Erasmus

Just a few more days, then I’ll fly back to Berlin. A Spontaneous Weekend in Madrid The weekend before last, I wanted to make the most of the time I had left. Zaragoza sits almost exactly halfway between Madrid and Barcelona. I’d already been to Barcelona but Madrid? I’d managed to skip it entirely. So I booked a bus at short notice, packed light, and let myself drift. Madrid is expensive. More than Zaragoza, more than I’d expected. But the city is worth it. A few highlights: ...

Before I left, I had pictured myself chatting away in Spanish after two months. Now, a month and a half in, I order my coffee, and still sometimes nobody understands me. Zero as a starting point I had literally zero Spanish before this trip. No classes, no Spanish-speaking friends, no real contact with the language whatsoever. The plan was simple: start from scratch. In the weeks before leaving, motivation was high. I listened to Spanish podcasts, worked through language courses, drilled vocabulary cards, and watched Spanish films with subtitles, just to get a feel for how the language sounds. ...

Over the past few weeks I’ve written a lot about the city, about processions, coffee machines, and wrong buses. But about the work itself I’ve said almost nothing. Time to change that. The Company I’m working for Xelab, a young tech company based in Zaragoza. Their portfolio is broad: web development, automation, artificial intelligence, and various other IT topics. No narrow niche product, instead, a company that deliberately keeps its options open. ...

Today, a normal day in Zaragoza, pretty much how it usually goes. Morning, coffee, out the door The alarm goes off somewhere between 7:30 and 8:00. Brush teeth, shower, and then the most important part: the little coffee machine gets fired up. Thermos in hand, backpack on my shoulder, I head out. The Casablanca tram stop is right in front of the student hotel. Tap the card, about €0.50 per ride. The tram is usually pretty packed, so I stand. ...

City Tour by Accident Monday, nothing unusual. Work, project, routine. Afterwards, my girlfriend picked me up — and I accidentally became a tour guide. We wandered through the city centre until we found ourselves standing in front of the Catedral-Basílica. I tried to remember what our guide Diego had told us during the first week about the square and the cathedral — and did my best to pass on the highlights. Then I showed her the two bombs inside, along with the impact craters still visible in the ceiling today. ...

Sometimes a day is just a day. No big experience, no grand revelation — and yet, somehow, something always happens. Settling into the Routine Slept short, got up slow. The day started at its own pace. One thing stood out right away: the tram to work is more relaxed than expected. Get on, sit down, get off — done. No transfers, no long walks. Compared to my previous place, that’s already a small win. ...

Sometimes you forget you’re only living somewhere temporarily — until you pack your bags again. Wednesday was moving day. I had to vacate the transitional apartment by 5 PM, so I wrapped up early, cleaned, tidied — left it the way I’d found it. Then the taxi came. The new place is a student hotel: lots of rooms, lots of students, far less anonymity than before. That has its advantages. On the other hand, the room is smaller, the kitchenette covers the basics — and a few things are still missing. No pot, no kitchen cloth. Small things, but you notice them right away. ...

Between Berlin and Zaragoza My day started off more stressful than planned. I actually knew that the clocks were going forward an hour during the night. No problem, I thought to myself. My smartphone changes the time automatically. Perfect, then. Where I went wrong: I assumed the time change happens at midnight. Instead, I was woken up at 1:50 AM – and ten minutes later, it was suddenly 3:00 AM. ...

The first post is now live – and with it, the entire blog where I’ll be documenting my impressions and experiences during my upcoming trip to Zaragoza. Just a quick bit of context about this site, to bring everyone up to speed: I am an IT apprentice, working in Berlin and attending the OSZ IMT in Berlin. In our second year of training, we were given the opportunity to participate in the EU’s Erasmus+ program. This allows us to live and work in another European country for two months. Naturally, I didn’t want to miss out on this chance – which is why, as you can probably guess, I’m taking part. ...