An Academic Week in Review

And so concludes my first academic week (of which there will be many) at the University of Almería. After my brief period of constant floundering at the start of the week things soon picked up and I can quite comfortably say that I’m going to enjoy my time studying here.

My only problem thus far is that some of my classes start very early (8:00 in the morning). This means that I have so far missed at least two classes unfortunately. One of the classes that I had missed was Spanish language, I missed it because I had only returned from a not out three hours before my class was meant to start. In my defence, on said night out I had spoken Spanish for roughly six hours straight, so I had technically done thrice the amount of Spanish whilst having a great time, than if I had cycled in the dark to my early morning lecture.

Which would you pick, hmm?

My final class of the week was perhaps the most confusing. As I study both Spanish and Arabic at Manchester, I decided to sign up for the Arabic IV module, the most advanced level offered from the University. As I pushed open the door to my class, for which I was late due to a last minute building change, I was immediately struck by the distinct lack of other students in my class. Yes, it would seem that because nobody else studies Arabic at such a level within this entire university I now pretty much have a personal tutor for the whole semester.

And so ensued an awkward forty minutes of me speaking both Arabic and Spanish in the same conversation, something which I am really going to have to get used to. The teacher explained to me that the course can pretty much be tailored to whatever I want, that if I want to do more translation, less grammar, study Arabic songs then I need only ask. It seems to me that these classes will be very beneficial to my studies of the Arabic language – I am quite relieved that I am not going to forget all that I learnt in Jordan.

Overall this University seems to be quite a decent place, the people are friendly, the buildings well maintained, the lecturers engaging and the class sizes small. As time goes by I shall describe my classes in further detail, provided below are some pictures of the campus, and one of the cafe which serves delicious toasted Spanish baguettes and very strong coffee (the best kind!)

I have yet to go in the library, but will do so soon

Do you have any questions? Is there a particular article you would like me to write? Feel free to contact me with any queries you may have!

A picture of part of the University campus

A second picture of part of the campus, it’s so sunny today!

The interior of one of the buildings, it contains about twenty seminar rooms, and it’s where I have several classes!

The University café, they sell amazing little toasted baguettes, strong coffees, and small beers here, it’s one of my favourite places to chill out in-between classes

A map of the campus, this should give you all a rough idea of just how big it is

There’s plenty of information available about the several events that the University and students organise

And finally, my lovely bike!

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