Los horarios me confunden

I'm still getting into the hang of things here in Murcia but I feel like I'm picking up the geography pretty fast. I have more of a map-like view of the city than I have had for other cities, even my hometown. A few of us met up this afternoon with Dani, a Universidad de Murcia student who has studied abroad in the Colorado and is  half American and half Spanish (AKA perfect English, perfect Spanish). He tried to help us figure out our classes, but we are all still very confused. After just working on it for a few hours, here are my current dilemnas:

1. There are clases magistrales (like lecture and note-taking) and clases practicas (maybe group-work and hands-on sort of activities). Unlike other colleges, the Escuela Universitaria de Turismo has this bizarre schedule where we do clases magistrales for a few weeks, then switch to clases practicas, then back. Here it is:
   
   • Clases Magistrales: Feb. 7- Mar. 4th, Mar. 26- May 6th, May 23-May 31st
   • Clases Practicas:  Mar. 5- Mar. 25th, May 7- May 22nd
   • Does this mean my classes don't start til Feb 7th?

     

     On a positive note, our campus mailbox is the fanciest ever.

2. Classes are split up into groups (A, B, C according to surname). Because the Escuela Universitaria de Turismo is a small school with its own campus, they only split into groups for clases practicas.
3. After you pick your major, your classes are already set for you (for Spanish students). There is one schedule for all freshman, one for sophomores, etc.
   Usually, international students are allowed to choose between groups (Ex: If I am assigned to group A, I can choose group B because it fits my schedule better). However, since the Escuela Universitaria de Turismo is small (I think that's the reason), groups are only offered for clases practicas. In other words, I have to pick classes from the Semester II, freshman schedule as it stands.
   
   • My problem: the two classes that I definitely knew I wanted to take overlap in the schedule, because one is a freshman level and the other is sophomore level.
4. Now, I have to try and find some other random classes that I can make work for me. I just wish I had known that I would only be able to take one of the classes because then I might have tried to go to a different school. 
5. It looks like I might be able to take either Patrimonio Cultural or Turismo Sostenible y el Medio Ambiente (the two classes I really wanted). I found a human geography class that can fit in my schedule, Geografia Humana General. Essentially, I only have two classes out of the necessary four. BLEGH!!! 

As you can tell, I'm pretty frustrated.