2nd semester junior year

I must say, I either really like or really love all of my classes this semester. What joy! =]

PORT 105: Portuguese for Advanced Spanish-speakers (MWF). Ever since taking an Archi class on Rio de Janeiro and also taking the Capoeira LPAP, I've developed an interest in Portuguese and have come to think of it as a very beautiful language. And then I watched Rio, which is a great movie ;), and that only furthered my ambition of going to Brazil one day. I have been alternatively melodramatic and enthusiastic in the two days I've been learning Portuguese. I love it! But the tons of different sounds and pronunciations have shredded my voice to ribbons...no joke. All I've been doing is reading and pronouncing and yelling and loving it.

ANTH 358: Fourth World: Indigenous People (only meets on Mondays). The grade requirements are not too strenuous, and I get to read interesting articles and watch films on indigenous people from Africa, Australia, Finland, India, Mexico, South America, North America, and Southeast Asia. How awesome is that??

ARCH 305: Architecture for Non-majors/Non-architects (only meets on Mondays). Alternatively known as ARCH for NARCHS. Hahahahahahahaha. Only 15 people allowed in the class, 1/3 of which are Hanszen friends, AND we get to learn and create the things that actual archis do, but on a much smaller and much less stressful scale. But you really get to learn and do architecture stuff, like exploded axon drawings, complicated as that sounds. Mini-projects along with reviews each week, with two professors and six TAs helping us out.

SPAN 316: Art and Mechanics of Translation II (TR). The second half of the Spanish translation course. I really enjoyed the first half because if was actually very helpful, fun, and easy. And so the same, of course, goes for the second half.

SPAN 383: Spanish Creative Writing (TR). Not only is the teacher the editor for the Latin American magazine Literal (the normal professor is on sabbatical), but she's also really gung-ho about this course being the medium through which we express ourselves and find our own voices. The goal is to "maximize creativity" this semester, and we have to do a thing called "páginas de la mañana," or "pages of the morning." Basically, the moment after you wake up, while you're still in that conscious-unconscious state of being, you start writing a stream-of-consciousness discourse by hand or on a laptop. No editing, no censuring--or at least that's what she would prefer. One page, in Spanish (or English, actually), and 4-7 of these each week. Of course we'll do some reading and a lot more creative writing in the days to come, but I'm actually really excited about doing these páginas de la mañana. Heheheh. And I have always wanted to take a class on creative writing, starting way back in high school, but I've never managed to get into one. So if it has to be in Spanish (and also a fulfillment of an elective for my major), so be it!

ARCH 313: Case Studies in Sustainability/Sustainable Design (only meets on Thursdays). So I haven't actually taken this class yet, and won't until February 2nd. The professor is apparently out of town on business until then. I did, however, read the syllabus, and it sounds like a really interesting and useful class on building sustainable structures with sustainable materials, sustainability being all the rage these days. It would be suuuper useful to know this stuff, especially for work in developing countries. However, taking this class would also put me at 19 hours, sooo I might just end up dropping it =[. And hope that I'll be able to take it next year.

In any case, I am going to sleep now. Boa noite! (Portuguese for "good night," pronounced bo-a noy-chee. Weird, isn't it? I KNOW.) =]