aulas e matricula...

so i have now finalized the classes that i will be taking during the semester. they seem to be pretty cool and i had the chance to shop around for two weeks before deciding whether to stay in them or not. it wasn't a long enough time and Carnaval lazyness did not help but i feel satisfied with the classes i'm in.

the program gives us two classes that we must take
1. Advanced Portuguese I
it happens twice a week. tuesday and thrusday at 12.20 hrs. it is a literature class where we will read short stories, some poems, write a lot and read a whole novel called 'Capitães da Areia,' by Jorge Amado. Apparently it is a cool book about street children in Bahia that lots of kids at school end up liking. it was written in 1937 but it still applies to brazilian reality today.

2. Brazilian Issues and Realities
once a week on wednesdays at 1400. it is a class where we have lots of readings about different social topics in Brazil. these include - carnaval, futebol/soccer, landless movement, education, economics, religion, identity, etc

the rest of my classes are the ones i chose. these are three and they are the following
3. Public Sector Economics
every tuesday and thursday nights - the class is about the role of the state in the way it spends its resources and the different economic reasons why it should intervene. lots of theory and discussion which is kind of cool. also the professor has worked in the public sector for about 15 years so it makes him a little more trustworthy. he doesn't only explain the economics behind political decisions but he explains how power, politics and personal agendas come into play and disrupt or strengthen the economics behind it.

4. Economic Interpretations of Brazil
every friday morning - the class is about different Brazilian economists who have written about the development of Brazil and how it has gone from being an exclusively agricultural country to and industrial and agricultural producer. so far it deals mostly with theories that these economists had so it is more a history/social science class than economics which is good because i've had enough economics with graphs in Macalester.

5. Videojournalism I
every thursday morning - the class is about the production of news television and maybe documentaries too. the class takes place in the TV studio, which is cool in many ways - it has AC and lots of cool equipment. the professor was changed once and the one we have now is from Chile so he was very welcoming when i told him i was guatemalan. it is a class i had always wanted to take so i'm excited about it.