Spend a Summer in Madrid: My Story -T.H.

I recently returned from a study abroad program in Madrid, Spain. I went through a program called CEA: Cultural Experiences Abroad and actually earned 16 credits towards my college degree (I could have earned more, but i wanted lots of time to hang out in the city.) The classes in Spain I took were in the arts and business, so they counted mostly towards my general education core requirements. I also studied at the Antonia de Nebrija University, which was cool because my host family practically lived around the block and I could sleep in late when I had a morning class.  I chose to go to Madrid in the first place because even since I was a kid and watched the bull runs on TV, I thought Spain was cool. My Spain study abroad experience was everything I thought it would be and I would definitely recommend Madrid to anyone who wants to study abroad in a place that’s full of culture and food. Well, everyone was surprised to learn that I gained about 20 pounds during my study abroad in Spain, but my host family was so generous with food, so I kept eating it! When I came home, my girlfriend made me go to the gym so that I could fit back into the clothes she bought me. Basically, in Spain, people take food and drink so seriously that they can dedicate up to 6 hours a day just eating. No joke - my lunches sometimes would last 3 hours, with everyone around the table laughing and eating. Dinner didn’t start until 8 or 9 at night and would last into the wee hours. I wonder how any one in Spain ever gets anything done! My favorite museum in Madrid was the Museo del Prado because there were so many paintings by artists from Spain that I had studied in school, like Velasquez. Even though I don’t play soccer, I wanted to be a good study abroad student in Madrid, so I went to a game at the Santiago Bernabeu and was totally amazed by how fun it was.  Finally, because my whole study abroad experience to Madrid began with a bull fight, I couldn’t leave Spain without seeing one. Some other study abroad students and I went to the little town of Las Ventas to check out a real bull fight. It was amazing.  

I would tell anyone to study abroad in Madrid and Spain. I’m so glad I did!

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 4th, 2007 at 7:10 pm and is filed under Study Abroad Europe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.