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Never a dull moment in Madrid and Barcelona!

The past five and a half weeks have been exhausting and frustrating to say the least, but by saying that, I don’t aim to dismiss the amount of fun and adventures I have had. Everyday I have faced challenges and frustrations, whether it be through the University of California Education Abroad Programs (UCEAP), the UCEAP staff, the Colegio Mayor I stayed in, finding a piso, moving in to the piso, my landlord, the new european school system (Bologna), the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, difficulties in finding classes, and the most recent, the ATM machine eating my debit card while in Barcelona. Whoever said that studying abroad was going to be easy was full of it. Simple as that. Still, throughout everything, I have found myself growing and maturing, while making great new friends that are always there to lend a helping hand.

The past week and a half has been yet another series of adventures. Wednesday the 21st was an exhausting day filled with class, mandated tour class, and up-til-4:30 am-studying for ILP (Intensive Language Program) finals.

Thursday was finals, and after we were treated to a goodbye lunch with food and drink. [[When else will I get to have a glass of wine/ beer with my professors after taking their finals?]] After the good-byes, the students headed back to the Colegio Mayor for our final night in the dorm. A much-needed nap was taken, and then packing commenced. I moved half of my belongings into my piso, and then headed out with friends to the club “Pacha”. In Madrid, the metro stops running at 1:30 AM, but people stay out longer than that. Unless you want to walk a long way, people generally stay out until the metro opens at 6 AM. We danced the night away, had a 5:30 AM pizza slice, hoped on the metro, and slept until it was time to move out at 11AM. [[I wore my pair of heels for the first time, and while dancing, the wedge broke off one of the shoes! So the only remedy was to take the wedge off of the other. Strangely it came of ridiculously easy. So for the rest of the night at Pacha, I wore heel-less heels! It was better than walking barefoot around the occasional broken glass!]]

Friday we were exhausted from finals and the night before, which didn’t help when it came to the added frustration of looking for classes. My friends and I also made a late night IKEA run on Friday, which included a 45 minute metro ride each way. Boy, was I glad to get to sleep that night, in my newly sheeted bed in my new piso.

The weekend was a little more relaxing than the past days, including my first sushi in Spain, a walk around Plaza de España, marveling at the view near Templo de Debod, wandering through downtown and over to La Latina, and a whole day spent in my piso relaxing by myself.

September 27th was the first day of classes for the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). In Spain, the students are in one main facultad (building specifically for their major) and generally don’t take classes outside of that facultad. For example: if you are a literature major, you would be in the Facultad de Filología, and in that facultad would be a group that you continue to take classes with during your whole time at the university. Before school was more relaxed in Spain, with students generally turning up for the beginning and the final of the class. Currently they are changing the school system in Europe to the Bologna Process (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_Process). Because of this, the way the school is run is changing and we are the guinea pigs. Other issues with the school are that because we are students that are majoring and minoring in different facultads (departments) we may experience a clash of course times. Finding courses through the UCM website was difficult and although our advisor had originally said that we could just show up on the first day of classes and have a spot, they are now turning around and saying that there may not be enough for spaces in classes related to International Relations and Anthropology. Like usual, the administration of our program continues to change the information, and doesn’t respond to e-mails. We technically have to turn in our schedules mid-October, but I really I have no idea how my classes are going to work out. Wish me luck with that.

On September 28th, I experienced more frustration related to school, as I found it difficult to understand my literature teacher. A few of my good friends in the program are native spanish speakers, and are able to understand and communicate more easily in spanish. My frustration with being able to understand less easily came to a climax on Tuesday after class, as I finally broke down. Luckily I had a friend with me, to remind me that spanish is not my first language, and that I am living in a spanish speaking country, taking classes in all spanish, communicating with spanish speaking people, which are all things to be proud of. Although this doesn’t alleviate everything, it helps to be reminded.

After class, my friend Annette and I decided to go through with out plan to escape for the rest of the week in Barcelona. We headed back to my piso to try to book a hostel and bus trip. Although we finally were able to book two nights at the BeMar Hostel in Barcelona, we were unable to purchase bus tickets online! After a difficult phone call, we finally secured our places on the bus to Barcelona that night at 1 AM. After 8 hours on the bus, we arrived in Barcelona! We spent Wednesday walking around the city, eating tapas, and laying on the beach.

After a yummy paella con mariscos (paella with seafood), we headed back to the hostel for an early night. On Thursday, we woke up just in time for the complimentary hostel breakfast of toast and cereal, and joined the free Gaudi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Gaud%C3%AD) walking tour. The tour took us through Madrid and showed us his lampposts in Placa Reial, Palau Güell, Casa Batlló, Casa Milá, la Sagrada Familia, and Parc Güell. Gaudí was a crazy guy, but an incredibly creative architect!

After experiencing Gaudí all day, we headed back to our hostel, which was in a highly immigrant populated area of town. Luckily that meant there were multiple kebab places to choose from for dinner! After dinner, we met up with people from our hostel, and decided to do the hostel-run pub crawl. It was my first pub crawl, and boy was it fun! We went to three bars and then ended up at an 80′s music discoteca. Definitely a fun night! Friday was spent eating falafel kebab again, while laying on the beach. During our multiple hours on the touristy Barceloneta beach, we were able to watch an incredible air show. Although the planes were exciting to watch, they did come a bit too close for comfort. We took the rest of the day to walk through the Parc de la Ciutadella, Placa Catalunya, Cathedral de Santa Eulalia, and ended up at a side street restaurant recommended by a friend. After some delicious tapas (my regular choices being calamares andulucian y patatas con ali-oli), we went back to the hostel to grab our stuff and headed to the bus stop for 11:30 PM. 8 hours later, we were back in Madrid.

Barcelona was a cool city, and definitely has a different feel than Madrid. It is situated on the ocean, has a lot of cool architecture, many immigrants, and generally people speak english and catalan over spanish. Madrid, in comparison, is located smack-dab in the middle of Spain, surrounded by land and mountains, and is very spanish. Some people, like my landlord, don’t even speak english. Because of this, I am glad that I chose to come to Madrid, because learning spanish was such a large part of my studying abroad.

Overall I enjoyed my trip to Barcelona. The only thing that went wrong was that the Citibank ATM ate my debit card. This left me cash-less, and having to depend on my friend to spot me while in Barcelona. I am still currently cash-less, but hopefully will be receiving my new card (tarjeta) mañana. It definitely has been a little nerve-wrecking living in a foreign country with no access to cash. Although I came with traveler’s checks, it seems that they are quiet difficult to use in Spain. It really doesn’t help that no banks are open on Sundays! Oh well, I have food in my piso, and friends to help me out if I really need it.

So that is what I have been up to! Life abroad is tough, but there is never a dull moment! Through all the frustration, I have been having a good time in Spain. Support from family and friends has also been really appreciated. Thanks Mum and Dad for helping me out with everything. I miss you and everyone back home. Hope you are all doing well and don’t forget to check out my photos on Flickr or on Facebook.

xx

Pisos, patatas, parques

After searching all over the internet on sites like idealista.com and easypiso.com, I finally ventured out into Madrid to look at apartments (pisos). The first one I went to was in the heart of downtown, and although the location was really cool, the piso itself was tiny. 6 girls to one bathroom and a tiny kitchen? I don’t think so! After having my second apartment cancel on my viewing, I was feeling pretty down. I vented a little and then decided to continue onward, and headed to my third appointment of the day. The piso was a five bedroom, two bathroom, with a living room and kitchen. The room I looked at was small but it had a tall window/ door overlooking the patio garden area of the neighboring piso. After considering all the stress I had been experiencing combined with the fact that the piso (while not perfect) was livable, I decided that this would be the place for me!
My address is Calle Vallehermoso 7 (check out the street view on googlemaps).

This weekend I went to the bar El Tigre. This is a popular tapas bar in Chueca, where with the purchase of a drink, you get a full tapas plate. The patatas bravas (potatoes with a red sauce) were delicious! Today we went to the Caixa Forum museum, where we walked around exhibits on Teotihuacan and the Haiti earthquake. Both were really interesting, as the Teotihuacan exhibit had artifacts directly from the site, and the Haiti exhibit displayed photos of people and the wreckage of the 2010 earthquake. After our time at the Caixa Forum, my friends and I headed to Parque Retiro. There we sat in the grass and read for our classes. The park was beautiful and so busy today!

This upcoming week is my last in the Colegio Mayor and Intensive Language Program. Thursday is finals, and starting the next week are my actual classes at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. On Friday I move into my piso, and while I am excited to have a kitchen to cook for myself and a room to make my own, I will miss the convenience of having my new friends so close. Luckily they will all just be a walk or metro ride away!

Hope everyone is doing well back home, and I will try to post photos soon!

Mid-week exhaustion!

Hola mis amigos,

Turns out I am here for school… not to be a tourist. This fact is sadly hitting me, as I for the past 5 week days and until the 22nd, have had to wake up at 7, to eat at 7:30, to walk to the bus at 8, to ride the bus to class, and sit in class from 9-2 pm. My classes are all in spanish, and although they are interesting, it is definitely the opposite of what I wish I could be doing in the city. At 2 we hop back on the bus, walk back to the dorms, and immediately eat “lunch” (slash the meh food they give us in the dorms), and siesta for the next two hours due to being exhausted. Normally I would try explore, but today we have homework that I am sure will keep me busy until dinner at 9.

On Monday night, a group of us celebrated labor day by going to a jazz club, where we watched a fellow classmate play the trumpet. It was an awesome experience!

Sadly, tiredness is taking over, causing me to stay in last night and probably tonight.
On top of this, we have the stress of trying to find a place to live in by the 23rd of this month.
It is crazy around here, and the route of procrastination is hard not to choose. Hopefully it either lets up soon, or I get used to 6.5 hours of sleep being a lot.

Wish me luck!

P.S. Sorry for the lack of photos! The internet is terrible in the Colegio Mayor (dorm) and so I haven’t been able to get any photos up. Hopefully soon!

Week one!

The past week and a half has been a whirlwind! It was fun to play tourist with my family and friends, but now I am moved into the Colegio Mayor Santa Maria de Europa.

My trip began on August 24, 2011, on which I flew out of San Francisco International Airport to Charles De Gaul in Paris, and then connected to Barajas Airport just outside of Madrid. My wonderful mother accompanied me, and we were also blessed to have my godmother Mel join our travels from the Paris leg and onward. Although our luggage didn’t make it to Madrid for a few hours, my good friend Nicole did, and so she joined our travel party.

We arrived on Thursday August 25th, in the bustling downtown area of Gran Via. To picture it, think of lots of people, cars, tour buses, metro stations, restaurants, outside seating on the side walks, stores, and billboards for theaters. Nicole and I stayed in the hotel Tryp Ciebles, which was right around the corner from the Hotel Atlantico, where Mum and Mel took up residence. I would recommend both to anyone looking for a nice downtown hotel.

On Friday August 26, my other godmother, Denise, arrived from Mallorca. She joined our tourist party as Nicole and I were chowing down on some paella (rice with safron and veggies). To get acquainted with the city, and act like proper tourists, we bought tickets for  the Madrid Tourist Bus. The historic route took us past sites like the Palacio Real, Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, Jardín Botánico, Parque Retiro, Museo del Prado, Puerta de Alcalá, Plaza de Ciebeles, and up Gran Vía. The architecture throughout the city is amazing!

Although the bus offered us a way to get acquainted with the layout of the city, everyone knows that walking is one of the best ways to explore. And so we walked. A lot. We hopped off the bus at the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) and wandered by the impressive structure. Today the palace is only used for certain ceremonies, as the King Juan Carlos and his family live elsewhere. Although you have to pay, you can visit the Royal Pharmacy, and fair amount of the ornate royal rooms.We headed inside the Catedral de la Almudena, which although it has an Neo-Classical and older looking exterior, it has a gothic and somewhat modern interior. We then walked to Plaza Mayor, but opted to have a drink on a side street instead of inside the touristy square. After enjoying the shade and a refreshment, we headed inside the AMAZING Mercado de San Miguel. This is quiet possibly my favorite place yet. It is an indoor modern market, with cheese, wine, FROZEN YOGURT?, tapas, fruit, croquettas, patatas, desserts, and SO MUCH MORE. Although you do have to fight for a stool/ table, it is so worth the food and experience. My mom and I also visited El Mercado de San Anton in Chueca, which was yet another great market.

The five of us also walked around Parque Retiro, which is beautiful Central Park-esque area. It has a small lake with row boats, a crystal palace, and many walking paths. It was in here that Nicole and I took a picture with a strange looking Mickey Mouse, who then proceeded to follow us as he begged for money. It was awkward to say the least.

The side streets south of Gran Via lead to the plaza of Puerta del Sol. On such streets are a variety of stores, and the mega Corte Inglés department store. Think of a Nordstroms type place with toiletries, technology, books, and much more. ITS HUGE. Also on these side streets is the Chocolatería de San Gines. It is open until 3 AM and has…. wait for it…. CHURROS AND DIPPING HOT CHOCOLATE. Basically its delicious.

In terms of food, Madrid has a huge variety to offer. Basic Spanish restaurants and cafes generally offer tapas, which are small portions of food that you share with everyone at your table. The best we had were from Mercado de la Reina. GO THERE. It is delicious. We had asparagus that was cooked perfectly, yummy calamari, fresh tomatoes, and baked cheese. Madrid has a lot of Italian food too. Pasta, pizza, and of course gelato, are available fairly often. To my excitement, there seems to be quiet a few Japanese places in Madrid also. Hooray I can fulfill any sushi cravings 

Overall, I spent the first week living as a tourist. My time spent with my mum, Mel, Denise, and Nicole (and the brief encounter with Holly) was great. We ate, walked, drank, ate, walked, drank, walked, napped, ate, drank, and slept. Who can complain?? By the 28th my two godmothers and Nicole had left, and on the 31st I said goodbye to my mom. It was sad, but it was great to have her here to break in the city.

On Wednesday, August 31st I moved into the Colegio de Santa Maria, and started my Intensive Language Program (ILP) segment of my time at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. There are about 70 people in my program, whom are all from the University of California campuses. 30 out of the group are fellow Gauchos, so we share our love for UCSB.

I have one roommate, whom is also from UCSB. We share a bathroom with two other girls, though it seems that most rooms have their own bathroom. Our building is about a 15 minute walk from the bus station, and 15 minute bus ride to the Somosagus UCM campus. We have a metro stop fairly close to the dorm, which easily takes us downtown, as we are on the outer edge of Madrid. The dorm seems pretty old and my bed isn’t very comfortable. The dorm food is, well, terrible. They aren’t very vegetarian friendly, use excessive salt, and give you soggy french fries with every meal. Luckily we have small and larger supermarkets in the surrounding area, so I have stocked up on granola bars, peanut butter, and whole wheat bread (which is rare). As I am writing this, I am eating warm french bread and cheese from the 24 store below our dorm.

Although the dorm isn’t that great, the people in my program are really nice. Most people are good at spanish, which is intimidating, but luckily I am in the ILP and am here to learn!

Of course though, we aren’t just going to school. We are also here to experience the city and have fun. With the people I have met, we have gone to cafes, discotecas, and have done A LOT of walking. Yesterday I walked around the downtown area with two girls, and took in the more touristy aspect of Spain. Last night I went to the free outdoor MTV Madrid Beach concert, and enjoyed the atmosphere of being around thousands of spanish people. Groups would gather together, have a drink, and enjoy the music. Today we headed to El Rastro, which is an outdoor GIANT flea market. It spans multiple blocks and has clothes, antiques, jewlery, leather, and more. Sadly, tonight I have my first homework assignments but hopefully they will not be too hard.

Overall I have been enjoying my time in Madrid. Homesickness hits a little during down time, but luckily there isn’t very much of that. With class m-f 9-2, and lots of the city left to explore, I am sure to have a good time.

Will write again soon!