#leahwebber

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Sevilla y el Día de la Mujer

Hey Everyone!

What a week it has been! Due to the coronavirus I began cancelling my spring break (to Italy and Greece) and decided not to book any other trips far in advance because many universities are pulling their students home from Europe and I don’t want to have to cancel more trips. Therefore, I did not start planning my trip to Sevilla this weekend until the Tuesday before, which made for a bit of a hectic week. However, my weekend was absolutely amazing!

Thursday night I took an overnight bus with a friend to Sevilla. It left at 1am (Friday morning technically) and got into Sevilla at 7:15 am. The bus was surprisingly comfortable and I actually slept a decent amount. We then went straight to our hostel Oasis, and even though it was too early to check in, they let us leave our luggage in a storage room, check out the rooftop terrace view

and gave us a suggestion for a cafe to get breakfast in that was very close. Then we walked around the neighborhood until the hostel’s free walking tour at 11:15. The guide for the tour was absolutely fantastic, and I learned a ton. We went to all the main tourist attractions in Sevilla and he explained many places I would not have otherwise known anything about. Of course we did not go inside the ones you have to pay for but he still told us some of the history. At the end it was clear we were expected to tip, which we were happy to do since the tour was so great, but it would have been nice if they had told us that at the hostel, just in case we didn’t have the right bills in cash. We then walked around Plaza de España, since the tour had ended there, 

and our guide had given us some suggestions of where to take the best pictures based on the time of day and sun location.

Both of us were very excited about this plaza because Dorn in Game of Thrones was filmed here. Since our guide had given us a suggestion for a cheap lunch place, we went there and were very happy with the food and the prices. 

After our lunch we went to the main cathedral. It was absolutely breathtaking and enormous. 

Here’s a picture of me next to one of the pillars for a size comparison, we couldn’t even fit the ceiling in the shot so it’s still hard to tell just how massive this room is. 

We also decided to walk up the tower, (which, according to our walking-tour guide, historically was rung five times a day, and so it was built with a spiralling ramp all the way up so the bell-ringer could ride a donkey up to the top) and the views were fantastic.

Apparently Christopher Colombus is buried in this church too, but there are many stories of him being buried elsewhere as well, however they do have a whole exhibit set up about it.

As our tour guide had recommended, it was much cheaper with a student ID and we also got entrance included to another big church in Sevilla which we went to the next day. After our very full day of walking we headed back to the hostel to check in and take a nap. The room was perfectly adequate and a great price, and had a little balcony as well. After our nap, we woke up and decided to go to the terrace on the roof of the hostel. We ended up making some friends with people we met having a guitar jam session up there, and hung out with them for the evening. The next morning we decided to go to the Alcazar early in the morning to maybe beat the line, and it really only took about half an hour of waiting for us to get inside. We walked around for a few hours inside (taking many pictures)

but what I enjoyed the most about the Alcazar were its surrounding gardens which were absolutely stunning.

And we also saw tons of ducklings running around in the gardens which was incredibly cute! And a peacock!

We walked around some more during the afternoon, and also went to the other smaller church, which was still huge and beautiful, and if I hadn’t just seen the main cathedral I would have been shellshocked again.

In the evening, we had dinner and went to a flamenco show at La Carbonería. We were not allowed to take photos or videos of the performers but it was absolutely fantastic. La Carbonería is not a traditional show where you buy a ticket and watch performers on a stage, but a group of performers in a pub. The entrance is free and it is incredibly amazing to watch. You can choose to buy drinks or tapas if you want, and the prices are very good but they only accept cash. Getting there early was essential so we were able to get good seats. After the show, we went to the bus station to catch the overnight bus back to Madrid. This was essential because we wanted to be back in time to participate in the 8M (March 8th) women’s march in Madrid. 

This event is huge every year, even with the coronavirus concerns there were still around 120,000 people in attendance, blocking one of the main roads in Madrid. I met up with some friends in Retiro park first in order to make some signs together and walk to the event together. 

Much like a football game in Ann Arbor, there are so many people in one area that cell service does not work well so it’s important to arrive with your group and not lose them. When we got to the march I was shocked by how many people were there, I’ve never been a part of something that huge before. 

There were groups drumming, and people chanting, and tons of amazing signs everywhere. 

Some of the buildings surrounding the march were lit up purple (the color symbolizing women’s rights in this march) in support of the march.

It was such an awesome experience to partake in a protest in a different language as well, and I had so much fun learning all the different chants. 

Thanks for reading, have a great week!

-Leah Webber

Civil Engineering

Engineering - IPE: Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, Spain - UP Comillas

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Picnics and Parques

Hey Everyone!

This past week was incredibly hectic, consisting of a very difficult fluids exam, multiple projects being due, and of course, coronavirus worries. I think the only reason I am worried is because I know people in Italy have been sent home from their programs, and I absolutely do not want to leave Spain. Needless to say, I needed a relaxing weekend to have some me-time, so unlike many of my other weekends, this one was not jam-packed with adventure. However, I did do some fun stuff...

On Friday I went to Parque De Europa with some friends. I was lucky enough to go with a Spanish friend who actually has a car so the commute with traffic was less than an hour and involved lots of road-trip singing. The park this time of year was full of these stunning pink trees:

I’m not sure what kind of trees they are but they remind me of cherry blossoms in Washington D.C.

This park is not only a beautiful park on its own, but all around it there are mini replicas of iconic statues/sights throughout all of Europe. This includes a mini Eiffel Tower:

Here you can see just how small it is compared to these not very large trees:

A mini (but still big) replica of the body-centred-cubic Atomium structure in Brussels:

The real thing is much larger and has whole offices inside the spherical parts and stairs between them. The park also has a section of the real Berlin wall donated after its demise which is pretty cool to look at:

Before walking around the park we had a picnic in a beautiful gazebo, complete with many staples of Spanish food, including Spanish tortilla (egg and potatoes), croquetas, and tons of snacks.

Later we went to the nearby town of Alcalá and walked around all evening. We saw the beautiful old university and wandered around on its three floors that are actually open to the public. 

It was cool to see how old it was from the Latin inscription in the main courtyard. I loved exploring the town. I wish we could have gotten dinner there but we were so full from our late picnic lunch that we didn’t eat dinner at all that night!

Thanks for reading, have a great week!

-Leah Webber

Civil Engineering

Engineering - IPE: Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, Spain - UP Comillas

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Studying! Sushi! Morocco! Oh My!

Hey Everyone!

I can’t believe I’ve been living in Madrid for over one month now! I feel like I’m just starting to get settled in the city and am still figuring out how to balance travel and sight-seeing with classes, studying, being social, and sleep as well. I am surprised at the difficulty of some of my classes, specifically my Fluid Mechanics class, because I was not expecting them to be hard after the students from Comillas talked to us at orientation, but I think they were not engineering students. This means I actually need to study. Unlike back home at U-M, Comillas doesn’t really have many study spaces on campus, and definitely isn’t open 24/7. Since my room is literally the size of a shoe box (but totally worth it because I have no roommate and it’s in a great location for a great price), I don’t want to study in my room. (Although I wouldn’t want to study at home anyway because I’d rather be out seeing the city.) So, I needed to find a place to study. After visiting Retiro Park I decided that I would do my work there as soon as the weather improved. 

However, it is still too cold outside to do work if it’s not sunny and the middle of the day. (The temperature usually gets up to 50 every day for only a few hours.) To make it through the cold months I tried a few different cafes but they all had wifi that only lasted for one or two hours, and the food/drinks were expensive. One day on my way home I took a detour to explore, and walked by a sushi restaurant De Elisa (which I am always craving) and decided to go in and do some work. I was pleased that the restaurant was relatively quiet, which was a nice environment for working. They have a great deal that from the majority of the menu you can order anything you want for just 10.50 euros. This worked out great because I stayed for 6 hours and was able to order as much food as I wanted during that entire time without being charged more than that single price and the food was amazing. They also have free wifi with no time limit, and due to the custom in Spain of not rushing people it is totally acceptable to stay in a place for a long time (especially since the restaurant was not mostly empty).

One of the perks of living in Spain is being so close to Morocco! It’s one of the main places people travel from Spain and is actually just a ferry ride away. Since I knew this before coming, I began looking for trips as soon as I got to Spain. I was disappointed because I could not find one that did all the things I wanted to do so I just went on the ones with my friends. I did not feel comfortable travelling alone to Morocco, because as a woman it is not very safe unless in a group. I wish I could have done a longer trip but I wanted to go before the main tourist season and couldn’t miss that many classes. I ended up picking a BeMadrid trip through the same Unity group on the Comillas campus that was from Thursday night to Sunday night. The timing worked out well because I don’t have class Fridays and my classes don’t start till 4pm on Mondays so I was able to sleep in since we didn’t get back to Madrid. The best part about an organized trip like this (besides the safety factor) was that all the transportation from Madrid to Morocco was included. The trip cost 199 euros and included breakfasts, nights in the hotel, guided tours and everything. They also had an option to add on dinners for 15 euros for two meals which I did as well. This trip went to the city of Tangier and did day trips out from there. We ate amazing food, 

and saw iconic places such as the Hercules Caves

and the beautiful Blue City of Chefchaouen.

All these places were definitely very touristy and I wish I could have had time to explore other less-touristy places, but I thought this trip was amazing and I highly recommend anyone studying abroad in Spain spends at least one weekend in Morocco.

This weekend I’m planning on going hiking with some friends, so stay tuned for my next post!

Thanks for reading!

-Leah Webber

Civil Engineering

Engineering - IPE: Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, Spain - UP Comillas

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More Haps in Madrid

Hey Everyone!

So far in Madrid I have been having an absolute blast, but am definitely struggling to balance schoolwork with going out and exploring. (Below, some friends and me exploring at Bisou the club.)

The classes here are definitely not going to be as hard as at UMich, but some of them won’t be as easy as expected. Going into this experience, everyone I talked to said the SAPIENS classes at Comillas are very easy, but some of my classes will definitely require some work. In particular, my Spanish Culture Through Films class and Fluid Mechanics will take more work than I anticipated. The Film class had an entire documentary to watch due on the third class, and has big projects that are already beginning. The fluid mechanics class is also going to be a lot of work, probably because I’m still a sophomore and this is the first 300 level engineering class I have taken. It’s very hard to balance this classwork with going out and also exploring the city, especially since three days a week I have class at 8 AM. I love going out at night, and Madrid is definitely the city to do so. If you get to the club before 2 AM it will often be quite empty, depending on the place you go. However, many of the programs that are for international students in Madrid offer free drinks and/or entry to clubs and bars. The program at Comillas UNITY has something happening almost every night except Sundays, where you can get discounts on lots of things. However, the catch is that you usually have to arrive before 1:30 in order to cash in on these. If you go with a large group of international people this can be really fun, especially because it gives you time to bond with people, but if you go in a small group it’s often really awkward because the place will be empty. You also should be aware that it can take 30 minutes of waiting in line to get in, so if you go 15 min before the free period ends you may miss it. The other problem with this setup is that nightlife often goes until 5 or 6 AM, with locals arriving to the club around 3 AM. This means that if you want to take advantage of free entry and cheaper drinks (which I highly recommend because it can get really pricey), you have to wait 2-3 hours to meet locals. However, when my friends and I arrived early to the club Bisou it was actually nice because we got to take some pictures with the cool art in there. 

Clubs I’ve liked so far have been Larios Cafe (which was the best around 4 AM when all the locals came but still tons of fun before), Joy on Monday nights (at 10 PM they have a free salsa/bachata class, pictured below), 

and Sala Cocó on Mondays which also has free salsa/bachata lessons at 10. 

I have also been trying to explore my neighborhood more this week as well. My favorite new place I found is this bulk food store that also sells plants and fresh breads. 

It has such a cute atmosphere and the people working there are incredibly nice. I have yet to figure out the name of this place though. 

This weekend I am on my first trip out of the country of Spain (to Poland), and was shocked at how easy it was to get to the airport and to my gate. I had a 6 AM flight on RyanAir on a Saturday morning, and the ticket said I should get there 2 hours in advance. At 3 AM I called an Uber for about 30 Euros, and it said it was 7 min away. (I live in Malasaña, about 30 min away from the airport.) At 3:30 the Uber still said it was 12 min away so I cancelled it and tried to call another one, but it was going to be 58 Euros so I called a Cabify (which was 30 Euros). Cabify is basically the Spanish version of Uber, except the drivers are super nice and always offer you water or snacks, and it’s generally cheaper than Uber. The guy came in the 6 min that I was told it would and it was a smooth ride to the airport. (Just for reference, you can also take the metro to the airport, but it does not run between the hours of 2 and 6 AM, and this is way way cheaper.) I had downloaded the RyanAir app so I didn’t have to print my boarding pass, which I’m very glad I did. At the airport, there was no line for security, and I ended up sitting and waiting for an hour and a half (although it was in the middle of the night so I’m not surprised it wasn’t packed). I went to the departures board to find my flight and didn’t see Krakow on the list. Turns out I forgot that the names of places are different in other languages, so I actually should have been looking for Cracovia, which I found out by looking for the flight number instead. Altogether the experience was very easy and not stressful.

Side note, Poland has beautiful amber jewelry and pottery, which I highly recommend looking at if you are ever in Poland.

Thanks for reading!

-Leah Webber

Civil Engineering

Engineering - IPE: Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, Spain - UP Comillas

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I can’t believe week 2 is over!

Hey Everyone!

Last weekend I went on a BeMadrid day trip to Segovia with Unity. Unity is the group that tries to ‘unite’ ICAI (us engineering nerds) with ICADE (the business and law students). They organize nightlife activities for international students as well as tourist trips. The trip to Segovia was absolutely great, beautiful views and beautiful weather. The trip was very well organized, and they gave us pretty much the whole afternoon (at their lunchtime which is like 2pm) to explore the city on our own. It was very nice not to have to organize it for myself, so I knew I would make it home. I think the price was great for what we got out of it, and would not have wanted to spend more than one day in Segovia. The biggest highlight of that trip for me was definitely climbing to the top of the palace because the view from there was great, and it was honestly just fun climbing the single, narrow, spiral staircase with people going in both directions (would not recommend for the elderly or anyone with small children if you plan to go with family members). I also loved the views of the aqueduct, especially considering how amazing it is that people were able to build them with such limited technology so long ago. 

This week was the first week of classes. I am taking 5 classes here, including Intro to Dynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Spanish Culture Through Film, Spanish Language for Exchange Students, and Christianity and World Religions. (Although I am still waiting to hear back about my TCAFs or Transfer Credit Approval Forms for both Fluid Mechanics and Intro to Dynamics, so cross your fingers for me that I will get credit! That being said, the best piece of advice I can give to anyone studying abroad through UMich is to submit your TCAF forms WAY WAY WAY in advance so you’re not stressing about it last minute like I am!!!) Anyway...I am actually really lucky and have Fridays off, and on Monday I don’t have class until 4pm. This means I can travel on weekends and not miss classes if I leave Friday or come back Monday. This weekend, however, I spent time exploring Madrid a bit, searching for some greenery near my house, gawking at Spanish architecture like classic tourists, and heading to the beautiful Retiro park. I was very surprised by how much of an effort the neighborhood of Malasaña makes to stay green during their winter, and in an especially funky way.

The Retiro park was absolutely beautiful and huge as well. I definitely plan on spending a lot of time there as soon as the weather is warmer. In addition to monuments, greenery and lakes (complete with ducks and boats) in the park,

there are also several museums and art displays, one of which was an entirely glass building that housed modern art, and another was a modern art display centered around the Fibonacci Sequence (which of course was the only part of the display I understood, as don’t understand modern art at all).

The other exploratory thing we did this weekend was shopping on Calle Gran Via on Friday night. This last tidbit also comes with a warning note. This was my first shopping experience in Europe (barring food) and I thought I was an expert shopper, (I can shop circles around all my friends and family at home) but shopping on a Friday night in Madrid was an absolute madhouse. I was so overwhelmed I couldn’t even pick anything up to try on. This may be due to the fact that we went into the really big stores, including Primark which has 5 floors, and Zara which I barely made it in the door before calling it quits, but even the few smaller ones we went into were so crowded and disorganized it was overwhelming. I highly recommend you pick a different time to shop or avoid popular areas if shopping is something you like to do, or just don’t buy new things altogether because consumerism is currently not so great for the planet :) but instead try thrifting! This is something I plan to do here in Madrid soon if possible.

Thanks for reading!

-Leah Webber

Civil Engineering

Engineering - IPE: Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, Spain - UP Comillas

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Cercedilla and Navacerrada

Hey Everyone!

So as promised I finally did some hiking this weekend! This was one of my favorite weekends so far this semester, I really needed to be out in nature to just breathe clean air and relax. On Friday (since I have no class Fridays) a couple friends and I went hiking in Cercedilla. 

Cercedilla is one of the small towns in the mountains that surround Madrid. In order to get there you can take either a train or a bus easily, which are both free with the city metrocard. (This metrocard you pay 20 euros per month for unlimited rides, and need to make an appointment to obtain it the first time with your passport and everything.) We decided to take the train, and the whole process was very easy to find information online about which was convenient. We arrived around 11:30 am. After the train ride (just over an hour) we got off the train and started our hike up. In order to get to the train head you actually have to hike up about 2 km on a road to get to the tourist information station. The guy working there was extremely helpful and spoke very good English. We decided to do a loop that would take us all the way to the top of the nearby mountain because the guy working in the information center told us the view is amazing. It took us about an hour and a half to climb to the top (not a very high level of difficulty) and we took lots of breaks to take pictures and enjoy all the scenery.

When we got to the top, the view was definitely spectacular. 

On our way down, we decided to go back down the way we came to the trail head at the tourist center so we could take a second hike down to the train station. However, the trails are only marked on the sides of the trees visible from going up the mountain, so we accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up lost in the forest.

This ended up being completely fine because all our phones had great service and we just kept heading down the mountain in the direction of the train station until we got back to the town and it was very easy to find. It was also kind of fun to just wander around the mountainside. However, we needed to get back to Madrid because one of my friends had plans at 6:30, so we were trying to make the 4:35 train back. When we got back to the train station we had some time to spare to use the restroom and buy a snack (they only took cash). Normally when you use a train system, one side of the tracks has trains that only go in one direction and the other side has trains that go in the other direction. So naturally, we went to the opposite side of the tracks to get on the train from where we had gotten off on our way there, and got on that train. Something didn’t feel right because there was no one else on the train, and then the train on the other side of the tracks left while we weren’t going anywhere. Turns out the train we were on was not going anywhere, and the train we wanted had just left (from what would normally be the wrong side of the tracks). Moral of the story, next time I will ask which is the train I want before getting on. So, we got off the train and took the bus home (which was honestly easier than the train ride because it ended closer to my house). I think we had plenty of time, but I would like to spend more of a day there sometime so I can do a longer hike (and hopefully actually stay on the trail next time). 

On Sunday I also decided to go hiking as well, and one of my friends invited me to go to a small town in Navacerrada with her family. I met them at 10 am and we drove to the town which was less than an hour away. The town was very small and quaint and quiet, which was a nice break from the craziness of Madrid. There was a beautiful lake, and we walked all the way around it and across a beautiful bridge.

I wouldn’t say it was real hiking, but we had fun walking around and the weather was amazing.

There was an antiques market in the town which was fun to walk around as well. We also stayed in the town for a bit after our walk and had lunch and coffee, just sitting and enjoying the weather. It’s interesting because after our walk we stood around and got some drinks at a cafe in the typical Spanish style talking and eating tapas, and then decided to sit and get some real food. While it wasn’t much of a physical workout, I was definitely getting a mental workout because my friend’s family is Mexican and Spanish so they all spoke in Spanish (and not slow Spanish from a teacher) so I was working hard to understand. I was pleasantly surprised that I actually understood the majority of what was said, although I still have a long way to go before I will be even close to fluent.

Thanks for reading, have a great week!

-Leah Webber

Civil Engineering

Engineering - IPE: Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, Spain - UP Comillas

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Weekend Shenanigans

Hey Everyone!

This week was mostly centered around classwork since I missed Monday and Tuesday due to my trip to Poland, so I didn’t have time to do much fun stuff until the weekend. This weekend (starting Friday because I have no classes) was a blast. Friday night was a friend’s birthday, so we all went out to a nice sushi restaurant. I wish I had been hungrier because the food was great. I definitely want to explore more sushi restaurants because Spain has great seafood (raw fish included). Then we went back to a club I’d been to before and liked called Larios. Apparently it was the closing night, so I think it will not be open in the future which I’m sad about, but honestly it’s probably good for me that it’ll push me to go explore other ones. Speaking of exploring other clubs, on Saturday night some of my friends and I decided to go to a queer friendly club called Cuenca which was an absolute blast. 

Everyone there was super nice and fun to be around, I had an absolute blast. The bartenders were by far the most friendly of all the bars and clubs I’ve been to. I do wish I knew more of the Spanish songs they played because I wish I could have sang along, and that I could have stayed later because we all were exhausted from the birthday the night before and left relatively early. (Early as in around 2:30 AM, because many people are just getting to the club at 2:30 in Spain, and often stay until 5 or 6.) Earlier Saturday night we had also gone to a bar called Lola 09 which had really beautiful drinks in cool glasses and surprisingly good food for a bar (we loved the eggplant tempura and the quesadilla). Sunday I woke up relatively early to hit the gym before going to explore the outdoor flea market El Rastro. Little gym update: I am still loving my gym FitUp even though it’s like a 15 min walk from my apartment it has all the facilities I need, is clean, and the people are very friendly; highly recommend to anyone looking for a gym in Madrid. Anyway back to El Rastro, I had read about this market on multiple travel websites and decided I should see it for myself. It’s only open 9ish-3ish on Sundays and I’d heard that it is usually so packed that it is overwhelming. People had suggested going early in the morning because they went towards closing time and found it too crowded, however I of course slept through this window and decided to brave the crowds, which was a fantastic decision. I got there around 1:30 and thought it was definitely crowded but not so much I couldn’t enjoy myself. Some of the stalls were unique and interesting, such as the cactus stall I found,

this strange fruit carving stall,

and the antique compass stall (at least that’s what I think they are).

Other stalls were pretty basic and repetitive selling jewelry, clothing, sunglasses, and leather goods. I did find a fun jewelry stall that had lots of different earrings that I really liked for very cheap prices (0.5-3 euros per pair). After walking around the market for a few hours and deciding to definitely come back again sometime I began to wander my way home and stumbled upon another small market a few blocks away from the Puerta Del Sol plaza. This one had lots of plants which drew me in

and when I got closer I saw a bunch of other stalls selling pins and t-shirts and stickers for many causes I didn’t recognize. When I looked closer at the wares I realized some of the symbols were femminist, or socialist, or LGBTQ+ supportive, and one of the stores had a bunch of ‘FridaysForFuture’ and ‘No Hay Planeta B’ (translated from Spanish to English means ‘there is no planet B’) pins/stickers (these are common phrases from the climate justice movement. 

I bought a ‘No Hay Planeta B’ pin for my backpack :) and continued my wandering home. I love just stumbling upon random new places, and I don’t think it’ll stop anytime soon because this city is huge and totally awesome. I’m definitely loving my time here so far.

Thanks for reading!

-Leah Webber

Civil Engineering

Engineering - IPE: Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, Spain - UP Comillas

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Pre-Spain (Post 1)

hey everyone! My name is Leah Webber, and I am a sophomore studying Civil Engineering at Umich! I am going on the IPE program Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, Spain, and I am so excited to be gearing up for my semester in Madrid! I definitely have lots of things on my mind.

I recently got over the hurdle of getting the Spanish VISA, which actually went a lot smoother than expected! Since you have to go to the consulate for your district, I had to go to the Chicago consulate. I was able to take a greyhound for about $70 and stay at my cousin’s apartment. I got in on Sunday afternoon and spent a few hours walking around Millennium and Grant parks, and taking pictures at The Bean because my cousin said even though it’s incredibly touristy, it was silly I hadn’t done it in all the times I’ve been to Chicago.Then, my cousin and I went out to a great Greek restaurant called Greek Islands where I ate the best hummus I’ve ever had that wasn’t in the Middle East. I walked to my appointment the next morning (Monday, because the consulate only has appointments available Monday through Friday 9am-2pm).

If anyone is looking to go to Spain as well I highly suggest making your VISA appointment as soon as possible because the time slots fill up very fast, and you need to leave at least a month for them to process it. The appointment itself only takes about 3 minutes if you have all the correct documents.  I made way too many extra copies of all the papers because I was nervous about losing something, but it was probably good to have extra copies of everything even though I didn’t end up needing them. The information page really details exactly what you need for the appointment so if  you follow it you’ll have everything you need. I also overheard the person before me forgetting copies of documents, but they told him to go to a CVS nearby to make copies and come back. 

After the appointment, I had time to walk around some more in the city, eat some good food including Garrett popcorn ** (yum!), and get back to the bus stop with more than an hour to spare. I received an email about took weeks after my VISA appointment saying it was ready for pickup, and my mom and I took a road trip down to Chicago to pick it up together. It took less than two minutes to run into the building and get it while my mom was waiting outside in the car.

Now that I’m done with applying for the VISA I can focus on planning my side trips for next semester! Since I have never been to Europe before, I am hoping to travel around the continent as much as I can. I plan to travel out of Spain about every other weekend, around 8 trips in total throughout the semester, and spend about 4-6 weekends traveling around within Spain. So far I am hoping to see the Swiss Alps, Greece, Italy, Holland, England, France, and Poland, and within Spain: Granada, Ibiza, Gibraltar, and Seville. I will also spend 2 weeks at the end of my semester in Portugal with my mom. Anyone have any suggestions of places to go or things to do in Europe?

** All pictures were taken by me except the image of Garrett Popcorn which is from: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g35805-d2500912-Reviews-Garrett_Popcorn_Shops-Chicago_Illinois.html

Thanks for reading!

-Leah Webber

Civil Engineering

Engineering- IPE: Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, Spain - UP Comillas

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Has it already been a week?

Hey everyone!

So I have now been in Madrid for 6 days and am absolutely loving it so far! The skies are always clear and blue, and everyone is so friendly! Comillas has a great system for incoming students where they plan welcome week activities for everyone to do, through their Unity program. I have really enjoyed almost all the things I have done with them. Monday night (my first night here) we went to a salsa y bachata class (two types of dancing) at Sala Coco and had a blast. 

I highly recommend this to everyone even if you don’t like or aren’t great at dancing. If you just get into it it’s really fun even if you look a little silly, which no one cares about because they’re doing it too. After about an hour and a half lesson the place slowly transitioned to a nightclub that played mostly reggaeton music which I love. If you’re looking to pregame going out there’s a chain 100 Montaditos that’s really cheap and has great tapas as well, although if you get french fries you will be given tiny forks to eat them with (lol!). 

I spent Tuesday unpacking, buying groceries, getting a gym membership, and getting a sim card. To get a gym membership and sim card I went to CityLife Madrid on Gran Via. It was super easy and cheap to get the sim card, I got a plan for 10 euros per month that gives me 7GB of data and some calling and texting which I won’t use because everyone here uses Whatsapp which just uses data. I got a  City Card (for 20 euros) because you get 10 euros off a gym membership per month and no registration fee, and the facility is very nice, unlike many other gyms I looked at which were also much more expensive. The city card also gives you discounts around the city for restaurants and free entry to the dancing on Monday, although I wouldn’t recommend getting the City Card just for these purposes unless you’ll really use them because a lot of them didn’t seem like things I would use. The people in the City Life office were very nice and helpful, so any questions you have that’s definitely the place to go. They can also help get a transportation card, something I’m not doing because I don’t think I’ll use it enough. It’s 20 euros per month for unlimited metro and bus rides, but you have to make an appointment to get it. I live within walking distance to school and so far don’t think I’ll be taking more than 10 rides per month, so it’s cheaper for me to get just a 10 ride pass for 12.5 euros. Wednesday was the first day of orientation for Comillas. I wish I had eaten breakfast before or brought a snack because it began at 10 and lunch wasn’t until almost 3 at a rooftop cafe. 

It had amazing views, and I met lots of people that I have spent most of the nights this week with. At orientation day 1 there were some informational videos and some of the professors spoke, but the part I thought was most useful was the police came and told us local laws and emergency phone numbers that were useful to know. Wednesday night the welcome week event was going to a club called le Boutique which was a lot of fun dancing and meeting people. However, it was the first night I stayed out closer to when the locals are out, and I got home at 5 am. Usually, locals party until 6 am here, which was a little too crazy for me because we had to be at orientation again the next morning at 9:30 am. Thursday morning I was therefore pretty groggy while we got the walking tour of both campuses ICAI (engineering) and ICADE (business and law). Then they gave us a breakfast/snack and I loved the sandwich of Spanish tortilla (made of eggs and potatoes). I then napped before going to another welcome week event, a flamenco performance. This was so interesting to watch because it was so unlike any style of dance I have ever seen before, and the music was great. After eating dinner, my friends and I went to the welcome week’s chosen club for the night Teatro Kapital. Kapital is a very expensive club (we got in for free because of the event) and honestly it wasn’t the place for me because the music was more techno and not very many words. I have heard they have other floors (7 in total) and some of them have reggaeton which are great, but they were closed when we were there so I didn’t love it. Friday I had an appointment to try and work out my schedule for classes because some of the classes I had selected to take when at home in the states were only offered at conflicting times, which was problematic because I need to take more credits to graduate on time. I wish I had known I might have to switch classes when I signed up because I would have submitted more Transfer Credit Approval Forms. Saturday night was another fun club, except when a bunch of people had their phones stolen. If you’re clubbing in Madrid, never leave your phone in your back pocket. Overall welcome week has been amazing here, I wish classes never had to start, but I’m excited to meet more new people!

Thanks for reading!

-Leah Webber

Civil Engineering

Engineering - IPE: Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, Spain - UP Comillas

[umichenginabroad]

Granada Y Málaga

Hey Everyone!

Since the weeks here (Tuesday-Thursday for me) are pretty short and packed with schoolwork and working out and attempting to sleep an adequate amount, I think it’s probably better that I just talk about my incredibly exciting weekends instead (for the most part), so as not to bore anyone with the details of my actual week.

So… this past Saturday morning I hopped on a bus and (5 hours later) ended up in Granada! I have to admit I didn’t know what to expect in Granada besides great food, and I was not disappointed. We booked our bus tickets with Omio and it was really easy to find the bus at the station, book them in advance, and download the tickets on my phone; I will definitely be booking future trips with Omio. We took a super early morning bus and arrived at noon in Granada. We immediately went on a quest to look for food and had an amazing meal of tapas, including paella, chipirones, y croquetas (rice and seafood, mini calamaris, and fried fish and cheese balls, respectively). Then, we went to check in at our hostel, the Backpacker’s Hostel which I absolutely LOVED. The people there were super interesting, and they had live music and people hanging out in hammocks when we arrived. I wish we could have spent more time there, but we had to leave to get to the Alhambra at the time our tickets were for. On our way there, we stopped to admire the view, resulting in us almost missing our time slot.

After running up the hill to get there on time, we made it to the palace part of la Alhambra. On the outside, the Alhambra is large but unassuming, while on the inside it is intricately carved on almost every wall. It is amazing to think how they could have carved it all so perfectly so many years ago with such limited technology.

Even the walls on the courtyards within the palace are carved and beautiful. 

After seeing the main palace, we walked around the gardens for a while just enjoying the scenery.

And giving some much needed love to mother nature after our animal-based meal earlier.

After hours of walking around, we went back to the hostel to change into warmer clothes, and ate more tapas for dinner, and then hung out on a ledge overlooking the lit-up Alhambra. We didn’t last long though, and soon headed to bed in order to wake up for another early morning bus, this time to Málaga. Once arriving in Málaga we decided to have a lazy day walking on the beach because we had done so much the day before. The beach was absolutely beautiful, and we had a relaxing day exploring the beach. Later we went to the city center to watch the Carnival (a holiday where people dress in crazy costumes and watch a parade, at least in Málaga). There were many crazy groups in the parade, including these (slightly terrifying) dancing clowns. 

After getting thoroughly doused in confetti from sitting and watching the parade, we went to eat… you guessed it, more tapas! We then had a few more hours walking around the city center before we needed to catch our overnight bus back to Madrid, and we walked by a bunch of carolers and beautiful street lights all decked out for Carnival.

Overall it was a perfect length trip, (I would have loved to stay longer but I had to get back to study for a fluids mechanics exam) and I had a blast!

Thanks for reading, have a great week!

-Leah Webber

Civil Engineering

Engineering - IPE: Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, Spain - UP Comillas