This blog post will not be full of pictures, in fact, I don’t think I really have the time to add any pictures at the moment (boring me right?)
I am writing to you all from Barajas airport in Madrid. It is currently 6:43 AM and I have slept a total of one hour overnight. I am waiting to board my plane to Krakow in just under an hour, as a new adventure awaits me.
I will be spending a week in Poland, attending a conference/workshop in Warsaw about soft skills and improving personal competencies in job interviews. Naturally, since I am going to Warsaw, it would be a shame not to go visit Krakow, and, from there, Auschwitz.
And I am embarking on this trip alone. I did ask some people if they’d like to join me, and it was inconvenient for them, but it’s ok, I really don’t mind going alone and I get to really set my own itinerary, turns out Krakow has a lot to see!
It will be my first trip ever on my own though, and that does make me nervous, but I’m sure I will survive. I only hope that I can get some good sleep on the plane so I can be full of energy once I land!
Of course, after this trip to Poland I go directly to Milan to visit my aunt and meet my great-uncle, my grandfather’s cousin, and this will also be my first ever visit to Italy #excited.
Now, I have not left Madrid since I went to Granada three weekends ago, and frankly it’s the longest consecutive time I’ve spent in Madrid since I’ve arrived. Crazy right?
This blog post can’t be long since I don’t wanna miss my boarding call, so I’ll talk very quickly about settling in, why don’t I?
In these last few weeks, I’ve gotten the impression that all of us exchange students have now officially settled in. People are taking party nights off to study, we spend more time at home doing homework and we definitely go out a lot less (that’s not at all to say we don’t go out!). Friend groups are more or less defined by now and school is definitely being taken more seriously. Many students are also coming to the realization that their time here is nearly up, seeing as the students who came for only one semester will be leaving either at the end of December or right after exams in mid-January. I, being one of the lucky ones, am staying til June, but that doesn’t stop me from noticing the clock slowly ticking… constantly.
The thing I’ve realized, though, seeing that I’ve been home for the past three weeks, is that without always going out and always meeting new people, with the novelty of being on exchange having worn off, I realize that I really don’t have many activities. Like at all. I’ve restarted working out, at home workouts, but that’s about it, and I find myself often cued up at home on my laptop watching TV after having completed the little homework I have. No, that’s not how I wanna spend my time!
Estoy en Madrid! Tengo que aprovechar de todo mi tiempo aquí sin gastar noches mirando la tele. Díos mio!
Yes, I’ve made a pact with myself that when I get back from this Poland-Milan trip in ten days, that I will go and try and join a club, or a sports team, or something. I want to get to know locals, get to know Madrileños, people from here that I haven’t had much of a chance to get to know since I’m surrounded by internationals. And I need to pass my time better.
I guess once the novelty of anything wears off then it’s up to you to make new experiences and fill up the time, right?
I plan on blogging a lot this week about my Poland trip, Poland is one of those countries I didn’t see myself visiting before coming, but now I’m super excited to learn about.
P.S. Pray for Paris. Awful events went down this past night and this terrorism really needs to stop…
Dan.
Studying Abroad in Madrid!! 