The last day in Madrid...

Hiiiii,

It is my LAST DAY in Madrid :( I don't know how to explain how incredible this experience has been...the scariest/most exciting decision of my life has turned in to something which I will never forget.

Exams finished a few weeks ago and since then Rachel and I have been doing all the things we have on our bucket list before we leave- a pretty monastery called San Lorenzo de el Escorial, hiring bikes (last week we cycled to the club when the metro had closed...), discovering Madrid Rio, and taking as many trips as humanly possible to the outdoor pool in Lago. Basically making the most of the 40 degree heat (which is hard when you feel like you are going to pass out every time you step outside).

We also went on a mini hol to Granada (which was EVEN HOTTER). I would 100% recommend a visit there, it was sooooo beautiful and had a very Moroccan feel to it. On the bus on the way there the aircon had broken, which was slight torture on a small vehicle with 30 other people, but we made it through and made some friends on the way through bonding over the immense heat. We also got to visit some caves in the mountains of Granada which was soooo much fun! There were real life cavemen who showed us around their cave and gave us some watermelon to enjoy the amazing views...

Also our friends Harika and Karina came to visit us for our final trip to the North of Spain...we went to San Sebastian for two nights and Harika and I went on to Bilbao for a few days. We also went to the south of France for the day on the train, a cute little place on the coast called St Jean de Luz. We had some amaaaazing French food. It was nice to feel a bit of sea breeze instead of the mugginess of Madrid! Although we had a slight disaster when we were about to go to sleep one night and the host of the airbnb came in to the flat...it turned out that he was staying there too- a bit of a shock at 2am!! So take it from us and always make sure you check everything before you book an apartment!

I'm sure I will be holding back the tears on that plane tonight as I leave this beautiful city...but of course, I am so excited to see my family/friends/boyf again (and have my first Greggs chicken bake in 5 months!!!)

Also I am absolutely certain that this is not the last of my Erasmus blog posts (of course not, what else will I have to talk about?!)...so keep an eye out for some more soon- including a big list of everything you need to pack for a semester abroad...that one is gonna take me a while.

Hasta luego en Derby,

Love,

Anna x

One month (and a half) in Madrid!!

Holaaaaaa, 

I am writing this from a class (which might tell you how Uni is going…) Whoops. We’ll get to that later.

One and a half months living in Spain tomorrow! Madness. Time literally FLIES here. We’ve crammed so much in to such a short period and I can’t believe how fast everything is going. On Sunday I got back from a crazy (and super fun) trip around Portugal, starting in Porto and ending in Lisbon. I had the best time ever: met people from all over the world, took my first trip in a tuk tuk, tasted Port, chilled on a rooftop bar….and somehow, survived three days on 13 hours sleep.

Sunny Lisbon!

Surprisingly smiley for 3 hours sleep...

thoughts on Port...

To those of you abroad or going abroad, I would 100% recommend going on a trip like this one- the 20 hours of travelling by bus may put you off, but don’t let it. We went with a group called City Life Madrid and they organised everything so well, from a trip photographer to a pub crawl (complete with a woman with a big red umbrella who shouted at us when it was time to move to the next bar.)

A few weeks ago I also took a train to Valencia with my boyfriend for a night, which is one of my favourite cities to date. I am already dying to go back! I’ve been to Toledo too- a beautiful little city just outside of Madrid, easily accessible (for most) by bus. I say for most as it took my travel buddy Rach and I three hours to get there instead of one! We are still getting to grips with the Metro…

Slightly stormy Valencia!

Oceanographic Museum in Valencia (aka the most futuristic place EVER)

Forgetting what I’m actually here for is VERY easy. That little thing called Uni. With 8/9am classes every day, and most of my classes being pretty useless in terms of a career in Journalism…missing lectures is extremely tempting. My fave module is photography, where we are developing our own film in dark rooms, manually taking photographs and learning about the history of photography. TV is also cool, where we’ve been taking industry cameras outside and filming news reports in groups.

Everything is just so chilled here compared to home, sometimes in a good way, for example handing in things late doesn’t seem to matter…but in other ways it is so frustrating, like when we had to queue up for 4 hours just to register for modules…It makes me appreciate Uni back at home and how well organised it is!

Speaking Spanish every day (and mostly getting in to awkward situations and ending up flustered and confused…) is definitely improving my language skills. When I have a successful conversation in Spanish it feels so rewarding! Also, one of my housemates is Spanish so I am enjoying practicing with her, as well as our cleaner who visits once a week.

I have also had visits from some friendly faces too- my boyfriend, my Step Mum's brother Jamie and his girlfriend Laura, my Mum and little sister and my friend Harika. It’s been so fun showing them all around this beautiful city. Seeing them has definitely made me feel more settled here and a lot less homesick. When it dawned on me just how soon I would be returning home it helped a lot....and realising that I'm only here for a few months, and soon I'll be back to life in Sheff for my last year.... all these things help to ease the pain of missing home, friends and family. FOMO back at Uni is a definite factor too, but video calling my housemates whilst they are having pre-drinks definitely helps....

Fun visit from my Mum and sis

Amigas...You can tell who is Spanish from the amount of layers!

I also had a slight disaster which I feel like every (clumsy) Erasmus student suffers from at some point...I broke my phone on a night out and had to pay €200 euros for the screen to be repaired. So my bank account suffered a big dent and working all summer is definitely on the cards...

Around a year ago I decided to study abroad after visiting Madrid for the first time….and I’m so thankful that I did! (especially when I’m lay in the park in 26 degree heat).

Thanks for reading!

Anna x

The first week in Spaaaaaaain

Hiiii,

After months of planning, crying, stressing and anticipating, I am writing this from Madrid! We have been here for almost a week now and it has gone so fast already.

Family/friends back home have asked me how I would sum up the experience so far in a few words...but that is literally impossible. I swear I have never felt as many different emotions as I have in this week; from absolute elation to homesickness a thousand times over, the past few days have been a total rollercoaster of emotion and excitement.

Saying goodbye to my family and friends was horrible, as well as leaving my boyfriend at the airport. I could barely stomach a Mcdonald's porridge because I felt so sick on the way to the airport! But once my friend Eilish and I had waved Callum and her Dad off (who are now bezzie mates), we trundled off through security full of tears and excitement (until the security guard said 'Oh my god, you're 20? You look about 15!!!' Then it was just tears.)

Adding to the stress was the fact that dearest Rachel's luggage was 10.7kg over the weight limit (!!!) but it still gives us something to laugh about now. And off we went, Eilish, Victoria, Rachel and I on a journey to the unknown.....

Hostel ft Victoria

When we arrived in Madrid we got a taxi to our hostel, situated opposite what looked like a prison...

Our spanish skills were tested from the first minute as the man at reception had no idea what we were asking about. Eventually another man turned up to let us in to our room, which was amaaaaazing. We've got a beautiful balcony overlooking Chamberi, a big bedroom and sofa bed and a nice kitchen. 

On the first day we wandered around the main sights like the Temple de Debod and Gran Via, taking the atmosphere and surrealness in all at once. We saw two girls twerking outside the Royal Palace which was...different...and accidentally ended up in a Catholic Church mass with the biggest organ you've ever seen. We did a bit of house hunting to no avail, 4 bed flats are so hard to find, as we have figured out. On the second day we spent the day searching again, registered at Uni and took a trip to Taco Bell (really soaking up the culture...)

We also had a much needed night out, and ended up in 2 dodgy bars as everywhere you walk in Madrid at night someone will offer you free drinks with plenty of persuasion. And to our absolute surprise the free drinks were not a myth! I also experienced a Spanish speaking issue as I told some chicos that Rachel was 'pregnant' instead of 'drunk'....oopsie.

Lovin the Spanish life

Yesterday we tried relentlessly to find a house once more, with no luck and a lot of stressssss. I was told before coming to Spain that small things about the country will really get on your nerves, and I think I have found my two things (already oops). 1, SLEEPING IN THE DAY!!!!!!! Picture the scene, you've just trekked across Madrid to visit a certain office/person, you get there and they are closed for the afternoon for a siesta. So. Frustrating. And 2, The lack of signposting and directions is unreal, I'd say that so far we've spend at least 10 million hours searching for buildings which don't have signs/numbers.

But, there are also things I'm loving- Everyone here is so friendly and always willing to help you out if you're lost (which we normally are), there are SO MANY DOGS in Madrid which is an obvious plus, and I love their chilled out lifestyle...at 10pm the shops and streets are bustling with people going about their business. The buildings are beautiful, I love practicing Spanish all the time (except when I'm trying to explain what phone sim I wanted...that wasn't fun), and the sun has been shining for us. Overall I feel so lucky to have this amazing opportunity.

Our Uni building!

Last night the 4 bed search ended as we realised how impossible it was, so now we have split up and signed our own 2's. We are all moving in on Saturday yay. I feel so relievedddddd after months of relentless searching and feeling like we were gonna end up on the streets!!

Also...it was super excited to hear from home that my story in the Derby Telegraph about the kids at Findern School wearing slippers was in all the national newspapers the next day! Crazy to think that it all came from my little sis coming home with a letter!

Tonight we are going to a 'meet and speak' session run by CityLife Madrid, who organise activities and trips for international students. Exciting!

I hope you have enjoyed this post- and I also hope that by the end of my time here I might have persuaded at least someone to study abroad!

Anna x

Second Year, Spain and stressssss

Hiya!

Second year has officially started! (and I am already sleep deprived, poor and stresssed hahaha).

Freshers Week was fab, on the first day I ended up returning home because my little baby brother Frank was born..He is such a little beauty and I can't stop talking about him!!

The first week of Uni was fun (mainly because I only have 10 hours of teaching so I spent a lot of time sleeping and catching up with my gal pals). I have three modules this year, Online News Production, Broadcast Journalism and Media Law. It's so good to finally be able to 'do' some journalism instead of being sat in lectures doing theory work! Last week my friend Rach and I went out to do vox-pops (where you ask different members of the public the same question). We asked 'What do you think about Jeremy Corbyn?', and had a range of answers from I BLOODY LOVE HIM to one guy ranting about how Britain is turning in to Venezuela for 15 minutes.

What shocked us the most is the sheer amount of young people who said 'Who?' or 'I'm not interested in politics sorry'. I literally cannot understand how a student -or anyone for that matter- can say that they are not interested in who runs the country we live in.

Professional as always

Things are becoming pretty real with my semester in Spain next February- at the moment I'm filling out loads of paperwork and last night I put my room for rent on the internet (so I don't have to pay two rents, one here and one abroad). Exciting!!!

In other news everyone has settled in to our house....apart from 50 million problems including no hot water and leaking walls, all is well! I'm really enjoying the house life- it is a lot different to First Year, in that everything is a lot tidier and my room is a lot bigger! Also I literally love having a washing machine just downstairs (is this what my life has become?? Getting excited over a washing machine?).

However things are the same in that I still eat pasta 6/7 nights of the week and get no sleep.

Lovin house life

I hope that everyone has settled in to Uni!

Anna x