How time flies!

Hola a todos!

Sorry again for not having written in ages....it's been busy busy busy the past month! Steady stream of visitors every weekend has kept me very occupied..will try and remember the best bits!

Weekend with Ru was awesome, did all the usual tourist stuff as well as having an American Indian themed goodbye party for my Finnish housemates - they made us all an amazing meal of Finnish salmon soup (still have to get the recipe for that!) and pancake for pudding. Lots of flamenco, sightseeing and lapping up the sun (along with plenty of ice cream!). Brilliant :D

The next weekend Mum came to visit, and had booked herself into the gorgeous looking hotel down the road, so I came along and made use of the services for a luxurious couple of days! Air conditioned bedroom and all-you-can-eat breakfasts...yes please!! Had the best 3 nights' sleep I've had since I've been here I think! It was also the last weekend of the Italian guys who live in my house, so we popped round on Friday night to join in some of the goodbye celebrations - thankfully they were suitably relaxed! Was nice to be able to snuggle into a nice cool, quiet bedroom afterwards though - those boys can be pretty damn noisy! Again, lots more sightseeing, flamenco, awesome food and a trip (my second!) to the Arabic baths for a massage and perfect relaxation session after a long day's exploring. :D

This weekend just gone I caught the (expensive but worth it!) train all the way to Madrid - it was the AVE (the high speed train) so it took a mere 2 1/2 hours!! And was of course blissfully air conditioned, with a film each way in either English or Spanish to pass the time, sigh! I went to visit Claire Love, a really good old friend of mine from CHS, but who moved to Cheltenham when we were 16 and we've only since managed to catch up a handful of times, the last being 3 years ago - so was fantastic to see her. She's in a nearby town called Guadalajara doing a work placement in a German company (but whose employees there only speak Spanish) over the summer in an attempt to gain some knowledge of Spanish before she travels to South America in October. Having only a few months' worth of GCSE level Spanish knowledge (from back when she was 13!) she was pretty relieved to speak to a native English speaker, it seemed! We also met up with my Israeli friend Rony, a girl I met out here on my course but who left at the end of July and who I'd become really good friends with. She happened to be in Madrid at the same time that I was there, so it worked out great! She and Claire also got on really well, too :D The Friday night, we got a drink and some food and went to a street party that Rony's friends had introduced her to, that was going on for the whole weekend. Unfortunately the trains back to Guadalajara (about an hour's journey) stopped at 11.40, or so we thought, so we pretty much got a feel for the atmosphere and had to leave - we weren't too upset, as we were both shattered from very long days! So we pushed through the crowds to the nearest metro station - asking along the way, as both of us hardly know the city at all! We caught the train but realised we were cutting it extremely fine on time, but Claire had bought us both tickets earlier that day so it would have been a waste not to go. We managed to get off at the stop before the regional train station, which is usually connected by a passageway, but the door to it was locked! Panicking a little, we jumped back on the train to the next stop and ran to the station. The tickets Claire had bought didn't open the barrier - turns out they expired 2 hours after purchase! So we wrestled with the machine, having discovered there was still a train on the platform and we might make it. I bought us two more tickets (the machine refused to take my €20 once - helpful! It's making me stressed just writing about it haha!) and we dashed through the barrier and scrambled onto the train, a minute before it was due to leave. Phew!! We just collapsed laughing - what a chaotic end to my first night!

The next day we met up with Rony and caught the train to Toledo - a nearby town which used to be the capital of Spain, hundreds of years ago. It's a beautiful place - like Seville in the respect of the old traditional buildings and windy streets, but with plenty of hills and set in an undulating green valley - beautiful. The weather was perfect, too - around 30 degrees at the hottest, about 18 at night! The coldest I've been for a long time! (I know, I'm going to struggle in the UK!) We wandered the streets, were overcharged for a very expensive touristy menu (a trap we all knew we were falling into, but there wasn't much other option!) and lapped up the relaxed atmosphere. We couldn't believe we were only half an hour from Madrid and yet this place was so tranquil.

On Sunday we went to the Reina Sofia art gallery in the capital - Rony had been telling me about it on Friday, about how it has Picasso's Guernica which I was so excited about seeing (I hope to do my Spanish dissertation this year on Catalan artists' work before and during the Spanish Civil War, and Guernica is about as perfect an example of this as you can get!) - it's enormous and so breathtaking. We also saw a few early Dalí pieces, and Miró as well - other artists I hope to study in my work. It was a fantastic gallery, and because it was Sunday it was free to get in! Although they did kick us out at 2.30, but as we got there at 11.30 we had a pretty good amount of time to wander about contemplating the pieces :) I would love to go back though. Other than that, Madrid was pretty underwhelming - it's a relatively interchangeable city, with not much personality that makes it specifically Spanish, which you would assume is why they get so many American tourists (and boy, were there a lot!). It really made me appreciate the authenticity and relaxed, unpretentious beauty of Seville. I'm gonna be so sad to leave! (Which, incidentally, I do on Friday!) Although of course I'm ecstatic to be going back to Quinny, our new flat, my birthday, seeing everyone again....it's going to be fantastic :D I'll never forget my time here, though - I really hope to come back soon.

It's a bank holiday today (well, technically the holiday was yesterday, but when a holiday falls on a Sunday the Spanish take the Monday off as well - a good idea, I feel!!) so nothing is open - I'm going round to Steph's house in a minute for a DVD day to escape the heat and pass the time with friends :) The house here is so empty now - only a Finnish girl and myself are left! So the house owner is now padding about cleaning the place before all the Erasmus students arrive at the end of next week. And so the cycle begins again....I love this house, if its walls could talk it could write books longer than Tolstoy's! I may or may not get time to write again before I head home - have lots of plans for filling up this week before I go! Suffice it to say it has been an incredible summer, I have learnt so much, Spanish or not, and will never forget it. I love you, Sevilla! :D

Hope England is good, eagerly awaiting my return! :p

Loads of love,

Nikki :) xxxxxxxxxxxx

La lluvia en Sevilla es una maravilla!

Morning all!

Just a quick one to apologise for not having written in a while, time goes by so fast! Quinny was out here all last week so I was very busy galavanting around Seville with him, will update on what we did when I have more time (start school in about 5 minutes!)...Basically involved gorging on amazing tapas every night and seeing the sights, going to the beach and many other things!

It's shot up to at least 40 degrees during the day this week, whereas previously it was a mere 36 or so (trust me, you notice the difference!)..It rained on Tuesday night though, which was amazing (honestly!) - Seville gets on average 1mm of rainfall in the whole of July, so that would appear to be it for this year..! August usually gets more so I'm actually praying for a shower! I know I'll be sorry when I get back to England, but right now any chance of cooling the weather down a tad doesn't go amiss...

Have joined the gym this week to work off the tapas, so that's occupying the large stretch of afternoon (when everything stops for at least a 3 hour siesta, and I either sleep, which is boring, or get quite bored..!) that I have free. Going to a Spinning class in Spanish this evening, should be interesting..! Ruth arrives tomorrow night for the weekend :D so am really looking forward to seeing her and showing her around, although I have already seen most of the sights (a couple of times lol) and I'm anticipating a very action-packed weekend! Should be great though :)

Had better run to school, thankfully I only live round the corner!!

Loads of love to all, will try and be on Skype soon (will be on tonight to speak to Quinny for a bit, but will try and be on during the evenings next week, if the Internet will stop being moody!)

See you soon! xxxxxxx

Viva España!

Ello again!

Man, already nearly a week since I last updated?! And so much has happened..! I really hope I can remember most of it to tell you...

On Sunday: We went to the beach, the nearest place being Matalascañas, an hour away by coach. What a scorcher it was; definitely a good plan to get some coastal breeze and have the sea on hand for dipping in! Despite lying in the baking 40-something degree sun for most of the day, I still have comparatively little tan and was often asked by my Italian housemate why I'm so 'blanquita' (affectionate term for pasty!) Though I'm trying to remind myself that I still have another 6 weeks to brown some more, and that my housemates have been here a lot longer and have thus seen a lot more sun than I have! Plenty of time to catch up :p

This week has gone SO fast in hindsight; can't believe it's the end of the second week already! Has largely been spent much in the same vein of the first week: classes in the morning, feeling rather tired from late nights/little sleep due to the heat, which is soon and pretty invariably rectified by a café manchado (milky coffee - still pretty strong for me!) and a tostada con tomate y aceite (toasted bread with tomato pulp and olive oil - a traditional Catalan dish they call pa amb tomàquet in Barcelona, but which has a pretty identical counterpart here, which I was overjoyed to find!!) and a chat in our half an hour break. Then home to some lunch and monging about sunning myself on the roof terrace/having a siesta and reading/doing my homework (10 mins tops - the best kind of work! Grammar as well - I'm actually in heaven lol!), before catching up with whichever housemates I may bump into, going for wanders around the city and then dining later in the evening before a World Cup game at the Irish pub/local bar. Perfecto :D Went to see the Holland/Uruguay game on Tuesday with all my Dutch housemates (they were over the moon, naturally!), followed by the Spain/Germany game last night for Happy Miércoles with my coursemates and housemates at a bar down the road - went for a wander and some drinks afterwards to lap up the elation in the air, and managed to get some pretty extensive Spanish conversation practice into the bargain! So I'm pretty tired today, and have given myself a day off and time to get an early night by having a Skype chat with Quinny :)

Today was the day of my coursemates' graduation (the ones on the BA, who thus finish a year before me) and I found a link online to a live webcam feed of the ceremony, which was brilliant :) so proud of them all, emotional times! Going to miss them all so much; thankfully several are still hanging around up North looking for jobs and the like, so there should still be plenty of drinks/coffees/lunches lined up next year. Speaking of line-up - Quinny emailed me a gig listing the other day of a host of potential bands/comedians we might be interested in, so we've now got quite a hectic entertainment calendar lined up for my return right up until January! :D It's gonna be fantastic, a welcome break from the workload I'm beginning to dread next year! Oh well, thankfully I get a real summer (and how!!) :D

While waiting for the next graduates to come on screen, I went for a wander around the city with my 2 new housemates who haven't seen much of Seville yet. We got an Italian ice cream from my favourite sweet shop and wandered down to the river - Seville is so beautiful :) Made it home in time to see my fresh-faced clever friends shaking hands with the Vice-Chancellor of Manchester University and thus ending their 4 year adventure. End of an era :(! So glad I got to see it though :)

Vicki and her boyfriend arrive tomorrow at the start of their 3 week interrailing trip around Europe (like the one I did with Ruth last summer), so I'm taking them out for tapas (probably with my coursemate Rony, who's showing us her favourite tapas place which is apparently excellent - although I've been for tapas a couple of times, she's been here for 5 months and apparently it helps to know where to go!) and then we'll spend Saturday as a 'día de guiri' (tourist day) seeing the sights of Seville :) So excited to begin what will be a spree of visitors for pretty much every remaining weekend until I leave..! Can't quite believe I've been here the best part of 2 weeks already..Madness!

Keep in touch, will keep this updated as best as possible - it's bizarre, although the lifestyle here is among the most relaxed I've ever experienced, it still seems to move at a mile a minute!

Loads of love to you all :D Sending some sun your way! xxxxxxxx

Hello again!

Just when you thought the travelling had ended....here I am in Seville, doing a Spanish course for 8 weeks over the summer! Have been here since Monday, sorry for lack of updating, internet issues and general busy-ness have prevented me getting a chance to write on here! Will give you a brief overview of the adventure so far...

Firstly, I should say that I was meant to fly out on Friday the 25th (despite my course not starting til Monday and my accommodation contract not til the Sunday afternoon....stupid Ryanair not flying here at weekends!). While my flight didn't leave Liverpool until 2pm, I had to get there by way of a convoluted taxi/bus journey, not to mention several hours early, thus needing to get up at 7am. However.... at 5.30am on the Friday, I woke up and promptly started violently throwing up from what can only be assumed was food poisoning from the restaurant (Manchester's Café Rouge) we went to the night before :(. I carried on being sick on about an hourly basis until 12pm, by which time I was meant to be at the airport (having survived potentially a 2 hour bus journey due to roadworks). Needless to say I didn't brave the trip; I didn't really fancy ploughing through the coach's sick bags without a familiar face for comfort and possibly making everyone else ill! I'm so glad I didn't make the trip, in the state I was in it probably would've been horrific, and, due to my not being able to check in to my house until the Sunday lunchtime, I was meant to be staying in a studio on the outskirts of the centre for the weekend, on my own, without internet. What a fun weekend that would've been! So instead I rearranged my flight for first thing Monday morning, spent Friday in bed in Manchester watching TV and recovering, then by that evening I felt a lot better, leaving me free to spend the weekend in Milton Keynes with Quinny for our friend's birthday :)

The flight on Monday was at 6.50am, again from Liverpool. Not the most dignified hour..! After a 3am start, I finally arrived in Seville at 12pm, again having to navigate the public transport system in a new and exciting city. I went straight to my language school, where I was greeted with a welcome pack and then took a Spanish language level test straight away (on little sleep and after a journey, this came as a bit of a shock!) but managed to score 100% on the test..! The teacher wanted to put me in the highest group, but as there isn't anyone at the school taking that level yet (C1), I'm in the B2 group for the moment, with 6 other people. The level is perfectly fine as I'm trying to remember all my Spanish at the moment and the other students are largely very good, so it's a good introduction rather than being thrown in the deep end!

I then made my way to my new house round the corner, Calle Viriato 12. I've been finding out that the house has quite a reputation around here; there seems to be no way of knowing for sure how many people live here at any one time; when I moved in it was about 15 people..! Needless to say the place is huge..I was greeted by 2 French students, who were surprised when I could speak to them in French! My room turned out to be on the roof of the house; a gorgeous little room, but I hadn't considered just how hot it would get up there! I had a fan, but it turned out to be bows and arrows against the lightning. The landlady had left me a note saying I could move downstairs when the French guys left a few days later, which I initially wasn't bothered about, but after a night trying to sleep in what must have been about 25 degree heat at least, I quickly reconsidered!

I started school at 9am on Tuesday; the class lasts until 1pm with a break from 10.45 to 11.15. The first half is taught by a Spanish bloke called Jesús (different pronunciation from English..), who made a joke about turning 33 this year (today, in fact!) and it being a bad year to be called Jesus...a lovely guy! His class is a lot of fun. Then after the break Manuela takes over, a very smiley and heavily pregnant Spanish lady who has been really encouraging (as has everyone, to be fair). The first day of class dragged a bit (it's hard to concentrate on Spanish for 4 hours at the same desk!) but it's got better and better ever since, we cover interesting topics and have some really good conversations. My Spanish feels like it's come on leaps and bounds already, and I've only been here just under a week!

I think this is partially down to having to/choosing to speak Spanish to most people in the house as well; off the top of my head there are 4 Dutch girls and one Dutch guy, one Finnish guy and one girl, 2 or 3 Italian blokes, a French guy (but who I usually speak Spanish to as then we can both practise!), a Turkish woman who usually lives in America and there was a Danish girl, Jennifer, who I became close friends with and who left this morning after a 2 week stay. Thus Spanish is largely the common language; a few of my housemates are beginners so I tend to speak English to them but most people choose to use Spanish as it's become habit and is good practice! There are 2 more people arriving tomorrow, I think one is a Finnish girl, not sure about the other. It's expected to get pretty quiet over the summer due to the extreme heat which often drives people away from Seville, especially in August, but the Italian blokes are staying until the 10th August (10 days before I leave on the 20th) and several are staying until the end of July. A few of the Dutch girls are leaving on Wednesday after being here since February, so we had a party in their honour last night, which was AWESOME! We all made a dish each (I cobbled together a sort of chorizo and vegetable pasta salad) and had a big buffet-style banquet on the terrace at night; what made it even better was that we'd decided on a Greek gods and goddesses theme and were all dressed up in 'togas' made from our bedsheets! I was Aphrodite :p (photos do exist, I'll try and get them up somewhere for people to see!) It was truly epic. We drank lots of wine and I retired to bed pretty early, around 4am (most people went on to a club shortly after..! I was sadly too knackered after getting up at 8am for school and having slept 5 hours the night before...it's been a long week! Most people here have jobs or study but often don't seem to get up very early, the house is eerily silent when I'm getting ready for school!) Apparently there was some scandal this morning, when some angry Spanish neighbours approached us around 7.30am after discovering the street full of shattered glass from bottles that my drunk friends had decided to smash up after coming home from the club...more news on those developments later when the landlady comes round for a 'chat'....Never a dull moment!

I've been kept busy the past week, mostly with school and seeing the sights with Jennifer - as she was only here for a short time she had a lot to cram into her visit, which I welcomed! Seville is such a labyrinthine city, it's best navigated by foot as it's quite compact, but the roads are so windy and look so similar that I still have no idea where I am half the time, and carry a map everywhere! We went to the stunning Cathedral and climbed its tower (which made me jealous of the people with rooftop swimming pools!), went for some gorgeous handmade sweets (my new favourite shop!), drank vino con naranja (supposedly red wine with what we thought was orange juice, but tasted more like a strong orange liqueur - deadly at 4pm!) and browsed some of the ludicrously cheap shops. We also went to the flamenco museum the other night, to have a look round and see a performance - I'm actually in love with flamenco now! It was stunning, and I managed to get myself a handheld fan which is an absolute necessity in these temperatures. We went for drinks on Wednesday night with our school - they do a night every Wednesday called 'Happy Miércoles' (Wednesday in Spanish) to get everyone together and socialise. The drink of the season here is 'tinto de verano' ('summer red wine') which is half red wine, half lemonade, with ice - ultimate refreshment for around €1,50! The following night it was my coursemate Rony's 21st birthday (a lovely chatty Israeli girl who is really good at languages) and we went to a tapas bar for dinner (DELICIOUS and so cheap!!) followed by going to a famous local bar, which is huge inside and allows you to bring your own instruments and play to each other. Rony's friends brought a Spanish guitar, and one of them played flamenco tunes while the other sang. They were fantastic, up there with the professionals! It was a perfect, relaxed evening, just like evenings in Seville should be. Needless to say, I love it here!!

Today I'm pretty much making the most of having the day to myself and no classes to attend, largely by having a lie in (as much as possible due to the heat!) and bumming around sunbathing and reading. I might go and explore the town in a bit, though I have to say I still feel more comfortable with someone else with me who knows the way home! Seville does have a metro, but it has about 4 stops and I haven't yet found one that is very near here.. may look into that. The Finnish girls are on about getting the bus to the coast tomorrow, which I'm very up for - cooling water and a sea breeze sound good to me! Other than that I'm enjoying relaxing after a long and eventful first week; as the Dutch girls told me last night, I've certainly 'landed with my nose in the butter' (been very lucky)!! Vicki (my coursemate from Manchester) and her boyfriend arrive on Friday for the night and Saturday, so we're gonna go out for a meal and spend Saturday doing the Brit tourist thing - am really looking forward to it, am nowhere near finished exploring the city yet! Quinny comes to visit on the 16th for 10 days, which will be awesome :D we hope to go to the coast for the weekend or something, there are so many things I want to show him!

Had a bit of a scare last night just before the toga party, when my phone ran out of credit and I tried to top up but my bank card was declined, whereas it normally works fine and is perfectly in date - it wouldn't let me do it online either. Luckily KT was online and mum wired me some money to put on my phone as a temporary measure - I couldn't even ring the bank to inquire, or even have them ring me as it costs me money to receive calls too! I tried to forget about it (quite successfully) for the night and then mercifully managed to sort it out this morning - turns out the fraud company were just being extra cautious as I was using it from another country (even though I didn't have that happen to me at all last year while I was touring Europe..). Oh well, crisis averted! Even so, I have some euros in cash here, so it wouldn't have been the end of the world, but it's always good to know you have access to some money if you need it! Never mind, panic over! :)

Love to all and let me know if/when you plan on visiting - please do, it's such an amazing city and I'd love to share it with you!

Keep in touch!! Ooo, my address is:

Nicola Tomlinson

C/ Viriato 12

41003 Sevilla

SPAIN

I'm pretty sure I can get post here (we have a letterbox but I don't have a key, maybe the landlady gets it out for us..?!) but yeah, if you fancy writing, feel free! I'll try and be on Skype most evenings but the internet is still a bit capricious at times, will keep in touch as best I can, probably mostly via here so keep your eyes peeled!

Loads of love :) xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Casse-toi et ton système éducatif!

France, I like your: literature, your food and your architecture. You can keep your: weather (mainly aimed at Paris), your vibe, your pervy men, your 'Keep off the grass' parks, your traffic and transport in general, and your education system!

Latest news from the Sorbonne: Lectures restarted yesterday. Which I was informed of: yesterday. From my chat with my German friend Amelie, a fellow Erasmus student, over hot chocolate (yummy!) and croissants (also very yummy) this afternoon, we have established that the semester will be made up for over the next FOUR weeks (bearing in mind this semester was meant to be what, 12/13?), followed by an exam period of ONE week, in which ALL exams will be crammed in back-to-back. (Amelie worked out that, if she were to take said exams, she would have THREE in a single DAY on a Monday, from 12-2, 2-4 (yep, that's right, no break!) and 5-7pm. THEN she would have her next one on Tuesday morning!! A JOKE, I ask you..!! We both felt so fortunate that, luckily owing to our respective universities (Dresden and Manchester) being understanding about the situation we have been put in, we do not have to partake in this month of hell...and then proceeded to talk about how nothing like this would ever happen in our respective countries, lol. It's true though..! PAH..

I went to her building afterwards with her (some of her lectures have been on, so she has some essays to write at the moment), and the place was strewn with painted banners and scrawled signs with slogans like "SARKO, CASSE-TOI ET TES LOIS" - '"Sarko" (President Nicolas Sarkozy's somewhat derogatory nickname), get lost with your laws', amongst others. I read some of the literature they'd printed off from www.liberation.fr , a French newspaper which has published numerous articles on the progression of the Sorbonne strike, and vowed to read more of these later to keep abreast of the goings-on, before picking up a couple of free magazines lying around and wandering to the Jardin de Luxembourg near by. On an upside, the Palace is truly gorgeous, and the gardens looked beautiful, even in the cloudy weather we've had today following the brilliant summer weather of the weekend and the thunderous storm which abruptly drew that to a close last night; I pulled up a chair next to one of the central patches of grass with a view of the Palais and sat to read The Da Vinci Code (my latest read; I started it earlier after a good year or two of promising to start it and am loving it! Reading it in Paris makes it all the more vivid and exciting - also probably why this entry sounds a little more cogent and literary than my usual mutterings :$). Unfortunately the wind and cold drew me away from this after not very long; it was simply too cold to enjoy it! But yes, very pleasant to spend some time in the gardens and to finally see the Palace itself. It's been a really nice, relaxing, leisurely Parisian day :)

Love you all, can't believe it's my return on Sunday!! Though it is days like today that make me think I really am going to miss this place....well, some aspects of it anyway :p 

xxxxxxxxxx

La France

What I will miss about Paris:

- baguettes for 38 cents

- Riz au lait a la vanille, yum!

- so many places to explore

- crepes

- waffles..

- croque monsieurs!!

- The Marais

- the beautiful streets and the quirky places to explore

- the swordfish at Barbershop

- the bountiful supply of French books at Carrefour

- French onion soup, especially at La Khedive

- French film trips in Place d'Italie

- cheap cheap cheap wine, especially Panache from Carrefour!

- just....Carrefour..!

What I will not miss:

- the pervy men who have meant I have only worn a skirt/dress once and regretted it, and have thus not since March...

- the extortionate prices for everything, especially bottles of water..!!

- the expensiveness of the Metro and being pretty far from the action

- a large number of the Parisians and the way they must have right of way on the pavement/in their cars/look down on you

- the dull dress sense here (I'm serious! I haven't seen a colour other than black, white, navy or beige for weeks!)

Paris is definitely a city of contrasts....find the areas you like and you're sorted. Luckily I have come to do that, but unfortunately they happen to be pretty far from where I'm living....also, I will definitely not miss the ridiculous Parisian public transport and its mind of its own! After this year, I don't think I will ever complain about English admin again lol, as I said when I came back from Barcelona..! I have had a great time, just unfortunate circumstances (as Manchester uni recently referred to them as in an email to us) have conspired against my plans. Oh well, an experience is an experience....

xxxxxxx

La France

Nice in a Nutshell:

- wide streets

- gorgeous sunshine/weather in general!

- uncomfy (but pretty) beach

- Place Masséna = niiiice (minus overly friendly men, urgh)

- cute French cat, cute but psycho...and also set off my allergies..

- good pharmacy with amazing miracle cream for allergies

- very expensive cafés

- awesome fountains

- Wayne's club = SO much fun..the most hilarious and fun sweatpit I have probably ever been in

- Ma Nolan's = legendary pub

- much more relaxed and chilled out than Paris, but still the occasional pervy man. 

Cannes: film stuff, ugly building, no celebs :( gorgeous weather, lovely promenade. Nice cafes behind the scenes. Exciting atmosphere :)

Monaco: Tiny and mental. So many yachts! Gorgeous place, too hilly for me to be bothered walking much though. Café de Paris = extortionate. €7 for a Coke!! gorgeous restaurants though. F1 track, very exciting, busy busy. lots of people, lots of traffic. Designer shops everywhere. clearly very wealthy. Cool :)

Sorry for delay!

Hellooooo world out there!

Sorry it's taken me ages to get back on this thing, time has flown by in hindsight! Can't possibly remember everything there was to update you all on, sorry :s but will have a go at key things!

- Have recently discovered my faaaavourite parts of Paris, after much awesome exploring with Keyla, amongst others :) new favourite places are : the 4th arr. (the Marais) - vintage shops aplenty, gorgeous little winding backstreets which look beautiful in the summer shade, with Italian ice cream parlours and little bookshops galore - Place des Vosges is an amazing square to lounge in on a sunny afternoon - seems to be the place to hang out, the equivalent of College Green for the Bristolians among you! 

The Bastille is also a fave :D, a wicked market on Saturdays with loooads of arty things to admire, and a lovely stall selling beautiful silk skirts (I got mine 'student price', I was assured!) run by a legend of a Frenchman, who tolerated my indecisiveness for most of an afternoon! Also provided with commentary on the stalls by a crazy man who wanders around wearing a pair of the market's more extrovert sunglasses. Hilarious! The Indiana café/bar/resto on the corner is a favourite - happy hour from 5 til 8pm and YUMMY Mexican food (my favourite!), with a lunch offer on Mon-Fri 12-5pm, a meal and a coffee for €11. Although, I have recently discovered after trying to buy in more fully to the Parisian lifestyle, that I am not a fan of espresso - although it does give me a fun buzz for an afternoon!

Parmentier is a favourite area too - Barbershop restaurant (soo cool, vintage and chilled and awesome!) recently provided me with an AMAZING swordfish (yes, I discovered a taste for it in Corfu last September, thanks to Quinny for that one!), seriously, one of the most BEAUTIFUL things I have eaten in a very long time! €15 and I would pay that any day for it!

Soooo, in summary, have been getting out and about a lot more since Easter; other coursemates have come out of the woodwork claiming they have nothing to do either, so I've managed to rope them into exploring the city with me! And oh it has paid off :) live music, wicked people and beautiful sights, and awesome food! (Yeah, we all know I'm a bit of a gourmande...) 

Weather is pretty dull now actually :( has been since after Easter really..! Though it was warm enough yesterday that Tom, Lydia and I (my latest visitors :) ) had a nap on the grass at Trocadero under the Eiffel Tower...though we were awakened by spots of rain...humid but cloudy and threatening has been the order of the day of late. Hopefully that will perk up soon!

You may have gathered from this that there's been no progress with the strikes, aside from the fact that my coursemate emailed a group of us the other day saying she'd been emailed by a woman from Paris Uni saying they'd been putting up lecture notes online since the strikes started to tide us over, only someone had neglected to tell us this along the way..!! So I wasn't very impressed with that, as you can imagine...But oh well, that's happened now, and I have had a lot of time to myself to explore :) My friend notified Manchester Uni of this and their response was basically "Oh dear, that's a shame they didn't tell you that, but never mind, you weren't to know so it doesn't matter that you haven't done it", so at least we're off the hook for not having known.

I fly out to Nice on Thursday evening to visit Steph for a week! Can't wait - will be really nice to explore a part of France I've never been to before; to have a change of scenery, and also to have some time with Steph :) it's been weird not seeing her at all since Barcelona, aside from our quick catch up in Manchester a few weeks ago! So I hope the weather down there is nice; I had a peek at the forecast and seems similar to here, but they do seem subject to change lately, so fingers crossed!

Have booked my Eurostar trip back to the UK once and for all, on the 31st of May! Can't quite believe it's that close to being over, in hindsight...seems to have gone so fast when I look back! Naturally am quite disappointed about the whole debacle of the Sorbonne; would have loved to have studied here, but alas. Nevertheless, it has given me the time to frolic in a gorgeous city buzzing with culture, and discover some of its more hidden delights :) when the weather's nice, obviously! Though at least there are the museums and galleries for the rainy days :) not to mention the alarmingly cheap (for Paris - and the UK, come to that!) cinema down at Place d'Italie - I had heard it rumoured, but Keyla and I checked it out in the flesh last week, and lo and behold, something to the tune of €3,60 for a young person under 26!!! Bargainous!! So that may be on the cards for tomorrow...

What else to report..? Oh, flat situation is lovely, though there have been some changes....older sister Assia and boyfriend Nej had a bit of an argument over Easter, so he no longer lives here...which is a shame cause he was a legend, but it's quite nice having a girly flat too. They've managed to rent out the spare room to Celia, a dancer from Province who moved in last week, and is really lovely :) and now younger sister Nadia has found herself a studio, so moves out sometime this week, I think..! Which will be sad, as she's really nice, and I feel like I've got closer to her the past month or so. Assia is currently on holiday in Andalusia; she took a 10 day break because she was working loads before Easter and to clear her head about recent events etc., which I think was a really good thing. So hopefully she's off enjoying herself at the mo!

Have been looking round a lot of flats more inside Paris with Keyla recently; she wants to move closer in, as she's in a little town outside Paris called Plaisir at the mo, and has finished her job out there and apparently there was nothing else to do there lol, so she wants to be nearer the action! Is proving difficult though; it's sooo hard to find a decent place in Paris. There's always something not quite right, be it the housemate, the location, a lack of internet... I hope she manages to sort something out soon. We have said to her that Nadia's room will soon be free! She is considering it, but wants to be a bit closer in if possible, which is fair enough; I would love to be too, but it's so hard to find somewhere, especially if you don't want to pay an arm and a leg for it....

Anyways, will sign off for now; long update! Will try and be a bit more regular with posts; though as I say, going away on Thursday for a week and internet may be limited, knowing what Steph's old brick of a laptop is like :p! Then have Mum coming to stay when I get back for a long weekend, then will have just under a week to occupy myself before I come back to Blighty! Crazy how time is flying! (Though I have to admit, it was my plan to be proactive this month so I didn't get bored - it has certainly paid off!) 

Love you all loads, see you soon!! Also need to update you soon on my summer plans - am hopping about the continent then too..! :p

Loads of love and hugs xxxxxxxxxxx

Contact details at last!

Sorry for the delay everyone, finally asked my flatmate for the address of the flat! Knew most of it anyway but just wanted to check details. Here it is: 

FAMILLE AMRI (name of the family so postman knows which letterbox to put it in!) 

18, Rue de la République

93200 Saint Denis

FRANCE

Don't know what to do about my name, obviously you have to put Famille Amri on it so it gets put in the right letterbox (there are about 20 all clumped together on the wall at the bottom of the block of flats!), maybe put (Nikki Tomlinson) under it? Or on the back of the envelope? Either way I'm sure my flatmates will get the message if they open it and it says 'Nikki' and is written in English..!

Also the landline number! : 0142 43 42 02 , though you will have to put the country code on the front, which would make it 0033142 43 42 02. This will probably cost you a lot though; as I've said before, it's free for me to ring out to European landlines from this landline, so probably better to just give me your landline numbers and let me know when you're free for a chat!

Not much other news to be honest; still going to classes, keeping me nicely busy, have a presentation in the one tomorrow :s haaate presentations, trying not to build it up for myself though..! All I have to do is introduce myself, where I'm from, what I'm studying and why and say something about French culture that interests me, really. The first girl did hers today and she was really good...I just hope that doesn't overshadow me too much! Not that it counts for anything or I have to pass it at all anyway!

Ruth's flying over from Sweden to visit on Friday! I can't wait! Really looking forward to a weekend of a familiar face and doing lots of fun touristy things together! As it was in Barcelona, will probably be absolutely exhausting, but it was such great fun! And will definitely make a welcome change from the boredom and sitting around I've been experiencing lately :) bring it on!

The weather's also meant to be taking a turn for the better soon, I think :) soooo excited about summer weather coming along!! Paris really does look set to be beautiful in the spring/summer. Can't wait! :D

Hope all is well with everyone, do keep me updated and write to me lots now, no more excuses hehe!

Love you all loads xxxxxxxxxx

Strike Everywhere

Finally had some news from Alfonso, the Paris University Erasmus (the foreign exchange programme I'm on) co-ordinator today; I'll translate the emails for you, they speak for themselves.. :

"URGENT"

Hello,

I am writing this email to you as the University of Paris - Sorbonne has been on strike since the beginning of February on certain campuses, as well as the whole of the Sorbonne starting today. The strike will last until Tuesday the 10th, then there will be a protest on the Wednesday. The movement is highly likely to get worse. Some of you are no longer Erasmus students and have no issue with grades. Do not take any notice of this email; it is important, however, that those who do not have a record of their grades are kept up to date. None of the grades are currently registered as the teachers are on strike. As a result, it is necessary to wait until all of that (registration of grades) is finished. 

For students who have stayed on for second semester and for new students: the strike is ongoing and the Sorbonne campus is now affected. There is a chance I may no longer be able to reply to any emails, at least until next Tuesday. It is necessary to consider the possibility of returning to your home country for some students if there is a possibility of completing your second semester at your University. I am not asking anyone to go back. I think, moreover, that I should give you all of the information so that you can judge for yourselves. 

Yours sincerely,

And the second one...

"Strike at the Sorbonne"

Hello,

The Sorbonne campus is closed this morning, even if some students have managed to get in. I continue to remind you that the University has not asked anyone to return to their country. You should know nevertheless that there are strikes mostly everywhere and that the situation is getting worse. At midday yesterday, the students, the teachers and the administrators decided upon a total strike. It is up to you to decide what you should do.

Cordially,

So there we have it, ladies and gents.. I've emailed Dan Herman, the Erasmus Co-ordinator from Manchester, asking his advice on what I should do in line with my course requirements at uni (I don't want to have come out here and gone through all this to find out that what I did wasn't valid and not pass the year!). I don't think it's a question of getting a certain number of credits at Manchester Uni (i.e. you get a certain number of credits for every course you complete and pass) - I don't think our results in whatever we study out here really count for this year, as we can study pretty much whatever we like, even if it's not relevant to our degree back in the UK. However, I dare say I'm not quite licensed to hop back over the Channel to the UK, much as I would quite like to right now - this is proving very expensive (I checked my bank balance today and will most likely be scraping by until June :( ) to live out here and I'm not actually doing much productive at the moment as a result of these stupid strikes (although my grammar classes started this week and has given me something to do, albeit very easy stuff that I have done before..!). I've got a trip to Manchester planned for the end of the month, and my thoughts are if nothing has progressed positively in the way of lectures starting by then (the 27th), then I might as well bring my things back over for the Easter holidays, as I'd be coming back to the UK again 8 days after coming back from Manchester anyway, so there would be no point flying back for 8 days of nothing, only to come back to the UK again. I suspect Dan will advise me to get a job or something, however I don't know of anyone who's attempted that out here without having it organised prior to their arrival in Paris, so it could take ages to find one. Either way I think the only real requirements the Uni will have of me will be to stay in France for a certain amount of time, but I'm sure they'll agree that these circumstances were unforeseen, highly unfavourable and out of my control. So we'll see what happens...

In the meantime, I've had a nice long lie in today (my classes don't run on Fridays, however they only start at 4.30pm anyway so I generally get a lie in anyway..!), then got up and made pancakes with Pancetta and Port Salut cheese (which I love! It's the closest thing to Cheddar I've found out here! :p) and listened to a radio show on Radio 1 over the Internet :D ahhh! :)

Now I can hear some kind of small group protesting (?)/shouting outside KFC down my road lol....Seriously, all the French do is strike!!

Hope everything's well at home, Skype is always available and if people give me their landline numbers I can ring when you're free! (As I say I have LOTS of free time at the moment!) 

Love you all loads :) xxxxxxx

Part 2: Paris!!

Hey hey everyone!

Weeeell, it has been a while since I've updated this! And seeing as I have nothing to do (for reasons that will be explained!), I thought what better time than now to let you all know what I'm up to? Obviously it's been a couple of months, so I'll do a quick overview:

December: 

Back in Brizzle for Christmas, reunions with Brizzle friends and family. Loved seeing everyone again, had missed you guys so much you don't understand! All the usual Christmas funtimes and traditions; perfect :)

January: 

Went up to Preston to be reunited with my gorgeous Quinny :) had our own mini Christmas with present giving and whatnot :) then we moved his stuff back to Manchester and were reunited with the boys and all our mates. Had New Year's Eve there in one of our friend's flats; Ruth even came down from Preston while she was home from Sweden for a couple of weeks for it. Was so good to see everyone again! Was also there for Quinny's 22nd on the 8th, so made the most of my free time finding him presents and the like :) Spent most of the month reacquainting myself with French by the way of novels etc; Quinny had exams for the last 2 weeks of Jan so he was hard at work revising for that; I filled my time by meeting up with much-missed friends, catching up on good old English TV and basking in the glory of my favourite (and some new faves!) Manchester haunts. Absolute bliss :)

February: 

Moved back to Brizzle where I had a whirlwind few days packing my stuff up ready for Paris; caught the Eurostar over here on the lunchtime of the 4th, arriving at Gare du Nord at about 8.10pm, met by the lovely Lucy :) who put me up in her room for a few nights while I searched for accommodation/acquainted myself with the area and uni etc. Then moved on to Alex's on the 9th, still in search of accommodation and getting desperate by this point; then very luckily for me an advert I'd put on a flatshare website got 2 phonecall replies that afternoon, suggesting I view them that evening! So we went around those, and so it was that I came across my gorgeous 2 floor apartment with 3 lovely French people; Assia, 30, who works in computer science, Neige, 27, who has just got a new job in marketing (I think), and Assia's younger sister Nadia, 28, who also has a job of some kind lol :s. They're so lovely, really nice and easy to get along with, and they often make me meals and things! It's a real kinda family atmosphere here, but with a real young fun vibe too. :)

I stayed at Alex's again that night, as the room wasn't ready for me to move into, then Assia told me the next day that their mother had sprung her surprise annual visit on them for that weekend (Valentine's)! So could I perhaps move in the week after? This was a bit unfortunate, as Alex was going back to Manchester the following Monday, and as I couldn't move in til Thursday I would be stuck with nowhere to go....so, remembering a whim I'd had of considering a spontaneous trip to see Quinny for Valentine's day, I decided to research the feasibility of said trip, and decided that there was no reason not to go :) So from the 13th to the 18th of Feb I was back in Manchester relaxing with my gorgeous boyfriend (I was not relishing the thought of being alone in Paris, renowned as the city of love, on Valentine's weekend in any case..! The amount of sickening pink and red paraphernalia adorning all the shop shelves was staggering..!) So that worked out really well :)

When I came back on the 18th I stayed at Lucy's place for the night, then left with her in the morning and went to find my uni buildings on another campus, in the vain hope that lectures would have started...The short of it is that the Paris university has been on strike since the beginning of this term, so I haven't had a single lecture yet..! I've managed to register as a student and get my student card (so I am officially a Paris student!), but no classes have been held; I think it's due to some lecturer-researcher statute which a lot of the lecturers disagreed with, so they're striking to demonstrate this. At least I found out where the buildings are, anyway..!

So I then moved into my new flat that lunchtime :) up until last Thursday I didn't have anywhere to put my clothes, but then Assia found a nice big chest of drawers that someone advertised online, and bought that for my room :) So it's much tidier now! My room here is about twice the size of my one in Barcelona, really light, and in a gorgeous apartment as I say. With fully working internet and everything!! As well as free landline calls to anywhere in Europe, which is fantastic! Must start making use of that one...

The week after that we had a week's holiday anyway; apparently it's the traditional time of year when the French go skiing for a week, so it's pretty much granted as a week off school and uni and some jobs (kinda like a half term I guess). Soooo for that week, safe in the knowledge I would indeed have no lectures regardless, I pretty much slept, bummed around and settled into my new surroundings. I met up with my coursemate Keyla one day, who's working as a teaching assistant in a village called Plaisir outside of Paris, and we wandered about seeing what we could find; we found a very ornate bridge, the Invalides hotel with the Army Museum and Napoleon's tomb inside it, then we wandered in the other direction and found the Grand Palais exhibition hall, then made our way through the Tuilerie gardens to the Louvre. We were aiming to find the Galeries LaFayette (massive shopping centre, like Selfridges or maybe posher..), which we eventually did, and indulged in some expensive cakes and drinks on the top floor with a (rather grey on that day) view of the Eiffel Tower :) the architecture in that shopping centre is gorgeous!! I took Quinny in there just to see it lol. We amused ourselves looking at the toys and French music tastes for a bit, and perused some expensive clothes, then decided H&M was more our price range, so toddled over to that, then followed that up with a gorgeous (and very reasonable!) dinner of steak and chips and peppercorn sauce at a nearby cafe. I was soo full, yet when I returned home Assia and Neige practically ordered me to eat with them (I had a small plate..!) and we then watched a (very sad!) Manga film with French subtitles (getting in some practice!) Twas an awesome day :)

For the rest of the week I amused myself by sleeping, making pancakes and watching films lol, and going to a British-style live Indie music night on the Wednesday with Zara and co. (which was cool, though €5 for half a pint of Stella is not ideal..! I reeeally miss English prices!) then Quinny arrived on Thursday :D! Began our sightseeing straight away with a trip to the Arc de Triomphe, visiting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and going inside and up the Arc itself, for a (rather foggy again) view of central Paris; wincing at the kamikaze traffic on the Point d'Etoile...We then meandered in the direction of the senataph and the Tuilerie gardens again, where I picked up a Nutella crepe on the way (I'm price-comparing on this one at the moment; this was €3, which considering the touristy area I found it in, was not bad at all!) and Quinny had his quintessential holiday hot dog :D we wandered through the gardens, bemused by tourists and random sculptures alike, then arrived at the Louvre pyramid. The place is truly massive! We were originally planning to go either on Friday night between 6 and 10pm (when it's free in for under 25s!) or on Sunday the 1st (it's free for anyone on the first Sunday of the month!) when a random man walked past us with 2 tickets and just handed them to us saying, "Here, take them"..! We were quite unsure about this but thought it would be worth a try; they were worth €9, were full day tickets and didn't seem validated in any way; sure enough, we got in without a problem! The famous Quinny discount which I'm always talking about coming into play again...

We browsed the museum for a couple of hours, taking in the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, as well as various Egyptian artefacts and statues of Marcus Aurelius etc, then pottered off in search of the Parisian Hard Rock Café! (Yes, it has become tradition!) Found it and had a gorgeous Hard Rock burger, never disappoints! After a gorgeous and definitely filling meal we made our way back to my flat, where my flatmates and a group of their friends were sitting around with wine and chatting with music (as is the way in my flat - can you see why I love the atmosphere!) so we joined in for a bit of Anglo-French socialising :) 

The next day we met up with Lucy for lunch, to chat about her final day of work in France and see her off before she moved back to the UK for a month this weekend before heading on to Buenos Aires..! Had a marvellously cheap panini (from a stall outside the steak cafe, incidentally! Clearly a gem of an area, that one!) and sat on the steps outside the Opera eating them and talking. Mmmm :) We then went to the Galleries LaFayette, to show Quinny the architecture, and the model planes in the toy section...hehe. Then we pottered along to Notre Dame, had the classic tourist photos outside it and had a look inside too, then explored the Latin Quarter and the Pompidou centre (though we didn't pay to go to the museum bit as were feeling the pinch a bit by this point!). We watched a legend of a man do a 'speed-painting' of Barack Obama on a spinning canvas outside the Pompidou centre in the space of under 5 minutes (it was amazing!) For tea we found a nice (and relatively inexpensive) restaurant near St Michel, where I had my first French onion soup (it was AMAZING! - with baguette and melted cheese in it - definitely a favourite!) and we both had boeuf bourgignon (we were on the look out for French food - also very good!) On the way home we decided to stop off at the Stade de France in the hope of finding some rugby tickets for the France v. Wales Six Nations match (the stade is the metro stop before mine, so about a 15 minute walk away!); we were so lucky to come across a poor old French man outside the stadium trying to sell on 3 tickets because his friends couldn't make it; worth €73 and in prime position in the lower stand, he was selling them on for €50, so thinking this was a chance we would clearly never see again, we jumped on board! Shame that Wales lost, but the match was brilliant and the atmosphere too! Am really getting into live sport this year :D

Saturday was a gooorgeous day, the best I've seen since I arrived, so we decided to take a trip to the Eiffel Tower, and at least see it in all its glory, if not go up it, which we did :) Around a 45 minute wait, which went surprisingly quickly, and a trip to the 2nd floor while we were waiting for the top floor to free up a bit - then some stunning views from the top, especially of the Seine bathed in sunshine. Beautiful :) we wandered around the area a bit, in search of food mostly, but to no avail; that area is soo expensive, for future reference! We eventually hopped back on the metro to my area, where we stocked up on wine and a few snacks for the night ahead - my flatmates had some friends visiting as well, so we'd decided to do a big dinner and invite people round, so Alex joined us later too :) Plenty of wine, good conversation and good food was had :) some people chose to go out later, though we decided against it as we were truly skint by this point..! A wicked night though :) Shortly after the turn of midnight, when everyone had left, Quinny surprised me with an anniversary present - some gorgeous white gold earrings - which I had completely not been expecting, especially as he usually can't bear to keep a secret, he just ends up telling me he's got me a surprise! It was so thoughtful and sweet :) 

Yesterday was Quinny's and my year anniversary :) We took a trip to the Sacré Coeur :) I'd never been there before, and as of yesterday I would say it's probably my favourite place in Paris, in the style of Parc Guell in Barcelona - so calm, convivial and peaceful - there was a Spanish guitarist up there playing well known songs to a large group of people gathered on the steps who were joining in singing and clapping :) it was sooo cool. We stayed and listened and sang along for a while, before heading inside the cathedral. It was gorgeous, and there was a real serene, quite surreal feeling about it - Quinny remarked on it too. After that we ventured to the pretty seedy district of the Moulin Rouge for the all-important tourist photo, though didn't wander about there for too long as the area, as I say, isn't the most appealing...Eventually for tea we made our way to the good old steak cafe :D where I had my usual starter of tomato salad and main of steak, chips and peppercorn sauce :D definitely a fave, that one. We made a trip around the city, seeing the Arc de Triomphe all lit up after sundown, walked along the Seine at night, in the glow of all the lights, and even managed to catch the Eiffel Tower on the hour, when it's not only lit up in gold but also sparkles with another set of silver lights for 5 dazzling minutes. It was so special :) We shared a chocolate waffle (hehe yes, I ate like a princess this weekend!!) and went and ate it on the steps of the Trocadéro overlooking the Seine and the Tower. Such a special evening :) 

I waved Quinny off this morning on his way back to Manchester to hit the books again; beginning to wonder when I'll do the same myself! There were some sort of classes scheduled to start this week, though I think I may go to the one on Thursday to fit in better with my timetable (though I still can't really tell if my timetable will end up like that, as I haven't been able to go to any of the classes to see if I like them..!). So today has been a day of sleep and recuperation from the very busy, very awesome weekend :) Lovely Assia and Nadia made me some lunch, which was really nice; was very grateful for being taken care of for a bit, if I'm honest. It's quite a confusing situation, being out here just sort of waiting for someone to tell you there are finally classes for you to go to; I'm starting to get used to this life of having my time to myself, yet I feel like I can't really settle into it or I'll find it hard to adapt when lectures do kick in! But for the time being, I'm in a lovely flat, with lovely people, and it's all very chilled and nice :) now all that remains is for you lot to come and visit me! 

Keep me posted on what's going on in Blighty, as per always I miss it so! 

Love you all oodles :) xxxxxxxx

Bye bye Barca...

Well, here I am at work on my last day..! Don't really know what to say, but felt I should mark the occasion with something. In hindsight I can't believe how quickly the past months have gone, time really is flying these days. I've lived in and explored a beautiful city and still only got to know half of it, Barcelona is such a fascinating place and I think it really would take years to get to know it intimately, but I do feel like I have a really good feel for the place now. :)

Things I Will Miss About Barcelona:

- the amazing tapas and how cheap they are!

- the way the grannies and grandads dance along to the buskers in the Plaza Catalunya Metro station

- the very cheap wine :p

- the way everyone greets you with 'Hola' when you walk past them in your flat/see them in a lift, even if they've never seen you before

- the amazing laid back, bohemian culture, especially around the Raval and in all the little hidden streets with beautiful unique bars and cafés

- the tortilla available everywhere, the patatas bravas, the fuet, the croquetas... (I know, a lot of this seems to be about food..!)

- the GORGEOUS hot chocolate and pan con tomate at Café Zurich

- just...Café Zurich!

- walking down the Ramblas and feeling like you're in this cultural centre of the world, a meeting place where everyone from anywhere comes together

- Bracafé and DiBarCafé

- the Metro (I'm sorry but it's so handy!)

- The Gaudiiiii especially Parc Guell and being able to go there whenever I want..ahhh

- el botellón and partying til the next day

- how anything goes, you can dress how you like, be how you like and everyone just accepts that that's who you are

- my roof terrace!

- the amazing little bakeries (I'm sorry but the food is gorgeous here!!)

- The Balañes cinema and being able to watch the latest releases in Spanish (very good practice!)

- the communal flat dinners where everyone comes together and relaxes and has a great laugh

- the paella!!

So there's a little reminisce for you.. well, and for me.. I've had a fantastic time here, it's been hard at times, but the times I've had going out with friends and things have been awesome. I've met some wicked people and got some stunning memories (and photos which will go up soon, honest!) Can't say I'll really miss the job, though it's not that bad...for an office job...which I won't be getting myself into again any time soon hopefully! I feel like I've grown so much as a person from being here. I can't wait to get back to my home comforts but it's been great to get out there and experience life from another perspective.

See you all tomorrow night!!! :D I can't wait!!

Love you all so much, besoooos xxxxxxxxxxxx

Decemberrr...

Today I'm at work, don't have much to do but yay it's the 1st December :)! So can start looking at events for January to write about, so at least that's something to do. Tis still very cold in here; I still need to buy some gloves, my hands get freezing from typing all day! Steph left on Saturday so have been trying to avoid realisation that she's not here any more, which was very effective thanks to Ru coming to visit!! :D Had an AMAZING weekend, was soo busy and did soo much sightseeing and things, was Ace :D but barely had any sleep lol, we kept having naps at random times of the day just to generate more energy to go out and do more stuff later! We went to all the Gaudi places - Sagrada Familia, then had a Menu del Dia for 10 euros which consisted of fideua (paella but with noodly pasta stuff instead of rice - am absolutely loving paella now!! Can't believe how much I like seafood now considering a couple of years ago I would not have TOUCHED it..is mad! :)) and then squid rings which were sooo good at this place..then had a fruit salad for pudding, plus bread and a drink. What a bargain! Then went on to Casa Batllo (I refused to do the audio tour again lol - Ruth did some but found it too funny/ridiculous so gave up) then wandered down Passeig de Gracia and looked around at pretty lights and stuff, then went home for a nap I think lol..got up quite late, went for pizza eventually at Calero's in Sants (soo good! Got sangria too :D), then went back to flat, got ready to go out and drank whiskey neat (was about 6 euros, was like lighter fluid lol, but oh well, was only alcohol we had!!) then went to Jamboree :D I used my card and got in free!! But split entry with Ru as was 10 euros. Got drinks and sat drinking and listening to music/people watching then went and danced. Met random friendly Spanish people and danced with them, then randomly these Irish blokes came and danced with us (must've noticed we were English cause we were singing all the words!) for the rest of the night! Was an AWESOME night, the music was fantastic! Drinks 9 euros though, eeek! Had said we'd leave early because we wanted to get up on Sunday but that didn't really happen lol, was too fun!! Staggered home to bed at 6am and still managed to get up at 9/9.30 (have NO idea how!), made it out of the house by about 11.30 (took a while to get ready, were basically zombified at that point..) and headed for Pl. Espanya on metro to change for Paral.lel to go to Montjuic and cable cars :D stopped off at Espanya cause Ruth wanted to see the Art Gallery thing by the fountains; there was some kind of kids' marathon event going on..! Loads of advertising and people everywhere, think a radio station too. Took photos then went to get metro. Took funicular (funny train thing that goes up hill) to Montjuic, got cable cars which I'd never done before - sooo cool!! Views over whoole city, could see the sea and everything, amazing :) was gutted I hadn't got to take Quinny there tbh, he would've loved it. Got to top and went round Montjuic castle - again, spectacular panoramic views, soo cool. Took lots of photos and went to café in castle to get sandwich for lunch. Headed back on cable cars and made way to Parc Guell :D again, amazing views, as always! Quite busy yesterday; was about 3ish when went, so probs quite popular jaunt on Sunday afternoon. Looked round a few of the tacky tourist shops on way back hehe; really considering getting an I <3 BCN t shirt! Don't know if I'd actually wear it though lol; these things always seem like a good idea at the time..hmm maybe. After that went to La Pedrera (Casa Milà); haven't been since I've lived here, was really cool :) Love the roof. Again couldn't be arsed with audio tour lol, was so shattered, not in mood for learning! Had very cool but very expensive gift shop; bought a few cool postcards with things written on that remind me of Barcelona :) wandered back down Pg. de Gracia into the centre; have found way to Gothic Quarter that I can actually remember, yay! Saw some cool buskers and dance troupes in Portal de l'Angel on way to Cathedral. Walked around it; is sooo ornate in there. Amazing. Was a Christmas market in square outside; oh yeah, we went round the Christmas markets outside the Sagrada Familia too! Sooo many 'cagatios' everywhere hahaha - basically 'pooing logs' - will explain if you ask..! Had explained story behind them to Ru and she kept laughing when we saw them lol. Oh yeah we got churros when we went to Sagrada Familia too - soooo good! So fatty though lol. Had very unhealthy weekend! Anyway... speaking of which haha, got waffles after looking around cathedral, from the place on Portal de l'Angel where it always smells so good! Had toffee and cream again - good, but has to be said, not nearly as good as the one I got from Patagonia when Quinny came to visit (but that was INCREDIBLE, so yeah.). Will remember that..! Then were so tired that we headed home for another nap. Can't believe we'd managed to keep going til that point on 3 hours sleep! Slept til about 9.30pm, then went to town to walk round Port and down the Rambla. Didn't have long as metro shut at 12, but Ru wanted to see port while she was there. She loved the buildings down there, and tried to take picture of Columbus' column but was very dark - he should be better lit at night, I thought he was! Not good enough lol. Headed back to Sants to get tapas at El Bocata, which I'd been eagerly anticipating all day :D Was mercifully open; was scared I was going to be disappointed! But oh no hehe :D had pan con tomate, prawns, bombas, bravas, fuet (Catalan chorizo thing, they sell it everywhere here, is soooo good!), chicken croquetas and queso manchego, which I was a bit apprehensive about as am pretty hit and miss with cheeses, but was perfect! Still 1,99 a plate :D love them!! And 1,50 wine :D and 1,90 beer! My kinda place :D so bill was about 17 euro...amazing. And it's right next door to mine! A real find, that one :D After tapas went home and went pretty much straight to bed lol, was not as exhausted after nap in evening but still slept like a log. :) AWESOME weekend!!
So...this week! Mulling through work today; then may or may not go to gym; have stuff with me but inexplicably came down with streaming cold over weekend, am slightly better now but still not feeling fab so we shall see. However if I go straight home I will probs just be bored; don't really feel like reading all night, may do later but not for whole evening. Have got loads of stuff to get on with though; MUST do some washing, room is a bin! Also still need to pick up this thing from the post office, but it's so out of the way and it's such a pain if it's not open when I get there (as it wasn't last time)...may do that on Wednesday, not sure. So yeah, oo think tonight I was gonna treat myself to settling down with one of Quinny's DVDs, so may do that. :) Early nights this week, methinks - am shattered and really want to be in tip top condition for Friday - am going to Manchester!!! :D:D:D Am sooo excited, miss Quinny sooo much and absolutely can't WAIT to see him :D So at least I have that to look forward to. Spoke to Maria on Friday; basically looks like we won't have internet before I leave :( they've been constantly ringing Telefonica to try and get a phone line installed but simply can't get through, and without that, we can't get internet :( GAAAYYY ARSES. Spanish Admin is SHOD; I shall never complain about English organisation again! Have dentist tomorrow after work; am even seeing that as a way to fill the time, if that gives you some idea of my boredom/loneliness lol. NO, positive thinking!! Will be nice to have healthy clean teeth for Christmas holidays :) haha. Then probably gym again; think I'm gonna be eating soup for pretty much the rest of the time I'm here - have 7 tins now after Mum and Quinny bringing me supplies when they came to visit! Am very grateful but have been rationing them and now have loads and only 2 1/2 weeks left lol! Lots of soup for Nikki...oh well, need to be healthier anyway! Then Wednesday was planning on treating myself to going to Starbucks in the evening to use Skype and WiFi in general as have none at home and nowhere to speak to people any more. (the Gayness of it all.) So may do that; really want to go to gym as much as possible before I leave though - will not have gym membership at home and is great to have it! Have Facebooked a couple of my mates here asking if they want to meet up for coffee/cinema/generally do stuff lol, hoping I can fill my time reasonably well. Read email from Uni today though saying about how proactive we should be being in our language learning, but it's so bloody hard to meet Spanish people!! Seriously, they're a lot more elusive than you'd think; going home to their parents every weekend, I dunno. GAH. So that's put me on a bit of a downer today; I'm trying to put in all this effort, I really am, but it's exhausting enough living out here in a foreign country and culture on your own with pretty much no friends, without adding to your plate all these extra activities which involve speaking in Spanish all the time, which is brain-frying enough. *sigh*..I swear hardly anyone else is really getting much Spanish either, though; from what I see on facebook, everyone is pretty much hanging out with the other English uni people in their city and just doing stuff with them all the time. So I don't feel quite so bad; but then from a personal point of view, I really want MY Spanish to improve, it doesn't matter what everyone else is doing...! SIIIGH. I think it's got better but I'm really disappointed in my job, tbh; I really thought I'd be a lot more submerged than I have been, and while it does mean it's nice and easy going, it's not exactly helping me improve as I'd hoped it would. Grrrr. Oh well, maybe I'll just go to the Spanish cinema like every night until I leave lol.
Also, CATHERINE'S COMING TO VISIT!!! On the 17th!! AND she's flying back with meee!!! So I will a) have someone to keep me company all the way home! and b) she's bringing a suitcase so I can put a load of my stuff in it and hopefully won't be over the weight limit!!! Which was looking like a major dilemma, so am Sooo pleased about that! And yaaay I'll have someone to go round all the Christmassy markets and things with :) I can't wait to see her!!
Having very mixed feelings about leaving now; I can't WAIT to be home, but I'm pretty aware it's probably gonna be an anticlimax, especially considering how much I've built it up lol. It'll still be nice though, and AWESOME to see everyone. Also, I really want to appreciate it here while I'm here, not least cause if I do that then the contrasts of home will be even more apparent (in a good way :)). Am reeally gonna miss the amazing food here though, and the atmosphere; the Gaudi things and being able to go to Parc Guell whenever I want; the way there's always a buzz in the city and something going on; the countless new places to explore...I love it here. The real shame is that I don't really have anyone to see it with. I really wish you guys were out here.
See you on the 19th!!!! I can't wait!!
Love you all loads xxxxxxxxx

Pareeee!

Thoughts are beginning to stir in my little ginger brain that perhaps I should start thinking about when I go to Paris (probably around late January/early February)... I've been told by a mate from uni that it's proved haaard to find somewhere to live in France, so to start looking early..I had a really easy time of it here and was very lucky in that, but sounds like that's not the case in l'Hexagone...so am thinking most of my time in beautiful Blighty in January is gonna be consecrated to trawling through housing options in the capital. Am bored and pretty much task-less at work so idly typed "Paris 4 Sorbonne" into Google images....look at it!!! http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.crc.losrios.edu/images/studyabroad/paris4.jpeg&imgrefurl=http://www.crc.losrios.edu/Academic_Depts/Communication_Visual_and_Performing_Arts/Study_Abroad/Spring_2008.htm&usg=__GDV18WyihxL3xpeuCJCutku9Dew=&h=480&w=638&sz=56&hl=en&start=21&um=1&tbnid=HvB_EX-okBSPXM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dparis%2B4%2Bsorbonne%26start%3D20%26ndsp%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GGIC_en-GBES279ES286%26sa%3DN

I'm SOOO excited!!! Provided I get the accommodation thing covered, it sounds amaaazing...
absolutely perfect... it just seems like exactly the place I need to inspire me. Am feeling a distinct desire to be studious at the moment, and this looks like it'll really bring that out in me... I can't believe how eager I am to study at the moment, it's bizarre..! So over January I'll basically have to relearn French, which - this is really odd - am really relishing the idea of doing...plan on going to Manchester in Jan, and the kids will of course have their scary exams on, so I plan to be holed up in the Language Centre/Library/whatever bar/pub/coffee house I choose, nose buried in a French novel....I really haven't done as much reading here as I should've, just because I find it quite an isolating pastime a lot of the time, but in Manchester, where I feel at home, I can't wait to get stuck into it. I hope it all goes smoothly - chances are it won't, but I can hope lol - once all the admin is sorted, the work may be tough, but I'm confident I'll go at it guns blazing, having been so starved (can you really say that about work?!) for the past few months. How am I so excited about studying?! I guess you're meant to be passionate about it...

Other news: still no net in my flat. Gah. Driving me mad. Have been hanging out with Steph basically all the time lately; she's heading home to England on Saturday, which will be weird, as obviously she's been here the whole time I have, so will be strange without her. I do have other friends here though, so I should be ok. Plus am gradually feeling more comfortable with my own company, which I'll pretty much have to be lol, so I'm sure I'll get used to it. Have plenty of books I've been meaning to read, so plan to find a load of as yet unexplored places to go and read them. As well as doing a final round of all my favourite places before I leave - have booked my bargainous flight home on the evening of the 19th Dec! - yeah, there were the usual charges for anything and everything, but first off it was 'free'..! Quite exciting - Ryanair may be tin cans but you get what you (don't) pay for...including a miserable dearth in bag weight allowance...15kg!! It's gonna be interesting getting all my things home...

Ruth's coming to visit this weekend!! She arrives on Friday afternoon; I actually can't wait. Haven't seen her since mid-July or something; feels like an age. She's never been here before so we're gonna see the usual sights, plus try and get on the Tibidabo cable car which I haven't done either, possibly. :D Will be awesome! Then the next weekend I'm going to Manchester for mine and Quinny's mini gig fest :D which I can't wait for...not that I can ever wait to get back to glorious Manc. Not to mention to spend time with kiddo... :)

When Steph leaves I will be sans my usual spot for using internet, so may not be online as much...still have the library but obviously can't talk on Skype in there...and there's Starbucks, but that's a bit of a trek..well, tis right outside work, so may bring my laptop to the office and go after. Is probably only open to about 8 or so though I would imagine, will investigate. So yeah. Will still use net at work but can only really email/blog/facebook here, keep the messages coming kids :) miss you all tons naturally. Can't wait to see everyone at Christmas, is gonna be amazing :D!!

Love you all endlessly xxxxxxxxxx

Visitors!!

Thankfully from my perspective, this month has been speckled with eagerly anticipated visits from various friends and family :D! Has to be said, was particularly looking forward to Quinny coming to stay. And rightly so; we had an awesome time seeing all the sights which I had reserved to see with guests so I had an excuse to get all excitable about Gaudí (:D!) I'll try and recall the many antics we got up to...

Friday night consisted in me legging it round the Estació del Nord bus station trying to find the elusive platform 7...(it was a bit of a Harry Potter fiasco) from there being a distinct lack of signs I suddenly got led on a farcical run around the station, being told they were 'upstairs' and thinking surely this wasn't possible, then being pointed down the length of the upstairs corridor and out of the doors I came in by...I then turned a corner and saw the platforms below me :|!? So quickly found the nearest stairwell and dived down it, just in time to arrive at the empty bay...before noticing on the screen that his bus was now due to pull in to bay 6...and there was a bus standing there...I'm sure most Spaniards were suddenly bemused by the sight of a short ginger mass hurtling towards a man in a Manchester University hoodie...

So from there we braved the Metro back to my square, where we arrived at my flat and plonked various belongings in my room before getting Steph round for numerous beers, shandies (I may have raided the awesomely cheap beer shelf in Condis earlier that day..!) and a bottle of wine which the Sheriff (as she is now known) tore through pretty impressively... pretty much spent the evening loitering in the kitchen catching up on Manchester news and Steph and I avidly leafing through the pages of a copy of the Manchester Evening News Quinny had brought with him.... the best things in life are free :D

Saturday was set to be the major let's-be-tourists day, so we went to the Sagrada Familia first as Quinny had seen it from the front but never been inside it. This is worth doing. I hadn't been in it since I last came out here in sixth form about 2 1/2 years ago, and you can already see considerable progress (thankfully... I wish they'd hurry up :p). We went and mused over the drawings (Quinny was placated by the extensive mathsy speak they'd included in the explanation of the designs - I stood there and grinned happily at the 'pretty shapes'...) before wandering around gawping, face to the sky, at the incredible interior. It's just massive. We ambled around for a bit trying to find our way to the stairwell, but decided in the end that apparently now you have no option but to get the lift up, and can only walk down the stairs on the way back. We still got some amazing views from various vantage points along the way, though; there are plenty of photos to back this up but my Facebook is being temperamental and not letting my camera photos upload - I'll try this again soon! 

So after being suitably blown away by Gaudí's epic cathedral, we wandered about in search of food, but after finding some nice squares and things but being pretty unsuccessful, we wandered down Passeig de Gracia (i.e. the expensive area) and looked around before finding a really nice tapas bar for some munch. Quality stuff and I even got to gabble away to the waitress in Spanish for a bit. Ace :)

We were going to hit more Gaudí houses but by this point it was nearing 5.00, so we set off back to mine to get some beers in and prepare for the evening, namely going to see FC BARCA play Valladolid at the Nou Camp! We rustled up some quesadillas and headed over to meet Steph in the square and trudged our way to the stadium. The atmosphere was awesome; the place is so huge, I'd seen it from the outside earlier that week when we'd trekked up there twice to get the tickets, but from the inside it's unreal...we found our seats (pretty damn awesome ones, we'd made sure of that!) and with a while to go until kick off (we'd been pretty eager..) we went to pick up a hotdog to complete our live footy experience :p mmm dried onions...I'm developing a bit of a thing for mustard, too.. The match was AWESOME...we expected a bit of a battering delivered by Barca, but 6-0 with 2 disallowed goals was pretty spectacular! I had to rethink the whole keeping my bag on my knee strategy to be able to jump up in celebration for every time they scored! A fantastic game and I'm now officially a convert to live football, though that particular match may take some living up to...

We made our way back to our flats (we're a mere 20 minute walk down the road from Camp Nou :p) to hastily get ready for our night out that was about to ensue...yes, we were embarking upon our night of partying at around 1am... We gave a nod to the old Spanish trick of 'el botellón' - getting a large bottle of fizzy drink and topping it up with spirits, to take for the journey to the club, as a result of the ridiculously expensive drinks prices - which kept us company on our way and in the queue. We went to Magic - I remember drink, dancing, singing and general good music-and-alcohol fuelled fun times! We finally turned in at about 6am after an epically long day.

On Sundays not much is open in Barca, so we allowed ourselves a more relaxed day on the sightseeing front (and a lie in until about 1.30 - a very respectable time for me to surface post-Saturday night, incidentally!). We ventured out to explore the central areas - I wanted to show Quinny the Gothic Quarter - and we stumbled upon a stage set up in the main square of the area, with a band playing music in celebration of cultural integration - we stood around soaking up the atmosphere before grabbing a few free sweets to tide us over... 

My memory clouds around this point, though I do know that the evening was reserved for going to visit my favourite - Parc Guell. One of the many (and lesser) beauties of this place is that not only is it open on Sundays, but it is free :) So off we trekked to the mystical land where elevators are mounted in hills and where people must have calves of steel to live there... I planned for us to get there by evening, firstly in the hope that there would be fewer people there, but also because there is a spectacular vantage point from which to see the city, and potentially the sunset, which I'd never done before... We made it just in time to see the sky lit up with a myriad of beautiful colours; the hilltop I was shown a few weeks ago is the most incredible place for a panoramic view of Barcelona. In a park where the whole city seems to take a deep calming breath and suspend all noise for as long as you choose to stay, the view from the small hill with the cross on top seems to have the same effect on the tourists who visit. As soon as everyone is up there, there is an inexplicable hush as they look across the landscape. It is by far my favourite point in the city. The bench itself (one of my great loves :) ) comes a close second, but nothing compares to that view and that atmosphere, that feeling. 

We next walked down through the park to the bench itself, which was comparatively quiet, and got a few photos :) before meandering downwards through the gardens and to the pillared underside of the courtyard. There was a violinist playing underneath this time, demonstrating the spellbinding acoustics of the hall. We walked down the main steps and I took the quintessential picture of Quinny with the lizard :D Has to be done! Then a few more photos and wandered back to the Metro.

Think when we got back we explored the area around the centre and hit a few bars; namely Rock N Roll, which had the first pool table I've seen in Barca!.. and had a very strong Pina Colada before requesting some songs and chatting to some English blokes over on a stag do; we moved on to Travel bar to get a free shot with a drink, where I met a barman who used to live in Bristol!, and then we moved next door to Cheers at Quinny's suggestion...and who do I see sat at the bar in front of me?! Georgia Mills from CHS, that's only ruddy who!! I honestly couldn't believe my eyes and had to get Quinny to take a picture of us together to prove to myself that it had actually happened! She was over for a random weekend for a uni friend's birthday or something...man, the craziness; of all the bars in Barcelona..!! (and all the usual clichés :p) I think we then went to get a falafel wrap (mm, so good!!) and met some travelling Americans in the kebab bar, before turning in? Or maybe the food came before the bars...I forget...either way, a great night, with plenty of socialising, hooray!

Can't actually remember the order of events over the next few days right now, will update more when I'm near my calendar...

Love you all and hope things are well in Blighty.. have just been back there for a brief jaunt myself..! More on that when I'm not so tired, and, er, playing Scrabble online...oh, the thrilling life I lead! xxxxxxxxx