Miel, Estoy en casa...

I'm going to start off by apologising for my lack of blogging, not that I expect it to have caused a huge void in your life, but just in case it has, I am sorry. 

The reason for this lack of blogging was that I was in England for a week and as much as I had a fun packed week full of all the England based fun ever, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to read about me walking my dog 4000 times and visiting a fair selection of the wetherspoon's in the North of England. 

Pablo, Aisling and Jo enjoying
the delights of cider street

I arrived back to Oviedo on Sunday after a night with Lenny Henry in Stansted's finest premier inn and a relatively uneventful journey. Settling back into life here was difficult at first, I had got used to being really busy at home and going about my usual English business and forgotton what it was like to not really have anything to do and everyone being so laid back and relaxed so felt very homesick at first. I've realised in my time away that I overthink everything and especially when I'm feeling homesick I think how long I've got left and dwell on things instead of thinking how I can productively use the time I have left. So this week I decided to email a few English teaching schools in Oviedo to ask for work experience, giving me something to fill my time doing. Hopefully I should hear something back from them soon! 

Riding side saddle...

Thankfully getting back into my somewhat sparse uni routine and keeping myself busy with procrastinating from assignments that I really should start has made me feel much better. On Monday I finally managed to officially register at University and was given my Virtual Campus login which naturally didn't work. I then headed to Carrefour and bought enough food to feed a family for 3 weeks, or me for one week. Tuesday I went back to the office to complain about the aforementioned login that didn't work before going to my 2 hour lecture. The topics of this lecture varied from the downfall of Portugal's colonies to Portuguese football players. All in all a varied lecture. I then came back to eat lunch then clean the kitchen before our Pancake night feast which we had invited everyone round for. Many pancakes were made, many pancakes were eaten, success. We then headed to an ERASMUS tapas night and drunk some terrible tasting wine before wandering to McDonald's and I sat on a horse statue. The sign of a good night.

Oviedo in all its sunny glory.

Wednesday I decided to use my day off uni to visit the uni gym and go swimming. A simple sounding task yes? Well, this is me and nothing is ever simple! I managed to walk to the Gym, which is about 30 minutes from our flat, without getting lost. I then couldn't find the right entrance or any sign of a swimming pool so sheepishly walked through what looked like an entrance to be greeted by a friendly Spanish lady who directed me to the swimming pool and told me how to buy a ticket from the machine. I then merrily made my way, ticket in hand, to the pool. The woman on reception took my ticket and my student card and then asked me if I had a 'candado'. I may well have had one, I had no clue what it was! After some confused looks on both parts, she showed me a padlock and I confessed that no, no I didn't have a 'candado'. I was then lent a candado and off I went, got changed and entered the pool area. Where a lifeguard came over and asked me if I had a 'gorro'. Now this time, thanks to his fantastic mime and my observation that everyone in the pool except me appeared to be wearing a swimming cap, I figured out what he meant I confessed once again that, no, I didn't have one and was leant one. The rest of the escapade went swimmingly if you'll pardon the pun. 

Today I hand wrote 4 pages of work for uni, only to later discover it had to be electronically submitted, meaning I now have to type up all my work. This I hasten to add is one of the only things that Spain has ever decided to do electronically. 

This weekend is Carnaval so a fun weekend of fun ahead!