Paco´s Life: Madrid

ICEX at Malasaña

Well, here some pictures from the second ICEX Thursday night out. This time the environment was not so posh, first a few sangrias and tapas in the Plaza Mayor area…

Then we went to Malasña…

Martuky and Dublin

Meeting Elenita (hello Pons ) who was arround with a friend…

And finally closing last Malasaña´s club…

Dubai, Beirut, Estocolmo, Tokio y Jesús

All pictures here

Icex at Palacio de Gaviria

As I said in a previous post, before I leave for my new job in Sweden I have to spend a month and a half in Madrid, doing some training together with the other 71 guys (and some substitutes) who got the positions. Actually this training is been exactly as it had been described to me by the people from previous years: fucking boring, appart from a few exceptions, the contents are not interesting at all and I dont think they will be useful to me. However, the environment there could not be better. This was also quite expectable, put 71 guys together for a month and a half, most of them ex Erasmus and more interested in partying and travelling than in the “exciting” job to be done in the ICEX offices and the thing will definitely get wild… As it is quite complicated to remember the names of so many people we ended up calling each other using the destinations i.e. my name is now “Estocolmo”.

So the first demostration of what this period in Madrid is going to be about came the second Thursday, when most of us decided to go out to “Palacio de Gaviria”, one of the most popular discos for foreign people in Madrid and where I have some connections thanks to a friend from university who is working there.

We first drunk at the Orion apartments, it seems that this place is going to be the main ICEX place to meet before going out. Thanks to Guatemala, Pekín and Sideny for their hospitality. An old Erasmus friend of me, Sergio, who was back in Madrid after a year teaching Spanish in San Diego joined us.

friki picture: computer guys drinking..

From there we went straight to the Palacio, David managed to do what it seemed impossible (thanks dude) and arround 30 ICEX computer guys got inside the place for free. The party did not dissapoint..

Therean, Varsovia, Taipei, Ryhad, HoChiMin, Estocolmo, Sergio…

Washington, the crack

As we had lectures next morning people was leaving during the night so at the end just a few of us stayed until the place closed…

Last ones standing (plus México): Miami, Pekín and Estocolmo

It was already early morning and we had to be in just in an hour so the night ended eating some “churros” (spanish meal) and going home for a few minutes rest…

All pictures here

Bye bye Wales

Hello people,

Well, finaly my future got clear, I am leaving Cardiff, it was already the time for a change. Finally it is going to be a great deal, I dont have to give up the Phd since these friendly brits are happy with me doing it as a part-time student from… Sweden. Yes, I applied for an internship at the Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade (www.icex.es) which maninly consists on been the IT officer in one of its offices all over the world and they gave me Stockholm. I will be there for a year. I have to say that I am a little pissed since they completely ignored my much more exotic preferred destinations (Hong Kong, Singapur and these kind of places..) and sent me to suffer this cold weather but, anyway, I guess it willl also be fun there. Furthermore, to make my nordic experience more complete, I have been assigned by my Phd supervisor to a project which requires me to spend a couple of months in Denmark, Copenhagen so I can start getting used to the weather before the Swedish experience. Finally, before all that I have to spend a month and a half in Madrid doing some trainning. I know, confusing (see summary below). Anyway, as usual, you are all wellcome to pay me a visit in any of these 3 places.I will try to extend the Captain Flint religion in these cold lands… Hugs!PACO´s LIFE IN THE NEXT 15 MONTHS4 June 06 - 15 July 06: Madrid
15 July 06 - 1 October 06: Copenhagen
1 October 06 - 1 October 07: Stockholm