La Universidad de Murcia hosts a huge multi-week welcome for International Students. Nearly everything is free or at a very low cost. It started last week, when classes started for second semester. To kick things off, the President of the University held a welcome reception with speakers from the university. We were welcomed with a huge group photo, tapas of every sort for an amazing brunch, and mid-day wine and beer. Welcome to the Spanish education system!
(one of the tables of unlimited tapas and drinks at the reception)
On Saturday we were given the opportunity to travel to nearby beach-town Cartagena free of cost to experience the historic and ocean-city which we will surely be going to A LOT. We were blown away by the heat and sun! Unfortunately, me and some of my friends experienced some miscommunication and missed the museum and tour of the roman theater in the city. But we did attend the hike up the hill to view the theater from above. We were also greeted by about a half-dozen peacocks along the trail. Who would have thought!? It’s a beautiful city which will surely be one of my favorites as soon as it warms up a little bit more!
(Ancient Roman Theater in the city)
(Me posing in front of the Mediterranean)
Saturday night the University hosted an International Welcome Party. A prominent club in the city, Club Musik, which resides below the Plaza de Toros (or the bull-fighting arena), was designated for all the International Students for the entire night. The theme for the party was Carnival! Nearly all of Europe celebrates Carnival the two weeks prior to lent. Some cities incorporate huge parades throughout the week, parties of all sorts, carnivals, festivals, and of course costumes! Carnival is extremely close to the U.S.’s Mardi-Gras, minus the beads. So costumes were required to our International Student Welcome Party at the club. Here’s some pictures of our night!
Other activities that I have been unable to attend because of my crazy class experiences and scheduling (read post below) include a free showing of the movie Revolver with Penelope Cruz in Spanish, a classic historical tour of the city of Murcia, and a museum tour of the city of Murcia. Tonight we will be going on a “Night of Tapas” courtesy of the university! Well, we had to pay 7 Euros but from what I’ve heard, it’s going to be a fun night with the other exchange students experiencing Murcia’s most traditional and delicious tapas! I’ll include pictures later! Finally, the biggest part of this welcome week is a trip to Sevilla for three days! We’re leaving on Friday morning 2 am and (hopefully) sleeping on the bus on the way there. We will all be staying in one large hostel, have a guided tour of the city, experience some of the culture through food and flamenco, and will hopefully have a blast! I’ll let you all know how it goes!! Pictures coming soon!
I’ve officially been living in Spain for over a month now. You would think I would have written something about classes already (since technically that‘s why I‘m here), but our actual classes only started last Monday! It’s been a crazy and hectic journey picking my classes, trying to find them, trying to converse with the teacher and the other students, and everything in between. Here’s a little synopsis of my university experiences so far.
La Universidad de Murcia requires that we take 50% of our classes in the same exact department and title (as in, not just the College of Business for example, but also the Bachelor of Arts of Business Administration with a focus on Marketing). This makes it very complicated for me because I will be taking 4 classes here (which is considered a full amount for both the United States and Murcia), 2 of which have to be in the same exact department and title. WSU’s International Business curriculum requires that I have 3 study abroad classes outside of my business curriculum. Therefore, my two classes in the same department and title cannot be business. I also only need one more Spanish class to fulfill my minor (so I can’t take two classes in Spanish language). The only other classes I need outside of those departments are an intercultural class, a political science class, and science classes (which I definitely will not be taking the science classes here, I can’t imagine trying to learn science taught in another language). Clearly, selecting classes is a complicated process.
Some quick info on university curriculum here in Spain: Students in Spain select their “major” as soon as they enter the university. They then are required to take a very specific list of courses only in that department. All of their classes are already planned out for them from start to finish. All their classes are generally in the same building, and very often in the same room. New teachers will come in for every class, but many students stay in their seats in the same room throughout the day. For us International Students, this is difficult because we are actually taking classes in various departments, various classrooms, and almost always have to enter a room of students who study everything together, and we’re just the international students there for that one class. At La Universidad de Murcia, there are two campuses, a small campus with the administrative buildings and some classes literally 30 seconds outside of my apartment (La Merced), and the huge main campus 40 minutes away on a bus we have to pay for (Espinardo Campus). When planning classes, getting between campuses makes it nearly impossible. Here’s what I experienced on my first day of school:
First day of school:
I was nervous like I was before my first day of middle school and on my first day of high school, except times 10. Back then, I already knew most of the kids in my grade and knew who was going to be in my classes, and I knew that my teachers were going to be speaking English to me, and I somewhat knew where my classes were, and I knew how to ask where they were if I did get lost. This was a whole new level of craziness. Thank goodness that the class I had first thing on Monday was with one of my new friends here in Murcia, Erin. I ventured to the bus stop to meet Erin so we could head to Espinardo campus, but not before getting splashed by a mud puddle as a car drove by me. It was pouring rain and cold and I was now dirty and muddy. We spent most of the bus ride inspecting the campus map and double checking the bus line, to make sure we were actually going to our campus. I also spent a good amount of time trying to clean the mud off of me.
(Me and Erin with our umbrellas on our first day of school)
We finally got to Espinardo campus and were able to find the building for our Psychology of Personality class. There was no classroom listed online, so we had to ask for help from someone, of course. Once class started, I think me and Erin were both shocked to realize how much of the Spanish language we really don’t know. I would describe it as if someone was speaking Chinese to you…. and every once in a while a word you recognized would pop up….
“literature” more chinese language “psychology” chinese “personality is…” chinese “helpful to realize” chinese “sometimes”.
We could always get the actual subject of what is being taught, but there’s a lot of specific information we can’t quite catch, and it’s the same for every class. I think the Murcian accent makes it much more difficult. Spanish words and phrases that I’ve always known sound way different here because they’re cut short, said without “s” and “z” noises, and said way faster generally.
After making it out alive of my first class and having a few notes written down on the subject, I was feeling confident that things would be ok. We got back on the bus to venture to La Merced campus in town to check out our next class. Turns out class was canceled on the first day because the teacher had left the university and they didn’t have a replacement yet. After a two hour break I had to get back on the bus and go back to Espinardo campus to check out my International Marketing class. Only 5 students were there, including me and Brayan, my roommate. The class also only lasted 10 minutes. We waited around for the next class to start: Commercial Distribution and Sales. This class was filled up. The teacher immediately made us all make name tags to put on our desks so he could call on us, and call on us he did. He hardly even mentioned going over the syllabus before he dove into teaching about formulas, distribution charts and schedules, shipping times, and stuff that would have been difficult enough to learn for the first time in English, let alone Spanish. I was trying very hard to understand but I didn’t know all of the business vocabulary he was using. He called on me to answer a question and I froze. The answer he was looking for was only a number, so I said what I was hoping was correct, “diez???”. He nodded. YES. So I got it right, but I already knew, this class wasn’t for me. I spent most of the class red faced and shaky because I didn’t want to make a fool of myself in front of everyone.
Classes since Day 1:
Things have been just as hectic since that first day. On day 2, me and Erin took the bus to Espinardo campus to go to “History of Music and Folklore”. We found the room empty, lights off, not a student or teacher in sight, and no note on the door. We waited 20 minutes before going to ask the administration who told us we were for sure in the correct place, and they had no idea what was going on. So we headed back into town after wasting $3 worth of bus tickets and not even going to class. Many other students had similar stories: classes canceled without even a note on the door, teachers not showing up, hardly any students in class, 10 minute classes, etc. I was starting to think that the Spanish casual lifestyle might be a little too casual for my liking. I’m used to structure and schedules and specific meeting places and times in the United States.
I thought all of the classes would be casual like this… that is until I went to “Great Hispanic American Figures in Literature”. I found it odd when the teacher immediately started complaining that students were sitting in all three sections of seats because it hurt his neck to have to look all over the room like that. He wanted all the students to sit in only two of the sections. He also complained that the Chinese students were all sitting together, and the other International students were all sitting together, and that it would make him look racist to be talking towards one group and not the other. It really wasn't planned. When we walked in we just took open seats, but it made him angry. Because the class fit perfectly into my schedule, I figured I could put up with him for the 5 months I am here. Although, yesterday, when returning to his class, I realized I cannot put myself through that. My class right before his ended 3 minutes late, so a group of us hurried to get to his class in time. We scooted in just before him. He’s about 60 years old and came in wearing aviator sunglasses (which he wore for the first 10 minutes of his lecture). He closed the door behind him when he came in and began talking. Several students tried to enter the room merely minutes after, and he immediately yelled the equivalents in Spanish to “No! No!… Out!” and pointed back at the door to them. He continued doing this to about 4 groups of students who tried to enter. He rubbed his forehead and neck during a large chunk of class, as if showing what a pain and hassle it was to be there teaching us. Technically the class is a year-long class, but international students are allowed to take it for a semesr. The syllabus had 19 books listed as required reading for the entire year-long course. Several of us went to his office after class to ask him how many of those books and which ones we needed to read for only this semester. His response, “You should probably ask an International student who took this class last semester and see which ones they already read”. Very helpful. Regardless, I’m not taking that class.
Summary:
The Spanish education system has already bestowed some unique experiences on me. After frustrations of trying to pick classes that work between the two campuses, fit all the requirements, and are classes I can actually understand and put up with, I have finally picked a final schedule. Here in Murcia, I’m a law student now! My two classes in the same department and title are technically in the law school, which makes me a law major while I’m here. I’m taking Political Systems of Latin America, Political and Social History: Individualism, Nationalism, and Neoclassism, Narratives of the Hispanic American World, and an online business class: Financial Management of International Businesses. All of these are taught completely in Spanish. The good news is that they are all at the campus right next to my apartment and I only have classes Monday through Wednesday, which leaves long weekend for travling!
It’s going to be a tough semester, but after only one week of classes, I’m beginning to understand Spanish better and can catch more words and phrases which I recognize. Yes, I’ve had a very fair share of awkward experiences in these classes already. Some of them include: accidentally leaning against the light switch on the wall and turning off the lights of the conference room where political science guest speakers were not only presenting to tons of people, but also were being filmed; I’ve had my fair share of being called on and totally giving the blank look because I have no clue what I was asked; getting pointed at and displayed to my entire political science class every time “American” or “United States” is used; and of course, showing up muddy on my first day of class was great too. In the end, I’m learning a lot and having fun, even though this has been a stressful two weeks. I’m eager to share more of my awkward and interestng class experiences as they come along. Our campuses are beautiful so I will also take pictures of them soon and post them!
This is the true story... of seven previous strangers... who chose to travel together...room together and have their lives documented by photographs... to find out what happens... when people stop being shy... and start getting real...The Real World: Milan.
Ok, so this isn’t The Real World TV show, but 7 of us did decide to travel together to Milan before any of us even knew each other. Kind of crazy, kind of spur of the moment. But things turned out great! Here’s a play by play of each day we spent in Milan and Verona in Italy.
Day 1:
Getting to the airport wasn’t too stressful except that one of our traveling buddies Lauren was lost in Murcia and didn’t know her way to the bus station. There was some miscommunications about meeting time and place, although luckily, Lauren made it to the bus stop with a minute to spare before we departed to the airport 40 minutes away. We had booked our flight to Milan through Ryanair, an airline that is super cheap to use to fly around Europe. Although, we found out, the fees add up quickly if you’re a centimeter over the carry-on size baggage limits, or a kilo over the weight limit. Our carry-ons were measured, weighed, and re-measured. The flight itself was interesting to say the least. Once you board, you choose your own seat. No food or beverage carts were brought by on the 2 hour flight, though smokeless cigarettes were brought by to be sold, as well as a perfume cart, and lottery tickets. Upon landing, a celebratory trumpet tune was played on the intercom followed by “another successful landing by Ryanair”, and applause by the passengers.
As the airport we landed at is actually outside of Milan, we took a bus to the city center. The 40 minute ride was peaceful at first, until it started snowing as we got closer to Milan. Once in Milan, we whipped out our umbrellas and donned our hoods of our coats to prevent getting wet. Although, none of us were equipped with proper snow-shoes and had soaked feet within minutes. To avoid the confusion of trying to ask which bus to take to our hostel (as only one of us had any knowledge of the Italian language), we decided to take a taxi. As Isabella (with three years of Italian classes under her belt) got a taxi for 4 of the group members and directed it to the hostel, the other 3 of us were a little lost with how to tell our taxi driver where to go. We just repeated the street name with our best attempt at an Italian accent several times. We eventually got there to be greeted with piles of snow building up. Once in our hostel, we found out they had overbooked and there wasn’t room for one of us. We persuaded the desk-worker to let us all stay together and just share some beds instead. He couldn’t understand why we “were causing problems” with the situation. In the U.S., we would’ve gotten a free upgrade for a situation like that, but these are the cultural differences I am learning. We were split between two rooms and were welcomed with complimentary bottles of wine.
Our day of traveling left us hungry, so we ventured into the streets to try to find a restaurant. After about 15 minutes of misery in the snow with cold and wet feet, we stopped at a restaurant that appeared open. In reality, they didn’t open until 7:30 and we showed up at 6:30. We must have looked desperate because they let us in anyways. We sat for about 45 minutes before we ordered anything though. We each ordered a personal pizza, which turned out to be enough for 2 or 3 people. And we all finished our pizzas. Sad, yes. But the pizza was AMAZING. By the time we finished dinner, the snowing had turned into a downpour of rain. We practically ran towards our hostel, only to be distracted by a supermarket where we bought too many cookies and too much chocolate. We stayed up drinking wine and eating cookies before we passed out in our rooms. At 5 am in my room, all of us woke up to the most intense sauna of a room ever. After fixing the heater, life was great again.
Day 2:
We woke up on day 2 to breakfast in bed (yes, our hostel was more like a hotel). We spent the day exploring Milan. We took a bus to the main plaza where the Cathedral of Milan is located (called the Duomo). It’s the fourth largest church in the world. Words can’t even begin to describe how huge and beautiful this church is. At the plaza, we quickly learned that hecklers can spot tourists a mile away. These men kept handing string bracelets to us, and some even tied them onto our wrists without our consent. Then they asked for money for the bracelets to “support Africa”. There were dozens of these men all over Milan. Also, while trying to take pictures of the Duomo, a man came up and poured birdseed into my hand, causing dozens of pigeons to land on me or near me. I didn’t ask the man to pour the seeds into my hand, but he then demanded money. I shook my head and walked away, but we got some cool pictures from it.
We also checked out the fortress of Milan, called Castello Sforzesco. It was built in 1368 to defend the city from attacks. The fortress is huge and also beautiful. Once inside, we checked out a museum filled with various pieces of history of Milan, including armory, weapons, art, sculptures, and musical instruments. Leonardo di Vinci had painted some of the ceilings inside the fortress, and some of his artwork was even displayed in the museum.
Sidenote: As Milan is the fashion capital of the world, we viewed some of the world’s most expensive clothing brands, saw dogs wearing designer coats and sweaters, saw some outrageously expensive cars parked on the streets, and we witnessed a pair of heels for several thousand Euros. A very common site was to see an older woman covered head to toe in fur: a huge fur coat going down to her knees and a cap to cover her head, also covered in long thick fur. It was a little outrageous, but it was so common in Milan. Also, trollies, trains, buses, taxis and car all drove together in harmony on one street. I don't know how they did it, but every street was covered in railroad tracks, and somehow cars avoided getting hit.
We returned to our hostel to check out a nearby restaurant that was recommended to us. We were given complimentary drinks, bread sticks, toast with bruschetta, plain bread to eat with our dinners, cookies and candies at the end of the meal, and a shot of limonchello alcohol each. That was just the free part of our meal. We ordered pizzas (again). Mine was spinach and ricotta, and was the best pizza I’ve ever had in my life. We went back to our hostel and met two girls from California who were studying in Madrid, Spain, though were also visiting Milan for a few days. We drank wine with them before deciding to check out Milan’s nightlife. A travel book we had been following pointed us to a neighborhood with tons of nightlife and bars.
(click to see full picture)
Unfortunately, our bus ride was cut short. Either the bus driver realized we didn’t have bus passes or he was annoyed with the Americans being loud on the bus (even though we were the only ones on it). He dropped us off on a random street near the Duomo. We were able to find the neighborhood with no problems though. We came to a street with dozens of people drinking outside in the street, even though it was freezing. We joined them outside. We spent several hours meeting Italians, experiencing Italian nightlife (which seemed rather dull compared to Spain's), and then trying to find a taxi to our hostel, which took some strenuous effort, but eventually it was accomplished.
Day 3:
My favorite day! We got up early to head to the train station. We bought tickets to head to Verona, Italy. Verona, the setting for Romeo and Juliet, was historic, beautiful, and everything I had thought Italy would be.
We viewed “Juliet’s balcony”. An entryway to her balcony is covered in thousands of letters, notes, graffiti marks, and marker written on the wall, all with love notes to their lovers or their name with their lover’s name. The notes are in dozens of different languages and come from people from all over the world. It was a cool feeling to be there and witness a place where so many people had declared their love for someone else. I of course, had to leave my mark on the wall as well! A statue of Juliet stands below her balcony, where rubbing her right breast is supposed to bring luck in love. We fought off the crowd for our turn to take a picture rubbing her breast. Strange tradition, but why not right? We continued our journey through Verona where we purchased authentic Italian gelato (mine was Hazelnut). I was in heaven. We came to one of Verona’s main plazas, where a huge tower was overlooking the city. We got to the top of the 368 stair tower just in time for sunset. It was beautiful. We could view Verona’s river, the colliseum of Verona, all of the beautiful architecture, and the castle overlooking the city. After a scrumptious outside dinner by a fire heater on the plaza where we watched horse-drawn carriages and people galore, we decided to check out the colliseum (Arena di Verona), which is internationally known for its amazing opera performances.
After climbing to the top and taking our fair shair of photos, we had to head back to Milan. Unfortunately, we got on the wrong train (the first class train). There was nowhere for us to sit, and we spent the entirety of our train ride avoiding the ticket man who would surely fine us (we were already fined in our morning train for not “validating our tickets” before we got on). We stood in the in-between car of the train where the bathrooms were. Eventually the train stopped, and we got off at the station. We waited about 45 minutes for our actual train to arrive, which we took back to Milan.
(click to see full picture) Day 4 and 5:
We spent both of these days checking out sites that our travel book recommended to us. Unfortunately, whoever wrote the travel book was in Milan during the summer months, not the cold winter. It was too unbearable for us to really go out and explore a whole lot. We did get some great shopping in, so we can claim wearing clothes from the fashion capital of the world. We checked out the Navigli district of Milan, which is supposed to be the “Venice of Milan”, a series of channels through part of the city with boats and romantic canoes. When we got there, the water was completely dried up and the boats were beached. So much for that plan. We also checked out a church that our book claimed to be incredible. We were unimpressed when we arrived. Compared to the Duomo, this church seemed like nothing. On our way to the Navigli district we came across these stairs leading to the metro which were like piano keys. We had way too much fun with these!
We did check out two museums filled with works of Leonardo di Vinci. We saw his huge cartoon sketch which was his practice for his "School of Athens" painting. We also got to view pieces from his Codex (a book he used to doodle about everything). It contained poems, paintings, inventions, instructions, proposals for the city, and so much more. Leonardo was clearly a genius. Other than that, for the most part, we spent a lot of time trying great coffee places, tea places, trying to find food places our book recommended but that we could never find, and just being really cold. We ended up eating at the same restaurant we ate at the second night (with all the free stuff). We tried gnocci, some great pastas, more pizzas, and some amazing Italian dessert.
After this trip, I’ve learned all of six Italian words, which I used the entire time I was there.
Gratzie (thank you) was used not only for “thank you”, but also for “I loved your food”, “can’t wait to eat here again”, and generally when I didn’t know what else to say.
Scuzzi (excuse me), was used for “excuse me, I’m lost”, “I totally just ran into you”, “could you be walking any slower?”, “don’t mind me, I’m just a lost American who doesn’t speak an ounce of Italian”, and again for when I didn’t know what else to say.
Bonjourno (hello) was used only for hello.
Ciao (hello/goodbye) was used for both hello and goodbye!
Arriverderci (goodbye) was too difficult to say so I did not use it.
Dove sono (where is) wasn’t really used because I couldn’t say what I was looking for.
Overall, this trip showed me some amazing and beautiful sites of Italy. It also showed me that I probably won’t return to Milan. The city is extremely modern, pretty similar to what we have in the United States already. Now I know. I would definately love to go back to Verona though. The place of Romeo and Juliet? It doesn't get much more romantic than that! Hopefully I’ll also get a chance to check out Florence, Venice, or Rome sometime during my current travels in Europe or later in my life so I can check out some authentic historical sites. I also learned that traveling to northern parts of a country in Europe in January can lead to some very cold times. Although, we made it through, had a blast, and I’m so glad I went!
I have some great new adventures from Murcia I will write about once I get the time. Everything from Thursday's open air market and exploring the city, finally finding a Mexican restaurant here and realizing that Spaniards don't know Mexican (just as Mexicans probably don't know Spanish food), and the great adventures in my cheap broken down apartment and our money-hungry landlord. Every week here is nothing short of a crazy fun adventure. Yes, our money-hungry landlord and our run down apartment might not be ideal, but my amazing roommates and the jokes we make about it make it totally worthwhile. Expect an updated blog in 5 to 6 days. I'm leaving to Milan, Italy tomorrow morning at 9 am with six other exchange students! We're using a European airline called Ryanair, which has super cheap flights throughout Europe. Our 25 Euro round trip flight will allow us to do more stuff while we are there, even if their super strict 1 item of carry-on only policy means we can only bring one extra pair of jeans and enough tops to keep us warm. Yes, we will be the super-touristy students "roughing" it with limited resources and limited clothes, but we're going to make an adventure out of it! As the Italians would say, "Arrivederci!"
On Saturday we were given the opportunity to travel to nearby beach-town Cartagena free of cost to experience the historic and ocean-city which we will surely be going to A LOT. We were blown away by the heat and sun! Unfortunately, me and some of my friends experienced some miscommunication and missed the museum and tour of the roman theater in the city. But we did attend the hike up the hill to view the theater from above. We were also greeted by about a half-dozen peacocks along the trail. Who would have thought!? It’s a beautiful city which will surely be one of my favorites as soon as it warms up a little bit more!
