole semantics thing is really not a good topic for non-native speakers, I assure you. We're supposedly learning the differences between all these "different" words next class, but for now I can have nightmares about test questions that read, "What's the difference between gestión and manejo?"

Tuesday: Geografía Regional de Costa Rica (Regional Geography of Costa Rica)
Observation 2: Uh-oh. Big uh-oh.

Today's class was nowhere near as promising as Monday's class. My professor talked REALLY fast, and I could barely understand her. It didn't help that the concrete block walls create somewhat of an echo, or that the thin walls and open windows let in all the noise coming from the 300 students chilin' outside. She started off by going around the room and asking us to say our name, where we were from, and what we were studying. Unfortunately, I did not understand these directions, and she was 15 people in to the class before I figured out what I was supposed to say. Then we went over the syllabus. Usually I hate it when professors read the syllabus out loud, but today I was very thankful. It was nice to have a visual reference to compare to the noises emanating rapidly from her mouth. Unfortunately, we have a research project in this class, and we have to give an oral presentation about it. Someone asked if it was group work or individual, and she gave a kind of wishy-washy yes and no answer. WISHY WASHY ANSWERS DO NOT HELP ME. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WISHY WASHY ANSWERS. ANSWER WITH YES OR NO. ONE OR THE OTHER. NOT SOME SORT OF LONG-WINDED "YES BUT NO UNDER THESE CONDITIONS WITH THIS MAYBE AND BUT CLAUSE THROWN IN..."

After I got through not understanding all that, she went around the room and wrote our names down in her book. I guess they don't have the list of students who are enrolled in her class yet (more on this in just a second). I just wrote my name down for her to copy since I figured that would be easier than trying to say it with a Spanish accent or trying to spell it. She asked me what I was studying (I think) and for the sake of simplicity, I said, "Geography." She looked confused, and asked (I think) "Here, though, what are you studying?" ... Um... geography? It was an exchange of confusion, and I think she figured out that I didn't really understand what was going on. She also asked me if I was enrolled in the class.

Here's a good time to jump in and explain the enrollment process at the UCR. As far as I can tell, the regular students enroll in classes (online?) well before the semester starts. If they want to change their classes after that, they have to go to the class they want on the first day and get the professor to sign an inclusion form so they can enroll in the class. Our enrollment was different. We filled out forms that got sent in some other way. As of today, we still don't know if we're actually enrolled in the classes we signed up for. We've been working off the assumption that we are, but we don't know for sure. Anyway, I didn't find this out until after the class, so I told the professor that I was enrolled. That's probably just as well because she was very reluctant to sign anyone else's forms (about 5 people showed up with the inclusion forms).

After her second round of one-on-one questions with the class, she started talking (I think) about the research project we had to do. I didn't catch a lot of it, and I think (I know) that's bad. She started a third round of questioning around the room asking us what topics we think we'd like to do for the project. Does this seem a little backwards to anyone else? I was under the impression that she was going to teach us stuff, and then we'd build on that knowledge to figure out what kind of research we want to do. Apparently, we're supposed to know what topic we want to research ON THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS. Half the class got away with saying "el medio ambiente" (the environment) and that was my plan if she asked. Thankfully she skipped me -- I think it was on purpose because she knew I was clueless. Again, it took about 15 people answering before I figured out what she was asking us about.

I can sum up today's class in three words. "I don't know." I don't know if I have homework I'm supposed to do. I don't know if there are books I should buy or read. I think I'm supposed to buy a map, but I don't know how big or what kind. I don't know if I should start researching my topic. I don't know if my topic idea is what she's looking for. I don't know anyone in my class to ask these questions to. I don't know if I'll be working by myself or with a group for the project. I don't know if she's actually going to teach us anything. Yeah... next week is going to be fun.