When I first arrived in Madrid, me and fellow Aggie Jenny Kim decided to explore the country together before school officially started on January 29th. Our first day we tried tapas in Plaza de Santa Anna, explored the cathedral/ palace, and ate churros as San Gines. The next few days we did other activities such as visit Museo del Prado and Retiro Park. I greatly advise incoming exchange students to reach out to other Aggies while abroad because even if you didn’t know someone well in College Station, it is always great to become close abroad. My first impressions of Madrid and Spain as a whole were all great. The Spanish people were so nice and even though I’m not fluent in the language, they appreciated the effort I was making. There were also so many activities to do, and so many places worth seeing. It was quite different from College Station in this aspect because it feels like activities there are limited and revolve around the university.
Furthermore, I did have some culture shock when first moving to Madrid. I would say the top three differences I encountered were eating times (especially dinner which was always very late), a large smoking culture, and not being able to use a dryer. The first few days it was difficult to adjust myself to these things but eventually I did not mind.
As for my first few days at the business school at UC3M, it is very smaller than Mays Business School. I would say however that the classes are very diverse because there are so many international students and most courses are taught in English. I have met so many people from all over the world in my classes and it has been such a surreal experience. There are other differences as well that were quite odd to me. The biggest difference is class structure. Students will have one class a week dedicated to lecture and another class where you would do activities to implement things you have learned in the lecture. Each class is different but it can include quizzes, presentations, or group assignments. I would like to add that there still are some similarities to Mays like knowledgable professors and friendly class atmospheres.