Exams

18.12.08

¡Ya está! I took my last exam this morning, so I´ve officially completed my academic semester in Madrid. My classes here have definitely been an adventure, but, I can honestly say I have learned some things besides Spanish. Here´s a brief rundown and some interesting tidbits from my classes:

Estudios Internacionales III (International Studies)

My professor was British and there was a heavy mix of international and Spanish students. Some days, the classroom would be full (about 60 students) and other days there would maybe be 20 students. The professor told us his lectures weren´t important and we should just read the assigned articles and take notes on the student presentations…not really sure why the university was paying him! Kal and I had to do a presentation with three other Spaniards about Globalization and Capital Markets and because of it, we spent many hours at one of the guy´s apartments (well, actually, his parents' house, since “kids” live with their parents sometimes until their late 30s). At the end of the semester, I met with my professor to decide when to take my exam. When I went to take the exam, he told me he´d decided to make it a take-home, so he gave me the questions and sent me on my way…

Economía de la Unión Europea (Economy of the European Union)

This is the class that taught me what I had already learned from living in this country: Spaniards prefer to sit in cafés and bars instead of work and, therefore, suffer from low productivity, etc. The professor talked sooooo slowly, it was almost embarrassing, and the Spaniards were falling asleep every class (if they showed up).

Análisis Competitiva de la Empresa (Competitive Business Analysis)

I almost dropped this class at the beginning of the semester, but am glad I stick it out. The first few days, I couldn´t understand anything the professor was saying and I was very overwhelmed and I thought I had to do a bunch of presentations and projects. However, every class we worked in small groups on small case studies, so I was able to meet a lot of my classmates. The one MAJOR downside of this class was that it was at 8 am! (Because of that schedule, I pulled an all-nighter and went to class without sleeping...not because I was studying, but because I was at a club-eek!)

Fusiones y Adquisiciones (Mergers & Acquisitions)

Thanks to this class, I can no longer spell “acquisitions” in either language without looking it up…I mix up the d, the c and the t! This was by far my hardest class and I´m still holding out hope I passed my exam. I haven´t even taken my intro finance class at Marquette, so I was teaching myself the basics (with a LOT of help from Sarah) while trying to understand the advanced stuff the professor was throwing at us. She talked the fastest of all of my professors and was prone to stomp her foot and throw chalk at any chatters-kind of comical when you realize these students are 24 yrs. old and still getting chastised for whispering.

Psicología Social (Social Psychology)

Sarah and I joined this class about a week and a half into the semester after we found out our other class wouldn't count for credit at Marquette. Although my M&A prof. talked the fastest, this lady mumbled even worse than my Competitive Business Analysis professor. She also tended to go off on tangents and get really excited and talk even faster while giving examples! The key was never to make eye contact, otherwise, she´d ask you a question or for your opinion. Kind of difficult to give your opinion when haven´t understood what she´s been blabbing about! Example A: the second day Sarah and I went to class, we were talking about some psych experiment about peer pressure, etc. and everyone “picked” A, so I should´ve been “persuaded” and picked A, as well, but I didn´t catch on. So, when she said “so, obviously, Ashley would then pick…” I was supposed to jump in and say, A, but instead, I said C (thinking I was giving the correct answer). That got a few chuckles from the other students, but whatever, I´ve moved on :) Sarah and I also had to do two group presentations with other Spaniards and those were basically disasters, so it´s a good thing the professor said we couldn´t fail those as long as we did them!

The other comical part of this class was that the professor couldn't speak English and had a very hard time pronouncing my name...she didn't use my "Isi" nickname. She always got this pained look on her face as she was going to call on me, so I always knew what was coming; even before she said "Os-lee."

And, of course, Spanish, but you've already heard about that!

At the very least, I know my listening comprehension improved during this semester! It´s strange to think I actually took six classes in Spanish and managed to figure things out-it´s kind of empowering :) There were some humbling experiences, as well, (see example above) but I´m glad I had the chance to take classes with Spaniards.