Advertisement
Published: February 12th 2011
Photo 2
Capriccio with parmesan cheese and arugula from Turf I can't believe I have almost been in Madrid for a week. This has been an interesting week getting used to being in a new culture and learning a new school system. This week was orientation at the Universidad de Francisco Vitoria (UFV). On Tuesday, we got a tour of the small campus that is just outside of Madrid, in a suburb called Pozuelo de Alarcon. After that we had to register and then we had a delicious lunch of paella in the cafeteria. On Wednesday, we learned about the different activities that UFV offers, like sports, clubs, and trips we can take. This part was difficult because it was entirely in Spanish so I only understood a little over half of what the professors were talking about. After this we sat in a classroom for about two hours and looked at what classes we wanted to take. Since then I have looked at the classes available for another hour and I still need one more class. But as soon as I figure out my schedule I will post it here. I am very fortunate I only have to take 15 credits so that's 3-4 classes. One of my friends has
Photo 3
Tony Roma's to take 30 credit hours. On Thursday, we went to the school once more to take a level placement test in Spanish. Out of the three levels, basic, intermediate, and advanced, I tested into the intermediate class, which is pretty good since I haven't really practiced my Spanish much since December.
On Wednesday night, Lidia and two other girls we have met, Aizza and Carolin, and I went out to dinner in Plaza del Sol at a restaurant called Turf. Aizza is from the Philippines originally but she has been living in Holland for the last ten years and came from a school there. Carolin is from Munich, Germany. Then we went to a party that the school was throwing for the international students at a bar called Aqui No Hay Playa (which roughly translates into there's no beach here). That was fun but really loud so it was hard to meet people and understand them. There are about 70+ international students from all over the place. There are a lot of students from France and Mexico, and some from Holland, Germany, Italy, and we even met one from Korea. Of course there are other American students studying with
Photo 4
Some of the beautiful architecture in Spain us and I even met two girls that go to USC.
I am still trying to get used to the time difference when it comes to sleeping and eating but hopefully by next week I will be on schedule with everyone else. The neighborhood that Lidia and I live in is a more family place then tourist area but I think that suits us better. Everything we need is within walking distance, including the metro to get to school. To get to school, we walk about 15 minutes to the metro, ride that for about 20 minutes and then get on the bus for another 20 minutes. It doesn't really seem to take that long though.
Last night, Lidia and I met Carolin and Aizza again to see some of the sights of the center of Madrid. We ate a late lunch of churros con chocolate and walked around. We were going to try and see El Palacio Real but by the time we got there it was closed so we will have to go back another day. Then we went to the Plaza Mayor and saw a lot of street performers and characters around for people to
Photo 5
Really nice Mcdonald's take their picture with. Then we walked to el parque retiro. Carolin had to go back to her apartment but she met us up again later at Aizza's apartment. We had dinner at a place called Umami's and then walked around to some of the shops in Plaza del Sol, where Aizza lives. One of Aizza's nine roommates was having a party to celebrate his birthday so we back to her place to meet her roommates and hang out. After about an hour there were 40 or so people from Austria, Germany, France, Poland, Spain, and Holland. Lidia and I were the only two Americans there but it was really interesting to hear all of the different languages everyone was speaking.
This weekend we are just going to hang out and get some errands done before school starts Monday. We have to get our month-long bus/metro card, get an international phone and go grocery shopping but other than that we don't have much planned.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.071s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 5; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0448s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Carmen
non-member comment
SÍ!
I am so happy that you are having fun. Which classes are you finally taking?