Classes? School?

So I've been in Barcelona for 15 days so far now and I've gone to classes for a week and a half. With my schedule that means I've been to class 3 days but for 36 hours total. In case you forgot, I'm taking two Spanish Art History classes, Catalan Language and Culture class, and a Barcelona History of the city class. I have three Spanish professors, specifically Catalan, and then one British professor. My Spanish professors expect the students to go above and beyond everything more so than any other teacher I've had at home. They also expect the students to be very well educated and on top of their game always.

I'll start with Catalan. I think this is my favorite class. The professor is very energetic and excited which makes any class that much better. It's a beginner level class which means no one in the class has any previous Catalan experience yet my teacher only speaks Catalan to us. But if we all look really confused, he'll start speaking English. He lets us speak a little English at the beginning but by the end of next week that class will all be in Catalan. Intimidating but sometimes the intimidating classes can be very fun. Like yesterday, we played Battleship to work on learning the numbers.

Then I have my two Art History classes. Now the first two days of these classes were an overview of all of art history in a quick minute plus the proper way to analyze a piece of art work. This was a little tiring but I lived through it, thankfully. My first one is a class about all of Spanish art from Paleolithic art to now. We've started Spanish Paleolithic art yesterday which is all of the cave paintings and nomadic sculptures. I've never learned about specifically Spanish Paleolithic art but my professor gave us a preview of it and it looks a lot more interesting than what I was expecting. That class is a little big and general but I think it'll be alright. My second class is specifically about Antoni Gaudi, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, and Joan Miro. My professor for this class is very intense and very serious. On the first day of class he reminded us all that this was a 400 level class and that that is how he is treating it. Hearing that made me happy. It also made the class much smaller. My professor is clearly incredibly intelligent. When he's discussing everything, I can tell he knows all of this material like the back of his hand. Both of my Art History professors are very passionate about art and about Spain and Catalonia. I'm excited that I get to learn about Spanish art this way because I know for a fact that I would never learn any of this Art History anywhere else but here.

Now that leaves Barcelona: Past and Present. So this is a history class (past) and kind of current events (present) which leads me to probably the best thing a professor has ever said to me. "I can tell you are new to news" I feel like I need to tell my professor this? Sadly I know nothing that is going on in current events. I don't read nor watch the news. I also have no idea what has happened in my country since I've been born let alone the entire world. BUT I did take European History so I can work the history part and just pretend for the present? Regardless of my little news issue, this class is going to be beneficial. It helps me understand better the city I'm living in for the next 4 months. I'm going to be able to leave Barcelona knowing the history, knowing the culture and understanding why its the way it is/was instead of leaving and not knowing anything.

Another advantage to all four of these classes is that I get to go on like a million field trips. Most are to the same places twice but I think I can manage that. Some of my field trips include the Picasso Museum, Museum of the History of the City of Barcelona, Fundicao Miro, Sagrada Familia, Casa Mila, various neighborhoods and various cathedrals with different architectural designs. Of the places listed I go to majority of them twice.

I think I just wrote the most I could ever write about any classes I am or have taken. Pretty much the only thing I left are the due dates for all of my assignments. Yes I have homework here as well. It's silly but I guess it is school.