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It's been a month since Maahika moved to Madrid for her year abroad - here is what a day in her life looks like!
Living and studying in Madrid feels like a dream, I look back at a younger version of myself who taught herself Spanish using Netflix during the pandemic, imagining one day living in Spain and being fluent in Spanish. Although there’s still some more time and work needed to attain fluency, I am living every other facet of the dreams I had.
On a typical day, I wake up between 7-8am during the week to get ready for university. Most days I get ready, eat something, and then leave, but today I started my day with a workout class. I have never identified as a morning or an exercise person, however, I found it so rewarding and fun. It’s a great way to learn new Spanish vocabulary about fitness wellness and the body and I met some lovely people, so it’s something I definitely recommend that everyone tries at least once when studying abroad. Once my morning rituals are complete, I head to university. My university is 15km north of the city centre, so it took me some time to get accustomed to the commute of taking the metro and the overground every day. It was an adjustment after living a 10-minute walk from campus for the last 2 years at UCL. The best thing about the commute is seeing friends on the metro and catching up. Also, there's always a few musicians in Madrid's metro, and my mornings are filled with live music. Public transport in Madrid is super cheap too. If you get a “Abono” transport card you can use all the public transport in the city and its suburbs for 8 euros a month, this is unheard of and unimaginable in London.
Once at university I start classes, I have a variety of classes mostly in Spanish, but I chose two English classes too as confidence boosters to ease into university life. It was a huge jump learning degree level classes in Spanish, but I am super grateful for my teachers and classmates who are really accommodating. Each faculty in my university has a cafe and mine has a terrace which is perfect for soaking up the Spanish sun. At the cafe I catch up with my friends, exchanging stories and debriefing on the dramas of the day. Depending on the day sometimes I have class in the afternoon but if not, I commute back to city.
I don’t have a typical evening in Madrid, I am fortunate to have experienced a myriad of activities since moving here . My favourite however is going salsa dancing. After going home and running my errands I sometimes go salsa dancing in the park. I have found some nice free classes in various parks in Madrid and love meeting people and dancing together. Alternatively, I often go to the park with my friends and we have picnics as it’s a really cheap, easy and fun to plan. Madrid also has several organisations for international students such as "city life Madrid" and the “Erasmus Student Network” which host many events in the evenings for students, including wine and painting night, bar crawls, and walking tours.
Overall, my days are really varied and I really love exploring the city with new people. In the next blog, I will share my favourite spots I have found in the city.