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!
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