Erasmus: Aranjuez and Barcelona

Hola people! Hope you're all well and happy! As with many of my posts whilst here on Erasmus, I have been busy traveling, studying and living the Erasmus life to find time to blog more frequently and also I decided to spend more time doing stuff to come up with content for you guys! So all exciting times!

St. Patrick's Day is coming up this Friday! I'm looking forward to that and to experience St. Patrick's Day here in Madrid and to show the Spaniards how us Irish party on Paddy's Day. I hope you'll all find a way to at least have a Guinness!
And now on to the fun stuff!
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Aranjuez

On the weekend of the 18th of February, so about three weeks ago, as one of our weekly things to do, my friends and I came up with a plan to check out another town within the autonomous region of Madrid. We had already gone to Alcala de Henares (see previous post) and been to Toledo and Segovia on the first few weeks so, we checked online on TripAdvisor and came to the conclusion that Aranjuez was the place to go.
We met up at Atocha Renfe train station at 11:30, all of us. A nice multinational group of Finnish, German, Swedish, French, Mexican and Irish. At Atocha Renfe, you move towards Via 7, I remember and from there, you take the train heading towards Parla, which stops in Aranjuez on the C3 line. The train journey from Atocha Renfe cercanías to Aranjuez takes around 45 to 50 minutes but the train journeys to these places really don't feel like they're so long, especially with friends and with the great view of firstly industrial but primarily agricultural Madrid with fields and pastures on each side. 
We arrived in Aranjuez at around 12:30 or shortly thereafter. Hunger overcame a majority of us, so the plan was to initally find food and then continue sight-seeing around Aranjuez and make our way to the Royal Palace. Leaving the Aranjuez train station, we made our way up the Carr. de Toledo,

the main street off of the station and then through the winding streets of residential Aranjuez until we came to the Aranjuez street market. The market was just like what I remember the markets to be like in places like Walthamstow, London or the Torrevieja market in Alicante. As a group, we moved our way through, looking at the different items being sold and bargained left and right. None of us really had a fancy to buy any items until a mobile vendor selling candied coconut lollipop balls came to us with different colored coconut treats. They looked so good and for just €1, we couldn't really say no. We almost sold him out, I believe. The coconut balls, however sweet, were awesome and we were all really impressed with them. The only downside was that it just made us more hungry!
We moved on, using TripAdvisor onto the Carr. de Andalusia, one of the main

streets, I reckon for boulangeries and other small eateries and now matter h

ow many we passed, we were inclined to find the number one restaurant on TripAdvisor- Casa José. We walked up the street and came to the Casa José. I completely understand why it was considered number one on the app, the waiters were in full tuxedos. We, however, were with backpacks, sweatshirts, baseball caps and just not dressed for fine dining that would be associated with the place. It looked amazing, however! Across the street to our luck, there was the Mercado de Abastos on the same street as Casa José. The Mercado de Abastos is quite similar to the Mercado de San Miguel. You could get ham, bread, drinks and the further you moved in, is where the eating areas were located. The different restaurants all offered something unique. Italian food, seafood, paella etc. We walked around and came to the decision that Italian food just suits everyone! 

The place we ate at was a place called "diVino". It seemed like a nice place, with a nice menu and it was just convenient for everyone. Most of the people ordered their pizza, which just looked amazing! Their Caesar Salad also looked delicious. I ordered the spaghetti pesto, and pesto is one of my favorite things to eat. Pesto is just... heaven. I could eat pasta pesto forever, so I was super excited to try this one and soothe my hunger. We sat and talked, they gave us big 2 liter bottles of water. My friend ordered the Paella from the vendor next to diVino. The paella looked and smelled great and according to my friend, Diego, it was really delicious seafood. We received our food. My friend's bolognese looked good but mine, didn't look or really taste as good as I was expecting. The pesto was way too oily to the point where my spaghetti were drowning. I ate it anyway because I was starving 😂

After lunch, it was then time to go up and make our way to the Royal Palace of Aranjuez. Just around the corner from the Mercado was the Iglesia de San Antonio de Padua. Normal touristy pictures were taken quickly, the building was quire impressive. We kept going and just basked in the sunshine of the Plaza de San Antonio. A cool little plaza which was basically the walkway to the Royal Palace. Not many people were here but it was nice to just feel the sun while we walked. We entered the entrance gardens of the Palace. The place was laced with fountains everywhere, which made the gardens look really beautiful. We took group photos around the fountain

and then looked around the riverside. We did that slow walk thing through the gardens, taking in all the nature and awesome fountains and statues littered around the massive gardens.  To the right of the Palace, we entered the bigger Jardin de la Isla. Magnificent arches of shrubs and plants with cool areas to sit and chill out as well as great places to take photos. We posed for some funny photos, tried to catch some animals and chat. We relaxed there for a good 20 minutes before walking the perimeter of the Palace. As we came to the opposite side of the palace, we decided to enter the Palace. It cost about €4 for students to enter, which wasn't so bad. We entered and let me tell you, the place is very grand indeed. A huge staircase is the first thing to see as soon as you enter. You walk up them and you do a loop of the whole building, taking in all the different rooms of the Spanish Royal Family. A shisha smoking room,

a waiting room in front of most rooms, a load of art and candelabras everywhere. The place was lavish. Gold trimmings. Great views. You get a sense of what it's like to be Royal, which kind of made us wish we were rich... Which gave us thoughts about how much we would get if we flogged everything in the Palace, but we didn't do it 😂. We finished walking around and saw all the stuff that made the Royal's tick in their time. 
Apres Palace, we decided it was maybe time to head back to Madrid and make our way to the Plaza Mayor 400 Celebrations! We arrived back in Madrid at around 5:30 or 6. 
Aranjuez- ✅
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Barcelona

Now here's the really fun story! 
Last weekend, from the 9th until the 12th, my friends and I booked and traveled to Barcelona with ESN, the Erasmus Social Network. The trip was called the "Barcelona Experience" and considering I had never been before, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to see the city for a couple of days!
The trip began early on Thursday evening when a few of the guys and I met up in at the Puerta del Sol in the center of Madrid, as a meeting place. We met early so we could look for things that we needed for Barcelona and also chill out together for a while in Madrid. We spent most of the time in O'Neill's Irish Bar, chilling with a beer.
The scheduled time to leave was 1 am so we could travel through the night and be there for 9 am. We left Madrid around 1:30 am and traveled our way through the night, making a pitstop in a service station where we were able to snack and hydrate before continuing onto Barca. The trip itself was kind of tough as 8 hours on a bus can be quite uncomfortable for the legs. We brought our neck pillows so that helped somehow.
At 9:30, the bus stopped in Barcelona to let us out and we, as a group of about 60, made our way to our hostel. Our hostel was Yeah Hostel on Carrer de

Girona. A tired, grumpy-ish group, we left our bags at the hostel and immediately made our way to the Sagrada Familia, the most famous Cathedral in Barcelona. The building was amazing to behold. Eight tall towers touched

the skyline and the sandy color of the building made for a cool exterior. We lined up to go through the security. It was the first time I had ever seen security this intense at a church. We managed to get our tickets free, thanks to ESN and were quickly moved through the line and received our headphones. Immediately huddled in a group, we were given a tour of the Sagrada Familia in English. The tour guide started from the exterior of the building, explaining the different imaged depicted across the walls and the meanings of the different statues and it was very interesting to see and hear about all of these religious artifacts.
We moved into the building. The stained glass windows and the different religious ornaments made for very unique and interesting interior design, which I found quite impressive. The security on hand to make sure we removed

our hats and so on. We didn't stay too long at the church as we had more to do in the day. We exited the church and were immediately starving. Only cure? Maxi bucket at KFC! We came back to our group with 20 pieces of chicken and a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi, looking like animals shoving it in our faces but we didn't care!
After the food and the Sagrada Familia, we walked, looking at the different building designed by Antoni Gaudi, the same man who designed the Cathedral. It was really hot outside too. The ESN coordinators then said we could do what we wanted for a while, so we decided that it was time to skip the walking tour and head to the beach! So we walked towards Las Ramblas, the most famous market street in Barcelona to make our way to the waterfront. Las Ramblas wasn't as crowded as I had expected but it was still pretty neat to see! We walked quite a while and eventually came to the Columbus Monument! And then we saw the water. It's

awesome when it's sunny out to be near the water. The heat and the water just makes it feel like summer. We walked on the promenade, bought some drinks and ice-cream and just chilled there for a little bit before it was time to head back to the hostel. When we arrived back, we opted out of the ESN activity. Instead, we discovered what was inside the hostel and came across a perfect rooftop terrace where we sat out and chatted for a while until we got hungry again. We used TripAdvisor again and used to find our place for late lunch. Close to us, and the place we ate in was called La Vietnamita which was a Vietnamese street food restaurant. It was quaint but smelled lovely. We went in and were immediately greeted, the service was good. I ordered the Vietnamese chicken curry. Now, if you like the taste of lemongrass, or citrus

flavor, this is for you. The food was quickly served but for me, it was too bitter. It wasn't horrible but just a bit too strong tasting for me. 
After late lunch, we stopped in a small bakery for some churros and made our way back to the hostel, which was at about 5:30 or 6 pm. We were given our bedrooms. My friends and I were all in one room, which was awesome. The rooms were amazing. Great furniture, awesome bathroom and a small balcony, it was great.
 And from then until 11pm or so, we were given free time which consisted of mostly drinking alcohol before the night of partying. We ordered pizza to our room from Telepizza, which was awesome as it was like a cool, tight house party. That night, ESN got us free entrance into Razzmatazz Night club, one of the better know clubs in Barcelona. It was an animal themed night so I drew my face with some sort of whiskers! We partied until the wee hours. The club itself was good. The music was good, it had three floors and a roof terrace. So I would recommend visiting Razzmatazz if you're passing through Barcelona

The next day consisted of breakfast at the hostel early enough, at around 9:30 am. And from then, we got ready and instead of joining with ESN on their walking tour, we decided to spend the day just doing our own tour of Barcelona. We traveled to the Sants Estacio metro station which is where the Venetian towers are. Our main goal was to get to the Palau Nacional. Around

the corner from the Venetian Towers, which were cool to see was exactly what we were looking for, the Palau Nacional. The parade up to the palace was quite nice with the palace looming over us. The surrounding buildings were nice to see on the way to the palace but its not denying that the palace out did them all, We walked the gardens a bit before our stomachs started growling at us. It was then our mission to make our way back to the beach area and find a place to eat.
We walked the way behind the palace and firstly stumbled onto Estadi Olimpic, one of the stadiums for the 1992 Olympics. The place was awesome with great views but

again, it was a place we didn't wait long at because we wanted food! We walked on for about 3 kilometers until the sea was in sight and food was almost in our belly. We managed to finally make it down to the coast and back to the statue of Columbus. From there, we used TripAdvisor again to find a place to eat and this time, it really paid off. We found this Italian restaurant not too far from the beach called "Tucco" (Carrer dels Còdols 27). We went in and were greeted by an English speaking waitress who was quick to tell us the different offers and menus they had to offer. All of it sounded good, I won't lie. Three lasagnas, ravioli, spaghetti carbonara and a sandwich is what we all ordered as well as cheesecake for dessert. We were not waiting too long for the food, which was great as the place was quite busy. The food. Oh wow. The food was amazing. We were all quick to finish the food and then sit back and talk about how good it was. The cheesecake was delicious. The carbonara was great. I couldn't really fault it. The only thing I fault is that I haven't tasted Italian food like that in Madrid!
After food we came back to the hostel, first taking the metro and then a cab. Luckily the cabs in Barcelona are actually quite cheap! We came back just in time for us all to go on a trip to Park Guell and the Bunker. The bunker was our

first stop. The bunker is a mountain-top like area where you can get a 360 degree panoramic view of Barcelona. You could see all the big buildings, even through the dense smog. We watched the sunset there, which was pretty amazing and got some cool photos with friends. After that, my friends and I trekked through some forest area on our own mission to get to Park Guell. A few wrong turns and stumbling across a soccer match, but we eventually got there. Unfortunately, we didn't wait too long there until we were ushered back to the hostel. When we arrived back, we decided that we should have a sit down meal in the hostel. The hostel offered starters, main course and dessert with an open bar for only €10! Now we couldn't really say no to that. So we sat for about 3 hours just eating, drinking and eating. The barman, Tiago, always on hand to offer more drinks. The food was really good and fresh. The chef was out serving and was able to tell you what was in the food, so it was a really nice experience. The rest of the night after dinner consisted of getting ready to party in formal wear and heading to Shoko nightclub. I've been

to Shoko nightclub in Madrid before but never one this size. We got to Shoko at around 1:30 am. It's a beachfront club, so it was really cool. But it was full. Boy was it crowded. I've never been in such a crowded place. If it weren't for my friends, I would have hated the place but they made it fun! So after a few hours there, we went outside onto the beach and just chilled there for a good hour or so before deciding it was way too cold and we had to head home at around 5:30 am.

We missed breakfast the next morning 😂 And were already on the bus back to Madrid by 12:30. A small pitstop was made at the Autonomous University of Barcelona where other ESN groups were meeting up, we were given a free lunch of bocadillos and juice and watched some people perform in the center of the courtyard. After that, all we really did was sit in a bus for hours on our way home. 
All in all, I'd give Barcelona a good thumbs up and I would definitely go back!
Barcelona- ✅

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Tips for Trips: Segovia and Alcalá de Henares

'Sup guys! Hope your February is going well and you're not too bogged down with work and assignments. I know my friends and I are trying to figure out a way to get the work done quickly and proficiently so we can spend our time traveling and enjoying our Erasmus. I mean, travel is the practical way to educate yourself, after all! Apologies also for the bit of a gap between the posts, it's a process to find time for all these things, getting inspiration for good content and making sure it's good enough to write about!
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As I wrote about in the previous blog post about Erasmus and tips for the first two weeks of your Erasmus experience in Madrid, one of the biggest things I recommend for any travellers or prospective Erasmus students to definitely do is participate in ESN activities and TRAVEL! Travel gives a person the kind of knowledge that can't be thought. Only by travelling, in my opinion, do you truly get life experiences.
Since participating this semester in some of the trips so far, whether it be with the Erasmus Network or with friends, each trip offered something different and of course, provided awesome memories. In this post, I will discuss two of the places I have traveled to. Segovia, with the Erasmus Student Network, and Alcala de Henares, with my friends. I'll also be providing some advice on these places, what I'd recommend to do and see.

SEGOVIA

First, let's start with a little background on Segovia, shall we. Segovia is a city in the region of Castile and Leon, inside the province of Segovia, the neighboring

province to Madrid and near the city of Valladolid. The history of Segovia is actually quite cool. Apparently, the first know settlers in Segovia were the Celtic people but then possession of the city switched to the Romans. After that, it is believed to have gone through an Islamic invasion. A lot of different religious influence has passed through Segovia over the centuries, with large Jewish and Christian influences also inhibiting the city. The many spheres of contrasting cultures can be seen throughout the city.

On the weekend of the 20th of January to the 22nd of January, my friends, 100 Erasmus students and myself traveled to a middle-of-nowhere type of place in Guadalajara as part of the Erasmus Integrational Weekend. That weekend consisted of partying, alcoholic beverages and Spanish-themed activities including paella and Sangria (Got us all the way turnt up). The weekend started on Friday and went on until Sunday. Sunday morning after breakfast, with all of us different shades of yellow and green due to hangover, slowly sipping water and orange juice. We made our way to the city of Segovia, which was a two hour bus journey. The journey was so rough. You could hear faint whispering of the same things "I'm dying" or "I'll never drink again".

We drove and arrived in Segovia. We disembarked the bus and the first thing
we saw was the aqueduct. The thing was huge! Huge but magnificent to see. The air was extremely fresh, which made me thankful for the scarf I brought. We walked slowly towards the aqueduct which was kind of like the border to enter the town part of the city. Being that we were still kind of lethargic from the previous nights, the first thing on our list was to get good, strong coffee. We walked a little bit down the Avenida Acueducto and came to a Dunkin' Coffee shop. The smell of coffee kind of yanked us in the door of the store. 

A sandwich and coffee later, it gave us a little bit more energy to continue to look around Segovia. We took the narrow path of Calle Cervantes and Calle

Juan Bravo which led us to the Plaza de Medina del Campo. A cool little pocket on the street with a street perfomer/puppeteer entertaining the passing crowd

. We stopped and looked around at the Iglesia de San Martin. The narrow streets gave a similar vibe to that of an Italian street, with high building lining the narrow street and the bustle of the locals too. Not spending too much time at that Plaza, we kept making our way down the street. Not long after leaving the Plaza de Medina, we came to the main plaza in Segovia, the Plaza Mayor. Similarly named to the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, it however was not

similar to it's Madrid counterpart. As we came out of the narrow street to the big square, to the left we noticed one of the more famous buildings in Segovia. The Catedral de Segovia stood tall with the sun shining down on it. The square was not overly packed with tourists either. We decided to spend more time in the Plaza on the way back, and continued on. 

We kept walking through more narrow streets. We thought we were stumbling into the residential area of Segovia but we were actually on the path to the most famous building in Segovia. The Alcazar Castle, or the "Disney Castle" as my friend said. The castle was pretty amazing. It is situated at the confluence of two rivers, which made the surrounding landscapes of the castle quite rocky. In the distance also you could see the Guardarrama mountains, which made the views quite cool too. The history of the castle is quite cool also. The Alcázar was originally built as a fortress but has served as a royal palace, a state prison, a Royal Artillery College and a military academy. It's now functioning as a museum.
We made our way back towards the Aqueduct. On our return, we stopped in the Plaza Mayor for a coffee and decided it was maybe an appropriate time to head back to the aqueduct and find a place to go for lunch. We took our time on the way back and went in search of a place to eat. We eventually came back to the aqueduct and found a quaint Italian pizzeria called "Trattoria" just near the massive arches. We ate and chatted before deciding to go to the top of the building adjacent to the aqueduct to get a birds eye view of Segovia. This concluded our day in Segovia, as not long afterwards, we were on our way back to Madrid.

TIPS:
Here is some advice on what to do and see whilst in Segovia in January:

• Wrap Up! - When on top, looking over all of Segovia, it can get quite chilly up there. And also when you're walking around the gardens of the Alcázar, the breeze can be quite cold. A good jacket and a scarf is not a bad idea to carry with you when walking about in the city.
• Start with Caffeine: It's not a bad idea when traveling anywhere, not just Segovia, to start with a coffee, tea or something. Even if you're not hungover, it'll give you that added boost of energy to go on and discover wherever you are. And if it's a cold day, it'll warm you up! Two birds, one stone!
• Landmarks: Segovia is not a huge city. But to fit within the touristy agenda, I'd highly recommend the landmarks of Segovia i.e, The Alcázar, Catedral of Segovia and the Iglesia de San Martin. All of you architecture lovers out there, the wide variety of diverse architectual design is quite cool throughout the city and you get different cultural vibes too!
• Try the local cafés and restaurants: Dining in Segovia is great. Walking from the Aqueduct to the Alcázar, we came across many cool looking eateries. Places that serve spit-roast pork, authentic Spanish cuisine and of course, being that there is a strong Italian influence, there is some nice Italian places in Segovia. Trattoria, for example, their food was, out of 5, a solid 3. It was a small place that managed to accommodate a group of 7. Their salad wasn't great, my friend who ordered it rated the salad 1/5 but their pasta's were good. I recommend looking around Segovia for a place to eat. And be sure to check out TripAdvisor!
• Go with a group: One of the factors that made Segovia great, from a student perspective, was going with friends. Maybe being there hungover, I wouldn't recommend that. I was there and discovered the city with six of my friends. As a student, the city of Segovia is a very culture-rich place that's incredibly laced with history. My personal recommendation would be to go with other people and share the culture and history exploration together 😊

ALCALÁ DE HENARES

On Saturday just passed (11 February), after a night of burgers and beer, as a way to pass an afternoon, some of us decided to do some kind of guys trip. Not

really travelling too far, but taking inspiration from the ESN trip from a couple of weeks before hand, Alcalá de Henares was picked as the places we would go. 

Leaving the Atocha Renfe station by train at 11am, we traveled the 40 minutes from the center of Madrid to the town of Alcalá de Henares, to the northeast of Madrid. Taking the Cercanías line C2/C7, you can get to Alcalá for free with your Madrid transport card.

A little history about Alcalá de Henares, I guess! The city dates back to the Bronze Age and since then has had a roman influence since their acquisition in 1st Century BC. The city went through different faces, from Roman takeover, to the Moors arriving in 8th century. Conquered in the 12th Century under the Archbishop of Toledo. Interestingly, one of the first meetings between Christopher Columbus and King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, happened in Alcalá de Henares in 1480. Just some fun historical facts 😄

Back to the story, we arrived in Alcalá and it was raining. Just our luck, it was

raining. We exited the train station and, under the impression that the city was the famed UNESCO World Heritage Site, were underwhelmed by the initial first impression of the place. However, we walked from the station, using google maps to take us to the center. We walked until we came to the Plaza de Cervantes. A plaza famed for it's dedication to Cervantes. We stopped for a moment to take the typical tourist picture of the plaza before deciding that we should probably take a coffee to start of, before walking around looking at the city.

We walked not too far down the Calle Mayor, just off of the Plaza de Cervantes.

Very discreetly hidden on the right is an alleyway which leads to the cafe in which we decided to get our caffeine fix. Café Hemisphero was the name of the place. It was a case of half and half at the cafe. Half of us ordering a coffee and other half ordering a hot chocolate to warm up after being in the drizzly rain. The coffee was quite good, but what was served as hot chocolate was more like a chocolate pudding. Thick and needed the use of a spoon, not exactly the hot chocolate we were expecting to see. It was good though, but sweet.

Post Coffee, we used TripAdvisor to figure out our next destination. We passed the number one must see attraction, the University of Alcalá, which was an

impressive building, but closed. So our next destination became the Cathedral of the Santos Niños. We entered to see that the seating area in the church to be enclosed and blocked by metal gates, an odd feature. We were met by a curator with who we paid €2 to just take a quick trip up to the bell tower of the church. However spectacular the view was, the €2 literally covered just the view and not entry into the rest of the church, which cost extra. After being told this, we left and decided that it was the socially acceptable time to get food. We walked to the Universidad de Alcalá where there was wifi access and used that to find where we were to eat. One thing I noticed about the city is that Heron birds were EVERYWHERE. On every rooftop. 

We walked through the streets until we stumbled upon a retro 50's diner called "Tommy Mel's". We were instantly greeted by an English-speaking waitress who organized a table of eight, which was great. The places was kinda quiet

though. We ordered. And although the sign on the wall said "served in 8 or 9 minutes" we were actually served in about 15 minutes. I ordered the pot roast. Tender beef served with potatoes. I will say, the portions were small but the food was good. I was still sort of hungry leaving but wasn't complaining.

After lunch, we took a walk around the town, a roundabout way making our way back to the train station. We were all deep in conversation to really notice anything from the town after that. After a 15-20 minute walk, we were back in the station, boarding the train back to Atocha.

TIPS:

• Bring an umbrella: Alcalá is cool to look around, but it was raining when we were there, so I recommend being weather-ready. Bring an umbrella or a hooded jacket.
• Research before going: Really look at what you want to see in Alcalá before going there. There is cool building and stuff to see around the place but it's advisable to have an idea about what you want to do and see, it'll save you from standing around using different apps and google maps to make a plan on what to do
• Go with a group: Alone, I am sure I would not have enjoyed Alcalá, from a student's point of view. As there was 8 of us, it made for a better day and better experience in Alcalá.

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That's it for this post! I hope you enjoy it and that these tips help if you're considering visiting these places!

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Thanks to my friends Teemu and Max for their help and feedback on Segovia and Alcalá! Be sure to check their Instagram's

Teemu: Timmyyk

Max: immonenmax

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And don't forget to check me out on my social media too!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePoorStudentTraveller/

IG: Davidcandykeane

Twitter: Davidko49

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Erasmus:Tips for the First Two Weeks in Madrid

What's up, guys? Hope you're all doing good and have stuck to your New Year Resolutions, I know I haven't 😊. It's coming up to Valentine's Day, expensive time of year to travel, right? But you know whats not expensive? Chicken Nuggets. 
So university has started. So right back into the thick of it. Group work, assignments, exam pressure, deadlines and my all time favorite university activity -> Procrastination. 
Over the past couple of weeks, it's been a bit of a mess. Sorting out timetables, budgeting money, making friends, making sure classes are all good and planning some cool stuff for the summer too.
As well as making friends, a lot of Erasmus activities revolving around making friends have gone on and gave me the incentive to write a post about the first two weeks of the Erasmus experience in Madrid and my advice on how and what to do in this time period, a handy hints sort of thing!
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Erasmus isn't ONLY about studying, attending classes and being under pressure about college. It's about living your experience to the fullest. So here is how you can get the most out of your first few weeks!

1. Before and When You Arrive: There are some things to take into account when moving to Madrid. 
• One of the main priorities for a student before getting to Madrid is to get accommodation. Accommodation is a big thing in Erasmus. You could look too late and end up living from Airbnb for a few weeks.
  
  Speaking to other Erasmus here, the main accommodation advice they can give is to find suitable accommodation near the main centers of Madrid. Sure, you may have to travel a bit to university, but for your social experiences in Madrid, living closer to places like Sol, Gran Vía, La Latina, Malasaña etc. For study-orientated students, close-to-campus accommodation can be cheap and convenient. For those considering Erasmus in Madrid, check out these sites for accommodation: http://www.aluni.net/en/ - Aluni offers good, close to campus accommodation. And https://www.uniplaces.com/ Hopefully these sites help you guys! 
• Arriving in Madrid, it's quire scary actually. One of the most
  
  important things that will help you on your Erasmus and that will save you a lot of money, is the Transport Card. For any prospective Erasmus, the transport card works on the metro, overground renfe trains and buses. For anyone under the age of 26, travel to outer areas in the region of Madrid has no additional cost. To acquire your card, it costs a total sum of €4! And then €20 per month for a full month of unlimited travel. This card will be a live saver and also save a few pennies in your pocket also!
2.  Welcome Days at University: This semester, the Welcome Day fell on the
   
   Friday the 13th of January and in the semester beforehand, it fell on Tuesday the 6th of September. On this Welcome Day in the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, you receive the welcome package, in which, you will receive your matriculation form and your certificate of arrival. The Welcome Day, you meet new Erasmus students attending your classes and you feel less lonely and realize it's a new experience for everyone in the room. The documents given are what the Erasmus student needs to fill in with their subjects, ID numbers and information about the degree you study. This Welcome Day is super informative and a great social opportunity!
3. Join an Erasmus Network: In a number of universities across Madrid, there exists an Erasmus Student Network (ESN). The ESN are a group of volunteer students who, between their classes: Organize Trips, Promote Erasmus events in some of the top nightclubs in Madrid, offer advice to Erasmus students and they also like to just make friends with people from all over the world! A great part of this is they offer SIM cards for those who need to change to a Spanish number! Joining the ESN group in your university, you'll never feel out of the loop in Madrid. Every week there is an activity or trip for students to participate and integrate in. For me, I am with the ESN URJC, and I have been with them since Fall 2016. They've provided us with the opportunity to travel and make the making friends process a whole lot easier! 
4. Join the Integration Activities: Whether you join the ESN or you're going at Erasmus solo, one of the key pieces of advice for the first couple of weeks of your Erasmus experience, is to participate and go on the integration activities you may happen upon. For me, last weekend (20th of January -> 22nd of January), my friends and I joined ESN on their integrational weekend in Mohernando, Guadalajara. They brought us to
   
   this place with cool views, close to a pet farm and no exaggeration, but over 125 people went on this trip, both student and ESN coordinator. These weekends, no matter what opinion you have about the activities, is one of the best way to make friends, meet people and party! For us, we had activities like: Make your own sangria, Spanish food workshops and awesome themed parties (80's and a Toga Party). I went to the parties dressed as a cow. Because every party needs someone who dresses in a onesie! Also included was a trip to the cool town of Segovia (Blog post soon!), One of the key things I recommend is to totally go on these integrational weekend, find friends and then you'll never find yourself to be bored! Besides ESN, I recommend giving Citylife a look on Facebook!
5. Budget: It can be hard on the first few weeks. Your friends are going partying, there are a lot of trips to pay for, you want to experience Madrid and not be the boring person, really. But you also have to survive, buy
   
   groceries, pay rent and all those other "adult responsibilities". Budgeting is probably the worst thing ever. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a trip so you can pay for something else. Or maybe worry about paying for something because you have a lot to pay for. But as I said starting this post: Erasmus is about living your experience to the fullest. You don't have to go to EVERY party or go on EVERY trip. But make a system where you can balance your social life as well as those awful adult responsibilities!
6. Find your places: I've actually come to realize just recently that finding your "local" is quite a difficult thing to do in Madrid. Every place is
   
   different and everybody has different tastes. An advisable thing to do on your first few weeks is to go with friends to different restaurants, cafés and bars. Look on tripadvisor. Yelp. My blog. Anything with information on where to eat and drink with friends. Currently, my friends and I are still searching for a place where we can have a chill drink, a place where we can all enjoy the party, a good place to have lunch, We're trying to find a place for everyone! And that's something all students should do. Discover Madrid through different restaurants and cafés!

All of these things are an important thing to consider and I know a lot of them are "most important". But the best tip, and I'm sure Erasmus/Exchange students past and present can back me up with this is to ENJOY! To follow the quote:

"Erasmus is not a year in your life, it's a life in a year!"

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I hope this is some useful tips for students now and in the future! And if you have any other questions or if any Erasmus/Exchange student has other pieces of advice to offer, please feel free to comment, tweet, IG or email me!

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Remember to Read, Comment, Share and Enjoy 

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And thanks to my friend Max for his advice for you guys! Give him a follow: immonenmax

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Second Semester: Trips, Plans and Advice

Hey there, people! It's been since before the New Year that I last posted. You know, I had to do some fun and interesting stuff to share with you guys and I'm also not the best at time management. It's been a fun couple of weeks! I've had a few weeks to discover some stuff in Madrid and time to look over some of my previous posts and instead of #NewYearNewMe, I'm going to try my best to

continue the format of my posts i.e Personal experiences, Bucket List locations etc but also add more travel tips, student travel advice and helpful hints for prospective travellers.
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Let's start where the last blog post left off. So in my last blog post I was packing up and getting ready to leave Ireland and get myself back on Spanish soil once again, After what can only be described as an eventful first semester, the excitement for the second semester was building, to say the least. As with travelling home for the Christmas period from Madrid to Ireland, the whole day of the 29th of December consisted of travel. From Tuam town to Galway Coach station by car, from Galway Coach station to Dublin Airport by GoBus (http://www.gobus.ie/). Then into Dublin Airport where the time to wait for boarding to begin was spent drinking water and a caramel frappuccino in Starbucks because you know, a healthy balance and all. Boarding didn't take too long and the time it took to board and then take off was quiet quick and it wasn't long before we were speeding down the runway and hitting the air. The flight was easy enough with very little turbulence but nothing a bit of sleep couldn't fix.
The first day and a half in Madrid consisted of finishing up some work for university. And on the 31st, spent the evening deciding what my plan was going to be for the NYE celebrations. So much to do in Madrid and my Facebook notifications filling up with promotions and offers for the many different clubs and parties that were happening all over the city of Madrid including Joy, Le Boutique and Teatro Kapital, Madrid's biggest nightclub and also some invites to house parties with friends to ring in the New Year, My actual plan consisted of travelling to Plaza del Callao, just off the Gran Via where one of the huge, brightly lighted Christmas trees stood high in the center. I arrived at the Plaza and stood at the head of Calle del Carmen, looking down to Sol, at the

Real Casa de Correo. It would have been near impossible to go to Sol, as so many people lined the square and streets I arrived at 10 minutes to Midnight, met a friend and waited patiently for the chime of the clock striking 12. The countdown went by and the Real Casa de Correo was lit up with the lights from the fireworks being let off from its roof. The fireworks were fantastic and really something I'm glad I experienced it. After the firework display, it was a quick rush to the metro to make our way to Villaverde Alto, the end of line 3. The rest of the night was spent in the suburb of Getafe with friends and friends of friends, And let me tell you, it was quite a late one!

That was my New Years Eve, spending time with friends and enjoying the friendly celebrations for the first hours of 2017. From then until the weekend of the 15th I spent primarily alone as the people I had spent the first semester of my Erasmus in Madrid with were with not back in Madrid, were in Madrid studying or left the city for good. The time spent on my own however made for some much appreciated solo travel time in which I got to look around different areas of Madrid at my own pace and really discover the city I've been living in for months. One of my more genius ideas of exploration was what I describe as "Seeing the world without leaving

the city" or also know as Embassy Hunting. As the capital city of Spain, Madrid hosts the embassies for a plethora of countries from every continent. So I took it upon myself to start a self-guided walking tour. Transport card in hand and the street/number of the buildings, I made my way to town, got myself a coffee at Faborit (One of my favorite cafés in the city) and walked up and down the

streets of Madrid, browsing in stores, spending time looking around different areas, finding great places to relax and eat and also find as many flags and emblems of international countries I could manage.  The tour brought me mostly through the area of Salamanca which plays home to big name brands like Versace, Valentino, Armani etc. and is close to the Plaza de Colon, a fantastic plaza from which you can possibly the biggest Spanish flag I've ever seen. Italy, Bolivia, South Africa, Albania, Luxembourg... the list of embassies goes on! This walking tour, "Seeing the world without leaving the city" is an amazing idea to workout, see Madrid and feel like you're seeing the world. I took my time looking around and it took up a good few days.
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That was what I had done, tourist wise, up until the weekend of the 14th and 15th. The welcome days for new Erasmus students was on Friday the 13th, so obviously there was a lot of new Erasmus students and considering that a majority of my friends from the first semester weren't back or weren't gonna be coming back, I decided to join the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos' Erasmus Student Network's trip to Toledo and make some friends. 
The Erasmus Student Network or ESN for short, is and has been one of the best parts of the Erasmus experience as it is a group of volunteering students who organize trips and events for the erasmus students, which is amazing on the first couple of weeks as it helps students integrate with each other and is

probably the best way for the students to make friends. The first trip organized was to the town of Toledo, about 40 to 50 minutes outside of Madrid, in the Castile-La Mancha province. Toledo is infamously named the "City of Three Cultures" as it is famed for the co-existence of the people of the Muslim, Christian and Jewish religions. Toledo is also a famed town for its metal works and most notably its production of bladed weapons, which, from walking around the city, are now very popular items on sale.

The trip to Toledo was priced at €15. And on the morning of the 15th of

January, the students who were going gathered at the Ministerio de Agricultura, near the Atocha Renfe station. It was an early start at 8:30 am which meant that I had to leave my area of Madrid at 7:30, and pray that the connecting Metro's in which I had to switch at were running on time. I made it there for 8:20-ish and we waited in the cold morning air until 8:50-ish when the bus would arrive. Spain Bus provided the double decker bus that would seat the amount of students going. So in the half-an-hour period we had waiting, it was as you would expect in a group of new people. Everyone glancing around at the new faces, huddled in the groups of the people they knew. 
I can't quite recall who said it to me, but it's a statement I find to be very true: "Making friends as an adult, is probably the hardest thing" and because I was Mr. Billy No-Mates, not knowing anyone at the meeting point, I was nervous

about talking to the people.
The bus journey wasn't so bad and didn't take too long to get from the Atocha meeting area to Toledo. It was quite nice on another note, that when a majority of us arrived at Atocha, it was just coming into the dawn and as we were getting on the bus, the sun started to come up. So it was nice to see that on the first ESN trip. The bus hummed with the sound of people getting to know each other, with a faint sound of people snoring. It was an early start, after all!
We got to Toledo at around 10am. And the sun was up at this stage, so it made the views all that more amazing. 

The first part of the trip consisted of a panoramic view of the canyon that surrounds the town of Toledo. As we drove around the canyon, looking as the sun hit the landscape, the bus driver explained in both Spanish and English the significance and some history surrounding the landscapes, as we drove past. It was quite interesting to see and at one point, the driver let the whole group out to look at and take pictures of the landscape. In the cool air, it was quite amazing to look out at the town, the canyon below and the river cutting through. It was enough time for our individual pictures and an ESN group

picture.
The next part of the trip, the bus driver let us out at the bus rank just outside of the town. After what felt like an endless amount of escalators cutting through the landscape to bring us to the town, we arrived in Toledo. Most people were devoid of breakfast, considering the early start, so the first stop was to the Plaza Zocodova to the McDonalds for a coffee to keep us awake for the day. We were on a 15-minute schedule for the coffee break. Then the tour started. The first stop was the Museo del Ejercito, which was sort of a military museum, showing how the police were uniformed and other stuff related to the law enforcement like weapons and ancient structures. 
Moving on from the Museum, we made our way around the town, to the different neighborhoods, related to the Jewish, Muslim and Christian religions, the visits of the monarchy and the Pope. The rest of monumental visits included visits to the Synagogue of El Transitio, a 14th century synagogue, the Museo del Greco and then to the grounds of the Santa Iglesia Cathedral, one of the most important Cathedral's in all of Spain. The significance of the architecture and

buildings in Toledo holds a lot of significance in the history of Spain, according to the tour guide. It was really a great experience to see this place. The trip was fantastic as during the walking tour, we would all start talking with each other and making friends. Starting the trip as Billy No-Mates, I ended the trip with Billy With-Mates. 
The rest of the trip consisted of eating pizza with a group of friends, drinking coffee and making friends with the new group of friends, talking about how we all found the trip and what was to be excited for in the semester ahead. I guess making friends on the trip makes this current semester less of a lonely adventure as now there are people to share the experience with, travel with and live the Erasmus life with!

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The new semester has now begun, it's the first week, so we're all walking around a little lost, making sure we're in the right class and confirming the classes we wish to take. It's a great time as well for us students to mingle, take part in integrational activities and make friends!

• Toledo ✔

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This year, keep watch for tips and advice on different tourist topics

Until the next post; Read, Like, Share and Enjoy

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Instagram: DavidCandyKeane

Twitter: Davidko49

Email: david.keane8@gmail.com

December: Almost New Year!

Hey Guys! It's December 27th! Christmas Day has been and gone and so has Boxing Day. Hope you all had a great holiday, ate lots and drank yourselves silly. New Year is fast approaching and I, for one, am totally excited to check my Facebook and Instagram on the 1st of January to the #NewYearNewMe posts. I might even contribute!
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I began writing this blog post on the 21st, which was last Wednesday. The process began on my flight from Madrid to Dublin, on my way home for the holidays. The day started quite late, to be honest. Waking up late after having a few friends over for some farewell drinks! That turned into a late... or maybe

an early one. But after a late start, packing had to be finished and everything finalized before leaving. The flight was at 17:35 so we left at 15:30 for the metro. Living in the area that we are, it took us the guts of 50 minutes to reach the Terminal 1 station, traveling up line 9 towards Columbia and then switch to line 8 towards the airport. Getting through the airport was simple enough. Once you get off the metro and go through the barriers, you go up the escalator and literally keep walking straight and you'll arrive at the security gate. The lines weren't that tedious either. Simply made it up to the detectors quickly, passed through. However, I was stopped. Random frisk search and all that.
The other side of the security gate, it was then 16:45. After a quick look in the duty-free in the airport, we moved along towards the gate. As usual with Ryanair, the terminal wasn't so close but not incredibly far. Good way to burn

off anything you ate in the morning! We made it to the gate at 17:15, with boarding expected to start soon. In the end, after getting our bags transferred to the holding, we boarded at around 17:45/17:50. Take off time was then, in turn, 6pm. No complaints however, the flight itself was relatively smooth!
We landed in Dublin at around 8pm, Irish time. The disembark was quite quick also. They had us out of the plane not 15 minutes after landing. It was great then to come to Irish Immigration as you could see everyone coming home for Christmas and passing through the border to get onto Irish soil. It was one thing I was excited for, to be back on Irish soil, even if it was for a few days. Baggage claim was quick enough too. Then it was up and out through arrivals. As the doors opened into the public, a choir of singers were caroling outside the door, making the welcome home feel very warm. With no time to ponder the singers or anything else, I walked out to the bus station which was out of the terminal building. From the bus stop, I took the GoBus from Dublin Airport to Galway Coach Station, which took 2.5 Hours exactly. Departing the airport at 9 and arriving at 11:30. At just €20, it was well worth it, with free wifi and charging stations on-board.
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So enough of my day of travelling and more about what I experienced over the past few weeks in Madrid, right?
Since my last post talking about how another month has been in Madrid, its been quite a crazy time with exams starting from the 1st of December. With my few days of freedom, I headed back to Ireland for a few days as I want to ring in the New Year in Madrid and have a little while to myself to do some independent exploration and get some work done.
Over the last month, I mean, as an Erasmus student, it wasn't purely study time

of course. I had to keep enjoying myself and my experience in every aspect possible. The last month or so saw a lot of exciting and amazing experiences. One of the things to happen at the end of November was the release of another movie in my favorite film world: "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" as part of the Wizarding World of J.K Rowling. It was, and I dare say, a magical experience. Obviously, going to a movie in Spain, you're hoping the movie will be in English. Thankfully, I found and came upon a theater "Cine Princesa" near the Plaza España and Gran Vía (Line 3 on the Metro). This cinema, you pay €9:20 for the ticket but expecting that it is the original version of the movie in a Spanish theater with Spanish subtitles, it's quite an okay price. The movie itself was fantastic. I grew up watching the Harry Potter series of movies, so with more exploration into J.K Rowling's world of magic, it's safe to say that I am delighted!
More exploration was done throughout Madrid. One of the most therapeutic things to do in Madrid is, considering I have my transport card which works on bus, metro and cercanias train, is to pick a random metro station and to travel and walk around that area. Coming across cool stores or fun things to do. In the past few weeks I've visited and found some nice places which were: Nuñez de Balboa, Puerta de Arganda, Bilbao, Avenida de la Paz, Callao, Goya and

Velazquez. Madrid is a fantastic city to get lost in. No matter which way you go, you're never too far from a metro station. One of the biggest tourism niche markets in Madrid is shopping tourism. The city has a magnificently vast variety of stores from International, national and local brands and retailers. Exploring these or any area randomly, you discover these gems. One of my favorite places to meet with friends is a place called "Casa Parrondo". An Asturian Sidreria. Sidre is a type of apple wine. At first, admittedly, I was apprehensive about the taste of apple wine but the taste, atmosphere, the consistently good company, the friendly waiting staff and FREE TAPAS! As I have stated in many blog posts, food for me is an emotional experience. We went so frequently that the staff put a picture of me and my friends up on their wall, You know, next to the famous people. #Famous

In the last weekend, on of the cool things I went to see was the Christmas Market at Matadores in Legazpi, a former slaughterhouse and now a cinema

center. This was an International market and what was so cool was that it had stalls from all different countries and nations. I'm talking Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iraq, Vietnam, Philipines, South Africa, Columbia and so many more! If there was ever a reason to want to travel the world, this market would kickstart it. I filled my belly with Gluhwein, Belgian lager, Danish cookies, Soutg Africa Amarula, Greek pastries and Italian panettone and so much more. There was a stage which displayed dances and artistic pieces of local tradition from different countries.
These were some of the great things I discovered in Madrid over the past month. Writing this, I'm close to finishing my packing to head back to Madrid for another semester! So much more to come. For now, time to enjoy the New Year festivities!
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Social Media Update

Hey guys! Just a quick little post!
As some of you may know, I use my social media a lot to promote my posts, put a picture to my posts and try and get readers from everywhere. I'm a big fan of Instagram because I may post pictures about a post that may not be in the post itself, it can connect to the right people with hashtags and you can see what they're doing. I also like Twitter because you can directly link someone to whatever you want, which is what I do with my newest blogposts. You can link Instagram up with twitter also. Another great form of social media marketing is definitely snapchat. It's instant. It's quick. You can take pictures right now and tell people what you want them to know. 
One form of social media that I haven't quite utilized yet is Facebook. Sure I post a new blog post on it, but up until now, I haven't done too much with my Facebook for my blog. As of today however, I've decided it was time to create a Facebook Page for my blog. So, I give to you:

https://www.facebook.com/ThePoorStudentTraveller/

My Facebook will have the links to my latest blog posts. Updates on blogs that you should see. You can leave suggestions, comment, like, share! I thought it would be a great Christmas present for The Poor Student Traveller but also a great opportunity for people to connect with me there!

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So lately I've been slacking a bit with my posting! I've been knee deep sludging through the torments of university and adult responsibilities of living in Spain alone, but it's manageable. So far, I've written ideas for posts and have some drafts that need editing before posting! But be sure to see something in the next little while and be sure you'll be getting more content coming into the New Year!

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As always guys, read, like, share and enjoy the posts that are out there and be sure to like and share my new Facebook Page!

Or find me on:

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