Chapter 1: A voyage of discovery...

Hola a todos,

So this last day and a half has certainly been a voyage of discovery, beginning with the excitement of...an exam.

While I'm here as an Erasmus student, the first few weeks will consist of a compulsory Spanish language course for all of the students studying through the exchange programme at the uni. The exam was just routine to see what our language aptitude is before they place us into classes for the course. In true spanish style, the exam started half an hour late and the invigilators started the exam before handing any of the questions or answer sheets out. Pretty straight forward and most of us were finished within the first half hour so I think it went okay!

Then the adventures continued with an exploration of the city with my friend Lluvia who very kindly showed me around, including a classy meal of
orange juice out of the carton, bread and cheese outside the Palacio Real.

So that was the second half of yesterday and today began with an Erasmus Welcome Session. It basically consisted of a few students introducing 'ESN' (Erasmus Students' Network) which is a group of the students at the uni who are there to help Erasmus students feel supported and organise trips around Madrid and to other famous cities in Spain. A man from the Oficina de Relaciones Internacionales (International Relations/Erasmus Office) then talked at us for about an hour telling us generic information about things we need to do such as matriculation paperwork, registering for a student card and the other facilities at the uni such as sports pitches.

Once that was over it was time for heading off campus and a few of the other Erasmus students helped me to conquer the Metro home. It was only a short ride and I think I'll walk into uni everyday instead but I feel like I've got to grips a bit more with the city now. Plus the journey was less than 1 Euro. Bargain! After that I had a wonder with another student from Edinburgh who I bumped into, including a Paella for lunch. Yum!

So that's that. Not sure what's happening to night but word is on the street that there's an Erasmus Welcome Party somewhere so might head to that. Right now I'm off to try and attempt a food shop and to buy a spanish mobile...exciting stuff eh?!

Besos, x