ANTHONY D. AVILA/Arizona Summer Wildcat Estee Rivera, a senior majoring in Spanish and anthropology, examines sherds of pottery left behind by Guadalajara's indigenous peoples as her professor Otto Schondube looks on and answers questions.

GUADALAJARA- Students in the Guadalajara Summer School program could not be found in a classroom last Monday because they were outside examining 1,000-year-old pottery sherds at an archeological site near Guadalajara.

For 54 years, students like the current class have participated in the UA Guadalajara Summer School program, which ends for the summer on Wednesday.

Students around the United States can receive college credit through the UA for Spanish and other disciplines while immersing themselves in the culture of a large Mexican city.

But fewer participants in recent years combined with an increased interest in courses of other disciplines could lead to expanding the emphasis of the program, said Macario Saldate, GSS director for the past 16 years.

Though the emphasis of the program has traditionally been on the intensive lower-level or upper-division Spanish courses, the school offers non-Spanish major courses such as sociology and anthropology.

Saldate said he has noticed more students enrolling in the non-Spanish upper division courses that have a tie to Mexican culture, and the program could meet this growing need while increasing enrollment by publicizing other courses.

"We'll be able to target students better by paying attention to this trend that's been emerging over the years," Saldate said. "Adding classes wouldn't be a long process, it's more of a publicity issue to get students signed up."

Saldate said the program has offered fewer programs in recent years because of lower enrollment, which he attributed to the growing number of other programs drawing students away. This summer there are about 100 students participating, down from 250 students four years ago and 600 students two decades ago.

"When the program started, it was really the only one of its kind in existence," Saldate said. "The people who started this program were very visionary. It was a novelty that awoke a great interest in students."

One of the draws to the program is the freedom for students to learn in class while exploring the historical and cultural aspects of the city, Saldate said.

Last Monday, classes were cancelled for a field trip to visit the nearby towns Sayula and Santa Cruz just south of Guadalajara. On the way, the group of almost 100 students and faculty stopped at a site once occupied by the indigenous people of the region, and students were able to handle broken pottery dating from 600 to 1000 A.D., said Otto Schondube, GSS professor and archeologist who was on the team that mapped the site.

Schondube, a Guadalajara native whose son got his doctorate at the UA, said the pottery was used by the natives in the process of producing salt, which they would later trade with other groups in the area.

Estee Rivera, a senior majoring in Spanish and anthropology at the UA, said she was excited to be able to visit the ruins. Though she has been to similar sites before, she saw other students who were disappointed at only seeing broken rocks.

"I think they expected to see these big ruins when all they found was little pottery pieces," Rivera said. "It was funny watching it crush the students' stereotypes."

Rivera, who is taking two Spanish classes, said she chose to focus on the Spanish half of her major this summer, but she has considered returning next summer to take advantage of the anthropology courses.

Rivera said whether a student wants to focus on Spanish or focus on other courses, they can take advantage of happenings outside of the classroom.

"In any case, you're still getting the experience of being in a different culture," Rivera said. "If you're taking a politics class, you can go to a political meeting in town. If you're in an archaeology class, there are archaeological sites you can see. It is what you make of it."

Matt Styer, an undeclared sophomore with a Spanish minor, said he has taken several field trips into the city with the upper-level political science and sociology classes he is in. Styer said it doesn't matter if the trips are directly related to the curriculum because students still benefit.

"You're learning so much material in the class, you can make cultural connections on your own just being immersed in the culture," Styer said.

Most students have enough trouble learning a second language, but there are some students who are studying Spanish as a third tongue.

Aya Yamada, a senior majoring in Spanish and Spanish literature at St. Michael's College in Vermont, said she came to the United States from Japan two years ago and began learning Spanish after trying to learn German and Chinese.

"I thought Chinese was too hard," Yamada said. "A lot of people don't know, but it's a lot different than Japanese."

Yamada found out about the GSS program when studying and volunteering last year in Pueblo, Mexico. From her experiences so far, Yamada said she found many differences between the places she has visited and her home in Japan.

Yamada said she feels a closer connection with Mexicans than with people back in Vermont because the cultural difference is smaller between Mexico and Japan.

One difference, however, is that Japanese families are more careful about personal space, but Mexicans tend to hug and kiss each other a lot, Yamada said, though she added that she has become accustomed to it.

"I don't think I've ever kissed my father," Yamada said. "I'm going to have a culture shock going back to Japan."