How to spend the ERASMUS grant before it arrives.

As the title suggests, I am waiting for some money.  Since I have already discovered what to expect from the International Office (they still haven’t replied to an email I sent in June), I realise I may be waiting for some time.  The ERASMUS grant is a few hundred euros for every month of your work or study placement, to enable you to explore and discover the country in which you were living, and I presume it is supposed to act as a British contribution to the economies of Europe.  I have been told I am eligible for this money, and although I have no idea when I will receive it, I have wasted no time in visiting various places in Spain.  Working full time and with fixed hours has been definitely something I need to get used to, but this means I know I get my evenings and weekends completely free, without needing to worry about summatives, extra reading or exams.  And so, with our precious 65 hours between work finishing on Friday and the dreaded Monday morning, we usually like to go on some sort of excursion.  The very first of these trips (which now seems a very long time ago) was to a town called La Alberca, just over an hour away by bus in the mountain range of La Sierra de Francia.

The village is home to about 1000 people, and is known for its jamón ibérico.  As far as I remember, on every street there was a place that sold it! 

I very much enjoyed visiting the town, with its quaint Plaza Mayor and small streets, which made me think of the Shambles in York. (Although a lot sunnier, with a strong scent of ham.)

As el jefe of the group on this day, Sebastian had been very organised, and found a short, publicised route we could follow through the mountains, to get out of the city and see a bit more of the countryside.  This was a perfect idea, until we somehow lost our way on the well signposted path, and ended up trekking through the forest in the blistering heat for a good few unnecessary hours.  My personal highlight was coming across this sign:

*(Abejas is bees).  

However, after chatting to the friendly bee-keeper who pointed us in the right direction, we finally arrived at the correct path, and I have never been so happy - our joy had to be documented:

I think I am only just recovering.

Erasmus adventures to be continued...

Los Juegos Olímpicos!

A few days on since the Spice Girls made all my dreams come true by reuniting for the Closing Ceremony, the question on everybody’s lips now is: What do we do now the Olympics have finished!? For two wonderful weeks, I could return home from work, or wake up on a weekend and tire myself out watching endless hours of other people doing sport.  Now I am at a loss; no more Team GB, or discovering sports I never knew existed has pushed me into a ‘Post Games’ depression.

I imagine my London 2012 experience would have been very different if I were still at home, but I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing familiar images of the UK flash up on screen, and I don’t think I have ever been this proud of my home country.  Although the Spanish TV coverage has left a lot to be desired, I still managed to support Team GB, thanks to the world wide web and the BBC live update.  I am especially gutted I missed the Brownlees well deserved success in the men’s triathlon because I was at work, but I was still able to follow their progress with the text updates online and regular messages from Mum.  I must admit, that afternoon wasn’t particularly productive for me...

As for watching live on TV, I was often disappointed, and I don’t think I will ever take the BBC for granted again! Forget the luxury of the red button, Spain only had two channels which showed the Games, which on occasion had the same coverage. I’m sure you can imagine my delight at discovering both channels were showing some sort of martial art quarter-final when I wanted to watch the GB hockey teams in the semis.  One of the first things I noticed when the Olympics began (and maybe it happens at home too but I’ve never realised), was the fact that 98% of the time sports were only shown if there were Spanish teams involved.  This meant that for the first few days I was subjected to more Olympic football than I have ever seen, until thankfully Spain were knocked out of the competition unexpectedly early. In addition, I now know what handball is (and could probably tell you all of the rules), and I appreciate the skill involved in water-polo.  

In the years leading up to the Games, we complained about the cost, among other things, and worried about terrorist attacks, whether or not we would be ready, and what the world would think of us.  Now it’s all over, and from what I can gather, I’m sure I’m not the only one thinking “When can we host the Olympics again?!”