Study Abroad — I never had the opportunity to study abroad when I was an undergraduate student, but thanks to my son and one of my students, I am now getting a taste of the experience in a vicarious sort of way. Gavin, our son, is spending the fall semester in Barcelona studying architecture. He arrived there a few days ago, but his classes start today. Gavin speaks and reads Spanish, which is a good thing since most of his classes will be taught in Spanish. He will study, among other topics, the buildings of Antoni Gaudi, including Gaudi’s famous Sagrada Familia cathedral.
One of my former students, Taneka Robertson, has just returned from studying in China this summer. Taneka is blind, but she still wanted to experience studying abroad. I served as one of her references when she applied to study at Xiamen University in China, so she has kept me posted about her adventure. Now that she is back in Charlotte, she stopped by to visit with me last week and showed me a photo album of pictures from her time in China. Over the course of our conversation, I realized that Taneka’s blindness did not stop her from having a rich educational experience in China.
For our students who like to have a study-abroad experience in Great Britain, the English Department is offering students a wonderful opportunity next semester. The English Department, in conjunction with the Shakespeare in Action Initiative, has been sponsoring a Shakespeare in England course since 2009. The course runs during Spring semesters, and the class travels to London and Stratford over Spring Break. In previous years, both Kirk Melnikoff and Jen Munroe have taught the class. For a fun student-produced Youtube video documenting the course, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUjNf6MVegk; for information about this year’s offering, go to https://edabroad.uncc.edu/programs/europe/shakespeare-england.
Kudos— As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of our department. Here is the latest news:
Pilar Blitvich recently presented a paper at the V Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis Conference, which took place in Budapest. The paper’s title is “Discourses of inequality: Gender Violence in Spanish Newspapers.”
Lara Vetter recently published an essay titled “Religion: Orthodoxies and Alternatives” in Blackwell’s A Companion to Modernist Poetry.
Quirky Quiz Question — Gavin’s ability to speak Spanish will help him immensely during his semester in Barcelona. However, Spanish is only one of the two main languages spoken in Barcelona. What is the other?
Last week’s Quirky Quiz answer – May 1