Cumple y visitas!

After a tumultuous week I finally got a day off, cuz of the Spanish 'All Saints Day'. Got to love all the Spanish saints they have here...

Well, last week was the week of my first birthday abroad, in Madrid Spain to be exact! And to top things off I also had friends/family coming over from Holland to celebrate it with me. That way I could show them the beautiful Madrid, catch up on everything we experienced and at the same time getting to celebrate with a big group from back home!

It was quite weird at first to see them in the Madrilenian setting, but everything else was like before I left. It was all very natural, even though it has been a while since I've seen them in person. You guys can reckon this is definitely a thing you think about when deciding to go study abroad. Well guys, I can assure you...if they are good friends of yours, the connection remains and it will be like it was just a day or two you haven't seen eachother. Don't worry about this! Also it's very nice to get to share your home for a semester with the people from back home, getting them to know what makes it so fun here.

We've been sightseeing, partying with the friends I got to make in Madrid and it was all a blast (and tireing hehe...). Aaall worth it, it's funny to see how the friends you make here get along so well with the friends from back home. Guess even though it's all international, in the essence you still get along with the people you normally would hang out with back home.
Another great aspect of this exchange abroad, I know I've made friends for life and this all got really through to me when they surprised me with a birthday cake and all started singing for me in class...it was great!

I could not have had a better week and this has probably been my most special birthday ever. When my visitors went back home, I did miss them of course. But there were several things I thought about immediately.
First off, I am halfway now and it is even going a bit too fast for my taste haha..
Second of all, the fact it still went so natural when my friends were here, makes me feel I have the people I love and care about still waiting at home:d
Third of all, and maybe the most important...I've got my friends, flatmates here who have become very good friends of mine in a very short period. They are experiencing the same thing and we know we'll be there for eachother to make it that much more fun for eachother and so we don't think too much about home hehe...

Well guys, I hope this post has made you a bit more confident about being able to make that step to go abroad. I assure, it'll be best experience ever and everybody back home will still be there waiting for you:D

Good luck with the preparations for your applications as I've seen the deadline is approaching fast now. For any questions or remark you can post a message of course and I'll get back to you.

Much love,

Fouad

Valencia

Hi guys!

How all of y'all doing?! Since it has been a while I posted something on this blog, I'll try to update you again. Everything here is going so fast! So much to do, to see, so many people to meet...it's great. At least being busy helps you not to think of home too much! But I do miss them of course.
The last weeks have been great, as expected...for starters I've been to Valencia for 5 days! I know a friend there who's there for his internship, so I could crash at his place. I picked (just by chance) a great weekend to visit. Why you ask? Saturday was the Valencian Independence Day with a huge fire works show at midnight and Monday it was a national holiday in celebration of Columbus' (Colón in Spanish?) discovery of America. A long weekend with tons of activities was the outcome!;) For example the Oceanogràfic, the largest water animal park in its kind of Europe, simply gorgeous! There's a whole strip of awesome modern buildings/musea there. By night there were the expected parties of course! Great atmosphere.
Even though it was fiesta all around I did notice a difference between Madrid and Valencia. Madrid néver seems to sleep no matter when and where you are at in Madrid. Valencia on the other hand is a bit less metropolitan, obvious since Madrid is 4 times its size más o menos...
Another thing I noticed is the fact that I am actually starting to think a bit in Spanish and respond in that language even when people talk otherwise...good development(y)!
After these 5 days of Valencia with some good weather (26 degrees Celcius and blue skies in October) it was time to go home..Home? Yeah, even though Madrid is so big it already feels like home, got a whole lot of friends there already and it is starting to feel very familiar. I guess the quote 'Where I lay my hat is my own, I am a Rolling Stone' is somewhat applicable.
On the academic part, I've got 3 Spanish courses and 3 in English. The English ones are very doable and the Spanish courses are a bit more difficult. Just because of the language...but also here I am seeing progress. I am quite confident all will work out just fine.
As mentioned before, fouadinmadrid.waarbenjij.nu for the people that want to read more (just in Dutch, sorry!). Hope you guys are doing well whereever you are and are a little bit more excited to expand your horizon! Get out your comfort zone and experience new things! That is the only way to go if you want to learn more, culturally, academically and just learning more about life in general. Last mentioned is probably most valuable.
Keep you posted!

Adiooossxx

First Two Weeks

Hi All!

Nice to see you are all interested in going on exchange abroad and following this blog specifically. Through this blog I'll try and keep you posted on a few of the great things I am experiencing here in Madrid. It's all to much to blog about, because everything is new!
The first day I arrived here I saw a great deal of Madrid, because I decided to go for a 5 hour walk after dropping my baggs of at my room. It saves ya a great deal of stress if you arrange accomodation where you can take a load off directly after arrival. It was all too much for one day to digest and I am still discovering the nice places here each and every day.
As you can imagine, a big city like Madrid has a lot to offer for every kind of person. Sports (been to Real Madrid - Ajax, seen the final etappe of the Vuelta), relaxation (Parque el Retiro, Teleferico) and so on and so on. Nightlife does not seem to be influenced by the particular day. You can get out whenever you feel like it if you have the energy and money for it. It's still a lot cheaper than the night life in for example Canada or the Scandinavian countries.
Hope to have some free time soon to keep you guys posted. I am always on the move meeting knew people, getting to know new spots. It's truly amazing, loving it!

All the best,

Fouad

P.S. A dutch blog I am keeping is www.fouadinmadrid.waarbenjij.nu for those who are interested.