Back in the UK

I didn't really keep this blog so regularly as I first intended, but I have recorded a few of my memories and I hope it was vaguely interesting for one or two of the people who have read it from literally all over the globe, quite intrigued as to who those people reading my in Russia are.

My year, or rather nine months, in Spain is now over and I'm currently chilling in England with endless cups of tea and being able to understand everyone.

I feel like I should make some sort of summary of my year, or give some helpful tips for future year-abroaders.

I am really grateful to have had the opportunity to spend an academic year working abroad, for many reasons.

1. I got to spend a year out of studying in the middle of my degree. After two years which to be honest were a lot harder than I imagined way back before I moved to Southampton, it was amazing to be able to go and work in what turned out to be not-so-sunny Spain; it snowed in May. Hopefully, I will be very refreshed and ready for final year, not to mention that my Spanish should be a whole lot better, which leads me onto my next point.

2. I have improved my Spanish. I wouldn't say I'm 'fluent', but I can hold a decent conversation on most things, and managed to write a 6,000 word research project anyhow.

3. I have had a year's work experience and decided that I loved it and that teaching could be my future career. The plan at the moment is to do a PGCE after I graduate and then teach Spanish in secondary school.

4. I had the opportunity to grow in my faith, and as a person and generally feel more confident. Seeing God answer prayers throughout the year was really encouraging and knowing for real that his love never fails and he will give me the strength to get through when things seem too hard.

So that is just a few of things I loved about the year abroad. I have to say I missed cadbury's chocolate and my family and friends and of course my boyfriend but I'm so glad I went and did it and I would recommend a year or semester abroad to anyone who has the opportunity because it's a challenge but really rewarding and a pretty unique experience, since I'm not planning to go back and live in a foreign country in future, although who knows.

If you're going on a year abroad next year, feel free to contact me, I would happily answer any questions especially if you're going to Spain/Madrid. Basically I would just say, don't worry about it, don't try too hard to have a good time - just enjoy it. Make the most of the opportunities that come your way, and don't stress about the opportunities you don't seem to have. I'm sure it will be difficult at times, but also really cool and a year isn't really that long after all. Try and speak as much Spanish as you can, and don't be surprised if you don't have six Spanish friends by day two, it may be slightly harder to make friends than you think, and you'll probably have to make more of an effort than you expect, but just don't expect everything to happen overnight, and take it slow, and your Spanish will improve, and you will learn more about the culture, the world and yourself, and you will come back slightly different to how you went, but that is a bonus. You will face challenges, but see them as a way to grow. Make the most of your time, read books, write letters, go for random walks, do something you wouldn't do back home, take up a new hobby, listen to Spanish music, and try the local food. But all in all, don't worry, take it as it is and keep some sort of diary/blog and take lots of photos so that in a few years you can remember your experiences and tell people all about that time you lived abroad.

Cool. Thanks for reading my blog!

April

I think it's definitely time to write another blog since the last one was two months ago, oops.

Quite a lot has occurred since then I suppose.. Dave came to visit during Semana Santa when I had a week off school, and that was super.  We had fun visiting various places in Madrid and going to El Escorial where we went to the Monastry, which is worth a visit. We saw a few of my students who seemed to find it funny seeing me outside of school and Dave got to try the typical San Lorenzo cake things, although they did get a bit squashed on the way back, how sad.  We also took a trip on the teleferico (cable cars) which are near my house and go to casa de campo, and I have to say neither the cable cars nor the casa de campo are worth a trip, so if you were thinking of going, don't bother. Well maybe little kids would enjoy the cable cars. We also went to a nice restaurant which is called A dos velas, which was really nice.

Only a few days after saying farewell to Dave (sad times) Lizzie came to visit, which was great. We went to the Royal Palace with Hanna, which was also worth a visit, and some of the decoration is bizarre.  We had the classic Madrileño snack/dessert of chocolate con churros which Lizzie enjoyed. We also spent a few hours in the Retiro Park, I'm sure I find a different part to it every time I've been, and am never quite sure where I'm going to come out, but it's definitely one of my favourite parts of Madrid, it's really pretty.

On Easter weekend, I went to a Catholic church which was interesting, and the building itself was pretty cool inside. We also had bacalao (cod) and torrijas which are both typical Spanish Easter things.

Last weekend I went back to Southampton for Dave's birthday and had a great weekend. His friends from home came and we also went to visit my housemates from last year so it was great to see them and catch up a bit. We also went to Pizza hut, which was the first time Dave had ever been there, cyi.

School has been going well, the other day for día del libro (world book day) all the kids dressed up and did a presentation type thing which involved some drama and dance and recitals. It was really cool to see some of the kids who aren't so academic doing something that they enjoyed and really doing well at it.

And I've actually more or less finished my year abroad project/dissertation, and since I could not have imagined getting to this point a few months ago, it's quite a relief as well as a sense of achievement, having written 6,000 words in Spanish. And one of the teachers at my school kindly agreed to read it for me, so hopefully I'll be able to change anything that doesn't make sense before submitting it this week.

Ironically I feel a bit like I don't have anything to do now that I've finished my project, and I'm quite eager to go home soon, but I'm just trying to make the most of the time I have left and sort out my plans for the summer, before leaving Madrid for the final time on the 5th of June.

All in all, it's been a great few months, and I still have a few weeks so we'll see what happens then and I'll try and write at least one more blog before it's all over.

Thanks for reading, I hope you've enjoyed hearing about my experiences in Spain thus far.

palacio de cristal en el parque de buen retiro

el palacio real

lizzie and me in the palace courtyard

dave and me outside the monastery

february.

sooo since i last blogged, what's occured. well I went to Southampton to see Dave which was super, and signed for my house for next year which i'm super excited to live with two of my bestest friends (:

Since then i feel like there really isn't much of my time in Spain left which is crazy.

This week I went to two events at Amistad (church) which were super; good times to listen to/speak span in a natural setting as such and enjoy life and meet with God, always a good combination. I won't go into much but I will say that yesterday we prayed for a guy who had pain in his neck and it completely went. Make of it what you will, but God is alive and loves us in my opinion.

Furthermore school is going well, yesterday the 2nd bachillerato had photos done and I also got mine taken so I will forever be on the school wall how jokes and I also will get the photos of my fave students as a memory of part of my YA so that's nice.

My YARP dissertation type thing is also not going too badly; tomorrow's the deadline to send in a draft chapter which I more or less have finished. I just now have two months to complete my research and write about another 5000 words in spanish. easy...

I guess the next two months will be busy central with everything and various visits; Dave's coming for semana santa when i have a week off, can't wait for that. And then my fave sister Lizzie will be coming for a week at the start of april which is super exciting and shortly after that I'm going back to Southampton for Dave's 21st although just for the weekend.

Part of me feels like maybe I could have taken more opportunities thus far to speak Spanish or do random things, but rather than think about that I'm determined to squeeze every opportunity dry so to speak from now until June before I return to Southampton and Wales and then jet over to France for a couple months for YA part two.

hanna and me buzzing for our visit to soton (:

ps. im currently listening to hillsong united's new album Zion, check it out, its pretty epic (:

trabajo, carnaval y té

This week has consisted mainly of trying to get some of my uni proj done, and since all of the people I usually meet for 'intercambios' weren't able to meet this week, and having a day off having been told not to come in since most of my students wouldn't be there on wednesday due to the huelga estudiantil, which I still can't quite get my head around - either how school pupils are allowed to go on strike, or what exactly the purpose of it is. But I'll just put it down to Spain and their idea that going on strike solves everything. Anyway so I had a good deal of time to do the project, motivation is a different matter entirely as ever.
Yesterday was super after a fairly unexciting week, I went to Carnaval (somehow the Spanish equivalent of pancake day) at my housemate's school, for whatever reason my school doesn't think spending school time having a fancy dress party is worthwhile. It was jokes, and Jackie and I even joined in with the 'difraz' un poquito.
Then I took the train over to Alcalá for a tea party, which was lovely. and gave me the opportunity to be in a group of people speaking Spanish, which oddly enough isn't part of my general life despite living in Spain, classic year abroad problems. Anyway it was also quite amusing since none of us are actually Spanish; either German, French, Italian or English, but Spanish is the lingua franca and I guess what we are all here to learn. Then I had a bit of tapas with Hanna and popped back to Madrid in time to skype the parents.

One thing remains

I was just listening to One thing remains by Jesus Culture. I think way back before I knew I was coming to Madrid I was listening to it and like just found a lot a peace being reminded that whatever happens, God is with me. And actually like wherever I go, I'm never alone. I was actually just reading a post I wrote back in November and found it almost funny how much of the same situation I am in, and yet I forget what is really important, and get so caught up in how much of a conversation I couldn't understand, or how much of my YARP I haven't written, to realise that life is pretty cool, God is faithful, and it's all going to be okay. I'm probably going to get an alright mark in my dissertation. I'm almost certainly going to be better at Spanish in June than I am now. It's all good. I just need to work hard, and rest in the fact that God's got it sorted. And if I think about it, there are loads of cool things about my year abroad anyway, such as enjoying my job as a teaching assistant, and having made some good friends, and being part of a church plant, and living in a capital city, and experiencing a different culture, and many more things I am sure.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

January

So it's February already. My first thought was that January went by super fast, but then again it seems like forever since New Year. It's been a pretty good start to the year. I've met two new people who I've started doing intercambios with, I've got my YARP underway, and I'm generally loving life. I can't wait to go to Southampton in two weeks, and I'm already getting excited about summer. Yet I'm trying to make the most of my time, to enjoy the small things, etc.

Recently I've been thinking about how cool it is that I'm actually in Spain/Madrid. This time last year I had no clue where I was going to be spending my year abroad, in fact part of me wondered whether I'd actually pass second year at all. Then at first I didn't get a place with the British council, but after being put on the waiting list I got a random letter from the Ministry in Madrid being like here's your job contract. So that was pretty cool. And after hearing about the church plant in Madrid, it seemed like some kind of distant idea of something that might be cool to get involved in, but I didn't think I'd actually be able to be here. And here I am. In the past year I can see God working in my life and changing me. I'm beginning to believe instead of give up when challenges arise, to take confidence in the gifts God has given me, and to recognise all the good he has done. Generally I'm just enjoying life. Although I still don't feel like Spain is home, and I probably won't before June, that's cool. My Spanish is still pretty bad, but I'm trying. I still have four months of intercambios, chatting with teachers, watching Spanish TV, reading Spanish books, trying to immerse myself into Spanish somehow, and I'm sure I'm learning something. And after a week of freezing weather and even snow, its beginning to feel like spring. I went for a walk for the other day, and here are some pictures I took. 

El tiempo vuele

I feel like this week sped by in a way, I guess due to doing a bit more than I do on the average week, having realised I need to make the most of opportunities a little more.

I had two intercambios which went well, and have spoken a fair bit of Spanish. Having said this, I've also used the first person when talking about someone else, and forgotten how to conjugate the preterite. Anyway, the main thing is, I'm speaking more Spanish. Also I'm trying to record all the new vocab I come across, as Im generally not very organised with it and I think it will be good to keep looking back over it to remember and to see I'm actually learning something.

This week school generally went well, I basically took a few classes on my own, with the teacher in the room but leaving me to do the talking and they went well and my confidence in teaching is probably improving, which cool. Although I see flaws in my confidence in other ways, which can be frustrating. I feel nervous about the prospect of talking to my teachers about my project, and I also feel unnecessarily nervous talking at church gatherings. Patience being something I've never really had a lot of, I want to improve everything immediately and find it hard when everything is not where I want it to be in life. But life is much more about learning than being perfect, and I like to think I'm learning, whether it be Spanish, or general life, or growing in God.

Sometimes I cannot wait to be back in Southampton, living with my bestest friends and seeing Dave every day and just generally being able to understand everything, rather than grasping the general idea, or having absolutely no clue what is going on. At the same time I don't want to waste my life looking ahead and I'm aware that this semester will probably be over much sooner than I imagine and I'm really glad of the opportunity to be here. Classic year abroad really.