You may be wondering, what is a typical day like when you are a part of MUDEC. Here's what my Tuesdays look like.
To start off my day, I get up and make breakfast at my host family's house. I am lucky to be able to have a full kitchen in my home and usually make something small and quick, such as oatmeal and fruit, or toast with jelly.
After packing up my backpack I head down the street, a quick 10 minute walk, and grab a coffee to-go from Berto. Berto is a local bakery with delicious pastries, sandwiches, and coffee. It is down the street from the Château, making it a popular destination for a quick bite to eat for us Miami students. On days when I am not super busy, it also makes for a nice place to sit and relax while studying or reading a book as I enjoy a coffee.
As I sip my coffee, I walk up the road to the Château for my first class of the day, which is LUX 101. This is a new required class, introduced this semester. It has many different parts to it, including a few language lessons, independent activities, and a classroom session. During class we discuss a lot of cultural topics and dive into the difference between Europe and the U.S. This class is an interesting way to understand the place that we spend a whole semester living in.
Next, I have a little break before taking on my second class of the day, The Rise and Fall of Hitler. This course goes through Adolf Hitler’s life, WWII, and beyond. There are other history courses that you can take while at MUDEC, but you must take at least one because each class goes to a different country for a week on what we call our study tour. My history class is going to Poland and will be touring concentration camps as well as other WWII sites.
When 12:05 comes around, we walk out of our history class and head to the Grand Hall to eat lunch. The lunch is different each day. There is also a salad bar, and most of the time a new kind of soup. To finish, we have a sweet dessert or fresh fruit.
The nice thing about these meals is that it is not typical American food, so it’s fun to be able to try the kind of food that would be served at restaurants around us in Europe.
Traveling on the weekends is a wonderful added bonus of being at MUDEC. Usually after lunch, my group of travel buddies and I try to figure out transportation, places to stay, and what activities we want to embark on when making it to the country of our choice.
Now don’t get me wrong: traveling each weekend is a ton of fun, but the planning gets pretty tricky. One tip I have learned in the time that I have been here is to really plan things out in advance. Whenever you and your group have free time together, figure out your weekend plans! You will feel so much more relaxed instead of waiting until the last minute.
After a little bit of trip planning it’s time to hit the gym. A place called Aquasud is about a 15 minute walk away from the Château, and it has a gym and a pool. It’s a nice place to spend some time just clearing my mind while also working off all those delicious meals.
I head home after a quick workout to make dinner, usually leftovers from lunch or something easy from the grocery store.
As a part of the kinesiology cohort, my principal class is Anatomy. There is a lot of content to remember, so I try to wrap up my evenings with some review and maybe some Netflix before heading to bed.
Each day at MUDEC is different, and the staff and students work hard to arrange activities almost every day in the Château. Our days are kept busy with activities and school work, while our weekends are full of travel and exploring. We really do strive to study, engage, and travel here at MUDEC!
