End of first semester reflections

It's a little surreal sitting here writing this post knowing I'll be going home tomorrow. This first term has consisted of a plethora of experiences, with fun times, a few hard times, and a lot of cultural appreciation along the way! Whilst it's fair to say I haven't particularly enjoyed all of my classes at uni, resulting in the second half of the semester dragging to a certain extent, at the same time it feels like yesterday that I first arrived in the blazing sunshine and 30 degree temperatures. Since then, walking the same route to my faculty each day from the train station I've witnessed the seasons wizz by and watched the trees change the colour of their leaves before shedding them. To me this daily journey has acted as a metaphor for my experience since arriving in September: in the same way that the weather changes from day to day, life keeps moving forward and a particularly rough day will eventually be replaced by a better one.

The past few weeks have been a lot easier than the start of middle of term (thankfully!) due to only having a few assessments left to complete. I've reached the end of my first 15 weeks having managed to somehow pass all my seminars meaning I can present myself (unlike one or two unfortunate students!) at the looming exams at the end of January. Looking back on my goals I set myself before leaving the UK, thus far I've successfully completed goal five: pass. It's also fair to say I've achieved goal two: travel. Since arriving, I've made three short day trips to Toledo, Segovia and El Escorial, and three longer weekend excursions to Granada, Seville and Valencia, alongside getting to know the wonderful city of Madrid itself! And I've made plans to visit Bilbao and San Sebastian in my free few days between my January exams and the start of second semester classes. I've also smashed goal three: eat out. I've been to 24 different restaurants and cafes, establishing some firm favourites to which I've returned a number of times! This week I've a sublime pumpkin quiche with cashew cheese and a delicious blueberry and lemon scone at the artisan and tranquil Bunny's Deli and a superb buddha bowl and incredible tiramisu at the fairly hippy and buzzing Vega. Goal one and four, on the other hand, are a very different story... I've definitely not spoken as much Spanish as I naively hoped I would and as of yet I'm still no extrovert. But hey, baby steps right?

On a different note, I have noticed an improvement in my swimming, which I've been doing 2-3 times a week to stop me from going insane without my bike to ride.

This past week I went to check out the Christmas lights at the Botanical Gardens which were lovely and visited the extremely underwhelming Christmas market in Plaza Mayor (the German Christmas markets in Birmingham are tens times better in my opinion) which sold a lot of cheap Christmas tat which I imagine you'd find a lot cheaper in a pound shop. Though thinking about it I've not seen any of those in Spain, so maybe Spanish citizens have to wait 11 months before having the opportunity to spend their pennies on useless capitalist pieces of rubbish manufactured in China and that break after two uses. Anyway I seem to have wondered off on a tangent... I finished the semester on a high last night, going out with three of my best friends here: Juan, Jose and Pedro, and in typical Spanish fashion dancing the night away until the Metro re-opened at 06:00.

I've got lots of revision (i.e. learning the content for the first time) to do before my January exams, but I'm giving myself Christmas off. Looking forward to a proper break, Christmas baking and riding my bike!

So for the last time of 2019, hasta luego!

Seville and Valencia

Long post alert consisting of my last two weekends sightseeing and experiencing some other parts of Spain!

Seville with Pedro
We got the train on Friday night and, after eventually finding and checking in at the extremely poorly signposted hostel, had time for a drink to start off the weekend.
On Saturday morning we visited the cathedral, the girada viewing tower and the alcazar in the lovely sunshine and real feel temp of 20 degrees even though it was the last day of November. Not sure if this is typical Seville weather or just climate change, but either way we weren't complaining too much. After a quick bite, we headed over the other side of the river (which reminded me of the bridge in Cologne for some reason), and checked out the Triana market. Whilst most of the stalls had finished for the day and were beginning to pack up, we still got a great idea of the atmosphere, since there quite a few people were eating and drinking at the bars there, just without the busyness of the market that would have been present earlier in the day. And yes I know that was an extremely poorly worded sentence but I can't think of another way to say it. We next headed back over the river to visit the museum of fine arts before heading for an earlyish tea which served meat for Pedro whilst I had some overpriced yet still very tasted stir fry smoked veg. The main event was still yet to take place - the Flamenco show which we'd booked before we came. It was absolutely super! Everything was just so Spanish I can't even give it justice with my mere description in words. The guitarist was incredible, the singers had such distinctive voices, the dancing itself was filled with passion and noisy stamping, and all of the men had long black hair. Everything worked so well together, and the locals in the crowd got quite involved shouting out "¡Olay Ramón!" very frequently. I was blown away by how fast he moved his feet. We finished the night off in typical Spanish fashion with a couple of beers and plenty of greasy crisps.
Sunday we visited the setas, which is a bizarre wooden structural moment in the centre of the city, where you can get the lift to the top and see some mediocre views of the city, especially because it was super cloudy and grey when we went which was a shame. By the time we arrived at Plaza de España things had brightened up, and we walked round the nearby gardens before heading for lunch. We spent the last hour in Starbucks hiding from the torrential downpour before catching the train home.

Valencia on my tod
I arrived on Friday morning because it was a fiesta meaning I could take advantage of the puente (long weekend). My first impressions were shaped by the 40 minute walk to the futuristic city of arts and sciences - if I'm being honest I thought it was a bit of a dump. But this impressions were soon dismissed as I arrived at the modern museums which struck me as very similar to how I imagine Sydney in Australia to be. I enjoyed the science museum a lot more than I thought I would because I'm not really the sciency type. It had a super interesting section about the brain and its ability to learn languages with lots of information and interactive activities and there was also a section about space exploration to Mars, which merely reinforced my opinion that space travel is an absolute waste of time and money. With night temperatures of -70, low levels of gravity, high levels of cosmic radiation, not to mention the lack of oxygen or water, it wouldn't exactly make for a homely environment in my opinion. But each to their own I guess. Anyway I digress. I next headed for lunch at a vegan restaurant called Nomit, where I had a fantastic lentil apple and cinnamon burger. Yes you heard me correctly and yes I was initially sceptical as well but I'm glad my curiosity won me over. After lunch I headed to the centre of the city where it struck me that it has fantastic infrastructure for cycling, with an abundance of bike lanes and places to hire bikes! At Mercat Colón gastro market I tried the local speciality of orxata and coca de llanda - a plant milk with a lot of sugar added tasting of liquid rice pudding and a simple but tasty loaf cake. My next destination was the Torre del Micalet which provided a reasonably challenging climb to the top and stunning views of the city. I next found myself getting lost in the beautifully narrow and twisty streets on the way to the famous Torres de Seranos. Before tea I spent a fair amount of time in the museo de bellas artes working up an appetite attempting to figure out what on earth artists in the late medieval period were looking at when they were painting because it certainly wasn't real people as we know them today. Good job I burnt all those calories standing and not appreciating most of the paintings because I had a super greasy burger for tea with some amazing alioli to dip my large portion of fries into. Mmm. After checking in at my hostel, I headed out to Jimmy Glass jazz club for a drink and some live jazz, which was unfortunately wasn't really to my taste so I didn't stay long.
Saturday began by being described as looking 16 by a Venezuelan man staying at the hostel - not the worst I've heard to be honest. Good job I had some fantastic vegan pastries for my breakfast from Manchegos to improve my mood. First on my list of things to see was the famous central market and it did not disappoint. Possibly the biggest market I've ever been to, with stalls for literally everything under the sun, including buy not limited to, bread, pastries, fresh fruit and veg, meat, fish, cheese, alcohol, tea and coffee, herbs and spices, nuts, beans and legumes, jams and preserves, turrón, tapas and breakfast food, and merchandise. It was so busy but the atmosphere was incredible! And that's their daily life. I next visited the UNESCO heritage site La Lonja and enjoyed earwigging a middle-aged British couple Mary and her husband trying to orientate their tourist map and attempting to pronounce Valencian names. The obligatory cathedral visit was better than most, with a really interesting free audio guide explaining the difference between the gothic, rennaissance, baroque and neoclassical styles to the building, and some cool bits about how the main alter piece is hidden behind a fake alter piece which opens up and a ritual of pregnant women walking around the cathedral 9 times, made all the more intriguing by being lucky enough to see a pregnant woman doing just that! I'm also glad I checked out the cathedral museum because I was pleasantly surprised by the archaeological site underneath the building which consisted of a roman burial site and sewers. Upon leaving the cathedral, I was lucky enough to stumble across some traditional Valencian dancing in la plaza de la virgen which was both awful and entertaining. After visiting the natural history museum which was basically a fossil museum and exploring the surrounding gardens, I decided to walk to the beach because I had some time to kill and it was 19 degrees. In December. Marvellous I know. I had another orxata and enjoyed watching a black cat and some surfers before walking back  to grab some food and a coffee before my train home. I walked a total of 70,000 steps over the course of the weekend, which I reckon is about 50km. Not quite sure how I managed to walk this distance in 12 hours at the age of 14 on a Scouting hike challenge called Fenland 50. I was shattered by doing it over the course of two days.

In sum, Seville was a cross between Granada and Cologne and Valencia was a cross between Seville and Sydney. I would definitely recommend visiting both!

Countdown to Christmas!

Bit of a longer gap between this and my last post - mainly because of fewer significant things to note and being busier with uni! Saying that, I've still found myself making time every Sunday to go to a café for some brunch or just a coffee and cake! My favourite is a little place called Chillin Café which does a really good chocolate and banana bread, followed by a close second of La Colectiva Café which also does great food and coffee but tends to be busier and with less pleasant staff.

Just a short post today - although I think this every time so don't hold your breath... I'm well into term now and there's less than a month to go till Christmas which I'm really looking forward to! I've already done the equivalent to a semester at UoB which also includes a reading week so no prizes for guessing I'm starting to lag with my enthusiasm for uni work (if there ever was any). Can't remember if I've spoken about essays and assessments here at UAM yet (?) so a quick overview as to how it compares to UoB. Most of my assessments are 'tipo test', which is essentially a multiple choice test. I remember comparing Spanish uni to UK sixth form and this type of assessment definitely follows suit. However, this doesn't make passing any easier, especially in my law modules where I still have no idea what's going on - because there is a right or wrong answer which I'm not used to! Nonetheless, I've found myself scraping passes. The essays are a totally different story. So far I've written a few 2000 word essays which you get a week to write, compared to UoB where you have on average one 2000 word essay per module and essentially have the whole semester if you start earlier enough. I'd heard about the standard of marking being lower before I came out, and was hoping that it was true. It certainly is. On the two essays that I've had back so far, which I'd put a semi-decent effort in, but only citing around seven sources (not getting you very far in the UK), I've been given tens (out of ten). If that doesn't tell you enough already, ones of the teachers gave a light telling off to some of the class for plagiarising Wikipedia in their essays... If you did that in the UK, you'd be in a bit of a pickle to say the least. In relation to the feedback, it's crap. Do not expect any form of constructive criticism in order to do better next time. Simply do better next time. I also still hate the teacher of Teorías de democracia - she sucks the life and soul out of me for 3 hours every week.

Outside of class but still at uni, I've started swimming because my ankles can no longer hack running apparently and I need to burn some calories in order to eat the amount I'd like to! Actually quite enjoying it - just frustrating that it's not as cheap as running.

Outside of uni, I've been to Segovia and the super small tall of El Escorial with Aluni. It was raining ALL day in Segovia which made it really miserable. I'm normally okay with rain, but it was also super cold, and once you get cold and wet, it's hard to get warm and dry again. I did not successfully get warm and dry again until I got home. The town itself is rather like Toledo, though I much preferred Toledo. So if you have to visit one, I'd recommend giving Segovia a miss. El Escorial has a huge monastery where some of the recent Spanish monarchs are buried - though being the former residence of the kings and queens it's no surprise that it's actually more like a palace than a monastery. It was very pretty and worth the six euros student entrance (but probably not the 12 euros non student entrance). I was also told before I went how cold and windy it is, but I still underestimated this. I can't remember the last time I experienced such bitterly cold wind! So if you go, go dressed as a snowman.

This weekend I'm going to Seville with Pedro for two days which I'm looking forward to! Just hoping he doesn't get too frustrated with me having to hunt out vegan food... And I'm going to Valencia solo the following week which I'm super looking forward to - Valencia is supposed to be the third most vegan populated city in Spain following Madrid and Barcelona! Updates to follow in my next post, which will probably be in three weeks or so to wrap up the first semester!

So here we are at the end of another post, yet again having written more than I anticipated.

Granada!

I'm currently writing today's update in the kitchen (which doesn't have heating) with a jumper and bobble hat on, warming my hands up with a cup of tea. It's absolutely freezing. It was 5 degrees for most of today and I'm really not sure where that came from... I can't even warm up in bed at the moment because my room is just as cold if not colder. I've probably got damp so my door has been open all day to get rid of the smell, which is just fantastic really. Most of today's post is going to be about Granada where I went at the weekend, but beforehand, just a couple of noteworthy things to have happened within the past two weeks.

I had my first seminar for International Public Law, and the case we had to read for it was absolutely huge. It contained a number of different conventions and court rulings which I tried in vain to find in English (don't judge me, it takes ages and I still don't understand anything more by the end than I did at the beginning), and also 10 questions about the case which need arguments grounded in legal theory/practice in response. To make matters worse, we had a class test on the case - but in a pleasantly surprising turn of events, the teacher said I could use a dictionary and essentially said I could ask him anything I didn't understand! So he must realise that I am struggling which takes a little bit of the weight off my shoulders!

I attended the Madrid student welcome day. And what a waste of time that was. The event, unknown to me beforehand, was essentially a massive freshers fair which had loads of information about housing and trips and bank accounts. This would have been useful information before I came to Madrid, or within the first 2 weeks at most, but 6 weeks into term...?

I went to a fair for the National Day of Spain which wasn't a waste of time. It was just like a crappy amusement park on the British coast which reminds me of home so enjoyed it. Also reminded me of my time spent in Spain when I was little with my grandparents going to do the hook a duck in the evening! And of course what's not to love about churros every 10 metres. One thing that did make me chuckle was how many teenagers were there drinking - I know botellón is a thing but this was a different level of young people encountering their first experiences with alcohol! One or two had had one too many shall we say...

The library is getting very full now which I do not appreciate. And yes I am aware of how selfish this is.

I've finally registered as a resident of Spain! An appointment eventually became available and so that's one less thing on my long-term to do list.

And since my last post I've had my first menú del día at Punto Vegano, which included pumpkin soup to start, spinach ravioli as my principante (I haven't had ravioli in so long because shop-bought stuff always has meat or cheese in and it was heavenly) and pumpkin cake for dessert! I've also been to Delishvegan to try one or their donuts and it was the best I've ever tasted including non-vegan ones! They have so many more flavours to try so I'll definitely be going back. And I accidentally discovered a Spanish fast food chain that serves vegan options - it's called Pans and Company. I had their bbq huera (mock chicken) bocadillo and I was actually considering sending it back at first because I was so convinced they had given me real chicken one it was so realistic...

As usual I've ended up writing more than I was planning on, but nevertheless on to Granada! Got an early train Saturday morning and arrived about 11:00. The trains are super comfortable, which probably helps to explain their extortionate prices... I thought UK trains were expensive! But since learned that you can get a discount card for 50 euros which gives to 50% off tickets if you book a month in advance, which still would have been cheaper than what I paid for a return annoyingly. Anyway, my morning consisted of visiting some Catholic places of worship, starting with the Basilica de San Juan de Dios. Not really sure what I was expecting, but I was absolutely blown away! Words cannot describe how much gold there was, and with an audioguide included for 4 euros it was definitely one of the highlights of the day to my surprise. This was a slight shame because it made the Real Monasterio de San Jerónimo and the Capilla Real de Granada were quite disappointing in comparison. I went to a place called El Ojú for lunch. Now Granada is the home of Spanish tapas, known for its generous portion sizes, but I had no idea of the extent of this. With every drink you get a free tapa from a choice of eight, so for the price of 7.40 euros (the price of a starter in the UK?) I had 2 drinks, a mock chorizo sandwich, a roasted veg sandwich, and a massive slice of chocolate banana cake and I was absolutely stuffed. Didn't even need to order a main! Next I went to visit the summer house of Frederico Garcia Lorca, one of whose plays I studied for A-level Spanish and came to resent the name just like you do with anything to revise for hours and hours of end with, but naturally I had to make the visit regardless. A lovely lady gave a tour of the house and had loads of interesting information, even though I can't remember much of it now. I next walked to one of Granada's viewpoints to experience the amazing views that the city is known for. I think this was either one of the lesser well-known ones, or just the fact that it was a bit further away and more of an effort to get to. I was not disappointed! The views were gorgeous and a German lad was playing some peaceful acoustic guitar to his girlfriend which added to the tranquil mood and sunset lighting. On my way to tea, I hunted out some of the streets I'd previously looked up before coming - Granada has some really artistic graffiti and I'm glad I made the effort to find it! I had the hicuri burger (beyond burger with vegan bacon, vegan cheese and turmeric and orange bread) at Hicuri Vegan Restaurant for tea which came with chips and some absolutely banging garlic alioli. Afterwards it was getting pretty dark and so I headed up to the more well known (and closer) viewpoint to see the city (and the Alhambra) lit up. Even though it was pretty, the sheer amount of tourists (like myself, I know I'm a hypocrite) killed the mood slightly. I finished off the evening with some mango gelato which I enjoyed in a plaza a short walk from my hostel. Whilst people watching, I German hitchhiker came over and offered my some wine as he didn't want to drink alone and we got chatting for quite a while which topped the evening off. I do enjoy travelling alone because I can go my own pace but it is nice to talk to somebody every once in a while! Sunday morning began with another early start as I'd learned the previous day that if you get to the Alhambra early enough, you can buy the leftovers of what haven't already been sold online for that day. So I took my chances and checked out of the hostel at 07:00, had a fantastic beetroot houmous and avocado bagel for breakfast at Wildfood Vegan which conveniently opened super early, and walked for half an hour in the cold, dark and rain to the ticket office. And I got a ticket! The only downside was that my time to enter the actual Palace was at 13:00 which I wouldn't be able to make because I had to catch my train home that afternoon. But I still got to see the Alcazaba (military fortification with some of the best views of the city), the gardens, and the Generalife which all were fantastic! Afterwards I had an hour to kill and some did some window shopping in the city's middle-eastern themed shops due to the city's Arabic heritage, before having lunch at Paprika, which served some good but albeit overpriced quinoa steamed rolls. Overall, an absolutely fantastic city which thoroughly exceeded my expectations!

Saving the planet, travelling and new food of course!

Just a general update today of the things I've been up to over the last few weeks. Getting straight to it then, not long after my last post there was a climate strike in the centre of Madrid which I went along to! At first I was a little unsure as to whether I'd missed it, as the week before seemingly the rest of the planet went on strike in what were the biggest global climate protests to have taken place so far. But bearing in mind the Spanish stereotype of being laid back and fashionably late to the party, I nevertheless headed over to Atocha which is where the march started. I was not disappointed. There were SO many people! Not really sure why I wasn't expecting the capital of an economically developed country to have thousands participate in such an important movement but hey. I joined the march at 18:30 and we got to Sol around 21:00 - it was pretty tiring as most of the time you were standing still but definitely worth it. The atmosphere was superb and got better as the evening went on, the sun began to set, and the half-hearted instagrammers left leaving the more hardcore protesters. After a while I began to pick up some of the chants too which was good.

The next day I went on a day trip to Toledo with Aluni and had such a good day! The weather almost perfect (it being slightly too hot - typical British complaining I know). The town/city (still don't really know what it is) is really beautiful, and we went on a semi-hike in order to get to one of the old defence posts in order to get a view overlooking Toledo which was most definitely worth it. The only downside to the day was that I was subject to the will of the majority and had to remain with the group the whole day, being unable to wonder off and do my own thing, or enter any of the museums as not enough people wanted to pay the entry fee. Noteworthy parts of the day were the zipwire that goes across the river (super fun, if you go you must try it) and the el Greco museum which we visited in the evening (because it was free if you hadn't guessed).

A week later was another activity with Aluni. We were supposed to be going to a medieval market in Segovia but the event was cancelled for some unknown reason so instead Aluni put on a hike with a bbq. The route itself wasn't particularly hard, but some of the scenery was really lovely. In actual fact in the area in which we were walking had loads of English trees and shrubs, from oaks, pines, to the cherry blossom that I have in my back garden! So that was nice to be a bit closer to home for a few hours. The route finished at a casita (little house) which Aluni had purchased a few years ago which is where we had the bbq. The food wasn't exactly perfect for a vegan, consisting of steak, turkey, chorizo and black pudding, with some grilled veg cooked alongside all of it. But I made do with that and lots of bread. During lunch (which we ate at 17:00, more like teatime I know) I was uncomfortably interrogated about my vegan beliefs in a language not my own, and so struggled to make some of the more sophisticated points which was frustrating. One of the men tried to get me to admit that I'm a hypocrite for eating plants because they feel pain too and there is no distinction between them and animals. ANYWAY. There was also a pool there but we only dipped our feet in because it was freezing! That evening I met up with Pedro and José (my friends from the language exchange) to go for a drink, but was persuaded to buy a ticket for a club crawl because it was infinitely cheaper, being six euros for free entry and a drink at four different places.

Since my last update I've also ticked off a fair few more places off my vegan restaurant bucket list! I've had: an amazing falafel wrap at falafeleria which rivalled (but didn't quite beat) Falafel Munch in Selly Oak; a vegan chicken burger at Thunder vegan food which was the best I've ever tasted; two different flavours of gelato at Acquilina and Heladeria Bellameria; a fried eggplant sandwich (amazing) at Ay Mi Madre; and more cake from Freedom Cakes and Cellioso gluten free bakery. I do do other things other than eat I promise.

It's not all been fun and games, work is still hard at uni, and I'm really struggling to get through all of the required readings, which means I need to try and be more selective with what needs doing and what doesn't. I'd say I'm picking up slightly more in lectures now which is good, but concentrating for 90 minutes straight hasn't got any easier I can tell you! Next Monday we're watching a film in one of my modules after and on which we're getting given a 2000 word essay that's due in a week after... I'm hoping the quality doesn't have to be as good as Bham essays because otherwise things aren't looking good, especially since I'm visiting Granada at the weekend... oh well, at least these grades don't exactly count for my degree!

One random point to note before I round off that I've been meaning to write for a while, the Mercadona really rushes you through the till. It's ten times worse than Aldi! They basically hurl everything at you at once, ask you to pay, and then pack you bags in the wrong order whilst you faff about with your wallet. Very uncomfortable.

¡Nos vemos!

Here comes autumn

It's definitely getting colder! Well, in the mornings anyway. Have been meaning to write this post for a few days now, just so I don't forget what I've been up to. It's been just over a week since la Vuelta and I don't really know where the time has gone!

Monday was a pretty dire start and frustrating start to last week. I arrived to catch the bus at my normal time but there was a much bigger number of people waiting in the queue than normal - había personas por un tubo! A phrase I learnt from a Spanish friend called Igor; I hope I've used it correctly... Basically I had to catch a second bus because the first one was full, and the second one just happened to arrive 45 minutes late, meaning I missed a lot of my first class starting at 08:30 - theories of democracy. But when I arrived I wasn't allowed to enter because I'd arrived late - even though it was through no fault of my own! This was made even more frustrating by the fact that if you miss 3 classes you fail the module... As a result I've started taking the cercanías Renfe, which as it happens is actually a bit quicker if I time the trains correctly! So every cloud has a silver lining I guess.

On Thursday I met some more people at the CityLife Meet and Speak and we all went out together on Saturday night on a bar crawl organised by an international student company which was super good fun! 10 euros for entry to four clubs with a free drink in each of them in the heart of Spain's capital - outrageously good value if you ask me. One thing I found interesting is that most of the people in the first club were as sober as we were when we arrived - I don't the the Spanish must do pre-drinks as hard as the Brits? Getting home was so much easier than I thought it would be - Madrid has a fleet of night buses (called Búhos, which mean owls - quite amusing really) as the metro shuts at around 01:00. After a short walk to Cibeles it took about 20 minutes to get home!

On Sunday (other than sleeping) I met up with Igor and went around the Rastro again, and learnt I a lot more Spanish phrases! I also witnessed him order a bocadillo de tortilla - a massive sandwich (carbs) filled with a traditional Spanish potato omlette (more carbs) - amazing. I love the Spanish. I got my lunch at La Huerta de Almería, a little organic wholesale food shop near the Rastro that also offers incredible vegan options where I had the best seitan (wheat meat) I've had in a long time.

Turning the clock back a few days, Friday night I went to an all you can eat vegan Chinese buffet (for 11 euros, also incredibly good value) at a place called Shi Shang which is only a short walk from Sol. Although I've met a fair few vegetarians here (mostly international students) and one or two vegans as well, I've still yet to find one who will eat as much as me so had to go it alone. The food was soooo good. Very greasy, but that's exactly what I look for in Chinese food. Will definitely be back.

On Saturday I was supposed to be doing the hiking activity organised by Aluni that was cancelled the week before, but I hadn't received any details confirming it and the weather looked a bit pants anyway. But after not receiving a reply to my email and being unable to find the activity which was previously listed on their website I presumed it had yet again been cancelled and I was not notified. Starting to get used to it now though.

And last night I went with two of the people I went out with on Saturday (Jorge and Heidi) to a salsa class in the middle on town which was also a massive laugh! I have to say I nailed the hips but the feet and arms and turns and pretty much everything else let me down. There must have been about 200 people there and the class is only just over an hour, so the instructor has to teach the steps at a pace a bit too fast for my liking. But nonetheless, I hope to go back at some point and try and improve.

I should probably get on with some actual work now, so that's all for now - hasta luego!

Back to reality...

So I've survived my first week at uni! Just... I'm not going to lie it's been hard - very hard in fact. All of my magistrales (lectures) and semanarios are at least an hour and a half in duration and some are supposed to last 3 hours, though none of them did this week since most of the content was the standard 'what to expect' nonsense. But if I thought it was hard to concentrate for a whole hour at Birmingham then doing so in a Spanish lecture is on a completely different level of mentally taxing. I spend all of my efforts trying to translate what's just been said but my brain doesn't have time to process it and makes notes before it has to move on to trying to decipher the next sentence! And what makes it really more depressing is watching my Italian Erasmus classmate I met write swathes and swathes of notes!
Outside of taught contact hours, I've gotten on fairly well with the reading, although it takes me loads longer to do than it does in English as I can't scan read as well in a language that I'm not as confident in. International Public Law is very similar to International Relations Theory (at the moment anyway) and so this has been one of the easier ones to read for as I'm familiar with the vocabulary and concepts already. Introduction to Penal Law was hard. I didn't really have any idea what was going on in the magistral, but the only good thing was that he had a powerpoint that I could take notes from which none of the others did! Difficult too was Theories of Democracy, the content of which starts in Ancient Greece with Pericles' Funeral Oration. If reading Spanish slows me down, then reading Ancient Greek with its unfamiliar sentence structures translated into Spanish turns me into an ancient snail. But I do love the law library - it's been so empty this week! Hopefully that stays the same as the term goes on...
One interesting thing to note so far is how dissimilar the whole university culture is in general compared to English uni - it reminds me a lot more of Sixth Form or College! All I've heard this week from lecturers is how attendance is mandatory, and that the doors will stay shut after class starts. They treat the students like students, which is very different to how UK lecturers put themselves on the same level as us and don't really care if the work isn't done, as they know that we're only wasting our own time. 
Outside of class this week I met up with my Canadian friend, Mathilde (pretty sure I call now call her a friend?) for tea at Distrito Vegano (on my list). It was super! Had a fantastic beetroot burger with some amazing little cooked potatoes on the side (which were a bit like patatas bravas but not sure that they were?). I also went back to City Life's meet and speak which was good fun. I met José there again and turns out he follows road cycling, so hopefully I'll be seeing a bit more of him!
Today I was supposed to be hiking with Aluni.net (my housing provider who also puts on activities) but it was postponed for a week because of bad weather. Yes, that's right, I've been here just shy of two weeks now and have had my first taste of Spanish rain! It's very much like English rain actually. So I used the opportunity to check out some mouldy old paintings as my mum would say at el Reina Sofía, one of Madrid's golden triangle of art. I appreciate that I can't really appreciate art. But all of the stuff I saw today was so weird! Not bad weird, but you do wonder Picasso and co. were taking in the 1930s. I also went to the nearby Atoche Renfe station because it has an indoor botanical garden section right in the middle of the station which was pretty cool.
Not a lot else to note really from this week without being too mundane!
Hopefully going to see the last stage of la Vuelta tomorrow! Cannot wait!
Not sure when my next post will be, probably when something else noteworthy happens I suppose. But until then, un saludo cordial!

Sightseeing!

What a fab and jam-packed 3 days! I've done all of the main touristy things that you'd think to do in a weekend, and I feel like I know the city I'll be calling home for the next 10 months a lot better. Just so I don't forget what I've done, here's a fairly detailed recollection of my recent activities.

I set off mid-morning on Friday in the gorgeous sunshine (which it has been all week, not to brag or anything), and jumped on línea 1 that took me straight to Sol, the main station in Madrid. The first thing on my list was Plaza Mayor. Though not much to do here apart from eat in the cafes and restaurants, the beautiful architecture of the square was definitely worth a visit. I then walked on to visit La Catedral de la Almudena, before going to El Palacio Real de Madrid. The line to get in was 45 minutes long according to a nearby tour-guide, and because entry is free Monday-Thursday 16:00-18:00 and I'll be in the area for a little longer shall we say, I thought I'd leave that until another time. On my way to Casa de Campo (an absolutely gigantic park to the West of Madrid, I stopped in at one of the vegan cafes on my list - Dulce & Vegana enjoy ethically. I had some fantastic chocolate cake and the lovely lady who worked there offered me a free scoop of vanilla ice cream to which I couldn't refuse! Afterwards I stumbled across Campo del Moro (the gardens of the Palacio Real, and decided to have a mosey around and take in its natural beauty and exceptionally well cut lawn. I finally got to the Lago Casa de Campo and walked all the way around its perimeter. Templo de Debod was next on my list as it was in the area, and so I got the metro to its nearest station: Plaza de España. The Egyptian Temple was rebuilt by the Spanish in the late 60s as part of a UNESCO World Heritage project, but I went at the wrong time of year - the lack of rain over the summer meant that it's surrounding and supposedly lovely water/moat had completely dried out! Maybe I'll go back once it has rained again. With all my plans for the day finished and it still only being 16:00, I decided to head over to Gran Vía (Spain's broadway) and check out a little more of the modern Madrid. Just before heading home, I had to swing by Freedom Cakes, another vegan cake shop which happened to be near by - it would have been rude not to wouldn't it? I had a tasty ración of the carrot cake and a super rich mango milkshake which was absolutely heavenly! I left feeling slightly sick, but still with the intention of returning at some point to try the rest of the menu.

Saturday I got up a little earlier to try and fit a little more in - a mistake to say the least. I arrived at Sol at around 10:00 and realised that most of Spain is still in bed. Bus tours didn't start until 13:00, and so I headed over to Banco de España and Parque de Retiro. I flirted with the idea of hiring a bike provided by the Madrid's public transport system, but quickly decided against it after realising a 150 euro deposit was required for what would have been a 6 euro trip. No thanks very much. Retiro was quite underwhelming to start with, entering the park next to some building works and under an overcast sky. But after exploring the vast majority of it in what took around two hours, I had fully changed my opinion. There were so many trails and paths to explore in between the trees - somewhere perfect to escape the hustle and bustle of city life! This is why it's a very popular spot for runners - shame its a 40 minute commute from me... I then walked back across the city to buy a ticket for the bus tour. On my way I passed a number of Churrerías and realised that I'd been in Spain for 5 days, and I still hadn't had any churros, so naturally I had to get some. After buying a ticket and reaching the bus stop half an hour before the start time, I went to el Mercado de San Miguel seeing as it was within spitting distance. Full of people and every type of tapas imaginable in what was a theme park for my senses, the phenomenal atmosphere struck me as extremely similar to that of Borough Market in London! As it turned out, I'd pretty much seen everything on the bus tour. But I did realise that the Bernabéu Stadium was about a 20 minute walk from my flat - something I'd been completely unaware of beforehand. At 17:15 I arrived at el Círculo de Bellas Artes, which is known for its rooftop terrace and view over the city - just in time as a matter of fact, as 20 minutes later the queue was about 50 yards long. The view was super! Admittedly it didn't meet my expectations, but I had to remind myself that its very hard to compare city views when you've been lucky enough to see the view of Tokyo from the Sky Tower! Before heading home, I walked across to el Museo del Prado, one of the city's corners of its golden triangle of art, only to continue walking past it trying to find the back of the queue. About 10 minutes of walking and a lot of chuckling in despair later, I reached the back of the queue and decided to give it a miss and come back another day. I'd arrived (intentionally) during the hours when the doors are opened to the public for free, but as it turns out this was also well-known to the probably 600+ other people waiting in line. That evening I met up with my friend Tom from my Spanish class at UoB and a few others for drinks and to see how we were both getting on. We ended up in a gastrobar called Viva Chapata in Lavapies (completely uncoincidentally on my list of vegan places to visit. Although it was quite a small place, the atmosphere was exactly how I had envisioned a Spanish gastrobar - loud, full of merriment (*cerveza*), good company, and good cheap food! We were served hummus and bread as a free tapa with our first round of drinks, but for some unknown reason, after Tom asked for one of his jarras to be re-pulled because of his (albeit legitimate) claim that about a third of it was head, we didn't receive any more free tapas... This was in vain as Tom didn't even receive a better pint; he got one exactly the same. So I ordered their hamburguesa vegana (made of oatmeal) and it was fab! After paying the bill, we realised that I'd paid less for three cañas (smallest measure of beer available, about 25cl) than Tom had for a jarra (about a pint) - so I guess I had the last laugh after being called a lightweight at the start of the night.

Today my flatmate Abdullah and I went to visit the famous Rastro flea-market in the south of Madrid., which was nice as it gave me the chance to get to know him a bit better. The market itself did not disappoint! The stalls weren't necessarily what I was there for (although I did get a niche wooden sign with Madrid written on), rather it was the atmosphere (sensing a theme with what I like about city yet?). The streets were packed and there were loads of really good busking bands! We returned to Tetuán surprised to be confronted with to a huge street party/festival along the main road! There was a fantastic drumming band, and loads of bouncy castles and other activities. I looked it up and turns out it was el Día del Niño - which explained all of the children and the somewhat young-nature of all of the games. Another good thing to note for the day - I found two ATMs that don't charge for cash withdrawals - here's to not being exploited by the banks.

So this brings us to now, Sunday evening. Tomorrow I actually start uni which I'm a bit unhappy about really. I was quite getting used to enjoying myself and having no worries apart from what cool thing to see next or which vegan restaurant to try. Not really sure what to expect - except the unexpected I suppose. Time to knuckle down during the daytime now and get some work done. I'll probably do another update at some point next weekend with how my first week has gone. ¡Buenas noches a todos!

What a first few days!

I'm writing this update a little earlier than I anticipated because I still have a few days left before term starts and so lots more will hopefully happen before then, but I suppose that's a good thing, as I might forget everything before I write it down! Last night I attempted to charge a clock, phone and power pack through a multi-adaptor (because there is only one socket in my room - first world problems I know), and to stop the fuse from blowing, my clock kept running perfectly, but my phone and power pack which I need for sightseeing today have remained uncharged.
Anyway... I'm now going to ramble and give a summary of the best bits of my last few days that spring to mind whilst writing - so much to tell, I'll try not to write too much!

Monday - shout out to my parents right at the start of my journey for not crying when I left them at the airport terminal - good job guys. No problems with Ryanair! No striking and no delays, with my flight arriving on time, I'm taking that as good karma. Arrived and met my landlady who seems lovely, and my flatmates who were already here. 1 Brit, 2 Americans and a Peruvian all speak/want to practice their English which is a good thing, but it means I've had to look elsewhere for practice speaking Spanish. They also seem nice enough, but I've hardly seem them over the past few days, so I guess they're going to be flatmates rather than friends - but we'll see how that develops. Went shopping at Mercadona, found quite a lot of what I'd get in the UK (soya alternatives and milk free cereals etc.) and there's quite a bit of choice so I don't mind walking the extra few minutes to get there. Also, for anyone wanting to buy tins of beans in Spain, they come in jars, so don't spend half an hour trying to look for tins. They are located near the pasta.

After a very hot and noisy first night (guess I'm just going to have to get used to that), I spent Tuesday getting to know Tetuán a little more, which is where I'm living. General thoughts: not very pretty, a little bit run down, but I can't complain too much; I'm a stone's throw away from the metro station on línea 1 which is the north-south line in Madrid, so I can get to Sol (the centre) in about 20 minutes and to my train/bus connection for uni in 10. And there are so many fruiterías! Every 10 metres you walk past a shop dedicated to loose fruit and veg - heaven. The fruit here is to die for. So sweet; I don't know how I'm going to go back to eating English fruit again. In the afternoon I went out for lunch at Hakuna Matata Veggie (on my list of vegan places to visit!) and had a massive and Spanish egg-free tortilla (labelled as a starter) served with pan (of course) for eight euros - amazing. Went on a walk to the nearest green spaces in the area, Parque de Villaamil and Cuarto Depósito. Nice areas, but both at least a 20 minute walk to get to each which is a shame. In the evening I went to my first Spanish intercambio de idiomas (language exchange) with a group I found on MeetUp. I was thoroughly crap but I enjoy myself and definitely want to go back! 30,000 steps by the end of the day, absolutely shattered!

Wednesday was my first day at uni. I managed to catch the right bus and got to campus an hour before my intro talk from the Faculty of Law. The campus is so big! 4.7km in perimeter, with quite a lot of greenery and loads of redbrick buildings - a lot like UoB actually, just more spread out. There is also a car park covered by solar panels to keep the cars cool and create electricity at the same time - how cool is that! Before my talk I met a girl from POLSIS who I recognised but didn't realise was coming here, so that was nice to see a friendly face. I understood a lot more than I thought I would in the intro talk but it was mostly information we had been given and so I recognised the vocab etc., but still, pretty pleased with that. A minor hiccup finding the bus stop to go home (different bus) but got there in the end.

Thursday - got to uni pretty early to register and sort out all of the bureaucratic paperwork nonsense (Autónoma is far more organised than I thought they would be, they're just a bit slower than we are). Got sent my invoice from my landlady for my rent and realised that I can't do bank transfers with the money I'd already pre-loaded onto my Caxton currency card i.e. all my student finance to date - nightmare. Paying her cash this month, but hopefully be using Caxton's free international payment system next time after uploading some money onto their separate account. Had my intro talk from UAM and the Erasmus Student Network and then met a lovely Canadian girl on the campus tour who as it turns out also wants to go and watch the last stage of La Vuelta as well - so may have found a friend? Free veggie-paella for lunch? - yes please thanks very much. Just before catching the bus to go home, a guy walked up to me after hearing me saying Erasmus and started talking to me in Spanish. An hour later, we'd taken the bus home together speaking Spanish (his was a lot better than mine) the whole way, because he was from Holland and didn't speak much English/wanted to speak Spanish. He's doing his whole degree here, so I may see him around again, but that fact that we had an actual conversation and mostly understood each other for an hour led to the epiphany that I can do a bit more than I think. In the evening I explored Lavapies. What can I say apart from my new favourite place in Madrid! It's so pretty, especially at night time, with loads of lights. The atmosphere is phenomenal! Loads of little gastrobars and restaurants with people out everywhere just enjoying life. This is when Spanish socialising comes alive. Walked past about 6 or 7 of the vegan restaurants I'd bookmarked on google maps before coming, and they all look amazing! So I'll definitely be coming back. I also went to check out Planeta Vegana, a vegan whole-foods shop - I was so surprised by the amount of vegan things you'd typically find in England, from nutritional yeast, to tofu, to linda macartney, quorn, and lots more. So, vegans worrying about Madrid, do not fret! Also check out the Alternative Travellers guide to eating Vegan in Madrid, it's everything you'll ever need to know. I finally reached my actual destination for the night, Cambridge Soho Club near Plaza España. It looked like such a posh club for a meet and speak, and I most turned away at the last minute as I was dressed in shorts, a t-shirt and had a backpack on. But this intercambio de idiomas organised by CityLife Madrid is apparently one of the biggest in the city! There must have been about 400 people across 2 floors, all socialising and practising languages. It happens every Thursday, so a great place to meet people and I'll definitely be back. Just maybe with a nicer shirt next time.

So that takes me up until now, waiting for my phone and power pack to charge (70% for those mildly interested) before I go out sightseeing for the day. I've just realised I've written a lot more than I thought I would. Next update should be Sunday, just before term starts. Hasta luego!

Less than two weeks to go!

So here I am a month on from my first post. Where on earth has that time gone?! Since then, Ryanair have announced possible strike action from the 2nd-4th of September (just my luck); I've been on wildly chasing geese and attempted (but failed) to book appointments to register as a Spanish citizen and to obtain a transport card, due to the revolving door of the Spanish bureaucracy; and I've done a fair bit of research. But as I previously said I'd do in order to hold myself accountable, this post will largely be about what I really want to get out of my year abroad. Here are 5 goals I'd like to achieve:

1) Professional development goal - SPEAK SPANISH! The thing I'd most like to get out of my year abroad is better fluency. Whilst previous students I've spoken to have come back with better receptive skills, they've lamented that their level of spoken Spanish is roughly the same. In order to learn from this mistake I haven't yet made, I'd like to commit myself to speaking Spanish on either a 1-1 basis or within a group at least once a week, or totalling an hour of conversation, outside of using general 'getting-by' words and phrases. UAM has offered me a buddy and also the chance to join a language exchange programme, so hopefully this will work out well, but if not, there are a few groups I've found on Meetup which I must make an effort to attend, even though I'll be a complete outsider and this scares the pants off of me. If I do come back with the same level of Spanish, having done the above, I can't say I didn't try.

2) Country specific goal - TRAVEL. I've researched loads of places that I'd like to go, but I understand that my time and/or budget may not allow me to visit them all. At the time of writing I'd like to say that visiting a new place in Madrid once every weekend is attainable...? So I'd like to try to commit to going somewhere new every Saturday on Sunday in the centre of town. Although I'm not one for taking pictures, taking one every week might help me keep some motivation up when I don't feel like doing much - having one picture missing will drive me absolutely insane. I've already signed up for some trips with Aluni.net (my housing company) and hopefully the Erasmus Student Network will also organise a few as well throughout the year. With this in mind, I don't want to set myself specific sightseeing destinations as certain other opportunities may crop up that will be just as fantastic. However, I would like to set myself the goal of going on at least 4 longer trips (Friday evening to Sunday evening) away from the centre of Madrid throughout the year. I'd also like to visit at least 2 out of the 4 regions of Galícia, Extremadura, Castilla y León, and Asturias - I imagine that these will probably come during the Christmas break and in the period after the academic year finishes.

3) Country specific goal - EAT OUT. This is perhaps one of the ones I'm mostly (and unashamedly) looking forward to! Being vegan, when I originally picked my year abroad destination, diet was quite a large factor. Whilst I understood that Spanish cuisine is very much meat-centric, I thought that compared to, say, Buenos Aires, it would be by far the best bet. What I didn't realise, however, is just how accommodating Madrid actually is for vegans! After doing some digging and finding the Alternative Travellers website, I've found out that there are 26 vegan restaurants and 3 vegan-specific supermarkets - amazing! These restaurants offer authentic Spanish tapas and el menú al día, only veganised - so I can experience and enjoy Spanish food whilst being able to still stick to my morals as much as possible (after having learnt about Galícian cuisine in Sixth Form, I can safely say it might be more of a nightmare than Madrid). From what I've read, the Spanish culture of food is very much a social activity, and for this reason they eat out regularly and food is super cheap! Therefore, I'd like to commit to eating out at least once a fortnight, but if I can afford it then once a week would be great!

4) Personal development goal - GAIN SOME SOCIAL CONFIDENCE. At the time writing, I'm quite introverted, and normally only speak when spoken to or when I have something to say. It's not that I'm afraid of talking per say, but rather than I'm afraid of what people might think of what I do say. Madrid will be a completely new environment which I really want to use as an excuse to stop caring as much about how strangers judge me. I'd like to start lots of conversations, at least one a day, rather than waiting eagerly for them to be started for me.

5) Academic goal - PASS. Whilst this is the bear minimum and I'm not limiting myself to not trying harder, this is a 10 month golden opportunity to achieve my previous 4 goals. My first and second year at UoB have been very academic focused, and I often put work before a lot of other opportunities. But all I have to do in order for UAM to pass me is attend my contact hours. So rather than aim for specific grades which I may or may not meet, I'll put in a 40 hour week with no (regular) overtime.

No going back now! Next time we meet, I'll hopefully be in Madrid, fairly settled and with lots of stories to tell. ¡Hasta luego!

Let's get this show on the road!

Only six weeks to go until I fly out to Madrid! Lots of emotions at the moment, with a few nerves but mostly just excitement - I can't believe something I've had on the horizon for such a long time is finally coming into view! But why am I sitting here writing my first ever blog post? First a little bit about my journey so far... I've been learning Spanish since the start of secondary school, and, although I haven't always been the most motivated linguist, it's always been one of those passions that's stuck with me, in the hope that one day I can finally say that I speak a second language. As part of my BA International Relations with Spanish at the University of Birmingham, I have a compulsory year abroad in a Spanish speaking country. After much deliberation and asking an excessive amount of questions to many final year students who have been there, done it and got the t-shirt, (I cannot stress how helpful this has been - thank you all for putting up with me!), I finally settled on the la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Where are my language skills right now? Well, I'd like to think my reading comprehension and grammar is fairly good; I'm currently reading 1984 in Spanish and picking up a fair bit. My listening is very hit and miss, and generally depends on how well I know and the speed at which I recognise the vocab used, but I'm trying to keep up doing little and often over the summer. My speaking, however, is a completely different kettle of fish, and is something that really needs improving. As we never really do much speaking practice at uni I've essentially taken the attitude that, "it'll be alright, it'll improve when I'm abroad". So the pressure is on this year to make that assertion become a reality! All of my modules will be taught and completed in Spanish but I still need to force myself to converse as much as possible in order to pick up my fluency. That's partly one of the reasons for writing this blog. Whilst I've ummed and ahhed about setting one up, as I'm not really one for social media, I thought it would be a good idea for me to write down expectations in the public domain in the hope that this will push me towards making them a reality. The other main reason is basically so that I don't forget where I've been and what I've seen, as I'm not one for taking many pictures either: I'd rather not experience the moment behind a camera lens!

And so begins the start of chapter 3.3. I've filled in most of my paperwork, booked my accommodation, paid for my flights (which pains me to say, as I would have much rather taken the train due to its lesser carbon footprint, but the price was more than double that of flying), and I'm currently researching everything about Madrid so I've got a bucket list of things I want to do and see whilst I'm out there. These will come in a future post before I set off - so I've got no excuses not to have done them by the time I return! As to what to expect from this blog more generally, I'll hopefully be posting monthly updates of my best (and probably worst) bits. But for now, that's all for now folks, ¡hasta luego!