Spain

Most of you know that this year has been a long time coming. In fact I clearly remember discussing the possibility of doing a university exchange to Spain with my parents when they were visiting me in Argentina… who then told me to live in the moment and enjoy what I was doing before rushing to make plans – very good advice!

To say I arrived to this country with a lot of expectations would be an understatement. This is what I had been dreaming of when doing that last minute rush to get assignments in on time, and this was the motivation that got me through all of those 12am New World shifts! So I am very pleased to report that everything is going so well.

Parque Retiro. Winter here is amazing – the days are generally warm and sunny with the nights quite chilly. Its rained about four times since being here, and each time its only lasted for around 20 minutes. So great.

For the first week of my arrival I stayed with my friends Chris and Alvaro, and Alvaro’s family, who live in a town called Pinto – a twenty-five minute train ride away from the city centre. This was such a good decision as it gave me the time to relax, meet lots of Spaniards, eat amazing home cooked meals (ie: paella on arrival!) and not have to stress about finding somewhere to live immediately. I am so grateful for this family hosting me, and giving me all sorts of wonderful advice about the city!

I spent the first couple of days just wandering around the city, getting to grips of where I was – for some reason I forget that this is actually Spain’s capital city, it felt like home, the minute I stepped off the train and into Puerta del Sol.

Puerta del Sol – the very centre of Madrid

One of the first things I was told was to not order food when getting a drink at a bar. The cheapest way to buy lunch is to order a beer, or sangria, because whenever you buy drinks at bars you are most likely to given food, for free!! Usually it’ll be tapas or patatas bravas, chips with sauce on them, or like the photo below just a huge plate full of food! For the food, which tastes way better than what it looks to be honest, and a caña (glass of beer) you pay about $3. So so great.

Fact: It is legitimately cheaper to buy beer than it is to buy water (paying for water when out = urgh) at bars.

Ham is such a thing here in Spain. Literally so much ham, and bread. Down almost every street you’ll find a store that specialises in ham. Our personal fave is this one, Museo del Jamon – Ham Museum.

I found a flat relatively fast, and moved in within a week of my arrival. The location is absolutely perfect, 3 minutes walking from Puerta del Sol (so is located in the Sol neighbourhood) and is a 2-5 minute walk within most of the major plazas and streets of Madrid. Living is so much cheaper here than it is a home. My rent, power/internet and weekly food is completely covered by the the studylink weekly living costs which, considering I am living in the literal centre of Madrid is pretty damn awesome.

The flat has seven rooms, and at the time of moving in there were six other girls living here. One from the UK, Lithuania, Chile, Brazil, Portugal and Italy. I was with them all for about 2 weeks but five have them have now moved out and gone home. So at the moment it is just me, Demini (she’s from the UK and is here until June) and a new girl from Italy. The four new flatmates all arrive tomorrow which is exciting!

Flatmates and friends – I also forgot what its like to not go out until 2am and not be home until 6am – it’s taking a bit!

Language wise everything has been going ok. The first few days were a bit bumpy getting used to it but I feel super confident again. The best thing about my flat is that we all try and make an effort to speak spanish, which for exchange students is unfortunately pretty uncommon.

Uni started last week and the week before that us exchange students had our orientation week. Wow. ESN (the group who organise events for exchangers) put on the most amazing week. I’m sorry Vic, but the glow in the dark toga party really won’t cut it anymore. The events included three parties, dinners, a flamenco show, city tours and even a trip – I’ll write about that soon! This was such a great way to start settling in, and gave an opportunity to meet other people from around the world.

Universidad de Carlos III de Madrid is located in a city called Getafe, a 20 minute train ride south of Madrid centre. This semester I am talking four journalism courses and have again encountered the most amazing luck as I have Mondays and Fridays off! Four day weekend holla!! I am taking a mix of English and Spanish courses.

Today is the first of February which is insane. Already a month down and I feel like I have done so much and am a part of this city, which just makes me even more excited for the next 11 months. I have tickets booked to fly to Porto, Portugal at the end of March with Chris and Kyla (also Kiwis studying at UC3M, my uni) and have so many other exciting plans for the future. But as for today I am off to Ikea – I’ve never been and am actually low key excited, with my flatmates and am getting an assignment for uni done, so pretty quiet for once!

Nos vemos pronto!