The New Fall Season

Oh, man. I've been away from my blog for so long that I actually forgot my username and password, which is really saying something since I have a very limited number of usernames and passwords floating around out there... Still, I just spent way too long trying all the permutations (there are only about 9) and even then it took me the better part of an hour to get back into my blog. This makes me feel really old.

What am I doing? Where have I been? Well, right here, all along. It's the last week of summer session and I'm wrapping up my intensive Spanish class and prepping for the course I'm giving in the fall. The fall course is on Medieval and Renaissance Spanish Literature, approximately 1300-1700. Not exactly my specialty -- actually, about 275 years before my specialty kicks in -- but I have high hopes for the course. The enrollment just skyrocketed from 5 students (I'm imagining a round table, everyone with their coffee cups, thoughtful discussions, first-name basis) to 24 students (all the desks taken, it takes me two weeks to learn everyone's names, ten people who won't talk no matter what the topic). I'm hoping I can live up to their expectations.

But, for now, I'm in intermediate Spanishlandia. A bunch of my students apparently got together to play Monopoly in Spanish the other night, which is about the coolest thing ever, from my vantage point. Spanish has won them over!