At the UIMP

Every day, you can find me either in class or hanging out at the UIMP (pronounced weee-mp).  The UIMP is a special language institution that teaches Spanish to foreigners and teaches English to native Spanish speakers.  This is not a "true" university because they only offer language classes, rather than a variety of subjects.  For many native students, they take English classes at a variety of language institutions (such as the UIMP) and go to college at a university, like the near-by University of Cantabria.

There are a bunch of students from all over the world at the UIMP.  The majority of kids that live on campus and take English classes are from Spain.  We've also met a lot of students from the US who are taking Spanish classes such as college students from Florida and Texas.  Last week, high school students from California arrived to take classes.  I can't imagine participating in a study abroad program at 15 years old!  Many of the English teachers are from England and Ireland, so it is interesting to talk to them as well.

My three classes here are way different than in the US.  We only have students in our program in our classes, so our class sizes are incredibly small.  I'm used to classes from anywhere between 25 students to 300 students.  At the UIMP, my biggest class has about 14 people!  Next, the structure of the class is a bit different.  I feel that the classes here are more casual and interactive.  In the US, the teacher usually lectures about the topic.  We can ask questions and sometimes the teacher plans a little activity to complete.  In Spain, the professors don't even start on time!  They usually begin anywhere between 5 to 10 minutes late.  In my culture class, we often ask questions regarding our experiences in Spain that serves as the basis for the day's lesson.  In my other two classes, the classes are more lecture-based.  However, the professors take the necessary time to go over the lesson, rather than strictly sticking to the syllabus.  Finally, the biggest difference is the grading scale.  My school in the US does the 4 point scale, while in Spain, the students are graded on a 0-10 scale.  A 7 and above is considered a really good grade.  When our grades are transferred over to the US scale, a 10-9 is considered a 4.0, 8 is a 3.5, 7 is a 3.0, etc.  It's a pretty tough scale!

Here's a little tour of the UIMP:

This is the entrance to the UIMP.  The campus consists of the UIMP building and four dorm buildings.  The little hut in the middle is the reception area.

Welcome to the UIMP!

This is the building where we have classes.  Although there are four stories, I just have classes on the first floor.

Another angle of the classroom building of the UIMP.  That pink blob on the right side is my finger nail.

Walking into the main entrance of the building.

Going through the hallway to the computer labs and classroom.

Here's the door way to the classroom.  I actually have the majority of my classes in this room.

Here's the classroom!  We put all of our desks into a horseshoe shape since there's a pretty small number of us.  We don't have traditional desks- just a little writing surface connected to the chair.  

This is the computer lab where we spend the majority of our non-class time.

Another view of the computer lab.

This is the other end of the UIMP building.  Straight ahead is the cafe where I usually buy a café con leche to keep me awake for art history.

Here's the dorm area of the UIMP campus.  Each building has three floors of dorms as well as a study lounge.

There are four dorm buildings at the UIMP, and there's a little pool in the middle, but it's too shallow to swim in.

And to wrap up the tour, this is the view of Santander located right behind the UIMP.

Thanks for joining me!

*In other non-school related news, I wrote about my experiences eating morcilla last Friday.  Guess what I had for dinner tonight?  Morcilla.  My madre put ground up morcilla, red and green peppers, and cheese in a soft taco.  It was pretty difficult to eat.