Today all of the international students at Comillas University had an orientation seminar at the main campus off of Alberto Alguilera. Placement tests were given, presentations were made, and there was even a coffee and breakfast break, where tiny little donuts and chocolate pastries were served. It was delightful. Until, that is, the coordinators announced where individual meetings with each college’s advisor would be held. Business was to meet in the basement, engineers on the second floor, social work and theology on the second floor, and social sciences (including international relations and psychology) was to meet… at the other campus. Now, it’s not like this other campus is a bus ride way. Instead its located in a Northern suburb of Madrid, in the mountains, a good 45 minutes away.

And so, without any further directions, and without any clear understanding of the metro system, I enlisted the help five other students (also Americans, quite nice) from the same school and we tried to make our way to the Cantoblanco campus. It started off well enough; we were able to orient ourselves in the city, find the nearest metro, and even get on the proper line. But a little known secret is that you cannot ride the metro all the way to Cantoblanco. You need to leave the metro while you’re still within city limits and hop on a train. Without this knowledge, my newfound friends and myself found ourselves lost in Northern Madrid, unable to speak the language and unable to interpret the confusing bus signs (at one point we tried to take a bus to the University, but ended going to the neighboring university instead). It was quite the adventure.

In the end, we missed the advisor meeting. In fact, we didn’t even make it to Comillas. We did, however, spend over three hours on public transit, as well as wasted over 10 euro on bus/metro tariffs. It was one of the most stressful and annoying days of my life, and Madrid definitely got the best of me. But rest assured, it won’t be for long! Tomorrow morning, I will again try to find Comillas so I can register for my classes. Wish me luck!

With my love from Spain,
-Krista