¡Hola desde Madrid!
Hello from Madrid!
Today is our second Tuesday at our placement in Madrid, therefore, time to give an update!
There are 6 of us in the Madrid placement and so far we’ve had very different experiences so far. Some of us came to Europe early to travel to other countries before the program: visiting Italy, Netherlands, Germany, France and Portugal. Others have travelled to different cities in the free time between the start of placement and classes, like Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, Málaga and Mallorca.
So far we’ve adjusted well to the European lifestyle- the cheap produce, the later mealtimes and of course we’ve all taken a midday siesta. We’ve done lots of shopping too, a couple of us live next to the biggest street market in Madrid and there are many second hand clothing stores near most of us too. Walking everywhere is the norm here and with that, we have good access to the trains, the metro and buses too. It was a bit of a learning curve figuring out how to get around, but now I’d say we’re pros.
About our placement- it’s a bit of a trek to get there, but we booked our accommodations with this in mind. To get there, most of us take the metro about 7 stops and then we get on a school bus for about 40 minutes, as the school is outside the city of Madrid. We are all placed at different grade levels from preschool to grade 6. Something that shocked us all was that there is a nursery with cribs at the school, because students can start at our school as young as 3 months old here! One and a half hour lunches were a new experience for us too! Along with that- cafeteria lunches are pretty big with a first plate (usually soup), second plate, maybe a third plate, a fruit and if you would like: a salad from the salad bar. The teachers and staff at the school are all incredibly kind and have been super welcoming to us. Apparently UofC has been sending TABbers for a while, because while introducing us to our teachers, all our coordinator had to say was, “these are the students from Calgary”, and the common reply was a knowing, “ah! From Calgary!”
I guess we have a good reputation to uphold.
Until next time!
¡Hasta la próxima entrada!
Amanda, Jenna, Sophie, Olivia, Reem & Lucas