My first week here has been full of ups and downs and lots of unexpected mishaps. I have been attempting to go with the flow and tranquilisarme (calm down) as the Madrileños (people from Madrid) do. I am not too good at it so far but I am trying to adjust as much as possible. Aside from adjusting, I have been exploring my new home every spare second I have. Since, I am still without a laptop I haven’t had access to the internet until now so I am going to try to keep this post short and just cover the highlights and important information for anyone that wishes to study/visit/live here.
Miscellaneous
My first day here was a blur mostly because I was so jet-lagged. I spent my entire first day here doing errands that I needed to do before school started.
Here are the important things I learned:
Here are the important things I learned:
· Vale means okay/sure/yea/yes
· Orange is the cheapest prepaid phone company
· Corte Ingles = department store with everything you could possible need except transformers
· Try your new debit card in your home country first or it might not work here. (Another story for another time)
School
My next few days consisted of working out issues with my laptop and debit card and exploring the city as well as exploring my new school.
Thursday and Friday I attended orientation at Comillas. I was so surprised by how many exchange students there were! We filled up an entire auditorium! On the first day we learned about Spain through the ages and what Comillas had to offer to us as students. I was excited to find out that they promote Erasmus students (exchange students) getting involved in sports teams and clubs at their school. It became immediately apparent that Comillas is a school that really supports and takes great pride in their students studying abroad as well as the exchange program. It was exciting meeting people from all over the world, from Europe to the Americas and Asia. The next day I attended the orientation of engineers. This was slightly intimidating. Obviously as an engineer I am used to working hard and studying hard but the grading scale here is extremely different from what I am accustomed. The grading scale is from 1 – 10 and anything below a 5 is failing requiring you to retake the course. The grade relies heavily on your final exam performance and there aren't many assignments or opportunities to demonstrate knowledge in a form outside of exams. I am not the greatest test taker so this was worrisome. Otherwise, the Comillas student representatives were extremely kind and helpful and honest about the way the school operates. Enough about school for now. I guess I will just have to wait and see what it’s like.
Tourism / Museums
Madrid is a beautiful place and full of so many wonderful things like old world history, culture and PLENTY of museums. The best part about the museums is that almost all of them have free hours. Yes, while you have to wait in line, it is completely worth it especially when you can save 10-14 euros per museum.
Here are all the cool museums I have visited:
EN MADRID
El Prado – art museum featuring famous works of European Artists including El Greco & Goya.
El Museo de Reina Sofia – contemporary art
Museo en Retiro Park – more contemporary art/please touch style museum
EN TOLEDO (Original Capital of Spain)
El Museo del Ejercito – museum about all of Spain’s war history
Museo Santa Cruz – religious museum
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| El Museo del Ejercito |
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| Parque de Retiro |
Innovation
Despite the fact that Madrid is an old historical city it is full of cutting edge innovation. For example, the Metro system is the finest public transportation system I have ever used. It is an impressive series of interwoven bus and subway routes. The Metro can get you anywhere within Madrid. It is so easy to understand that you don’t need to speak Spanish to use the Metro. It is well lit and well painted that you forget you are hundreds of feet underground. The most unique thing about the Metro aside from its extreme cleanliness is that fact that it is energy efficient. Madrileños in general are the most energy conscious people I have met, so I wasn’t that surprised when not every door on the Metro opened at every stop. If you want to leave or enter the Metro you press a button and on some of the older models pull a lever.
Another impressive technological feat I have had the pleasure of using is the RENFE trains or as the Madrileños all them el Alto Velocidad. The RENFE´s are high speed trains that can take you all over Spain in half the time it would take by bus or car. For instance I took the RENFE to Toledo from Madrid in 30 minutes. Normally by car, this trip would take an hour plus traffic. These trains are extremely large and surprisingly smooth. While inside the train I did not feel like we were moving very fast but 30 minutes later, right on schedule I arrived at my destination. The seats inside are extremely plush and every car is equipped with a very clean and nice bathroom. Upon boarding and finding my seat I felt like I was stepping into the new age of faster smoother public transportation. (I would also like to note that the RENFE can also be an economical option especially if you book your ticket ahead of time. My 30 minute ride two hours before departure was 20 Euro round trip. Had I booked in advance it would have been less since they run specials from time to time.
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| El RENFE at Atoche train station |
Below is the RENFE link describing this cool new wave of Transportation
There are so many wonderful things I could tell you about Madrid and the Spanish people but for now...Chao!
