General Life Update or Why I Stopped Writing this Blog and Wrote a Dissertation Instead!

So, we meet again.  Long time since I've written here...and I sort of left in the middle of things.  If I get some time I will finish the series on being an au-pair as it was a wonderful experience and I want to re-visit it and remember.

Day to day life plods on the same.  A lot of studying and essay writing was undertaken, and my dissertation was handed in in December after a lot of hard work!

Finally, it was done!  

However, time is most definitely of the essence.  I have just finished my last ever semester as an undergraduate at the University of Glasgow.  Five exams, starting at the end of April and lasting until the 17th May, a Grad Ball (which took up a bit of time as I was helping to organize it) on the 26th May and then *dun dun dun* Graduation on 26th June!
 

Then I say goodbye to it all...very strange feeling as I know I want to travel, I don't want to settle down and start a career without properly thinking about it and 'tengo muchas ganas' about seeing the world, but...and here's the rub...I don't want to disappear and lose my life again.        

Since returning home at the end of my year abroad, I have found new friends and rekindled old friendships which were affected by my previous journey.  I know how hard it is to keep in contact with people when you don't see them regularly due to being across the sea, and how easy it is to just move on.  The thing is I don't want to take the easy option.  I want and need these people in my life, not as part of the background but as friends whom I see and talk to regularly.

My last ever music club concert with the GUBB - I'm 2nd (or 4th) smallest

Hispanic Panic! with some of my best friends who all happen to be students of Spanish!

Selfie time!  

On the other hand, I know that my future, at least in the short-term cannot be here.  I have already applied to go back to Spain as a language assistant, hoping and wishing that I get placed in Barcelona in order to improve my catalan alongside my castilian.  I feel more at ease using Spanish as my everyday tongue and part of my resolutions for this year was that my 'Spanish persona' - a more confident, fiery and extroverted form of my personality - could translate over into my Scottish self.  I'm still very much an introvert (although technically I fall on the scale as an introverted ambivert) and find social situations daunting, the ball of anxiety knotting in my stomach, but I can see the difference, and others have commented on it, since coming home.

Another pic of the Big Band!  Look at Team Trumpet in the back!  

 

I think this has gotten a bit rambly...so perhaps it is time to wrap it up.  The future is a very big, scary, daunting place which I'm heading to on a daily basis.  Change is inevitable as I attempt to figure out the next step.  The next trip I take is actually going to be closer to home as I'm off to Leeds on Saturday to meet my imaginary friends for the first time and then I'm still trying to plan a jaunt to see my sister who is on ERASMUS in Maastricht, Netherlands.  Summer is rapidly approaching and my vague plans are to go to France for 6 weeks whilst studying a language course in order to have the requisite time to apply for teacher training.  And then, well, hopefully it'll be on yet another plane destined for my adopted homeland - *fingers crossed* for somewhere in Catalonia!  Preferably near a Ryanair airport so people can come visit!        


       

Year Abroad: I don't want to go home, but maybe I sort-of do

I have gotten to that point of the year abroad that everyone tells you will come, but at the beginning you don’t believe.  I really don’t want to leave…

I have a bubble.  My little, year abroad experience, bubble.  Sure, I have problems here, things are not always easy, but through those gruelling experiences, the bitchy people, the homesickness etc. comes a closeness to people who you’d never have met without being here.  I have made such wonderful friends from all over the world, and I don’t want to stop seeing them.  Of course I have my own friends back home, whom I love to pieces, but they can’t understand fully just how hard and intense this year is, whereas the people I know here appreciate exactly what is going on.   

I wrote this a few months ago, and since then my mind has changed a little.  Now, whilst I'm going to miss (almost) everything here, and whilst I'm lucky to not be homesick, I am not desperate to stay.   I am ready to go home when the time comes in just under two months, because even if I was here everyone that I know would be leaving.

Some of my friends from here are staying on in Spain, and hopefully this means that a few American voices will be coming to Glenboig.  But I have to move on, graduate and then if I want I can do something like this again in the future.  Especially that I now know that I can do it.

The rest of my time will fly in, and as long as I make the most of it then I will be happy to leave.  And I know that the memories I have made will last forever.  

Year abroad: Highlights of the week 10th - 16th March

Saturday 10^th – Went to La Puerta de Segura for Matt’s birthday.  Presented him with a can of Irn-Bru, and explained what was meant by a fizzy drink/ginger.  Later on we went to a nearby town where there was supposed to be a good discoteca, epic fail.  We ended up paying for a taxi back and then sitting in a pub watching basketball and eating pipas.

La Puerta de Segura

The boys decided to go exploring...

We were so glad to be going down this hill instead of up

The police station.  

Sunday 11^th – Still in La Puerta.  La Puerta is a tiny wee town with around 2500 people living there.  It is literally one street.  We went to a café near Matt’s school for breakfast, then for a walk above the town.  The town is really pretty. 

Monday 12^th – Had a long lie.  Sunbathed a little.  Weather is now really lovely and warm (for me…).  Made fajitas.

Tuesday 13^th – School was good.  Classes seemed to enjoy the activities – crosswords, fill in the blanks etc. that I’d made.   

Got positive feedback from one of the teachers whom I work with saying how the kids all really liked me and that I was doing a good job.

Band like usual.  Found out that we had a concert on the Saturday to warm up for Semana Santa.  I’d only seen two or three of the pieces ONE time before.  Got Martin to photocopy them for me so that I could practice before the concert.  They were all processional marches.

Wednesday 14^th – Got some positive feedback about how I was doing in the art classes.    

Thursday  15^th – We did a class about homosexuality and famous lgb people in general.  Had to resist the urge to sing and dance along to the Beatles (Across the Universe uses I Wanna Hold Your Hand to show a lesbian teenager) and Queen (FREDDIE).  One of the more conservative boys was very shocked when he realised that the girl was singing to another girl and not to the quarterbacks. 

Got a text around 5 from Leah saying that she was out tapasing with some tecahers and people from Ubeda and would I like to join her since there was a man who had lived in Scotland for over thirty years.  Off I went and spent a few hours talking with a Spanish man who has a broader accent than me.  We talked about everything from The Big Yin to how he has met Sean Connery three times.  He works as a tour guide based in Edinburgh during the summer and works in Ubeda the rest of the year .

Tapas as always in Pedritos. 

Friday  16^th – Emotional times in the staff room.  More positive feedback.  I still don’t want to leave!  Just make the next few months a bit longer please, although I know they will fly in…L

Me and Geni...

 

Tapas with some of the teachers/my friends…Reyes, Geni, Paco, Gonzalo, Mercedes and Jenna.  We tried the tapas especial of El Trillo.  It was foie gras, some weird apple, potato and meat thing and coleslaw…a bit weird.  After this we went to a coffee shop and they drank coffee and we all ate some cake. 

Rehearsal in the teatro.  Nearly two hours without a break.  These pieces are big blowers and I was already so exhausted.  Was sort-of fun in a masochistic way, especially when Martin lost his temper at the trombones and we had to keep playing the same passage over and over.  

Then I met up with some friends in Torreon.  Had a drink there and then went to La Pena.  Poor Gonzalo got stuck with some guy who wouldn’t stop talking – habló por los codos.

So all in all another good week.  Roll on many more.

Days until I finish at Santisima - 76

Year Abroad: Burns, Booze and Birthdays

             I'm going back through my old posts and trying to complete my chronological year.  This stuff tends to be something I wrote about a specific day and then had too much other stuff to get done so they fell to the sidelines.  Also I feel like I may have published this before (please tell me if I have).

              January 25^th, Burns night, a day to celebrate the poet and all this Scottish.  Except I was in Spain, a long way away from the nearest Scot (I think).  There are some here in Jaen I just haven’t met them.  Instead of grey skies and rain, there was sunshine and heat.  The Sunday beforehand had been 23 degrees…in January!  Now that was a day when I loved Spain, give me sun and I’m a happy bunny.  But anyways, what I’m trying to say is that Burns night, one of my favourite celebrations at home, was just another day here, and an uneventful day at that.               

            On the Thursday we all went out for our normal tapas night and this was the first time I’d seen Jenna since she’d gotten engaged.  It had also recently been here birthday.  We got talking about the “gathering” and she volunteered her flat as it is much bigger than mine, and she said that she’d do some cooking as well.  I volunteered to get the birthday cake and some crisps and it was bring your own booze, so now we had a plan.  And we were all set to have a pretty unconventional Burns night…

            Friday night was a time to meet two new friends.  Candice from New Zealand, although her family recently moved to Adelaide…so when I finally go visit my Aussie family, I can visit her as well, she lives with Mat in La Puerta, and Todd from Washington State, who had actually just met every person in the room that day.  He is in a tiny tiny town called Siles.  If Baeza is Coatbridge, the Siles is Annithill (this only works for people who know the area where I’m from) – Siles is in the middle of nowhere and doesn’t have that many people living there, it’s just cruel to put someone out there so isolated.  Mat and Candice are the closest assistants and they are 20 km away.  Once again I count my blessings for being put in Baeza.

             The Friday night was fun, wine and whiskey at Dave and Anna’s, then to La Pena for some impromptu flamenco – I think this was Candice’s first experience of live flamenco in Spain, and she loved it.  They even played a sort-of Blues guitar mixed with flamenco song at one point, that was my favourite.  I spent the night chatting with Candice about the TV programmes that the UK and New Zealand share.  She told me that Coronation Street or Corro is huge over there and that just about everybody watches it.  Then we went to 11 del 11 and danced for a bit, but everyone was exhausted so we went home relatively early.

            Then it was Saturday and time to organise the party.  I went and bought the cake and candles, then went down to Jenna’s to “decorate”…I put up my two Scotland flags.  Meanwhile she had prepared so much food.  And it was all brilliant.  I stood chatting to her in the kitchen whilst she prepared quesadillas, and almost everyone else was sat around her dining table cracking on with the wine and beer.  Jenna and I lamented about the state of Spanish cheese…it’s too mild…and she was glad to hear that we have good strong cheese in the UK. 

Jenna preparing some food.

The wine table

            A traditional part of a Burns night is the “toast to the lassies”…there was only one person who we needed to toast, and that was Jenna.  She had allowed us to use her flat, and had spent ages making food for us.  Thanks Jenna!  Shortly after this we did the birthday cake.  The cake was a sort-of ice cream cake but very chocolaty…when Leah was handing me a piece it fell, and surprising all apart from myself, I caught it before it hit the cream couch…I’m on a lucky streak of catching things just before disaster…a beer glass in Torreon, a box of vodka bottles in ASDA and now the chocolate cake. 

            Then it was time to try and attempt to teach them how to Ceilidh dance.  Of course I picked the easiest one “The Gay Gordons” because it is simply just walking with a few spins thrown in…it should be perfectly simple to learn, right?  Not so much.             

             

Year Abroad: Christmas day

            Christmas this year was always going to be special.  It was the first time I would be with my family for three months, and those three months were some of the most intense of my life.  I moved abroad, I started a job and I became independent, much more confident and my Spanish was picking up speed.  Whilst I haven’t changed all that much, I feel different, happier in my own skin and I have the knowledge that I can do it, because I’ve done it.  Moved to Spain by myself – check, lived by myself – check, made foreign friends from across the globe – check, became just that little bit more awesome – check. 

           

            So I got home on Christmas Eve and after some sleep I was woken up by my mum who had gotten in Lorne sausages and rolls.  She made my dad cook them and then we sat and watched the Glee holiday special.  In the afternoon Katherine and I completed the tradition of watching The Muppets Christmas Carol and then we had to go get ready to go to my Uncle Peter’s before Midnight Mass (at 9pm).  We got up to his house and the first thing we notice is that he now has cats.  My sister is terribly allergic and she couldn’t stay inside for more than a few minutes.  We also knew that my cousin who was getting married later on that week had allergies and they also didn’t know about the cats.  But the cats have given him something to do and that is a good thing.  Then we went to church.

            In our house we do presents just after midnight so that we can have a longish lie in on Christmas morning before heading to see my dad’s family.  My main present this year was a blu-ray player and the Lion King on blu-ray.  My mum got a kindle, Katherine got an iPod and my dad got various odds and ends.  On Christmas morning my (great)Aunty Jeanie, (great)Uncle Jim and (mum’s)cousin Jim came down and we saw them, chatted and chilled out.  Then we had to head up to my aunty Elaine’s to see all the McAlindens and give presents out.  I love seeing everyone on Christmas day, it’s our tradition.  Then it was time to go home and get ready for Christmas dinner at my mum’s sisters house. 

            I had nothing to wear so I borrowed Katherine’s dress, which I have now bought for myself.  I think that since my cousin was getting married that we are now all considered adults, as the conversations were definitely more adult than they were last year…it was just a good relaxing evening with nice traditional Christmas food.  Exactly the type of thing that I needed.  We then came home and watched the Dr Who episode.

           

Year Abroad: Flying home for Christmas

            I went home for Christmas, and as anyone who follows me on Twitter knows as you received a daily countdown for the three weeks prior to it, I was super excited to get back into my own bed, with my own walls in my family home. 

            My mum was instructed to buy the new fiery Irn-Bru (which is strange and sort of gross but at the same time you want to drink a little bit more.  And it lives up to its name with a fiery kick at the back of your throat.), and that we were definitely going to McDonalds on the way home from the airport, which we did at just after half past eleven.  But I’m jumping ahead of myself.

            

             The week previous to my going home was really strange because this was a huge thing looming.  I wasn’t even thinking about what would happen when I got home just that the Friday would be a huge journey starting at 7 am (my time) and ending at just after midnight in the UK.  Over 18 hours of travelling, two cars, three trains (including the airport one) and two planes.  And all of this on not that much sleep.   So I loaded up my iPod with all the Christmas episodes of the podcasts I listen to and set off.  The taxi driver arrived on time and got me to the station in plenty of time to get my train.  Trains in Spain are terrifying, I’m still not used to the fact that they have stairs and that you have about 30 seconds to jump on with all your stuff, luckily this time I was carrying a lot less weight, my bag only weighed 12.5kg…I have never had that little stuff with me…

            

             On the train I was sitting playing around with my laptop and I was sitting in the seat in front of the one where I was supposed to be since there was someone in mine.  This isn’t normally a problem, unless two really old Spaniards get on the train and start shouting at you to move.  Which of course I did but she spent the next hour talking to her husband about me and calling me all sorts of names…must have been the most exciting thing to happen to her in a while…I however, was laughing about this on Twitter since I have mobile internet.  And really what did it matter, she was just a cranky old lady and I was off home.

            3 and a half hours later I arrived in Atocha train station where I was to catch my second train to the airport.  It’s a great thing that they have a direct train line to T4 of the airport, it’s so easy to use.  The only problem is that not all the trains go all the way there and they are every half hour, this is what contributed to my problems on the way back.  So I had a small wait and then I was off to the airport. 

            

              I had time to kill in the airport before I could check in so I went and got some food.  I sort of cheated and went to the McDonalds there but really it is the cheapest option.  It was crammed full of people, due to the fact that everyone was flying either home or on holiday for Christmas.  I sat and ate my meal, a McPollo meal.  Just before I left to go and get all checked in, as I was putting my jacket into my bag, some little Frenchman tried to steal my spot.  “Eh what do you think yer doin’ mate?” (except in Spanish) “I’m sitting here”.  He gave me a dirty look, and then some Welsh woman tried the same thing.  I deliberately sat for another few minutes, just to annoy them and then went and checked in.  Message here – don’t mess with me when I’m a tad stressed, else you’ll face the wrath of Mary Ann. 

            

            At the check-in the woman started to talk to me in English, but I responded in Spanish automatically.  She started laughing at the fact that I was doing this but I just said that I was used to doing that now.  I got my window seats on both flights and that was that.  I went through the security and down to catch the airport transfer train between T4 and T4S.  I only had one thing that I had to do and that was to find a souvenir for my dad.  My mum, sister and Aunty Mary all got their Turron duro but I hadn’t found anything for my dad.  I found a cup with a bullfighter on it, and thought that he’d quite like that, he did.  Sorted.  Then it was time to board.  Then to wait…for nearly an hour…as they removed one passenger and his luggage from the flight… 

            The flight was quite funny as a lot of the families on the flight were bilingual.  The mothers were Spanish and the dads were English speaking.  Some of the children were babbling along in Spanish and the parents would reply in English.  There was one annoying baby, like usual, and the mother kept trying to sing it into quiet but failed.  Ironically she was singing Silent Night.  I got to London with around an hour to transfer to the other terminal…I was starting to freak out…I mean I have flown with BA and Iberia (their partner) for all of these flights and every single one has been delayed.  Luckily for the fact that I was squeezed for time the flight to Glasgow was also delayed. 

           

             Landing in London at night, especially at Christmas is something special.  All those lights stretching out for miles.  All the colours and the sheer scale of London and the recognition of the famous landmarks, it was wonderful.

            

             Eventually I got to Glasgow.  On a plane full of Glaswegians all chattering away in the accent that I have missed.  Landed at Glasgow and on the way from the plane to the baggage claim were all the vending machines filled with Irn-Bru…oh yes, I was back in my country.

            Got out to the area where the people wait and there they were.  My family.  I gave the trolley to my dad and then Katherine and I walked briskly back to the car.  It was as if I’d never left. 

            

           We drove out to Coatbridge for the McDonalds and then home.  I got to open my presents from my secret Santa and from one of my friends.  And I gave my presents to my family.  It was now about one in the morning and all I wanted to do was to go to bed.  But I wasn’t allowed.  Katherine insisted that we watch the Nightmare Before Christmas, so we did and I fell asleep during it.  It was good to be home.            

Year Abroad - Where I leave home and arrive in Madrid...

Hola bloggerinos…those who watch Supernatural should get this reference and those who don’t should watch it so that you know. 

That’s me in Spain now.  As I type I am on board a rather spacious Talgo class RENFE train to Linares-Baeza where my new landlord shall be waiting to pick me up and take me to my new home.  This post is going to focus mainly on my trip from oh so Sunny Scotland to somewhere where it’s hard to use that ironically. 

I left my house yesterday, gosh that feels so long ago, at half past five in the morning…!  I forgot that such a thing existed.  We were all emotional.  Sometimes this year abroad thing seems like a cruel and unusual punishment as I am separated from friends and family.  But of course it is a once in a lifetime experience and I am going to look back on all my misadventures with a sense of nostalgia and as Xavier says in L’auberge espagnole “It’s the bad experiences which make the best stories and over time you come to love telling them”.  The airport was hard, having to leave my family at the security check-in.  Luckily I had a lot of things to worry about.

I was really worried about the suitcase.  I was flying BA and then a connecting flight with Iberia and the weight limit was quite a generous, if you just going on holiday, 23 kg.  I had to fit the majority of my clothes and other things that I was taking into this and let’s just say it didn’t go to well.  I think in the end I re-packed three or four times.  And it was still over…at least BA aren’t Easyjet or Ryanair and they didn’t charge for the .8kg over.  It was also checked-in all the way to Madrid which meant that when I got to Heathrow I could just transfer without having to collect and re-check it in.  I had hours to wait in Heathrow which was very tedious.  Because of the weight of my hand luggage, around 16 kg, I couldn’t carry it around the terminal so I just had to sit there and wait. 

The flights themselves were nice.  On the shuttle from Glasgow to Heathrow I had seat 17F and spent most of the hour looking out of the window and at the pictures in the newspaper.  I wasn’t really in the frame of mind needed for reading or listening to stuff.  There was a spare seat next to me and myself and the wee Glasgae man shared the space putting our stuff there.  On the second flight I had seat 27F and had an entire row to myself.  Since Iberia don’t have very much legroom I just sat with my feet up!  My neck is sore from looking out the window. 

I arrived in Madrid around half 4/5 o’clock local time.  Got my bags and got my taxi.  Ended up being 40 euros…the website said it should be around 30.  But I was there.  Over half my journey was done.  I lugged my bags up to my hostal, the hostal Tijcal 2, on calle de la cruz.  It was a decent room and the location was really good.  Right in the centre of Madrid, very close to la Plaza Mayor and La Puerta del Sol.  Off for a walk I went.           

I had to go buy my ticket from Atocha train station, a place about 10 minutes walk from where I was staying.  But since I had decided to explore a little bit, it took me over an hour to get there.  In the meantime I had seen nearly every tourist attraction in the city, and now know what I want to see and do the next time I'm in Madrid...in 11 days.  Atocha train station is like a jungle, literally.  I had to wait quite a while until my number was called and I bought my ticket to Linares-Baeza.

The rest of this night was spent walking around, and then watching some TV in the hostal.  I was too exhausted to do much else.  And I still had to get to Baeza...

To be continued... 

Year Abroad: 5 - Update...One month to go

I now have less than a month before I embark on what I hope shall be the best year of my young life.
So status update:

I bought my flights a little while ago for the week before I start work to give me time to settle in and explore my new home.  As I type there has been ABSOLUTELY NO WORD from the Andalucian government about our induction training.  So it better be after I arrive, so that I have a clue about what I'm supposed to actually be doing.

I have almost sorted out a flat for myself.  I just have to send one more email saying "Si, senor.  I shall have this flat" but you know, all in Spanish.  Its a one bedroom flat which the previous assistant stayed in and recommended.  The landlord seems like such a lovely man and the rent is reasonable.  It is also right next to the supermarket, so no lugging bags miles around town....yay!
I'm so glad that I should have this sorted before I arrive so that on my first day I can just get into my home, have a shower and cry my eyes out.  Then I can go for a walk and start mi ano en el extranjero :)

We just celebrated my month-previous-to-my-actual-birthday birthday.  It was so nice of my mum to give in to my craziness, but hey.  We had a cake with a singing candle and everything.  To give me something to open on my birthday the parents got me this lovely bag to take with me.  They also got me the brand-spanking new laptop which I am currently using.  My sister got me the first two series of Horrible Histories on DVD so I shall be using them to teach my Spaniards all about the songs and how much I love it.  My saltire flag has also been ordered.  It will adorn my bedroom wall making sure everyone knows where I'm from.  Soy escocesa y me pone orgullosa.

I have also had the first proper night of hysterics where I just broke down and cried at my mum about how scared I am.  I think that has helped me a lot.  I am terrified, for no good reason other than the being a long way away from everyone I know.  But I am more excited than scared.  I can't wait to get going.  Sure it'll be hard the first wee while but soon I shall be too busy to care.  And thank goodness we live in this technological age of Skype.  My family and friends are but a mouse click away.

I think that is all for now.  

Adios for a little while.