It took me until now to find out how the “More” tag works, so I thought I’d write an entry and put it to use. (I don’t know why it took me so long, I guess I never really took a closer look at the quicktags menu.)

I have picked out my classes that I will be taking this upcoming semester, and now that I know I passed all my classes (except for one but I can re-take the exam in October and I assume I will pass), it is set. There is one class I will only be able to take if I finish this damn termpaper in time before the semester starts.

I’ll be taking two classes for my English major and four for my Spanish major, totaling at 18 hours a week.

E1: Rudolfo Anaya and the Chicano Heritage (Lit. Hauptseminar)
E2: The Chicano Novel (Lit. Proseminar / Cultural Studies) *

S1: The Literature of Hispanics in the USA (Lit. Hauptseminar)
S2: O paso do latín vulgar ós romances hispánicos (Ling. Proseminar)
S3: Translation: Spanish - German (Hauptstudium)
S4: Intermediate Italian *

The * means that I do not actually have to take the class but I am taking it anyway (for reasons, read on).

Ad E1: Rudolfo Anaya and the Chicano Heritage

The class is taught by the professor I want to take my graduation exams with, and the topic relates to the topic I want to choose for my thesis. I knew he would offer a class on Chicano literature which is why I waited a semester to take my last required English class. In my first semester he taught the Intro to Literature class, but since that was one of those big classes, I cannot remember what he is like. I hope I’ll enjoy this class because I would hate to have to go a completely different direction with my thesis.
The original reading list included seven of Anaya’s books but some are out of print, and the professor’s assistant told me he would cut it down, but he doesn’t know yet which ones will be required. I ordered three books, which were all available at Amazon.com withing 24 hours so I am assuming he will still include them: Tortuga, Heart of Aztlan, Bless me, Ultima. I have yet to start reading them because I am way behind on my reading. I want to finish them by the time I get back to Heidelberg so I have three more weeks to read the other books that he doesn’t cut.

Ad E2: The Chicano Novel

I want to write my thesis on Chicano literature, so I want to take as many classes related to the topic as possible, even though I am not required to. I will definitely not write the termpaper to get credit, because extra credit here means nothing. None of my grades now will actually matter for my degree (as long as I pass the required ones). I am currently reading the first out of three books for this class: So Far From God by Ana Castillo, Pocho by José Antonio Villarreal, The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo by Oscar Zeta Acosta. I ordered all these books at Amazon, and I want to finish them as well, by the time I get back to Heidelberg.
I had e-mailed the prof whether it is okay for me to take it without getting credit for it because I am interested in the topic, and he wrote back “oh it’s great to have an expert in the class”. Yeah, like I am an expert. I hope to be one eventually but as of now I have taken exactly one class pertaining to this topic. A friend told me though, that a friend of hers loves this professor because his classes are so great and she takes every single one he teaches. On the staff page I took a look at his resume and he is very young, and only just graduated a few years ago, and is now a TA with the professor who teaches the other English class I am going to take.

Ad S1: The Literature of Hispanics in the USA

This is a Spanish class which is also about Chicano literature which is why I am taking it. The Romance and English departments have a project going on for a few semesters on immigrant literature, and I am very thankful for this, because Chicano literature relates to both my majors, and I have already taken a class on it at OU which I enjoyed very much.
I do not know anything about the reading list on this class because the description said the professor would put up a note at her office with the details and as you can probably guess, I cannot exactly stop by her office while I am in Munich. That will have to wait until I am back in Heidelberg - I guess I will have a lot of reading to do in those three weeks.
The professor is the same I took my Latin American Theater class with last semester (that I still haven’t written the paper for). I have to admit, I do not actually feel like I still remember much from the class, but the professor was nice, and I will just pay more attention in this class. I will only be able to take it if I finish the termpaper in time though (so I better!).

Ad S2: O paso do latín vulgar ós romances hispánicos

Some of you may think, well what the heck, that is not Spanish. It isn’t, it’s galician, but I was able to decypher the description and I am sure it will be taught in Spanish anyway, as I could tell from the sign-up list that all participants so far are Spanish majors. I do not really care for the topic, but it is Linguistics, and I didn’t care for any of the topics too much but I have to take it so I just want to get it over with. May be a bad attitude but I don’t think I have to like every required class, especially when I study Spanish Literature and not Linguistics. A girl I know took a class with the prof this summer and she said her classes are easy, and she is nice, so that sounds good to me. By the way the course title is “The step from Vulgar Latin to Hispanic Romance languages.

Ad S3: Translation: Spanish - German

I already took the Grundstudium Translation class this semester, and I easily passed that with a 1.3, so I think I will be okay in this class. It will be a little harder I assume, but it is taught by the same professor, and she is really nice and helpful. I figured it will be a class that doesn’t require too much work (especially no studying for the final), so I will just get that out of the way now.

Ad S4: Intermediate Italian

I have completed all required Italian classes, however I have to take a Lit. Hauptseminar and Advanced Translation (Italian - German), and it seems unrealistic I would do well in those classes having only taken one semester of Italian. One of those things that make me wonder what the Romance department was thinking when they put those classes on the list of requirements. I might take the final so I can take Advanced Italian in the summer of 2007, but I don’t know yet. I will probably decide depending on how stressed out I am by Christmas. Again, I do not need the credit, it wouldn’t matter, I would need it though to take Advanced Italian.
I would prefer not to take Italian anymore, not because the language is crappy, it’s not, but it is so similar to Spanish and it is quite hard to keep vocab and grammar apart, and since my Spanish isn’t anywhere near perfect, I would like to focus on Spanish only, but alas, it’s not possible if I want to graduate before I turn 30 (I am kidding, I am scheduled to graduate when I am 25, which is okay considering I will have an M.A.).

If I pass all these classes I will have a total of four classes left to graduate. I am planning two semesters for them because three out of the four are Hauptseminare, and each of them will require a 20-page termpaper, so I don’t want to take more than two in one semester. Two Hauptseminare are Spanish Lit, one Italian Lit, and the fourth class is Translation: Italian - German. I am probably going to take both Italian classes together in my last semester, because then I can take Advanced Italian in the semester before (if I decide to).

I really like the way my schedule worked out. I will have classes Monday - Thursday, and have a three-day weekend for the third semester in a row. I will also be able to fit in work and my internship and while a day or two will be busy days, I think I’ll be okay:

Mon: Class 1130-1330 and Work 1430-1830
Tue: Class 1100-1300 Internship 1345-1545 Class 1615-1945
Wed: Class 0915-1430
Thu: Internship 1130-1330 Class 1430-1600

I still have to discuss the work and internship times with my bosses but since I mostly work by myself, it should work out.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006 at 3:09 and is filed under School. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.