Time flies.... (and first exam)

Long time no see!

The weekend after our ESN Barcelona trip was very chilled and relaxed! We had only three days of university (Monday to Wednesday), as on Thursday (5th March) was holiday - but only in Zaragoza ;)

To explain you the nature of the holiday, keep on reading (otherwise you can also skip this part). Between 1833 and 1839 was a civil war in Spain, called the First Carlist War. It was the war between the supporters of Isabella II and supporters of Carlos de Borbón. The current king was Fernando VIII and had only two daughters, one of them Isabella. His brother, Carlos, wanted to have the throne for himself and this caused a dispute. In general, it can be said that the Carlistas, meaning the supporters of Carlos, were in alignment with Russia, Austria and Prussia and absolutists, believed in God and the traditional way of doing things. Isabelinos were supported by France, Portugal and England, whereby they are seen as liberalists and wanted an increase of bourgeoisie and to go the path of technology and industry. It is a holiday here in Zaragoza due to the fact that it was the very first victory of the Isabelinos. Guess, where it happened? Surprise, surprise, right here in Zaragoza!

During the long weekend, Marie was still on her way of recovery (she was sick for 2 weeks in total) and unfortunately, could not go out as much as desired. BIG SHOUTOUT to Marie - Dawe missed you a lot during these days! Nevertheless, we had really great weather the past weeks :)

Calle Alfonso view to Plaza Pilar

Sun set at Puerto Venecia

On the way to our campus

YES 22° DEGREES!

Every Thursday, in one of the barrios (district) located in the city center you can meet lots of people on the street. The local tapas bars have a special offer- one beer/red wine and one tapa for only €2! Marie hit the road with her Erasmus flat, while Dawe was accompanied by his flatmates and a few other Spaniards. Of course, the barrio is not too big and it wasn't long until we run into each other. If you ordered a tapa with some kind of sausage, you would get a small bread (see the picture) and the sausage was as long as the bread! No need to cut it into slices... As Dawe's flatmate is always saying: 'No need to wonder, Spain is different!'

Sorry, didn't see it before but obviously I got photobombed, haha.

Afterwards, we went out to our 'favourite' club. They threw a Glow In The Dark party, which was veeeery fun and we actually missed parties like this in the Netherlands!

As Dawe was with his Spaniards (you probably know by now that they tend to go out very, very late), he had to 'beg' for some paint, which was empty one, two hours after the club opened. Hence, everybody just spread some of their paint over him.

On Friday, Dawe, his flatmates and some friends of them, were in another club called Oasis. They hosted a pre-drinking session and if you wore black, you'd get free champagne! Comparing it to Kenbo (the Erasmus club), it was waaaaay better. The music was not only focused on mainstream music and the DJ played only unknown (electro) songs! A welcomed change!

On Saturday, one of Dawe's flatmates made Spanish tortilla patatas for the entire flat and another Italian girl, a friend of his Italian companion! Later on, he was invited to a Botellon (pre-drinking party) by a new friend of his, where he took the entire crew with him. Afterwards - as usual - Kenbo...

Too many people to fit in the car? Not a problem here in Spain!

Dawe and Marie's flatmates (MARIE, WHERE ARE YOU? :'( )

We chilled on Sunday and from Monday on Marie was finally feeling better, so we went for tapas after university (to 100 Montaditos, a bar that serves a variety of - you say it - 100 different tapas. In Spain it is very, very popular and famous, while their franchises in the USA have filed for bankruptcy...)

Yes, in addition to your order, you get free chips! Yummie!

The rest of the week was very calm, as we had to study for our upcoming exams. The weather was just great; you could go outside just in a shirt! Dawe took the opportunity to go on a picknick with some friends and to get away from all the studying stress! By the way, we've become now frequent guests of the canteen (pictures will follow, promised!). Besides the famous bocadillos (sandwiches for €2 to €2.50), you can get there small finger food (chicken nuggets, patatas bravas etc., all €1.50), really great hamburgers (with lettuce, vegetables and fried eggs for €3), sweets and, of course, all kinds of beverages (to compare prices: €1.10 for a café con leche). It is to say that the variety of the Stenden Canteen is way bigger! Nevertheless, our campus has even a restaurant; we haven't checked it out yet but will hit it soon!

Funny story: if you want to meet up with somebody, always double-check the location, especially if you are new in town. Dawe wanted to meet a friend at 'El Corte Inglés' in order to check out their 'exotic' variety of foods (in search for Polish or German specialities) and thought there is only one store in town....

Standing in front of the wrong Corte Inglés...

Again, we had UNBELIEVABLE GREAT WEATHER!

Picnic in 'El Parque Grande'

On the weekend, our flatmates separately made food for us! For Marie, it was croquettes and patatas bravas. Don't ask us how they made it, but Marie says they were delicious! In Dawe's case, his flat invited over some friends and his Italian chef cook made pasta carbonara!

Saturday was St. Paddy's Day in the entire city! While Marie stayed at home and studied, as she was going to Valencia (another trip organised by ESN; a separate post will follow!), Dawe hit the city with some fellow friends! Yes, we all got these freaky hats...

Students from Mexico...

...who invited another Mexican over, who is currently studying in Madrid!

Dawe and (half of) the gang

On Saturday, first, we went to a book store to buy a dictionary that we can use in our exam and then spent the entire day at a café, trying to get the content into our heads that is needed for our first exam in Statistics....and it is even in Spanish!!!

Studying some weird stuff that was never taught at Stenden... ufff....

Today (Monday), we wrote our first partial exam. As mentioned in some posts before, they have two various evaluation options; in one of them you are writing some kind of mid-terms. We had about 50 minutes to complete two exercises in Excel. Let's see how that went and hope for the best *fingers crossed*

Afterwards, went to one of the local cafés, where we are regular guests already. This can be seen as the waiter doesn't even ask what we want - nodding with the head is sufficient...

By the way, Dawe was invited over for some Mexican food: Albóndigas con Chile chipotle. As we all know, the best food is when you do not have to cook ;)