Day trip to Toledo!
Author: Daisy Rehbock | Major: International Studies | Semester: Spring 2023
My name is Daisy Rehbock and I’m a junior studying International Studies, Spanish, and Gender Studies. It’s the Spring of 2023 and I’m studying at Universidad Nebrija here in Madrid, Spain!
It’s March in Madrid, Spain and the cherry blossoms surrounding the opera have begun to bloom, signifying a warm Spanish summer is to come. On my way to class each day I notice the trees changing colors and an uplifted mood in each person I pass by. In my classes we talk about where we are all traveling to on our weekends and over Semana Santa, which is the week leading up to Easter, or Pascua, and a very important part of Spanish culture. Now that we’ve all settled into our schedules, classes have begun to feel more casual and discussion-based, rather than the purely academic setting that I’m accustomed to at Arkansas. Teachers are also brutely honest, as are most Spaniards, for everyone here was raised with a sort of ‘thicker skin’ and view Americans as ‘too soft’ the majority of the time. My professors are very comfortable discussing everything from their political views to their personal lives, which are largely off-limits in most American classrooms for fear of distracting from course content and appearing biased. However, I find that this learning environment makes me feel more comfortable and encouraged to participate which in turn helps me retain the information much more easily. At my university here in Madrid there is also a larger emphasis on attendance and participation in class, mainly because there is not as much homework as at Arkansas and rarely is there any outside of class reading or PowerPoints to look at. Almost a third of the final grade in all of my courses is attendance and participation and if a student misses more than six classes during the semester, they receive a zero on that portion of their final grade. In many of my classes at Arkansas, attendance is not mandatory, and professors are more forgiving when students miss class so long as they are caught up on their assignments, which is definitely not the case at Nebrija.
This month, I had the opportunity to tour the Palacio Real in Madrid, which happens to be the largest royal palace in Europe! My school here, Nebrija, offers incredible opportunities for cultural events outside of class, such as tours of different museums and landmarks in Madrid or trips to other important Spanish cities during the weekends. These tours all take place in Spanish, which makes it feel less tourist-y and also improves my vocabulary and understanding of Spanish. There are times that the Castellano accent that the majority of people in Madrid have still confuses me because it is vastly different than the Central or South American Spanish accents I’ve become used to during my learning of the language. During this palace tour I learned that it took over 100 years to decorate the interior of the palace, which today is only used for state events rather than an actual residence for the royal family.
After two months of living in Madrid, I feel extremely comfortable recommending this experience to other students from Arkansas. I have absolutely no regrets about my program or city selection and would recommend any students that have any background in Spanish, whether from high school or at Arkansas, to study in Madrid over Barcelona or another European city any day. This month I also had the opportunity to visit London, Denmark, Paris, and Barcelona and while I had an incredible time in each place, Madrid is much more accommodating to the college student lifestyle than any of the cities I visited. The food is incredible and cheap, there are tons of other college students, the public transportation is incredible, and you will never run out of things to do. Even if you do get bored in Madrid, a weekend vacation to another city or country is usually less than 100 Euros! All in all, my experience here has been incredible, but I do miss driving my car and La Huerta on College!