It's the 21st of December, and I've been back in the UK six days now. To think that only a week ago I was wandering around in my shorts and t-shirt on the other side of the world seems surreal. Having returned to the frostbitten northern lands of Wales I almost instantaneously caught a cold - the drop in temperature from 30 degrees celcius to below zero has been a brutal wake up call. In addition, whereas today is the shortest day of the year here at home, Rio will be enjoying a sunset later than 8pm. Upon landing at Heathrow I wondered why I had so desired to return to my homeland - we flew over grim south London suburbia shrouded in mist and looking extremely bleak and drab. Yet despite the fact that people may moan about the harsh winters we have, it's a great relief to experience actual seasons - although the minimum temperature crept up insidiously between my arrival to Rio in July till the point I left in December, the seasons don't nearly seem so pronounced - I remember scorching, overcast and thunderstorm days in each month I was there - the contrast wasn't great. In Brazil it's very easy to become complacent and take the weather for granted, yet in the UK one day of clear skies and sunshine is treated as a gift from the gods and appreciated to a much bigger extent.
Here are a few things I'd been meaning to mention on life in Rio previously:
The culture of drinking hanging out on the street is still alive in Brazil. The Boteco is the centrepiece of this. These are small informal drinking joints that appear on what seems like every other street in Rio (apart from Ipanema and Leblon - too upmarket for such places). I attribute the success of these places to several factors - the gap between the price of supermarket beer and the beer at these places isn't half as wide as the gap in England. Another reason is the fact that Brazilians are probably more social and enjoy relaxing in the heat. The place opposite my apartment is never shut, which has been very useful at 4am on a few occasions.
Another note on the scenery. It's pretty awesome that you can go from Copacabana, one of the most densely populated areas in South America, to the mixture a village like atmosphere, green lushness and barren isolation of Urca in only a few minutes drive. There is a lovely seaside path that leads down the peninsula on which the Pão de Azucar,one of Rio's most famous tourist attractions, is situated. This is awesome as it is, with its tropical flora and fauna and picturesque sea views. The paved trail morphs into a narrow path that clings to the cliffside, and before long you are overlooking the Guanabara bay with only vultures and reptiles for company and the sound of the sea gently lapping the shoreline below being the only thing you can hear.
I'm not one for basking on the sand, nor do I regularly take to the waters, but I really appreciate the beach nonetheless. It provides a natural and much needed end to the urban chaos surrounding one side of it. One of my favourite features of it is the beachside bars. They provide cheap beer and caipirinhas whilst being in an awesome location. By contrast, on the other side of the road from these places lies the most expensive accomodation in the whole of Rio. The beaches are great for a wander - walking the few miles from my end of Copacabana along Ipanema to Leblon whilst stopping for the odd agua de coco whilst enjoying the atmosphere and weather is something I'll really miss.
As for university here, I have achieved the highest marks of my life with the least amount of effort. The teachers seem to hand out top grades like confetti, in terms of autonomous learning this has to be the most hands off experience of my life. I've already managed to pass the entire year - Leeds only expect you to pass three modules in the course of a year - so until I return to England in September I'll have to do some serious autonomous learning to avoid stagnating and spending too much time on the beach. I have supplemented the pittance of uni work I have with newspapers and Portuguese translations of Charles Bukowski and Jack London's works, and thankfully I've had my dissertation proposal approved by Leeds - so I'll actually have something to do for the next nine months after all!
I'll be back in Rio for mid February, but in between I'm going on something of an Iberian odyssy, flying to Barcelona on 10th January and then flying back from Lisbon at some point after. I'm hoping to take in some cool places along the way and see some friends, as well as practice my extremely rusty Spanish that hasn't seen real action since June.
Jack
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Travelling Up North, some Portuguese lessons
Having spent much of October occupied by travelling and visiting friends/family, I spent the first week of November sorting out my dissertation and doing a bit of studying, but finally got around to writing an update on life here.
Between the 6th and 18th October there were a sufficient number of feriados (public holidays) to justify a bit of a trip away, so I booked a flight to João Pessoa, in the far North-East, where some friends from Leeds are studying.
If you take a three hour flight from England you could reach such exotic climbs as Morocco, Greece, Russia or Iceland - all with very distinctive cultures and ways of life. However, upon taking a journey of similar length from Rio to João Pessoa, it was hardly radically different. Although João Pessoa, with just over a million people, is bigger than cities such as Leeds, it has little to do and is very calm and tranquil, devoid of the hecticness and edgy feel of Rio. You do feel very isolated up here - its the most easterly point of the Americas, and closer to Africa than much of the rest of South America. It's a very beautiful part of the country though - the beaches are glorious and the sea is populated with dolphins, turtles and sharks, all visible from the shore. The cost of living is notably different - the price of cheap accomodation in Rio is the same as a very expensive place in João. There is a mixed feeling of resignation and content here - the Northeast is second only to the tribal areas in the Amazon and the dry interior as the bottom feeder of Brazilian society. The emmigration rates are very high, in fact it's probable that there are more people in Rio from the north east than the whole of João.
The biggest contrast, however, was the university there. It had more of a primary school feel to it - no building was more than one story high, and everything was very close together. The place was littered with stray cats and dogs and the unplastered red brick walls resembled favela buildings more than an educational institution, and as for the one toilet I had the pleasure of using, well I've seen higher sanitary standards at Reading Festival. All in all, a marked contrast from the private equivilant I attend in Rio (scoff scoff). The trip to João Pessoa was a pretty interesting experience - it really made me appreciate what Rio has to offer, and as it was the first place outside of Rio de Janeiro state I had visited, it served as a good introduction to what the rest of the country has to offer.
After a week or so in João Pessoa, I got on a 16 hour bus to Salvador, Brazil's second biggest tourist destination, the former capital, and the pivotal port in which millions of slaves arrived in centuries gone by. Although the centre of town where I stayed was a tourist haven, it was probably the most Brazilian place I've visited - whereas a lot of Rio reminds me of Europe, Salvador brought back memories of Bolivia and Peru, what people might call the 'real' South America. I spend a few days here enjoying myself as a tourist - Salvador is famed for its street entertainment, such as capoeira (a dance/fight routine originating from slaves shipped from Angola) and berimbau (a one stringed traditional Brazilian instrument players. The journey home was surprisingly smooth. Although I had prepared myself for a long bus journey back to Rio, I was surprised to discover that a two hour flight was only a few reais more than the 27 hour bus - unless your afraid of flying or extremely environmentally conscious (hi Dad!) then you'd be nuts to get the bus. Maybe it would be a good idea for the government here to tax airlines to encourage a greener form of travel, but Brazil being Brazil that seems a pretty distant possibility.
Nearly 2 weeks ago marked the second and final round of the Brazilian Presidential election. It was won by Dilma Roussef, who succeeds Brazil's most popular president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, commonly known just as Lula. Although this was expected to be a peaceful transition, as both leaders are in the same party, it made me realise that since I've been in Brazil, I've seen virtually no form of protest. This is in strong contrast to the rest of Latin America, particually Buenos Aires, where I seem to remember regular demonstrations (not including the weekly assembles on the main square regarding Videla dictatorship/Falklands fiasco). Not to mention Europe - take Athens for example,the recent protests and strikes that affected the whole of France, and the protests in London this week. Even though Brazil is booming economically and the standard of living is increasing for many, there is still a lot of issues such as massive inequality and institutional racism - you wonder why these problems are not taken to the streets.
Although many see this time abroad as a glorified beach holiday, which at times isn't far from the truth, I have definately seen an improvement my level of Portuguese. I have been reading a lot, which I find is one of the easiest ways to learn. I got myself a copy of Ozzy Osbourne's recently released autobiography a few months back and was able to learn a lot of vocabulary. For example, there is no direct translation for "to pass out" (through excessive drinking) - the Portguese use "to faint" in this context, which doesn't convey the true sentiment of the English word, but the fact that there is no equivilant shows that maybe the Brazilians don't take their drinking to the levels that us English do. In addition to this, I have been trying to read at least a few newspapers a week. In order to save money, I often buy the tabloids, which are predictably bad. They are full of the usual stories of Z-list celebrities, favela violence, bus hijackings etc. If you want Rio to live up to the image given in the film City of God, then these papers do it justice. Sometimes it gets a bit ridiculous. The headline of one of the tabloids, "Mais", which I bought today for the first and last time, was "Girl chokes to death on chewing gum". Seriously?.
In addition, I have noticed some more general idiosyncracies of the language. They have the funny habit of putting "eee" on the end of words totally unnecessarily, such as MceeeDonalds, chipeee, Pinkeee Floyd, lapeeetopeee, etc.. I've noticed a habit of reluctance to translate English words too - lanche is lunch, time is team (pronounced the same), and shopping is erm, shopping. This sometimes sounds pretty ridiculous, especially when they do it wrong, for example they don't seem to realise which is the noun and adjective in 'heavy metal'. As a result, the genre is, when shortened from 'heavy metal', to just 'heavy'. Understandably however, since the noun often preceeds the adjective in many languages. Apparently, these 'impurities' are far less common in 'real' Portuguese (as my Portuguese friend referred to it as).
Off to Belo Horizonte tomorrow, taking advantage of yet another public holiday to see friends and go to a gig. Hope all is well wherever you're at.
Jack
Between the 6th and 18th October there were a sufficient number of feriados (public holidays) to justify a bit of a trip away, so I booked a flight to João Pessoa, in the far North-East, where some friends from Leeds are studying.
If you take a three hour flight from England you could reach such exotic climbs as Morocco, Greece, Russia or Iceland - all with very distinctive cultures and ways of life. However, upon taking a journey of similar length from Rio to João Pessoa, it was hardly radically different. Although João Pessoa, with just over a million people, is bigger than cities such as Leeds, it has little to do and is very calm and tranquil, devoid of the hecticness and edgy feel of Rio. You do feel very isolated up here - its the most easterly point of the Americas, and closer to Africa than much of the rest of South America. It's a very beautiful part of the country though - the beaches are glorious and the sea is populated with dolphins, turtles and sharks, all visible from the shore. The cost of living is notably different - the price of cheap accomodation in Rio is the same as a very expensive place in João. There is a mixed feeling of resignation and content here - the Northeast is second only to the tribal areas in the Amazon and the dry interior as the bottom feeder of Brazilian society. The emmigration rates are very high, in fact it's probable that there are more people in Rio from the north east than the whole of João.
The biggest contrast, however, was the university there. It had more of a primary school feel to it - no building was more than one story high, and everything was very close together. The place was littered with stray cats and dogs and the unplastered red brick walls resembled favela buildings more than an educational institution, and as for the one toilet I had the pleasure of using, well I've seen higher sanitary standards at Reading Festival. All in all, a marked contrast from the private equivilant I attend in Rio (scoff scoff). The trip to João Pessoa was a pretty interesting experience - it really made me appreciate what Rio has to offer, and as it was the first place outside of Rio de Janeiro state I had visited, it served as a good introduction to what the rest of the country has to offer.
After a week or so in João Pessoa, I got on a 16 hour bus to Salvador, Brazil's second biggest tourist destination, the former capital, and the pivotal port in which millions of slaves arrived in centuries gone by. Although the centre of town where I stayed was a tourist haven, it was probably the most Brazilian place I've visited - whereas a lot of Rio reminds me of Europe, Salvador brought back memories of Bolivia and Peru, what people might call the 'real' South America. I spend a few days here enjoying myself as a tourist - Salvador is famed for its street entertainment, such as capoeira (a dance/fight routine originating from slaves shipped from Angola) and berimbau (a one stringed traditional Brazilian instrument players. The journey home was surprisingly smooth. Although I had prepared myself for a long bus journey back to Rio, I was surprised to discover that a two hour flight was only a few reais more than the 27 hour bus - unless your afraid of flying or extremely environmentally conscious (hi Dad!) then you'd be nuts to get the bus. Maybe it would be a good idea for the government here to tax airlines to encourage a greener form of travel, but Brazil being Brazil that seems a pretty distant possibility.
Nearly 2 weeks ago marked the second and final round of the Brazilian Presidential election. It was won by Dilma Roussef, who succeeds Brazil's most popular president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, commonly known just as Lula. Although this was expected to be a peaceful transition, as both leaders are in the same party, it made me realise that since I've been in Brazil, I've seen virtually no form of protest. This is in strong contrast to the rest of Latin America, particually Buenos Aires, where I seem to remember regular demonstrations (not including the weekly assembles on the main square regarding Videla dictatorship/Falklands fiasco). Not to mention Europe - take Athens for example,the recent protests and strikes that affected the whole of France, and the protests in London this week. Even though Brazil is booming economically and the standard of living is increasing for many, there is still a lot of issues such as massive inequality and institutional racism - you wonder why these problems are not taken to the streets.
Although many see this time abroad as a glorified beach holiday, which at times isn't far from the truth, I have definately seen an improvement my level of Portuguese. I have been reading a lot, which I find is one of the easiest ways to learn. I got myself a copy of Ozzy Osbourne's recently released autobiography a few months back and was able to learn a lot of vocabulary. For example, there is no direct translation for "to pass out" (through excessive drinking) - the Portguese use "to faint" in this context, which doesn't convey the true sentiment of the English word, but the fact that there is no equivilant shows that maybe the Brazilians don't take their drinking to the levels that us English do. In addition to this, I have been trying to read at least a few newspapers a week. In order to save money, I often buy the tabloids, which are predictably bad. They are full of the usual stories of Z-list celebrities, favela violence, bus hijackings etc. If you want Rio to live up to the image given in the film City of God, then these papers do it justice. Sometimes it gets a bit ridiculous. The headline of one of the tabloids, "Mais", which I bought today for the first and last time, was "Girl chokes to death on chewing gum". Seriously?.
In addition, I have noticed some more general idiosyncracies of the language. They have the funny habit of putting "eee" on the end of words totally unnecessarily, such as MceeeDonalds, chipeee, Pinkeee Floyd, lapeeetopeee, etc.. I've noticed a habit of reluctance to translate English words too - lanche is lunch, time is team (pronounced the same), and shopping is erm, shopping. This sometimes sounds pretty ridiculous, especially when they do it wrong, for example they don't seem to realise which is the noun and adjective in 'heavy metal'. As a result, the genre is, when shortened from 'heavy metal', to just 'heavy'. Understandably however, since the noun often preceeds the adjective in many languages. Apparently, these 'impurities' are far less common in 'real' Portuguese (as my Portuguese friend referred to it as).
Off to Belo Horizonte tomorrow, taking advantage of yet another public holiday to see friends and go to a gig. Hope all is well wherever you're at.
Jack
Monday, 27 September 2010
The wonders of Brazilian University life
So I've been in Rio close to 10 weeks - it's nearing on the longest time that I've spent away from home. Time is starting to fly by - the Brazilian way of life is becoming more familiar and I'm slowly getting to grips with everything here. I thought I'd write a bit on Uni life here, as it is seemingly full of surprises...
I am studying a pretty diverse set of modules - Portuguese Language, Ancient Rome History & Culture, Urban Geography and Brazilian Culture. The highlight for me has been the Urban Geography module. As in most of my classes apart from Portuguese language, I'm virtually the only gringo, and I still find it very hard to understand what's going on without having someone explain to me directly. Thrown into the deep end after only joining the class three weeks into term, I was told that I was to partake in a presentation on Lapa, a nightspot in the north of the city. It turned out that one of the Brazilian girls in my group had already decided that I was to act as a homeless person, playing a peripheral but fun role in which I managed to get a 9/10 for - which ranks as my best ever grade at University level (!). Another interesting note from this class was the exam we had the other week - bizarrely, it was to be done in pairs. I hadn't really revised for it, and my partner Felipe barely knew what day of the week it was. However, the extremely relaxed and lenient nature of Brazil meant that we were able to copy the girls next to us, with the teacher just laughing at our apparent audacity. Again, I managed to get a 9/10 for this. So, is taking part in a comical play followed by a botched exam the apex of 15 years of education and a £20,000 debt? This coupled with the fact that in one of my other modules (Ancient Rome) I grade myself on my progress brings into question the integrity of the Brazilian university system. It's all in good spirit though - and being part of another culture and way of doing things is what it's all about I guess.
Thats all for now. I fly to Joao Pessoa on a 12 day holiday on Wednesday, staying with friends there for a while before embarking on a mammouth 40 hour bus journey back to Rio, via Salvador and any other places that take my interest...
Jack
I am studying a pretty diverse set of modules - Portuguese Language, Ancient Rome History & Culture, Urban Geography and Brazilian Culture. The highlight for me has been the Urban Geography module. As in most of my classes apart from Portuguese language, I'm virtually the only gringo, and I still find it very hard to understand what's going on without having someone explain to me directly. Thrown into the deep end after only joining the class three weeks into term, I was told that I was to partake in a presentation on Lapa, a nightspot in the north of the city. It turned out that one of the Brazilian girls in my group had already decided that I was to act as a homeless person, playing a peripheral but fun role in which I managed to get a 9/10 for - which ranks as my best ever grade at University level (!). Another interesting note from this class was the exam we had the other week - bizarrely, it was to be done in pairs. I hadn't really revised for it, and my partner Felipe barely knew what day of the week it was. However, the extremely relaxed and lenient nature of Brazil meant that we were able to copy the girls next to us, with the teacher just laughing at our apparent audacity. Again, I managed to get a 9/10 for this. So, is taking part in a comical play followed by a botched exam the apex of 15 years of education and a £20,000 debt? This coupled with the fact that in one of my other modules (Ancient Rome) I grade myself on my progress brings into question the integrity of the Brazilian university system. It's all in good spirit though - and being part of another culture and way of doing things is what it's all about I guess.
Thats all for now. I fly to Joao Pessoa on a 12 day holiday on Wednesday, staying with friends there for a while before embarking on a mammouth 40 hour bus journey back to Rio, via Salvador and any other places that take my interest...
Jack
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Rio de Janeiro
Its taken a while to put this together as there's quite a lot I want to say - a lot will be reserved for a later date.
Five weeks experience of Rio has proved to render some clichés as false. The Brazilians are seeminly pretty vain - a myriad of gyms exist, including quite a few outdoor ones, and the number of health & beauty shops is staggering. Judging Rio on a film like City of God or Elite Squad is like judging English football on Green Street or Football Factory - true, but to only a small extent. Touching large amounts of wood, Rio isnt the terrible caricature portrayed by those films. Although I'm living in the confortable Zona Sul bubble (neighbourhoods here such as Ipanema and Leblon are probably as upmarket and expensive as anywhere on the continent) there are large areas in the north of the city that do shock you upon seeing them. Accidently ending up in Rocinha favela, the transition between the two parts of Rio is remarkable - you are almost going from first to third world in the space of a five minute bus ride and less than half a mile.
The setting of Rio is unquestionably beautiful - the way the city has built itself around the small morros (hills) and tropical vegetation is awesome. Though it has to be said - if it wasn´t for the lushness of its setting, Rio would be borderline ugly - Copacabana is full of high rises and chain stores, devoid of any pleasent idiosynchracies, and the rest of the centre isnt much better. The financial centre, Centro, is bizarre - you get lovely buildings like the national theatre right next to some of the most grotesque concrete mostrosities imaginable. However, the decadence and colonial architecture of Lapa and Santa Teresa makes up for the drabness of a lot of the city - these are the oldest parts of the city and have the most character and history.
Life here is both relaxed and hectic. Brazilians are in no hurry to do anything, except a) driving buses as fast as humanely possible, and b) playing football.
Less people speak English than you´d think here. I have to make a daily concious effort to purge Spanish from my mind - after a month I still say ´si´ instead of ´sim´. The accent is also tough to grasp - Portuguese here is very nasal, sometimes I wonder if putting a clothespeg on my nose would help me get understood more.
University life is somewhat different to back in Leeds. Not wishing to open a can of worms on the whole British education system, but I recieve three times as many hours as I did in Leeds - for half the tuition fees. The Uni hours are intresting - lectures at such ungodly hours 7am and 11pm are not uncommon, I'm guessing its something to do with a lack of classrooms. As a result I tactfully chose modules with more sociable hours, even if it means that I'm studying Ancient Roman Culture, and being the only non-Brazilian in the class. Lectures are more relaxed than back home - you are free to take a break whenever you want, and turning up half an hour late for class is totally fine. In fact, you're a bit of a freak if you're on time here. Apart from football, which never fails to start ao punto ingles .
Thats all for now from Rio. I'm aiming to venture out of the city soon to see more of Brazil, since I am yet to experience anything other than Rio.
Jack
Five weeks experience of Rio has proved to render some clichés as false. The Brazilians are seeminly pretty vain - a myriad of gyms exist, including quite a few outdoor ones, and the number of health & beauty shops is staggering. Judging Rio on a film like City of God or Elite Squad is like judging English football on Green Street or Football Factory - true, but to only a small extent. Touching large amounts of wood, Rio isnt the terrible caricature portrayed by those films. Although I'm living in the confortable Zona Sul bubble (neighbourhoods here such as Ipanema and Leblon are probably as upmarket and expensive as anywhere on the continent) there are large areas in the north of the city that do shock you upon seeing them. Accidently ending up in Rocinha favela, the transition between the two parts of Rio is remarkable - you are almost going from first to third world in the space of a five minute bus ride and less than half a mile.
The setting of Rio is unquestionably beautiful - the way the city has built itself around the small morros (hills) and tropical vegetation is awesome. Though it has to be said - if it wasn´t for the lushness of its setting, Rio would be borderline ugly - Copacabana is full of high rises and chain stores, devoid of any pleasent idiosynchracies, and the rest of the centre isnt much better. The financial centre, Centro, is bizarre - you get lovely buildings like the national theatre right next to some of the most grotesque concrete mostrosities imaginable. However, the decadence and colonial architecture of Lapa and Santa Teresa makes up for the drabness of a lot of the city - these are the oldest parts of the city and have the most character and history.
Life here is both relaxed and hectic. Brazilians are in no hurry to do anything, except a) driving buses as fast as humanely possible, and b) playing football.
Less people speak English than you´d think here. I have to make a daily concious effort to purge Spanish from my mind - after a month I still say ´si´ instead of ´sim´. The accent is also tough to grasp - Portuguese here is very nasal, sometimes I wonder if putting a clothespeg on my nose would help me get understood more.
University life is somewhat different to back in Leeds. Not wishing to open a can of worms on the whole British education system, but I recieve three times as many hours as I did in Leeds - for half the tuition fees. The Uni hours are intresting - lectures at such ungodly hours 7am and 11pm are not uncommon, I'm guessing its something to do with a lack of classrooms. As a result I tactfully chose modules with more sociable hours, even if it means that I'm studying Ancient Roman Culture, and being the only non-Brazilian in the class. Lectures are more relaxed than back home - you are free to take a break whenever you want, and turning up half an hour late for class is totally fine. In fact, you're a bit of a freak if you're on time here. Apart from football, which never fails to start ao punto ingles .
Thats all for now from Rio. I'm aiming to venture out of the city soon to see more of Brazil, since I am yet to experience anything other than Rio.
Jack
Monday, 26 April 2010
Spanish beer, tapas, U.H.T milk...
So I´m halfway through my time here in Spain, its chucking it down outside (again) but I´m still having a cool time. Work isn´t all that bad and I´m getting used to the lifestyle here just about. Here are some observations about Spanish life which I hadn´t realised before I came to León which you might find intresting:
It appears that here in León, the ability to pour a good beer is virtually nonexistant. Or at least what the whole of the UK would call a good beer. What I thought it was basic knowledge that in order to reduce the amount of foam on a beer you have to tilt the glass seems to have slipped under the radar here. As a result, an unwelcome proportion of your glass is filled with suds. If you are given a beer of less than 20% head, count yourselves lucky. One night here, feeling in a daring mood, I decided to challenge the status quo and ask for 'menos espuma', and was presented with a distainful, reluctant glare. On a positive note, the bars in León are known throughout Spain for giving free tapas with every drink, something which you´d be very lucky to get in Madrid or Barcelona. This means for 5 euro or so you can fill yourself up on calamares and chorizo and enjoy some cheap lager at the same time.
Another point of contention is the quality of milk out here. There is literally nothing but U.H.T available - fresh milk is illegal, apparently due to health risks involved in drinking stuff which has gone off. In the same supermarkets as this substandard dross, however, you can buy a 1 litre carton of 55 cent Wine - disgustingly cheap and I wouldnt want to imagine exactly whats in it. Clearly milk is more of an health issue than alcohol here!
Jack
It appears that here in León, the ability to pour a good beer is virtually nonexistant. Or at least what the whole of the UK would call a good beer. What I thought it was basic knowledge that in order to reduce the amount of foam on a beer you have to tilt the glass seems to have slipped under the radar here. As a result, an unwelcome proportion of your glass is filled with suds. If you are given a beer of less than 20% head, count yourselves lucky. One night here, feeling in a daring mood, I decided to challenge the status quo and ask for 'menos espuma', and was presented with a distainful, reluctant glare. On a positive note, the bars in León are known throughout Spain for giving free tapas with every drink, something which you´d be very lucky to get in Madrid or Barcelona. This means for 5 euro or so you can fill yourself up on calamares and chorizo and enjoy some cheap lager at the same time.
Another point of contention is the quality of milk out here. There is literally nothing but U.H.T available - fresh milk is illegal, apparently due to health risks involved in drinking stuff which has gone off. In the same supermarkets as this substandard dross, however, you can buy a 1 litre carton of 55 cent Wine - disgustingly cheap and I wouldnt want to imagine exactly whats in it. Clearly milk is more of an health issue than alcohol here!
Jack
Thursday, 8 April 2010
Twelve days in...
I left the famliar surroundings of Leeds in the afternoon of 8th April. For the first time this year there was actually less than 80% cloud cover, and glorious sunshine and the smell of barbecues in Hyde Park didn´t make leaving any easier. Meeting up with some friends from Uni at the airport, we got on a simple, pre-volcano flight from Liverpool to Madrid. Following a fun night in the capital we got on a hot, expensive and refreshment free train bound for León. The gorgeous mountain views kept us entertained for the first hour or so, before the landscape changed into flattened, parched terrain, which only served to exacerbate our hangovers and hunger.
Upon arriving into León at 4pm I was greeted by my host family, before being escorted back to their lush apartment. My first meal was very much like all the others - very tasty, excessive and Spanish. Since leaving my diet has spiralled to abject levels, with the most elaborate meal attemped being pasta and tomato sauce. The family stay was only a temporary measure, and after five nights I moved into Emilio Hurtado halls of residence - it´s remarkably like my first year in Leeds at Bodington in the sense that it just about straddles the limits of the city. However, instead of being surrounded by green countryside, we are treated to views of cranes and wasteland from our windows. As far as i´ve worked out us Leeds lot are the only English people out of the 500 or so staying there, which feels pretty bizarre, but the abundance of Spaniards here makes up for the fact that all the students in the language school arn´t Spanish.
I have now just begun my second week of lectures, or school (as it so painfully often feels like). The timetable imposed upon us is harsh beyond belief for your average student layabout - 9.30 ´till 2 every day. This is an increase of almost threefold on my Leeds hours, and with the threat of failing if less than 80% of classes are attendanced, the holiday previously envisaged by us has turned out to be somewhat stifled by actual compulsory learning (the horror of it!).
León itself is small and lovely, very typical northern Spanish city, and a lot more provincial than I thought. The description given by Leeds of León being an a city unspoiled by tourism is pretty accurate - you could easily imagine the city being the same now as it was many years ago. Us Leeds lot stick out like a sore thumb - its impossible not to feel really English in these early days.
Off to Madrid tomorrow morning to (hopefully) watch Atletico Madrid against Liverpool, thanks four days off that we have due to local holidays either side of the weekend.
More to come when I have the time!
Jack
Upon arriving into León at 4pm I was greeted by my host family, before being escorted back to their lush apartment. My first meal was very much like all the others - very tasty, excessive and Spanish. Since leaving my diet has spiralled to abject levels, with the most elaborate meal attemped being pasta and tomato sauce. The family stay was only a temporary measure, and after five nights I moved into Emilio Hurtado halls of residence - it´s remarkably like my first year in Leeds at Bodington in the sense that it just about straddles the limits of the city. However, instead of being surrounded by green countryside, we are treated to views of cranes and wasteland from our windows. As far as i´ve worked out us Leeds lot are the only English people out of the 500 or so staying there, which feels pretty bizarre, but the abundance of Spaniards here makes up for the fact that all the students in the language school arn´t Spanish.
I have now just begun my second week of lectures, or school (as it so painfully often feels like). The timetable imposed upon us is harsh beyond belief for your average student layabout - 9.30 ´till 2 every day. This is an increase of almost threefold on my Leeds hours, and with the threat of failing if less than 80% of classes are attendanced, the holiday previously envisaged by us has turned out to be somewhat stifled by actual compulsory learning (the horror of it!).
León itself is small and lovely, very typical northern Spanish city, and a lot more provincial than I thought. The description given by Leeds of León being an a city unspoiled by tourism is pretty accurate - you could easily imagine the city being the same now as it was many years ago. Us Leeds lot stick out like a sore thumb - its impossible not to feel really English in these early days.
Off to Madrid tomorrow morning to (hopefully) watch Atletico Madrid against Liverpool, thanks four days off that we have due to local holidays either side of the weekend.
More to come when I have the time!
Jack
Monday, 29 March 2010
The Beginning...
As you may be aware, I'm about to leave the UK for quite a while. My university course requires me to spend 18 months of studying abroad, which is pretty awesome. I thought it would be a cool idea to write a blog about it, to keep people posted on how its all going and as a sort of pseudo-journalistic challenge.
Between 9th April and 22nd June I'll be in León, a small city 3 hours northwest of Madrid. I'll be studying at the uni there, living with a family for the first two week then probably getting a flat with some people. Its probably going to end up like a glorified school trip but I hope to make the most of it and finally reach a good level of Spanish, and use it as a stepping stone for Brazil.
Following this, I have a short, probably very frantic few weeks in the UK, before flying off to Rio de Janeiro on July 23rd and perhaps not returing 'till the following July (although Xmas back in Wales is a possibility). In Rio I'll be studying at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, apparently a good uni, I didn't have much say in choosing it to be honest. I get three months off for Christmas so I hope to be able to visit some old haunts down south in Argentina, and maybe some new places further north such as Colombia. Can't wait to go, and I'll hope to have some cool stories to tell on living abroad and all the challenges and fun that goes with it.
So thats it for now - and keep an eye out for the first post.
Cheers!
Jack
Between 9th April and 22nd June I'll be in León, a small city 3 hours northwest of Madrid. I'll be studying at the uni there, living with a family for the first two week then probably getting a flat with some people. Its probably going to end up like a glorified school trip but I hope to make the most of it and finally reach a good level of Spanish, and use it as a stepping stone for Brazil.
Following this, I have a short, probably very frantic few weeks in the UK, before flying off to Rio de Janeiro on July 23rd and perhaps not returing 'till the following July (although Xmas back in Wales is a possibility). In Rio I'll be studying at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, apparently a good uni, I didn't have much say in choosing it to be honest. I get three months off for Christmas so I hope to be able to visit some old haunts down south in Argentina, and maybe some new places further north such as Colombia. Can't wait to go, and I'll hope to have some cool stories to tell on living abroad and all the challenges and fun that goes with it.
So thats it for now - and keep an eye out for the first post.
Cheers!
Jack
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