The last week of my stay in Madrid has started and it is not really a stay in Madrid anymore, as I am writing this blog by the sea, with the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks in the background. A little further down there is a small […]
Marc Thompson
13 posts
I am already in the second week of the course at the Escuela Técnica de Bicicleta (ETB) in Madrid’s San Isidro district. Last week we were a group of five students and two to three teachers who helped us build our first bicycle frame. Like last week, the course is […]
What is obviously missing in this blog is the official – not to say the most important – goal of my stay in Madrid: to consolidate my Spanish skills in order to be able to attend the PH Bern (University of Teacher Education). In this post I want to summarize […]
Last week I wrote about feeling a bit overwhelmed in the city with all its possibilities. On top of that, many experiences are less enjoyable without friends to share them with. So this week I want to share with you three things that have helped me meet great people and […]
I’ve been in Madrid for just over a week now. At noon on a Sunday, I said goodbye to country life and handed over the duties to a new workaway. Then off on the bus and into Europe’s sixth-largest city, which was of course an overwhelming change of scenery. To […]
Before I arrived, Fredi sent me a picture via WhatsApp of a pile of old steel bicycles. He wanted us to weld a tandem together during my stay and I have to admit that I wasn’t sure if I liked the idea or not. From my experience in Switzerland, it […]
If you don’t know the feeling of sinking into social media, YouTube, or any other form of modern and simple entertainment, you might find this blog post a little alienating. The title does a pretty good job of describing what this post is about: how consumerism affects my relationship with […]
This week I want to share three anecdotes with you that pleased me and went well, and three where things went wrong, embarrassed me, or even made me a little angry. I’ll start with the more negative ones and then enjoy the positive memories. 15 minutes of pure joy for […]
Before coming here to do this Workaway I had a similar conversation a few times: Now that I’ve spent a few days here, I can answer your questions. At the moment I’m relaxing in the small, poorly insulated hut I live in, which brings me to the first point I […]
I am sitting on a Swiss train. Soon I will change trains to travel through France and – after a few more changes – arrive in Madrid in the evening. This gives me a sense of déjà vu: in 2015, I spent two months in the USA to fulfil the […]