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Week 14
The week started off with our lovely PUENTE due to the Labour Day holiday on the Tuesday which meant that we had Monday off too. ¡Muchas gracias España!
On Wednesday, I had class as usual, including a Linguistics Practical, such fun. Thursday turned out to be yet another Vaga (strike) and so we had no class meaning that the weekend began a day earlier.
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Week 13
We kicked off this week with the lovely festival of “La diada de Sant Jordi” aka Saint George´s day. It’s a great festival here where the tradition of giving a rose or a book to your partner, colleagues and friends takes place. It’s also very similar to Valentine’s day and the Rambla was heaving with people and book and flower stalls all day long with people wanting to buy their books and roses. It was very nice to see considering it’s a festival unique to here… it’s a shame that we don’t do anything for Saint George’s day like they do here, considering it’s our important Saint too!!
On Tuesday I had a meeting at Girona’s town hall because I’ve been asked to make a speech on the 9th May in celebration of Europe day. As an Erasmus student, I am talking about my studies in Lancaster and also talking about my experiences abroad in France and Spain as well as a bit about my Catalan studies also. I’m getting a bit nervous about speaking in public for the first time and in a foreign language but I’m sure it will be a very worthwhile experience and am hoping that I will get a photo or a letter from Town Hall to put in my record of achievement when I get home.
Wednesday and Thursday were normal uni days, another hand-in for Latin American history, which makes it the 3rd essay for that course. Thursday evening saw the start of the annual UdG Festival which took place in the park just behind my flat and there were concerts and stalls selling food and drink. On the Friday evening me and my flatmates Sara and Martin all headed down to the UdG Festival, making it the first time after 3 months that we’ve been out altogether.
Yesterday and today I have been working on my essay for Lancaster and am getting it done faster that I thought considering I am making a late start. Because of Labor Day on Tuesday we’re getting Monday and Tuesday off from uni thanks to PUENTE which means I have another two days off to look forward to next week, as well as another Vaga which means that I’m in uni 1 day and then me and La Sam are going to Madrid from Friday to Sunday… roll on Friday !!
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Week 12
After a nice trip to Beslú at the weekend, Monday was here again and brought with it another deadline, this time in the shape of an essay for my Latin American History class. In the afternoon, me and my tandem partner Fabi went to the Breton Crêperie in town where I had a lovely Breton-style crêpe. The crêperie itself is quite deceiving because it looks tiny from the outside but it’s actually quite big on the inside. It reminded me a bit of an old mill that had been filled with old trinkets, posters and maps from times gone by. All the chairs inside are from old buses and I especially loved the map of Bretagne they had which was in Breton rather than French which gave it that extra special feel. The only downside I found was that they didn’t speak French there, which to me, defeats the whole object of being “authentic”. By Thursday, I only had an hour and a half of class as two of my classes had been cancelled due to a conference that the staff were attending. This meant that the weekend came round even earlier that week which I had no complaints about.
On the Saturday, I went on a trip with the Tandem lot to Tossa de Mar, we had a nice day for it and I took lots of pictures as I usually do when I go sight-seeing and enjoying a nice walk around the town. It’s definitely somewhere I would like to go back to in summer!! On Sunday, an inopportune and last-minute organised trip lead me to go to Montserrat with Jordi, Chris and Carme. It was a good couple of hours getting there from Girona but the sights were so lovely when we arrived. Despite the very windy roads to get up to the carpark and entrance it was so lovely to finally see the Monastery at the top, buried within the huge rocks on Montserrat. After wandering around for an hour, we decided to have a walk and follow the mountain trail up to the summit of San Jeroni. I don’t know what I was expecting but I didn’t expect a couple of hours later to still be climbing through jungle and mountain, but after nearly giving up several times I keep on going with the help of the others and we finally made it to the summit a few hours after starting the trail. The views from Sant Jeroni were amazing and I’m so proud of myself for making it to the top, especially because I’m not a sporty person and am very unfit but also because I hadn’t prepared myself for a big climb and hadn’t brought any food and had used up all my water during the climb. The climb down was much easy but was still a good two hours to get back to the Monastery but after a busy day of climbing it was worth it to see those views but also a good personal achievement.
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Week 11
I arrived back in Girona on Tuesday 10th April and it was so strange to have been at home for a week and now back abroad in my third home! What was more strange was to arrive in Girona in the morning, get back home and then set then go straight to class in the afternoon, it felt like I hadn’t been at home at all. After another couple of days in class and another piece of work handed in on the Thursday, the weekend was here again.
On the Sunday I went to Besalú with Rebecca and we had a nice day there considering there is usually not much to do on Sundays. Our only issue was having to wait a couple of hours extra for the coach back to Girona. Having said that I had a lovely time looking round the little town and of course seeing the very famous bridge.
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Hola
Hola a todos ¡! Todavía estoy vivo but I’ve just been so busy I’ve not had chance to crack on with updating this ‘ere blog. All is well and I haven’t got many exciting things to report but stay tuned for more Girona antics! Besos x
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Semana Santa
It was lovely spending Holy Week at home this year, after 11 weeks out in Madrid I left Girona at the end of May in 32º heat and returned to lovely Manchester in 8º heat. Despite the fact that I was back home and with my family I soon developed a cold, probably due to the change in temperature and spend most of the week moping at home in bed, watching Glee. On the other hand, I managed to get my Birthday Present… the New iPad which I love to best. We went to the Trafford Centre on the Sunday before Easter only to be turned away due to lack of stock. Instead, we went to La Tasca and had a lovely Tapas buffet to keep me in my Spanish mindset. Despite the lack of iPads, I managed to get hold of one a few days later and so the latter part of my week was spent playing!!! On “Easter Saturday” I was meant to go to Manchester to watch Phantom of the Opera with my friend GillyBean but due to my cold, I decided it was best to give it a miss :(. On the Sunday however, we had a nice family meal at our favourite Pub to celebrate both Easter but more so to celebrate my dad’s Birthday. My holiday at home came and went as quick as possible and I found myself back in Girona last Tuesday once again for the next 12 weeks and the final lap of my Year Abroad. Having spent a week at home, it’s so strange because nothing ever changes, apart from the odd little thing. For me, it always feels like I’ve been in a coma for 3 months and have woken up in the world I left behind and everybody else’s lives around you have plodded on. Going home also makes you feel like you not been away at all so I’m glad it came and went quickly so that I could get back into my routine and do lots more sight seeing. Honestly, I know a lot of people moan about being away from home, but we really must make the most of it as much as possible because it’s true what they say… time flies when you’re having fun!
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Week 10
10 weeks have gone passed so quickly since my arrival and it’s my last week in Girona before I go home for Easter. On Tuesday I handed in my essay I started a couple of weeks back, I wrote over 2000 words on the Erasmus program.. I think it was a well-written essay but then again it’s been so long since I’ve written in Spanish. On Wednesday I had my first in-class test in Linguistics, I did the best I could, I just wrote everything I could remember and see from the examples provided so hopefully I will have passed at least. I also took lost of photos yesterday around campus and of the lovely view of the city. In the afternoon me and Fabienne went to the Cinema Museum in Girona as part of our tandem, it was really good and we had lots of fun going round the museum and playing with everything they had. Today is HUELGA (Vaga in Catalan) which is a general strike across Spain so I’m not going into Uni. Considering last time, the doors were closed and chained up, I’m not going to attempt the hill just to see closed doors. I might pop out into town later just to get some pictures of anything that may be going on… Having said that, it’s official that the Easter Holidays have officially begun and, to top it all, I’m going home tomorrow until the start of term in April!!!! ¡Hasta entonces!
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Week 8 + 9
¡Hola a todos! Firstly I would like to apologise for the lack of updates for the last few weeks, I’ve been very very busy with uni and getting work finished before I go home for the Easter Holidays.
// WEEK 8:
This week I had my first proper deadline, it was an essay for Latin American History. Luckily, me and La Sam did it together, so we each did a part and then put it together, it worked really well. The only downside was that we had to hand-write it in order to hand it in… how archaic ? On the Friday, I decided to take a trip down to the Montilivi Campus in order to get my books for my essay for Comunicació oral i escrita which is what I did. Afterwards I walked to Park Migdia to join some of the Erasmus students who were enjoying the sun. It’s been lovely here in Girona weather-wise and it makes you feel so much better to have blue sky and sun all day every day!! I finished the week with a few drinks in town on the Saturday to celebrate St. Patricks’ Day!// WEEK 9:
The highlight of this week apart from uni (not) was celebrating La Sam’s 21st before she went home which we did in style at our local pub: McKiernans’ haha. On Thursday night, as part of the tandem program I’m involved with, we have a Polyglot cafe and was very proud of myself for speaking all four of my languages and making some new friends. I especially like meeting some more Frenchies and getting complemented on my level of Catalan. -
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Week 7
Week 7 went as quickly as it arrived. Uni has kept me pretty busy this week, with all the upcoming deadlines I’ve been working in the library when I’ve had breaks, which is not something I usually do. On Monday I heard about the availability of Robinsons Squash in El Corté Inglés, it turns out they are doing a promotion of European foods at the moments so I bagged myself 3 bottles of squash, 4 cans of Strongbow and some shortbread biscuits yum yum, no doubt I will be back for more before the offer ends.
I forgot to mention that last week I started my “Tàndem Lingüístic” and it’s going really well. This program joins together a UdG student with an Erasmus student with the aim of promoting the use of Catalan but it’s also a chance for the UdG student to practice a language of their choice also. I’ve been paired with the lovely Fabienne, she’s from Perpignan but has lived in Girona for many years now and speaks perfect Catalan. Between the two of us we are aiming to speak all four languages but so far, we have alternated between Catalan and English for the few hours we’ve done so far. It’s a really useful way both to meet students and to improve your language too.
Today we had an extra class of “Communicació Oral i Escrita” and was visited by Victor Amela who we interview as a class, it was nice to meet somebody “famous” I guess and also to ask him a question was a nice touch too even though I was so nervous. The previous questions where in Catalan but I asked my question in Spanish and I was so surprised how effortlessly he swapped between the too, I hope I can be like that one day. I find it fairly easy now to swap between Spanish and Catalan but the odd word from the other language always tends to slip through for which I am constantly correcting myself haha.
This weekend I’m hoping to crack on with my essay on Bolivia which I’m doing with la Sam for our Latin American History module and a nice trip out with Emmeli might be on the cards but I’ll keep you posted later in the week. For now, ¡buen fin de semana! / bon cap de setmana !
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Moi et Sam avec le Frogbus…
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Week 6 and Perpignan!
Nothing new to report this week, had uni as usual and experience my first lot of grief from a specific tutor who seems to hate Erasmus students. I went out and made new friends on Wednesday night with some class mates and Friday night saw our eventful Famous Person Fancy Dress party… I went as Zorro but ended up wearing a bright blue wig at one point so it must have been a good night.
Yesterday me, Sam and Erin ventured up north into France on the FrogBus, it was only 9€ for the return journey but after a heavy night, we took it easy and just had a nice wander round the city. It was nice to be back in France but strangely it was like being in Spain but with French signs. I have to say we were all shocked at the amount of dog poo there was on the streets, it was literally partout, Rennes was nothing like that… Perpignan clean up your shit please!
Today I’m taking it easy, got lots of deadlines coming up so trying to work through as much as I can, still having a blast in Girona but time is going too fast!!
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Comic relief!
(Source: iruntothefutureandjump, via martinsigh)
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Cadaqués
