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!