Currently I am sitting in my living room reflecting on my first full week in Madrid. It has been a complete rollercoaster but already I can see how life changing this trip will be.
The university I am attending is very different than what I am used to. Most of the people there only speak Spanish and they don’t really seem to know how to do their job (shoutout to administration.) However, the professors are extremely fun to be around and very interesting. Already I am adapting to the spanish culture and learning a lot about the spanish culture. In Madrid, being on time is not that important as it is a very laid back culture. This is obvious by the fact some teachers will show up 30 minutes late to class for no reason. However, to them, that’s normal.
I have alaready left the “American” mindset behind me as it is so different from European culture. This means that when I am confused in Madrid which is about half of the day I don’t get frustrated that they aren’t speaking English or doing things as I’m not used to. Rather, I approach it as me learning about the way others live and it has already helped extremely. In this first week I have observed that the Spaniards care about family over anything else and they tend to not focus on work as their full life. In America, I feel the sense that we “live to work” whereas here it’s more of a culture of “working to live.” The afternoon siestas would support this. From 2-5 each day most of the city shuts down for people to go eat lunch as well as take a siesta. I can say I have been spoiled by these already even though I haven’t slept at all during this time. Why sleep when there is so much to explore! However, during exploring one also understands the city is shut down because of the extreme heat during the afternoon. But why would I go back to my apartment with no A/C it’s not going to be cooler?
I have met so many new friends already here. For the most part, they are all people I probably wouldn’t ever have hung out with if it weren’t for being abroad. I love walking around all day and my favorite part of Madrid has defiantly been their unreal parks. Each of them is unique but full of active people of all ages looking to appreciate nature. In addition, OH MY GOODNESS the dogs here have to be equivalent to the human population. When I am at the park I see so many dogs and all of them are well behaved in Spain. The owners don’t even have to put a leash on them because they never approach strangers, rather they just walk as a normal human and don’t jump on anyone.
I’m beginning to get accustomed to life in Madrid but certainly still have a lot to learn. I am usually exhausted at night but that isn’t stopping me from experiencing Madrid night life. I never thought of how exhausting learning subtle differences in culture would be. I would compare it to somebody changing all the keys on your keyboard to a different letter and you having to find out that an “a” now typed a “q” and so forth. I have had ups and downs here and will continue to have them. However, this is the trip of a life time and I can’t wait to see what else it has in store for me. In this blog I didn’t even write a tiny snipet of all I’ve done here without even realizing it.
¡Viva la Madrid!
The university I am attending is very different than what I am used to. Most of the people there only speak Spanish and they don’t really seem to know how to do their job (shoutout to administration.) However, the professors are extremely fun to be around and very interesting. Already I am adapting to the spanish culture and learning a lot about the spanish culture. In Madrid, being on time is not that important as it is a very laid back culture. This is obvious by the fact some teachers will show up 30 minutes late to class for no reason. However, to them, that’s normal.
I have alaready left the “American” mindset behind me as it is so different from European culture. This means that when I am confused in Madrid which is about half of the day I don’t get frustrated that they aren’t speaking English or doing things as I’m not used to. Rather, I approach it as me learning about the way others live and it has already helped extremely. In this first week I have observed that the Spaniards care about family over anything else and they tend to not focus on work as their full life. In America, I feel the sense that we “live to work” whereas here it’s more of a culture of “working to live.” The afternoon siestas would support this. From 2-5 each day most of the city shuts down for people to go eat lunch as well as take a siesta. I can say I have been spoiled by these already even though I haven’t slept at all during this time. Why sleep when there is so much to explore! However, during exploring one also understands the city is shut down because of the extreme heat during the afternoon. But why would I go back to my apartment with no A/C it’s not going to be cooler?
I have met so many new friends already here. For the most part, they are all people I probably wouldn’t ever have hung out with if it weren’t for being abroad. I love walking around all day and my favorite part of Madrid has defiantly been their unreal parks. Each of them is unique but full of active people of all ages looking to appreciate nature. In addition, OH MY GOODNESS the dogs here have to be equivalent to the human population. When I am at the park I see so many dogs and all of them are well behaved in Spain. The owners don’t even have to put a leash on them because they never approach strangers, rather they just walk as a normal human and don’t jump on anyone.
I’m beginning to get accustomed to life in Madrid but certainly still have a lot to learn. I am usually exhausted at night but that isn’t stopping me from experiencing Madrid night life. I never thought of how exhausting learning subtle differences in culture would be. I would compare it to somebody changing all the keys on your keyboard to a different letter and you having to find out that an “a” now typed a “q” and so forth. I have had ups and downs here and will continue to have them. However, this is the trip of a life time and I can’t wait to see what else it has in store for me. In this blog I didn’t even write a tiny snipet of all I’ve done here without even realizing it.
¡Viva la Madrid!