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
