A few words on why you should all go on exchange

As I sit here in a café eating my generous plate of calamari in sunny Cadiz, I’m trying to reflect on my experience studying in Spain. And I don’t even know where to start. Everyone will tell you how you’re going to have such an amazing time overseas – “the best semester of your life” – and it’s true. But it’s hard to put into words just how amazing it will be. You will meet people from all across the world who are all eager to make new friends and share with you your time in your chosen city. You’ll talk endlessly about how life is in each of respective countries and learn so much more about these places than you would ever learn in you just spent two days visiting the touristy sights of their capital city. You’ll learn about how it is going to university, celebrating birthdays, national holidays and Christmas, what their families and friends are like, what’s the dating culture like, what they think of their government and what they value. And you will learn all of this about not just the one country you are living in, but about each and every country from which your new friends hail from. And these people are people you will call friends for the rest of your life, they were your exchange friends but they’ll always hold a special spot in your heart.

Some things will be hard – like getting used to living so far away from your family and friends, the new language (or the frequent miscommunications bound to happen when speaking with non-native speakers of your own language), how to navigate your new university, and constantly just being a little bit lost. But these are the things that challenge you and make you get to know yourself better. So make sure you make the most of it because it will be one of the hardest yet most amazing experiences of your life.

 

 

 

España (universidad)

Over half way through my semester here at Universidad Carlos III Madrid I thought it’s probably time to start writing about my experiences here. But where to start?

After my Spanish intensive course I was feeling a bit more confident with my level of Spanish but was still nervous as hell about starting to take three classes in Spanish (Politics, Sociology and General Linguistics). And I was even more nervous when our Sociology lecturer started asking all the American students if their level of Spanish was up to taking this class in Spanish and reminding us that there was an English option. Luckily she turns out to be a good lecturer and she relaxed a heap once only 20 out of 60 students were turning up to her class. Every week it gets easier to understand the classes – most of the time it’s pretty do-able but when the other students start talking and arguing I start getting lost! They speak super fast! Some topics are also particularly hard to follow as it is the norm to use very long words ending in “ización”, sometimes I feel like I’m taking a dictation test that lasts an hour an half. But reading over my notes I seem to usually catch the main concepts.

University is different here in a few major ways. For one, the universities have to continually evaluate students under the “Plan Bolonia” changes to university education. For me, this means I have weekly assignments on top of weekly readings for most subjects, as well as mid-term tests, a final group work project and presentation and a final essay or exam, plus our class participation mark. Get tired just thinking about how much work that is? Me too. Luckily I’m only taking four classes, not the usual six regular students take. Spanish students come in all shapes in forms, but for the most part they are quite diligent as it’s necessary to study a fair amount just to pass.

Another major difference between university here and at home is the general lack of respect during class. Students will talk to each other constantly throughout the lectures and tutorial classes as if they were in high school or out to lunch and no matter how many times the teachers tell them off for acting like children they continue to do it. And they have no problem interrupting the teacher to argue with them on anything – including academic definitions of political and sociological concepts. Finally we sorted out that no matter what “feminism” means in the street when you’re talking to your friends, the recognised sociology definition is the fight for equality between all genders. Apparently this chatter within classes is normal, but I’m unsure as to why. The classes are interactive and interesting enough and the ground rules were set in Week 1, but are hardly followed. I’m not sure if it is that the interruptive style of speaking that is common in normal conversations in Spanish has also been transferred to the classroom or if it’s something else altogether. Other Spanish students also complain about their class mates talking throughout the class but say that it’s normal in all of their classes.

In terms of course content, education here is very traditional. In my politics and sociology classes, even given they are first year, first semester classes, we focus wholly on the classical theorists of each theme covered. There is little discussion about alternative contemporary interpretations of such phenomenons or actual examples world wide. The practical classes each week give a little more room for discussion and looking into the practical application and manifestation of such phenomenons but it is more like a side-note to the theory. Some definitions, such of that of globalisation, are quite old and do not take into account recent theorists very often. In saying that, classical political and sociological theory is probably a very good base to build off during the rest of their degree.

What I’ve noticed from my class in English (Economic History) and from talking with Spanish students about this is that the level of English of many Spanish students is very basic, especially in comparison to other European countries. I have friends here on Erasmus from Norway, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic who speak English at a very high level, some nearly perfectly and without a strong accent, however I have hardly met any Spanish students with such high levels of English. While they all recognise the importance of learning English, they struggle to attain the necessary level to apply to study overseas in an English speaking country which is ultimately the only way to properly learn a language. One thing that appears to greatly aid people in learning English is if the television programmes on national TV are not dubbed, but kept in English- something which does not occur in Spain. Some also say that Spain is behind the rest of Europe in English attainment due to the prohibition of English and all languages other than Spanish during the Franco era. Another factor that probably does not help is that many “English classes” have teachers with low levels of English who revert back to Spanish when they can’t find the word in English and use sources (including videos and guest speakers) and graphs in Spanish.

So university here is different, but overall much the same – there are teachers, students, on-going assessment and weekends jammed packed with partying, sleeping, studying and travel (usually in that order). And time is flying by, only just over a month left of classes!

Puerta del Sol Madrid
Studying the fun stuff – grammar… Getafe – my current home and university town Tour of Madrid with two of my classmates Madrid at night
Sunset in Getafe, view from my balcony
Cooking up a storm with my room mate!

Bulgaria

Mo and I arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria in the afternoon by bus from Thessaloniki. First stop on our adventure in Bulgaria was to look for a doctor to check out my red eyes. We arrived at the hospital which consisted of two basically empty buildings. The main building had no staff except a security guard who pointed us to the door with the picture of an eye on it. Seeing that they were about 15 people seated in the waiting area we decided to leave and try book an appointment for our next destination, but just before we caught the bus back to our hostel we checked out the situation again. Just as we were looking at the door a man knocked on it and then was welcomed in straight away and left five minutes later. So we tried the same process and it worked! We were greeted by a lovely English speaking doctor who diagnosed me straight away and for free!

Then we took a free walking tour of Sofia to see the grand buildings and learn some history. We also witnessed the peaceful protests against the current government which at that stage had been happening every day for the past 40 or so days. The next day we headed to Rila Monastery just outside of Sofia. After a stressful bus ride (as the driver didn’t seem super alert behind the wheel…) we arrived at the beautiful monastery. It is set in the mountains which are covered in lush forest. It was absolutely stunning. The monastery’s church was most impressive. The decking around it had walls and ceilings covered in vibrant kind of cartoon icons and paintings telling biblical stories. It also included pictures of devils and people going to hell. We took a lovely stroll down by the stream and the surrounding mountains before our best sleep yet due to the cooler weather! 

The next day was taken up by travelling to Plovdiv. Plovdiv was a cute old town with a really lovely vibe. We took it nice and slow and wandered around the cobbled streets – we saw the Roman Stadium, Mosque, the hill with the Thracian ruins, the City Art Gallery (most to escape the heat!), the Etnographic Museum and a little crafts open house. That night we went to the International Folklore Festival and saw various countries’ folklore dances and music. Romania was probably the best with cool costumes, fancy footwork and at one point the girls lifted the guys upside down!

The next day we visited a little monastery just outside of Plovdiv and took a walk around the surrounding mountains. The monastery was unique in that it also included paintings of Greek philosophers and old world rulers which is unusual for religious paintings. We ran into a Dutch guy from our hostel who joined us fro the walk and told us about his recent participation in the university hitch-hiking competition where you have a certain number of days to get from one city to another crossing as many borders as possible by hitch-hiking. He said it was quite easy to find a ride with drivers at petrol stations, often very nice ones that offer you icecreams when they next stop.

Next stop on our adventure was a little town (even smaller than we had thought it would be) called Karlovo. We stayed at a cute guest house run by a little old lady. Whilst on first impression we weren’t sure what we would get up to here the town had it’s highlights. We got a massive pizza for only 2lvs. We accidentally had an iced coffee at a place which may have been a brothel at night…. And then we went on a beautiful walk up the mountains where we made up to the edge of the national park. 

Valieko Turnovo was next on the list. This city’s main attraction is its huge fortress which is meant to be the site of its infamous Sound and Light Show. The fortress is amazing and we got a great view of it from our hostel too. Unfortunately, in typical crazy confusing Bulgarian style no one knew if the Sound & Light Show would happen or even know to find out – all a bit random and mysterious… It was a beautiful little city nonetheless and our last stop on our trip together so Mo and I enjoyed some cocktails to celebrate before parting ways until Christmas.

 

Turkey

After the ferry ride to Kusadasi we arrived at the hotel and enjoyed a huge buffet dinner of all sorts of meats, salads, Turkish specialties and desserts – delish! 

Our first day with the new tour group we visited Ephesus, about 30km out of Kusadasi. Ephesus was an ancient Greek city and later one of the largest in the Roman Empire. The ruins are incredible. Already they have been excavating for 200 years and the site is huge. The two most impressive parts are the library and the theatre. The library is massive and only the statues have been replaced as they were stolen. The theatre is huge and that’s only half of it – I can only imagine what it would’ve been like when it was all there and full of people! Incredible!

(Where Hercules used to get his power from!)

Theatre

We also visited the Temple of Artemis – or rather the one column of it still standing. It’s considered one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. 

And no tour of Turkey would be complete without visiting a Turkish carpet shop. The Turkish government Department of Culture and Tourism has started funding various workshops to bring in women from outlying villages and teach them the craft of hand weaving on a loom these beautiful Turkish carpets. On our visit we saw how they spin the silk from the little cocoons and then how they use it to weave the carpets by tying thousands of tiny little knots. It can take years to make a carpet, depending on how many stitches per cm2 they use. It’s an incredible art – I don’t know how they’re so patient. The carpets are quite expensive (well most definitely out of my price range) but you can see why and they do last 150 years.

Turkish carpet

The next day we visited Pamukkale where they have the most magnificent calcium mountains with luxurious calcium baths set into the cliff side. The calcium baths are filled with lovely warm thermal water and calcium mud that you spread all over you, bake it onto your skin and then wash it off – apparently it makes your skin look four years younger! 

The next day we spent most of the day travelling to Cappadoccia but on the way we stopped in Konya where the Dervish founder, Rumi, was buried. I hadn’t heard of the Dervish people before – apparently it’s not so much a religion but a commitment to love to all. 

“Remember, the deep root of your being, is the presence of the only Being. Give your life to the One who already owns your breath and your movements” – Rumi

They are most famous for the meditative whirling. 

 

In Cappadoccia we visited one of the 400 underground cities. They were built by Christians who were hiding from persecution due to their religion. These underground cities were huge, housing up to 5,000 people with about eight floors. It only took them a few months to build each city, chipping away at the soft volcanic lava formations. The tunnels were purposely made so small that soldiers in their armour would get stuck. 

 

We then visited a valley of these lava rock formations where Star Wars was filmed. Each formation has been worn down by the winds and some have little hats that eventually fall off once worn down enough. It looks like a fantasy world. We also visited the Open Air Museum of the first Christian churches in the world, they were built into lava rock caves. 

On our way to Istanbul we stopped in Ankara and visited Attaturk’s Mausoleum. It’s a grand display of most Turkish people’s love for their founding father. According to popular history, he was key in liberating Turkey from the Ottoman Empire, for making Turkey a secular country and for making it a Republic. 

On our tour of Istanbul we visited the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Basilica Cistern, Hippodrome and the Grand Bazaar. 

The Blue Mosque is incredibly beautiful – it’s huge, with a big domed ceiling and every part of it is decorated in blue patterned tiles, or gold, red and white patterned paintings. The floor is covered in an extravagant Turkish carpet usually donated to the mosque. It’s hard to believe that they built it 500 years ago and even then could decorate the high ceilings. In fact when one of the arches fell down they were puzzled as how to rebuild it until they found a glass bottle with instructions and the plan of the arch from the engineer saying that they should use the plan provided as they would never figure it out themselves. The towers (minarets) around the mosque have speakers to play the Imam’s call to prayer and each mosque faces Mecca. 

Topkapi Palace is where the Sultans used to live and rule from. Now it’s more like a museum. It houses 15% of Turkey’s national tresaure – enough to buy a country! It also holds many religious relics – most importantly the Prophet Mohammed’s beard, Moses’ stick and the key to Kaaba (the black box at Mecca that also holds religious relics). During our tour of Topkapi Palace we learnt of how powerful the Ottoman Empire was with 19 countries under its rule at its prime. 
Tiles at Topkapi Palace

The Hippodrome is where the obelisks given to the Ottoman Empire are all situated. Fun fact – Turkey gave an obelisk to Washington to demonstrate a transfer of power before the two super powers. 

The Basilica Cistern is a massive underground water storage with over 350 columns though it is no longer used today. In ancient times, to attack a city the enemies first went for their water supply so to protect their water supply there was an upside down Medusa head at the main gate as mythology claims that her upside down eye would turn people to stone hence protecting the water supply from incoming soldiers. The Basilica Cistern is in itself also a huge engineering feat that no one can quite explain how it was built. 

The Grand Bazaar really is grand. The world’s biggest covered market with over 6,000 shops is super overwhelming. Not my kind of shopping so I just browsed and ended purchasing my souvenirs from the Spice Market (a quieter more foodie version) and in the main pedestrian street connecting Galata Tower and Takseim Square. 

In Istanbul I also visited Aya Sofya, the Church/Mosque that Attaturk declared a museum in order to stop any religious fighting. It was similar to the Blue Mosque but less blue.. Very beautiful. 

On my way back to my hostel I got decidedly lost… Knowing that my street was just off Topkapi Palace I asked the free tourist info guides for directions to there. Unfortunately I followed their directions and the signs and unknowingly ended up at the back entrance to the palace where I waltzed straight in unawares. The security guard stopped me and asked me where I was going and I answered “I don’t know.. Where am I?” After trying to give me directions to where I wanted to be he relented and escorted me through the closed palace to the other side where I wanted to be and directed me to my street. Luckily! Otherwise I could still be lost in the streets of Istanbul…

The day before flying out to meet my friend in Greece I took a day trip to Gallipoli. We visited Anzac Cove and Lone Pine along with various other monumental battle sites and cemeteries. It was surprisingly moving to see these sites so important in Australia’s young history yet not really directly connected to me. So many young lives were lost and the little inscriptions from their families on the grave stones were the most moving of all. 

Turkey was great – full of history, culture and good food. What more could I ask for?

 

Greece

I arrived at Athens International Airport after 12 hours of flights and airports to be greeted by a taxi driver who picked me up and took me to my hotel as the start of my tour of Greece and Turkey.

 The next day, I woke up just in time for the end of breakfast and then headed out into the city to take myself on a walking tour of Athens with my little map in hand. I got a little lost but stumbled upon some treasures including the Stoa of Attalos, a folklore pottery museum and Monastiriki Sqaure with a flea market and a little market where the hippies of Athens seem to congregate.

After some exploration, I found my way back to the main road along which most of Athen’s main attractions are located. I had a look at the National Library of Athens which is a fully functioning library inside an amazing buildings with a particularly beautiful staircase. Next to that was the University of Athens which has incredible paintings in the front section – with vibrant red background, many of the gods and goddesses are featured in full colour across this section. And then next there was the Academy of Athens – the most impressive of the three. Here there were incredible statues of the goddess Athena and the two philosophers among others.

Continuing along this street there was the huge Parliament House, also with huge columns. In front of this building there are two guards, who work here as part of their “mandatory, voluntary” military service for a year, either before or after further studies. They are dressed in pleated skirts, tights, shoes with pom poms and red hats with a tassel. They aren’t meant to blink more than once every three minutes, they musn’t smile or making any gestures. They have another special guard who grooms them – wiping sweat off their faces and fixing their hats. They have a special ceremony each hour to change the guards and also switch spots every half hour in order to walk a bit so that they don’t faint. It’s all very serious.

After Parliament House there are the National Gardens and Zapion. The National Gardens are beautiful and shady, with a zoo inside as well. The Zapion is another huge building with columns, similar to Parliament House. However this one has ornately decorated ceilings and hallway areas which you can view, unlike Parliament House which is closed off to the public.

Next to the National Gardens is the Temple of Olympian Zeus. These ruins are incredible – there is a collection of huge free standing columns. As part of our tour the next day we visited the Acropolis of Athens, Parthenon of Athens and the accompanying museum which is filled with statues, pottery and replicas of parts of the Parthenon. The Parthenon itself is incredible. The math, engineering and construction expertise behind this structure is amazing. It’s hard to believe they built it without today’s technology to help them.

 On our walk back from the Acropolis, we found a delicious Greek restaurant. As we were checking out the food on a couple’s table they told us it was delicious and worth a try. We ended up ordering a whole lot of food – a greek salad, a plate of dalmates, traditional meatballs in a fresh tomato sauce and a piece of salmon. The greek salad was so simple and fresh – it had cucumber, tomatoes, red onions and a big chunk of feta on top. The dalmates were the best I’ve ever tasted – so fresh and tasty. It turned out the couple were from Essendon and the husband was Greek so he knew the best places to go. Most delicious meal yet – even beat the yummy souvlaki with chips in it from the night before. On the topic of food, the baklava here is delicious. And the frozen yoghurt, with a glazed tangerine topping, is the perfect refreshing snack (or dinner if you’re like us and had dessert for dinner). 

From Athens we moved onto the Greek Islands. First to Santorini, then Mykonos and then Samos. The islands were all beautiful and different. Santorini is famous for the beautiful sunset over Oia – a must see. The island is full of white and blue buildings (it’s where they filmed Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants) – now it’s only allowed to build in the same style across the island. In Santorini we visited the Volcano and its “hot” thermal waters… They were more warm than hot but was lovely all the same. 

We only had one night in Mykonos so we thought we best go out as that’s the thing to do. Wasn’t exactly our cup of tea though. We went to Cavo Paradiso, one of the big beach clubs, and it was huge. Music was so loud you could feel your body vibrating and it was all dance electronica – not my fav. And the club was full of drunk Aussies mostly…Safe to say we left not too long into the night but it was worth seeing and confirming that it wasn’t our idea of a fun night out. 

Next was Samos – a completely different island full of green trees. Also the home of Pythagoras. We visited the world’s first tunnel he built with pythagorean theorem as part of the city’s aquaduct. It was amazing that they built it from the two opposite sides and then met in the middle only out by one or two centimetres. It was also super refreshing under ground – free air conditioned excursion! 

Next we were on the ferry to Kusadasi, Turkey – only one and a half hours away. We could see it from Samos!

Malta.

After 30 hours of travel, including four different flights and various stopovers, I was very glad to finally arrive in Malta. Customs was non-existent and passport control was a breeze, no questions asked as to why I was visiting Malta or for how long – just a quick chat and a new stamp to add to my passport.
Andrea and I were met at the tiny international airport by Andrea’s dad, brother, and four or so other cousins, aunties and uncles. We were then off to “quickly” say hi to her Nanna and Nannou. We were fed a mountain of yummy food including a “Welcome Andrea” cake. After a few hours we drove across the island to their beach house in Buggiba, part of the tourist precinct.

Malta is a beautiful country – a mix of old and new, with a rich history due to invasions by the Romans, British, Greeks and French to name a few. The buildings are predominately old, built out of limestone with flat roofs. Most are only 2-5 storeys high and many buildings, especially cathedrals, are heritage listed and protected. The streets are tiny, often one-way and were not built for cars but for horse and carriage. People park their cars wherever they like, including on street corners and facing each other instead of the same way. Most Maltese people speak Malti and English so it’s very easy to get around. The lack of language barrier and the small size of Malta (only 40km across) make it very tourist friendly. In fact there are three Maltese islands – Malta, Gozo and Comino. We visited the two islands on a boat cruise one day. The water is incredibly clear and warm – it’s absolutely beautiful. Comino is known for its blue lagoon – a crystal clear, light blue bay filled with swimmers.

Malta is a country with a strong sense of family and community. Each town has it’s own Saint and they celebrate their Saint’s name day with a week long party called a festa. When they will be holding a festa they put up as many flags as possible to let everyone know. On the Saturday night the main square, cathedral and streets are light up and closed off to traffic. Throughout the night there are fireworks leading up to the Giggifogu, which is a close to one hour show of twirling and spinning fireworks which you can watch from a very close distance. The nearly the whole parish of the local cathedral will come to celebrate throughout the night – young and old alike. Family is also very important – we celebrated Andrea’s Nanna’s 83rd birthday with most of their family with a mountain of food by the beach.

The food in Malta is Mediterranean with an Arab twist. Common foods include pistizzie (with ricotta or peas), rabbit stew, ftiras with tuna, olive and tomato paste (like a sandwich), pizza, a meaty pasta bake, maltese platter of goat’s cheese, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and bigilla dip. In terms of sweets, they have a date filled oval cake and a yummy date filled pastry, lightly fried called imquaret.
There are two main cities in Malta – Valetta (the capital) and Mdina (the old capital). Both are walled cities with many grand buildings, including St John’s Co-Cathedral in the pictures below.

We also visited the two of the temples in the south of Malta – Hagar Qim and Mnajdra. They date back to 3600 BC and are said to be the oldest free standing buildings (older than stone henge and the pyramids). They are located where it is thought Malta used to be attached to Africa as they once found evidence of dwarf elephants there.

In the south we also visited Blue Grotto which is a set of beautiful caves with incredibly clear and deep blue water, when inside the caves the water is luminescent. It’s breathtakingly beautiful.