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.
