Saturday, December 3, 2011

¡Ay Yi Yi!

I apologize for not keeping in contact with you recently. The last few weeks have been pretty insane, as is customary for this time of year. Right before Thanksgiving break, I had my Spanish Capstone that took a lot of my time and energy. At Rockhurst, students complete a senior Capstone project in order to earn their degree. Each program has different Capstone requirements. For Spanish, it consists of a 15-page paper and 30-minute presentation on a topic of your choice, all in Spanish. To say that I was nervous for the presentation was an understatement. My Capstone supervisor and the other students in my class were very helpful and supportive, though, and that made it so much easier.

I have to say that I have really enjoyed the Spanish program here at Rockhurst. After the few basic grammar classes, the rest of the classes are really awesome. For example, I have taken two different film classes, one highlighting movies from Spain with the other showing films from all Latin American countries. I also took “US-Latino Literature”, and I thoroughly enjoyed that class. In addition to reading about the US-Latino experience, we also had local authors come in to class and talk about their personal struggles and triumphs that came as a result of being torn between two very different cultures.

During these classes, I was exposed to two great artists that ultimately ended up being the subjects of my Capstone. For my Capstone project, I chose to research Francisco de Goya (a Spanish artist from the 1800s) and Isabel Allende (a contemporary Chilean author). While these two artists represent very different countries and types of art, they are both connected by a profound theme. Because of political reasons, each artist was forced to leave their homeland. When they were in political exile in other countries, they created their most famous works. The theme of my Capstone was to show how political exile can be very inspiring instead of just oppressive. I really enjoyed the research, and I was very inspired by these two artists.
(The poster for my Spanish Capstone presentation)
After the presentation was over, I obviously felt very relieved to have survived through the stressful experience. However, I felt more than just relieved… I truly felt a great sense of pride in both the university and in my accomplishments. Because of the support I received from all of my Spanish teachers during my time at RU, I knew I was more than prepared for such an endeavor. Hearing their positive comments at the end of the presentation validated my hard work and also increased my appreciation for the Spanish program and professors. I have genuinely enjoyed that part of my RU experience. It will help me so much in my future career, and it will also provide me with great memories of everything I have learned.