2 days!

This is my challenge of the week...

Vuelvo a casa muy pronto!

'I'm returning home very soon'

And, sad as it is, these are the 10 things I am most looking forward to.

1) Seeing my Mummalis at the airport!
2) Chester Rups, Mipps and Tor Tors
3) Zaccy ziggles and his face when he sees me! And the rest of the family... ;)
4) The christmas tree and the general Christmassy feel of home at this time of year
5) My car... finding my iTrip and driving around to Spanish party tunes. I won't get any cooler than that.
6) .Work - yes, work, genuinely! This will definitely come with the benefit of being told I've got thinner too, girl can't complain!
7) Food - obviously. Curry, sausages, gravy, xmas dinners, food from work, Kellogs cornflakes and tropicana orange juice! GET IN MY FACE/ BELLY
8) Cramming every day of the week with visiting friends and family
9) Fresh bedding and a night in my own bed (take note madre)
10) Floridaaa - the swimming pool, see my godmuvver and eating a lot of Buffalo Wings/ Steak

I'm such a saddo but I am soooo excited to go back! BRING ON FRIDAY. Get me to the aeropuerto, going to be like a big kid!

3 SLEEEPS!

Besitos xx

English Rose

Something I never seem to get here is the confusion over my nationality. It's always just assumed i'm English, and very occasionally, German. Pretending to be German or Dutch is actually fun though, the predator will immediately run away - 'sie sprechen kein deutsch?!'.

The other night though, on the bar crawl I was chatting to the guy who runs it, and not only did he tell me that I look like I am part of the royal family (a little bit of an overexageration?) but he also said this phrase: 'if I were to look up British in the dictionary, your face would just pop into my head'. Wonderful. That's an achievement surely, happy to be British haha.

So then, in the club I had another moment where someone asked me if I was Spanish. I was so shocked that I just laughed and pointed at my hair and finally got the 'oooooh englisshh' that I'd been waiting for. To then show off, he used this wonderfully structured, great English chat up line...

'I, beautiful. You, beautiful. We kiss, beautiful? (whilst showing a picture of his abs). Not impressed and NO THANKS, so we ran away fast! Why would you start a chat up line bragging about how beautiful you are? I mean, seriously!?

However that night we then managed to blag ourselves entry into the VIP area for the club we were in. Free drinks, thankyou!

I just love how for once, being a Blondie is actually better than a boring spanish brunette. I love how English I am :)

On another note, a more serious one, the goodbyes have started. This makes me really sad and is the one reason that leaving just seems so sad. We said goodbye to 4 Americans Friday, all of which were sad. But it's my frisbee girl's departure which was the goodbye that started to make me cry. I know I'm as soppy as anything, but this made me sad people are already going!

It's crazy how fast time has gone and how little we have left. I'm not a fam of goodbyes or starting another new life soon. Who knows if and when we'll actually see each other again, that's such a sad thought. For now, I'm just staying mega grateful for the friendships I've made here and the variety of people and personalities I've got to know. I love every single one of you Malagueños!

And finally. 5 sleeps! I'm so excited to actually be home now...

BESOS X

9 days!

Today I am on a massive low, I am feeling utterly fed up and need cheering up. I have resorted to listening to Boyzone for the majority of the afternoon and  have been trying to sort my life out with all of the things I need to sort for University. My to-do list has finally been written, I've attempted to tackle it and have only ticked off 2.5 things. The easiest two on there. I am also feeling ill today, which is an instant c-rap start to the day.

So, the last few days have actually been quite sad. I think it is because reality is setting in now that there are some inevitably really sad goodbyes coming up next week. And as much as I don't want to say those goodbyes, I'm getting more sad and fed up being here and just want to be at home with my family getting ready for what will undoubtedly be the strangest Christmas ever. But, I just miss home, I want the warm cosy feeling of my slippers, the heating and I want to snuggle with my fave ginger. I'm missing all the pre-Christmas family visits too, which makes me really sad! We've already said goodbyes to Lucy Jayne Jones and Staceyyy, but I do get the pleasure of seeing them again in the new year - they are so clever for booking flights home so early. I am jealous.

This mild depressing mood I have got myself into, is almost definitely thanks to the heaviest weekend we've had here in Málaga. Since before Barcelona I've only had 3 nights off, 2 of which were in a row, at the beginning of last week. Tonight, I AM SLEEPING, and watching Miranda in bed to make myself laugh. But the week (evenings) have been pretty fun, and they are all merging so please forgive me if my memory gets them a little wrong! It was another 4 day weekend in Spain so Wednesday we started the Puente and drank with the Americans, pretty nice as they all leave for good next week. Thursday I skipped the intercambio because I wasn't feeling it and needed sleep/wanted to prepare my poor liver for the weekend.

Friday we headed to Robert Boyd (standard) and White. I lost my camera down my boobs this night, and cried an awful lot. I also lost my phone down there, which thinking back is actually really hilarious. Nevertheless, I found it which was a success. We ended the night with the besssst Shawarma yet, cannot believe I have finally come round to the idea of kebabs with both chilli sauce and mayonnaise. 3 years ago I used to judge this choice as vile and simply wrong, and now I crave it. I can't even explain what Málaga has done to my diet. But I would like to thank the men that know me and Katie for making us the best Shawarmas, and making the end of a night/morning good even when you are in a reaaaaally bad mood!

Saturday we went to the bar crawl, chilling with Brian 'on the barrrr crawl' and finally meeting some other random new people from new nationalities; Poland, The Netherlands (cracked out my best Dutch - thanks Campenhout), Australia, Portugal then somewhere else in Eastern Europe. This night was super fun, however too much Tequila makes me sick, I should know this already.

Sunday, I got persuaded to go out again. We went for our standard family dinner, but to the American diner this week which was insanely good. Anywhere with jukeboxes and booths and square tiling on the walls makes me happy. Not to mention they had pink lemonade, and I also had the first cheesecake I've had since summer. Lucy Jayne Jones and I got bang on it and decided to make it a night, headed for more RB's then back to Sala Gold to do our thing and play 'Dance how (fill in the blank as appropriate) dances'. We know how to make empty clubs fun.

Monday night, would you believe we went out again, Sala Gold's anniversary party. Of course I won a free T-shirt, granting me free access to dance on the stage. Success.

Tuesday was Lucy and Stacey's last night so we went to an Argentinian restaurant at the port before having some champers and wine on the roof terrace of the Marriott that overlooks the port. What a lovely evening. We headed to Boyd's again and then to Sala Wenge, to yet again make an empty club fun. A fishbowl came to mind again. I don't know if the Malaguenas just don't go out, or if the Malaguenos just outnumber them! Either way, we were stared at allll night long. Until we finally gave up and headed home for some zzz's.

Classes on these kind of hangovers are just no fun! Sitting in a translation class after only 5 hours sleep is definitely something I won't miss during the Christmas holidays! Mind you, I definitely won't miss hangovers either!

Can you believe I just managed to create a whole blog post on how I have spent my drunken weekend? This is a combination of pure verbal diarrhoea and the fact that my life has become one big party. Guess it's a good way to cheer myself up for the next few weeks...or at least attempt to! I only have myself to blame,  however, my theory in life is to have fun and live as if you would die tomorrow. And if what I've heard about the world ending next Friday is true, then it's a good job I am having so much fun and still managing to complete my homework on time.

On a genuine last little note, I have made some incredible friendships here, and time is running out rapidly. It makes me so sad that in 2 months time, I'll be moving to another new city, making a new bunch of friends and moving even further away from home. There's an element of excitement to it, yes. But unfortunately now I am only seeing the negatives, I love the life I've made for myself here, I love my twathat club and all my chicas here, and am going to miss them all so much. I can't even explain it other than with a big fat GAAAH.

That's all for now. Going to attempt to tick some more off my To-do list...

Besos x

Cheery piccy!

Park Guell. I love Van Campenhout's photobomb.

Group snap - Park Guell

The last victims to enter 'twathat' club

Meeting up with Laura :)

Row row row your boat

Had to share this one. Guapa.

Super speeeeedy.

Sagrada Familia.

RAZZ MY TAZZ

'Twathat' club. Chicas locas.

Check Facebook for more photos but these are my personal favourite ones. I could have shared photos of buildings with you all, but that would be boring and I don't know what the buildings I took photos of actually are...

Much love x

Barcelona vs. Madrid

PREPARE FOR THE LONGEST POST EVER!

One of the aims before I came on my year abroad was to not only improve my Spanish but to embrace the culture here and see a whole load of different things. So this weekend we decided to make the most of the time we have left and spend a 5 day period exploring Spain's two biggest cities (I think?).

BARCELONA

First up was Barcelona. I can't explain how excited I was to go here, after doing two pieces of A Level coursework on the city, and a 10 credit module about the city in 2nd year, I had high expectations. We were all absolutely buzzing to go and I spent all Thursday morning getting ready, in hindsight I should have maybe slept a bit more rather than setting my alarm so early, could definitely have done with the sleep! I also went to my class and completed golden week - which thanks to Van Campenhout I'm getting a certificate for :)

By the time we were at the airport we were all like children on xmas day. Charlotte got her bag stuck in the baggage size checker - whilst 'practising' her technique to put it in. Classic Charlotte. We undressed for security and stalked an Australian girl in the coffee shop (who later sat behind us on the plane and stayed in our hostel - weird). Had cocktails that tasted like cough medicine and then boarded the plane, really exciting by this point. Except I don't like airlines that don't give you assigned seats, that's just an unnecessary stress! Nevertheless we managed to sit together and quickly got on it, the air hostess Lucinda was a babe. Before we knew it our flight was over and we were a little tipsy and in Barca! Straight to the hostel and a quick change before heading out. The first night was a wee bit disappointing, as we were all knackered and ended up at this sketchy bar with bad cocktails, a clingy rep and high prices.

Friday was pretty sweet, we woke up determined to make the most of our only full day in this massive city. By the time we'd got out and grabbed food it was midday and we got ourselves big red bus tickets. There is SO much to see in Barcelona it's crazy. We did a loop on the bus, taking a ridiculous amount of photos. On the next loop we stopped at the Sagrada Familia, with the most beautiful architecture I've seen. Gaudi certainly was a clever man. It supposedly will be finished in our lifetime, and by the time it's completed I'm sure it will be absolutely incredible. We had a Starbucks there as being on the bus had made us all pretty damn chilly. It was so Christmassy, and it made me so happy! The next stop we made was Park Guell, which also has pretty amazing architecture and also views. Then got on the bus to change to the red route! It meant we were able to see all the things we should whilst there. Even if we didn't have enough time to get off the bus - we were able to see it! Although it got so dark, cold and windy that by the end me and Charlotte were the only men left standing on the top deck. We were so wrapped up but absolutely frozen. Sadly it was so dark so we couldn't fully see everything. Got quite thankful when it was over though and went for dinner! Met Charlee's friend from uni so went to a nice looking restaurant just off la Rambla. We'd planned the second night, we were spending money and going hard so we bought pre drinks and after beautifying ourselves we got nice and drunk with some Spanish Chicas and a south African guy. Then headed to Razzmatazz. It was huuuge. The main dance floor felt like a mix between custard factory and a massive Ibiza drug floor but the rest was like a maze and we found ourselves in the top room for nearly the duration of the night. One thing I don't understand is how people are allowed to smoke on dance floors, that really is not cool. Was pretty good except the cost of it. But oh well. Razz my tazz BCN.

Saturday started with a brutal hangover so after keeno Charlotte woke us up (love her for it though) we headed out again. To wander down la Rambla, check out the market and souvenir shops. Started with a KFC though which was absolutely smashing. After a few hours we headed to the airport in the afternoon for the next trip...

MADRID

By the flight we were all knackered, so I kindly offered to take one of the two loner seats and was asleep before take off and didn't wake until the crap vueling landing woke me up. Refreshing nap though. And so ready for Madrid.

We got to our hostel and got ready to go out. Dresses on ready to brace the cold of Madrid, and ready to be stared at, heckled and genuinely clapped at as we walked down the street. Thanks Spain - we don't always look that good after flying! Me and Lucy played a drinking game whilst the others chatted and we got all merry in the corner. We went to Kapital which was quite possibly the best club I've ever been to, 7 different floors and a free drink included. After time, it was inevitable the group split, which left me and Katie by ourselves to explore. We had an hour and a half before our meeting time and 7 floors. So decided to go to each floor of the club, and listen to two songs before heading to the next. Floor 3 and 5 were the best. 6 was a Bombay Saphire gin bar - which after stealing a bottle of last week I did not want any more! 7 was pretty chilled and we hung with some French people there until it was time to meet. I spoke SO much Spanish. The people we were talking with could speak English too, so it was so good that Spanish actually became the chosen language for the conversations. End of the night we got a shawarma and headed back! Spent a good half an hour conversing about Al Capone and various American gangsters before sleepy time.

Sunday morning we died, headaches and sickness everywhere and once again Van Campenhout was very keen to explore. We wandered around the markets and streets for a while before finding a place for brunch. I had 'English brunch #1', eggs bacon and toast - happy happy days! Laura came and met us (a friend from Brum, studying in Madrid) which was really nice and she accompanied us around the city for the day! We walked a lot, took a lot more photos and had a pretty good day! By 6ish we were sleepy and went back to nap. Group napping was a great idea, although I think I was the only one that properly slept. Miss sleepyhead over here will sleep through anything - until a stupid man woke us up, so I quickly dealt with him and returned back to my snore fest. We planned dinner at 9, yet didn't get to the restaurant until 10.45, so Spanish! We had Thai food and it was so good. We tried to get into a club called Joy but one of us forgot ID, oops silly me. But, at least it wasn't my Subway card instead! So we were found by a rep that took us to this bar, which was the emptiest place ever. But an empty dance floor can only be fun, so we made it fun. Drinks were cheap so made sense to stay! A bunch of mixed nationality men then sat next to us which was both annoying and comical. General Swag bought everyone drinks, gracias. General Swag was not my chosen name for him, moist sleazy fatty would have been more appropriate. Yes we want your free drinks if you want to brag, but no I do not want to Salsa with you. Gangnam came on and things got serious! We actually had a pretty good time considering the place was dead. Clearly does just depend on the company of the evening! Then it was
time for pizza and bed at a reasonable time. We watched art attack in bed, except Neil wasn't the artist. But either way, such fun.

Monday was the last day and was pretty sad waking up knowing that. But it was such a great morning. We went for Churros at a place renowned in Madrid for the best Churros - a place were numerous celebrities have been over the years, whose photos are displayed on the walls. In my opinion, they weren't as good as the ones in Granada! Anyway, then we wandered up to the huge park in Madrid, and the boating lake where we rented two boats to have a little row for 45 minutes. It was possibly the best way to spend the day. A crisp sunny day, on the lake with some great friends, took lots of photos and all had a turn to row. We could hear the buskers from the lake which made it so lovely and chilled out. So any man that wants to marry me will have to be informed that a boating lake is going to be an ideal place to propose to me. There were so many couples, it was pretty cute actually. We headed back to the centre, and had lunch before getting our bags and dropping Charlotte off to catch her bus. We chilled in another Starbucks, did some more souvenir shopping and then headed to the train station for our return trip. During our wait we obviously had a couple of immature rounds of consequences and MASH. Really really old school, yet so much fun.

I'm actually writing this blog post on the train, and it is pretty cool. It's the RENFE high speed Spanish train, which only takes just over 2 hours to get between Madrid and Malaga. It's amazingly fast and the speed is shown in the carriages, right now were are 296km/hr and you can really feel the speed. Going for a wee this fast is pretty fun, there's handlebars and everything! There's also a cute Spanish girl who Lucy is reading to - definitely worth a mention!

Anyway. This weekend has actually been the best. We may have all spent a ridiculous amount of money in both cities but you only live once and we've just had the most rammed and exciting long weekend. Taken so many pictures and just had so much fun. Who'd have known a year ago that I would be travelling around these cities with such good friends I hadn't even met. It's crazy how things work out, and I actually love the amazing opportunities that ERASMUS brings us!

Now 2.5 crazy weeks left in Malaga before home time for Xmas! It's coming round so fast!!

Just like last week, I'll upload the best photos from the weekend in a separate post when I get a chance to put them on my laptop!

Adios guapos x

Potential for Golden Week?

This morning when I got on the bus, I had a conversation with Ciara about having 'Golden Week', and how she was confident that for her it would be this week as she was feeling so fresh for a Monday morning. It got me thinking of the reality of whether this will ever happen for me here? And I started to think that it possibly won't. What with going away this weekend, I'll definitely miss classes next week as we will be in Madrid on Monday and then there is only two weeks left of class after - which we all know are going to be filled with hangovers and 7am bedtimes in the lead up to Christmas.

I figured that before Christmas, my best chance for Golden week is this week. It could possibly happen, providing I have good siestas before fiestas and sleep well the rest of the week. And also providing I go to the class just before heading to the airport on Thursday.

I'm already feeling positive, and counting down the classes left! I've also submitted my translation homework at a reasonable time already this week, which is pretty good for me (getting my nerdy side back).

Today I had two classes - It's started well, and I didn't hate my life when I was sat in them! Both of which were translation classes, one general and one humanísitca (based on actual books/articles etc). And I much prefer my new teacher for the second translation class, I contributed a lot today, proud.

Tomorrow I have 3 classes.

Wednesday I have 3 classes.

And, Thursday I have 2 classes.

On Thursday when I am on the plane, I want to say that I've actually had a golden week, and then I will deserve to have the best weekend ever!

Snap happy

Just a few of this week's photos. Hopefully my camera will be charged enough to take more this week!

Ronda 1 - Classic tourist snapshot

Ronda 2 - The Bridge (all of the other views were amazing too)

Ladies night - The second stripper was a)  less gay and b) much sexier than this one

James' 21st - The only picture I took of the night. I do not remember this!
DRUNK FACES

Being a tourist vs. Being ill

Since I last blogged I guess I have done a few things, but it hasn’t been as crazy as normal. First of all, was a lovely day trip to Ronda with some of the girls. All I can say is that it really is a beautiful place, the views everywhere are sensational and it is such a cute little city to wander around all day. The pictures pretty much sum up what we did there, we wandered, took photos and went in so many cute little gift shops. Oh, and we went on our first wine tasting experience. If you don’t include all the wine tasting I do at work :)

Whilst in Ronda, we missed the Málaga floods, which made the river start flowing again (exciting!). It was such a great day until I started to feel really ill after being in the cold/rain and wind for so long. So after getting home, I got all cosy in my pyjamas and fluffy socks and spent my first Saturday night in Málaga in bed! And bed is where I stayed pretty much until Wednesday afternoon!

I may have had a few outings, but I stayed relatively warmly dressed for them all! In 48 hours all I managed to eat was a salad and some carrot soup. I might have made a little appearance at ladies night on Monday evening, but who could say no to strippers and a free bar. Turns out the free bar was beer, so didn’t take long for the chunder dragon to appear, and the carrot soup to quickly follow… That certainly was not a late night for me!

Anyway, spent the rest of my week monging in bed and not going to class. Really ratchet I know, but I just had no energy at all to move, let alone imagine getting on that cramped uni bus. When I finally made it to uni on Wednesday afternoon, I was greeted by hot and cold sweats and felt stupid for even bothering to get out of bed at all. Thankfully, my super sexy lecturer ended the class one hour early anyway!

Wednesday night was come dine with me night, series two – episode one! Come dine with Sammie. She made some lovely homemade onion bhajees followed by a chicken balti and homemade naan bread. Accompanied by yoghurt too, gooood job!

Thursday brought the arrival of my Mumma and sister to Málaga, happy days! Although I do have to say that waiting in the airport arrivals area really was like being from that scene in Love Actually, I am far too soppy to be allowed in a place like that. Anyway, there were only a few tears on arrival!

We filled their three days here with a LOT of sightseeing of Málaga, a lot of walking, a lot of stopping for drinks and having some really nice dinners. I ate calves cheek on the first night, and considering I’d never had it before I was pretty impressed. We even had nice enough weather on the Thursday to have a little siesta on the beach, I was so happy the sun came out after the recent rain. Someone was definitely looking down on us and making sure we had good weather, thank you! What’s funny is that Victoria, my wonderful, older sister who has completed 4 years at uni AND a year abroad, was unfortunately too hungover on Friday to come and see the city with us. Of course, she blames me for this, however I just don’t think she deals with hangovers well! Either way, 2 litres of vodka between 3 people and then drinking a whole bottle of stolen gin is basically asking for trouble! Safe to say neither of us remembers the whole night. But what a good night it was, I was clearly rebelling against Sala Wenge for some reason! I even managed to get up (with Mum’s help) earlyish for a day in the city on Friday, and Victoria was much more alive to enjoy our long touristy day on Saturday.

It was so nice to have family visit me here and finally see the place where I am living! I loved having them here and it’s just a shame it went so quickly. Next up, I need to get the other blister to come out so I can show her Taco and a beer for a euro Tuesday…

Last week, we also decided that we finally had to book to go somewhere this weekend coming up. We couldn’t choose between Barcelona and Madrid, and we are running out of weekends so we decided to do both! So we are all sooo excited to be going on a 5 day weekend to both of the cities this weekend, 165 euros for all transport and accommodation is pretty good I think. Pat on the back for me for finding it all!

And one last thing, I am getting much more confident in speaking Spanish!! I spoke an awful lot when my Mum and sister were here as I had no choice, but just in general I feel like it is improving a lot! Little mini success for me, now I just need to keep it going and make more Spanish friends.

Going to bed now as I have a week of classes to actually attend this week! So I may upload some pictures in the next few days…I will also blog again after my weekend – which will no doubt be pretty amazing! 

As the Andalucians say… Haattaaaa luegoo x

Next stop, China!

It's getting real!! Got an email this morning which started with the following phrase...

你已被录取，申请完成。请等待录取通知书。/ You are accepted, application is completed. Please wait for our admission package.

WONDERFUL NEWS.

Now the slight issue of when the little
admission pack arrives so I can juggle getting my visa with needing my passport to go to Florida and Spain! Then remains the little issue of time... Do I fly home for the random 3 days in London and miss class here? Fly home for Xmas early and miss the fun week and CB's last week? Or apply for my visa 1 week before going to china?!

Decisions decisions decisions...

33 days!

Until uni finishes here and it's Christmas time. Can't explain how excited I am! Mumma and Vic are visiting this week which will be good, but the last week or so I have been getting more and more excited for England, even though I know it's freezing and I will moan when there...

So I wrote a little list in my head of things I can't wait to be back for. And I thought I'd share the blog love again.

Most of it may be food, yes, but if you've ever done a year abroad you would understand this feeling!

Here goes:

Gravy (pie, roast, sausages/mash) Proper english food, meat and veg. All warm and wintry, get in my belly.

TV evenings - sat in the lounge with a fat ginger lump on your lap and being toooo hot watching some rubbish like eastenders or x factor. Genuinely miss family tv time.

Chicken soup - maybe its because I'm soo ill at the moment so am craving my standard ill routine. But chicken soup would really hit the spot right now.

Cats - Literally miss them so much. Prepare to be squeezed and loved a lot, pussycats.

Zac - who wouldn't miss such a cheeky monkey. Looking forward to seeing his face when I'm actually at the door. As opposed to on the computer screen!

Squash - not sure why I miss squash. I guess it's one of those things you underestimate when you have it. Fizzy drinks are just getting boring now, I want safe English tap water with some Robinson's orange please! Ahhhh.

Toast - English toast is the best. It's a fact and something ive realised here! Marmite, jam, peanut butter, anything - I do not care what is on it!! The bread here is half the size, really wheaty and sweet and also has to be done in the microwave. We don't have a toaster so when we want toast can only have half cooked soggy slices. I can't wait to go get myself some maaamite at home and have to share it all with zigs again.

Curry - it's painful how much I want an English curry. Mum, I've already chosen what I want, chicken chat with a chapati followed by a lamb tikka pathia please. Don't forget the naan. I am SO bored of eating the same stuff here. Get me some spice.

Slippers and dressing gown- its not necessarily cold enough to wear them here. But I am excited to be all snuggled in the evening wearing them in chilly England. We don't need heating here at the moment but I love the feeling of walking in from the cold to a heated house and putting my slippers on :)

Sunday fry ups - I miss egg, I miss proper English bacon, sausages, fried bread, mushrooms. And I miss when my Mumma cooks it for us on Sunday mornings!!

Work - I miss everything about work. I love my job, the people I work with (although going to be interesting with my sister now), the food, the customers and just the atmosphere. I am sadly too excited to work Xmas eve!

Car - I want to sit in my car and drive. Don't care where but I am fed up of buses and am stoked to be able to drive again.

Family - its a given that I miss the fam, but there's just something about the mad house I miss SO MUCH.

Christmas build up - It's quite sad term finishes so late here! Not only this year will I miss the Brum Xmas market but i also won't get proper chances to go xmas shopping and feel all Christmassy in England. I have a feeling a lack of a Christmas tree here means I won't really be feeling Christmassy this year until I am home! I am so excited for walking into the house and seeing a Christmas tree with pretty lights and presents - even if they will all be zac's presents!

Friends - I miss them all, and being home for so little means it sucks I won't get to probably see them all over Xmas :(

I miss loads more too, they're just the obvious ones!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not counting my days down or wanting to experience to go, I'm loving Málaga and sad how quick it's going. There's just a few home comforts I can't wait to return to!

33 days! X

Preparation is always a good thing!

I was on such a high today, went bowling with a new English girl we met and her boyfriend and had a pretty good time. I didn't win, but did get to show off my incredible bowling tekkers, you will know what this is if you have ever been bowling with me. If not, it involves a weird flick of the arm and wrist and my back leg going up in the air in a strange direction. Didn't help me do well today though, definitely came 3rd overall! I also was the only one who was asked to wear the Bowling shoes, and had to pay 1 euro for the embarrassment of it! Hello boat feet.

The high ended pretty quickly after bowling when I went to withdraw some cash. I have been so so careful about which cash machines I have used that I figured this time it would be fine, it was NOT fine. I used the same bank as I normally do, but one that was a smaller randomly placed machine in a shopping centre. It was such a mistake as it ate my card. It just took it, no reason, no beep, I finished the process and it just didn't give it back. My main debit card too, the one I know everything off by heart for (probably not a good thing anyway). I nearly cried - as you would imagine, anything makes me cry. But thanks to Mumma and some helpful Spanish people behind me in the queue for the machine I got it sorted. Well not completely sorted, but got the card cancelled and a new one ordered and on the way in the post. But, it actually made me think/realise how prepared I was for disasters like this to happen. Pat on the back for me for bringing 4 cash cards to Spain with me, and keeping them all separate (don't worry Mum, I don't carry more than one on me at a time!). Although I was sooo angry it had been taken, I was pretty proud of myself for being so clever when I was packing to come here. Internet banking means I've sorted my life out pretty quick, and pay back the debts I have already made in the 4 hours since it happened! Now I guess I should learn all the details of my second debit card off by heart... ;)

I then decided to cheer myself up, so bought myself some new shoes. How exciting, I rarely buy shoes because my feet just love being awkward. But I bit the bullet, spent 50 euros and have a lovely pair of knee high leather boots - perfectly waterproof for this lovely rainy season that Málaga is enjoying at the moment. Thanks to Charlee too (having worked in Clarks for 4 years) she advised me on which ones would be best for me, so I now am less likely to a) slip over and b) have even worse posture in future than I already have in store for me. I am now really prepared for the rain, wahoo!

Another note which I think is worth a mention is the weather here at the moment. I chose the south of Spain for all year round sunshine, not rain. For the last two weeks it has been constant. Another reason I have been proud of myself, before coming here I was smart enough to consider this may actually happen at some point, so brought my Brum waterproof jacket and umbrella with me, another pat on the back. I've had a few compliments on how 'prepared' the English are for this kind of weather, and how cool my Brum waterproofs look. Who'd have thought I would be getting compliments for wearing the least 'fashionable' jacket I actually own!

But, I just love the way in which the Spanish deal with the rain, it is quite amusing. They just have no clue on how to deal with it. The city just stops, people don't go to class or work, buses take an extra half an hour to get there and everyone moans all the time. No joke, even a bit of drizzle and they hate life, everyone is in wellies and has their umbrellas and thick coats on - and us English are just walking around like it is no bother. Especially Charlee, who still hasn't bought an umbrella! People love to wheel spin here too, it just shows how little they have rain, they don't know how to control their cars when its so wet and slippery! It's fairly homely in a way to have rain, and because it isn't cold we can still get away with just a cardi, so long as you have a brolley! It has rained so much that the 'dry river' is no longer dry. On our first taxi ride into the city on our first day we were told that it had been dry for 40 years, but not anymore! It's a bit shallow, yes, but it still has running water in it!

This probably has been one of the most pointless blog posts I've written yet, but I hope you have enjoyed my rant, Mumma will love it even if nobody else does ;)

Lotsa love x

Confused

I don't really know why my blog is having such display issues... Apologies for the bad layout of the post below, I got really bored of trying to sort it out!

Hicimos Puente

For all of our hard work over the last 2 weeks and for attending so many classes, last weekend Spain kindly rewarded us with another 4 day holiday. Technically the Friday isn't a holiday, but the Spanish just take it off and make it a long holiday weekend.

The first night of our mini holiday was Halloween, which unbeknown to us the Spanish go loco for. Our costumes were fairly last minute, so went along the lines of 'I'm not really scary, I'm just dressing up because I can'. Most of us went as superheroes, which was actually fun in a strange way. Never gone out in such minimal attire before, I was pretty much just wearing what looked like a swimming costume and a blazer. Brilliant. Nevertheless it was fun, and I enjoyed it. We then realised how seriously the Spanish take Halloween, I can't even express how rammed the city was, it was just packed, there was so much traffic purely because the cars couldn't get through the swarms of people on the streets. And everyone, like everyone, was dressed crazily scary. The Spanish all love Halloween, not just the 5 year olds but the 65 year olds love it too. Spanish Halloween is honestly something that people should witness at least once in their lifetime. 

Catwoman and Batwoman...

Next up was the lazy day off, met up for a cheeky shawarma and had a few naps! Another night out followed and was actually great fun. Headed to a place called Malafama for the first time, and won’t be the last… I thoroughly enjoy it when clubs play mash ups of Scandalous and Pretty Woman. Added to the fact that Charles and I did the whole 'dance like nobody is watching' thing, it was a great night. Howeeeever, the fun ended there as when we left the club, our boys had a bit of a confrontation with the Malaga muggers. Lesson to the dumb muggers; if you're going to steal wallets in the same streets and same group of people all the time, at least don't let people see you. So anyway, the boys spotted them and asked for the wallet back. Probably not the best move (or the one I’d opt for) as things got a bit heated, but the wallet was amazingly returned (a little emptier…) after a bit of shouting/banging and bottles being held to threaten people. To be honest it was pretty scary and the first time I've witnessed a near 'bottling' or been in such proximity to a potentially dangerous fight. Thankfully there were about 12 guys so us three girls were pretty protected by the boys! I’m definitely witnessing a lot of new things here, put it that way!

We woke up on Friday and decided to book tickets to Granada for the weekend. Spontaneous, right? We’ve been saying for ages we need to get out of the city, so we walked to the bus station and bought tickets. Easy. €20 for a return bus ticket is so worth it, and €16 euros for a hostel is pretty decent too! We were pretty excited to be fair. I love road trips!

On Saturday we arrived in Granada and thanks to Sammie’s sixth sense and a bit of direction from the locals, we found our hostel. It was set in the middle of an Artesian market which was actually pretty cool to wander through; despite the fact every little shop had the same things and smelt really odd. Was a pretty chilled afternoon, wandering around, taking pictures and eating churros (amazing). We met up with another girl who is in Granada on her year abroad and all went for a sophisticated dinner out with wine. I had Paella, again, and it was delightful. I think I am actually going to miss seafood next year…

Pretty views of Granada

Meeting up with Robin, Paelllllaaaa

There was obviously only one option of how to spend the remainder of our evening in this new city, fiesta time. The club in Granada was pretty damn cool, it was set in an old theatre and it looked exactly the same just without seats! There were so many men it was like we were in a big goldfish bowl. We spent far too much time on the stage and the DJ wouldn’t let anybody except us on there – it was quite a privilege. I think he liked us once we had performed the Gangnam style dance to the entire club, ha!

Don't stop the partyyyy

Sunday was very cultural. I enjoyed it a lot, living such a party lifestyle means that when you actually do cultural things it is about 10 times more enjoyable, and also quite rewarding.  We climbed up to the view point of the Alhambra, which was beautiful. The sound of everyone ‘ooohing’ as we reached the top proved how amazing the views actually were. I am sure that the pictures I took don’t quite do it justice and on a clear day it would be so much more amazing to see. We also went to a chapel that had a museum attached to it, it was pretty fancy inside and was really enjoyable to look around – or in my case just sit and stare at how incredible it all was. The only part of this I did not enjoy was seeing the tomb/coffins of the old Kings, Queens and princes of Spain. That was so weird, and freaked me right out. A line of 5 coffins behind a window, underground, I ran away pretty damn fast. 

We wandered around the market again, and I bought all of my little gifts – it was like I was on a genuine mini holiday. The trip was actually so worth the money we spent when we were there. It has made me so excited to see where we can travel next within Spain… Barcelona, Ronda, Madrid, Seville...  The list is getting pretty long now!

However, for now it is back to another week of boring university, looking forward to the weekend already!

A rainy afternoon in Malaga

So it is raining in Malaga, shocker I know, but the rain actually makes me miss home a little bit, I most certainly did not bring enough warm clothes or rainproof shoes here with me. But anyway, I figured this would be a perfect afternoon to update my blog again with the happenings of the last couple of weeks. I am anticipating a long blog post. Prepare yourselves.

So since my last pros and cons blog I guess a lot has actually happened here. First of all, WE HAVE FINALLY MATRICULATED. It funny because it sounds like a medical term, but it is quite enjoyable saying it, it actually means we have finally registered here! My papers have been sent to Birmingham, and they have received them. Happy days. I have also completed and sent off my Shanghai application, a little bit scarier and coming round far too quickly! Gahhhh.

University here still continues to baffle me daily, we had a 3 day mid week strike recently  which was carried out by the students, as a result I only had 3 hours that week. I mean seriously, give students the opportunity to strike? Don’t be silly, of course we will strike.  I don’t know what I am striking for exactly but I enjoyed my days off at the beach, and my evenings off knowing that I didn't have to make class in the morning. This week my first class got cancelled because my teacher didn't want to come in, the only class I have on a Monday and it was cancelled. Not happy when I turned up! It is also Halloween this week which means Thursday is a bank holiday, and as a result the teachers apparently like to take the Friday off as well for a long weekend. The Spanish are just SO lazy, but I am fine with this.

The way of teaching here is so funny, students literally walk out of the classroom to take phone calls, go and buy cigarettes and have a fag break during class and the teachers just take calls whilst teaching. I’m sure we couldn't get away with this in England? Then again, there are some negatives for us. Being Erasmus students means you are known, it isn't just my blonde hair and British summer outfits that give me away, we have to put up our hands and wave. We have to introduce ourselves to the teachers and find groups to do work in, this feeling is just the worse, looking around the room with begging eyes trying to persuade the Spanish students to want us, not fun. I do however feel very useful in one of the groups I am in, I am the only English student in a Spanish to English translation class, so my group couldn't wait to have me on board, and I genuinely feel like I am doing something productive when I work with them!

You’ll also noticed how American-ised we have become, ‘class’, ‘school’, whatever next…

I still need to speak more Spanish. I find it really hard to listen, understand, translate, read and write all at the same time in lectures. I am coping though, however in social situations I just can’t do it. It’s the most daunting thing ever, and I quite frankly don’t have the confidence to talk awful Spanish and be corrected all of the time. I am going to suffer next year because of this!

Both Charlee’s parents and Charlotte’s parents visited this weekend which was great fun, along with Katie's sister so we have had a very family orientated weekend. It was pretty nice to do things that we wouldn't normally do because we would have hangovers! We climbed the castle which was beautiful, walked all the way along the port a couple of times and had a really nice couple of dinners, including Paella – I am learning to love the dead fishies, and octopus and everything else they have here. 

The end of the port. Sunshine in October!

At the top of the castle

Beautiful views.

Who'd have thought I would enjoy this...

Paella!

Blondies 

Dinner along the port.

All the family time makes me so excited for when my Mumma and sister/s come out to see me,  but also a bit sad though that Dad won’t be able to experience it with us too.

As you all know, the majority of our evenings here are spent drinking, but we actually worked out that out of a two week period, there was only 1 or 2 nights where we didn't drink. Not heavy drinking every night, but still…my poor liver. We have also had a few nice dinners over the last few weeks (not only when parents were visiting!). Sammie has cooked for us a few times, and we decided to take it in turns to do a ‘Come dine with me’ kind of weekly evening. Clever way to not drink alcohol for the night… unless someone brings wine… 

Shanghai love

<3

I have also finally been shopping here! It was inevitable that I was going to go crazy one day and last week it finally happened. But, I think I did very well. The amount of decent clothes I got for 80 euros is only going to encourage me to shop more. It does actually suck though about weight limits for travelling, I keep seeing things here that people would love for Christmas but I have to refrain from buying them. So frustrating as it means I am just going to have to do a last minute Christmas shopping flap when I am home, at double the price, boo. Next up on my list to buy is waterproof shoes and maybe a parka jacket, or maybe another blazer, or just some more pretty clothes from Stradivarius (my new favourite shop – smells like Hollister but the clothes are so cute). Come to think of it I need some more wintry accessories too, might buy a scarf or two if the weather carries on like this!

That’s it really, all I have to update on! I will continue to make new friends, and maybe attempt to speak some more Spanish by the next post. Although I am helping all of those trying to develop their English, my good deed for the semester! Oh and I am managing my homesickness well too, although still miss the family big time, and can’t wait to see them/my cats. The time here is going far too fast though, definitely not wishing the time away but it won’t be long until we all are home for Christmas, with a REAL need for waterproof shoes and parka jackets… Haha!

Right that’s it, once again. Adios guapos x

Snapshots of the week:

The pros and cons of my new life.

Sometimes it seems like a holiday, sometimes it seems like a chore. Let me share the pros and cons of my new life with you...

CONS:

• Supermarket – The supermarkets here make no sense. Yoghurts next to washing powder? Apples next to tinned beans? Frozen fish next to chocolate? I kid you not. Although Mercadona plays a wonderful tune to shop to, shopping here is so frustrating. I could not even find all the ingredients for one meal, let alone enough for a week’s worth of meals!
• Stress – Spanish life is soooo chilled out that it can get very stressful! Manana, manana, manana! Combined with the fact that it has taken weeks and weeks to get emails from my British coordinators, and I have been given the shortest straw in the world with my module choices here, life has been very tough. But, I’d like you all to know, I think I am dealing with it very well.
• The #20 bus – Although its cheap, there’s always such a queue and never seats on the way back. I dislike being stood up next to a smelly Spanish boy and being thrown into him when the bus brakes or turns suddenly. Something that has happened, and I want to forget about. The answer to this is simple - run more buses, or get more seats.
• Sleazy men  - I know it is known in Spain for any man to eye the ladies as you are walking down the street, but some of the noises they make and comments they shout to attract you are just shocking. From 12 year old boys shouting ‘pretty blondies’ at us, to old men making the horrid ‘tutting’ noise, it happens all the time! The word ‘guapa’ is overused here, it doesn't have meaning anymore. My personal favourite though,and coincidentally an experience of today was walking through a group of 6 men. One must have thought he was the new Enrique, and was singing ‘la la laa, beautiful beautiful, beautifuuul’ to the three of us. I don’t normally laugh at them, but this time I just cracked up!
• Street cleaning – This is something they do every night here. During the middle of the night – during peak drunk time. The streets are soaking, the water goes down the middle ‘draining’ section, and I always end up in it, with my slippery shoes and bad balance/coordination. The streets do look lovely and shiny all the time, but this daily routine is lethal.
• Oven situation - We don’t have an oven, just a hob and microwave. So, I am still trying to adapt to soggy microwave oven pizza and lack of oven food. Cooking just seems like such a mission allll the time here!

 PROS:

• Beauty – It’s not only the chicos here that are beautiful, but the city is too. The cute streets, architecture and just simply the views of any buildings in the city centre. It is just SO Spanish, the paths, the fountains, the smell. I love it, it is all so pretty. II never want to leave,the atmosphere just makes me smile!
• Siesta – Anyone that knows me knows that I am a mega fan of sleeping and napping. Therefore for me, this lifestyle is ‘increíble’, I get to wake up late and then nap in the evening, without being judged! Everything goes into shutdown mid afternoon here, napping is strongly encouraged! I think there is even a break in the uni day for the siesta.
• The price of alcohol – Cheap alcohol is loveable wherever you are, but it is just great how much you can get for your money here in Malaga. I bought two big bottles of schnapps and vodka the other day, and it only cost me 7 euros?! Then on nights out, shots for a euro, litres of vodka/fanta limon for 5 euros, and the best daiquiris for 4 euros. They aren't even tight with their measures, half half is the average! WHO CAN COMPLAIN?
• Exercise – Somehow, I have managed to lose weight since being here, despite all of the alcohol consumed. I don’t exercise, I rarely even play Frisbee on the beach, but I think that the amount of walking we do is really making an impact. We walk so much every single day, and the people here walk so slow, it just feels like I am running all of the time!
• Amigos – So many new amigos are making me love my life. They make me want to go out every night, and I love them for it. My liver, not so much, however I’m already sad at the thought of them leaving/me leaving for China! So we are just trying to not talk about that.
• Kisses - One thing I am going to miss when I get back England. Everyone loves a cheeky kiss for a hello, but here you even have to double peck everyone on every greeting, friends, strangers and anyone in a group with someone you know. The funny thing about this though, is you never know if the Brits are going for the double kiss or a hug...awkward half peck on the lips! Going to try and bring this back to England, so expect lots of kisses from me next year!
• Pizza – Yes, I may sound like a fatty, but wherever you go that sells pizza here is worth a mention. There’s a particular place after a night out that gives you ¼ of a 14inch pizza for 3 euros. Its great.The only negative is burning your tongue and it hurting for the following few days, but **** happens, it’s worth it!
• Life – I just love Malaga life and that pro pretty much outweighs all of the cons. It is just the actual BEST.

And that’s it really, for now. Still discovering new things about this beautiful city, and I would put money on my pros list being 10 times longer by the end of February!

Besos x

The amazing Spanish education system.

I have been back in Spain 6 days now and can honestly say this has been the most stressful week. If you exclude the weekend which involved a lot of alcohol and a lot of fun, this week has just been nightmare after nightmare. I've actually wanted to come home and jack it all in a few times purely because this system out here is too messed up, and I am far to stressed to even care anymore. I’ll explain a little more…

So we've had three weeks to trial classes, dip in and out and see what you like before you can sign up for them and get them signed off. But I missed the first two weeks, so this week that is what I have done, since I have been back I have been to three classes. Three, that is it! It’s not that I haven’t tried, or have taken the 30 minute bus ride for campus just for fun, it has simply been impossible. We walked yesterday for an hour to try and find our ‘building’, but it was just invisible and still have no idea where it is so we didn't go! Apparently campus doesn't have map points, and the locations of faculties  aren't anywhere to be found.  Then it got better today, I managed to find my classroom!  I was there nice and early and there was not one person there, someone explain how they can change the location of a class without publicly displaying the information?

People obviously swapped class for a siesta today!

I also tried to ‘formulate’ my ‘matriculation’ form last night, this is where you choose which classes you want and it cleverly formulates a piece of paper that you go and get signed.

1. Nearly all of the ones I wanted to do that were easy were full
2. Had to re do my whole time table again with new modules
3. Only 3^rd year language modules were left
4. Wasn't allowed to do a new language or more than two business modules despite the fact I do business at home , and I am good at languages  - however I can do medicine if I want – because that seems SO sensible
5. All the timetables overlap
6. And I want to cry A LOT.

So, basically I have screwed myself over by taking so long to do it, am doing 4 3^rd year modules which is insane, 3 by myself as a massive loner and I still have an overlap of one hour each week. I have decided that I have reached the point that I don’t care anymore. The Spanish education system is messed up, everyone here hates life.

You can imagine my surprise as well, when considering my circumstance I send emails to all my coordinators (home, and away), and after two weeks they still haven’t replied to me other than sending me a form to fill out and saying they will forward my email to another person. I swear these people shouldn't be doing the jobs they are, they just aren't capable. Claro.

I miss how easy Birmingham make it for us. I wish someone would make me a timetable of what I want to do and just give me it, it won’t be until then that life will be happy again. Massive rant over I guess, until something else happens to add to my frustration! Booo.

Hasta luegooo! x