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.