Una Cristiana

The narrator, a determined young woman, has entered the male‑dominated world of civil engineering. She lists the demanding courses—arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, French, English, and a host of technical subjects—while recalling the long hours of study, occasional illnesses, and the pressure to keep her place in a tightly‑controlled curriculum. Her voice mixes self‑deprecating humor with pride, giving a vivid picture of what it meant to fight for an education in a society that expected women to stay at home.

Beyond the lecture halls, she paints a lively portrait of a cramped Madrid boarding house, with its three patios, noisy tenants, stray cats, and the ever‑present gossip that fills its corridors. A memorable night spent at a notorious inn leaves her with both comic anecdotes and a hint of danger, shaping her view of the city’s underbelly. Listeners will be drawn into her witty, observational narrative that captures both the rigor of her studies and the colorful chaos of urban life.