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!