It will be Christmas in Madrid
será Navidad en Madrid
Time to say goodbye!
Hora de decir adiós
It will be Christmas in Madrid. The streets are decorated with lights and two large Christmas trees on the Plaza de Sol and the Gran Vía complete the Christmas atmosphere.
We have been in Madrid for 4 months now and slowly our time is over. In a few days, most will leave the city. We have learned many new things and are now returning to our family and friends with new experiences.
It’s already been 4 months that I spend in Spain’s capital Madrid. In the meantime, I have adapted myself relatively to the Spanish way of life. The noisy environment and noisy society became a habit.
Especially Spain’s weather is something that I will certainly miss. Even in winter blue sky and sunshine. It might give a little shock as soon as I’m back in Germany. Since I am here I am continuously improving my Spanish. It is still not perfect, but to a degree it is suitable for everyday communication.
During my time in Spain, I met many new people and made friends. I’m looking forward to meeting them again in Germany. At the moment I am in the exam phase, which means that we work a lot on our projects and learn for exams.
Looking back, however, the Universidad Francisco de Victoria is a good place. The university offers a variety of different activities and you feel right how you want to make it as good as possible for foreign students. The cafeterias also help make the university a good place. In the meantime, they have become home like a second, because you spend so much time in them.
On December 23, I will leave Spain and Madrid. In the past 121 days I got to know Spain and Madrid and I will miss both. But I’m also looking forward to sharing my experiences with my friends and family.
After 4 months now, I personally adapted the Spanish lifestyle. I like to speak Spanish, take some time during the day for my siesta and the noisy society became normal to me.
I learned a lot about the Spanish traditions and made myself some friends here in Madrid, which I really look forward visit them once I am back in Germany. Speaking of exploring: Madrid and Spain, in general, have a lot to offer. Spain’s architecture is inspiring and I love the way the shops and restaurants are not destroying the facade of the beautiful old buildings. Madrid’s Museums are special to me, I am not the person who is really interested in museums but the Prado, which is the second biggest museum in Europe, is amazing. It has a lot of traditional art inside by artists like Bosch, Goya or Velazquez.
To people who are more into modern art the Reina Sofia or the Thyssen are more interesting. Famous pictures and installations from artist like Picasso or Salvador Dalí can be found in both of them.
I became a real fan of our uni here in Madrid, the UFV. They offer a lot of activities to us and I can see that they put much effort in their work with the international students. At the moment we are in the exam period and we all need to work a lot on our projects and study for our exams. My favorite course at the UFV is probably Spanish. Our Professor teaches us the language by talking about traditions, things we should visit in Madrid and good bars and restaurants, so she really knows how to create her lessons interesting.
Entrepreneurship is another subject I really like. We visited Telefonica and we could talk with young entrepreneurs about their experience in growing an own startup and the conflicts that come with it.I am leaving on Saturday the 23rd of December and I already know that I am really going to miss the city with all the people I met here. I look forward to share all the experience with my friends I haven’t seen in a long time and hear about their adventures they had in their semester abroad.
Well, for my four months of being here in Madrid this wonderful city has left me speechless. This has been my first time being away for so long from family and friends and I must say Madrid did my stay justice because it has a lot of things to offer, such as shopping centres, restaurants, bars and most of all I loved the architecture. I feel like even four months hasn’t been enough because I still have a lot more to see!
Anyhow, I have not only learned more about the language as well as the culture but also about myself, how I handle situations differently and approach things, it has definitely widen my knowledge for any future purposes. Also not to mention that the University Francisco de Vitoria will make you feel more than welcome with all their activities and trying to integrate you in their society. Helpful in all ways.
My 4 month trip was definitely one for the books! Muchas gracias Madrid, hasta pronto!
