Graphic by Megan Eloise/The Gazelle
Study Abroad Series: Madrid
This is the first in a series of articles on study abroad sites in which The Gazelle will feature in-depth conversations with recently-returned ...
Oct 10, 2015
This is the first in a series of articles on study abroad sites in which The Gazelle will feature in-depth conversations with recently-returned students from each site. These conversations focus on the “un-Google-able” — you can use a search engine for suggestions on what to do on a Saturday morning in Paris, but not to know how someone felt about leaving their best friend behind for four months.
Names have been changed so that the interviewees can speak freely.
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On transitioning to Madrid
Caroline, on transitioning from Abu Dhabi to Madrid: When you're based on Saadiyat, 100 percent of your day-to-day experience is wrapped up in NYU Abu Dhabi — you eat at NYUAD, you study at NYUAD, you sleep at NYUAD. And then coming here, it's pretty much a couple hours, two days per week at school, so the experience involves trying to figure out, “Who am I apart from an NYUAD student?”Lauren, on transitioning from New York to Madrid: In New York, it was like: this is Union Square, that's Trader Joe’s, it's just set, it's established. It feels like we tread the same paths in New York. We end up in the same places. In Madrid I was literally on my own. There was a whole week of just figuring out where Carrefour Express is.
On independence from NYUAD
C: For the first time, I thought — ok, I'm really an adult. I'm really dealing with things I haven't dealt with before. I was nervous about it, but it's actually been really good. I think that sometimes NYUAD people are so taken care of that it's scary.Jen, on transitioning from Abu Dhabi to Madrid: I had to think a lot about budgets, because everything in Abu Dhabi is given to you, whereas in Madrid you have to pay or work out how to allocate your funds. It was a new experience; it wasn't stressful because all in all we're not in a stressful financial situation, but I guess I had never realized how much time it takes to do real person things, like groceries and cleaning.
Would you make any changes to the semester in hindsight?
L: In Madrid I would definitely room with someone. You will go out more often and you will strengthen your relationships with people around you. Because your friends will bring other people, your roommates will bring other friends and you'll get to meet them. I wouldn't live alone in Spain. Also, I would really focus on academics more than I did.C: I would have made more of an effort to connect with more people there. I spent a lot of time alone which was good in a lot of ways, but I also feel like it was kind of a social vacation, like I didn't really deepen any relationships at all.
J: Nope.
On speaking Spanish
C: I had a background in Spanish, which was really helpful. I think if I had it to do over again, I might live with a host family, so that I could feel more connected and to practice the language some more, but I had all the basics already so that was really helpful. If anything, I wish I'd practiced more. I wish I'd gone out more or made more friends. But here people are good about being patient.L: I was more silent than ever in my life ... You think, “OK, I'll just surround myself with people I know, who speak English,” and other times I'll just surround myself with no one and watch TV and do my homework. But it's not like that experience wasn't valuable because of that. It was valuable in the sense that I can just observe people more than actually talk to them, I can listen more than I speak. It makes you appreciate communication, how valuable it is.
On NYU Madrid
J: The campus itself was tiny, and it was sometimes frustrating not to have all the facilities that you would have here or in New York. We couldn't Skype on campus because the Wi-Fi wasn't good, and Wi-Fi at my house wasn't good either, so that was frustrating.On classes
C: It was a nice break in a lot of ways. Three of the four classes that I took counted for nothing in my major, so if anything I wish it was a little harder. But my professors were really good and engaging. I'm walking away feeling like I learned a lot. Not being completely defined by academics has been good. In Abu Dhabi, about nine out of ten thoughts on a given day are something about my academics. [In Madrid], I feel like a more well-rounded person.J: I went into it thinking, “I'm going to take these classes because I just want to be in Madrid.” But in the end, they were great. All of them were in Spanish and somehow related to Spain, and at the start I was kind of bummed about that because I was thinking, “I'm going to get bored.” But then I was talking to my roommate, and she was saying how she was leaving and she hadn't really learned anything about Madrid. I realized I've learned so much.
On socialising with NYU students
C: I think it's been really good for me, trying to connect and interact with NYUNY students. As someone from the U.S. I felt like one of them but kind of not one of them — it was a weird mix between wanting to be the exotic Abu Dhabi girl, but also feeling uncomfortable and thinking that I couldn't hang. It also gives you a little bit of perspective on what we have going at NYUAD, trying to explain NYUAD to NYUNY students.J: I think we were just really lucky and we got really, really great people that semester, and there were a lot of people that I connected to.
C: I'm sure there's a ton of people that I would have really gotten along with, but I didn't put myself out there. I think during orientation week I kind of fell back on the connections with Abu Dhabi people, and then it was during that time that everyone else formed their friend groups, so if felt almost too late.
On socialising with everyone else
C: I'm not too much of an extrovert, so I didn't miss running into people all the time; I like that in Abu Dhabi but it isn't something I really miss. But I can imagine that would be really hard, if you're used to just chatting to people in the library or the dining hall, it's a huge change.L: I definitely I felt like I was done with meeting people and making friends. I felt like I had all these existing relationships that were scattered all over the globe, and I really cared about some people and didn't give them enough attention so I needed to work on that.
On the city
J: In the larger life sense, it just made me realize what things matter more to me, because I enjoyed my life so much in Madrid and realized this is what my life should be like. I tend to stress out about a lot of things, and being here on Saadiyat, those stresses are very latent, they're always here. In Madrid I was more focused on enjoying everything I did.L: Madrid, I think, is a very old city, like it didn't feel quite youth-driven, and I realized that when I went to Barcelona. I felt super happy when I was in Barcelona, it felt youth-driven and it felt cosmopolitan. Madrid is truly, truly, truly Spanish. It's more of seeing older people and older buildings and lots of museums. Obviously I'm generalizing, it's just the feeling I had. There are places where you can just have fun and meet young people, but in general, it felt more Spanish, like old and very slow.
On difficult times
L: I never considered being sick and alone. I never considered just struggling talking to people and getting my message across. Those things you need to be prepared for. You need to have a support system. And I've learned that you cannot survive by yourself. [side-image image="https://cdn.thegazelle.org/gazelle/2015/10/MadridPiecewines.jpg" direction=left"]On making study abroad choices
C: At NYUAD it's all about your academic career and your success and it's so individualized that people would look down on you if you made a decision based on where your friends were going. Luckily we were a small enough group that we all got to know each other, but I really missed my friends. For my next semester abroad I am definitely taking that consideration into mind. Beforehand I would have been scared of sounding trivial or too dependent, but personal relationships are really important. Everyone always says you've got to do what's best for you, and maybe what's best for you is having friends or family around.
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