The first days

Hello everyone!

I am very pleased that you decided to read my blog! Let’s start with a brief introduction of myself. My name is Rachelle Elshout, I’m a 20-year-old Dutch girl and I am in the third year of the study International Business Administration. I love to go out, do sports and have fun with my friends! This semester I am studying at Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid.

My adventure began on Wednesday August 31 when my plane landed at Airport Barajas. Hello Madrid, hello summer! I had booked a hostel for five days, because I needed time to find a room. So the next morning I searched the Internet to look for rooms in the city center with young people for an affordable price. These were basically my criteria. I tried to make appointments with the proprietors, speaking Spanish as fluently as I could, which was actually not fluent at all ;) I really enjoyed the weather, the beautiful city and the relaxed atmosphere during my search. However, the search itself went not very well. Sometimes the people were not young at all, sometimes my Spanish ‘competitors’ spoke faster and could thus sign the contract already before I understood everything, sometimes the rooms had no window, etc. But I was still enjoying this big, lovely city! After 4 full days of searching and having seen 12 rooms, I did not find my room yet. In the next blog, you will find out how and where I eventually found a room…

Let’s spend some words on my expectations and first experiences when it comes to cultural differences between the Netherlands and Spain. What I expected basically, was mainly the culture of “mañana mañana” (in English: “tomorrow, tomorrow”) as it is sometimes called. In other words: I expected no hurry and long waiting queues. Furthermore, I knew the rhythm of life would be different, mainly because of the different times for eating. I knew in advance that the Spanish have lunch around 3 p.m. and dinner at 9 p.m. Actually, I have experienced that both these expected differences were true! But since I expected them, I am not easily frustrated by it. I even enjoy the late dinnertime, because it extends your day. After dinner, around 10 p.m., it is usual to go outside to have a drink or to go out, while in the Netherlands we almost go to bed already at that time. But to be honest, my stomach is still Dutch so I am getting hungry too early most of the times. Of course there are also cultural similarities, such as the fact that this country is organized very well, like the Netherlands. Maybe a bit too well… You have all kinds of papers and forms to fill in, so maybe you can even say it is quite bureaucratic, just like the Netherlands.

I would like to share with you a photo and an anecdote each blog. This time the photo shows you the Plaza Mayor, a big and famous plaza in the center of Madrid. I have chosen this picture since it shows you: the extremely nice weather, one of the most beautiful places of Madrid, and the fact that Madrid always surprises you. The picture shows you a literal example of surprising: a street artist with three heads who scares people by suddenly starting to scream. It makes people laugh eventually and that is what I would like to emphasize: it is ok to feel scared or sad sometimes, if you just end with a laugh! But to be honest, it seems that I can only laugh here!

Lastly, an anecdote of the first week. Something happened which made me belief that coincidence exists. I went to a street to visit a room. Since I was a bit early, I walked down the street and sat on a bench in a beautiful, small park. A woman came by and sat next to me. After 5 minutes, she asked me whether I was waiting for someone. I said no. Five minutes later, she told me that she was waiting for someone, for a girl. Not knowing why she gave me this information, I kept on sitting there and enjoyed the sun. Then she said that she thought she was waiting for me. And the thing is, she appeared to be Señora Sanchez, the woman who was going to show me the room… How could this happen?! We agreed to see each other in front of the house, not in this park. I still don’t understand…

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading my first blog! This first blog was a bit general, I know, but next time you will read more about my social life here! Good cliffhanger, isn’t it? ;)

¡Adios!