Hey party people, I hope you’re all enjoying your summer! I’m just dropping in to check in and talk more about my #ViterbiSummer! Well, actually, more about my#ViterbiAbroad summer. Since I got back from Spain, I’ve just been relaxing and enjoying the last few weeks, but I’ve been having major Madrid withdrawals so here’s a little taste of my typical day in Madrid.
Andalusia for the weekend!
Every day I would wake up and get ready for class. It was nice because my apartment happened to be on the same block as the ACCENT Study Center, where our classes were held, so I would leave my apartment about 5 minutes before class started. I had WRIT 340 (Advanced Writing) for the first 2 hours and then AME 310 (Thermodynamics) for the last 2 hours and then I was off for the day at 1PM to do whatever I wanted.
just hanging out in Writing
Usually I would spend my days finding new places to eat, cafes to study at, places to explore, and taking a little siesta every once in awhile. One of my favorite places in Madrid is Lavapies, the “hipster district.” In this area, we found the cutest little cafe that sold the most amazing sandwiches and right now there is a huge initiative where local artists are covering up the graffiti by painting their own artwork all over the walls of the streets. There’s also a building that has a lot of street art on the inside that you can walk through.
street art in Lavapies
Another one of my favorite places in Madrid is Templo de Debod (Temple of Debod). We would go to this park to watch the sunset and relax. Since Madrid sunsets are around 9:30PM, we would show up and eat dinner around 8:30 and then chill out until the sun set. A group was always there at sunset playing relaxing music so people could meditate and there’s also a rebuilt Egyptian temple in the park (hence the name). The park is up at the top of a hill and is flooded with people at sunset. It overlooks the city and the suburbs and is the most beautiful sunset you’ve ever seen.
enjoying Templo de Debod
On the weekends when my typical day didn’t include class, I still felt like I was always on the go. There’s never a shortage of things to do when you’re in Europe! A lot of the time we went on excursions as a group with the Viterbi and ACCENT staff to places in Spain (Valencia, Toledo, Segovia, Andalusia) and other times we were able to travel wherever else we wanted to go in Europe. I spent a weekend in London and a weekend in Barcelona. I know other people went to Germany, Hungary, France, Africa, and so many other cool places on their weekends.
I love Barcelona!
My summer abroad was definitely one for the books. I can’t stop talking about all of my amazing experiences and the friendships I made. I highly HIGHLY ~*HiGhLy*~ recommend studying abroad. Whether it’s for a year, a semester, a summer, a maymester, or even just a week or two, going abroad is an insanely incredible experience that I would definitely do over again if I could. Now I have less than a week until I move back to LA and into the Gamma Phi sorority house. Check out my Instagram (@jamisonbria) to keep up with what I’m up to and check out the viterbistudent snap chat to see what all of the VSAs are doing!
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