Survival of the Student

TragaTapas: Beer and tapas, of course

2012-02-11T16:56:00.000+00:00

If it's Friday, you're with your friends and you just finished your classes or your exams and don't want to go home and sleep, but rather celebrate the weekend, I recommend this great place in Madrid: TragaTapas. For 3 euros you can get a bucket of 5 small San Miguel beers and spend the afternoon there or just start the evening, it's up to you. And of course, you can go there any other day of the week. The staff is really nice and they have a large selection of tapas and raciones (the larger dishes). We tried the chicken wings, sushi and the spicy potatoes, but there's much more! Go give it a look!

Tapas, tapas, tapas!

2012-01-31T22:20:00.001+00:00

Who doesn't like tapas? Whether they come in the form of potato chips or peanuts or something really tasty - like all these traditional Spanish things I sometimes don't even know what they are, but always try them - everybody likes tapas! Right? You haven't been to Spain if you don't.

Chinese New Year in Madrid - Student Edition

2012-01-31T00:58:00.000+00:00

The Chinese New Year, known in China as the Spring Festival, is the most important festivity of the traditional Chinese holidays. The celebrations take place in other countries of Eastern Oceania, but also in Chinese communities from all over the world.

image from here

After the traditional lunisolar calendar of the Chinese, in 2012 the first day of the New Year was the 23rd of January, the first day of the first lunar month. This a time of family reunion for the Chinese. Family members gather at each other's homes for visits and shared meals, most significantly a feast on New Year's Eve. The celebrations last for 15 days and represent the period with the most human migration of the world, also called the "spring movement". During these day, billions of people travel back to their place of origin in order to spend the celebrations together with their families.

At Chinese New Year celebrations people dress in traditional costumes, usually red or yellow. They also decorate their houses with poems on red paper and give children "lucky money" in red envelopes. Red symbolizes fire, which according to legend can drive away bad luck. They also light fireworks, as tradition says that crackling flames drive away evil spirits.

The 15th day of the celebrations represents The Lantern Festival. People hang glowing lanterns in temples, and carry lanterns to an evening parade under the light of the full moon. Some of the lanterns may be works of art, painted with birds, animals, flowers, zodiac signs, and scenes from legend and history. In many areas the highlight of the lantern festival is the dragon dance. The dragon is typically made of silk, paper, and bamboo. Traditionally the dragon is held aloft by young men who dance as they guide the colorful beast through the streets.

Each year is a different animal, as the legend says that Buddha called all animals, but only 12 showed before him: the rat, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the goat, the monkey, the rooster, the dog and the pig. This year represents The Year of Dragon, a symbol of treasure and wisdom. It also said that people who are born under the sign of the Dragon are innovative, brave and passionate.

You can find more info on these celebrations here, here or here.

image from here

In the Community of Madrid more than 46.000 Chinese people celebrate the beginning of the New Year, the entrance in the year 4710, leaving behind the Rabbit and welcoming the Dragon. The Chinese Spring Festival started in Madrid on the 23nd of January, with parades on the streets between Puerta del Sol and Plaza de España, where every year, there is a special fair for the Chinese New Year. Here, people bring their traditional products, like food, drinks, jewellery and many more. They share their traditions and culture with every person in Madrid open to it.

The celebrations were made possible with the help of the Minister of Immigration, Volunteering and Cooperation of the Community of Madrid and Chinese associations from Spain. Authorities from The City Council and The Chinese Embassy were present at the festivities. The Chinese community of Madrid is one of the largest foreign community in the city and it has grown in the past years. Also, the small businesses, especially nutrition shops, owned by the Chinese take an important part in maintaining a stable community here. China is one of the main countries who imports products in Spain, being, together with Germany, a country with negative export-import balance (source).

PHOTO GALLERY OF THE FAIR IN PLAZA DE ESPAÑA

(click on arrows to view fullscreen)

The president of The Nutrition Association of Chinese in Spain, Pedro Zhang said that with their actions they want to "bring good fortune to Spain" and "the necessary strength to come out of the crisis". Another Chinese woman, who was selling her products in Plaza de España also mentioned the importance of "selling fortune" to the country of Spain, because it doesn't find itself in a good place right now (source).

Another tradition the Chinese community has brought here in Madrid is choosing Miss China during the celebrations. If you want to see what it takes to bring home the title, you can find more about it here.

It seems like the Spanish people are very open to other cultures and traditions. Madrid is one of the cities with the higher concentration of foreigners in Spain and it can be seen that it respects the habits of others, wherever they come from. Not only they held place for such vast festivities with the coming of the Chinese New Year, but they also took part in it. The same way Spanish people like to make their culture and traditions known for everybody who comes visit, they also want to find out about everybody else's habits. The streets were full of locals who tasted the food, bought the products and took part in the festivities. Whether it's from curiosity, open-mindness or simply wanting to have fun, it is fair to say that what they showed during these celebrations is more than just tolerance. They accept you here and welcome you with your whole cultural baggage, wherever you're from. It is, indeed a multicultural city.

VIDEO FOOTAGE OF THE FAIR

(click on arrows to view fullscreen)

How about the Chinese students living here, in Madrid? For the first time, this year held place to a special Chinese celebration for the students at the Polytechnic University of Madrid. The Chinese Students Association of Madrid organized a festivity at The Superior Technical School of Industrial Engineering on the 20th of January. The objective of these celebrations was to strengthen and improve the intercultural communication between young people from the two countries. Wang, the organizer of the event, said the Chinese students "miss their families, and that is why we organized these festivities, so that they can feel the warmth of home and not forget our own culture and tradition". Zhang Mingming, a student from UPM declared that "Thanks to the Student Association of Madrid that organized this celebration of the New Year we no longer feel so lonely in Spain. We are very happy" (read more)

Right now, there are about one thousand Chinese students in the universities of Madrid, the total number of Chinese students in the country being multiplied by more than 10 in the last years. According to the data presented by the China Embassy in Spain, while in 2002 there were 500 Chinese students living in Spain, now that number has increased to 5.500.

Unfortunately, the distance between Spain and China is very big, the two countries being separated by 9.463 kilometres. So it's not that easy to travel back and forth in between the two. Not to mention the difference in calendars. The Chinese living in Europe can't afford to come back home and reunite with their families during the Spring Festival, because they do not have time off.

Fortunately, Spain has been very open to its foreigners, including the Chinese. We met with 3 girls from China who are students in Madrid. One of them came here 2 and a half years ago and the other ones have been staying here for one year and a half. They shared their thoughts and experiences regarding the Chinese celebrations and traditions they had back home and also talked to us about how they feel here and how they celebrated the New Year in Madrid. What's the difference in a foreign country? What do they think of how it was celebrated in Madrid? Do they feel like they belong here?

If you want to see the full interviews, you can find them here: Esperanza, Liza and Zi-han.

Museo del Jamón

2012-01-29T02:31:00.001+00:00

Presenting one of the most popular bars around Madrid. If you don't live here, it has to be your first destination for a caña (a typical small beer in Spain) so check it out!

Launching the video series of the blog

2012-01-27T16:14:00.000+00:00

This is the first part of a series of short videos that will approach the themes of bars, cafés, clubs, drinks, tapas and more. For students of course! More to come. More interesting and more coherent, hopefully.

Travel to Toledo

2012-01-19T14:06:00.000+00:00

Before I came to Spain I did some research, obviously. About schools, people, food, places etc. One to-do definitely stuck: travel. Everybody on any website or forum was advising people coming to Spain to travel as much as possible. Of course, it’s not so easy. You have to know where and when to go, traveling with company is always better and also, you have to afford it. The good thing about Madrid is that it is located in the heart of Spain, so you can go anywhere.

As I found myself with an unannounced week vacation (there are many public holidays in Spain and the days in between official free days are sometimes also free and even have a name: puente. But more on that later), I decided I should at least take a day-trip to one of the small towns near Madrid. My options were: Segovia, El Escorial and Toledo. I chose the latter because… Well, because an opportunity arose. I didn’t want to travel alone so, again, I turned my eyes towards Couchsurfing. And what do you know? Some people there also wanted to have a trip in their free day to a place nearby. By the time I contacted them, Toledo was already decided. Plus, there was a guy living in Toledo willing to meet us all and give us the city tour. What more could you want? Every travel aspect already organized, more people as company and a tour guide! I also grabbed one of my classmates and off we went to Toledo the next day.

It was wonderful. It’s a small medieval city, it’s full of history (which I forgot) and you can see everything in a day. It was nice and sunny when we went and we walked its narrow streets the whole day, seeing the famous Cathedral, the famous Jewish Neighborhood with its synagogues and other famous things, of course. But the thing I liked most was its whole vibe – a small, very relaxed old town. On second thought, maybe the thing I liked most was the company. Neither of us had any idea what it was about, except for our guide, who was great and very patient. He walked the whole town with us, showing and sharing everything he knew. He also took us to one of the best beer places I have been in Spain, Enebro. Their tapas are to kill for! Yeah, I think the company was what I liked most. It’s always important to travel with good people.

Featured on Hot Courses Abroad

2012-01-17T17:05:00.000+00:00

Yay! Survival of the Student is featured on other sites. Check out Hot Courses Abroad, a great site for finding information on studying abroad, from universities' programmes, to scholarships, to university rankings and more. Everything you need! And also, shared experiences by other students. Like me.

My post on Housing in Madrid, a little bit adapted, made it to their site, click, click! And as a tip for today: sometimes, all you have to do is retweet.

Study Abroad To Don't List

2012-01-15T12:36:00.000+00:00

As I was browsing my +1's (I sometimes do that, as I use Google Plus' feature as a way of bookmarking things I like, although I doubt that is what they made it for), I found another article on studying abroad. This time it's about what not to do, as seen from an North-American perspective. It's written by Olivia Crandall and as it is again from Thought Catalog, you'll sense the same tone, which I personally love.

Mentionable excerpts:

Everyone is nervous, out of his or her element, and really eager to make new friends. The only difference is that in three months/one year you’ll be back at your state school in the U.S. and the majority of these relationships will be more fleeting than the Spanish past perfect subjunctive. So let your freak flag fly.

The real gems you want are Nyquil and deodorant. I can guarantee you will get sick, and not the “just a cold” kind either. It turns out chain smoking, clubbing until 6AM and spending your weekends jetting around the EU because “it’s so accessible” are not healthy habits.

Don’t fall in love. (...) You’re going home, and sooner than you think. You’ll be jaded and your bank account will be empty. You don’t need another thing to quietly weep over during your transatlantic flight.

Interview with Oana

2012-01-13T23:02:00.001+00:00

We have our first interview! I want to thank Oana for being so nice to share her thoughts and opinions with me.

I would also like to say I'm sorry for the quality of this video, it deserved more. But you know, technology sometimes gets the best of us. Hopefully, I can learn from my mistakes and make and extraordinary, Academy Award for Best Visual Effects-worthy video next time.

Also, I think I was more nervous than the interviewee, so excuse my dog-balancing-his-head syndrome.

Nobody told me the tomatoes were bad

2012-01-12T12:22:00.000+00:00

It’s going to happen in any country you go to. Whether you’re just one border away from home or continents away, you are going to miss the food you have been used to. It doesn’t matter if you’re a vegetarian or a vegan or a cannibal. You’ll find yourself asking: Dude, where's my food? Of course, unless you’re in some forgotten place in this world, you’ll manage to find basic ingredients for your favorite meals in the local supermarkets. But never all of them. Or the exact ones you’re looking for. Or the ones that taste like home.

In Madrid I do miss some things from Romania, although I’m really not a big fan of traditional Romanian food. At first, it was hard enough to get by with the food by myself, thinking what I need and what goes were, what’s going to go bad in 2 days unless I freeze it and if I had to wash the rice or not. (Yeah, I didn’t know you have to wash the rice before cooking it. Now I do. Thank you, mom!)

I had to use my memory and my imagination so I could adapt to grocery-shopping and cooking for one. So I failed at first, but got a bit better with time. I’m still not experimenting very local meals or ingredients, but at least I know what’s good and what’s not and what gets me through the week. Turkey is very popular, but chicken liver – not so much. I see sweets everywhere and people seem to like doughnuts very much – one of their traditional desserts is churros con chocolate and there is a Dunkin’ Coffee at every street corner. I know that the oranges and tangerines are very sweet and tasty, that you can find all types of lint around here and that there is almost no normal yogurt or good, simple, unsweetened drinkable dairy. I also know that 2 Thai chilies are too much for one meal.

And that the tomatoes here are bad.

Interview with Andrei

2012-01-10T14:20:00.001+00:00

Let's meet Andrei, a student from Romania who decided to go study in another country.

Name

Andrei

Age

Where do you come from?

Bucharest, Romania

Where do/did you study and what?

I'm following a master program in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Amsterdam.

For how long?

It's a 2 year program. Hopefully it won't take me more than that to finish it :)

Why did you choose to leave your country? Do you think the level of education was better there or did you go for the experience of a life in another country?

Both, which I think it's the situation in many cases. For my field, I knew there's a much better chance to explore the frontier of science here, rather than in Romania. But I would say there's a third reason as well, the perceived increase in opportunities (both in the commercial or academic sector), provided I graduate successfully here.

Is the culture of the country much different than the one you’re coming from?

I wouldn't say it's much different, both being European countries. There are of course some observable differences, but these pale in comparison to the ones between, for instance, European and some oriental cultures.

Did you know the do’s and don’t’s before you got there or were you surprised with some of the habits of the people?

I didn't know or think of any do's and don't's, but I don't recall being surprised by any habits. There are some small differences, like the way people kiss each other on the cheek when they meet (3 times in the Netherlands instead of 2 times in Romania), but that's easy to learn.

What was the thing you missed most from your country?

I miss my family and friends, and some places I used to go there.

How difficult was it for you to be so far from your family and friends? How did you keep in touch with everybody?

Most of the time I was too busy to think about this. I keep in touch using email, Facebook, Skype, and the phone.

How about making new friends? Was it easy to that there? Did you meet people outside of the university too?

I have a few friends here, both from within and from outside the university. I didn't struggle to make friends, it just happened that I got along well with some of the people I met.

Did the university help you adapt in any way?

The only way that comes to mind is by having projects where we have to work in teams, so we meet new people and improve our collaboration skills. The university might have some programs for this (meetings, parties), but I'm not keeping track of these.

How did you find a place to live? Did the university help you or you had to look for yourself? What means did you use for finding a place?

For my first year, the university provided me with a room. For my second year I have to look for myself, which seems to be very hard in Amsterdam. I'm using the Internet to look for a room during this period.

How much do you think the Internet helped you in communicating with your loved ones?

It helped significantly. Most of the time I communicate via the Internet.

How much do you think it helped with meeting new people?

Not that much, although there are some useful Facebook groups I keep an eye on, for example for events in my building. However, once I meet people that I want to keep in contact with, I do that using the Internet.

What means of communication did you use more often and with whom? (e.g. parents – Skype, phone; friends - Facebook etc.)

Parents – email, phone; brother, friends – Skype, email, Facebook.

Do you think you could be able to live in another country without Internet / the possibility of instant communication that Internet is offering nowadays? If it was possible, would you have done it in the conditions that were 50 years ago, for example?

Life would be significantly different without Internet, either in my country or another country. For instant communication, the phone works as well, but there are many other tasks which would be much more difficult to accomplish. But 50 years ago nobody had Internet, so this wouldn't have been perceived as a problem.

Last, could you give just one tip or trick for living the student’s life abroad?

Pick a program that you enjoy and that keeps you busy :)

Thank you, Andrei!

Walk the walk in Madrid, Part 1

2012-01-05T15:08:00.000+00:00

The best way to get to know a city when you have just moved there is to simply walk its streets. And walk, and walk and walk. That is what I did in Madrid in my first weeks. Actually, I'm still doing it now, as I hardly got to know the whole city. With Lonely Planet in my bag, I started exploring from the start. In between apartment hunting, I liked to take the spirit of the city in and get lost on its streets. But you know, the getting-lost-with-a-map type of thing, we have to be somewhat organized, right?

Right. There is a lot of advice considering where to walk and what to visit in Madrid, as it is indisputably a very large city, with so many things to do. No matter where you are, when you know you're going to spend a few months, a year or more in that city, there's no rush. You have time to do your walking any way you want to. But you should definitely do it. For the very least, just so you could go back home and be able to answer questions from people who were visiting it just for a week but now seem like they're tour guides or something. Yes, those annoying know-it-all, we've all met them. And most importantly, it's free. So go walk the walks!

My first walk in my first day was a short one in the Retiro Park, as I was living quite close. Then it all depended on what neighborhood I was in while searching for a place to live. I walked up and down on the streets of La Latina, a very special, colourful place, I sat in the very pretty Tirso de Molina Plaza, until I realised I was right next to a bunch of drunk homeless people (but they were peaceful so no worries) and I walked the streets of Las Huertas neighborhood, which might be my favourite part of Madrid, especially when it comes to getting lost in the city by foot. You can explore these three areas in one day and be sure to cross paths with many beauties you wouldn't have thought of, beauties that always have a madrilenian story to tell.

To be continued!

Infographic

2012-01-04T15:37:00.002+00:00

I found a really nice infographic, which should raise the hopes of every student living abroad right now. It is made by Course Hero and it enhances the advantages of studying in a foreign country, especially carreer-wise. Although it was based on Americans, I do think it applies to everybody in the world. Employers do tend to pay more attention to you, if your résumé includes any kind of experience abroad, don't you think?

The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination

2012-01-03T13:56:00.002+00:00

No matter if you know or not who J. K. Rowling is (although I doubt there's anybody there who hasn't heard of the author of the popular Harry Potter book series), whether you're a student or you had already graduated, or even if you barely remember the times you were studying, her speech at Harvard is a must-see. She addresses the newly graduates at Harvard University, talking about the benefits of failure in life and the importance of imagination for each and every one of us. Whichever path you might chose to take in your carreer and in your life, her words are absolutely inspiring.

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.

Recommended: L'auberge espagnole

2012-01-02T12:31:00.001+00:00

I saw this movie a few years back and liked it. It's about a young French student who goes to Barcelona to study through an Erasmus programme and meets other people just like him. I wanted to be like one of the characters, one day.

When I knew I was going to move to Madrid, I knew I had to rewatch it. I wanted to see it before I arrived, but only had the chance to after a few weeks in. And I think it was better. The main character, faced with a new life in a new country with new people, was going to very smilar situations as I already was. I could identify immediately with his actions and concerns. His feelings regarding what he had left back at home and his thoughts on what he was discovering in this new world were very similar to mine. And I bet I'm not the only one who can find resemblance with the character.

L'auberge espagnole is directed by Cédric Klapisch and was released in 2002, but even after 10 years I find it to be just as interesting, especially for anybody who goes to study in another country. It's entertaining, funny and can give you a very good insight on students' life abroad. Watch the trailer and the movie!

Housing in Madrid

2011-12-30T15:45:00.000+00:00

I could write an entire book on this subject, honestly. I knew it was going to be difficult, especially considering that I had never looked for a place to live in my life. I imagined that being in a new city, in a different country might be a problem. Little did I know.

Maybe it was my fault too, but I never thought that I had to see more than 25 places to find just one. I was looking for a room in a shared apartment preferably with people my age, central and quite reasonable (although the prices in Madrid don't seem reasonable at all). First, I started looking on one website dedicated to housing, then it became 2 websites, then 4. Not only that, but I posted ads on 3 websites as well. I have seen all kinds of places and people, including 50-year-olds who received me in their underwear and seemed to have a shrine of students' rooms surrounding their bedroom aka the living room. I had got all kinds of phone calls, including from Romanian women who were living with their daughters on the outskirts of Madrid and who liked telling me their whole life on the phone. It was an interesting experience, indeed.

Finally, after a 2-week search, I managed to find a room, which is very central and within my budget. Fourth floor with no elevator, my room has no light and no heating, the flat has no living room or common space and bugs are sometimes crawling in the kitchen, but I guess I'm lucky, right? And the only reason I got it was because I was there first and said "I want it".

Anyway, I can now say I have a little bit of experience in house-searching. In this city, at least. So here are my tips for you:

Start looking early and save your finds. Contact the owners as soon as possible and try to be the first who sees the room.
Use all the sites you can. In Madrid, I recommend: idealista, loquo, segundamano and pisocompartido in this order.
Post ads saying very clearly what you're looking for. No matter how clearly you're going to say it, you will still get any kind of calls that have nothing to with what you're looking for, but try your luck. I posted ads on idealista, loquo and pisocompartido.
Try to find other people who are also looking for the same thing so you could get a whole apartament together. You can find them on sites like idealista, if you have no other option.
In Spain, your chances are highly increased if you speak the language.
Obviously, have your eyes wide open when you're seeing the place. If there's something you don't like from the start, don't try to convince yourself, you won't like it ever. Ask as many questions as you can.
If the people already living there are the ones who decide who is going to stay, try to be as friendly as possible. It's like a job interview. I got a few rejections from places I really liked and let me tell you, it can get very depressing.
Don't lose hope!

Hope it helped. If you have any other advice, do share!

By the way, is anyone looking for a flatmate?

How to Survive Living in a Foreign Country

2011-12-30T00:19:00.001+00:00

Thought Catalog, one of my favourite sites, has an interesting article about surviving in a foreign country, in its usual editorial tone. It's here, written by Bart Schaneman.

A few excerpts I like:

"Allow yourself to miss things: food, clothes, being able to communicate easily. Don’t allow yourself to miss: narrow thinking, getting bored, feeling trapped."

"Take comfort in knowing that once you got beyond your country’s borders you already began winning."

"Give up on where you’re from but don’t give up on the people. Your friends back home won’t forget about you. They will move on with their lives without you, and they might resent you, but they will still listen to your stories if your stories are good."

"Try to keep your head."

Couchsurfing

2011-12-29T11:14:00.002+00:00

It was a few years ago when I first met with the concept of "couchsurfing", through some friends of a friend. All I got back then was that it meant people from all around the world could 'surf' others' couches from anywhere in the world, without any kind of material obligation. "Interesting" I thought, but that was kind of it. It took me a few years to learn more about this community and to be a part of it, in the end. But once I figured out what it was about, I was hooked.

Before I came to Madrid I was desperately looking for a solution to spend my first days in this completely new city where I didn't know anybody. It seemed almost impossible to be able to find a place to stay without being here. But I found the solution with the help of Couchsurfing. This online community is organized by countries and cities and different themes. So I was lucky enough to find something in a group that was called "Madrid: Renting Rooms" (link). Not only I could secure my first week there, as a member sublet me his room while he was on vacation, but I also got to make friends with his roommate. She was the first person I met in Madrid and it was neither my choice or hers. But somehow, we instantly became friends and I couldn't believe how lucky I was to be in such good company only a week in this new city. It is always good to get to know people who already live in the city you're moving to, so they can give you all the tips and advice you need, as locals. And it's even better when these people turn out to be actual friends.

So my point is you should all check their site, it's a non-profit organization and it has been absolutely great for me. It can help you find places to live, places to go to, things to do, but most importantly, you can meet amazing people from all around the world.

Surviving

2011-12-21T17:04:00.001+00:00

This blog is starting as a personal project for myself, as a newly moved student abroad. But it is also a platform for other students living in other countries, who can share their experiences. And hopefully, a pleasant read for any other one interested in the subject.

I studied Communication and Public Relations in Romania and because I wanted more and was looking for diversity, I chose to apply for a Masters in Madrid at the Complutense Universty, in Multimedia Journalism. I have many friends studying abroad and I heard stories about how it is to move to another country. But until you get to experience it yourself, you can't really know what it feels like. For me, it was life-changing and still is. And it's not for nothing that people say how difficult the beginning is.

Facing all these changes was not easy. So this project is about how we can survive once we move away from home and what we can do to make our existence as students better. Its evolution will most likely be organic so it will include everything, from looking for a place to live, what to eat, how the new means of communication are helping us, tips & tricks and so on.

And I expect any kind of shared experiences from others like me. Because I know we are quite many.

Introducing

2011-12-21T09:29:00.004+00:00

A new blog, a new project.