En el aula de arriba siempre me siento cerca del pupitre de Laura para escuchar mejor.

Because aula is a feminine noun that begins with a stressed a sound. In Spanish, many feminine singular nouns like this take el instead of la for ease of pronunciation:

• el aula
• el agua
• el arma

But they are still feminine, so adjectives stay feminine:

• el aula pequeña
• el agua fría

In the plural, you go back to las:

• las aulas

So in this sentence, el aula is correct even though aula is feminine.

De arriba means upstairs, above, or the one on the upper floor, depending on context.

So el aula de arriba means something like:

• the classroom upstairs
• the classroom above

Spanish often uses de arriba and de abajo in very natural everyday ways:

• la vecina de arriba = the upstairs neighbour
• el piso de abajo = the flat downstairs

Here it identifies which classroom the speaker means.

Good question. Sentir and sentarse are different verbs.

• siento from sentir = I feel
• me siento from sentarse = I sit down / I sit

In this sentence, me siento comes from sentarse, a reflexive verb.

Examples:

• Siento frío. = I feel cold.
• Me siento aquí. = I sit here / I sit down here.

So here siempre me siento cerca... means I always sit near...

Because sentarse is a reflexive verb. Its full infinitive is sentarse = to sit down / to take a seat.

Reflexive forms are:

• me siento = I sit down / I sit
• te sientas = you sit
• se sienta = he/she sits
• nos sentamos = we sit
• os sentáis = you all sit
• se sientan = they sit

The me is part of the verb structure, not a separate object meaning me in the English sense.

Because cerca is normally followed by de:

• cerca de = near
• lejos de = far from

So you need:

• cerca de el pupitre

But de + el contracts to del, giving:

• cerca del pupitre

This contraction is required in standard Spanish.

In Spanish, de + el contracts to del:

• de + el = del

So:

• cerca de el pupitre → cerca del pupitre

The only time this usually does not happen is when El is part of a proper name:

• de El Escorial → not del Escorial if the official name is El Escorial

But in normal grammar with the article el, the contraction is standard.

In Spain, pupitre usually means a school desk, especially the kind students use in a classroom.

So el pupitre de Laura means:

• Laura’s desk
• more literally, the desk belonging to Laura

A native English speaker might think of desk more generally, but pupitre has a more classroom-specific feel in Spain.

Spanish often prefers de + name to show possession clearly:

• el pupitre de Laura = Laura’s desk

This is often clearer than su pupitre, because su can mean:

• his
• her
• your (formal)
• their

So el pupitre de Laura avoids ambiguity.

It means in order to hear/listen better.

• para = for / in order to
• escuchar = to listen / to hear
• mejor = better

After para, Spanish commonly uses the infinitive when the subject is the same:

• Estudio para aprender. = I study in order to learn.
• Me siento cerca para escuchar mejor. = I sit nearby in order to hear better.

In this sentence, it suggests the reason the speaker sits near Laura’s desk.

Both can relate to hearing, but they are not always identical.

• oír = to hear
• escuchar = to listen

In real usage, escuchar mejor can sound natural here because the speaker is trying to follow what is being said more effectively. It can overlap with hear better in English.

That said, para oír mejor could also be possible, especially if the focus is purely on physical hearing. Escuchar mejor can suggest a bit more active attention.

That is a very normal position for adverbs like siempre in Spanish.

• Siempre me siento cerca...

It means I always sit near...

Spanish word order is somewhat flexible, but this placement is natural and common. You could also sometimes hear:

• Me siento siempre cerca...

But siempre me siento... sounds smoother and more neutral here.

Because the two de phrases do different jobs:

• del pupitre = linked to cerca → near the desk
• de Laura = possession → Laura’s

So:

• cerca del pupitre de Laura
  = near Laura’s desk

The first de is part of cerca de.
The second de shows ownership or association.

Yes. Junto a means next to or right beside, while cerca de means near.

So:

• cerca del pupitre de Laura = near Laura’s desk
• junto al pupitre de Laura = next to Laura’s desk

Junto al sounds more specific and closer physically. Cerca del is a bit broader.

Literally, it says the speaker sits near Laura’s desk:

• cerca del pupitre de Laura

That does usually imply sitting near Laura as well, but grammatically the noun being referred to is the desk, not Laura herself.

If you wanted to say near Laura, you would say:

• cerca de Laura

It is the present simple: I sit / I sit down.

With siempre, the present tense often describes a habitual action:

• Siempre me siento cerca... = I always sit near...

So this is not about one single moment, but about something the speaker regularly does.