[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft8DnHQnng0[/youtube]

This year abroad as a senior I have been able to take a few electives that I LOVE.

One was Cine Documental.

In recent years I have become increasingly interested in film. I´ve experimented and improvised filming and making videos and I´ve been wanting to take a class to learn techniques for how to better execute this craft and be able to tell a story through film, which I believe to be a very powerful way of getting information out and spreading knowledge. Here in Madrid with the Hamilton College program I was able to take a hands-on Documentary Film Making workshop in a class of 4 other students with a great professor who is a filmmaker from Paris. During the semester we had lots of individual attention and also worked as a group to help each other along on our final project which was to create a short film about our experience in Madrid. The class has been an absolute privilege and an opportunity that is unique to my study abroad experience. I felt especially empowered and productive during this class because I was creating art and learning a skill that I would like to continue to hone and improve.

Last semester I also took a Flamenco dance class. We learned various styles and techniques of the many palos of Flamenco from our professor from Murcia. This was a uniquely Spanish experience. The Hamilton College centro in Madrid is where we study and have all our classes. It is equipped with a basement dance studio: a luxury. My ballroom partner and I sometimes go there to practice during the weeks before a competition.

Here is my final project from the Documentary Film Making class. It starts off with a scene I shot in Costa Rica the summer after my study abroad experience there. During the film you will get a glimpse of my experience in Madrid last semester. One of the focuses of the class was to capture ¨lo cotidiano¨ to get a real feel for what each student actually experienced and what made each students experience unique.

Enjoy!