Only in Spain...

Only in Spain...

...would it be completely normal to walk into an exam part way though and it not be a problem.

...would it be completely fine for the teacher to walk in 15 minutes late and continue as if nothing is wrong.

...would nobody bat an eyelid when in the middle of the class someone suddenly gets out of their seat, lets it clatter and bang and then walk out of the room. (Today a herd of people all chose to leave at once when the teacher set us an activity to do)

...would I have had a 5 day weekend, followed by a 2 day week, a 3 day weekend, and then just a 3 day week before another 4 days off and it's not unusual at all.

On Tuesday my Latin teacher told us that we won't be having class tomorrow because it is International Womens Day and they want to encourage us to go to some conference or another.  That just means another day off for me then, and brings my week day:weekend ratio to 3:4, just slightly more acceptable than last weeks 2:5!

Today I had an exam, less than 3 weeks into classes and I'm already being assessed.  On the plus side it does mean that I have completed a quarter of that course already, it's nice to know that I've got myself some points already.  I'm only taking enough credits to fulfil what Lancaster need us to take, although I don't have to pass them they do count towards my grade for this year, so I want to do ok in them.

I'm not sure what my plans are for the weekend, tomorrow I think I'll try and learn the Latin that I'm not picking up very well in class and then in the evening I'm off out for tapas (chinese tapas apparently) with Jack and Anna, I met Anna on Twitter/Third Year Abroad funnily enough as she was in Belgium last semester and her blog was listed on the website.  We've not actually met up yet so it should be nice.

The rest of the weekend is a little vague, there might be a trip to the beach on the cards, but if not I really must force myself to get out and see things, take some photos and go for a walk rather than staying in my room even if I am being productive on my dissertation- that is not what I am here for!

Adios Inglaterra, hasta el fin de Junio!

Here we are again, the night before I leave.  It's been great to be home for a few weeks but the only problem is now that I've got used to being here I'm off again.  Tomorrow morning at silly o'clock my grandparents will be here to take Mum and I to Stansted for our flight to Malaga.  We have spent the majority of today packing and unpacking and weighing and measuring... we got there in the end, partly thanks to Easy Jet and the fact they let you have an unlimited weight hand baggage as long as it is the right size to fit in the over head locker.  Result= My hand luggage weighs a tonne but I've got everything I want with me.  When it comes to getting it all back in June things aren't quite so certain, but I'll just have to cross that bridge when it comes to it in 4.5 months time I guess!

I guess I won't be writing for a few more days now, tomorrow will be spent travelling and getting myself moved into my room and working out what I need to go and buy from the shops as well as stocking up on food and going to a couple of meetings at the uni.  Getting the last minute worries about it now, but I know that once I've got there and into my room, met the girls I'm living with, been to the uni for the first time and my Mum has gone home I'll get settled into it just like I did in Brussels.  As I keep repeating this should be an easier term as it is my stronger language.  No matter what I tell myself though, I know the first week or two is going to be hard, it always is, but this time I know I've done it all before and it'll be fine.

This is the last time that I'll be doing this, once I come back from Spain I'll be working for the summer and then off to Lancaster for final year, and leaving to go there is a hell of a lot easier than this.  I'm already looking forward to living off campus next year, I think the changes and independence living abroad gives you it would be hard to go back to living in the bubble that is the Bailrigg campus!

So this is it I guess, Spain- here I come!

Am I really half way through my year abroad?!

So that's it, the first half of my year abroad is over, I'm done in Belgium, I've finished studying at ISTI and I won't be going back, it's scary to think how quickly the last 4 months or so have gone!  Our journey out of Brussels wasn't without trauma as the Sat Nav decided that it just didn't want to work!  So we started off somewhat following our noses before remembering that I had a couple of Brussels maps in one of my bags.  We eventually got out of the city and from there it is very straight forward all the way to Calais.  Today was spent unpacking everything, not a quick task I must say!  I'm back in England now until the 13th of February when I head off to Granada until the end of June.  I think my time at home is going to fly by seeing as this weekend I'm off to Lancaster from Friday to Monday, the following weekend Katy is down from Lancaster and we're off to see Olly Murs in London and the final weekend we have a party of a family friend to go to up t' north.  I've set myself the target of conquering DELC 310 in the time I'm home, it's do-able seeing as I've done a lot of the preparation for it, but it just seems so far away.

As ever we spend one stage of our lives thinking of the next, and although I'm off to Granada after this- and really looking forward to it too- I'm spending my time umming and ahhing about what on earth I'm going to do in the summer!  It's all about weighing up the value of experience vs earning money, going away vs staying at home.  It's all a bit of a nightmare, but I'll let you know when I've got more of a clue what is going on!

The 40th Post

I feel that reaching my 40th post should be some sort of momentous occasion, but quite frankly there isn't a whole lot to write!

I know those of you that are not equally counting down until "home time" will be quite bored of this but -

I'M GOING HOME IN 2 WEEKS FROM TODAY!

Ok, it's out of my system now...

Tuesday was Saint Nicholas Day and as he is the saint for children here in Belgium we were paid a visit by him and his little helpers in one of our classes giving us fruit and sweeties, slightly random but another "cultural experience" I guess?!  Talking of cultural things, I understand it's nice to say bon appetite to someone when they start a meal, and my flat mate always says it when she sees me eating, by the other day I was walking down the street taking the very final bite of my croissant when a random passer by wished me bon appetite, I was a little bit confused... maybe I'm the only one that finds that slightly odd?

A box of M&S, yes, you heard it, M&S Mince Pies has turned up in my kitchen, I want to know where my flat mate got them from! Ahhh it's the simple things you miss...!

This weekend Jenny and I are off on our very last weekend away, this time to Lille to see the Christmas markets and just to generally be able to say we went to France for the weekend.  Once we get back I'll have been to Luxembourg, Spain and France as well as having seen various places in Belgium and having popped back to England for the weekend.  I some how don't reckon I'll be travelling as much from Granada but I am hoping to see as much of Spain as I can.

Oh and this is about as productive as my lecture got today:

Now I remember why I prefer Spanish...

Reason number 1- (Yes I know this isn't normal but I'm using it all the same) Walking round on the last weekend of November and not even needing sleeves.

Reason 2- Tapas and Sangria, how much more stereotypical can I make this?  I'm sorry...

Reason 3- The language, it just comes to me sooo much easier than French does.

Reason 4- It's just better and I don't need to justify that.

Now to actually tell you about my trip.  If you've read my other blogs you'll know what an annoyance the airport I flew from is, it calls itself Brussels South (Charleroi), well, for anyone that doesn't know Belgium, Charleroi is a whole different town a 45 minute train ride away.  So it's a bit of a planes, trains and automobiles mission to get there but not as bad as I'd expected it to be if I'm honest.  For once in my life I didn't have a delay, up until this week every flight I have been on alone has had a delay varying from 30 mins to 3 hours.  So "that was *trumpet fanfare* Ryanair flight arriving on time!" love that little announcement just as you land.  Ellie met me at the airport and we went back to her flat, where we just chilled for a bit before realising it was actually quite late and we'd still not eaten.  We went to a tapas bar called El Tigre, for me about a year ago this would have been an utter nightmare, there were loads and loads of people, it was hot and just generally chaotic but I loved it.  With your drink they give you a mountain of tapas (and that would've been why I wouldn't have liked it about a year ago, I didn't know what I was eating), it was brilliant and very yummy.  From there we went onto a market which is full of bars and tapas stalls, again packed and very typically Spanish.  Just to carry on with the being typically Spanish theme we then went and ate churros in the sort of place  you'd only find in Spain, it was about 12.30 at night and the average age in there must've been ...55 I guess.  I said to Ellie that at home at that time it would just be the drunks and the students left out.  I even made friends with a lovely Spanish woman and her friends whilst Ellie left me unattended for just 5 minutes, she offered me some of their churros and everything!

The next day didn't get off to a great start as we didn't set any form of alarm and managed to lose our morning to sleep!  We soon got up and out and about and seeing all the sites of Madrid, or at least about half of them before we headed to meet Dan for a drink.  But that came later, first we had a very important appointment to keep with a Mr Noel Gallagher?  Don't know if you've heard of him, used to be in that band Oasis (Or to the Spanish Oh-wa-siis).  We just happened to pass the hotel he was staying at, asked the people there what they were waiting for and decided to hang around and see for ourselves.

In the evening we decided to go to the Ice Bar, now I've been to one of these before somewhere else in Spain but all I remember from that is that none of us were dressed appropriately but that it didn't really matter because they gave us a fair bit of free drink... (The lack of memory and level of drink are not linked before someone suggests it!)  This one was better than the one I'd been in before that you got a proper coat instead of the furry poncho thing I had before, but it was still just as empty.  We stuck it out for an hour though and amused ourselves so all in all it was still good fun!  After this we decided just to head back to Ellies flat and we made our own churros, some were more successful than others lets just leave it at that!  But the peanut buttercups we'd made earlier, despite looking awful, tasted really good!

Today was my last morning in Madrid so we got up at a decent time and headed off to see the rest of the city, got lots of photos which I'll put on Flickr as and when I remember.

The journey back to Brussels was uneventful and I'm now sitting in my room listening to cheesy music before I go to bed because when I wake up the reality of the washing, food shopping and work I have to do is going to hit me....