Going abroad as part of your studies is brilliant for several reasons…
It allows you to get away from everyday life for a bit, experience a new culture and language, meet new people and looks great on your CV. Also it’s just fun and a great way to get away for a bit while still keeping on track with your studies. Madrid was recently named the best Erasmus city (Erasmus is the exchange programme for Europe) and I was lucky enough to spend five months in the glorious Spanish capital – here is why Madrid is the best place to go on exchange:
The Location
Madrid is ideally located as it’s far enough away from the UK to feel like you are actually getting away but also close enough that you can easily go home for Christmas and in case of emergencies (you don’t want to think about it but do because you never know when tragedy strikes)
The location (and cheap plane tickets) also mean your uni pals will be able to come visit and you can proudly show of your incredible skills of navigating the Madrid metro and your less impressive Spanish skills (or maybe that was just me 😉 Either way having your friends from uni visit when abroad is the BEST!
The pride when you know this like the back of your hand #Local
The Spanish skills – not so much but hey as long as you know the essentials
The food
Oh my god the food – the tapas, the Jamon, the tortilla, patata bravas, the paella, the croquettes, the chorizo ….. the list is endless and one more delicious than the other!
Jamon everyyyywhere
Tapas, tapas, tapas <3
All that paella
And the best thing is that Spain (at least compared to the UK) is quite cheap so eating out is much easier to justify on a regular basis. And towards the end of the month, do not worry – san montaditos (100 sandwiches) has you covered. On Wednesday and Sunday the full menu is 1 euro, need I say more?
6 sandwiches, 1 portion of nachos and a bag of potato crisps for less than 6 pounds? Yes please
And that’s without even talking about the desserts – Churros will change your life and the Spanish pastry, oh dear lord (and that’s coming from a Dane so I know).
Churros for daaaaaaays (and for life)
The love for churros will take no end! My favourite thing is that Churros is the go to food on the way back from a night out – beats a fish and chip by a long way!
Marzipan pastry from Majorca – the best pastry I’ve ever had!
And the Christmas candy – I am going to have to go back every December to stock up on Turron & Pasteles de Gloria
The Weather
Oh my, seriously! 42 degrees in October? T-shirt and shorts in November and 18 degrees on the 20th of December? It rained more in the first two weeks I was back in Glasgow than it did my entire five months in Madrid. The Madrilenian’s do get cold (but it’s because they’re spoiled and don’t realise that 20 degrees in December is not cold). Go and enjoy five months of what you get a few days of during a British summer.
The sunsets
I am a sucker for sunsets but I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one and the Madrid sunsets are something special!
No filter – no words needed!
It really is not fair to other cities how beautiful Madrid is!
The Location part 2
Not only is Madrid extremely well located to get too from the UK but it’s also perfectly located to travel around Spain and even Portugal, Italy, France and Morocco. And at very reasonable prices. Flights within Spain are extremely cheap, there are several organisations during trips for students and trains, buses and even blablacar make exploring the country both easy and cheap.
In my five months in Madrid I went to Salamanca, Toledo, Chinchilla, Albacete & Barcelona within Spain as well as Porto & Braga in Portugal (And that was a very limited amount of travelling mainly due to the next reason)
Sangria in Salamanca
The Arc de Triomf in Barcelona
Unknown little village of Chinchilla outside Albacete
Stunning Porto – flights from Madrid where a mere 20 euros
Also just the surrounding area of Madrid offers plenty to explore and great hiking opportunities – there are companies that organise these trips as well such as Hiking in Madrid! I had no idea Madrid is surrounded by mountains but it was some of the best days of my time in Madrid
The stunning La Pedriza area just outside Madrid
If you look closely you can even see the towers from Madrid in the distance.
The football
One of the reasons (okay the only reason) I did less travelling than my Erasmus friends was that I spent every second weekend at the stadium watching football. Madrid breathes and lives football like no city I have ever been to! If you love football – go immediately and even if you don’t, go anyway for all the other reasons and it’s likely the football will grow on you.
Madrid is home to not just one but two of the best teams in the world right now and also houses (at least this season) two other teams in the top division of Spanish football. Even if you hate football, a live match at the Bernabeu or the Calderón will impress.
The Vicente Calderón Stadium – home to Atletico Madrid
And the Santiago Bernabéu! Here on a sold out Champions League night with over 80.000 people
To practice your Spanish skills, Madrid offers not only 1 but 2 daily sport newspapers that are 80% football and 20% other sports. Notice I said daily – yea they are pretty obsessed with the beautiful game.
The Art
If art is more your thing, Madrid has a lot of that on offer too. The golden triangle as it’s known consists of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, the Prado and the Reina Sofia. All are worth a visit and have free time slots for students so even if art isn’t your thing, a visit is well worth it when free.
And the Reina Sofia is home to perhaps the most famous painting in Spain – Picasso’s Guernica.
The Prado is as exceptional outside as it is inside
The people
Spanish people are lovely, even if you don’t understand a word of what they say! However as an exchange student the people that you meet while on exchange is half of what makes the experience so unique. I was fortunate enough to live in a super international flat with people from Mexico, Venezuela, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Germany and at university, erasmus events and just out in the city you will meet people from all over the world and they will add so much to the experience and give you a worldwide friendship circle (and the chance to visit so many more places cause you now know people there)
The night-life
Madrid is a party city like no other! Every single night of the week there is something going on and as the third biggest city in Europe (after London & Berlin) there is also something for every taste! It doesn’t matter if you prefer clubs or bars, dancing or karaoke – Madrid has it all! My favourite event was the Beer Pong events – if you’re going to Madrid be sure not to miss those! Madrid never sleeps and something will always be happening and the parties go on until 6-7 in the morning so prepare yourself for one hell of a party.
And remember to get Churros on the way home.
The Spanish way of life
Did anyone say Siesta? Seriously, what a wonderful, glorious concept. Naps are genius – especially after a proper Madrid party that didn’t end till the sun got up! It took me such a long time to get back into the “normal” way of life when I came back.
It did take a while for me to get used to the mañana, mañana culture that the Spanish so fully embrace and I did get slightly irritated at the slow pace of everything a few times but there is something wonderful about not being in a rush too and it’s very different from the British way which is nice cause you’re not going on exchange to do the same thing as you do at home.
Siiiiiesta is the best! Here it’s Bing Xing enjoying a little break in Madrid’s zoo
The city in general
Madrid is stunning – from end to end it is just so beautiful! One building more beautiful than the next! I remember reading before I moved to Madrid that every building looked like it housed royalty and I tend to agree and then the one that does house actual royalty is pretty special too.
Gran Via at sunset! Gran Via means great way and is the main street in Madrid and known as the street that never sleeps
The beautiful Retiro park offers to Madrid what Central Park does to New York – a peaceful, beautiful refuge from the busy city.
The stunning Cibeles – Madrid’s city hall!
The lake in Casa de Campo which used to be the King’s hunting ground and is so big it is home to both the zoo and a fun-park
The royal palace – the biggest one in Western Europe
Stunning from both sides
The incredible Debod temple – gifted to Spain from Egypt and carried stone by stone from Egypt to the Spanish capital
Pueta del Sol (gates to the sun) – the main sqaure in Madrid
Plaza mayor
Madrid is also home to the oldest restaurant in Madrid and story has it that Goya washed dishes here before making it big
Five months in Madrid was no where near enough and I encourage everyone considering a semester or year on exchange to consider Madrid or even just someone wanting to go on holiday but be warned, you will fall in love and want to stay forever.
I love you Madrid
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