With only six more weeks left of my year abroad and this being my 20th blog, I thought I’d comprise a list of 20 things I will and won’t miss about living in Spain:
10 things I won’t miss
-Being so hungover that we have to get Dominoes, which is a three-minute walk away from the flat, to deliver
-Being so hungover that the only contact I have until 10 at night is with the toilet bowl and my pillow
-The toilet doors of restaurants. Whoever thought it was a good idea to make them out of glass was either backwards or a pervert
-Being plunged into darkness when attempting to use both the oven and one ring on the hob
-Feeling out of place in a pair of heels. Being 5’2’’ I fully appreciate the irony of the following statement, but I have never felt so short in my life as I have this year
-Almost being run over by a pram or a pushchair every five seconds. Either the storks have made a huge cock-up by oversupplying newborns to this particular city or the inhabitants of Alcalá are an extremely fertile bunch. Either way, I have become very skilled at diving out of the way of these four-wheeled weapons
-Being so desperate to get a good tan that I will sunbathe in my bikini in the park perfectly aware that the man with binoculars is never too far away
-The lack of regular use of email, electronic whiteboards and PowerPoint, added to the fact that there are only three printers between two of the main university buildings. Six weeks and counting until I am propelled back into the 21st century
-My terrible, terrible sleeping pattern. Damn you, nights out until six in the morning and Project Free TV, you have ruined me: my body thinks it is an owl, my liver is constantly metabolizing alcohol and during the past few days I have experienced a general lack of interest in anything that isn’t Desperate Housewives
-Why didn’t the Erasmus student cross the road? Because this is what goes through a typical Spanish driver’s head: What are those black and white stripes on the road? And that glowing red light? What do these things mean? Although health and safety in the UK has gone a bit OTT, I certainly won’t miss its lack of application where it is due
10 things I will miss
-Living what has essentially been a year-long Fresher’s Week. Having to actually work and use the library more than twice next year is going to be a shock to the system
-Tapas. I shall be demanding free food with my drinks back in England
-Travelling to new and exotic places. High Wycombe’s chair museum has nothing on la Alhambra in Granada. Likewise, monkeys and snake-charmers in the square in Marrakech easily trump people dressed up as cycling reptiles in Waterloo (see below)
-All of the shops being open until 10pm, some even later. Very handy for impromptu shopping trips or nights out. Very disagreeable for my bank balance.
-Although I said I missed wearing heels on a night out, I will regret saying this as soon as I go out in a pair back at home. Wearing flats to go out at night is the norm here, and although this hasn’t reduced the number of drunken trips, bumps and falls by quite as much as I’d hoped, my feet shall be forever grateful for a year’s break from high-heel hell
-Living in a bubble: I enjoy walking into a club and recognizing half the people in it. On the same note, it’s nice always bumping into someone you know even if you’re just out on a 20-minute walk
-Missing ten days of class in a row and the teacher not even bothering to ask where you’ve been when you finally make an appearance, assuming that as an Erasmus student you have been in bed with a ten-day hangover. This lack of concern makes skiving on a regular basis – to sleep, sunbathe, watch the dolphin show at the zoo, or holiday in Ibiza – extremely manageable
-Wikipedia being a legitimate referencing source. Equally, the Disney version of Pocahontas being legitimate teaching material
-The storks! Alcalá de Henares is famous for its elegant white storks; High Wycombe was in the paper for being home to a vast quantity of disease-ridden pigeons. Give me storks standing serenely in their nests watching the world go by atop castle walls over squawking pigeons fighting over the last crumb of a leftover Subway any day
-Meeting people from all over the world. Leaving Spain out of the equation for a minute, I have learnt about other cultures, different ways of life and have managed to pick up helpful snippets from other languages (if it wasn’t for my year abroad, I would never have known how to say ‘balls’ in Turkish)
I underwent a huge culture shock when I first arrived in Spain, but having got so accustomed to the way this country functions (somehow, it manages), I reckon that during the first few days of being back in England I’ll go through the same experience all over again and have a few problems settling back into my old life. I had so many questions before I left for Spain – how will I cope so far away from everyone and everything I know, will I get by on my level of Spanish – in six weeks I’m also going to be asking a lot of questions, although not quite of the same style: I’ll be wondering why I’m not waking up with a banging headache three times a week and why there isn’t a power cut when I use two kitchen appliances simultaneously; why I get thrown off my degree course for using Wikipedia as my main information source or why I get chucked out of a bar after getting shirty with the management when they don’t bring me a sandwich mixto with my drink. Thanks to all the positive experiences I’ve had here, and despite the negatives (of which there have been very few), I’m going to miss this place a hell of a lot... The only thing for it is to make the most of the next six weeks. With a concert in Madrid as well as trips to Ibiza, Granada and Cordoba planned, two visits from some lovely people back home and some (hopefully) upcoming sunny weather, this shouldn’t present too much of a challenge.
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