Trans-Atlantic flights are long, don’t get me wrong. But I’ve always found that once you get to your ?destination, the trip is worth it.
Whether it’s across the United States or a drive across Indiana, the change in culture, pace and sights is much-needed.
The minute you arrive in Spain, things already seem different. It’s like accidentally switching your contacts and putting them in the wrong eyes.
You can still see, but the perspective is totally thrown.
I feel like I should throw in a cautionary warning for people traveling to Europe, and Spain especially. The area has pickpockets with skills Americans have only seen in movies.
Just a quick Google search about pickpockets pulled up thousands of sources.
A USA Today blogger quoted Mail Online, saying Spain was the “pickpocket capital of the world.”
The reasons for this vary, but it’s incredibly important to be aware of your ?surroundings.
In the airport, as the members of my program arrived, a thief — a thin, rough-looking man in dirty sneakers — started to? follow us.
Luckily, we all became aware of him and made it past him without incident.
We were also warned multiple times to never carry anything important with us and to keep our purses and backpacks in front of us with our hands over the ?zippers.
We were told to never use our iPhones and get Spanish phones instead.
As an American student, it’s rough trying to recover a stolen driver’s license, debit card or passport. Forget about a MacBook.
But that was the only big, flashing-neon-sign warning we were given.
Madrid is an extremely safe city, and while we needed to be aware of our surroundings and act like respectable U.S. citizens traveling in a foreign country, it’s a fantastic place to study.
There are a lot of young Spaniards in Madrid attending university and a variety of restaurants, cafes, bars and clubs that cater ?to students.
The people themselves almost jump at the opportunity to help American students and practice a bit of English.
You need to develop a certain set of survival skills when traveling abroad, but they are easy to learn if you are in the right place.
Madrid is the right place. As one of my advisers said, “Madrid has a funny way of adopting people.”
For the first three weeks of my semester I lived with a roommate in a Spanish home.
She and I decided on the first day to fight jet lag and walk around the city before we had to meet for our first orientation meeting.
Madrid is beautiful and old. Each time we’ve gone out we’ve gotten a little lost, but Madrid has managed to guide us home.
ewenning@indiana.edu
