Bean's Corner

Yesterday I got a notification from my countdown app telling me I only had three months left of my year abroad and I swear I nearly cried! I do not want to leave this place. I can't believe how quickly the last six weeks have gone - "time flies" and all that.

Anyway, since I've been here six weeks I thought it was time to do a little update...

Mum visited and saw Santiago in the rain, sun and hail. We shopped, we laughed and we ate enough to feed the five thousand. I had the best time with her and I'm so glad she could come out to see me, but the most reassuring thing was that when she left I didn't have a full on breakdown like I did every time she left Paris or I went back. I must actually be happy here!

I'm starting to understand Italian. Yep, that's a real thing that seems to be happening. I realised this when Virgi (my flat mate) was on the phone to her boyfriend (also Italian) telling him I don't have to study because I don't have to pass my exams, when I piped up to defend myself and saw the look on her face, I realised she'd been speaking Italian. So that's good isn't it - came here to improve my Spanish and am learning a new language instead. Pretty inevitable really considering I spend a solid 75% of my time with Italians (no complaints). I should point out I understand a few words, and cannot speak it at all, let's not get ahead of ourselves now.

In the last few weeks I have also been kicked out of flats by the police at 2am (my friends' neighbours don't seem to like having students live in their buildings), booked my flights to Cadiz to go and visit my lovely pal Emily Oz in April, eaten A LOT of Milka chocolate, spent a night in hospital (oops), converted our lounge into a gym with Virgi and spent half the workout laying on the floor laughing at how much pain we're in and fully embraced the siesta life.

The bottom line is, I am really, really happy here. I love Santiago, despite the fact that it rains more than England (not a fact but I'm pretty sure its an accurate judgement!). Uni is pretty good, I mean aside from the fact that I have one lecturer who turns up 20 minutes late and tells us things that aren't right (for example, some guy we're studying was born when his dad was nine years old...), and that I have two literature classes that are taught in Galician, which I can't speak. The positive is I only have about three hours of classes everyday, and never anything after 3pm.

Bring on the next three months!

Bean xx

Ps. I promised Bobo a couple of weeks ago that I'd write about him in my blog. Bobo, aquí está tu mención especial

Carnaval in Madrid & Toledo

07:07

Before I say anything about this weekend, you should know that I'm writing this blog post from my death bed (on the sofa, with a cuppa like a true sick English gal) so everyone should probably feel sorry for me and send chocolate please and thank you!

On Friday at FOUR IN THE MORNING Virgi and I got up, got dressed in a still-half-asleep trance and then made our way to the train station (and ended up running and nearly missing the train) because we were headed to Madrid for the weekend! Once we'd endured the five hour train journey, we got some food then headed to the flat to meet the rest of the group who had got there the day before. The flat was insane, 6 bathrooms, 7 bedrooms and 18 people. Sixteen of those people were Italian, then there was a Spanish girl and myself.

On Friday night we went to a club in the city which I loved, mostly because they didn't just play music from the UK's top 40 two years ago... It was such a funny night, but right at the end of the night I reached to check my phone was in my bag and it wasn't. My bag had been opened and my phone taken from inside it, we spent about 45 minutes trying to work out its location on Find My iPhone, but whoever stole it had blocked its position so my phone was gone for good. I wasn't the only one to have their phone stolen either - four other girls also had theirs taken that night! Currently feeling like I've lost a limb, which is sad but unfortunately true!

On Saturday we slept in till around 12, had lunch and cleaned the flat and then Virginia and I decided we needed to see Madrid in daylight, so we headed out for a short walk with Pito, one of the Italian boys who I cannot even begin to describe (friend's from Felsted, he's like a more ridiculous Temple?! - love ya, Temps). We then headed back to the flat, got ourselves ready to go out and headed to the bus station to go to Toledo!

Toledo is a beautiful town about an hour south of Madrid, we went there for Carnaval and I have honestly never seen anything like it. Everyone was dressed up in the most hilarious and extravagant costumes, drinking and dancing in the plaza where there was a big stage set up with live music. We got to Toledo at 9pm, after wandering round the bus station trying to work out how to buy a ticket for about 200 years, and then split into groups for dinner (Virginia and I chose the healthy option - chicken nuggets at McDonalds). Once we had regrouped, we drank vodka limón and danced in the plaza for a few hours - even when it started raining heavily for what was apparently the first time in two months! - and then we headed to a club where we danced even more until finally dragging our now zombie-like selves to the bus station (making a pitstop for churros con chocolate on the way) and getting the first bus back to Madrid at 8am on Sunday. It was the most hilarious, surreal and exhausting night and I have never been so glad to collapse into bed as I was at half nine on that Sunday morning!

As you can imagine, Sunday was pretty much a total write-off of a day. Virginia and I slept until around 2pm, ate some biscuits for breakfast (nutritious and delicious) and then went to the Museo Reina Sofia with Ludovica, one of the Italian girls. We wandered round the museum feeling very confused by the art and then made our way to the Templo de Debod which had the most amazing view of the city. While we were there, we bumped into two of Virginia's friends from Italy, so we headed to Montaditos for some food. Montaditos is a bar/restaurant which offers everything on the menu for 1€ on Sundays - its all tapas in sandwiches, its amazing. Although I'm not 100% sold on Spanish tortilla (eggs and potatoes) in a baguette...

On Sunday night we all stayed in, as money and energy were running low! Everyone was a bit hysterical and while Virginia and I tried to sleep, the boys decided stealing each others clothes and hiding from each other was a brilliant plan. It was absolutely hilarious to watch. We were crying with laughter, particularly when someone suggested to get into teams...

Eventually Monday came round and we packed up, cleaned up and headed out for lunch and a stroll in the park before catching our planes and trains back to Santiago. At lunch, Gabriele decided to teach Pito some table manners (sit up straight! don't talk with your mouth full!) and I realised I now understood some Italian as I realised I was understanding everything he said to Pito - buzzing! We went to Parque del Buen Retiro after lunch and most of us sat with a coffee (in my case, a hot chocolate) while Andrea, Daniele and Gabriele hired a boat on the pond. A couple of hours passed and it was time to catch our train back to Santiago, so Virginia and I hopped on the metro and made our way to the station - again having to run for our train and getting on with about a minute to spare!

Five hours later and we were back from sunny (but cold) Madrid, in rainy Santiago and reunited with Julia and our lovely flat!

It was such a brilliant weekend, despite losing my phone and not understand everything everyone was saying (note to self- learn Italian)!

Bean xx

Week Two Round-Up

14:53

I've almost been here two weeks now and I genuinely cannot believe how quickly that time has gone. So much has happened since arriving here in Santiago that I don't really know where to start!

Last Saturday we had our first night out and Júlia moved in! Virginia, Júlia and I invited a few friends to the flat for a couple of drinks (3€ prosecco - dream come true) and then headed to a place called Casa do Patín. How do I even begin to describe this place? We got in a taxi and the driver stopped on this dark, dodgy looking track and told us to follow the track to the light - we thought he was joking but when he responded to our laughter with '5€ please' we realised he was serious! So we did as he said, followed the track towards the light where we found an elderly lady (I mean full on grey hair and older than my grandparents) who apparently is a hippy who converted her house into this bar/club. It was honestly the coolest place I've been, didn't get busy until 4am because Spanish people are weird (pre drinks at 1am?). We got back to the flat at 8am and crashed!

On Monday we started classes and despite it being near impossible to find the information online about where/when classes are, the day went smoothly and so did the rest of the week! Another bonus is that my French classes are taught in French - unlike my Spanish classes in Paris, where approximately three Spanish words were spoken per lesson...

My classes seem alright, despite the first topic of my Spanish language module being syntax (I got 34% in my first year syntax module at uni, not entirely sure how learning it in a foreign language is going to go). The walk to my department is pretty decent too, I walk through the Zona Vieja (old zone) and Praza do Obradoiro to get there, which means I walk right next to the cathedral every day.

This Friday was a bank holiday which meant I didn't have lessons, and for some reason my lecturers decided not to have lessons on Thursday either, so I've had a very nice, long weekend! We went out on Thursday, first to a place called Sonar for an Erasmus party (which featured many of 2012's greatest hits) and then back to Casa do Patín. We actually had pre drinks at our flat again, with a fair amount of people - the majority from Brazil or Italy. One of our neighbours came to ask us to turn the music down, which we did straight away, but we came back to find a note written in Gallego threatening to call the police and our flat owners to get us kicked out if we are loud again. Charming.

This weekend has been so much fun. On Friday Virginia and I went for a walk around Parque Alameda, which is a park about two minutes away from our flat and the nicest place ever! Then last night we went to a bar called Central Perk (nothing like the coffee shop in Friends, was disappointed!) and then to a friend's botellon (kind of like pre drinks) - another Italian who I'd met in the uni's Erasmus office. After that we went to another bar, and finally headed home at 6am!

Today I woke up at 12pm, and after an hour of sussing the hangover situation, I rose from the dead and made scrambled eggs. Perfect Sunday! This evening we went to another bar and met a group of Italians, and a Spanish boy who speaks Italian. The entire population of Italy is here in Santiago this semester. Every five minutes someone would give up on Spanish and say something in Italian, only to be told off by someone else for not speaking Spanish so I could understand! It was very amusing, I felt like a bit of an inconvenience at first but soon realised they didn't mind, its just a force of habit to revert back to your native language! I have noticed, though, that my accent has a hint of Italian in it now which I'm not very happy about! And I'm also picking up on all the arm-moving and hand gestures!

I think one of the highlights of my week was this evening at the bar, when my Italian pals suddenly got into a bit of a fight about ragu/spaghetti bolognese. The conversation got so heated that they reverted back to Italian and even the Spanish guy who speaks Italian didn't have a clue what was going on!

So far, so good. I love it here SO much and have made a lot of really lovely friends. We've booked to go to Madrid and Toledo this weekend for Carnaval and I couldn't be more excited!

Bean xx

PART TWO

07:02

Hola a todos! I've made it to my second year abroad destination: Santiago de Compostela, Spain! And I'm now sat in a cafe called Dalia with a hot chocolate (which I'm pretty sure is actually chocolate custard...) and scrounging for wifi so I can tell you about my first few days.

Monday

After spending all of Sunday trying to fit everything in my suitcase, I took myself to the airport on Monday - I met a lovely American man whose friend had got on the metro before him and not realised he wasn't on it, we had a nice chat on the metro and found his friend at the airport! Once I was at the airport, I got myself through security - having my hand luggage search was the most embarrassing situation because this 20 year old travelling alone had a teddy in her backpack, didn't she! Anyway, I then got on my first plane to Madrid, which was pretty empty. I hate flying and apparently so was the woman next to me because she gasped and grabbed my hand when we started to land! Two hours later I was on my second plane to Santiago which thankfully only took an hour.
As soon as my feet touched the floor I felt comfortable. Everyone I've met so far has been so kind and welcoming - the woman running the hostel was amazing, the man driving the bus from the airport was lovely and when I asked a man for directions, he walked me round the corner to the right road rather than just telling me where to go. If I had spoken to any of those people in Paris I would have received a grunt and a dirty look in response.

Tuesday

Tuesday was an exciting day! I woke up and ate my breakfast, and then went to the bus stop to collect my future flatmate, Virginia, who is from Italy. I was SO nervous while I waited, all sorts of thoughts going through my head at this point as I'd found her in a Facebook group! But she arrived and we went to my hostel to put her suitcase there and get her a room, and somehow ended up having to share a bed until we found a flat on Thursday! We spent the day looking at flats, had an early dinner and then went to sleep as Virginia had only slept for a couple hours because she had travelled overnight.

Wednesday

More flat hunting! Bit of doubt as to whether our other flatmate was going to come the following day to choose a flat and sign the contract... So we posted in a private Facebook group for Erasmus students and asked if anyone wanted to live with us. All I can say is thank god we did!

Thursday

This was the day our other flatmate was meant to arrive so we could sign the contract for the flat we decided on. She didn't come. So we met a girl called Júlia who is from Brasil and had commented on our Facebook post on Wednesday night. She came to look at the flat with us and brought a friend with her, we looked around the flat and made our final decision, then went for lunch the four of us. Thursday night, Virginia and I stayed in the flat with only a little blanket each that we had bought earlier on because the owners were going to bring us bedding and pots and pans on Friday morning! Virginia and I did a food shop and had to stop every few steps to have a break because we bought so much food, not our best plan!

Friday

On Friday, we signed the contract for our flat and payed the deposit and Ana, one of the owners of the flat, brought us towels, bedding, pans and more. Júlia stayed in her hostel Thursday and Friday night as she'd already paid for it and has moved in today (Saturday). Virginia and I spent most of the day walking around the town, buying bits and pieces for the flat and so on. We spent a couple of hours in a cafe trying to work out how to make our timetables - it was a very similar level of impossible to Paris, but all online so +1 point for Santiago! We cooked dinner and instead of going out to celebrate having a flat, we stayed in like a pair of old women and chatted in Spanglish in fits of giggles.

Despite the (pretty much constant) rain, I am already loving Santiago. I've barely spoken any English, met some really lovely people and feel pretty comfortable. But let's not jinx it, classes start on Monday and I have a feeling that is not going to be a walk in the park...!

Bean xx

erasmus

The End!

02:29

Tout achèvement marque un nouveau départ

Every end is a new beginning

In three days' time I will be making a somewhat stressful journey on the metro to Orly Airport, with a very large, very heavy suitcase and no key in my pocket to the little flat on the fifth floor of a beautiful Parisian building in the 15th arrondissement. Quite sad when you put it like that, but I'm not very sad to be going!

I've spent the best part of four months living in Paris, the capital city of France - not my home country, or anything like it. This is the first time I've lived in a different country, the first time I've lived away from home without living with a group of my best girlfriends and the first time I've lived in a huge city (I wasn't living in the city at York so I'm not counting it!). I'm a country girl, I live in a little village with a lot of green spaces and a lot of mud and where leaving the house in wellies doesn't mean you're off to a festival. So coming to live in a full on city with its own underground railway system and traffic that never stops has been a bizarre and exciting experience for me!

I came here to improve my French language skills, and I feel pretty comfortable saying I've achieved that. I'm still not fluent, but I no longer freak out when someone speaks to me in French and I can usually form some sort of reply now - I'd say that's a pretty big achievement considering in my oral exam at the end of uni last year, I was struggling to remember the French for 'try'! My accent has improved too - I've had a man in a pharmacy tell me I sound French and an elderly couple asked me for directions and didn't bat an eyelid at my response (I, on the other hand, did a bit of a happy dance when they turned around!). I also had an oral exam yesterday for a sociology module I didn't understand, and my mark was 15/20, so I'm pretty pleased with myself!

I'm not going to dwell on the attacks back in November, as that was an exceptional event and it was something that couldn't be helped. But I do want to mention some of the things that have not been so great whilst I've been here, because if anyone reading my blog is going on a year abroad in the future, I want them to see the two sides to mine.

I came here with three friends from my university back in England, which I was and still am really happy about. The only problem is that we chose to do all the same modules and, as much as I was glad to have them in my classes so I wasn't alone, it did hold us back from talking to the French students in those classes. We stuck together, so we weren't approachable and we didn't do any approaching! I'm not saying we didn't speak to any French people at all - that is not the case! - but we could have spoken a lot more French if we'd split up a little. So, a piece of advice for any future year abroaders: don't stick to what you know, throw yourself in the deep end, ignore what you were taught as a child and DO speak to strangers!

Another little error I made was phoning home or facetiming my family when I felt homesick. First of all, how awful for my parents to have me on the phone crying and saying I want to come home - they can't let me come home because that would be a bad decision, but they don't want to sit there and do nothing while I'm feeling like that. But also, its not good for me to be on the phone to people I miss when that feeling is at it's worst! I managed a few times to make the right decision and take myself out of the flat and for a walk in the park or to some shops and that was the best thing I could have done, but I didn't do it every time and that's where I failed. If you're feeling homesick you need to distract yourself, not give in, and I cannot emphasise that enough!

But enough of the negativity! I have got what I came for from Paris - improved language skills - and now its time to move on. On Monday I'm off to Santiago de Compostela for the second leg of my year abroad and I could not be more excited! I'm going to do things differently there - I'm going to live with new people and step out of my comfort zone, I'm going to speak to Spanish people and I'm going to try really hard not to dwell on missing home.

Watch this space!

Bean xx

Three Months Down, One to Go!

10:53

When the sun found Santiago

Six Weeks in Santiago

Carnaval in Madrid & Toledo

Week Two Round-Up

PART TWO

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

The End!

Tout achèvement marque un nouveau départ

Every end is a new beginning

Three Months Down, One to Go!

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