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!
