Goodbye my friends! / ¡Hola mis amigos!

September 6, 2012

To be honest, I am not a friend of saying goodbye but in this case I was really happy to do so. Why? Having finished my second study year, I returned home to Germany, enjoyed my vacation, and on a beautiful sunny day it was time to say goodbye … to my last piece of wisdom … William the Wisdom Tooth. It took a long time but finally everything was over. The picture below captures the last moment.

I don’t really look happy on this picture but I felt to dance for joy. The last few weeks before Spain I spent a lot of time with family and friends. And instead of saying the G word, I said, “See you already in a year! ”

Spain: First destination -> Barcelona, España. I arrived at my friend’s place, took a nap, and got ready for 
La Festa Major de Sants. It is a colourful street festival in Sants, a neighbourhood in Barcelona, and is organized by its local residents for each year in the middle of August.

Together with my friend, that I got to know in Barcelona last year, and her friends we walked around the area. Each of the streets was decorated uniquely, and illuminated in different colours. It was a very nice atmosphere. You could find people sitting and chatting at long tables, or a big crowd dancing to the live music. One time Spanish country music was played, people got excited, and started to dance a typical country music choreo in a row. That was a nice surprise to see it in Barcelona.

The other day El Gato (The Cat) waited for us at La Rambla Del Raval. Because sightseeing can be quite exhausting, we took a break on its back.

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On Monday 27th August, I took the flight to Madrid. Luckily, my new housemate picked me up. So I could rest in the car and arrived safely at my new place in Villanueva de la Cañada, located 30 kilometres in the West of Madrid. The area is very quiet at the moment because most of the students will come back from their holidays in the middle of September. There are several cafeterias, bars, shops and supermarkets, but I will write more about Villanueva de la Cañada later these days. So far I like it here a lot.

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Wine tasting at De Vinos, Madrid

A nice man standing in the front of our group presented three different types of red wine. Everything in Spanish! With a little help from my friends, I could understand more. As the alcohol level increased from bottle to bottle, the more relaxed the participants were. So my friend wanted to express that she liked the wine and said, “Me gustas…oh eh…Me gustaaa! ” -> “I like you. ” and corrected herself by saying, “I like IT. ”

Leche de Pantera at El Chapandaz, Madrid

The cocktail Leche de Pantera means literally milk of a panther. From the outside it looks like a normal bar. But when you open the door, you enter an almost dark room. Only some lights shine. Dance music is played. Looking around, you see rocks at the ceiling, at the wall, as if you are in a cave. The specialty here is that the milk for Leche de Pantera comes from the top directly into your glass while the friendly bartender adds other delicious ingredients.

Well … ¡SALUD!

Homemade Gazpacho

After shopping at the market, we brought loads of tomatoes home, the main ingredient of Gazpacho. Actually it is a typical Spanish cold soup consisting of fresh tomatoes, green pepper, garlic, onion, salt and pepper. The mushrooms are only for decoration. My Spanish housemate prepared this dish and I was happy to eat / drink it.

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Besides eating, drinking, and sightseeing, I met many new people from Spain and South America. All of them were very friendly. They took me to meetings with their friends and I met these friends who showed me around and so on. Once you get to know a person you get to know a lot of other nice people here.

This Friday will be the Introduction Day for all new regular as well as Erasmus students. I am looking forward to it and after that there will be a week full of activities organized by ESN. I’ll keep you posted. ¡Hasta luego muchachos!

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