why didn't i take spanish in high school???

so far, i'm not impressed with UPF. this could be because my expectations were too high, i admit. i chose this MLTA program for several reasons:

1. it was cheap (the whole program is about $5000)
2. it was one year (rare and not actually ideal for a master's program, but enticing)
3. it was in barcelona (the #1 tourist destination in europe at the moment, great weather, etc.)
4. the acclaimed linguistics department (in fact, pompeu fabra, UPF's namesake, was a linguist)
5. the website was impressive, informative, and kept up to date
6. the whole master's program is guaranteed in english

1-5 are still true, but that pesky #6 is proving hard to enforce. 


thursday i went to my second ever class (Cognició, comunicació i competència lingüística) with of bunch of other linguistic students. the professor began speaking in spanish. then she noticed some faces lacking the comprehension look and asked whether everyone spoke spanish. a girl from macau (who speaks chinese and english) and i raised our hands to signal that we don't speak spanish. she explained in english that it would be too hard for her to maintain english for the three hour class each week (well, for 5 weeks) so she was just going to speak in spanish. she said not to worry, though, because the powerpoints and handouts would all be in english. 

wtf. 

some girl next to me kindly interpreted a few important things the teacher said during the next couple of hours, but i was just sitting there seething and hardly cared what she said.

that night i went home and wrote an email to the teacher, citing the page of UPF's website that guarantees the possibility of taking the entire linguistics major in english. i told her how i (and the other girl must have) felt isolated, discouraged, frustrated, and angry. i asked for her suggestion about what i should do about this class, as i won't be sitting through spanish classes any more. 

friday i went to the registration office to pay and confirm my schedule. i asked the nice ladies up there (who speak english on a lower intermediate level) what could be done about this lady who speaks english but simply refused to, or if not about her, about my schedule, since hers was a mandatory class for my discipline. they said i should tell the department head. since i'd already written an email to the lady, i decided to wait for her reply before doing anything else. 

after registering and paying, i went to my only friday class, only to find that not only was the professor speaking in spanish, but all the materials and powerpoints would also be in spanish. i walked out of the classroom less than a minute after i walked in and headed back to the nice ladies in the registration office to tell them another class of mine needed to be changed (thankfully, this one was optional at least). while i was telling them, i started to tear up in frustration. they were so sweet and assured me they wanted to make me happy and comfortable at UPF. they said they'd talk to my adviser and get me out of the optional class. then they'll get the department head involved, who will talk to the first teacher, and if she won't switch, then they would help me change my discipline to get out of taking her class.

changing my discipline would mean my mandatory classes change and my classes would be better suited for a professional or research career than an academic career.

my expectations have been lowered a lot now, but so far i'm not impressed with UPF (except the admissions and registration ladies).