Exam season.

It's exam season.

I'm bored.

I'm waiting for FREEDOM FRIDAY!

But I love my friends here so much and wanted to write it somewhere because I'm going to cry when I leave.........<3

Amigos :)

I am sort of posting just to post. Nothing extraordinary has happened, I'll try summarise.....

Since Madrid, I've been home to see my family. Those few days in Grassington was glorious, beautiful (cold!) sunshine, family and friends, and just great fun. It was the Royal Wedding whilst I was at home too, which meant coffee cake and champers at a family friend's house, followed by a street party in my village. It was heaven to be home! It was my first time since January, and next time I go home it will be only for two days in June....and after that I won't be in Grassington until August......home friends, I love you, and I miss you.

Anyway. I arrived back from home, in Almería, on the 3rd of May, hopped in a taxi to go and meet the lovely Richie Mullaney, and we had a really fun week of sun sea and sand. I made my first ever paella, Richie made Banoffee, and Vicki and Emma came over for dinner =) It was so great! Such a lovely week....and then Sam came to stay! We chilled a la playa and did the standard sights, all in all an absolutely bonita few weeks!

And now.............it's exam time. I say it like I'm doing revision, I'm STILL working on my coursework, and due to flatmate complications I had a bit of a distracted week....so although I think I'm working constantly, (which I have bar today), I know I'm behind- boo!

But I'm so so so excited for post-exams! Vicky, Emma and I are going to go to Granada for the day, lots of beach time and tapas time and Fiesta time with all the other great ERASMUS friends I have here :) It's amazing how you can meet people for such a short space of time, yet feel like you've known them all your life =) Almería is the best place in Spain I've ever visited, I love it.....and don't want to leave in two weeks!

Sorry that this is such a redundant post.......it would seem I have no time to do anything anymore, distracted with friends/work/the beach.....not bad disctractions ;) Two weeks today I'll be in London, three I'll be in Edinburgh.....so sad that the Zeit ist so schnell vorbei..............

Love xxxxxx

Semana Santa

Semana Santa has been amazing.......we've just had our Easter week off (only a week, I know, the meanies!) and I managed to jam pack all sorts, and still a bit of work, into what has been a very nice week!

Last Monday, Emma and I went to Madrid! We spent three days exploring the capital city, and what struck us both is how different it is to Almería. It's so westernised! There's a Starbucks on every corner, it has everything you'd expect of a capital city, and it made us realise quite how little and old fashioned Almería is. Not that I'm moaning, I missed Almería a lot by the end of it! It's nice to live in a city where you feel you know everything and everywhere, and as well as that it feels really Spanish. In Madrid we heard every language under the sun, and realised that we'd never have to speak a word of Spanish if we were there.

Emma and I did the tourist thing- guide book in hand we explored the hell out of Madrid;- we'd spent a lot getting there/staying there so we wanted to make the most of it! Above is the Royal Palace. We saw art galleries (Prado and Reina Sofia), palaces, shops (obviously), and many, many cafes! I had my first ever churros- churros are long thing donuts that are typical of Spain, and you eat them with hot chocolate....I'd never managed them in Almería so was determined to in Madrid- and I didn't like them! At least that's something less for me to waste calories on :) One of the coolest places we found when we were there was the Mercado de San Miguel- an amazing food/drink court, that had shops inside too.....we got sangria and walked around the shops, it was strange to feel a bit tipsy whilst book shopping.....but the food in there was amazing, from all over the world, and it was just really great to see!

What else did we do?! It was only a few days ago but I'm forgetting already........I think my favorite place the whole time we were there was the park- El parque Retiro. It's a huge huge park, with a lake inside where you can rent boats and row! We didn't get a boat, but next time I go to Madrid I will be there in an instant! The day was glorious, and walking through the park was beautiful. I very much fell in love with Madrid, and envy any of my friends who are on their year abroad there, you lucky souls :P

We came back from Madrid on Thursday.....exhausted. Our intentions to go out and fiesta were pushed forward to Saturday, we needed a lot of recovery time! On Friday, however, we went to go see the processions here in Almería. Easter is a big deal in Spain, and Andalucía (the region where I am) does the best Semana Santa in Spain, so I'm told. The processions are big, sombre affairs, and I felt so lucky to see them. I am in no way religous, but I can imagine that if you are, these events in Easter week must be just so moving, so important. If it rains, they cancel the procession, and we saw people on the television crying over this.....so yes, big deal!

I hope that video works- this is just a bit of an idea of how the processions were. ...I don't feel describing does it justice.

And that more or less brings me to today.....we went out Saturday night, which was good to let my hair down! And then last night we had Easter Dinner at the lovely lovely Manchester crews flat =) My Easter week has been very English, though Emma and I did buy a Spanish guide book, and I'm meeting with my Spanish friend tonight =) I have a lot of work on at the moment, so I'm trying to fill my daytime with work, and my night times with fun, as it breaks up the hell that is my workload a bit! Also, I am going home on Wednesday, and then back here the following Tuesday, when Richie arrives here in Almería! I just want to be at home now, I hate the few days before going somewhere, the having to pack/clean everything, and I can never concentrate because I just want to be at the destination! I'm flying via Malaga so I'm going to check it out on Wednesday before my flight.....home of Picasso =)

Hasta luego xxx

Hace calor!

It's all heating up in España. It's so warm, so warm, blue skies, no hay nubes, and I'm sat here swigging a cup of tea in the morning sun. This is indeed the life! I'm doing that thing where my list of things to do is so large, but I want to savour the moment/this cup of tea, so I've decided to ignore work for a wee while, and type....

So my week. Last weekend was lovely. Tea, Vicky, Emma and I all went on a Tapas Route around Almería. There was a festival, "Ruta de Tapas", and you received a wee map and got to go roun different establishments trying new tapas. If you spent so much money, you got one free, so it was an incentive for us to eat and drink lots! We had such a lovely time hunting out new places, I feel I know Cuatro Calles extremely well now....Cuatro Calles is four streets in the centre of town, with lots of bars, restaurants and clubs, visitors beware, you'll be spending a lot of time there =) After hunting out new places, we had a bit of a night out (I say a *bit*, we didn't go home until 5am...) and hunted out some new clubs, though it was disappointing....the music just wasn't up to home's standards, no cheese, nothing popular, just strange Spanish songs I didn't know....such is life living in Spain, I guess!

After a big late night Friday, Saturday was a sleepy mix of lazing around, watching telly, doing nothing....until about 3pm, when I met the lovely German girlies for helado by the playa =) After a bit of German banter (love that German is still around me/ that I'm still learning German in Spain...nerd!) I headed back home intending to sleep....but then Tea invited me out with her Spanish friends, and we had tapas and watched a really cool band in a tetoría in the old part of town. Tetorías are little cute arabic influenced tea houses, and the music was just my style.....a bit of jazz, a bit of reggae, it was great! Everyone else headed out into the calles for a night out, but I bailed at midnight, one all night fiesta a week is more than enough for me....getting old? Who?! Also I'd planned to go to the castle with Vicky and Emma, so I wanted to be all healthy!

Sunday morning came, and Vicky Emma and I headed up to the Alcazaba, Almeria's castle! It was really nice weather, and as we reached the castle it became increasingly hot! Thankfully no one burnt, but the weather is slowly getting stronger....and it's only the first of April today! The castle is amazing. It's the second largest Muslim fortress in the South of Spain, after the Alhambra of course! We walked around the gardens, the little buildings, and the castle's esplanade soaking in the sun and sights.

After a touristy hour or two in the castle, we walked through the little streets down to a tapas bar, where we had some lunch and then intended to go to the beach......after about 5 minutes on the beach, we realised the weather had gone from beautiful sun, to beautiful sun and gale force winds, so beach plans were abandoned.....and I went home and slept =) What a beautiful weekend!

And this week....I intended to do all the work ever to catch up....but the weather has been to nice! I managed to do the work needed for last week but my ignoring of the big summary for history I have to do by the end of the year is going spectacularly....I feel like giving up this history course....I don't need the credits, but I'm doing too many credits in case I fail something. Sometimes being a worrier is a sensible thing though, right =)

Now it's 11am and I've been quite productive so far today.....having Pizza and films with friends tomorrow night, and then Sunday Mum and Stephen arrive! I'm so excited to see them and share lovely places in Almería with them =)

Anyway, best go back to do something =) x

Warning, it's big.....

Hola chicos =)

I haven’t really written a proper entry since arriving in Spain. In Germany I wrote so often, once a week usually, because I had so much more time in which to do so. Here it seems since day one of arrival, that if there hasn’t been work to do, there’s been subjects to hunt out, language barriers to overcome and of course, good old nights out.

Since my arrival nearly four weeks ago (time flies, seriously), I have done quite a lot. I wanted to write an entry to prove to myself that I have done things, because in comparison to my German life I’ve barely seen any of Spain yet! In Germany I was immer unterwegs visiting new places, and different friends, but I can sense Spain is different already.

Stop blabbering, Amelia.

So, University! For any readers (if there are any) that don’t know what the heck I’m doing in Spain, well I’m here in a vain effort to improve my Spanish. It’s getting somewhere, where exactly I don’t know, but I am making minor improvements. Let’s just hope there are many more to come in my remaining three months! I’m studying at the University of Almería, which is in the South of Spain. I have a lovely flat with a balcony, which is but seconds from the beach, and just a short ride on the bus to class. University in Spain feels so much more disorganised than in Edinburgh, I suppose we are spoonfed to a certain degree at home, whereas here everything is a lot more independent. Moreover, there’s more of a focus on participation in class, your grades at the end of the year depend a lot more heavily on participation and extra work done in term time, than the final exam. I suppose this may turn out to be good for me, as I suck at exams…but then again, participating in class is a tricky one, especially when I’m struggling to understand the classes!

I’m taking two history classes and two literature classes, and although at times I am totally confused, I think my brain is slowly adjusting, and I’m beginning to pick stuff up. The workload is all a bit big, I think it’d be fine for a Spanish student, but it’s just a pain trawling through all this reading/doing all these commentaries in another language sometimes. But it’s why I’m here!

University out of the way, now to the fun things!

On my first day I met Jorinde and Tea, two lovely Norwegian girls who study Mathematics. I was shy and retiring, and felt entirely lacking in confidence on my arrival, and they swooped me up and have been helping me out ever since. Soon after meeting Tea and Jorinde I met Marta too, who is also lovely, and from Germany. We all went to Cádiz together for Carneval, which was SO much fun, we all had our disguises ( I was a pirate!) and walked through the streets of Cádiz, meeting international students from everywhere, it was brilliant. I love Cádiz too, I wish we’d had more time to spend walking around and soaking up the culture. But I have to be Spanish Amelia now, and party more, not German Amelia and take photos always =)

In my classes, I luckily met two lovely girls from Manchester, Emma and Viki, who live just up the road from me too, and excellently we have a couple of classes together. They’re really lovely, and out of class we’ve been going for tapas in Tío Tom’s which has thus far been the favourite bar….but we must find more! The great thing about tapas here is that you pay just for your drink, and then choose what tapas you want of a big list for free….tapas and wine for 2.50 is the best thing ever, Edinburgh definitely needs to learn a lesson.

What else have I done? Argh so much but so little. Nothing of great significance. I guess my life here is like my life in Edinburgh, in so far that I’m a student again. I have to do work, and there isn’t as much time (or money, more importantly) to flit off all over Spain. At the moment I’m just enjoying soaking up some Spanish culture, learning about Almería and trying to better my language….and of course, meeting all the wonderful people here. I’m so excited for the weather to improve, we’ve had on and off days since I arrived- mostly quite consistently sunny, but there’s been a chilly wind whipping about.

My life seems mental, and it seems like it won’t get less mental until….May 2012, maybe? I have so much to do and see and read here, as well as visits from my Mum and Stephen, from Sam, from Richie, and then I’m briefly returning home in April to see the family….then soon enough June will be upon us and I’ll be heading home! So it’s been lovely to take 30 minutes out of my otherwise hectic day, to sit with café con leche in the University cafeteria and type type type….even if it is blabbering nonsense! I’ll try take more time to write about things I do as I do them, because I’m sure there are some great things I’ve done, that I’m forgetting to write. Spain is teaching me how to be organised again, something I lost control of in Germany. Speaking of Germany, if any of my German friends are reading, I really miss you all! You were in my thoughts this morning as I walked by the beach, and saw someone had grafittied GFS (the abbreviation of the school….) on a wall. It made me remember you all and all the great things I did whilst I was in Diepholz! I’m missing being German a lot.

Anyway, I best stop typing, I have a class to go to, the hardest of my week, the one I usually don’t understand at all….wish me luck. After the week I’ve already had, I will have definitely earnt myself a glass of red wine by tonight…..

Chapter 2: Moving to Spain.

I arrived safely in Spain =) So happy I'm here, I miss Germany a bit, but at the moment this is all so new and different that I just don't have time to think about it!

I arrived last Sunday, at about 17.00, where the Jorinde, the girl whose room I am renting, met me and showed me the flat, and the area. She invited me to dinner with her and her friends, and I felt comfortable immediately with them all! All the International Students here seem so friendly (not that I've met loads!) and welcoming, and I'm enjoying that I'm starting to settle into life a bit, even though I've only been here a week.

My week was a bit stressful, I have to say. Lots of running around and trying to find/understand classes, decide on credits.....it all got a bit much. Even though it isn't all 100% sorted now, and I still have new classes I want to try out next week, I think I am nearly there with it, and feel a bit happier about the whole thing now. Spanish University is so different to the UK, a lot less standardised and informal, late or absent lecturers are common and they like just taking random fiesta days. Not that I'm moaning about that! My lectures also are sometimes until 10pm, which I find strange. But so is the life here, I guess =)

My flat is so close to the beach, a minutes walk, if that. It's super! Although the flat itself is a bit small, it's very clean, and to be honest, I couldn't ask for a better location! My flatmates are lovely too. The whole speaking Spanish thing is hard work, but I am getting there, and trying to not be too hard on myself, I only left Germany a few days ago!

Having said that, it's good that you really need Spanish here. Most of the international students speak Spanish amongst themselves- the friends I've met have spoken English with me, but I recognise that that isn't always the case, and that slowly it'll morph into Spanish. Which is good! I've been practising my Spanish with my flatmate this week too, it's really rusty, sadly, but it's coming back. I'm at a level where my reading is pretty good, it's just getting the words onto paper/out of my mouth! As well as that, they speak with a pretty heavy accent down here, I'm getting used to hearing all the words without s' though! It's all good =)

And that's it! I've been for tapas, several times with friends, I've had dinner with friends and generally settling quite nicely into the Spanish way of life. Now my first stressful week is over, I'm hoping university will chill out a bit next week, so I can get into a routine with it, as opposed to dashing around like a headless, clueless chicken! There's a carnival in the region at the moment, and there's an ERASMUS trip to Cadiz next weekend which I'm going on with two of my friends, I'm so excited, it should be brilliant!

Tonight I'm going to my first 'botellon' and then going out into the night of España =) I am quite sure we won't be in until 6am....or so life seems to be here =)

xxx

Bye Bye!

Liebe All,

Since my Hamburg adventures, my week has been quiet. Well, quietish. I've quite enjoyed a quieter week of sorting Spain things (I have found a flat!) and beginning the sorting/throwing away/packing process, so as to ease this week a little bit. It is now Sunday. I now have seven days left. Eek!

I rarely write about actual school, which is strange, as it's the main reason I'm here! My week's been a lot more school based, a bit more lesson preparation than normal (which I love!) and generally staying around in school to chat to people, give extra tutoring and so on. I love my classes. I love the teachers, chatting to them about England and Germany differences, chatting away to the kids and the other little challenges that I've had along the way! I offered to take Maike's Year 5 English class last week as she was poorly, and it was hard! I really enjoyed it because the kids are brilliant, and I've been in their class since September, so I know them really well. I really missed Maike in the class though! Normally it's a case of working together, but she instructs a lot in German, whereas I always speak English in class. This time, I had to speak German to them...normally I wouldn't be afraid of speaking German to pupils, but Year 5s can be critical.....they weren't though, they were lovely, and only confused once or twice (I blame that on the grammatical rule I was explaining not me!) and it all went quite smoothly. A bit of a hurdle.....

My week passed quite uneventfully! I did a lot of Skyping last week, actually, and a lot of sleeping.....and I went running with Annette once or twice....out of character! Then fast came the weekend, my final week, and I seemed to be running about non-stop! So my restful previous week was needed to get me through..

On Saturday I met my friend Andrea in Bremen. Andi is amazing! I met her through German exchange when we were 14, we were Exchange Partners and we get along so well, it's brilliant. She comes from Bavaria (I nearly put an accent on the i in Bavaria then, what is wrong with me?!), but is studying in Kiel at the moment, which is a few hours north of Diepholz. We decided to meet up in Bremen, had a bit of a wander round but mostly a lovely catch up! We went to the Viertel, which is much like Hamburg's Viertel- cool quirky shops selling pretty clothes, books, etc. We wandered around for a bit and then tucked ourselves away in a little cafe called "Heimweh", which means homesick, because we both were so far away from our respective homes :P It was so nice to catch up with an old friend, and I'm wanting to visit her again soon.....I intend to get Bryony to come with me too, in order to recreate our German Exchange at school =)

Sunday came, and I'd intended to get up really early and whizz off to Munster for the day, but I woke up and just had no lust......thus I slept, began the packing processes and had Nathan over from Bramstedt for coffee =)

My last week at school arrived, and I couldn't actually tell you where the time went, but it FLEW by! My last week in school was a flurry of goodbyes, lesson prepping and chatting to teachers.....

On Tuesday, I went to see Kokowääh with Svenja. It was such an adorable film! It's a Til Schweiger, bordering on typical rom-com but just so brilliantly, beautifully done, as with most German films =) I recommend it highly!

On Wednesday I had dinner at Annette's with Cornell, and we chatted all things school/Diepholz for hours. Sadly I've been a bit under the weather last week, just a bit of a cold and blocked ears but it's made me very boring! I stayed quiet, but enjoyed the chatting and conversations and of course, dinner =)

On Thursday I had to say one of my hardest goodbyes. It had always struck me that saying goodbye to school would be hard, the teachers etc, but I hadn't really realised how horrible it'd be to say goodbye to my language assistant pals! We've all stuck together since about November, keeping in good contact via Facebook and meeting up every few weeks to explore somewhere new. We get along so well and I know we'll all stay in contact back in England, which is lovely. Rachel is also going to be in Spain the same time as me, so visits are bestimmt planned =) Rachel, Laura, Annwyn and I had dinner all together in Hannover, and I stayed at the very lovely Annwyn's due to trains back to Diepholz being thin on the ground! It was so sad to say goodbye, but I know we'll stay in contact =)

I left Nienburg, Annwyn's town, excruciatingly early Friday morning to get back to school in time for my official "Verabschiedung" (Farewell) at 9.20. I'd made chocolate cake with butter cream and pink sparkles which went down an absolute treat, and the lovely school said such kind words about how much they appreciated my help and work in the school. Various people had got me lovely, so thoughtful, presents and cards (one particular letter that was written to me really, really brought a tear to my eye...) My lovely brilliant mentor teacher Maike treated me to lunch, and the lovely Jasmin and another teacher (I'm bad I don't know his name...) all went for lunch =) Then coffee at the Redetsky's (they gave me a Diepholz calendar! I am so proud!) and afterwards, I popped to the school to see some Improv-Theatre that the students were putting on. It was so clever, someone would suggest a place/theme/time/feelings, and they had to just make up a play or sketch based around it! It was hilarious. I popped on home after to pack further, and then went out with the new Referendarin Steffi for drinks. We had a quiet night, but I ended up being ridiculously hungover all day Saturday, which sucked!

Saturday came. I packed. I sat with Cornell and drank coffee. She's got me a present, a little USB stick with things to further my German education on.....I haven't opened it yet but I'm intrigued, bless her.

Sorry that this post was essentially just a list of what I've done, I'm currently sat in Bremen airport awaiting my first flight of the day, as I am moving to Spain! I really cannot be bothered to write, but figured I should whilst still in Germany....whilst Diepholz is still very much in my head.....this moving to Spain thing still doesn't feel real. I am extremely intrigued to see how my first week goes.......my good friend Holly's parents live close to Almería and Holly is coming over to visit them next weekend, so I am going to visit her =) So excited to see a friendly face! Though I'm sure there'll be lots of friendly Spanish faces too.

My life is certainly not boring.