Course Briefing

Here's a summary of the courses i'm taking for those who have asked for it:

1.) Introduction to Narration-- Focuses on the analysis and construction of fiction and non-fiction stories.This is a journalism class. I'll be doing the same things I did in my Intro to Journalism class, only this time all in Spanish. Plus it'll be interesting to see how the professor teaches narration style, as news stories in Chilean newspapers often take a very different format from US papers.

2.) Theory and Critique of the Fixed Image- History and analysis of photography. Not sure as of yet if i'll get to take any pictures. More listening to the professor talk and less doing, it seems. So far, in a way, it's also taken the shape of a philosophy class. For instance, the professor likes to talk about certain philosophical movements that swept through Europe, let's say, and how the written word influenced photographers. Pretty cool.

3.) Theatre of Chile and Latin America- No acting, just reading and talking about important plays. This will be a tough one. Loads of reading (all my classes and readings and lectures are in Spanish). I think we go as a group once or twice to see live theatre.

4.) My fourth class is offered through my exchange program, CIEE, and it doesn't exactly have a name. It's a communications class with a goal of constructing an image of Chile through the different mediums of communication--tv (most popular medium in chile), newspapers, radio, magazines, internet, etc. Even though it's designed for students in the exchange program, it seems harder than any of my classes taught in the university. But there are only four of us in the class and the professor is a great guy. Looking forward to this one.

5.) I'm also taking a Spanish grammer class to brush up on what I've realized is my pretty shakey grammar. Unfortunately Fordham wont give me credit for this one, but it should be worth it in the long run if I keep studying Spanish.

Apart from the CIEE communication class, my courses are primarily teacher talking and students listening. Little room for student input, and we're rarely pressured with questions. It's completely different from Fordham, but I don't mind the format. Only it gets hard to stay focused at times. Often find my mind wandering off and thinking about the beach.