Let's Chew the Fat

Lauren went finally home as well, back to Switzerland! So now the both of us are back in our hometowns, enjoying every second of it. In the beginning of this episode, we raved about the concerts we went to. Lauren saw Seafret and Kristýna was able to squeeze 2 concerts into one single week: Yungblud and Imagine Dragons. From then on, all we've been listening to on repeat are those 3 music artists / bands.

This is our second time going home for our school break and it is always something. We had some experiences and expectations from when we went home during Christmas but it turned out to be something completely different. We have to adjust to being alone (in a different sense than what we go through in Spain and we really struggle with it), our eating habits have suffered a little change as well and so on and so forth.

The summer has already started and we hope you're enjoying to your fullest!

With love,

L&K

Our IG account: 2strangers2friends

CREDITS:

intro+outro: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/walz/name, License code: DVGPO19IQVTYWXCB

sectioning music: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/all-good-folks/together

We're back with the remotely recorded podcast episodes. We've done all of our final exams, the semester's officially over and Kristyna's already back home in the Czech Republic. Lauren's enjoying her last days in Madrid while also still trying her best to recover from being sick (it's not going so well, but we'll get there).

Our IG account: 2strangers2friends

CREDITS:

intro+outro: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/walz/name, License code: DVGPO19IQVTYWXCB

sectioning music: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/all-good-folks/together

We were so excited to go to a concert, but of course, fate wasn’t on our side. We got stuck in an elevator on our way there. But luckily, we made it safe and sound and it was amazing! We also spent some time with our friends, worked and studied A LOT. It was our final week of exams, which has been pretty stressful on us. But we ended the week with statistics exam, which we crammed for insanely. And on top of all of that, we both got sick, which didn’t make the whole situation any easier.

Oh! Can’t forget ice hockey! There is a world championship going on and so Kristýna’s world is consumed by that completely, obviously! (Lauren just gets updates from her about Switzerland.)

Today we talk about podcasts. Mainly about our own (no narcissism there haha). We’ve come a long way (already on our 30th episode!) and so we wanted to share a little bit about how it all came together, where and when the idea was born. We are so incredibly happy we decided to start a podcast 2 weeks after meeting at university and now we can capture and record all of our memories and experiences.

And at the end, since we’re talking about podcasting, we shared our favorite ones that we listen to!

With love,

L&K

Our IG account: 2strangers2friends

CREDITS:

intro+outro: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/walz/name, License code: DVGPO19IQVTYWXCB

sectioning music: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/all-good-folks/together

This past week was quite full: We studied for and did another Statistics midterm. We played Paddle (and won!). Kristyna watched the hockey tournament, Lauren watched Eurovision. We organised a Birthday surprise that included collective painting (as Kristyna likes to call it), a great self-made cake, a Sidra pouring challenge, and balloons. It also required Lauren's best acting skills. And we had multiple study sessions in preparation for the *dreaded* Lengua final exam in Spanish and (eventually!) finally got it over with. 

For this episode's main topic, we decided to talk about loneliness and being alone. We focus a little bit on the intense amount of time we were forced to spend alone after first moving abroad to study and the loneliness that we were confronted with during that period of time. We talk about how we both dealt with it and what we learned from it. The difference between being alone and being lonely. The importance of being able to be alone. And much more. We hope you enjoy listening to this episode! 

With love, 

L&K Our

Our IG account: 2strangers2friends 

CREDITS:

intro+outro: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/walz/name, License code: DVGPO19IQVTYWXCB

sectioning music: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/all-good-folks/together

Last week, it was Kristýna’s birthday so we celebrated it by going to a rooftop bar. She had her last visitors this semester so she spent the weekend with them.

We also had our last couple of classes of this semester, which feels really weird because it doesn’t seem like a long time ago, when we just started the second semester of university abroad in Madrid. With the semetser ending comes the dreadful project finishing and exam preparation.

For the main part of this episode, we asked our friends and family to ask us questions and then answered them on the podcast. They were really interesting and some of them even hard to answer!

With love,

L&K

Our IG account: 2strangers2friends

CREDITS: intro+outro: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/walz/name, License code: DVGPO19IQVTYWXCB

sectioning music: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/all-good-folks/together

The semester's almost over: So, we're finishing off our classes and handing in our last assignments. Over the weekend, Kristýna watched the Lacrosse Tournament in her home country, which lead to her feeling very homesick, as she was missing out on a tradition that means a lot to her, her family and her friends back home. On Sunday, Lauren went to a Feria in Madrid where she got to enjoy food, flamenco and different DJs. Other than that, we were both productive working and writing some final essays. 

And: This is a very special episode! We recorded it on Kristýna's 20th Birthday! We continued the tradition and she shared a list of 20 things that she learned in 20 years. She talked about everything the past 20 years taught her (sometimes the hard way) about different aspects of life – family, friends and herself. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

With love,

Our IG account: 2strangers2friends

intro+outro: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/walz/name, License code: DVGPO19IQVTYWXCB

sectioning music: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/all-good-folks/together, License code: MQAKLZFRMPUJV80Z

Again, we worked on a lot of assignments, complained about the weather in Madrid and instead of participating on completing a test, Kristýna was watching lacrosse games (there was a tournament going on in Chequia). So yeah, the first part was really interesting…

For the main part, the topic this week is expectations we had about studying abroad even before deciding to do it or knowing that we were accepted that might have not become completely true. Kristýna's biggest one was finding a job and Lauren's perfecting Spanish quickly. Maybe this episode will make your picture about studying abroad a little clearer!

At the end, we also mention the opposite of this, which were things that happened and we did not expect them to. We hope a couple of our pieces of advice will help you with what to expect or maybe more so not expect so vigorously from your study abroad experience.

With love,

L&K

Our IG account: 2strangers2friends

CREDITS:

intro+outro: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/walz/name, License code: DVGPO19IQVTYWXCB

sectioning music: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/all-good-folks/together

This podcast was recorded right after we had a week off from university because of Semana Santa. We both had visitors, which means our week was packed. That's why we decided to limit ourselves to just sharing the highlights with you. Of course, we spend a lot of time talking about the food we consumed, as this was a key feature of this past week. Pizza, sushi, brunch, crepes... we had it all. We also talk about (finally!) getting our hair cut, a newly discovered amusement park, and karaoke. It was busy week for both of us and we definitely didn't get enough sleep. But we had a wonderful time enjoying Madrid with our visitors.

And for the main topic we decided to talk about just that: visitors. Because as wonderful as it sounds (and is), we've noticed that having visitors while studying abroad can also be quite challenging. Especially in the beginning of your time abroad. So, we wanted to recap all of the experiences we've had with visitors (friends & family) so far, what we struggled with and what we appreciated. We thought that this would be an interesting topic to discuss, since we did not expect there to be any downsides to having visitors.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

With love,

CREDITS: intro+outro: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/walz/name, License code: DVGPO19IQVTYWXCB

sectioning music: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/all-good-folks/together, License code: MQAKLZFRMPUJV80Z

Kristýna had her sister visiting during the week and it was basically a food trip. They went to a sushi place, got churros, bubble tea and an amazing pizza, where Lauren actually went as well. There is a 5 minute talk only about the pizza ('cause it was absolutely delicious), so be aware.

For the main part of the episode, we invitied a first official guest on the podcast! Gabriele is a Lithuanian living currently in Madrid as well. Since we share a lot of similar experiences with studying and living abroad, learning Spanish and obviously culture shocks, we thought it would be great to talk about it with someone who’s lived in Madrid for 5 years already and maybe has a little different perspective now.

Gabriele gave us many tips on how to keep in contact with friends, how to effectively improve our Spanish and how to meet new people. It was a really great input making us feel even more positive about our decision and future.

With love,

L&K

Our IG account: 2strangers2friends

CREDITS: intro+outro: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/walz/name, License code: DVGPO19IQVTYWXCB

sectioning music: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/all-good-folks/together, License code: MQAKLZFRMPUJV80Z

This past week, Kristyna's sister came to visit. So, the two of them spent the past couple of days going from one restaurant to another. Bubble tea, sushi, a picnic... Her sister's visit was filled with great food. We also discovered a new pizza restaurant and – of course – spent an unreasonable amount of time discussing this newly discovered pizza. Cause it was pretty amazing. Other than that, we had a sleepover during which we studied Statistics (so much fun), played Sims, watched a movie called Tinder Swindler (which blew our mind), and, of course, cooked! And: Our greatest achievement this past week was definitely taking (and not failing!) our Statistics midterm. 

For the main topic, we look back at when we first moved to Spain and give our past selves some advice. We've definitely learned a lot since we first started studying abroad and there's a lot that we wish we'd known when we first moved to Madrid. It was quite interesting to reflect on where (and who) we were back then and we hope that maybe our advice can also help somebody else who's just moved abroad or is thinking of maybe moving abroad in the future.

We hope you enjoy this episode! 

With love,

sectioning music: Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/all-good-folks/together, License code: MQAKLZFRMPUJV80Z