YOU GUYS!! GUESS WHATTTT?!? I am OFFICIALLY on summer “vacation,” although I don't understand why its called that, considering the fact that as you get older, it’s no longer really a time for vacation…
From January until the end of June, I attended Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, and boy was that an experience. Although I only registered and took four classes, it seemed as though it was a CRAZY busy schedule every week. While registering, I restrained from signing up for classes on Fridays to enable more travel time, and I only signed up for one class on Monday {in the afternoon} so that I could fly back to Madrid from wherever my wanderlust took me. Honestly, the time FLEW by, and I just wish it wasn't over yet. Who would have thought that I would ACTUALLY miss forty-five minute commutes on public trains to school?!?
Although the school was extremely drab, literally all musky colors and brick with absolutely no flowers in comparison to TCU, UC3M will always be a piece of me; a chapter in my life that has just come to an end. The friends that I made during that time. The memories I made with them. The interesting train experiences I encountered: singers who could barely sing, beggars bribing people with tiny tissue packets or chocolate, trains breaking down, etc… School was a wild ride.
It was NOTHING like I had expected. Prior to going abroad, although Madrid was new to the TCU program, people talked about how easy it would be, how you would come back with straight As. I don't think that’s the way its going to work out for us though. The Spanish grading scale consisted of numbers one through ten, yet they just did a “pass fail” system in which the students were required to get fours or above and they would be in good standing. We, had to get a seven and a half in order to get what TCU considered a C; however, on my first business management exam, the average wasn't even a two… how sad is that?! The academics were definitely rocky. I had teachers that didn't speak English, and some who could BARELY speak English. I also managed to pass out of the beginning Spanish class {with only taking two years in high school} so you can imagine how hard that was for me too. I hadn't taken Spanish for five years, my teacher spoke no english, we were given no vocabulary, and we were expected to know all the different tenses and tons of words that weren't even taught to us {sorry GPA}. To say I am relieved with the academics part of school would be an understatement.
All I can say at this point, with my parents currently visiting me {and my brother flying out in a few days} is that I am EXTREMELY fortunate to have had this experience. Not many people can say that their parents support them to the extent mine do, and although I may not show it at times, I am OH SO thankful. I was given the opportunity to immerse myself in a whole new culture. I had the ability to fly to a new country EVERY weekend {all have blog posts on them if you want to know how those went}. I had the chance to meet people throughout the ENTIRE world and make memories that nobody can take from me. Ultimately, finishing the semester DEFINITELY called for a celebration at the infamous TenConTen restaurant with my family, my new best friend, and her dad.
All I can say is that this semester was a blast. I TOTALLY believe that if anybody is given the opportunity to study abroad, they could take advantage of it. It has helped me discover who I am, and I know that sounds SUPER cliche but I definitely needed this time to myself. It gives you the opportunity to have a new beginning and it even helps you realize who your real friends are {especially with the time difference being an issue}. This experience came at a point in life that I needed a change. Someone having put my heart through hell and back {and if you're reading this, now you know}. Being homesick in a way at TCU with all my best friends having boyfriends and me being trapped in the sorority house {thank goodness for my adventure buddy Linda who did Thai Thursdays with me and did wild Fort worth adventures, Lauren who gave me a reason to drive three hours for lazy weekends at A&M, and Tati who let me call her apartment my second home in Dallas} because I had asked my mom about transferring to USC. I NEEDED THIS CHANGE.
Now that this chapter in my life is over however, I will be doing a road trip throughout Spain with my parents and brother: Madrid, Seville, Marbella, Salamanca, San Sebastian, and Barcelona. I promise to keep y'all updated on what I am doing {and if you wan’t more minute by minute updates you can follow me on Snapchat or Instagram because I will constantly updating those: @victoriadoder}. The adventure only continues, and because I have been getting such amazing responses in regards to my blogging while abroad, I promise to keep this up once I fly back to America.
I can’t wait for y'all to see what I do next!! I have some pretty amazing things planned and coming up!!
xoxo V
