Am I C2 in Spanish?—The End of my Spanish mission

I got the results of the C2 exam in Spanish. You want to know, don't ya. OK, here they are:

	Prueba 1	Prueba 2	Prueba 3
	Uso de la lengua, comprensión de lectura y auditiva	Destrezas integradas: comprensión auditiva, comprensión de lectura y expresión e interacción escritas	Destrezas integradas: comprensión de lectura y expresión e interacción orales
Puntuación máxima	33.33	33.33	33.34
Puntuación mínima exigida	20	20	20
Puntuación obtenida	26.92 puntos	11.57 puntos	12.22 puntos
Calificación	APTO	NO APTO	NO APTO
CALIFICACIÓN GLOBAL	NO APTO

Translated into human speech: Overall, I failed. I am C2 in listening and reading, but I did not pass in writing and speaking. I expected a bad result in the written part, because we were supposed to write three essays in two hours. I was taking my time, had to take a break to go to the bathroom and in the end, I did not reserve enough time to correct my mistakes. But I was really confident about the oral part. I was like María from the soap operas—speaking like a machine gun. I hesitated only a few times. One thing that could have pulled me down was that I was trying to impress them with some phrases that are used only in books and nobody would use them in the everyday speech, as the books were my main source of vocabulary ("También quería hacer hincapié en el hecho que..."). But most probably, I did not sound natural and the number of my mistakes was too high. But at least I know this certificate is really a tough one.

This mission was by far my longest. Seven months of learning and then three more before I will have moved in another country. I chose it so, because I wanted to learn one language, really well and I chose Spanish to be that language. And another reason is that I really enjoyed Madrid.

The exam says I am C2 in reading and listening and somewhere around B2/C1 in speaking and writing. Fair enough, not bad. I am comfortable in Spanish. There are moments when I come to talk to a shop assistant and can't say a word. Then I feel bad. But consequently, I realize it happens to me also in Slovak.

Things I learned

There are also some things I discovered about language learning during this mission. Things that I will do from now on differently:

Regular one-to-one language exchange with a stable person is better than going for language exchange meetings in bars

You avoid that small talk part in the beginning.

It is really important to get the pronunciation right in the first phase and only then read a lot

I began with the books and only then learned that 'b' and 'v' are pronounced the same in Spanish. It cost me a lot to relearn to pronounce it right.

Extra time does not mean progressing at the same pace

When you have little time, you are in pressure and you keep using every moment. If you have several months ahead, you ease the tempo.

But it was not just these things. I also learned that one o'clock is too soon to have a lunch, that it is easier to understand somebody from South America than an Andalusian (Well, except the Argentina. Nobody understands Argentinians.), that it is "okay" if they cut you the internet connection one week before the requested date, that the waves for surfing are so much better at the North of Spain and that if you are a guy, you should go to Medellín, Colombia (supposedly, the gender ration is close to 2:1—although I stay sceptical about this).

Hispanophone World

Here is the map of new the part of the world I can make myself understood, thanks to the last year:

And what makes it even better is that unlike Portuguese, Spanish is much more homogeneous across various countries.

Goodbye Madrid, you will be missed. Especially because of your perfect inhabitants. Thank you, my friends for making this stay such a wonderful experience and see you around ;)

Video: Me Speaking Spanish

So here it is, my first short and embarassing video in Spanish. Sorry for the bad quality, my webcam was really trying her best. There are subtitles in English and Spanish, My mistakes are marked in the Spanish subtitles with brackets "[]".

Iberian Roadtrip—Part 5: Madrid

End of the Journey: Madrid

Evelyn stayed in Granada, so we continued to Madrid with Jura.

The first thing about Madrid: It's dirty. There is always trash in the streets. Once, I was in a pub eating and dropped a piece on the table. The waiter came and when he was changing my paper tablecloth, he took that piece and threw it on the ground. In his own restaurant. Interesting...

The royal palace is certainly worth a visit, the art museums are the one of the best in the world, many of them for free. Prado competes with Louvre. But somehow, when it comes to architecture, it's not that fancy. I probably had big expectations from a city with five million inhabitants, especially after Granada. In Madrid it is hard to find a building that looks older than three hundred years.

Madrid, huh?

The "prettier Buckingham palace"

And it was more packed than New York. We came on Saturday and there was a river of countless heads. So, because Jura had to leave next morning, we just had one evening to discover the heart of Spain. We had a good, exhausting walk. The hostel was horrible, there was a some guy in our room from Ethiopia or Somalia who lived there for longer time. And just because of that, he behaved as if the room belonged to him and was being a dick. In the morning, I drove Jura to the airport and then my relationship with Madrid began, since I had the city only for myself.

Soo many people

Cibeles. Here is where the Real Madrid fans celebrate

Plaza de Callao. It has a cinema where there
are many movie premieres. It was half closed
because some Hollywood stars had come.

Atocha—a train station with its own jungle

The boulevards of Madrid

View from the Palacio de Cibeles

Don Quijote, Sancho Panda, Miguel de Cervantes
and an annoying tourist touching Sancho's ass

-------------------------------------

It's already six months since those events. Six months since I came to Spain and it all passed really quickly. I feel here like home. I am now confident in Spanish and strive to polish it to C2. The exam date is November, so until then, I will keep exploring this place. :)

Iberian Roadtrip—Part 4: Granada and Hiking in Sierra Nevada

Stop #4: Granada

We arrived to Granada the same day we left Gibraltar. First complication—we could not drive to our hostel, because the road looked blocked by a retractable pylon, as if it were private. So we drove around, failed to find another entrance, but instead found a spot for parking on the hill with a beautiful view of Granada. It turned out it was good we had decided not to stay and instead try talk to the intercom next to the pylon. They let us in. The thing is, there are still nomad gypsies living in that area and they keep their carriages in the old center. The Cordobans want them out, that is why the entrance is blocked during the night.

I was also told it was good we did not park on the hill, because I might have been robbed :)

So the first day, we did a trek in Sierra Nevada. The 4 days of travelling were taking their toll and we woke up quite late. Hence, we chose only a short route. Still, it was the first time I saw cherry trees blossom in March. And behind them, there were mountains covered with snow.

Mountain village, where we started the trek

Foothills of Sierra Nevada

Cherry flowers in March

To the victory!

In the evening we got to explore Granada itself. From our hostel, there was a beautiful view of the palace complex Alhambra. But there was not much time to visit it, so we plunged into the (really) narrow streets of the old town. Btw, I still fail to understand, how could the bus drivers manage in that part of the town. In some streets, they had like 10 cm on each side, between the car and the wall.

The old town felt Arabic. There were many places where you could sit down to smoke shisha. A bit lower, we came to a more Spanish-looking part and our mouths got to taste what the real tapas are like. With every bought beer, you receive something small to eat. Three beer rounds and you don't have to have dinner.

Alhambra at night

The old Arabic city

Fancy a smoke?

It was damn cold in the morning!

Tapasitas :P The best goodbye kiss from Granada. The most beautiful Spanish city I have seen.

Iberian Roadtrip—Part 3: Gibraltar

Stop #3: Gibraltar

On the fourth day we wanted to get from Sevilla to Granada, with a stop in Gibraltar. So what's so interesting about this rock that Spain and England are quarreling for even nowadays? As we agreed with Jura, the moment Gibraltar is transferred from England to Spain, it will stop being interesting for tourists altogether. There are not many sightseeings, save for the rock itself. But I have to admit the way the city grew from within a military fortress resulted in an interesting street layout.

"Jura, stand there for a picture."
"Nope, I don't like that flag in front of it."

Crossing the airport like a boss

There is British police with their funny hats and supermarkets that are full of employees who don't speak a word in English. So just like England.

OK, not completely. They pay with Gibraltar pound, the value of which is pegged to the British pound at the rate 1:1. Their car IDs have GBZ as the identification of the country, not GB.

We passed through the border and also the famous crossing of a road and an airport. After a walk through the historical core, we took a cable car to the Upper Rock National Reserve, the home of the Gibraltar Macaques. At the lower station there was a sign, warning that the monkeys associate plastic bags with food and snatch them. The steward in the cable car warned us that the monkeys associate plastic bags with food and snatch them. And Evelyn did have a visible plastic bag with her and did not hide it. The monkeys, upon seeing it, associated it with food and snatched it. Within a fraction of a second. So one big macaque had a lunch and did not even want to share it with youngsters that were around, begging for a piece. Well, Evelyn had a lesson.

Among other things on the rock to see, there is a cave and also some old military fortresses from the beginning of the 20^th century.

This way!

Upper Rock

The City of Gibraltar, the Airport
and Línea de la Concepción in the background

The visitors

The locals

Don't fuck with me human.
Where are the biscuits?

Nothing is better than a siesta

Abandoned military installations on the Rock

Europa Point—the southernmost tip.
A lighthouse, a mosque and a playground.

Europa Point lighthouse

If you look closely (and magnify the picture)
you will see Africa

In the end we sat at the Europa Point—the southernmost tip of the peninsula, ate things from the backpacks, while observing Africa, and watching big cargo ships crossing the Pillars of Hercules. Gibraltar—check!

Iberian Roadtrip—Part 2: Sevilla

Stop #2: Sevilla

From Lisbon we went directly to Sevilla. We slept in a building built in a typical Moorish style. Quite a cute, cheap hostel. It was cool, except that the toilette was directly in the room, divided only by a plastic wall that did not reach up to the ceiling and thus your pals could hear and enjoy all your "activities" there.

So what is in Sevilla to see? The most searched places are Torre del Oro at the riverside, the Sevilla's cathedral, which is the biggest gothic cathedral in the world, the gardens of Alcázar palace complex and the grave of Christoph Columbus. But the thing, due to which Sevilla was special for me, was the Metropol Parasol structure. It takes courage to place tens of meters high wooden mushrooms in one of the squares of the old city. But the result is very interesting and the complex fits in well. You can have a stroll on top of the mushrooms and there is one beer included in the price of the ticket. :)

Oh, did I mention that I found a mini-version of the European rocket Ariane 4 there? It has been there since the Expo '92 in Sevilla. The main topic of the exposition was "Time of the discoveries", because it took place at the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the Americas.

Our hostel

The river Guadalquivir and Torre del Oro at the dusk

The Sevilla's cathedral

Maahgic Mushrooms

And the view from the top

There she is, Ariane 4, tiny between the trees

Too bad we had only one evening for this city. It has a space rocket goddammit!

Spanish Mission

So there it is, I changed Porto with its rainy winter for sunny and dry Madrid. There was a lot going on in between. I will write about those events and about the end of my Portuguese mission in the following days.

But now: The next 7 months I will spend in Spain. On the 17th of October I will sit for a C2 exam at the Cervantes Institute. Spanish is the first language of which I never had any classes, but it is so similar to Portuguese that I am pretty confident. I can already communicate and understand short responses. So I am curious to watch my "portiñol" turn into true castellano.

It is March and in Madrid it feels like August in Slovakia already. I am curious about July here. Hm, maybe Ibiza for the summer? :P ¡Hasta la vista, baby!