Madrid mola mucho

LILY:
I don´t miss my family and friends as much as they miss me, and I don´t want the semester to be over. Maybe I am becoming more melancholic as time passes and winter approaches, or because half of the semester is over. Time flies by when you´re having fun. If you have read my first blog post, you may remember me talking about time flying by as well and that I felt like I didn´t do too much or see as much as I planned. So I am happy to announce that I spent my time better! I did a walking tour through Madrid. I went on four trips across Spain and one to Portugal. I finally did some sightseeing, and I went to Prado, a beautiful gallery that displays the works of Caravaggio, Botticello and other artists. I still have more plans to travel and to see more. The first half of my semester in Spain may be over, but I also realized that I still have another half left to enjoy and explore Madrid.

Another thing that I currently want to improve is my academic performance. The balance between going to Uni, spending time with friends, travelling, and getting work done is hard, but I think I am getting better at it. After I got the results of two tests (51 % and 41 %), I realized that I needed to work more efficiently or start continuously studying to keep my good grade average. The workload at UVF is also different from Macromedia. While I was used to finishing my papers, projects and exams at the end of each semester and just having approximately three small presentations during the semester, I actually have to put in effort during the whole semester. I have an assignment due almost every week in my journalism class, frequent presentations in other classes, a test every month in another class. At the end of the semester, I have an exam plus a presentation in almost all of my classes. Sounds stressful, right? But I have no doubt that I am able to tackle the challenge.

ISA:
So here I am writing my second blog post. This means that I have already reached halftime of my semester abroad. I cannot believe that time here passes so quickly. But my days have been packed, and I am always on the run. October was a great month. I was able to enjoy the „summer“ one more time, now that fall is coming. Somehow Madrid is crazy in October. I do not know if it has to do with the fact that it is the last „warmish“ month, but Madrid offers various annual events in October. Furthermore, we had quite a lot of Holidays. Therefore, my flatmates and I rented a car and drove all the way down to Seville. It was a fantastic trip. The city is by far one of the most beautiful that I have ever seen. We watched flamenco shows, did some sightseeing, ate all our way through the Andalusian kitchen and went out to party.

In Mid-October, there was the annual sheep parade in Madrid. (I also posted a picture on our Instagram account if you want to check it out). It was such a fun event and hilarious to watch 1000’s of sheep’s walking around on one of the biggest streets in Madrid. At the end of October there was also the annual light festival or also called LuzMadrid. It is such a beautiful event where various monuments in Madrid are covered in light or have light shows portrayed onto them. Not to forget about Halloween, at the end of October. We went to the „Sala cool“ club, which all Erasmus students know for their famous „Fucking Monday“ parties every Monday. In retrospect, I don’t think the club was „fucking” amazing, but I still got to enjoy it since I went with most of the people that live in my house, and it felt like home. October was also the month where I tried to discover new places/ bars and events in Madrid. I will soon upload another post where I will introduce you to those places. One of those places is called „Citynizer“. We randomly stumbled into the restaurant/bar on a Sunday. From the outside, you could have never guessed how cool it would be, but we were hungry and just desperately in search of a less-crowded hangover brunch place. The Restaurant/bar had a courtyard with tables outside, and every Sunday, there is a DJ that plays house/ techno music. So our hangover day turned into another day-drinking day. This is one of the things that I love about Madrid. It feels like the city never sleeps.

Last but not least, the Workload at University has been adding up in October. I have a hard time focusing on all my classes with so many things and distractions going on at the same time. However, I finally figured out the best way to still accomplish all the workload and have enough free time after returning home from Uni. I use the long spares in between classes to do all my tasks, and usually, that has been enough time to complete everything on time without really working on it outside of university hours.

That’s all from us, a list of restaurants and bars will soon be uploaded, so stay tuned.