A new option for students studying in Santiago, or simply wishing to obtain 1 in residence credit while living and studying abroad Trinity in Montevideo

Click here to Discover Montevideo

Hispanic Studies 227 (HISP 227) • Intensive Advanced Spanish Language and Culture Review in Montevideo. 1 in-residence credit) Dates: January 15-February 5, 2009.

Trinity College, Department of Language and Culture Studies Hispanic Studies, Hartford, Connecticut http://www.trincoll.edu/Academics/Study/ModernLanguages/hispanic/

Instituto Universitario CLAEH, Zelmar Michelini 1220, Montevideo, Uruguay. Tel. (598 2) 900 71 94 http://www.claeh.edu.uy/html

Either on their way to our Global Site in Santiago de Chile, or simply as a way to travel and study Spanish language and culture over the Summer (and Winter), Trinity students (and students from other institutions whom may wish to apply) now have the option of spending four weeks in Montevideo, Uruguay and make a smooth transition into South American culture and society, learn about the particular history of the Southern Cone, understand and learn to move around Latin American cities and urban life, and polish and practice their Spanish as it is spoken in this region.

While in Montevideo, students will take an intensive, full immersion, advanced Spanish language and culture course dealing with recent history, contemporary politics, immigration, afro-Latin American culture, gender, and human rights in South America.

HISP 227 counts towards the Major and Minor in Hispanic Studies, as well as the Major and Minor in the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program. Upon request, HISP 227 could be used as equiv. to 221, 226 or 264. The course is four weeks long, and consists of three weekly class meetings with the instructor, Mondays and Thursdays from 2 to 5 pm (one of the three consisting in a “hands-on” activity “in the city” led by the instructor her/himself).

In addition, there are another two weekly gatherings and/or outings organized and led by the on site coordinator, in conversation with the instructor and connected to their personal research project.

The course also includes a “personal research project” in which students play the role of “foreign correspondent” finding about and reporting on a particular issue of their choice and interest, or conducting a short urban/global research project. (See: Urban Research Agenda)

Living with a local family is also a key component of the course and of the overall learning experience, same as engaging with the local culture (watching TV, reading newspapers, etc.). Upon arrival, students are handed a detailed course syllabus and description of the course by the instructor.

At the orientation session, the on-site coordinator, Mario Villagrán, will also hand out a practical handbook with useful information. Absolutely every component of HISP 227 is mandatory and will affect the final grade.

Instructor: Gustavo Remedi, Ph D, Associate Professor, Department of Language and Culture Studies (Trinity College) Email: gustavo.remedi@trincoll.edu Telephone: 011 (5982) 709-7966 or 011 (598) 94-788-936 (cel.)

On-Site Coordinator: Mario Villagrán, Musician, Music Professor and Cultural Organizer (Proyectos Culturales) Email: garevima@adinet.com.uy Telephone: 011 (5982) 711-9013 or 011 (598) 99-283-008 (cel.)

Click here to Explore Montevideo

About the city of Montevideo

MONTEVIDEO (one and a half million inhabitants) is the capital of Uruguay. Uruguay is a democratic republic roughly the size of New England, with a Mediterranean climate, and 3 million inhabitants. It was the cradle and home of thinkers and artists such as José Enrique Rodó, Florencio Sánchez, Horacio Quiroga, Delmira Agustini, Joaquín Torres García, Mario Benedetti, Cristina Peri Rossi, and Eduardo Galeano.

Montevideo is located on the shores of the South Atlantic—in the same parallel as Santiago, Cape Town, and Sidney—, only two hundred miles away from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Brazil’s most Southern Province, and only a two hours-long fly to Santiago. It’s architecture and culture, markedly cosmopolitan, bears the distinct mark of Latin America: a balanced blend of Past and Present, city and countryside, leisure and culture, frenzy and pause. Montevideo also hosts the headquarters of the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), and is part of the Educating Cities network or Red de Ciudades Educadoras.

There is much to do in Montevideo during the months of February and June, among other reasons because Montevideo is a coastal city surrounded by beaches and promenades with much to offer, teach, and express by means of its urban forms, social rituals, and textures.

In Summer, Montevideo --and its surrounding resorts of every size and kind-- attracts people from the four corners of South America, and there is an intense cultural life (film festivals, music concerts, sporting events) crowned by a month-long Carnival (a city wide contest between theatrical troupes and other carnivalesque plays.

In Winter, which includes a two week long Winter recess, Montevideo is also a city full of social and cultural life, centered around university life, film societies, bookstores, theatre workshops, sport tournaments, exhibitions, conferences, and spectacles of every kind, with plenty of paseos and places to go out in the evening and late at night, and indeed, offering a vibrant student, cultural, political, and civic life. Yet, all of this happens within a relatively mellow pace and atmosphere, for Montevideo, a major urban and cultural center, still remains a small, manageable, and amenable city in terms of size, rhythm and scale, which makes it ideal for making a transition into South America. Look for images, maps, newspapers, radio stations, and so on, on-line, starting with google earth!

Click here to Further explore Montevideo