Technically I'm a student at the University of Manchester, BA in English Language and Spanish.
Culturally I'm an Erasmus student at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, studying a mish mash of subjects for 14 hours a week- the rest of the time I spend going on adventures, whether it be exploring the city for green places or meeting people from various corners of the world.
I've been here for a month and a week (5 weeks today, actually), and so far, although I feel more synchronised with the way of life here than I did in the beginning, I don't feel I've documented much of anything that I've done. For shame! The experiences of settling into the university and meeting people, the multitude of complications with really basic things such as acquiring a bank account or setting up an internet connection, or even just pushing myself to speak Spanish have all been things that I've found surprisingly (embarrassingly?) hard to do, thus I feel the process deserves some kind of written-down acknowledgement, of failures and triumphs and the best tapas.
The basics
Name: Anisa
Age: 20, nearly 21
Why Madrid?
I'd been here before and remembered the water fountains and the kind of sepia colouring that seeps into everything. That and I knew a friend here. Thinking back to when I was deciding what to do for my year abroad, I think I jumped on Madrid because it was the only thing that held anything familiar for me. Perhaps the idea of the year abroad is to try new things, but it was such a big thing that I couldn't resist the pull of something that I could already imagine.
Are you glad you stuck with it?
Yes! Madrid is by far one of the most beautiful places I've found myself in in my life. There is some kind of energy to the city that never dies down. Sometimes the Spanish people can seem a bit frosty, but to be honest the ones who I am around the most are unerringly friendly. The main thing that I tell people would improve the quality of life here is if the University's communication channels were better (and I'm a bit of a studious one- an empoyona). When it comes down to it, to be a student in Spain, you have to work out a lot of the details yourself, and these channels aren't necessarily as effective as those in your home country. There is a lot of "mañana mañana".
But it's so close to home! Couldn't you have chosen somewhere else?
Only a measly 1,249 miles away- but it suits me very well, indeed! Unfortunately, I don't speak or study Italian (or have any intention of doing so, strange-sounding language), so I couldn't choose to go to Florence or Naples... The bolder woman in me toyed with the idea of choosing Cuba or Argentina, but something took me by the shoulders and steered me back to Europe. I don't regret the closeness to home- it's very convenient. I'm still excited by Madrid, so there must be something for me here.
Scariest stuff so far?
The language, without a doubt! It seems to count almost for nothing that I've been learning it for, what, 8 years? I get a lot of positive feedback when I do speak, though, so I feel bad most of the time if I don't make an effort. It's also given me the jitters any time I've had to present myself to new Spanish people who I know I'm going to be seeing a lot (and hopefully testing my Spanish mettle with), like my flatmates. Rodrigo and Elena are a pair of the nicest people in the world, I am swimming in luck for being able to live with them.
And the best stuff?
Oh, there is so much! There is some kind of independence that comes from doing something like this that you just can't put a label or a definition on. The oddest thing is, it doesn't feel like independence yet, because so many things seem like a battle, it's impossible to feel 'free'- but I know that when I finish the year and I look back on everything that I've done, especially the stuff that shoves me, shuffling and mumbling out of my comfort zone, I'll have a better perspective.
Of course, there are a lot of other perks to being in this corner of the world, the melting pot of people (a surprising proportion of which seems to be made up of Germans), the parks, the museums (particularly the Reina Sofia), the food, oh the food! (There are vegetables here the likes of which you cannot imagine, peppers and onions the size of my head, which is sometimes known for being abnormally large) I could mention the tall, dark and handsomes but their reputation precedes them, all over the world. And so it goes.
So, what's on the agenda for this blog, then?
All I know is that mother's wisdoms about jumping in head first and making the most of your opportunities are being tested to their utmost here, and I've found myself wanting to offload such a huge mezcla of information and reactions, thoughts, complaints, experiences and so on and so forth, and as the semi-willing members of my family at the ends of the Earth can't stake out on Skype, I feel this is the best way to do it. I want to post photos of things I've seen, reviews of places I go and document my experiences so that I can have something to refer to in the future or just have a record of everything that I do. I want to really try at this, because it's solid and valuable to me.
I will be thinking about what to put in this, and from here on out taking mental notes of the day to day, so perhaps we'll get some content on the go, if comments and questions are provided I might have some inspiration...? Mañana, mañana.
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