So, Madrid for the next four months. What do I think about that ? Mainly I am excited and looking forward to this big adventure. I have never been to Madrid before, so it is completely new for me. Thinking about that made me a little bit nervous though but it is not bad.
Turns out this city makes it possible to feel at home within a couple of hours and a walk around Malasaña. My favorite part of the city. But I will start from the beginning …
September 3rdwas the big day for me. Moving to Madrid. I still cannot believe it. Well I arrived late at night and took the taxi to the apartment where my roommate was already waiting for me. I walked into the apartment and it took my breath. Our apartment was even more beautiful than it was in the pictures and it made me even more excited for the next few months.
On our first day we decided to just take a stroll around town. We knew that a train station was nearby, so we started walking and only two minutes later we already were at the station. We could not believe how close that train station is and were really happy because this will make things much easier. We got to the city center in only two stops which was really cool and went shopping at the Gran Via for a little bit. We also got a drink at a really cute café which had a beach bar in the basement. I know that’s crazy and we found our new fave spot. After this little break we walked to the Plaza de Sol. This is Madrid’s kilometre 0 because all the streets evolve from here.
After that we decided to do some research for the metro card because we knew we needed to get it. Turned out this “Abono” metro card is one of the most complicated things about Madrid. It is a card for the whole public transport system and costs 20€ a month. Nobody told us that in Madrid it is so difficult to get the card though. In order to get this card, you need to go directly to the office, make an appointment online or order the whole card online. This may sound easier as it is because if you just go to the office you may have to wait for hours. There is the option to order it online but then you might only get it after 10-15 business days. So, we chose the third option and decided to make an appointment. This turned out much tougher than it sounds. Due to all the students arriving around this time a lot of slots were already booked, and we got an appointment a week after our arrival. This might not sound like a big deal, but it is nice to know for the future and other students who want to go to Madrid.
On Thursday and Friday, we had orientation days at our university. Normally there is a shuttle from the city center to the university but on Thursday we were running a little bit late and then the train only ran till the stop before the one we had to get out. Great start right ? We thought about whether we could make the shuttle or not but after taking a look at the time we decided to take a taxi instead.
It did not take as long as we expected and after a 20-minute car ride we got to the university. Our first impression was great. The campus is big and is kind of like the American campuses. It has a lot of things to offer and the people from the international team were really nice as well. They really did everything they could to make us feel welcome and told us if we have any problems we can just talk to them, so we can sort it out.
After the first two weeks at UFV Madrid I can tell you guys that this university is really cool. The professors are really nice and always listen to what the students have to say. Our schedule isn’t perfect and we have to go to the campus Monday-Friday, but it’s ok because often we have free time in the afternoon to go out with our friends. It definitely is different from my way to the Macromedia Campus in Hamburg which is like 15 minutes, but we actually got used to the longer way to the university.
All in all I can say that I’m already in love with this city and I know that I’ll miss it when I go back to Germany. This city offers so much stuff to do. Our apartment is in the city centre, which I really recommend, and often we just go out and walk around the city. When we do that we also always see new things and that’s the magic of Madrid. You can basically walk everywhere because it’s so close and it’s just gorgeous. So when in this city I definitely recommend to sometimes just take a stroll around town cause here it’s how you find the most amazing places.
We also visited the Royal Palace which was pretty impressive.
