Marbella, Spain

Hola a todos!

Marbella is a little city on the Mediterranean coast. It's in the South, 40 minutes from Malaga. Marbella has a very famous port called "Puerto Banus" where luxury stores and yachts are part of the scenery. I would say that Marbella is like a Beverly Hills or St Tropez. There are a lot of foreigners, from all around Europe and even the US. Because of that, everyone speaks English as it is the common language.

Marbella is a very touristy destination in the summer, but starting late september the city is more peaceful. I loved the diversity of its people but it was a little bit too "bling bling" for me. For someone who wants to go out and party, or has the means to go shopping in expensive stores, Marbella is the perfect spot. A lot of celebrities and important personalities go there on vacation, so don't be surprised if you encounter Paris Hilton in one of the nightclubs!

The weather was perfect, sunny and hot enough to go to the beach. I went there in October and felt like it was August! I carpooled to Marbella on my way there and took the bus on my way back to Madrid.

Check out www.blablacar.com which is a very famous website in Europe for people who want to carpool or sell seats in their car. It can be cheaper than taking the bus, or faster.

For my way back, I took a bus from the compagny "daibus".

The transportation cost me 60E in total.

I didn't book a hostel because one of my friends from home lives there so I just crashed at his place.

I would definitely recommend Marbella to you, its famous nightclubs, Puerto Banus and the Ocean club ( which is a little expensive but so worth it).

Adios!

Classes

Hello again dear readers,


Today I'm going to write about classes in Spain.
Before leaving for Madrid, the international programs office of Fairfield U sent us an email asking us to choose the classes we wanted from a course booklet. There was a lot of classes taught in Spanish but also in English. I wanted to take a business class abroad but the international programs office said it would be complicated so I chose to get rid of my core classes here. I'm taking history of modern philosophy, European history of the 20th century, international current issues from a Spanish perspective, Spanish modern Art and a Spanish class. They're taught by Spaniards who speak English. They're mostly lectures but some require a lot of participation because they're more interactive. We don't have as much homework as in the US but the final is 50% of our final grade !! They use a platform called "Moodle" which is like our Blackboard. You have two weeks in the beginning of September to add/drop a class so don't stress out before your departure.
Finals are in mid December, and papers are due the end of November, early December.
I got really lucky with my schedule since I don't have class on Friday and Monday, which means that I have a mini vacation every week. The professors here don't like it when you skip class, since attendance is part of your grade. People who have a Pass/Fail system don't really care if they miss 2 or 3 classes but Fairfield students must be careful since our grades in Spain will count towards our GPA. The grading system is on a 10-scale and not a 100 like in the US. 9-10 is excellent and difficult to achieve. Most Spaniards have between 7 and 9. I had to buy only one textbook, for my Spanish class, otherwise all the other classes are based on Power Point slides that are posted on "Moodle" so no need to even take notes.

Voila! hope that helps!

Barcelona

Hola readers!!

I went to Barcelona last week end with a group of friends studying abroad with me. Since we are on a student budget, we tried to look whatever was cheaper to go there: bus, plane, train, carpooling, etc. (well I don't see what's left but let's pretend there is)
We opted for the bus. Alsa is the most popular bus company in Spain so we tried to buy our ticket online but our american cards weren't working for some reason. We went to the train/metro/bus station "Avenida de America" and got our tickets using the machines there. 50E roundtrip.

Then, we were looking for cheap hostels and found a decent one in Las Ramblas (very famous neighborhood in Barcelona) and not too far from the beach, a 30 minute walk. So we booked it online and everything was all set!!

The bus ride was very exhausting and not very comfortable. I mean, I really tried every position but nothing worked. I suffered in silence for 8 hours... Once in Barcelona, we took the cab to go to our Hostel, checked in and went to our room. There were 8 beds in total, but we were only 4. The four other people were from Chile, Germany, Algeria and Slovenia. What I liked the most about the hostel was the diversity of its residents and we were all approximately the same age! It wasn't the cleanest place, I give you that. But better than paying 200 bucks a night at a hotel!!!

We walked A LOT, visited Las Ramblas, the beach area, downtown, went to the famous Park Guell. It is a very charming city, with many things to see. The people there understand Spanish and most of them speak it. But everything is written in Catalan and you'll notice the difference when you hear people speaking on the street.

I spent a lot of money on food ( I was always hungry), and the metro is more expensive than the one in Madrid. Overall, I really liked Barcelona although the beach wasn't that impressive.

The Hostel we stayed at is "BeMar" if anyone's interested. Go with a big group of friends and bring snickers if you're planning on walking a lot!






Thanks for reading!

Park Guell

A few pictures of Madrid

Plaza de Toros- Bullring.  tickets are around 20E. This is a beautiful Arab inspired architecture.

 Santiago Bernabeu Stadium- Official Real Madrid team stadium!! This photo was taken at a champion's league game. Real Madrid against Basel. cheapest ticket was 25E !!

 Paella- Traditional Spanish dish. Rice, peppers, calamari, shrimp, etc. SO good please have at least one every two weeks plus it's not expensive!

 Gran Via- Main avenue in Madrid and very touristic. Stores, cafes, restaurants, American food chains, movie theaters,etc.

 Palacio Real- Royal palace. Tourists can visit the inside of the palace, it's 5E for students. Beautiful place and architecture.

 Retiro- This monument is at the Retiro parc, beautiful!

 Retiro- This is still at Retiro. There's a lake and people can rent a bark. 7E. Retiro is very big, it's Madrid's "Central Park" and worth visiting a few times.

 Puerta de Atocha- This is the main train station in Madrid. It's located in Atocha, a very famous and pretty area of Madrid.

Plaza de Cibeles- This is 30 seconds away from Gran Via and not too far from Atocha.

Culture shock

Hola todos,

Today marks my first month in Madrid...Unbelievable!!!

I did so many things that I can't quite remember everything. I went to many cafes, visited the city, went to Toledo and Barcelona, made new friends, went to a few bars and nightclubs, did some shopping, and of course had class!! This is why we're here...right?

The first thing that culturally "shocked" me was the dinner time. Spaniards usually wake up pretty early, have breakfast, go to work or school or run some errands, have lunch usually after 2 , nap ("la siesta") wake up, blank space ( I don't know what they usually do after waking up oops) and have dinner between 10pm and midnight. I'm still used to having dinner pretty early (7-8:30pm) so having to wait until 10 is hard for me and my poor stomach. Since people have dinner so late, they also start going out very late. The young Spaniards go out at 1:30/2am and go back home around 7am. I'm still trying to figure out how they manage to wake up early or if they sleep at all..?

The second thing would be how NICE everyone dresses. Is it a fashion show everyday here?! Physical appearance is very important I guess, so no extra large Fairfield sweatshirt and sweatpants for me anymore :(

Third, water is NOT free. Even at McDonald's!!! I'm always asking for "un vaso de agua" (glass of water) and they give me an expensive and fancy water bottle. So I started asking for "agua de grifo" ( tap water) and the answer was " sorry we don't have tap water" but they have a very nice microscopic water bottle for 4 dollars!!!  So an advice guys: buy water bottles at a supermarket and bring one with you everywhere.

Finally... PDA. PDA everywhere. It's not about holding hands and kissing on the street like we see it everyday. No, here you're going to see people from 7 to 77 years old (Ok I'm a bit exaggerating)  making out in every possible public places. Parks, streets, cafes, bus stops. and my favorite, the metro. But at the same time, some of the couples are so cute and affectionate in public that you don't mind them kissing like they didn't see each other in a year anymore.

I can't really think of any other culture shock but if I experience any, I will add it to my future posts.


Thanks for reading !

Adios

Arrival

Hola!!

I arrived on August 25th at the station Puerta de Atocha, Madrid. I took a taxi to go to my homestay, which was approximately 15 minutes away from the station for 13 euros. Not so bad compared to a cab in New York city right?

The apartment is very nice. old European style and antique furniture. I live with three other flatmates, two from my school and one from Texas. Our homestay mom is very nice and sweet, but only speaks Spanish which is good if you want to improve your Spanish.

It took me a week to unpack everything...but my closet finally looks like someone actually lives there!! We have our own rooms, desks, bookshelves, etc. Our homestay mom makes breakfast and dinner for us. Breakfast is pretty simple but she tries to make Spanish dishes every time for dinner such as paella, empanada, tortilla...

I love living with other people. After having roommates for two years in college and now in Spain, I don't think I could ever live by myself. Also, city life is amazing! I live 2 minutes away from the metro and it is so simple to use and so clean.

Hasta Luego!!

Pre-departure !!

Hi everyone!

My name is Rheem and I'm a business student at Fairfield University in Connecticut.
I am currently studying abroad in Madrid, Spain for one semester. My case is a little bit different from the other Americans that I know studying abroad because I am an international student in the US. Therefore, this is technically not my first experience on another continent.

I'm originally from Rabat, Morocco. I grew up in a very bi-cultural and bilingual atmosphere where French and Arabic were part of my daily life. I chose to study in the United States for college instead of staying in Morocco or going to France like the rest of my friends because I've always wanted to travel and see cultures that I didn't know about.

I chose Spain because it has the perfect geographic location: right in between France and Morocco. In addition, because Spain is so close to Morocco (30 mins by Ferry), my family and I used to go there every summer and had an amazing time. I know Andalusia (region in the South of Spain) very well but had never traveled North, so it is my first time in Madrid. I love everything about Spain: the food, the beaches, the language, the people, the parties, wine, cheese, etc. If the unemployment rate wasn't so high (24%), I would probably move here!!

Unlike most of the exchange students from the US, I didn't fly to Spain but took the train. I was in Morocco for the summer, so my parents drove me to Tangier to take the ferry, then took the high speed train (called AVE) from Seville to Madrid.

I was amazed by the beauty of this city that I would call home for 4 months and a half. I wasn't as anxious and stressed as other exchange students who might have left the US or their home country for the first time in their life because I had already been through the culture shock and adaptation in the US. I learned to live without seeing my parents everyday, without having my friends with me, and speaking a different language. If I managed to handle the United States, I could definitely handle Spain!!! haha.

I brought only one (big) suitcase with me because I am going back home for a week end in October and will bring my other suitcase with all the winter clothes. Don't forget any medication, adapters and your computer or Ipad!! Also, I know how much Americans love peanut butter and I am happy to tell you that they sell it here and even have specialized American stores !

Saying your goodbyes to family members and friends is never easy, whether you live an hour away from home or 10 hours by plane. Spend some quality time with everyone you're going to miss and don't forget that it's 2014!! Skype, Viber, whatsapp, imessage and emails are very good tools to stay in touch!!


Hasta luego!! Y viva España!!