Systems of Higher Education in an international Comparison: Spain<title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../CSS/2col_leftNav.css" type="text/css" /> </head> <body> <div id="masthead"> <h1 id="siteName"> Systems of Higher Education in an international Comparison: Spain</h1> <h1 id="subTitle"> Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Universidad Carlos III, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia</h1> <div id="globalNav"> <a href="../educationalsystem/school.html">Educational System</a> | <a href="../universitylife/living.html"> University Life</a> | <a href="../work/internship.html">Work</a> | Madrid | <a href="../valencia/valencia.html">Valencia</a>| <a href="../authors.html">Authors</a></div> </div>  <div id="content"> <h2 id="pageName"> Free Time Activities and Night Life in Madrid </h2> <div id="breadCrumb"> <a href="#free">Free Time</a> | <a href="#marcha">Night Life: La Marcha</a></div> <div class="story"> <h3> Free Time<a id="free"></a></h3> <p> As one might expect, Madrid offers quite a variety of things you can do in your spare time. First of all I’d like to mention some things in the ‘regular’, ‘hobby’ category. For those of you who are into sports, there besides gyms plenty of possibilities to do bouldering, swimming or jogging. Especially among the gym studios and swimming pools, there are a lot of publically run places which you can find on <a href="http://www.munimadrid.es/portal/site/munimadrid/menuitem.f4bb5b953cd0b0aa7d245f019fc08a0c/?vgnextoid=a14e0c2125662110VgnVCM2000000c205a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=cb1a171c30036010VgnVCM100000dc0ca8c0RCRD&idCapitulo=4571717"> Madrid’s official website</a>. I’d also really recommend visiting the swimming pool near Metro station Lago. It’s an extremely nice and as far as I know the only outdoor pool in Madrid. Talking about boulder, you can find more information <a href="http://www.espacioaccion.com/">here</a> and <a href="http://www.bulderking.com/"> here</a>. For jogging there are two good possibilities: the Retiro if you prefer an urban atmosphere or Casa de Campo which is more like a forest (though not quite) but is quite a bit outside of Madrid.</p> <p> Besides sports I’d like to note the amusement park situated in Casa de Campo. It’s a small amusement park which is not perfect but ok. If you want something bigger and more exciting, there’s another park, the Warner Bros. Park which is located somewhat further outside of Madrid.</p> <p> Now for those who are interested in shopping, there’s Calle Fuencarral as a street full of small shops, of course El Corte Inglés as the big store for everything and El Rastro, Madrid’s biggest flee market taking place every Sunday.</p> <p> Talking about Sunday, Botellón is another way to spend your time. It basically means sitting in the streets drinking alcohol. This sounds a little dumb but it actually seems kind a tradition. You’ll see that on Sundays when streets in certain areas of Madrid, e.g. La Latina, are full of people doing exactly this.</p> <p> Last but not least for the more intellectually oriented, two ways to spend your free time would be doing an Intercambio, i.e. a language tandem or going to the movies. For the first one, I can recommend the black board at <a href="http://www.goethe.de/ins/es/mad/"> Goethe Institut Madrid</a> for finding tandem partners, regarding movies, there’s of course theaters everywhere in Madrid but I’d like to specially mention the <a href="http://www.yelmocineplex.es/ideal_yelmo_cineplex.html">Yelmo Cineplex</a> located at C/ Doctor Cortezo 6 near Tirso de Molina as they show the original versions of movies usually with Spanish subtitles.</p> <p> Finally, without many words, Planetarium, Zoo and IMAX are further options to keep you busy in Madrid. And in case you run out of options, Siesta is always a good way to spend your spare time and besides it’s very Spanish.</p> <h3> Night Life: La Marcha<a id="marcha"></a></h3> <p> Talking about where to go out at night in Madrid, which is what the Spanish term ‚La Marcha‘ refers to, there’s of course plenty of places all over Madrid. Nevertheless, I’d like to mention a few areas and spots that have a certain idea or type of going out related to them.</p> <p> First of all there are two really well known and big places to go out: Chueca and C/ de las Huertas. The latter one is a street (plus a few side streets) full of bars where you can eat and / or just drink at. This streets won’t fill until midnight but then, it’s usually crowded by people Friday and Saturday night. One should also mention that you usually get invited on the first drink by people assiciated with a certain bar working in the streets trying to get people into the bars. Make sure to look up the question ¿Un chupito graits? In a dictionary before going out in huertas.</p> <p> <img src="images/marcha.jpg" /><br /> Figure: Where to go out in Madrid (Source: Google Earth) </p> <p> Now if you’re more into dancing and discos you’ll be better off with the first of the two places mentioned before: Chueca. You should know that Chueca is mainly Madrid’s Gay district, but not only! It’s also the place where you find most of Madrid’s discotheques. Therefore, it’s one of Madrid’s most crowded areas, during the nights, especially but not only on weekends.</p> <p> Now besides these two really big and crowded places, there’s Tribunal, to what I known for its more stylish and snobby discotheques, Malasaña known as a place for alternative bars and Argüelles where, due to its location, you’ll find more student oriented bars and prices and of course more students in the bars, though paying the price of being located somewhat further from the city center.</p> <p> Last but not least, I’d like to mention Palacio Gaviria as a discotheque situated in the very heart of Madrid, near Puerta del Sol which is of special interest for the fact that there’s an international party every Thursday for which you can usually get a ‘free entrance’ flyer at university. It’s the perfect occasion to meet other Erasmus people or Spanish people interested in other languages. Besides it’s an extremely big and stylish location which is also worth a try on days other than Thursday.</p> <div id="Div1"> <em>Author: <a href="http://www.juergentreml.de/">Jürgen Treml</a></em></div> </div> </div>  <div id="navBar"> <div id="sectionLinks"> <h3> The City of Madrid</h3> <ul> <li><a href="geography.html">Geography, Population & Administration</a></li> <li><a href="sights.html">Sightseeing</a></li> <li><a href="living.html">Living in Madrid</a></li> <li><a href="work.html">Working in Madrid</a></li> <li><a href="universities.html">Universities</a></li> <li>Free Time & La Marcha</li> </ul> <h3> Universidad Carlos III</h3> <ul> <li><a href="carlos_general.html">General Information</a></li> <li><a href="carlos_geography.html">Geography</a></li> <li><a href="carlos_technicalcampus.html">Technical Campus </a></li> <li><a href="carlos_thedegree.html">The Degree </a></li> <li><a href="carlos_communication.html">Communication</a></li> <li><a href="carlos_comparison.html">Comparison</a></li> </ul> <h3> Universidad Politécnica de Madrid</h3> <ul> <li><a href="upm_history.html">History</a></li> <li><a href="upm_facts.html">Facts & Figures </a></li> <li><a href="upm_locations.html">Faculties & Locations</a></li> <li><a href="upm_fi.html">Faculty for Computer Science</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="relatedLinks"> <h3> Related Links</h3> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.esmadrid.com/" target="_blank">esMADRID.com</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.guiadelocio.com/madrid/" target="_blank">Guía del Ocio</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.descubremadrid.com/" target="_blank">Descubre Madrid</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.munimadrid.es/" target="_blank">Ayuntamiento de Madrid</a></li> </ul> </div> </div>  <div id="siteInfo"> (C) 2008, Stefan Edbauer, Arno Scherhorn, <a href="http://www.juergentreml.de/">Jürgen Treml</a> </div> <br /> <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? 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