One of the first things Nicaraguans ask me is why I’m in Managua. I always answer that I am taking classes at UNAN, a public university and the largest school in the country. This usually leads to them trying to convince me that I am not taking classes at UNAN but one of the many private universities in Managua since that’s where almost all the foreign students go. All my American friends ask me what classes I’m taking and I finally figured out my schedule after lots of back and forth. So here is my class list:

Seminario de Formación Integral

It’s a seminar class in the anthropology department that deals with human rights, gender and environmental issues in the context of Nicaragua. All the departments here have these seminars with the same topics.

Problemática Ambiental de Nicaragua

An upper level biology class, this class deals with global and local environmental problems and how they manifest in Nicaragua. This class includes fieldtrips to farms and my professor is named Carlos Darwin (yep, that’s right; I have class with Charles Darwin). The environmental studies kids are really nice and passionate about what they study.

Historia Pre colonial de Nicaragua

Basic Paleolithic through colonialism class obviously focused on Nicaragua.

Revolución y Reforma Neoliberalismo

Taught by my director here, this class deals with a lot of the issues surrounding development, U.S. intervention and political movements in Nicaragua.