Hello again everyone,

This is it. To say time flies when you’re having fun is an extreme understatement. It really does feel like just yesterday that I took the same picture of my luggage, marking the beginning of this incredible adventure. And in the blink of an eye, the same picture represents me getting ready to return home. Never in my life, has a near 5 month time span gone by quicker. I could dedicate this entire post to describing how sad I am to be leaving, how much I will miss my apartment here and this remarkable city, country, and continent, how I wish I could stay longer, how I can’t wait to return to Europe, and so much more. But I won’t. While all of those things I mentioned remain true, I plan on exiting this country the same way I entered: exciting, grateful, and entirely happy.

As I’ve mentioned in some of my previous posts, studying abroad in a country like Spain has always been something that I’ve only ever dreamed about. Now that I have successfully completed my study abroad experience here, I truly consider this journey to be one that exceeded even my wildest of expectations and imaginations. Since the very first day, this experience has been one of many unexpected moments and memories, all of which I have learned from and used to better myself as a student, traveler, and person overall. It is easy to hear about how enriching and beneficial studying abroad may be to one’s life, but one cannot truly grasp the full concept of it until you actually complete your time here. This experience has literally changed my life, and I am eternally grateful to every person who assisted me and encouraged me into embarking on such an adventure. I especially grateful to my girlfriend Alexa, who take this incredible journey with me, and who made my time here one that was truly unforgettable and incredible. Being tasked with the responsibilities of living on my own, making important financial decisions, traveling to different countries, and so much more has matured me into someone I never thought I could mature into. In many ways this trip has provided me with an international perspective that I could never have obtained by simply reading a book, watching a video, or hearing about from a friend. All of the valuable skills, and important things I have gained and learned while studying abroad will undoubtedly prove extremely helpful in my future endeavors. I hope to encourage others who are skeptical or worried about studying abroad to take the chance, and to experience something unlike any other. For whoever has been following my story while in Madrid, thank you for your time, appreciation, and patience. I hope I have provided for you an enjoyable and in depth look into what my journeys have been like. I will see you next time for one last post, updating everyone on how the readjustment back home has been like. But until then…

 

Hasta Luego,

Aaron Marrero

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE,

It’s absolutely surreal that yet another year has gone by. Although I am excited and ready for everything 2016 has to offer, I will be eternally grateful for what an incredible and unforgettable year 2015 has been. One of the most obvious things, especially so since this is on my study abroad blog, was having the unbelievably amazing experience and opportunity to study abroad in Madrid. Furthermore, I never once believed that I would have the chance to celebrate my end of the year holidays in a place like Madrid. The decision to stay in Madrid for a bit longer to experience this rare opportunity was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I highly recommend everyone to one day try and arrange your New Years eve on the incredible city of Madrid, as it is sure to be one of your greatest celebrations yet.

First of all, New Years Eve, or Nochevieja as it is called in the Spanish speaking world, has a very unique and exciting feel to it in Madrid. Alexa and I began by joining the thousands upon thousands of people awaiting midnight at the streets surrounding one of Madrid’s most famous plazas, Puerta del Sol. The picture in the beginning of this post does a great job a capturing the enormous crowd the countdown celebration draws. (although I wish it was, this picture is not mine) Both Madrid natives and people from all over the world gather together at this plaza, and wait for the ringing of the bell from the bell tower of the old post office. Once the bell chimes in the new year with 12 loud dongs, there is an eruption of celebration as families and friends hug and kiss in pure joy and excitement. An interesting tradition in Madrid, is that besides the usual champagne popping (or in Madrid’s case Cava popping), silly New Years glasses and bright wigs, many choose to eat exactly 12 grapes, which are meant to bring them good luck for the coming 12 months of the new year. Although I wasn’t able to get too close to the clocktower to hear the bell chimes and countdown, I was still lucky enough to be caught in the middle of a massive swarm of people who celebrated the new years with loud cheers and wide smiles. Fireworks and chants were heard all around me, making this one New Year celebration I will never forget.

After this truly incredible celebration, it was time to party in one of the billions of clubs found throughout the party city that is Madrid. One thing I really appreciated was the constant feeling of safety and friendliness found throughout the entire city, throughout the entire night. Even on an infamous night like New Years, I did not for one second feel unsafe walking through the streets of Madrid. Although it is a common tradition for weekend party-goers, the party doesn’t stop in Madrid up until about 6am. Being that it was opportunity I probably wouldn’t get again for a while, I powered through the night and had an incredible and really fun night at a great club called Copernicus.

By the time I arrived home, it was oddly enough about to be New Years Day back home in New York City. It was definitely a very different experience not celebrating the New Year back home like I usually would, but it was a change I welcomed and appreciated. This years celebration for me perfectly reflected what a year 2015 has been for me, and there was no other more appropriate place to take it in other than Madrid. This experience was absolutely encouraged me to want to experience holidays in more unique ways. Knowing that there is a whole world out there filled with great people who can celebrate just like you is really exciting and refreshing, and I can’t wait to see more of it.

Hasta Luego,

Aaron Marrero

 

Hello again everyone,

In this post, I will be briefly discussing my journeys and travels to countries within Europe and other than Spain. I had been fortunate enough to have the ability to visit the countries of Italy, Germany, France, Denmark, and Sweden during my time studying abroad. Europe is a continent unlike any other, since it contains so many unique and amazing countries packed into such a small geographical area. Although I wasn’t able to visit every single country and city I would have liked to, I am extremely grateful for the traveling that I was able to do. Visiting these places opened my mind up to so many new perspectives and ideas, as well as providing me with a much more enhanced knowledge of different cultures, customs, and lifestyles. Being able to visit a totally unique country by simply getting on a 2 or 3 hour plane ride has been a great and unforgettable experience. Being exposed to such cultural marvels has only further encouraged me to return to Europe someday soon so that I can visit other countries and cities I haven’t gotten around to yet. In each city I visited, I made so many great memories and saw so many amazing things, that describing each of them would take much more than a single blog post. So instead, I will dedicate the rest of this post to having pictures provide most of the description, since after all, they are worth about 1,000 words each. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope they will encourage you to embark or reembark on a journey to the wonderful continent that is Europe.

Hasta Luego,

Aaron Marrero

Paris/ Versailles, France

Marseille, France

Berlin, Germany

Copenhagen, Denmark

Florence, Italy

Pisa, Italy

 

 

Monty Python, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull…

Ever since I was a kid, it seems everything I loved and gravitated to came out of British culture. It’s been a lifelong dream to visit London. Today, that dream comes true!

I am a graduate student in the Painting program at SUNY New Paltz. It is thanks to my good fortune of working two internships this past semester, that I was able to raise the funds for this trip. Previously, I’d thought of myself as a person who simply didn’t have the means.

Words cannot adequately express how much I look forward to the total immersion in contemporary art and history that this ancient city has to offer. Having taken many classes previously with Professor Cheng, I am confident that we are in good hands and will get the full spectrum of art.

I am especially looking forward to Tate Modern and the British Museum.

Stay Tuned…

Today is my last night in Besançon and I could not have been happier to have studied abroad in a city like it. It’s not big like Paris but it’s abundant in beautiful mountain views and welcoming people. One of the reasons I chose Besançon was because I wanted to be challenged and improve my French and both of my goals were accomplished. I have encountered many people in my study abroad journey that have impacted me positively and have made memorable memories with them.

These past few days I have been hanging out with some friends, you know making more memories and enjoying great food…who doesn’t enjoy having fun and eating delicious food?! I did plenty of that these past couple of days and I am beyond grateful. My friends and I indulged this past weekend at a French-Italian restaurant. It was my third time going there…you know it’s good if I appear more than once! And then on Monday I went to cat café, it was a cat lover’s dream. The cats were adorable as the vanilla milkshake and cookie were scrumptious. The ambiance of the café was very calm and the cats around made me feel less stressed.

After all the fun I was having during those couple of days, what I dreaded most had to be done: PACKING! One of the things I am proud to say is that I am not the best packer (at least I can admit it!) therefore I was really prolonging it. It took me two days to finish packing, I started Monday and finished today with the help of my friends (I have great friends right?!) Once all my belongings was packed and my room was tidy, I took a step back and reflected on all the great memories I made in my room ranging from movie nights to random talks.

 

Although, I am bittersweet to leave Besançon , life must continue! I am very excited to embark on my 2 week voyage to Barcelona, Paris, and London!!!

 

Stayed tuned to more posts on my trips!!

 

 

Yesterday was my last day of classes of my fall semester. It was bittersweet. It was the ending to the beginning of beautiful friendships, travels and learnings. My class and professors all went out to lunch together to celebrate the end of the semester.  It was a lovely way to end a stressful semester but we all survived it! I’m not going to lie and say I wanted to attend classes’ every day but, I was I happy I did every time because I knew I would get to see my classmates. They are some of the most energetic people besides me ahaha that are full of energy in the morning!

My professors are great individuals that are patient, encouraging and passionate. They encouraged us to talk about our cultures and it really made the classes more interesting and easier for me to grasp what we were learning.   They were also very dynamic and open about their lives and we would always have numerous conversations about French culture and our personal lives. My french has significantly improved since upon my arrival and its a big thanks to my professors!

 

I am going to miss going to class every day (as cliché as that may sound) learning French in a fun way. Yes, my classmates are my classmates but they are also my friends and we will forever have the same memory of being in France together. Yesterday, definitely was a bittersweet day but I am very happy to one day see all my friends again. I hope to one day be able to visit them in their respective countries!

Never would I have ever thought that I would have the opportunity of visiting Switzerland more than once.  So far I have visited five cities in Switzerland: Basel, Bern, Geneva, Gruyere and Lausanne. All of the five cities are unique but my two favorites were Bern and Geneva; they both had breathtaking views of the mountains and there were a lot of places to visit in both!  You’re probably thinking how I could’ve afforded to visit these cities in Switzerland knowing its notorious prices?  The university I am studying in France (CLA) organized a voyage to Bern and Gruyere and my tuition had covered for it (thank you New Paltz!!) and the rest I went with friends and looked for cheaper modes of transportation to get there such as carpooling.

What I found expensive on my visits was the food, finding cheap food is possible in Switzerland, but it is definitely a challenge!!  When I went to Lausanne, I had found a fast-food restaurant that sold pasta on the go, it wasn’t the best but it was great for my wallet! On my most recent trip, my friends and I went to Geneva and we decided to go to a restaurant that specializes in fondue. It was cheaper to share fondue amongst us because one has to order with two or people and it was perfect for the four of us.

Switzerland is definitely one of my favorite countries I have visited so far. I have enjoyed the food, the atmosphere, and its people. I plan to visit Switzerland again and visit its other beautiful cities in the near future!

Hello again everyone,

I thought I would dedicate a post to describing my experience in Barcelona, Spain. When many people think of Spain, Barcelona is the first city that comes to mind, and rightfully so. Right along with Madrid and Valencia, Barcelona is one of the most populous cities in this country, home to one of the greatest football clubs in the world, and home to some of the most incredible landmarks I’ve ever seen in my life. Without a doubt, Barcelona was the city I most wanted to visit within Spain, since I have always heard so many great things about it, and according to the basic research I had done on the city, everything looked incredible. Luckily enough, I was also able to plan my trip to Barcelona for the Halloween weekend. I have been fortunate enough to visit several cities throughout Spain and throughout Europe (which I’ll be talking about in my next post), but there was something about Barça that really stuck with me. Madrid truly feels like home to me, it is where I feel the most comfortable, safe, and happy, yet Barcelona was a very very close second.

Although my time spent in the city was incredible, getting there was very tough. While there are various ways of getting to the city, Alexa and I chose to take an 8 HOUR BUS RIDE. Although it sounds awful, it really wasn’t that bad. There are actually a lot of options for long-distance transportation within Spain that don’t require you to take an expensive flight. Yes there are cheap flight options such as Ryanair, Easy Jet, etc., but even those airlines still require you to book way in advance in order to actually get an affordable deal. If you want to do some long-distance, last-minute traveling, services like Spain’s ALSA bus company and Renfe Train Systems have always worked out very conveniently and affordable. The ALSA bus that we ended up taking to Barcelona was actually pretty comfortable, and you can actually get a decent sleep on it. Just ask Alexa…..

Alexa and I stood at a hostel that was in a great central location, and that had a very friendly staff and great accommodations. For those of you that don’t know, hostels are pretty much highly affordable “hotels”, only more often than not, your “hotel room” will also have 10 or more complete strangers living in your room with you. Does this sound sketchy? Yes. Is it sketchy? Usually. But don’t let this deter you from ever considering staying at one. You can meet a lot of great people, security for these hostels is usually always perfectly fine, and you save a ton of money.

Because there are so many important and amazing landmarks to see in Barcelona, we took one of those double-decker tour buses to cover as much ground as possible. This isn’t my preferred method of touring a city, but Barca is enormous, and with so much to see, I think the tour buses were worth it. It was also great since we were able to get on and off the bus as we pleased. I won’t get into detail on every single thing that was visited, but I’ll highlight some of my favorite destinations.

Park Guell was a massive and extremely beautiful park, that was full of modernist architecture and designs. Antoni Gaudi, was the genius behind the beautiful architecture of the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, mosiac benches, and other forms of architecture through Park Guell and the city of Barcelona. His unique style sets the overall artistic tone that you see in many ways throughout the city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, we visited Barcelona right when the beach season came to an end, but that didn’t stop us from visiting the gorgeous shorefronts. These great beaches definitely give Barcelona some extra points when it comes to tourism, and the Mediterranean looks incredible no matter what time of year it is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visiting Camp Nou, home of the FC Barcelona football club, was truly a dream come true for me. I love sports, and getting the opportunity to visit such a famous stadium for such a storied team was an unforgettable experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those in the Catalan region celebrate Halloween within a 3-day span. On October 31st, the events unfold much like they would anywhere else, with people of all ages dressing up and enjoying a really fun night in the lively streets of the city. For people in Spain, this day is known as Dia de las Brujas (day of the witches). On the 1st November, All Saints Day, Barcelona holds an amazing and traditional festival called La Castanyada, where you can treat yourself to chestnuts and other delicious delicacies, while enjoying live musical performances. Finally, the 3-day festivities end with Dia de los Muertos, which is day in which the day in which many remember and pray for the deceased.

My time in this gigantic and incredible city was truly a time that I will never forget. Although my visit was short, I was still lucky enough to see and experience so much. Visiting the second biggest city in Spain served to enhance my overall appreciation of this unbelievable country, and also helped me to understand the diversity of the different regions within Spain. This should go without saying, but I highly recommend visiting this marvel of a city at least once in your life.

Hasta Luego,

Aaron Marrero