I meant to use this website a lot more in the past few weeks, but it’s been really busy (and I only just charged my computer). Currently, I am on the sixth day of my six weeks in Madrid, Spain, where I’m taking two classes and living in a residence hall at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The picture above is the beautiful view outside my window as I am typing this. Classes started yesterday, so there’s not too much I can say yet, but one is an art history course on the art in the Prado Museum and the other is a history class on Madrid’s history as a city. Classes here meet Mondays through Thursdays for about an hour and forty minutes each. Since I’m not taking any classes to learn Spanish, just to study in Spanish, both courses are completely in the language, which is awesome. Additionally, each course is half-lecture, half-field trip based, meaning Mondays and Wednesdays we learn about specific paintings and eras of Madrid’s history, then travel to the Prado and to another museum on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My program with which I’m traveling is called International Education for Students, or IES. They organize tons of activities to supplement classes and help us explore the city and the surrounding area. Last weekend, we traveled to Segovia, and this Friday, we have a day trip to Salamanca.
Here’s a brief look at the dorm room, which is so much nicer than anything you can get in the United States purely because there’s a sink and cabinet in the room itself. I don’t know why this isn’t a thing at the University of Michigan, but getting ready for bed is much easier when you can brush your teeth in your room. The one downside is probably the lack of air conditioning. This was really just an issue for me when my window was stuck and couldn’t open beyond a tiny crack. Otherwise, the fan is perfect, and it’s cool at night (probably high sixties, low seventies). Beyond that, it’s also great to have a single. I guess people here understand that sharing a room can be too much of a strain sometimes.
In terms of why I haven’t been writing/updating, I’ve been abroad since my semester classes finished at the end of April. I traveled on a Birthright trip to Israel from May 2 to May 12, after which I had a week in between Israel and Spain to spend time with my mom in the countryside around Nice, France. Both places were limited in Wifi capabilities (mountains and deserts). I’m very backlogged with everything I want to record for this site, but I promise to keep working and share lots of the photos I’ve taken over the past month. Especially my food photography, although it will be tough to write about without feeling jealous of my past self who was eating such great food. I’m still working on finding good places here in Madrid, not to mention I’ve mostly been eating in the dining hall, which is… interesting.
Addictively Addy 