Sorry, I only speak Spanish

What a week it has been. Although it feels like I’ve been at uni here for so long we actually only started on Monday. It was a horrendous day. All my classes were basically awful and I was left feeling extremely sorry for myself.

All the classes are supposed to last 2 hours but each one of these first classes only lasted maximum of an hour. Usually I’d be really happy about that but there is very little else to do, it’s not like Kent with loads of different places you can go. There’s one cafeteria and that’s about it. Not only that, a few of my teachers are old professors who mumble and expect me to not only understand their grunting but their grunting mixed with an Andalucian accent, nice one. I shan’t go into detail about every class I had, they were all pretty unsuccessful. I didn’t finish until about half 8-9 that Monday night and with a wifi-less piso I stayed on campus to (FINALLY) skype my parents for the first time since being here. I was pretty down in the dumps about my day but luckily my Dad gave me little sympathy and reminded me it’s not all that bad and it could be a lot worse. He was right. The following days did improve so hopefully with time I’ll learn to actually enjoy Spanish university. It’s not just the language that makes it different; the university itself might as well be an American high school; the teachers just stand in front of a huge lecture hall and talk at you for 2 hours, no presentation or interaction, and don’t even get me started on the seating arrangements. I know UGR is a really old university but that doesn't mean we should still have to endure these horrendous chairs for 2 hours. Not only do I get a numb bum...actually trying to get in to the seat is a serious task and one that is not able to be done with graciousness. Apart from all that,  all is well.

On Thursday we decided to reward ourselves after a stressful first week and party hard. A friend of mine who I studied Spanish with at school came out with us and we went to El Camborio. It’s a club which although is a little far out, gives the most fantastic views of the Alhambra at night. I was very impressed.

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On Friday I went to a town called Armilla just 2 miles out of Granada because I had seen a note at uni advertising for native speakers of English to teach children at a school there. I thought I may as well send a message and see what happens. I spoke to one of the women who owns the language school and arranged to go in for a meeting. I have a job! I’m going to be helping to teach 4-5 year olds through songs and games and another group of people taking their B1 level English for oral conversation classes. This is going to be great experience for me and give me something to do with my spare afternoons twice a week. I should start in a few weeks, wish me luck!

This weekend was a good one. I took my first trip of my year abroad! I got invited to Nerja with Ailish’s housemates who are all from California. We had a really great time and celebrated Shelby’s birthday with cake and lots of vodka. Unfortunately we didn’t have the best weather, every day since I’ve been in Spain has had scorching 30 degree heat but the minute we actually have chance to enjoy it somewhere else it turns overcast and cloudy. Nonetheless off we went, an easy and cheap bus ride and a hostel didn’t even set us back 50 euros. We had a wonder round the town and had some Mexican food which was really good. That night we went out and had cocktails, did some shisha and just generally had a laugh. The only thing that put me off was the amount of chavvy English people there were. 40-50 year old men should not be dressing the way they did, nor dancing the way they did. Today we had to get up early to check out, not before making the most of the free breakfast which had pg tips. I was in a happy place. Before heading to the beach we went to a flea market (which actually was just like a car boot) and I got a few English books for a euro each, and a necklace. We had a good day but I’m now left feeling ill with sunstroke and well, looking like a panda. Nerja is beautiful and I really had a great weekend with all my new American friends and their great English accents.

Sorority Squat!

Balcón de Europa

It was cold

I’m now gonna eat and try and catch up on some telebasura, my x factor withdrawals are making me sad. Another week at uni starts tomorrow but I least I can look forward to seeing my parents and nan on Friday. I can’t wait to see them and I’m sure we’re going to have a great weekend going to places like the Alhambra and Sevilla. I won’t tell them I’m secretly more excited about the tea bags and infinite amounts of porridge they are bringing out for me.

Besos.

Are we enrolled yet?

This week has been a big week of confusion and disorganisation in terms of university. We had 2 presentations this week which explained about being an international student here at UGR. It’s left a lot of us a bit stressed but hey, it’s what we expected anyway. Despite choosing modules and applying to the university twice already, that is basically scrapped as soon as you get it and you have to do it all again – pointless, I know. This means we have had to pick our modules again which is a stressful process taking about 5 hours as it also includes making up our own timetable making sure we have no clashes. Perhaps this normal for the rest of Europe and we’re just used to getting it all done for us at university in England. Despite all this we aren't officially enrolled to any classes until October. You are basically supposed to turn up to any subjects you are interested in. It sounds a lot less stressful and confusing than it really is! Anyway this is how my modules are looking:

Semester 1

Español norma y uso

Catalán intermedio I

Portugués inicial I

Introducción a sociología

Lengua y cultura de los países de habla inglesa

Semester 2

Catalán intermedio II

Portugués inicial II

Introducción a las variedades lingüísticas del español

Árabe Clásico (nivel 1)

Historia del cine

I’ll be doing 20 hours a week; each module has 4 hours a week which is practically double what we have in Kent. The good news is that everyone in the faculty has Fridays off - YES. Unfortunately there are few modules I feel super excited about studying because Translation and Humanities are different faculties meaning I can’t do any of the modules from Translation and Interpretation, instead I did the logical thing and chose to do beginners Arabic; god knows how that will turn out. I’m really hoping I can do well throughout the year - if I do it can count towards 20% of my degree which would take a lot of pressure off my final year. I really am not counting on it though. With my 8 hours of classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, starting at 8:30 AM and finishing at 9:30PM there is no hope for me. Wish me luck; it’s not going to be easy.

Last night I went to my first botellón with my flatmate and her friend. It’s basically drinking in a public area of a town/city and chatting to your mates. Words can’t even describe the botellón I went to. When we got near to the botellón we popped into a shop to get our alcohol. You basically choose what spirit and mixer you want (they have basically everything) and they put it all in a bag with some plastic cups and a big bag of ice, all for €10. So, off we went with our rum and fanta limon. I really was not expecting it to be that big; it was probably the population of Sleaford in a huge car park. There were just so many people everywhere, I wish I’d taken a photo but I don’t think it would’ve done it justice. You find your group of friends and dump your bag of alcohol in the middle and start drinking. It was pretty gross because there was so much melted ice and empty bottles everywhere so I got wet feet, I also dread to think what it looks like in the morning it must be an absolute state with so much rubbish. It was hard to keep up with conversations/even understand them not only because of the accent and generally speaking fast but also because it was so noisy. You could see people slowly leaving around half 3, but that wasn’t to go home it was to go to a club. We went to Mae West which was a really cool place. It took as a while to get in, about 3 different queues but we finally made it in about half 4! The club is a sort of Wild West theme. There was some famous DJ there that night, he was climbing all over the place and even got into some life sized bird cage...rather strange but everyone was loving him. The music was really good and it was just generally a cool place. At 6:45 I got into bed (very sleepy) and slept until about 2pm. How the Spanish do this regularly I do not know.

Here is a summary of life in Spain so far...

Things I’m loving

-jamón

-free tapas 

-friendly people

-the weather (for now)

-shutters

Things I’m finding hard

-lack of organisation at uni

-the milk situation (it should be refrigerated at all times)

-going out /eating so late

-lack of kettles

Apart from all the confusion and disorganisation, I’m enjoying life in Granada and looking forward to starting classes on Monday, getting into a routine and really getting back into Spanish (I hope). And, of course, my first set of visitors in 2 weeks - ma, pa, and nanny! 

Besos

Week one - done!

I can’t believe how fast the days go here in Granada. Since I’ve arrived I’ve been out every evening. It’s good exercise though, if I want to walk into the central area to meet people it takes about 20-30 minutes. It’s a nice walk though and there are still always loads of people about. I could take the bus but it's probably confusing and they look packed. 

One of the things I read about Granada was how it is one of the remaining areas in Spain where the tradition of free tapas with a drink is still going. I had forgotten all about this until I met up with some friends (they're all Spanish students from Lancaster uni). When they said we were going out for tapas I assumed we would order our drinks along with what tapas we wanted. Instead, we just order our beers and see what delight they bring out! We’ve had all sorts. We even went to a Chinese tapas bar, for €2 you get a beer and then you can choose from a selection of tapas. Some is Chinese and some is Spanish. The portions are pretty generous and for €2 you can’t really go wrong. One evening we visited one last bar in the hope of some tapas, given that it was about 11:30 we thought we may be pushing it, we got given our drinks and after about 20 minutes we decided that we probably weren’t going to be getting anything. Then, the waiter comes round the corner with the 3 bagels with Serrano ham and cheese, patatas bravas and a pasta salad. Amazing! We were so happy. 

The only trouble with living a bit further out is getting home. Given that I’m still finding my bearings and trying to get to know the city I’ve been getting taxis home. They usually cost €5 which isn’t too bad. The first night I had a great taxi driver called Pepe who complimented me on my Spanish but then told me we can't be friends because of what's happening in Gibraltar. I guess that as the year goes on I’ll meet more people who live near me that I can walk with. I did walk home last night at about 12 and there were still so many people about as it was a Saturday night, the night just begins at 12. The good thing is that I can walk to uni. Google maps have told me it takes about 20 minutes although I’ve heard there’s a big hill. There’s just no escaping the hills up to uni, I had to basically hike to uni in Canterbury every day last year. Hopefully all this walking will burn off the beer and tapas I’ve been eating.

On Thursday Ailish, Alli and I went to the Albayzin. I’ve heard it’s really cool with Arabic markets and stuff. I don’t think we actually went to the right place, looking back on google maps its spread over a huge area and I think we went to the wrong bit, however it wasn’t all unsuccessful. To start with we had to climb a huge hill,  it really was so steep and in nearly 30 degree heat it was a struggle. We made it, and treated ourselves to a nice cold drink . We ordered our drinks first, 5 minutes later our free tapas came out (of course) we got some olives and I think langoustines (the ones that you have to rip the head off). They were really nice but slightly messy and  attracted wasps. In the square where we were sat was a traditional Spanish musicians. There were two guitarists one of which was also singing. It was amazing and so surreal; it felt like we were in a film. I’m not sure what type of music it was, perhaps flamenco. I would say traditional southern Spain. While we were sat I realised we were probably quite close to the Mirador San Nicolas. This is where everyone comes to takes photos of the view of the Alhambra. We got a bit lost but we found it and that steep hill really was worth it. I’ve seen so many photos on the internet but they really do it no justice, it was so beautiful.  I’m sure I’ll be going back there with any visitors I have.

That night I went out for dinner with Carmen, one of my flatmates, and 2 friends from her course. It was nice to finally hear some Spanish, the Andalucian accent is definitely gonna take some getting used to though. I couldn't really join in on the conversation because I was concentrating on understanding what they were saying. But, poco a poco eh?

On Friday we attempted our first proper Spanish night out. (I say attempt because our night ended at 3am not the standard 8am finish here in Spain). There was a big party held for Erasmus students but we thought we’d get there a bit later than 10pm this time! We did some pre drinking in Ailish’s flat with everyone and some of their new flatmates, one of which was German. I told her how I was born in Rinteln and we lived in Celle. She looked very shocked when I told her as she lives there and it's a tiny place. Small world. We were invited to someone else’s flat which was strange and full of funky hippy Spanish people (and a few English) and strong smells of weed. I found a sombrero though so not all bad. When we got to the bar it was heaving it took us ages to get a drink but for 4 beers and 4 shots it came to €8! Crazy, it’d cost at least £20 in somewhere like that in England. Unfortunately the shot was horrendous, god knows what it was but I thought my throat was going to burn away! 

Tomorrow I register properly to the uni and get all my bits and bobs signed to send back to Kent. Although, from the tales I’ve been reading from other Kent students around Spain it’s not set to be a simple and organised procedure. We shall see!

I have so much more I could say but I think I’ve already written enough! I can't add any photos to my blog due to the wifi I'm using but they will follow.

Besos

P.S. to anyone who was wondering, visitors are more than welcome provided they come with PG tips and a good book or two.

Aquí Estoy

After several takes at re-packing my suitcase (what would I do without my mum?) and some tearful goodbyes, I began my adventure on Monday morning. I flew from Stansted to Malaga. The buses from Malaga station leave every hour on the hour to Granada, the bus from the airport dropped us at the station at 1:50. I was panicking. Obviously it wouldn’t be the end of the world if I had to wait an hour for the next bus but it’d be better if I could catch this one. I found out it was on platform 24, I searched for ticket machines but couldn’t find any, I quickly asked a woman at the information desk, and she said si si 24. I figured that you must just buy the tickets on the bus. I went up to the driver and asked, he told me I needed to buy the tickets from _______ (this means I had no clue what he was saying). So with my 20kilo suitcase and my stupidly heavy rucksack I was running through the station, finally I found the ticket machine, and the mile long queue that came with it. 1:55pm. I was freaking out, I decided to just push in front of people as no one seemed to be using the self service. I was tapping away so quickly, it’s not like in England; they want your full name, your passport number and the seat you want to reserve! My heart was pounding trying to get my passport from my plastic pouch. Of course, I made it to the bus in time. Don’t you just hate it when you rush and rush, then the bus doesn’t leave for another 5 minutes...

The journey was fine, I kept nodding in and out of sleep, most likely dribbling and snoring too (so ladylike, I know). Now, as neither of my flatmates are there yet I had to ring the porter who would give me my keys. I had arrived about 1 hour earlier than expected (I clearly underestimated my skills of running through Malaga bus station with a suitcase). So I rang him, and again, and again. Nothing. So I sent a text and hopped into a taxi. Luckily someone was also going into my building when I arrived so I went in with them too. An hour later, he arrived and I could get into my flat. It’s so nice, I have a balcony (!) with a view of the plaza de toros. Following the lovely note and map drawn by my flatmates I headed to the supermarket to get some bits and pieces.

The view from my balcony

My room

Today I had a wonder to find an orange shop. It took a while but I got there. I managed to top up 15 euros to get my 1000 texts and 1GB data. Very nice. However, in about 2 hours when i tried to text an English number it told me i have no credit. I dunno what I am doing wrong but my internet still works. It means I won’t be able to ring anyone though. Then again, I am in Spain, who needs to call when the whole MUNDO is obsessed with whatsapp.

So here I am, chilling in my flat. Tonight I am meeting up with some other Erasmus students for tapas and drinks. It'll be good to do something and properly start my year abroad. 

Besos

Preparativos II

Today marks one week until I leave for Granada. I've been counting down ever since I came back from au pairing. I was nothing but excited until I hit the 3 week countdown. 3 weeks sounded very soon and I began to panic. I realised I had done very little organisation since I'd come back, luckily this scared me and so I got my bum in to gear and started sorting everything out.

My flight was booked a few months ago before I'd gone to Barcelona so I didn't have to worry about prices rising after I'd returned. I'd also sorted out a place to live before I went au pairing. I'm going to be living in a flat with 2 Spanish girls who also go to the uni, it's close to the bull ring which is cool. I'm really looking forward to living with them.

The boring bit that comes with doing a year abroad is the paperwork. It begins at the end of first year and will continue in to the first few weeks of my final year. We've had loads of different documents to sign and send back to Kent, and others to take with us abroad. Luckily all mine is sorted until I get to Granada.

With all my paperwork done I turned to the next obstacle. Luggage.

When I booked my flight I added a suitcase on which Ryan Air charged me £35, when I logged back in recently to add a second one (who can honestly move to Spain with one suitcase?) they wanted to charge £50 for 15kg. Instead, I decided to buy a travelling rucksack, shove my heaviest items in and take it as hand luggage. It will work. Still, one suitcase and a larger than average rucksack is not a lot of luggage considering I'm going to be in Granada until at least July and I'm packing for all seasons (Granada is very cold in the winter). It'll be a challenge since my Dad's car is usually stacked to the brim with everything I own when I go to uni in England. Maybe I should have taken up his offer of driving from Lincolnshire to Granada....

I've started packing early to avoid night-before dramas. Hopefully it'll all soon be done and within the weight restrictions so that I can spend my last days in England relaxing and saying my goodbyes. 

I really am excited for what the next year has to offer me - I'd be lying if I said I wasn't absolutely bricking it though! 

Besos.