Moving to Moncloa...

Having given some more thought to where I might like to live during the year, I'm thinking of living more centrally in Madrid. I've emailed the assistant from last year, and she also recommended living in Moncloa, (central Madrid) rather than the town, because there is more to do, more young people etc. I had thought that transport would be expensive, but I might be able to fit the twelve hours I'll be working to just three days a week and it's even possible that student finance will reimburse travel costs, but I'm not sure. I also emailed the Madrid church plant leader and it turns out he and his family live in Moncloa, so that's really cool! I'm really looking forward to getting involved in a church out there, and just getting immersed in the crazy Spanish culture, and I think living in Moncloa is probably going to be the optimum place of opportunities.

The Countdown Begins….

My year abroad is finally starting to seem real… Today I booked my one-way flight to Madrid and bought nine months of year abroad insurance! I can’t quite believe I’ll be starting my teaching assistantship in less than two months. I think I should get back into practising some Spanish, having just spent a week with a French friend I’ve realised how quickly you lose the language when you don’t use it for a while, and it would be a bit awkward to turn up having forgotten how to say anything except ‘Hola’.

Apart from the language, I need to look into teaching English and prepare some teaching materials, going to use the British Council website for that which looks like it will be quite useful. I also need to find somewhere to live, but I’ve been told the best thing is to find a flat when I arrive so I’m going to stay in a hotel and possibly with a teacher from the school if it takes a bit longer than I’m expecting. I’m hoping to stay near the school where I’m working, (in San Lorenzo de El Escorial) so that I can hopefully get more involved in the community and enjoy the more traditional, friendly vibe than in the capital city itself, but we’ll see. I’m also going to be looking to join a church while I’m out there, which I’m really looking forward to. From what I’ve been able to find out, the only church in the town is Catholic and not being Catholic, I’ll look further afield; at the moment I’m thinking either the Newfrontiers Church Plant, or the Baptist church in nearby Collado Villalba.

Finally, the part I think I'm least looking forward to (except perhaps not seeing my boyfriend for like months at a time), I need to get cracking on my preparations for the YARP; for non-Southampton students, it’s the year abroad research project where we have to come up with something to research and write a dissertation in Spanish. I’ve decided to take the ethnographic approach, hoping people will want to participate; otherwise it’s going to be a bit awkward… And the topic is about the influence that people’s faith has in their lives – sounds a bit vague, I have written a 2,000 word proposal but I won’t go into it too much here. Basically I’m really interested in Spanish people’s lives and culture, as having visited for a month last summer it seems really different to the UK, especially when it comes to religion and that sort of thing so I’m hoping it’s going to be an interesting project.

 

I probably won’t have much else to write about until I arrive in the last week of September, but I’ll try and update as regularly as I can once the adventure begins!