Long time, no post...

The title actually refers to the ridiculously long time it's been since I last posted (sorry! I'm evidently not cut out for blogging!) but I have also been waiting for a letter from LCL, my French bank, for about two weeks now. So I am still completely unaware as to how much money remains in my French account, if anything.

So my year abroad officially ends in five days. *Sobs*. I've been through some rough patches, I assume everybody has, but I have to admit I'm a little gutted that it's ending so soon. Don't get me wrong, I am incredibly excited to see my friends and family, but I love Madrid. And Lyon and Munich were amazing too.

However, although the official part of my year abroad is drawing to an end, I am heading over to Freiburg in September for a language course. There's no internet in the student dorms which is going to be a pain in the rear end, but the course itself sounds really good...morning classes, then afternoon classes are optional, with the use of language labs until 7pm. Time to geek it up because I have forgotten almost ALL of my spoken German. I can still read and write without too many problems, but ask me to give you a sentence in German and I'll just stutter out a few random words at you. Therefore, Freiburg here I come!

I would list everything I've been doing in Madrid, but chances are that if you're following this, you probably also have me added on Facebook, so I'm going to be lazy and just tell you to check out my Madrid album(s) on there. There are, however, a number of photos from my last couple of days out missing from the albums: Segovia and the Warner Brothers theme park. Segovia is one of the best places I've had the chance to visit this year...a little old town, with bags of character and lots of bars for me to fill my boots with lots of yummy food.

So, instead of a long list of Madrid antics, I'll talk about summer plans instead. First of all is Extrav (a big end of year party at Lancaster University for those of you who aren't Lancastrians), and I cannot wait! It'll be so good to see everyone from last year, especially because a lot of people are leaving and won't be there next year.

Then the next big event is LONDON! For the first time in my life I will be making a trip to our country's capital! It's going to be a great few days with the girls, and I'm bringing out my inner child and spending lots of time in Hamleys. An absolute MUST is Buckingham Palace, obviously, and Westminster Abbey. I've always been a bit indifferent regarding the Royals, but Kate and William's wedding was just so lovely that I want to see where it all happened!

After that there's the graduations of three of my favourite people, before my 21st birthday, and LEEDS FESTIVAL! I've been such a failure these last few years, living in Leeds yet not having been to Leeds Fest. However, that will change this year, and I shall be spending Bank Holiday weekend camping and seeing lots of bands. Good times, and even better if Mother Nature is on our side and keeps the rain away!

Can't think of anything more to say, I'll *hopefully* write more again soon, when I'm back in Blighty.

HASTA LUEGO! <3 xxx

Height of professionalism...

Okay, so my tutor absolutely made my day today. Well, actually, I think it might have made my week. She said 'shit' instead of 'ship', in front of the whole class of five year olds (who, of course, didn't cotton onto the fact that anything was amiss), but it took ALL of the professionalism not to burst out laughing. I REALLY had to concentrate on staying composed, but I managed it, and continued with the activity, not before repeating the word 'ship' though...didn't want the kids saying 'I took a shit to America' ;)

Talking of shit though...one of the kids in my class is having serious problems with asking to go to the toilet, in that he doesnt ask, then proceeds to wet himself or worse...Its happened twice while I've been teaching the class and I feel really sorry for the kid but at the same time I wish he'd learn to ask to go to the toilet. I think he might have some sort of disability though cos he waves his arms and head around a bit too much for my liking. At times I wonder how he's not fallen off his chair from being dizzy.

Anyway, Spanish classes update! They're going well. I felt ridiculously stupid at Tuesday's class, not understanding some of what was going on. But then today we went over the homework he set us (homework...from night classes...what a slavedriver :P) and I'd got pretty much everything right, so I must've understood more than I thought :) I quite enjoyed today's lesson, and didn't feel as tired as I thought I would once we'd finished, but I went to Starbucks for a Caramel Frappuccino anyway (you can't seriously expect me to walk past Starbucks and not go in!)

I'm also feeling quite upbeat atm (effect of lots of coffee?). Lol but seriously, I was feeling so homesick last weekend and at the start of this week...so much so that I was in tears on Monday and Tuesday. But then I watched The Holiday and ate one hell of a lot of shortbread and I've perked up a bit :) This weekend will be filled with exploring, sleeping, eating and chilling, then maybe next weekend I'll start exploring properly (Granada, Barcelona, Toledo, Sevilla...not quite sure where to go first to be honest!)

I think that's all I'm going to post for know...I know I said I'd post pictures, but I'm a lazy git and can't be bothered with it right now. Maybe tomorrow when I eventually drag my arse out of bed, who knows? ;) <3 xxx

February blues.

So the past week hasn't been the best. I mean, Madrid's great, but it's so ridiculously lonely out here sometimes (she says, after enjoying being able to take over the kitchen to make the most scrumptious chocolate shortbread EVER while Amparo's away!). I would really quite like to go home, have a cup of tea and absolutely own my mother at Mario Kart! ;) HOWEVER, I do start my Spanish classes tomorrow...maybe I'll meet some people there. And seems like I'm going to be busy from now on. My working week looks a little bit like this for the rest of my time here:

- Monday: 10:30-4 in school, 7:30-9 tutoring English.
- Tuesday: 9-4 in school, 7:30-9 Spanish classes (and 9-9:30 in Starbucks :P)
- Wednesday: 9-4 in school, afternoon tutoring English.
- Thursday: 9-4 in school, 5:45-6:30 tutoring English, then 7:30-9 Spanish classes.

Ouch.

But then I have a three-day weekend to recover. Or, you know, use every penny of my wage to go travelling :P

Oooh I went to DISNEYLAND PARIS a couple of weekends ago which was INCREDIBLE (of course!) AND I managed to control myself and only came back with a coaster for my numerous cups of coffee I seem to be drinking atm! I met up with Sophie and Rozy which was amazing and we had lots of fun (Sophie: the incident with the hot sauce on the sausage has to be a definite highlight for me!) I don't think Amparo approved of me swanning off to France having just arrived in Spain but if I didn't go, I'd have spent my money on something silly and I've always wanted to go back. So I did :D

I think my next trip is going to be Granada. Or Toledo. Or Sierra Nevada. Not entirely sure to be honest but it'll be great wherever I go. And I've still got so much to see of Madrid. I went to the Templo de Debod this weekend which was so incredibly beautiful and anyone that comes to visit is being dragged there, willingly or not. I did, however, stupidly leave my camera at home the day I went there, but that just gives me an excuse to go back :)

Talking of photos, I am aware that this post lacks them, but quite frankly, I can't be arsed. I'll add them in another post tomorrow evening, along with an account of how my first Spanish lesson went (here's hoping I'm not in a class with balding middle-aged men!) Haha.

I'm sure there was more I wanted to say on here, but I've forgotten, and am actually about ten seconds away from falling asleep, so goodnight and hasta manana! <3 xxx

"El Día de la Paz"

So today was El día de la Paz in school which is apparently to commemorate Gandhi and the work he did for peace. I managed to hold it together as the kids sang their songs and recited their poem and I was quite proud of them even though I've only been with them for two weeks. I even managed to sing along to "No dudaría" after listening to it lots this weekend and reading through the lyrics a couple of times at lunch break!

Speaking of this weekend, it was a bit of a weird one. I was ridiculously tired on Friday after a full week at work, so naturally I bought wine, Haagen Dazs and stayed up til 3am singing along to "Raise your Glass" (Pink). I only realised the morning after that there's probably a flat adjacent to my room. I hope they don't hate me...

My yummy dinner:



Saturday, despite being intent on not getting up before 12pm, I woke up at 11 and couldn't get back to sleep no matter how hard I tried. So I got up and got ready really slowly. That slowly that I didn't leave the flat until 3pm. And being a bit of a tit I thought "Oh, I won't wear a coat, I'll buy a Madrid hoody in town". Bad call! I had my CBO in McDonalds (nom nom nom!) then walked around for ages looking for a hoody. I finally found one, decided I didn't like it, got on the Metro and decided to "just nip to Ikea". 32 stops to get home. One side of Madrid to the other. Pisstake.

But I do now have these cushions:



(also, check out how Scottish my duvet looks!)

Sunday: rain. Lots of it. I got to use my cute cupcake umbrella (see below), but seriously, I'd prefer it to snow rather than rain :/



I went to the Museo del Prado with Hannah...I felt like I should have been all cultural and really interested but we went and found the café instead...I might research some of the people whose work is there and try again another time, see if I can appreciate it a bit more. Or go to the theme park next time ;)

Right, well that's going to have to do for this entry. I have to go and find Carmen's house...I might be giving English lessons to her daughter and need to set them up. She was talking about setting it up for Fridays. I hope that doesn't happen. As much as I want to explore Madrid, my weekends are going to be reserved for visiting other places...

Toodles! <3

I thought the rain in Spain fell mainly on the plane...

...evidently not! It's been raining today and I very nearly went arse over tit on my way into school this morning...it was ICY and they'd had to grit the path (though evidently it wasn't Becky-proof as I still almost managed to fall over!). So yeah, the rain put a bit of a dampner on the day - see what I did there?!...I'm so funny...;)

Anyways, so the rain apparently makes the playground too dangerous or something, so we spent the break inside, which, although it meant I stayed nice and warm, I also didn't really feel like I had much of a break...I had to eat and drink really quickly which was really annoying cos today's 'desayuno' was pretty awesome...Spanish omelette! Nom nom nom! There were some delicious looking cakes but I didn't think it'd be a great idea to chance eating one of them...of all places to have a nut allergy reaction I think in front of a class of five year olds has to be one of the worst possible!

I went on a bit of a shopping spree after work today...I was looking for a birthday card for my grandma but couldn't find the card shop my tutor told me about so I took advantage of the sales in The Body Shop and bought stationary from Carrefour. I couldn't decide which size notebook I wanted so I bought all three...that person from Comenius shouldn't have emailed me to say my money was on its way...I seem to be spending it all already! I also need to buy my ticket for 'The Script' tonight on the FNAC website (hopefully I'll understand what it's telling me to do!)

This is everything I bought instead of the card:



I think that's it for today...three blog posts in two days, I'm doing well! <3

Off to sunny Spain...

So I've been in Madrid for 12 days now and decided it was about time I started up this blog again, so voila (not exactly a Spanish word but I don't know the equivalent!)

I headed out here straight from Lyon because I had too much stuff to take it all away with me before Christmas, and I was still packing at 3am when I needed to be up at 6am to get myself to the airport...not one of the best ideas I've ever had! I was so tired and stressed at my lack of Spanish language that I went to bed that night in tears...I just wanted to be back in Lyon or England where I could at least manage to complete a sentence.

My parents came out to Madrid with another suitcase for me and for which I love them dearly. It also meant that I got to spend a few days exploring Madrid with them: we went to town a few times, saw the Royal Palace and the Real Madrid stadium:





I think having them here those few days helped me to settle in a little bit, but once they were gone it was like there was a hole, and the realisation that I was going to be spending so long here really hit home and got me a bit down for a few days. The last few days I've been feeling quite a bit better about everything though, and the week seems to be speeding by at the moment, so I'm hoping I was getting myself wound up about nothing. My wage is due to arrive any day now, so my weekends of travelling will be getting under way which is brilliant!


I've done a little bit of exploring since they left too...Hannah and I went to Parque del Retiro on Monday which was good...it's really big and pretty, but I still think that Parc de la tete d'Or in Lyon just about has the edge on it.



As for my accommodation, it's lovely. It's nothing like the size of the house in Lyon, but my room's cute and I can literally set off at 8:57 for work and be there at 9:00. There's a metro station just up the street, a Carrefour opposite my building and a bar in my building, so I have absolutely everything I could need :)



As for work, it's going quite well. I taught my first actual lesson today which didn't go as well as it could have done: the kids had just been singing and dancing, we were pushed for time, and they didn't really settle down enough to get into it. But we're revising it tomorrow when they'll be quieter, so fingers crossed. I've been with the same class of 5 year olds all the time so far, and they're really nice. I love the fact that if I don't understand what they're saying to me in Spanish, I can just shush them and make them get on with their work...they don't need to know my Spanish is rubbish :P

Talking about my lack of Spanish, I've messaged an 'Academia' tonight to try and enrol myself in evening classes for Spanish. They can be expensive but this one only works out at 22.50 euros per week, so hopefully they've got some spaces free!

I think that's all for now, keep your eyes peeled for more news of life in Spain! <3

I evidently don't cut the mustard as a blogger...

In my defence, I did TRY and post ONE blog entry in France, but it wouldn't work. So here's a summary of my time in France.

If I had to describe it in one word, it'd have to be 'awesome'. For my first 'proper' time in France (unless you count 24 hours in Disneyland?!) I couldn't have asked for anything more. It was a bit daunting turning up without any accommodation but I needn't have stressed...within three days I had found and moved into the most amazing house ever with a lovely family where I had such an amazing time (shortbread, tiramisu, crepes and Disney films with Margot, for example!) and I really hope I've made lifelong friends. The kitchen was obviously my favourite room in the house, but my fantastically huge room was an amazing bonus:



And the view from my cute little balcony?



How unbelieveably lucky was I to live here? I didn't want to leave and though I love Madrid (see next post), I miss Lyon way more than I thought I would!

In terms of the university, the less said about the exams the better! The classes were okay and I understood ALMOST everything (except Histoire Ancienne, but let's face it, that was one of the dumbest decisions of my life!) but my FAVOURITE thing about the uni was the café...cheap paninis and chocolat viennois for 1.40 euros? Yes, please! I spent way too much time and money in there, but obviously, if the belly's not happy, Becky's not happy! The cream on top of the hot chocolate was like a mountain, nom nom nom! The only bad thing about the university was the disruption caused by the strikes...like any normal person, I usually like classes being cancelled, but when you've taken three different buses and managed to get yourself into university only to find out that the class isn't on anyway it's a LITTLE bit annoying. Speaking of buses, my journey into university was so beautiful that it couldn't fail to cheer me up on a morning, even when my classes started at 8am. The bus from the house pretty much followed the river into town, then I hopped onto the metro for four stops. The journey itself took about 45 minutes, and with my not-so-brilliant time-keeping I did manage to be spectacularly late half of the time.

In terms of tourist sites, Lyon is home to two of my favourite places in the entire world: Parc de la tete d'Or and the Roman Amphitheatre. A-MA-ZING! I think I visited the park more than the amphitheatre but they were just so beautiful and I really want to go back in the summer when I can appreciate them even more <3

Parc de la tete d'Or:



This reminded me of The Little Mermaid, the bit where they sing 'Kiss the Girl' in the boat?

The view of Lyon from the Roman Amphitheatre:



I did a little bit of English teaching while I was in Lyon too...I taught Victoire, the daughter of the family, for half an hour every Tuesday evening. It was a good chance to practice for teaching in Madrid, but I made the mistake of playing charades with animal vocab the first or second week, and couldn't escape from it after that. Note to self: keep games like that for rewards, not a main teaching method.

Ooh I also HAVE to mention the Paris visit and how utterly brilliant it was to meet up with my Lancaster (and Middlesbrough!) girlies :) It couldn't have come at a better time either because it was at that point that I was getting more than a little homesick. Seeing my girls cheered me up so much and I was able to enjoy being away and the amazing experience that is the Year Abroad again. I could put up so many brilliant pictures from Paris, but I think this of us pretending to be the Hunchbacks of Notre Dame just gets us down to a tee:



Paris is such a beautiful city (despite the rain we battled through to get to the hotel...I was stood under the hairdryer trying to dry my pyjamas that had got soaked in my case!), and I LOVE the fact that the museums and stuff are (usually) free for under 25s...I expected to pay so much in entry fees and was over the moon when I found out that the majority of it was free! I absolutely loved the creperie we went to for tea on the saturday night (and I love Jen's dad for paying the bill!).

Sophie's visit to Lyon was another highlight (I'm sorry I was too much of a fail to organise skiing!). Homemade waffles, shopping, Fete des Lumieres, cycling in the parc de la tete d'Or...brilliant penultimate weekend in France before the Christmas holidays!

I think that's all for now...I'll probably be updating this later with more mémoires francaises...I miss you, France! <3

Muenchen :)

So I've slacked on the blog front and have already been here four days (I think?!) without posting anything.

I guess I'll start at the beginning, with the scary flight! We were doing really well time wise, we'd taken off on time and everything, then it came to the landing. We were maybe a minute or two from touching down on the runway and we suddenly rev back up and back up into the sky we go. So I get a bit confused. Next thing the captain comes on with an announcement...there's something wrong with the flaps on the wings and they were going to repair the problem and try again. At this point I'm thinking "great, the first time I travel on my own on a plane and something breaks". We have to go around at least three more times before we eventually landed, during which time I'd become convinced that we were going to run out of fuel and drop out of the sky.

I manage to find my way to the airport bus station to get the shuttle bus to the welcome meeting (though I had to be shown to the bus because I just couldn't find it so was stood there looking like a bit of a lemon). After all the official stuff at the meeting I go to my room and find a perfectly nice bedroom, small kitchenette type thing and then a rather gross bathroom, which I will be attempting to clean again once I've finished writing this. I seem to have drawn the short straw as everyone else's bathroom seems clean enough.

The course itself is pretty good...I'm actually really enjoying it. The German isn't as hard as I thought it would be and I'm in group 13 out of 15. It was harder at first because I hadn't spoken German in so long but I'm getting more used to it and a couple of nights ago I even dreamt half in German...I woke up so confused!

I've met some really nice people too...my classmates are all really nice and I've made friends with some nice English people (maybe not the best thing for speaking German but its helped me so much to settle in). We do speak German if there are other people with us though. We went to the Englisher Garten today but I don't think we went far enough in to see the main part (its absolutely massive and spans from our accomodation to the university, which is six stops away on the U-Bahn). Might have to explore it again from the other side.

We went on a coach tour around the city the other day and went to the Nymphenburger Schloss, which looked beautiful but we didn't stay long enough to go in so I'd like to go there someday, maybe one of the Saturdays or Sundays we have free. We also went along the posh street and saw all the designer stores (Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, Prada etc).

It's almost time to go down to the student bar for tea (it's pizza night!) so I'm gunna dash.

Bis spaeter!

Pre-departure madness!

Like a few other people that I know I have decided to create a blog for people to follow my adventures while I'm abroad. There are so many people that I want to stay in touch with while I'm away and I guess a blog reaches everyone at once, making my life so much easier!

So I arrived back in Leeds on Saturday, and I am still only about 75% unpacked! I thought that this month would be an easy month of relaxation and meeting up with friends but I couldn't have been more wrong! There is just so much to do before jetting off across Europe! The only accommodation that I can be certain of is that for when I am in Munich, meaning I will be effectively homeless when I arrive in Lyon...something which is constantly in the back of my mind and which worries me so much! So many people have said to expect that, and that I should look for accommodation when I get there, but it scares me that I have only 9 days' turn around between arriving back from Germany and starting at Lyon 3 University!

On a positive note, however, I found out today that I will be going on holiday to Lanzarote, so at least that is some motivation to get as much done as possible! I can't wait to be lazing around a pool with a good book topping up the tan...or in my case getting more freckly! It'll be nice to spend that extra time with my family before going away too.

Not sure I have much more to say here, so keep your eyes peeled for updates and bye for now! :)