First Week of School & the Bridge Year Program

The program I'm doing now in Spain is called the "Bridge Year Program." It was designed as a gap year between high school and university or a first degree and employment. We can build our own schedule and program based on our own personal preferences and projects. Since I'm not exactly sure yet what I want to do, this year will help me reflect and think about my future. It will help me build my character and person, and of course learn and immerse myself in the Spanish language and culture.

For the first semester, I will be taking most courses from ILCE (Instituto de Lengua y Cultura Españolas) and one class in English, European Media Culture. In the second semester, when my Spanish is better, I will take regular university classes with Spanish students.




Monday was our first official day of school. For the international students, we took a placement test to determine our level of Spanish. Because ILCE is designed for foreigners, the classes are taught in different levels to accomodate each person's level of Spanish.

Two weeks before I started classes, I took an intensive course also under ILCE. Therefore, the placement test I took on Monday was the same one I took before. I'm happy to say I think I did much better than before. When we took the test, we had to mark which courses we would be taking. Since I forgot to meet with Rocio (the director of the Bridge Year Program), I didn't know which courses I would be taking. So, I just marked 'Español 1.'

After the test I went to meet with Rocio and she informed me that I would be taking Español 1, and four other courses! So I had to go back down and explain to the proctor my situation.

The courses I'm taking are:
Español 1 (grammar) A2
Uso Comunicative (communication use) B1
Cultura y Sociedad Hispanicas A
Literatura Española A
Redacción (writing) A

I was placed in A2 for Español 1, one notch above Beginners. For Uso Comunicativo I was surprised but happy to learn I was in Intermediate. For the other classes, there were only two groups, A and B, so I knew I was going to be in group A.

My classes are all in the morning. By morning I mean 9am-2pm. (Lunch is at 2pm, dinner at around 9:30. And normally, you don't greet someone 'Buenas Noches' until after 8pm.) Thursday is my favorite day though. My classes start at 11am! They end at 3pm, but still, I can wake up late(r than usual). Right now, I don't really do anything in the afternoon but next week I will look for something to take up my time.

The classes themselves have been okay so far. The first class of each course would be introducing yourself (Imagine saying "Hola, me llamo Sofia. Soy de Filipnas. Tengo 18 años¨ five times, once for each class) and basic introduction of the course. All my classmates are international; a lot are American, some Korean/Japanese/Chinese (they kind of all look the same to me), and there are a few Germans. Then there are one or two from other countries like France, Holland, Canada. I'm also happy to say that I can remember more than half of my classmate's names and match the name to the correct face. Haha.

All my ILCE classes are held in the Edifico Central, the main building. In fact, most of the time, they're even in the same room. On Tuesday I had three classes one after the other, all in the same room. I didn't even change seats! And on Wednesday I have three classes, all with the same teacher.

For the Bridge Year Students, this week was actually a "shopping week." We could attend whatever classes we want and see whether we'd like to take them or not. Unlike the rest of the students, we register for our classes next Monday. So far, I pretty much like all my classes and will be taking them.