The Age of Exploration

This past weekend my friends and I went on a little road trip for 5 hours. 8 people on 8 wheels! When we got out of the car, we found ourselves in Lisboa. (Well, we didn't just happen to end up there, it was actually planned!)
Two nights and two days with a lot of rain, a little bit of sun, great umbrellas, amazing food, and 7 friends - it was a small, yet great vacation.
It felt great to see the Ocean again, since we are living in the center of Spain with no river or lake around it. Lisbon is so close to Madrid, but it seems like it is a completely different world. Time is slowing down, and everything is suddenly easier. It is an amazing, very laid back European city, with gorgeous monuments, churches, and old houses. It is often compared to San Francisco, because of its "copy" of the Golden Gate bridge, its many hills, and the Trams that take you through the old town.
So, bascially, if you are studying abroad in Europe, you HAVE to come to Portugal; to sing Fado, eat Pasteís de Nata, go to the Praia, and drink Vinho do Porto.

Our explorers Kelly, David, and Jared, in front of the "Monumento dos Descobrimentos" (Monument of the Discoveries).

Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid

Stop, think, breathe in, breathe out, go.

Today I had a talk with a certain person (who will remain anonymous) about the struggle many people of our generation go through (at least in Germany and most parts of Europe):
You start university and after the first semester you realize that you absolutely hate what you are doing. You hate it with a passion! And you wish you had had more time to think about how you are going to spend those few years that will determine the rest of your life. That's a pretty tough decision, I would say.
This very person went to university to study something you native English speakers would call International Business & Finances. Now let's look at the classes he's taking in both 1st and 2nd semester:
Communicative Processes, Decision Theorie, Accounting, Controlling, Finances, Investments, Maths (oh really?), and good old Statistics. Well, that sounds like fun! That's like forcing you to eat potatoes, chips, and french fries for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next 6 months. But not only that, your class-"halls" are overcrowded, nobody knows your name, nobody hears what the professor is saying, and nobody cares if you are there or not. But you better stick to this, or you will have to start from zero again!
Now, I really don't want to sound like I'm doing cheap advertizing here, but the American system is so much better! Like in Europe, kids go to university immediately after high school, BUT you are given 2 years of time to figure out what you actually want to do. You have room to breathe and try around. Anthropolgy, Statistics, Public Relations, World History, whatever you want to take, take it! Just because your major is Psychology does not mean you have to take 15 different variation of Psychology classes for the next 4 years. Oh, and you don't have 400 classmates, you have maybe 20. So when you come out of University, you will have a degree of whatever your major was, plus a little experience in every other topic that interests you.

It is important to be sure of what you want to do. And when going to college still allows you to think about your choices while you are studying, it is definitely much easier to stick to your decisions.

Me tiro ... en Retiro!

One good thing about the stressful final weeks of the semester is rewarding yourself with an afternoon of laziness. It is the time when 'doing nothing' is actually a hard earned luxury for once. And luxurious as we are, my roomates and I decided to hang out in Madrid's biggest park - Retiro - and let the Saturday afternoon pass by in slow motion.

Salamanca

Wow, I must say, we are rockstars. Spring break is just over and the next trip was already waiting for us: Salamanca! There are 3 trips organized by the university per semester; and this was one of the choices besides Granada and Barcelona.
Since the majority of the students signed up to visit Barcelona and Granada, only a tiny little group of 9 went on the trip to explore one of Europe's oldest university cities. 150,000 people live here, one third of them being students from all over the world. So you can only imagine how much fun Salamanca must be.
We had a great time and got to see imporatnt monuments such as the cathedral, the library, or the old university with the famous frog hidden among the many figures on the front wall. The Plaza Major is extremely impressive, and the perfect spot to meet people.

One sunny afternoon was used to drive 1h outside of Salamanca to go hyking.
Living in such a large city like Madrid one easily forgets how good it feels to walk on something else than concrete; to see more green than gray; and to listen to the silence.

(Sadly, you also realize how much out of shape you are, when walking DOWN the hill makes you tired...I should probably sign up for the gym immediately!)