7th February: University Life in Spain

With everyone suffering from the colds we’d come down with over the weekend, we decided to give the Erasmus social a miss on Monday. It was 8pm by the time I’d got back to the flat anyway, so there wasn’t much left of the evening by the time I’d cooked myself some dinner. Having discovered that one of the German Translation classes would clash with a lecture I’d already chosen, I’d decided to stay at Alicia and Lina’s and get all my Internet-related jobs done instead, which had ended up taking all afternoon.

The next day I was reminded what a horror it is to have to get up for a 9am lecture, as I was going to try out my first German Civilisation class. If this class was as poor as the language class, I didn’t know what I was going to do; I would probably have to completely give up on taking German this term. Fortunately, this class turned out to be much more interesting, as we’re going to be looking at German literature, politics and education rather than going over grammar I already know. We’re starting off with literature, so our first class was based around Erich Kästner and his novel Fabian: Die Geschichte eines Moralisten. Even better, since this class is also a fourth year module and there’s only one advanced German student in the university, there will still only be two of us in it, meaning that we effectively get private tuition, and in the relaxed atmosphere of the tutor’s office.

After my German lecture I made my way to a cafe in the Plazo San Domingo where I could use the Wi-Fi to send off a few urgent emails and Skype my parents. I couldn’t wait to speak to them, especially as I had some exciting news: I’d been accepted onto the Volunteach Peru programme, which I’d applied for just on the off-chance, never actually expecting to get anything from it. However, that meant we hadn’t really discussed the logistics of paying for it; although the programme itself is reasonably cheap since it includes food and lodging with a local family, the prices of the flights are astronomical. I was half-expecting them to be horrified, which would be fully reasonable given the circumstances, but they were thrilled that I’d got such an amazing opportunity and said I could use my Erasmus grant towards it. So now I just have to pay the registration fee with the company and book some flights – and I’m going to Peru!

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing the reading we’d been set for German and getting a few toiletry essentials from Druni. I have to say, the staff there were really nice; one lady spent about ten minutes trying to help me find the right hair mask, after I’d finally managed to explain accurately what I meant (which turns out just to be mascarilla in Spanish anyway). I may have seemed like the clueless English girl at that point, but I definitely had the upper hand when she tried to pronounce the brand Schwarzkopf.

That evening, the five of us met up for tapas at one of the local bars where, every Tuesday, every tapa costs one Euro. It’s a great little system; you go in, choose a table and order some drinks, then they give you a plate and you’re free to choose any tapas from the bar. All the tapas are on cocktail sticks, and when you leave you just have to give in your cocktail sticks and the bar staff will calculate what you owe. It’s all very relaxed – a very typically Spanish way of doing things.

Since we were still struggling with colds, we just went for ice cream and milkshakes before calling it a night. We were all up early the next day for one thing or another anyway. Three of us went to try and get our ESN (Erasmus Student Network) cards in time for the carnival that Saturday – but without success, since we hadn’t thought that we’d need our passports. Passports seem to be necessary everywhere here – even if you’re just buying a SIM card or wireless Internet. They often even ask for ID when you want to pay by card.

Anyway, that afternoon I had two translation lectures in a row, from 4 until 8 – something that’s going to take a while to get used to. By the time I came out of the second lecture I was exhausted and was not looking forward to the prospect of cooking dinner and going out again. Nevertheless, at 9.30 I met Ali and Annalisa outside the university as planned and went to a cheap and cheerful local bar for a few drinks. At 11 we had to leave to find Badulake club, who, after a few emails, had sent me a photograph confirming that they had found the cardigan I’d lost there the week before. When I got there, we were allowed straight in, and they had the cardigan ready and waiting. I have to say, I’m impressed at how helpful and friendly they’ve been throughout the whole thing.

On Thursday, Ali and I had our first proper linguistics lecture, and it was intense but interesting. As soon as the lecturer finally arrived (twenty minutes late, on typical Spanish time) we started taking notes from her aural explanation of the theories of information and communication, and barely stopped writing for the next hour and a half. It was good to have the challenge of not only listening and understanding, but learning new concepts in the process, and she confirmed at the end that we were both more than welcome to take the class.

After lunch, I went over to Alicia’s to use the Internet again until our Methodology of Translation lecture at 4. We’re working on a translation per lesson; we’re set an English text to translate into Spanish at home, and then we work through it in groups during class to come up with the best version, before assessing variations as a class as one of the groups presents their version on a Powerpoint. The people in my classes have been so welcoming, and not at all bothered by the fact that my level of Spanish must be far below their level of English. Everyone has been really friendly and helpful, and I’ve been surprised to discover how open they are to my suggestions, often asking me for my version of a translation.

Having gone back to Alicia’s to finish using the Internet (there were various things I needed to do for VolunTeach Peru), I didn’t get back until nearly 8 o’clock again, giving me just the right amount of time to cook myself some dinner and get ready before going to meet everyone outside Zara, our standard meeting place, at 11pm. This time we went to Alicia and Lina’s for drinks before going out to Boutique club at 1.30. We got back at around 6am, giving us time for a few hours’ sleep before meeting up to go shopping.

At 12.30 (an hour and a half later than originally planned) we met outside Zara and took the tram to the huge alimentación on the edge of town, where we were going to buy our costumes for the carnival the next day. Alimentaciónes, often called chinos because they’re usually owned by Chinese immigrants, are cheap corner shops which sell everything from booze and food to exercise books. This one was more like a Spanish version of Poundstretcher, only with aisles upon aisles of fancy dress. We came out with all the accessories we needed for our cowgirls and Indians costumes.

To get the checked shirts for the cowgirls, we had to head to the big shopping centre two stops further on, called Nueva Condomina, which has all the major chains as well as restaurants, independent shops and a cinema. After searching for an hour, we eventually found three checked shirts for five Euros each in the sale. Mission accomplished! Already feeling ready for bed, we took a tram back into town, and I just had time to pop back home and grab some food before my lecture – which it turned out, I hadn’t even needed to turn up to. I attempted to sit outside and do some revision, but even though the sun was still warm, the wind made it too cool and uncomfortable to sit outside. So, at 5pm, I made my way back to the flat to get some work done and recover in time for the carnival the next day.