The pictures included in this post were chosen very carefully, to suit the mood. They are from a town called Ronda (which was, in fact, absolutely lovely.)
I'm pretty sure that my Biology professor gets a kick out of the fact that I'm in her class. I think she told me that she taught at a university in Texas for a bit. I'm the only student whose name she knows, because I am the single foreigner. The other day in class she asked a question, and students were all shouting out answers. After approximately eight incorrect answers, she said, "Eliza, do you know the answer?" I didn't even know what the question was, because class frequently flies over my head.
I want to be clear that I do really like this professor, and even though I don't understand most of what she says, I think she's an excellent teacher.
On Monday, our professor came into the classroom and announced that she would be giving the lecture in English, just as she'd promised me (I had told her to please not do that, that it was not at all necessary). Everyone groaned heavily. I wanted to duck underneath my desk and hide for a while.
There were probably 20 additional students in the classroom on Monday, because it turns out that they'd waited until a few weeks into the semester to start showing up to our class. I've heard that this is pretty common here. So, for several students, Monday was their class.
I don't think anybody really believed that my professor would give the lecture in English. We were all wrong; she was digging the chance to practice her English.
Ten minutes into the lecture a student raised his hand to ask why she was doing this. The professor explained that Eliza has to attend class every day in Spanish, and that for the visitor's sake (apparently that's me, but I thought I was a normal student?) she would lecture today in English. She went on about how this wouldn't be a problem for anyone, because the students must meet a level of English fluency before they can enroll at the university, so everyone should be able to keep up.
The student asked if this was an every day thing, and the professor explained that it was just for the day, but might happen again. She pointed out that she'd told me that she would do this for me (ugh).
No one in the room, myself included, had signed up for this. People were not into it. I was squirming in my seat.
The professor resumed lecturing. Students started packing up their things and leaving.
Tierra, trágame.
After about fifteen students had left the classroom, the professor paused her teaching. Reverting to Spanish, she asked how could it be that the students couldn't even stand one lecture in English? She went on that English is the language of science, that all of the articles and texts in Biology are in English. The students were supposed to know English, and in later years, would have to take courses in English.
So there I sat. Wanting more than anything for class to be over, and sure that no longer would I have any chance of having friends in that class.
Oh well, if nothing else, my professor seems to like me.
On Tuesday, I wiped out in the mud (surprise, it rained for the first time today) riding my Sevici bicycle (see previous post about Sevici challenges) to my Psychology class. I was covered in mud, and used the toilet paper in a Pizza Hut bathroom to clean up as best I could before class. But I was still covered in mud. And due to the events of the previous day, I decided that I couldn't show up to my Biology class that muddy - I had already lost a few too many points with my peers. So after Psychology, I went all the way home to shower before my Biology class. It turns out that I made the right move, because several students talked to me today!
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