Things I wish I could have told my year ago self.

As I sit on my terrace reflecting on the last 9 amazing months of my life and the experiences I have had, I've realised what I have been through and if someone had told me I would feel like this a year ago I wouldn't have believed them. Which got me thinking if I could have given my pre-year abroad self some advice, what would I have said...

Things I wish I could have told my year ago self

No amount of meetings, forms or internet articles will truly prepare you for the forthcoming 9 months. You'll be scared, worried and you won't want to leave but you'll be okay, yes you'll cry but you'd worry everyone around you if you didn't. The first few days will be hard and even at the end of your year abroad the thought of going somewhere new will still scare you, but you'll be able to do it easier.

At times you'll feel homesick and I mean that genuine sick to the stomach feeling that you just can't shake but you'll learn how to deal with it, how to make yourself feel better and indeed how to help others when they feel the same. This will make you appreciate home even more and know that when you get back things will still be the same.

You'll feel lonely and isolated but you'll also feel independent and worry free, everything balances itself out.

You'll have some of the happiest moments of your life and you won't ever forget the memories you have made. Well, except those you made after 1 euro wine or buckets of Sangria.

Your language will improve, at first you'll feel overwhelmed, you'll look blankly at everyone who speaks to you and hope they say it in English. But then you'll have moments where you'll think to yourself I can do this, where you are really proud of yourself, you'll handle issues at work entirely in foreign languages, you'll make phonecalls to solve problems. You'll forget that once you used to freak out buying a stamp.

You will make the best friends who will share some amazing experiences with you and become closer to those you already knew.

You'll spend an awful lot of time in airports, on planes and on trains. In fact at times it'll feel like you spend more time travelling than on your year abroad, bear with it, it's totally worth it.

Things will go wrong, just go with it, every experience you have good or bad is an experience, just take it as that.

Assignments from Hull University are going make you want to hit your head on the table, you'll get them done and end up with a pretty good mark, stress less, sunbathe more.

You burn, put on more suncream. You're more ginger than you like to think you are.

It will go so fast. You'll be sat on the penultimate day of your year abroad reflecting and wondering how it has disappeared so quickly, enjoy every moment.

Ultimately you're going to have the most amazing 9 months of your life. Enjoy it.

Someone once said 'The world is a book and those who don't travel read only one page' but someone else once said 'Home is where the heart is'. I like to think through my year abroad I've believed in both those sayings and when I leave I will leave a little bit of my heart where I've been so I will always consider them to be a part of me and a part of my home.

That time I tried to get on a plane...

Well this is going to be a blog and a half...

So last Tuesday I made my way on a luxury Vueling flight* to sunny Seville. Olivia met me at the airport and we made our way back to Huelva via Spain's very reliable** bus system.

We spent the evening, eating and catching up on the past months worth of Miranda-esque stories. On Monday we headed for the beach via Corte Inglés to find myself some beach suitable attire. I don't know whether it's worldwidely known but the Spaniards are not the bustiest of women and so finding a bikini proved pretty tricky, about an hour later I settled for a swimming costume and we headed to the beach. I like to think I embrace my gingerness, but it would appear I am slightly in denial in a 'yeah factor 15 is fine' kind of way. Factor 15 was not fine and I ended up with a back resembling a belisha beacon but a fun day on the beach was had otherwise. 
On Wednesday evening we headed to some of Olivia's friends for pre-drinks before embarking on an ESN night out. For those on ERASMUS you'll know that ESN is a very much marmite experience, depending on your personality and the quality of the ESN in your city of residence. For those not on ERASMUS, ESN is an organization that organizes nights out and trips for international students. Now, I am not a massive fan of ESN Oviedo but have to say that ESN Huelva was a brilliant night out. We wandered home at 6am covered in UV paint from head to toe, grand. 

Due to the 6am finish Thursday was very much a write off, we slept, went to the shop in a sleepy daze and wandered round for 15 minutes mumbling to each other about avocados and custard*** before heading back and having another nap, cooking fajitas and going to the port for drinks.

Friday was my first-last day so we caught the bus to Seville to spend the day there. Seville is very very beautiful and very very hot. We did all the touristy things from heading up the mushroom sculpture to taking photos of ourselves stood next to our respective city benches in Plaza de Espana. We took the bus home before heading to a Tapas restaurant at the Port for dinner.

Now, here began the most disastrous day of my life. So my plane was at 17:00, we planned to get on the 14:00 bus to Seville which would leave me plenty of time to get to the airport and check in. We stopped off to get lunch to eat on the bus on the way and got to the station in plenty of time at 13:30 and went to buy tickets. Then Spain just decided there was to be no 14:00 bus that day. This is when the original panic started, the next bus was at 15:00 and it took just under 2 hours in total to get to the airport. We decided to explore other options, now I know I've blogged about Spain's terrible train system before so I wasn't holding out much hope. Sure enough when we got to the train station there wasn't a train for another hour and it took longer than the bus. At this point hysteria started kicking in and we realised there was nothing we could do except get the 15:00 bus and just hope. So we ate lunch in the train station, walked back to the bus station and got on the 15:00 bus. I mentioned hysteria had kicked in and this came in the form of talking and laughing a lot on the bus to Seville, much to the dismay of an old man who shouted at us when the bus arrived saying we talked too much so he couldn't sleep, he then hit me with his walking stick, oh Spain. Here began the rush as until we reached the airport we weren't giving up hope that I would make the plane. So we ran to the airport bus, hopped on and crossed fingers and toes. Then we hit every red light, the drivers got out and changed, all the traffic in the world appeared, in short I got to the airport 6 minutes before my plane left the tarmac. 

Plaza de Espana, Sevilla

Now this already seems like a disastrous day but I wasn't aware just how many more things would or indeed could go wrong. So we had to wait at the airport to meet Michelle off her plane as she was coming to stay until Tuesday. So we sat for a few hours just wondering why and how I'd managed to miss my plane. Michelle's plane was then delayed by 45 minutes, this caused us to get back to Seville too late to catch the bus back to Huelva. We were essentially stranded in Seville for the night and so began the search for a hostel, on the Saturday night of Feria. Things weren't looking promising but eventually we found one which was really nice, went to find food before sleeping. It worked out quite well as the next day we were able to spend the whole day exploring Seville, once again it was very beautiful but very very hot. 

On Monday we headed to the beach again this time I was armed with factor 50 kindly lent to me by Olivia's friend**** and was determined not to burn. I'm a fool and burnt my bum cheeks and the back of my legs, pretty much the part of my legs I depend on most for you know, sitting on.
The evening was spent at Cien Montaditos followed by drinks at a bar in Huelva. 
The next day I really did manage to leave but not before spending 6 hours in Seville airport, here I am, back in Oviedo with only 3 days left of my entire year abroad, thoughts on that to follow.

 All in all a fantastic sun filled week, well worth the extra plane ticket.

*sense my sarcasm

**again, sense it.
***not together, we were hungover not sick.

****shoutout Simon, much appreciated.

Punta Umbria

Oviedo Bench in Plaza de Espana

That time the sun came out in Asturias...

The first half of this week was mainly spent dining out, and exercising in the usual rainy and occasionally windy weather. Then Asturias surprised us and the sun made an appearance for the first time in a few weeks so we naturally in true British style took to the balcony equipped with suncream and snacks. 

Gijón

On Sunday we decided as it was meant to be hotter than the previous already quite hot day to head to Gijón to the beach. Now, the phrase 'looks can be deceiving' springs to mind as as much of a glorious sunny day as it was, the wind off the sea was comparable to the icy winds of Hull in January. But we were not put off by this and still insisted on sitting on the beach, eating sand infused paella and enjoying the exfoliating sensation of sand whipping us from every angle, before admitting defeat and heading to get coffee. 

We made our way back to Oviedo where there was a lot less wind and it was a lot warmer to enjoy the rest of the day's sun on our terrace. As it was Sunday, despite it being 25 degrees we still cooked a roast dinner and enjoyed it outside watching the sun set over the city. As life goes, I can't really complain. 

Tomorrow I fly to Seville to meet Olivia and stay the week in Huelva exploring the south of Spain. Not sure how well my little ginger self will cope but I am armed with factor 30. 

Happy Monday!*

*I should note, today is a bank holiday in England, and Spain is carrying on as normal, first time for everything.

It's the final countdown...

So Easter is over and I'm back in Spain for the last leg of my year abroad. It's been an amazing 8 months and I've met some wonderful people, had some brilliant experiences and hope my language has improved a little!

So I officially have 16 days left of my year abroad in which I will be spending 5 in the South of Spain visiting Olivia and hopefully finding some sun as Oviedo is living up to it's rainy reputation currently. The rest of which I will be enjoying the delights of Oviedo (read: eating out a lot) and trying to get all of my forms signed, it being Spain could well take me 16 days. 

Hopefully I'll manage to hop on a few buses and see a few more of Asturias' little towns before I leave.

So here goes, the final countdown.

Beaches, lakes, sun and dinosaurs

Ruby is so happy to be with us.

So on Monday once again we were trusted with a hire car. Ruby's amiga was here to visit for the week and Olivia was still here so this made for an exciting plan for a roadtrip. The weather in Asturias likes to let us down but we were not defeated and even in the fog and slight rain we drove to Ribadesella to look at the beach, take stereotypical photos of us jumping on said beach before hopping back in the car to avoid the rain. 

Our plan was to then drive to the lakes where we had been the previous week to watch the sun set. Two issues here; the sun wasn't visable, neither was the road we were going to drive on. Instead we stopped in Covadonga which has a beautiful church on the side of one of the mountains. All was not lost and photos were still taken. 

Ribadesella

The rest of the evening was mainly dedicated to cooking and eating. 

On Tuesday we got up early to take Olivia to the airport to catch her flight back to the sunny South of Spain. Emotions were high as we said farewells at the airport, the main emotion being tiredness, but yeah it was a little bit sad. Then I decided as I was up that I would have a productive day and go for a run before having a shower and going to uni, yeah I went back to bed. I went to uni for 2 hours and then wrote some more of my essay. Ruby then had to go to work, so myself and Frankie went swimming then rewarded ourselves for our hard work with wine in a cute little bar near the pool. 

My best mermaid impression Cangas de Onis.

Wednesday was another roadtrip day and Asturias treated us with a day of sunshine! We stopped off at Cangas de Onís and ate lunch by the river before heading to the Picos near Covadonga where we drove all the way to the top, it was so clear so the views were amazing and the lakes looked almost good enough to swim in. The 'almost' being the sign that said no swimming. The evening saw the return of Wednesday night tapas at Caja and it didn't disappoint as usual!

Thursday I went to a lecture on the Italian political system, I can only assume the lecturer was slightly merry as he slurred his way through the presentation making jokes and chuckling to himself. We then decided to go to the dinosaur museum which is about 50 minutes from our flat. This tale has a sad end, we got there and it was closed. We did however wander through all the giant dinosaurs outside and play a fun game of 'make Ruby impersonate the dinosaur' so all was not lost. We took a detour via 100 montaditos for some food before arriving back at the flat in time to start predrinks for my last night out in Oviedo before easter. The night was a fun filled blur of vodka and jagermeister, the best way for a night to be. 

The best 'Ruby does Dinosaur' of the day.

Today I flew very hungover back to England, took 2 annoyingly loud and full trains and ended up back in good ol' Yorkshire. Here starts Easter! 

NB: I took too many photos to possibly blog them all, see Facebook for more details. Terms and Conditions apply.

So it was my cumpleaños..

I haven't blogged in time because all the things ever happened and I've been busy turning 21. But here you are, the long awaited (I'm just guessing you've been anticipating it) blog of my birthday shenanigans. 

So side note, in the centre of Oviedo there is a big, let's for want of a better word call it a flower bed, in which the date is written in sliced up turf and stones, and it changes every day, nobody knows at what time or by who, well one would presume someone does but let's keep the air of mystery about it. So, the plan for my birthday eve was to go and sit and await the grand changing of the date. However this plan failed for two reasons, it was raining and I drunk a lot of 1 euro wine and fell asleep. 

Then it was officially my birthday I opened all my lovely cards and presents and ate a fried egg, bacon and baguette combo. I then spent the day watching a lot of films and exclaiming every now and then that it was my birthday before going out to a phenomenal Italian for tea and eating all the food in the world, followed by cake. Following the previous nights fail, we decided to walk to the centre so I could take my photo with my birthday date. It was pouring with rain and I got very wet but I think it was worth it. 

Me and my birthday.

Warning the next few paragraphs feature Olivia Mitchell. If you were hoping that you'd got rid of her when I left Paris I'm sorry to inform you all she's back.

So we spent Friday buying decorations and a garden gnome and decorating the flat before I went to collect the aforementioned Olivia Mitchell from the bus station. Many squeals of excitement later we were back at the flat in time to prepare for the grand soirée of my party. Whilst we were getting ready we heard a band playing and a kerfuffle on the street, so we went onto the balcony to investigate. It wasn't what I had first thought that Oviedo had put on a parade for my birthday, it was in fact the slightly more celebrated festival of Semana Santa, or Holy week/Easter.

Many people came, much alcohol was drunk, many games were played, much vodka jelly was smeared everywhere, more alcohol was drunk and then apparently we went out, so I'm told. I had a brilliant night with wonderful people and I'm sure I'll remember it for a long time to come, well apart from the parts that I have no recollection of, sadly they're gone forever. 

The next day was spent 99.9% in bed hungover eating and 0.01% moving (but only really to get more food).

View of Oviedo from el Cristo

On Sunday we went for Brunch (at 2pm) at 26 grados, which does the most wonderful of brunches consisting of a bagel as big as your head, 2 pastries of choice, fresh orange, coffee and then because it's Spain a random glass of Peach Bellini, just because why not? We then climbed up to the Cristo, which is the statue of Jesus on top of the mountain that overlooks Oviedo. When I say 'climbed' I really do mean it, one part is literally vertical. The views at the top are pretty amazing and it's well worth the sweaty climb up and it was such a sunny day!

And that was my birthday weekend. Mucho alcohol, mucho friends and mucho fun*.

*all 100% grammatically correct Spanish.

El Cristo himself

That time we were let loose with a car...

So this Monday and Tuesday the people of Europcar entrusted us with a hire car, and what fun we had! 

This is Ruby's happy face.

On Monday evening we drove (I say we, Ruby drove, we provided the musical accompaniment) to Cangas de Onís, which is famous for it's big Roman bridge. On arriving all of us managed to miss the bridge and drive completely past, on the third time past we spotted it and managed to park. It was pretty impressive, which I presume was what the man who came and spoke to us entirely in Asturian was saying. If this year abroad has improved anything to perfection it's my 'nod and smile'. 

The aforementioned bridge

After a quick helado break we continued towards Covadonga where we ended up however, was the top of a mountain and it was amazing. The views of the Picos de Europa and all the little surrounding villages were just fenomenal. Then it snowed, so we swiftly decided to head down the mountain and drive to Ribadesella for dinner. All of the above accompnied by the finest selection of hits from the 80's and 90's sung at full belt.

We came across this...

On Tuesday evening, we decided to drive up Naranco to El Cristo at the top of the mountain to see the views of Oviedo at night, those who read my Paris blog (Shout out Padres) will know how much of a fan of lit up cities at night I am. Little did we realise just how windy it was up there and it's a pretty good job I ate enough pasta to feed a third world country before going or I may not be here to tell the tale, as fascinating as it is. 

And there we have it, the car returned in one piece and plans for further road trips next week. 

Views of Oviedo from el Cristo

Very windswept selfie with the big JC

Views of Picos de Europa

Our trusty little car