Somosaguas, day 1

When you say “September, the 30th”, you think about autumn. About the high point of autumn season. Actually, you probably imagine a day in an endless series in which weather is as unpredictable as the state of mind of a woman. Perhaps women in Madrid are generally in a good mood because the 30th day of September about which I want to write reminds me of the torrid summer in Bucharest.

This is the day of my first contact with Somosaguas Campus. I had to go there for an Erasmus presentation meeting, another positive thing to remember when I’ll be thinking about how well organized Complutense is. I had my white shirt on me because appearing in public like a scruffy guy just isn’t my type.

After the presentation meeting, I thought that I should go take a look inside the university building. I get inspired by places where I can find many strangers, such as train stations. Train stations bring in front of you thousands of physiognomies of different shapes, sizes and colours. Inspiration, however, passes through your stomach, so I decided it’s time to eat. Of course, I started looking for the caffetteria. “Go just around the corner and you’ll see it in front”.

I can now imagine my dumb/surprised/displeased face when I first saw that coridor. I couldn’t believe that in such a well ranked institution I can find a piece of Rahova (Bucharest’s dirtiest neighbourhood). I stepped forward hoping that I can find some soup to remind me of Bucharest’s 1,5 euro menus that could feed a horse. I found nothing. They didn’t have any soup. And if they had had, it probably hadn’t been 1,5 euros. They had beer, however; a “normal” thing when you think that any student needs a cold one before classes.

This was day one. What did I learn? “Don’t lose time ironing your shirts”.

P. S.: I still don’t know if the guys on the coridor in front of the caffetteria are rebelling or not. Neither do I know what are they rebelling against. I’ll try to find out in the next days.