Spain

Hola there!

New week, new classes, new campus, new . . .

When my Spanish friends had told me that all Political Science, Sociology, Psychology and Economy students were moved to a different campus outside of the city few years ago, because of all the noise and mess they made in the original University Campus (Ciudad Universitaria), I did not believe them (Oh, another trick Spaniards are playing on me). But when yesterday I entered the Political Science building, ready for my Welcome day in A-line skirt, cream shirt and pearl earrings, I changed my mind!

The map of Madrid. Red circle - the center area. Blue circle - mayor and original campus of Universidad Complutense Madrid. The A point - my campus.

The campus is actually in the middle of Madrid desert, it is fenced around and there are two buses, which come from the center of the city to connect us to the outside world:) The buildings have modern, industrial design (meaning, more metal and pipes, less glass and plastic). Although it is not allowed to smoke inside public buildings in Spain, that rule does not apply to my campus. To get to the canteen one has to pass through cloud of smoke, revolutionary posters, invitations to the protests. The pictures best describe the environment:

The upper floor

"Youth with no future for a hot fall... Down with the regime!"

The hallway to the cafeteria

One of the cool posters

After first day-cultural shock, I did some reminiscing on the stories about Bogota University strikes/protests and reading on group 15-M (the protests that started in Madrid this May to show the government how the crisis affected young people and to demand change), I decided to put on jeans, simple shirt, so that people actually talked to me:)
Of course I bet it is not that simple: not about clothes, not that much about socialist/capitalist, not about just your university, your city, country or may be even your life. I cannot wait to talk to some of them. Today I met a shy Cuban guy, I wonder what he has to say. As well, I met a Northern Irish, who greets people with: "Hola, estoy, no . . . soy de Irlanda Norte". I wonder what he has to say too. I think I am staying in their class for that reason! (Plus it is a compulsory Political System of Spain class:).
Other than that, I became a proud member of the Club de la Montana (Mountain club?), what a great name! So this weekend is my first trip with them to the mountains just outside Madrid, Sierra de Guadarrama.

One last poster from my campus:

The poster - invitation to the May 15th protest-
the first one to take place

Hola from Madrid!

First, I've found an apartment! It was much harder than I thought, however staying at the hostel with great people and delicious jamon cheered me up every time. It is tiny, like everything a student owns :), but it is close to a big park with many sporty people (if you know what I mean:)

In the mean time, my Spanish language classes started and I had the pleasure to enjoy real campus in Ciudad Universitaria. It made me feel like I am in US high school all over again . . . but much, much bigger in size.
Here are some pictures of the campus: