The new lifestyle of “Mañana, Mañana”
UncategorizedAt Universidad Carlos III of Madrid, a school with around 20,000 students, we can find one student that could be considered to stand out from the crowd. It is Madeleine Nordsjö, a 22 year old girl from Stockholm in Sweden, trying to adapt to her new home in Madrid in Spain.
In late February, the 22 year old student Madeleine, applied to go on an exchange semester in Madrid. Even though she had many choices of where in the world she could go, she always felt like she wanted to explore Spain in a raw, unfiltered way. In March her results came, and she got accepted.
Today, 2 months into her exchange semester, almost 2000 kilometers away from Munich, Madeleine is about to get ready for her next class. I reach out to her by phone call and she is happy to tell me about her experiences. Even though Madeleine and I are going through the same things, we are having two completely different experiences, one in Munich and one in Madrid.
She begins to tell me the story from the beginning and how it all started.
“Well, I have both studied Spanish in school and I really felt an urge to learn more. And to be honest, I really wanted to escape the cold climate in Sweden for a couple of months. And also due to Corona, I definitely found it strategic to pick a country in Europe, which would higher my chances of getting abroad.”
We can both agree that we are tired of the climate in Sweden, even though Munich is quite similar to the Swedish weather. She continues to tell me about her expectations:
“I expected to develop as a person from the experience of moving abroad without feeling a cone in the country / city. I expected a once in a lifetime experience, fun to see what universities look like in another country and to make friends for life but they are going a little crazy right now”.
Even though Madeleine was very excited and had high expectations, things were of course both up and down as her journey started.
“My first week was both awful and amazing. The first day was rough, but at the same time I was very proud of myself that I made the decision to go. Already on day two I met wonderful people at activities that I then hung out with a lot which really helped. So you could say there were mixed feelings of nervousness, curiosity and pride the first week.”
And there is of course many things to get used to, she continues:
“I need to get used to their view of life, their pace and their eating routines … They are incredibly Mañana, Mañana” and they feel no stress, which is very nice and frustrating at the same time. Their siesta is something I did not think of before, but restaurants and shops have closed during the middle of the day which can be frustrating if you forget about it. I have classes that end at 21.00 and then we usually have dinner at 22/23 and onwards at midnight here, which is something very new to me.”
So even though there are a lot of new things to explore and things to get used to when adapting to a new culture, Madeleine thinks that this is an important part of the journey.
“There are things you love and things you dislike. I have gotten to know Madrid as one of the coolest cities I have visited, with its crazy party life, the big shopping streets, the climate combined with the big city feeling (Times Square feeling on the shopping street Gran Via) and the proximity to everything. The public transport system is great and everything is almost within walking distance if you live in the city center, completely different from my home in Stockholm where everything is very distant.”
Madeleine ends by telling me about how her experience so far is both as she expected it, but some parts are completely different from what she expected. She is very curious about how things also are going to change in the next couple of months, now that she is adapted to her new lifestyle of “Mañana, Mañana”.
Not only is now “Madderid” her new nickname and Tinto de Verano her new favorite drink, she already has her heart filled with all memories from her forever second home in Madrid, as her journey continues.
Madeleine’s 6 best advices to exchange students:
- Try to leave home without expectations and high demands on yourself. Take it for what it is and as it comes. It will save you both energy and “disappointments”.
- It’s okay to be alone. You might not find new friends right away and especially not your best friends. You also do not necessarily have to hang out with the same people all the time, friends come and go and you will get to know so many people from different nationalities.
- Treat yourself by trying new things. Especially experiences and food from your country that makes you experience the culture for real. You are only in this place with the same conditions once in a lifetime, so make the best out of it.
- Be open-minded and not judgmental. Try new things and you might click best with people you never knew existed.
- No matter how hard it is, get out. If you are sad, go for a walk. Call a friend or go and have a coffee for yourself. It will make you feel more comfortable on your own and no one will feel better from lying at home. Explore by yourself!
and … 6. DOCUMENT! Take pictures and write some kind of diary about your feelings, experiences and memories. It will help you process things in the present, and be able to look back on the future. It is also a fun way to keep the memories and see where you were in a moment and compare it to how you feel today.