Category: Blog

¡Hola a todos! Septiembre en España es un vibrante centro de actividad y cultura. El verano todavía está en pleno apogeo y recuerdo que solo llovió una vez. Fue un reto adaptarse a un nuevo país, sobre todo porque es la primera vez que vivo lejos de mis padres. Mis clases en la universidad son todas en español y están llenas de nativos, por lo que ha sido un gran salto desde mis clases en el Reino Unido, pero descubro que estoy entendiendo cada vez más a medida que pasan las semanas.

Enfrentarme a los problemas cotidianos en España fue un poco difícil para mí, dado que todo llevaba mucho tiempo y era muy confuso ordenar el papeleo. Definitivamente diría que sentí un choque cultural porque al venir aquí, sabía que a los españoles les encantaban sus siestas por la tarde, y tuve que adaptar mi estilo de vida para encajar en esta forma de vida relajada porque muchas tiendas y supermercados cerraron por unas horas cada tarde para dar a los trabajadores un descanso.

Lo que me encanta de Madrid es que siempre hay cosas que hacer, como popups, exposiciones por tiempo limitado en museos o actividades para reunir a todos los miembros de la comunidad. Fui a La Estival, un cine al aire libre donde vi La La Land con uno de mis amigos que también se había mudado a España para estudiar. Se nos dio la opción de escuchar el audio en inglés o español, y porque es una de mis películas favoritas, ya conocía la trama así que la escuché en español porque quería mejorar mi comprensión.

Además visité el mercadillo El Rastro un domingo muy caluroso con mi compañero de piso y sus amigos que son nativos de Madrid; fue muy agradable tener gente local con quien hablar porque sabían todas las verdaderas joyas y tenían recomendaciones muy nicho y tuve la oportunidad de practicar mi español.

En general, mi primer mes ha pasado en un borroso de adaptación a las clases y la vida diaria en un nuevo país. ¡Además, tratando de disfrutar el último del verano a medida que el clima se vuelve más frío y se oscurece más temprano!

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Hello everyone! September in Spain is like a buzzing hub of activity and culture. Summer is still in full swing and I remember it only rained once. It was quite a challenge settling into a new country especially because this is the first time that I am living away from my parents. My classes at university are all taught in Spanish and full of natives so it has been quite a jump from my classes back in the UK but I find that I am understanding more and more as the weeks go by.

Being faced with daily issues in Spain came as a bit of a difficulty to me as everything took very long and it was very confusing sorting out the paperwork. I would definitely say that I felt a culture shock because coming here, I knew that the Spanish loved their siestas in the afternoon, and I had to adapt my lifestyle to fit into this relaxed way of living because a lot of shops and grocery stores would close for a few hours every afternoon to give the workers a break.

What I particularly love about Madrid is that there is always something going on, such as pop-ups, limited museum exhibitions or activities to bring everyone in the community together. I went to La Estival, an open air cinema where I watched La La Land with one of my friends who had also moved to Spain to study abroad. We were given the choice to listen to the audio in English or Spanish, and because it is one of my favourite films, I already knew the plot so I listened in Spanish because I wanted to improve my understanding.

I also visited the El Rastro flea market on a very hot Sunday with my flatmate and their friends who are natives to Madrid; it was very nice having a local to talk to because they knew all the good spots and had very good recommendations and I had the opportunity to practise my Spanish.

Overall, my first month has gone by in a blur of adapting to classes, daily life in a new country and also trying to enjoy the end of summer as the weather becomes colder and it gets dark earlier!

Ce mois est le dernier mois que j’étais au Québec, et c’est triste d’admettre que je suis en train d’écrire le blogue de ce mois de ma maison en Angleterre en venant de réhabituer au fuseau horaire anglais!

J’ai commencé ce mois avec beaucoup d’examens, ce qui indiquait la fin de mes études à l’UdeM. Pour la plupart de mes cours, une séance de révision servait comme la conclusion du cours, mais pas le cours de langue catalane! Pour célébrer les bons résultats de la classe, notre professeur avait organisé un petit concert avec un groupe musical valencien qui est venu à Montréal pour le Sant Jordi, une fête des Pays catalans que la communauté catalane de Montréal célébrait en grand nombre. On avait l’occasion de parler avec les artistes, et poser des questions, en pratiquant nos compétences dans la langue catalane. Après ceci, on est allé.e.s manger une poutine à un restaurant québécois pour les introduire à la bouffe canadienne. C’était une nuit vraiment précieuse et j’appréciais l’occasion de passer un dernier moment avec mes ami.e.s du cours.

Le mois du mai est aussi quand l’Annuel du design se produit à Montréal, et j’avais la chance d’accompagner un ami à cette célébration de la créativité montréalaise des étudiants dans les programmes du design. Dans le fond, l’évènement est une grosse exposition de tous les travaux des étudiants en leur donnant une occasion pour présenter leurs meilleures œuvres qu’ils ont faites pendant les cours. Normalement, environ 8 mille personnes passent par l’université pour jeter un œil sur ce que les étudiants ont fait. C’était super intéressant de voir les différents cours et ce que les étudiants avaient créé comme projets.

Le restant du mois, je passais du temps avec mes ami.e.s en profitant des deux dernières semaines sans l’école d’aller visiter certaines parties de la ville qui restaient sur ma liste des affaires à voir!

J’ai passé une année incroyable ici au Québec et j’ai vraiment hâte de revenir à l’avenir.

This month is my last month in Quebec, and it’s sad to admit that I’m writing this month’s blog from my home in England, having just got used to the English time zone again!

I started this month with a lot of exams, which signalled the end of my studies at UdeM. For most of my courses, a revision session served as the conclusion of the course, but not the Catalan language course! To celebrate the class’s good results, our teacher had organised a small concert with a Valencian musical group who had come to Montreal for Sant Jordi, a Catalonian festival that the Montreal Catalan community celebrated in large numbers. We had the chance to talk to the artists, and ask questions, while practising our Catalan language skills. After this, we went for poutine at a Quebecois restaurant to introduce them to Canadian food. It was a really lovely night and I appreciated the opportunity to spend one last moment with my friends from the course.

May is also when the Annuel du design takes place in Montreal, and I was lucky enough to accompany a friend to this celebration of the creativity of Montreal’s design students. Basically, the event is a big exhibition of all the students’ work, giving them a chance to show off their best work from the course. Normally, around 8,000 people pass through the university to take a look at what the students have done. It was really interesting to see the different courses and what the students had created as projects.

For the rest of the month, I spent time with my friends, taking advantage of the last two weeks without university to visit some of the parts of the city that were still on my list of things to see!

I’ve had an amazing year here in Quebec and I’m really looking forward to coming back in the future.

나의 생일이 있는 6월을 한국에서 보낼 수 있게 되었습니다. 저는 6월 25일에 24살이 되었습니다. 나의 생일에 나는 한국어 학당 친구들과 같이 한국인들이 일반적으로 하는 재미있는 것들을 하기로 결정했습니다. 예를 들면, 우리는 한국 길거리에서 흔히 보이는 노래방을 갔는데, 노래도 부를 수 있고 저렴한 음식과 음료를 친구들과 즐길 수 있는 곳이었습니다.  영국에 있었을 때도 팥은 항상 내가 제일 좋아하는 맛이여서 팥빙수를 기대했습니다. 한국에서 생일을 보내는 것은 처음이하 걱정도 되고 불안하였지만 영국에서 온 고향 친구들과 대학 친구들이 있어서 새로운 생일 경험을 재미있게 보낼 수 있었고 가장 기억에 남을 것 입니다. 저는 새로운 음식을 시도해 보고싶어서, 우리는 저녁으로 닭갈비를 먹으로 갔습니다.  닭갈비는 떡, 닭, 라면 사리 그리고 다양한 종류의 야채들이 매운 양념에 섞여있는 음식이었고 매우 맛있었지만 몇몇 친구들한테는 매우 매웠다고 했습니다. 마지막 디저트로는, 우리는 한국의 일반적인 디저트로 빙수라는 것을 먹으러 갔는데 잘 갈린 얼린 우유와 다양한 과일, 팥 그리고 초콜렛이 얹어진 빙수를 시켰다.우리는 한국 길에 자주 보이는 포토 부스에서 재미있고 웃긴 사진도 찍을 수 있었습니다. 심지어 악세서리와 장식품도 빌릴 수 있었습니다.

During the month of June, I was able to celebrate my birthday in Korea for the second time. I first celebrated back when I was 19 years old. However, this year I turned 24 years old on June 25th. For my birthday, I decided it would be great to make some plans with my Korean language classmates that would involve many typical fun and common things that Koreans do often. For example, I went to ‘Noraebang’, which is a place you can find on almost every street in Korea. You can play Karaoke, eat great cheap food and also play games with your friends. We also went to a photobooth store, these are also on almost every street in Seoul, where you can take fun and silly photos with friends. They even have props you can use and wear! For dinner plans, I really wanted to try something new, so I planned to go eat ‘Ddakgalbi’ for dinner. This dish is a mix of Korean rice cakes, chicken, ramen noodles and an array of vegetables mixed in a spicy but sweet sauce. Typically after finishing these style of dishes, there is then option to order extra rice where the employee will fry the it with the remaining sauces on the grill, for an extra treat after your meal. This is what is considered as dessert in most situations. It was really delicious but some of my friends found it too spicy for them! Finally, for dessert we went to go eat ‘Bingsu’, which is a classic Korean dessert that consists of shaved frozen milk and various toppings. Some of the toppings we ordered were mango, chocolate and also a red bean flavour. Red bean has always been my favourite, even back at home in UK, so I was so excited to have this combination. Overall, initially I was quite anxious and worried about spending my birthday in Korea again, as previously I was with friends from my hometown and university, but I really enjoyed taking on this new situation and can easily say this was one of the most enjoyable birthdays I’ve had.