'08 in the Manca

2007 se acaba...............

What a year, so many amazing things have happened, met some amazing people and I'm so excited to spend another 7 months with them in the Sunshinnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee of Castilla y León.
I will make a longer post when I have more time, probably when I get back to Salamanca.

Happy new year, feliz ano nuevo!

Salamanca = los amigos, los amores y las ganas de disfrutar.....

Feliz Navidad a tod@s....

We're going up to Scotland in an hour or so to spend Xmas in Carmyle so Im very excited for that...and to stop for Fish and Chips in Lockerbie....as I have not had them since about May due to Spain not having them and having the same old things, tortilla, chorizo, patatas bravas, tortilla, chorizo, patatas bravas.... you get the picture.

Here is the clip of Salamanca that was on the national news about the 'nochevieja universitaria' (fake new years eve) to give you all some idea of how many people were in the Plaza.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gyRrlbB3Ngk&feature=related - Xmas treat too with Ana Blanco presenting.

maybe this times differemt. I mean, I really think you'll....

Ya estoy en Guisborough
I miss Salamanca so much, I don't think I've ever been so happy as in the last few months. Os quiero un montón y os echo TANTO de menos.

on the eve of my home coming

I feel very sad that 4 months have passed. They have gone so quick and I can honestly say they have been the best 4 months of my life, I have always loved Spain but now, I think I love it a little bit more. What does England have that is better than Spain? Carpets? Thats the only thing that comes to mind. My Spanish is excellent now, I literally understand 100% of everything, radio, tv, randoms, lectures all is good.

The people I've met? Legends, special mention to Tom who has been awesome and we have had a blast. Flatmates? Legends...I knew I was lucky to have such nice roomies in 2nd year but I again have been lucky. Besides that I have especially got close to Anne and Emilie two french girls, especially to Emilie in the last two weeks and I'm so happy theyre staying all year.

Kirsty has also been a rock and has been lovely and caring, acting a bit like a Mother and mothering me.

Basically Salamanca is the best place I have ever lived and probably the best place I will ever live. Viva Salamanca!!

Avila reunion

Photos from the other night.



Photo 1 - Kike, kiko and myself.

Photo 2 - Chino myself and Kiko

NOXEVIEJA UNIVERSITARIA

WOOOOOO what a night.
Just seen Salamanca on the national news covering the biggest party I've ever been. 30,000 students in the Plaza Mayor, absoloutly amazing.
If that wasn't enough, EVERYONE was out, and after going to el pani and potemkim we came out and my phone started vibrating, 'who will this be at 3 in the morning' I was thinking....
'Hola Ste, soy chino que estamos en el harleys, vente tío' (Hi Ste, its Chino, were in Harley's, come!)

I was like WTF!? Chino is here, therefore I guessed Kiko would be here too....there was a massive queue and finally I got in and Chino was in the doorway and he came over and jumped on me, 'Estefen' he shouted and gave me a massive hug. Then I turned round and saw Kike who I hadn't seen for about 3 years (Kiko's and Chino's best friend who did both exchanges) and then Kiko came over as he was at the other side and gave me a massive hug (Remember its thanks to Chino and Kiko that I took up a real interest in Spanish and theyll always be ledgends to me even if we dont speak for long periods of time) so we were just catching up and talking shit, taking the piss out of Chino....the usual.
I will post some photos when Léa sends me them and update more

sentirme como una colilla entre unos labios al fumar

Adrian (my teacher from Uni) is coming to meet us in 1 and a half hours to speak about our oral dossiers....if I dont return, you know why.

xmas dinner/ I want to catch you when the current lets you go

I think currently I am on a permanent high, so many good things are going to happen this week then I come home next Tuesday, I can't wait.

To begin with Adrian (my Spanish Teacher) comes out to see us tomorrow to see how we are getting on, discuss issues such as oral dossiers, extended essays boring things like that. Got to meet him at 5 tomorrow then from there on my hectic few days begins!!

On Thursday going to see Marta and Angela to say merry Xmas and thank them for doing all they did to help me settle in, then on the night there is a pre new years eve celebration in the Plaza Mayor were all the people who are not going to be here for the real nochevieja gather there and do the usual spanish thing, talk to randoms and when the clock chimes 12 eat grapes (one for each chime of the clock) around all that I also have to fit a small thing called lessons in.

Luckily on Friday I have no lessons so we can prepare the flat for our Xmas Party. Julien is making some French thing with Emilie's help so should be nice, I am going to get some decerations with Léa and make the flat prettyful, and then people will come bringing wine, hornazo (typical food of Salamanca, what Gran had in the Plaza Mayor when my parents were here....) and wine and cava. Then obviously a standard night out as Tom is going home on Saturday.

Lots this weekend too but I'm sick of typing for now.

Photo is the nicest patatas bravas I've ever had in our favourite bar.

Sanli Tuncay!

Finally he grabbed his first goal for the club, hopefully he can now go on and have an affect like Tevéz did for West Ham. Unlikely as Dong Gook Lee amazingly gets in the side ahead of him...

Back to Salamanca, two weeks left to go, the first semester has gone TOO quickly, it doesn't seem like two minutes ago Ray, Tom and I were trying to make friends that were not English and now to think that was about 12/13 weeks ago. I don't want to leave all the amazing people I've met here but at the same time I want to go and see all the amazing people at home.

People keep asking me if I will miss Salamanca when I'm home? But to be honest I wont, I'm looking forward to having carpets on the floor, having a bath, eating junk food, going shopping and not seeing massive chorizos and hams everywhere, ENGLISH TV (Spanish TV is soo bad it is untrue) seeing all my family and my friends among other things, however saying that I am already looking forward to coming back after Xmas and meeting the new Erasmus people that will arrive at the beginning of February.

Tom and I are going to try and arrange a kind of English Xmas night for all the foreign friends we have, with typically English things we would eat for xmas, however finding them all is odf course easier said than done, crackers for example, to get the ingredients for stuffing is also proving quite difficult but we will see what we can do.
Also next Thursday is the fake 'New years eve' where all the students who won't be here for nochevieja celebrate it early in the Plaza Mayor, all with a handful of grapes as the clock chimes 12....speaking to people here they say the Plaza was chocker last year so it should be an amazing night and I will get plenty of people to take photos and put them up on here as I don't get my camera until after Xmas.

Plans for Xmas? Going up to stay with my Gran/Aunty and spending Xmas day in Carmyle (little village just outside Glasgow) Will be so nice to see them all as I feel like I aint spoke to them properly for so long (I wouldnt normally see Pat,John, Vick and Graeme that often but would always speak to them on the phone, or my Mum would tell me things what they are up to etc, we have skype but its not the same). Apparantly Aunty Pat is doing something on Xmas Eve as we will get there intime as Mum and Sarah have swapped their shifts in order for us to go earlier. Xmas day itself will be spent in my Gran's house as it usually is, but I'm going to help her cook for the first time as I've picked up lots of tips and she has a proper oven! Unlike our shitty one here in Calle Lucero!! I imagine (hope) people will pop down to Grans such as Les and Alexi, the Butlers, my Aunty Jacquie etc and also Pat and Mike if they are going up to Scotland as I have not spoken to them since I arrived here, they might have forgotton who I am....
This is long turning into an essay.

Nothing major to report from Sunny Spain, everything is fine, the usual is happening, fiestas erasmus, lessons, pinchos and vino however tomorrow I should hopefully have my train ticket to go home in TWO WEEKS time.
Anyway I need to sign off as I have a lesson at 6 and going to Nathalies tonight for her birthday drinks.

im in love with salamanca/san dimas high school football rules

I Love Salamanca, I feel so lucky to be here, there is no place that I would rather be.

cocinar cocinar

2 amazing meals I have to comment on!


Last night, Tom and I made a traditional roast, we went shopping during the day and even managed to find sprouts! It was amazing! Roast potatoes, chicken, cabbage, sprouts, carrots, onions and of course gravy gravy gravy, the onyly thing that was missing was yorkshire puddings but as I only have two shelves in the oven!

The French really liked it and admitted they were suprised we made veg as 'English people don't eat veg', but we showed them we can be healthy too......


Today for dinner I made something I seen on the F word this summer. Halibut with shallot onions, pancetta in a red wine sauce with lots of seasoning. You cook the pancetta first, add the onions, add the wine (must be a french recipe) and then let it simmer, adding sugar so it caramalises. It was truly lovely and one of the best meals I've ever had a hand in cooking.

fiesta de la facultad d farmacia??????????

excited excited excited

3 Weeks and one day until I come home!!
Some people will be suprised to see I know I am counting the days until I head home. It's not because I'm sad or anything as I'm having the time of my life, but now I know I'm going I just want to go. Christmas aswell makes it even more exciting and the fact this year we're spending it this year at my Gran's in Glasgow makes it even more exciting. Many other things make me excited too, seeing friends, going shopping, not always being surronded by smoke in bars, indian food, decent television and even such things as hearing English being spoken all around me.
However I have a feeling I may struggle to understand some things when I go up to Scotland...

I feel quite christmasy, maybe due to the fact I saw Love Actullay on la 1 here last night, which was so funny as it was all dubbed. I think the fact Christmas is nowhere near as commercialised here makes you miss it more, cheesy songs playing in stores, fake Santa's walking around, people eating mince pies... roll on christmas, I think it will be appreciated a lot more after being here in the run up to it.

I also spoke to a certain person this weekend after a terbulant time and we sorted a lot of things and I feel a lot better for that.

22 days!

Gareth Southgate

Sure way to spoil your weekend, 0-3 defeat at home. Only blessing if Im not in Middlesbrough to watch that shower of shite.

He has to go or get someone in alongside him, Cooper might be a legend but hes as clueless as Southgate.

my friends were like whatever, you'll find someone better...

What a lovely weekend, Kay’s visit, a meal out on Friday, a night out on Saturday and a lovely trip to the countryside on the Sunday.

Kay arrived here at about 8ish on the Friday night, and after checking into a hostel I went to meet her and her friends debajo del reloj (the meeting point in Salamanca – under the clock) and also we rounded up Ray and Tom and looked for somewhere to have something to eat. We walked around for what seemed like forever and most places were heaving so we settled on a quite Argentinean steak place that Rachel had been before, everyone was really hungry so it was a good success.
After the meal we went to a bar as Kay and I were going to meet Gemma (Kay’s old exchange partner from Ávila who is studying here in Salamanca. It was so nice and surreal seeing her, and discussing old times and things we did on the 2nd exchange I went on, which was one of the best trips of my life. We were all talking for a while before people started to feel tired (especially Kay and her gang after travelling nearly 6 hours from Bilbao to get to Salamanca) so we said our goodbyes and arranged to meet the following day.

So roll on to Saturday where we had a small botellón at mine before heading out to the bars. Had a few litros en el Pani before moving onto Harleys and meeting up with the usual gang before heading to the fake Paniagua before finally ending up in Potemkim. Kay and co called it a night at about 4 as they were up at 10 to get the train to Bilbao and saying bye was very sad indeed. However they are going to come back before Xmas so I am looking forward to that.
It was so nice having someone from ‘home home’ ie, the Boro to talk to! Talking about our friends, old memories and such, it really made me feel a lot happier and so happy Kay made the effort to come 6 hours on a shitty train!

Sunday looked like being a boring Sunday until Anna popped up on MSN and was like, do you wanna go for a trip out to the countryside? As I had nothing better to do, I foolishly said yes…… rounded up Léa, Martin and Tom and we headed up to Anna’s place and headed for the countryside.
Anna took us to some place in the middle of nowhere, which was looking realy nice until we all got out the car, looked round and saw a massive Spanish bull with massive horns staring back at us! Luckily it was about 30metres away but when we saw it we jumped…. We all quickly got Anna to zip her coat up and she had a bright red jersey on! We then decided to move on from that spot as we could not really walk around for the bulls!

We then found another one and went off for a wander, took a few photos etc etc and then when we were heading back to the car we saw in the distance about 10 bulls walking up towards the car.....MMMMIIIIIIIEEEEEEERRRRRRDDDDDAAAA!
We raced back to the car, got in, and started to drive out of the field…and as soon as Anna turned the lights on (it was getting dark by now) we could see about 15 bulls walking towards the car! We didn’t know what to do! Do we drive and hope they move…. Anyway we crawled along so slowly and they were walking round the side of the car! Was so surreal seeing it and once in a lifetime experience, like being on a safari with massive Spanish bulls with massive horns! Anyway that sums up the weekend, and I best go as I am starving and need some food,

" es un poco la mierda" - jajajaj

Lovely weekend, so nice to see Kay and her friends were all good crack, I will update later when I get the photos from our trip out to the countryside.

Ps the title of my entry is a phrase my flatmate says that has me in stitches everytime :)

la fiesta de la facultad d ciencias/friday afternoon thoughts

The following is hard to believe would happen....unless of course, you find yourself in Spain.

Yesterday was the official party of the Science campus of the Uni, so basically all lessons for that day are cancelled in that campus and all the students spend all day drinking and having fun. It normally kicks off at 10AM, and come 11AM you can see literally hundreds of students drunk walking down the street, yes, your eyes are not decieving you, 10AM!
Anyway I had lessons til 5 so after that Tom phoned me as he had been there since dinner time with loads of random chicas salmantinas that he had somehow made friends with so he phoned me to get me to meet them and come on out....
So come 5pm, we go to this place and basically its packed! Everyone is dressed up in the big white science coats (well the people who do science based courses) and we started to drink at 5pm, with some cuba libre y coca cola and started talking to these girls we met, one of them had the best English accent I have ever heard for a Spaniard, infact I couldn't tell she was Spanish until she said, I was like, your parents must be English, but they weren't and I was mightly impressed, she even managed to identify I was Northern and when I said my Mum was Scottish she started telling me how much she loves Scotland also she was probably the only Spanish person I've ever met who had a genuine English accent and not an American one! We swapped details and we're going to meet up to practise languages (not that she really needs to... pero bueno....
Anyway we carried on to la imprensa as el pani was closed and got stuck into some kalimotxo. The night was not that spectacular, it was just wierd thinking that the Uni's actullay kind of support these binge drinking sessions by cancelling lessons advertising them through the Uni, deep down there is probably not a lot they can do, as if they didn't the students would probably just do it themselves. Called it a night at 11 as I was starvinggggggg and I didn't want to stay out too late as Kay is coming today and I imagine I will have to show her about town and stuff so yea.

I also have to go to the estacion de trenes to get my ticket to go to Madrid on the 18th of December in order to go home to the land of; Chris Moyles, gravy, David Beckhams right foot....

Es que no sé..pero quédate...no te vayas...

Finally I am recovered and feeling better after the horrible evil illness of last week. I started to get over it on Thursday after lots of drugs, sleep, episodes of home and away on youtube and cups of char's.

On Friday to celebrate my good health, we went to Rachel's/Benni's and Juanjo's party which was the best house party ever. Earlier in the day we headed to Carrefour to get some J n B and some beers and took them to Rays, headed out for some patatas bravas y unos vinos before heading back to mine for pizza and a few beers before heading to Ray's at about 12. Plenty of people, plenty of nibbles, plenty of alcohol, was really good to meet Spaniards as they outnumbered us English people by about 6/1 which meant we had to mix. Jojo also made some vodka flavoured jellys which I personally thought were horrible but they certainly seemed to go down well with everyone else. We left Rachels at about 4 and headed for Harleys where about 20 of us seemed to take over one corner of the room, I was mainly dancing with a girl called Emelie who is French, and after a while we decided to go somewhere else but in the end noone could be bothered, so wel all headed back to ours were the drinking continued until certain people (Tom ) could not keep up and fell asleep on our Seetee and we covered him up with a blanket and shot the others out got to bed at 7am, incredible.

Saturday was spent sleeping and cleaning my room, washing, ironing y tal...
Met up with Tom at night for unos pinchos and went back to his and had pizza with him and his Colombian flatmate, Diana.

Sunday, cleaning the kitchen, I swear it was the dirtiest it has ever been, just my luck....
Anyway I got that done and done some studying for a lesson I had this morning, which took me until night time cuando salí a dar una vuelta (went for a wander) before having dinner which was Ratatouilee which was sooo nice!

Early rise this morning as I had class and I am now at home before going back at 6, what a strange life....Smile! Youre in Spain.......

el rey Juan Carlos manda callar a Chavez

Put's Chavez in his place, pricless.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XFYGD9K7918

these things take forever and...

Ages since I updated this but tonight I can not be bothered, so I will do it tomorrow with a long post.

un té y unas galletas?

ps

happy guy fawkes night and happy 21st to allison

seriously ill/homesick

Oh god, I don't think I've had a worst day than today. To begin with I must have only slept for an hour at most last night as I am ill ill. What is wrong? What is not wrong?
Headache? Check
Sore throat? Check
Glands swollen? Check
Pain all down both sides of my neck? Check
Sickness and diarroeah? Check
Vomiting? Check blaa blaa blaa

After waking up at 5 this morning in agony as my pain killers had worn off (french painkillers are the best) but I decided to stomach it as I didnt want to use all of Lea's up until the chemist would open.
So cue 9am, I'm banging on the door of the chemist, and i explain to him I need the strongest painkillers you can get without prescription and the fucking dickhead turns his back whilst I am explaining what is wrong, and comes back with the spanish equivilant for halls soothers, I said these are no good you grade A twat, I NEED SOMETHING STRONGER, but he was adamant that these would work. So i go home and start guzzling them and no effect, I say to myself, maybe its cause im taking them on an empty stomach so I eat rice and chicken and within 2 mins of eating about 3 pieces of chicken and a few forkfulls of rice I am in the aseo throwing it up. And they have not worked and thet cost me €10, disgrace.
I am also feeling terribly homesick, nhs might get stick but I know where I would rather be, back at home with some proper medicine inside me and someone to make me cups of tea as i someone did that for me right now I think I would honestly burst into tears, I just need people here for me, I hardly ever get ill so when I do I always seem to feel even more down.
Uni is a no go for a few days, I hardly had the energy to get to the pharmacy and had to stop and catch my breath

What I'd do for a hug from my Mum, Charley or Sarah right now.

Ps - sorry for the cussing

el aprendizaje y el puente

As November is now here, leaves are falling, scalves, gloves and hats are out in abundance, people are trick and treating, friendships are building more and more and finally I feel like I'm a real 'salmantino' (someone from Salamanca)

I have mentioned this before, but peer pressure is immense here. On Tuesday night we went out for a meal for Ester's birthday,a lovely girl from Avila (oh how the Avila connections live on) and afterwards everyone was going out, and you feel like you have to, even though I was up so early the next day....

Today I have to go and pay the rent for this month, our landlords are really friendly but going to their house is such a wierd feeling. He brings you through to his office (which is huge) and you feel like you're having a meeting with the most imporant lawyer in town.

Another wierd thing happened to me the other day. I was walking down the Rua Mayor when I made eye contact with this guy I was sure I knew, we walked past each other and looked back when we both realised we knew one another, it was Aaron from La Adrada (the little brother of a lad from the exchange and the waiter from el Korrigan) Small world.

Also feeling quite nostalgic, since I've come to Salamanca I have learnt, how to cook veal. More french swearwords than spanish ones. How to phone the gas company and order gas. How to tolerate. How to not go back to Pounds and work in Euros. How to have stupid conversations over and over and over again with people and not get bored. How to get frustrated. How to miss people. How to drink coffee. How to stomach a prawn. How to tolerate people I would never have before. How to miss my family.


Buenas noches, amigo
No te olvides ahora que te vas
Que tienes un amigo,
Difícil de llevar
Siempre de mal humor
Pero al fin y al cabo
Amigo....

como era yo cuando tenia 17 anos?/felicidades sarah!

As my lessons were cancelled today I was browsing through old emails
And I came to this that a girl filled in about me when I was 17....

1. My name:Mr Stephen Dodds.
2. Where did we meet?: in teh retard centre,eeek almost a year ago now!twas on 27th September 2002.
3. Take a sab at my middle name: you havent got one, but if you did methinks it would be andrew,dunno why??? mebbies because thas my dads middle name?and you've got ur klass uncle andrew,so there!
4. How long have you known me?: a year.
5. How well do you know me (a lot, not so much, nothing)?: well, i used to know you very very very verrrrrry well, but i dont know you so well anymore. or do i
7. What’s my favourite colour?: Bluey??
8. When you first saw me what was your first impression? as we have recalled this many a time I said to carol "lukka him,hes lush" etc etc, then i thought, what a retard! haha,only kiddin luvey! hehe.
9. My age?: 17
10. Mi birthday?: 24th April 1986.
11. Color Hair?: browny/blondey
12. Color eyes?: browny
13. Have you ever had a crush on me? one would say that yes
14. Have you ever been jealous of me? indeedy
15. Whats one of my fav things to do indoors?: eat eggy bread and curry or maybe both at the same time if your feeling frisky
16. Do you remember the first things I said to you when we first met? "how do you spell Fuetraventura?"
17. What’s my fav type of music?: Rock/Punk/Emo/
18.What’s one of my fav things to do outdoors?: what?! you go outside?!?!?!?! haha.well that would probs be driving around aimlessly,at a guess.
19. Am I shy or outgoing? Outgoing
20.Would you say I’m funny HAHA or funny (sarcastic)?: your deffo both, bit more sarcastic now tho.
21. Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules?: Rebel,yerrrrr
22. Would you consider me a friend?: erm,yus
23. Would you call me preppy, slutty, average, sporty, punk, hippie, glam, snobby, or something else?:*glam* haha, nah ur all normal and "hippie like", nah, ur a luvly lil emo boy now,well done,am proud
24. Have you ever seen me cry?: yeh,a few times, **bless you**
25. If there were one good nickname for me, what would it be? *fatty™ or sexybum or maybe jus Mr doddz??
26. Are my parents still together?: yeh
27. Do I have a nice butt?: v.nice
28. If I had broccoli stuck on my teeth, would you tell me? Nooo lobn't! Next question
29. Do you love me?: erm, thats slightly unorthodox!
AM I………. ?!?!?!?
31. Quiet or loud? Both
31. Short or Tall: Taller than me[doesnt take much!]
32.Weird or original: Both
33. Smart or stupid? Smart
34. Boring or Fun? Fun
35. Attractive or Unattractive? attractive. [prettyful]
DO YOU THINK I'M... (yes or no, if u wanna say something extra say it)
36.A psycho? Ofcourse
38.Athlethic? lol
39. A nerd? Haha.yerrrr loads!
40. A slut? Yeh Ste's a slut! haha,only joking,ur not much of a slut,only a little one.
41. Ghetto? *ahem* ?
42. A *itch? I once was/
43. Two-faced? hmmm
44. Obnoxious? Yes!haha,nah nope.
45. Immature? oh yes
46. Mature? erm no!
JUST A FEW MORE QUESTIONS
47. What do you think I’ll be when I grow up? a P.A to Kris Roe or his servant waiter person if you can......or mayb jus a spaniard persony thingy.
48. A) Do you think I’ll get married? Yep
B) If you do…Who do you think I’ll marry? not sure, Kris Roe,again.
49. When is my birthday? 24th April!!! yup, i know the answer to that one! haha
50. Who is my best friend? Winnie, Jazz,Amy, Thea and Charley, among others am guessin.
51. What song(if any)reminds you of me? THERES LOADS! erm, "I.O.U one glaxy" "san Dimas High School Football rules" "1*15*96" "Summer Wind was always our song" and many other ataris songs! erm, "Letters To You"- Finch, "It's just me" Allister,"I Miss You", "I Wish You Were Here" Incubus, and the obvious "mary melody" - mad caddies, "every breath you take" - millencoln, that one by TaTu?? hmmm what else....."If you leave" - good charlotte...ach theres loads,list is endless! haha.

52. Do I remind you of any characters on TV? bill and ben the flower pot men
53. If you could rename me, what would my name be? Nathan
54. Have you ever had a dream about me? eek,I've had many a dream about you...
55. A feature that you like about me: hmmm, i dunno me, your argumentative strike is quite good. if its gotta b physical, you've got really nice eyes.
56. If you could give me anything, what would it be? Well, i dunno, probs the security codes to Kris Roes house.
57. Algo que me caracterice? blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
GIRLS ONLY ANSWER QUES 58,62,69 and 70 (don’t think u wanna answer the other ones lol)
58. Am I physically ugly, average, decent, good-looking, beautiful, hot? beautiful:)
59. Would you ever kiss me? silly.
60. Would you ever consider being my boyfriend? yerr, maybe! haha. these things happen.
61.Do you ever think about me off-line? not really to b honest. actually, yes i do.
62. If we spent a day together…..where would we go and what would we do? erm,we could go to teh beach[in california tho...] and do erm,beach stuff,then we'd make daisy chains and have a nice picnic in some random sunflower field,eating chocolate cake and drinking some piping hot tea, then we'd go play at, well you can play at Kris' house and I'll go play at Nates, they live near eachother you see :)
63. If you could describe me in one word, what would it be? strange OR womaniser.
64. Do you or have you ever had a crush on me? have done,many times
65. Do you want me? erm....
66. What word(s) do I say all the time? anything spanish....erm, apart from that, i really dont know as i dont talk to you that much:S i'll guess with erm "ano mate" and other things:S
67. Is there anything you’d like to say to me? methinks we should catch up sometime soon because half these answers are dismal guesses! opps.and there ya go, u better write me one out cos its taken me a while to fill it all out!tisk. love claire x x x x x

Ps - Happy birthday to my little sister, Sarah! xxxx

she talks of st andrews gardens but shes from hunters bar (japan branch)....

Busy week, and jeez it is getting cold here, I need a coat now and a scarf, still nice during the day but at night it is miles colder than home, and I'm still trying to shift this cough, but its getting better and better.
Usual things this week, lectures, pinchos, wine, misunderstandings the usual you know....
Lessons getting a lot tougher now we are getting more in depth, but still enjoyable, however this week I have no lessons on Monday and Tuesday as my teachers are not in, normal lessons on Wednesday and Thursday is some random Spanish holiday (in the middle of the week?) and I never have lessons on Friday so Id like to do some travelling or go somewhere new or it will be a very boring week.
Mint night out on Thursday, had been looking forward to it for a while, 80s party. So come thursday, and Tom and I traping around town looking for suitable outfits, in the end Tom settled for the tightest gayest campest t shirt ive ever seen (skintight) and I settled for a wacky shirt with the gayest tie ever!
Before hand we had some drinkies at mine with tom, julien, kirsty, nisha, yaiza and ester and then we headed down to Irish Rover at about 12ish, the place was decorated with 80s stuff, posters etc, and many people were dressed up, which intitled you to a free drink (i already had those from helping david by sending messages to people letting them know what the craic was) and a good time was had by all, I remember being very drunk and being with Tom and Nathalie just talking general rubbish and drinking JD and coke, je suis desole nath!
Plenty of 80;s tuneage too, dire straits, jitterbug...the usual, good job I didnt have lessons on Friday.....
Roll on Friday, when Tom and I decided to go and check out an Indian Berta had told us about, it took us ages to find it, on the end it was on a street just of Gran Via but we went the long way round that took us about 20 mins, but it was worth it...
So we get there, Kirsty came in the end too, and look at the menú, and we all said, 'I want everything!, withdrawl symptoms or what.....
In the end we started with onion bhaji, and popadamos and I went fot egg pilau with Chicken madrass, it was very nice and throughly enjoyed it, sure will venture there again before long....
Today has been quiet, pancakes for 'brunch' and then went with Tom to watch the football before coming back and making a Lasagna, which was excellent, even if I do say so myself...
Anyway Im going to dash as I think people are meeting for a drink, dont forget to change the clocks people...
Ps - Skype me! I love it! Charlie has skyped me for about 2 hours already and I skyped the parents for 1 hour and its so nice to hear some differet English voices...do it.

surtido de ibéricos, japanese charlie and the joie de vivre

Well apologies for the lack of updates lately as I have been a busy bee with one thing and another. It's been a hectic week, with classes, problems with the net, dinner parties, I feel like I have flew and flied!!

Well lessons are all fine, enjoying them, the teachers really are excellent here, but I would expect that with Salamanca being the 'Oxford of Spain'. One thing that has suprised me is the lack of 'homework', I have been in lessons for about 4 weeks and we have not had one piece of work to complete outside of class, very strange, very Spanish.

I have news on next year aswell, when it comes to my living arrangements, well since all my old flatmates (macca, ollie, tagg etc) will all have finished Uni and I dont really want to live with people from Spanish, as much as I love them, living together and studying together could be a reciepe for disaster. So Charlie asked me If I wanted to go and live with her, now I know many of you won't know her, but she is blonde, a southern fairy (one of the people who thinks middlesbrough is the worst town in the UK, fuck you channel 4!) and yes she asked me and I said yes, she had already found a flat so we now have a lovely flat in Liverpool to return to in fourth year. She is currently in Japan on her 'erasmus' so I have to say muchas gracias to her for sorting it and asking me.

Anything else? Well had a dinner party on Thursday night, (Tom, Julien, Léa, Nathalie, Allison, Ray, Kirst and her lad, Lily and I) and I made Curry! Ohh how nice it was (thanks also to Tom for helping me) a nice Jalfrezi with some basmalti rice á la tom it was a great success and it was a great night, good food, good wine and most of all good company.

I had quite a big night on Wednesday after starting to drink at about 8pm as ángela phoned me as she had been out since 10AM (yes thats right, AM) and she was steaming and she managed to say (in english) 'take me to a bar english' so off we went to O'Haras. Then Tom and I headed out with Astrid, Mats and a girl who;s name I can't remember and we later met up with Ray and JoJo and David and his crew, and I got home at 6am (Remember this is early for Spain)

We also went out last night after the rugby but nothing major happened, we went to some salsa bar called el savor and I was suprised how good it was, just expensive!

Ps - If any girl wants to win a guys heart bring his some of this and he will love you PARA SIEMPRE!! (for ever) Bring him a big plate of surtidos de iberico, which is jamon, chorizo, salchichon and lomo and maybe a bit of queso manchego (which is sadly missing on the one I ordered here!) ---------------->

la economia cognitiva

What a few days, great time was had by all on Saturday night in the rugby, we went to an Irish pub here to watch it with a bunch of French people, we got down well early but it was PACKED!!!!!! Anyway we met a load of French friends of ours and we had such good banter watching it(well they did as it looked like France were going to win until up stepped super Johnny). So yea, we won. My photos are on my facebook to have a look at.
Afterwards we went out for a bit, with Kirsty and co, and a good time was had by all, I think we called it a ñight at about 5am (which remember is early for Spain).

Sunday was spent sleeping and generally relaxing for the start of lessons.
This week nothing major has happened, lessons, dinner at Kirstys with her flatmates that are so wild but cute at the same time, one of them is quite hot aswell which is always nice.
I don´t think anything else out of the ordinary has happened, apart from lots of sunshine which is lovely and my legend teacher from Spanish in communication (Javier de Santiago Guervos) funny as hell, always has us all in stitches, It´s wierd as I think should I really be enjoying his lessons so much but they really interest me, tonight I think I´m going to chill out and watch Love Actullay as it is mint.

feliz feliz feliz enfermo and jamón iberico

What a wonderful world, hanging about with great people, drinking good wine and eating jamón iberico and England and Scotland both winning.

omgz yo soy un crio

Después de lo sucedido de estos días algunas cosas ya las tengo muy claras, y aunque me cuesta mucho me he dado cuenta de lo que unas personas realmente piensan de mí y por muy triste que sea hay que aceptar que aveces algunas personas no son como tu quieres que sean.

Estoy harto de que la gente se meta conmigo pero esto ya se acabó..Si esas personas no me quieren y se pueden meter conmigo pues que se jodan. Estoy muy harto de que la gente me vea como una broma, y que se ria de mí con sus amigos como si fuese un gilipollas.

A pesar de esto, estoy muy bien aquí con ganas de ir a vivir con Charlie.

GRACIAS A TODOS AQUELLOS QUE HAN ESTADO A MI LADO APOYANDOME. OS QUIERO MUCHO

Salamanca >>>>> Where you live

The last few days have probably been the best since I got here.

I finally feel I have settled into lessons and got a lot of things sorted such as an appointment to 'matricularme' (hand in my module choice) which was hanging over me for a while but I finally feel we are making progress.

For one of my classes the teacher Javier reminds me of my old Spanish teacher (John) as he is so funny and interesting and every lesson he has the whole class in stitches and he makes the subject really interesting.

I am really enjoying Catalan aswell, Jo sóc Stephen (I am Stephen) as you can see I'm not that good yet but give it time!

I'm really enjoying meeting people from all different places, I feel like I have learnt so much from so many different people, the majority of us get on as if we had known each other all our lives instead of 4/5 weeks. However it is still nice when you walk down the street and hear someone speaking English or hear an English person struggling to ask for something in a bar/shop, and its also so cute when Eva talks Spanish with her hot Italian accent!

On Wednesday after lessons (which finished at 9pm) tom, Rachel and I went for Tapas with Renske (A dutch girl) and Astrid (from Denmark) and watched a bit of the Real Madrid game, however the two girs called it a night quite early so Tom, Ray and I headed up Calle Van dyke (a long street full of tapas bars) and went to some trendy wine bar and met some English girls from the same part of London as Tom, scary.

On Thursday we had lessons during the day and then we went home to prepare for a big night out. Tom came round for Dinner and Julien made some French dish that I cannot spell for the life of me and we headed out about midnight.

The theme of the night was a school girl/teacher theme night which normally would not be my cup of tea, but we were in the VIP area drinking Champagne so it was a very good night.

I also won 3nd place on the sexiest school teacher award, god knows how!

Since we didn't get in till 6am on Friday morning that kind of wiped all of Friday out...or so I thought as Ángela phoned me and woke me up as she wanted to meet up (for those who dont know Ángela she is a girl from Ávila I met when I went on an exchange she has always been lovely with me and when Ray tay and I were here in May she showed us around and stuff) So I gave Tom a bell (Ray was still drunk and couldn't hack it) and we went off for dinner.

At night I cooked fajitas for about 15 people but someone complained about the noise so we had to leave where we went to The British Museum and Paniagua but I called it a night early as I was so tired from Thursday night.

Right now I'm going to have dinner then clean up as my parents, gran and sister arrive tomorrow and yes, I'm very excited!

PS - Caroline and Jack my Dad said you were reading so heres a little Hello for you! Take care.

te e pillao y TODO TODO TODO LO QUE DICES ME DA IGUAL

Oh my god, the Rain in Salamanca has been simply shocking. 3 days raining, I have wet clothes that I cant get dry as we don't have a clothes horse! Hopefully the sun will return for My parents coming to see me on Sunday...the rain in Spain falls mainly on Salamanca.

I have also had some shocking news about someone very close to me that will make me wonder about this person and whether they are really the person I thought

Looking back on today

Well, I have 'manflu', I am feeling ill and have a terrible sore throat and just feel like doing nothing but being in bed or laying on the sofa in a big blanket. I have been given some medicine and some things that are supposed to put ends to colds and such however you are supposed to take them when you can first feel a cold coming, but hey, better late than never.

On Thursday we had what I like to call 'an English night out', as in we were drinking pints instead of the small beers they all drink out here, also there were lots of English people, infact we were all English so it was lovely to meet people who are at the same point in their degree as us and we could have a natter. So nice to hear some English humour too as there is no better humour in the world, good crack.
I have not really done a lot since my last post, but we did go on Friday to play Monopoly with Kirsty, RayTay, Tom, Julien and Nathalie which was fun as all the instructions were in Spanish.
On the friday night Lily was making pizzas at Rays but I didn't feel like it at all and had to go home, felt a big bad (but this was when my cold started) but I'm sure she'll understand.
I came home had a shave and went straight to bed but couldn't sleep cause some doyles were running riot down below.

This morning I was going to go to Madrid, but as I arrived to the train station we found out there were no tickets left so we couldn't go. BUT, no hay mal que por el bien no venga (every cloud has a silver lining) as I got home and Arsenal West Ham was on la2, so I watched my first full English game since I got here, it was great, lying on the seetee with some flu powders and watching Van Rapist (Persie) get some very needed points for my fantasy team.
I then spoke to Hayley online for hours, and she sent me the new babyshambles album and it was really nice to speak to her as we don't speak that much these days and she was a great girl and someone who I really liked and got on well with.

I was going to go to the Cinema tonight but I've been blown out so no plans for me, early night and I might even get up to watch the F1 at 7, COME ON LEWIS HAMILTON!!

Parla Català!

After making spaghetti bolognase that Gordon Ramsay would have been proud of, I'm going to tell you what has been happening por estas tierras castellano-leonesas (Salamanca..jaja)

So lessons are well and truly underway now, I have choosen most of my courses so far, I wanted to do both Catalá (Catalan) and Portuguese but unfortunatly they both clash so I had to choose one of the other and in the end I went for Catalan. The teacher is quite funny but I have a feeling the pace of the class will be really quick as most people in the class have either, lived somewhere where Catalan is spoken, have Catalan parents or have studied it before, but it will be challenging and interesting... We didn't really learn a lot in the first lesson we were just talking about the history of the language, its importance and where it is spoken etc etc.

I went out tonight to an erasmus party at a bar over here called the Irish Rover, which was good as I got free drinks for helping the guy promote it so Tom, Ray and I got quite drunk on Jack Daniels (Malibu for Ray, only gays drink it according to tom) as it was all free, we must have spent about €50 overall so I guess I got to say a big thank you to David. We came home quiet early (for Spain) at 4AM.

The next day we had lessons straight after lunch so I wolfed my lunch dow at home and ran down to Tom's to head over to class. Communication in Spanish infact, it only lasted one hour and Tom was hungry so we went for some 'pinchos' and we had 2 hours to kill until Catalan so we went to a bar and played......MONOPOLY! But this was not any Monopoly, it was a Spanish one however I was pretty bad and Rachel ended up wiping me and Tom out just in time to go to Catalan.

Nothing more to say and I got to peg my washing out
Os echo de menos

Joo! Ya han empezao las clases

It was quite a quiet weekend really, with nothing happened that is worth writing about, apart from going to Tom's on Saturday night for Currrrrry.

Anyway, yesterday lessons started, my first one was 6-8 (yes 8 at night) it was called 'la ensenanza de la gramatica espanola', which is basically how to teach spanish grammar to people, it was really interesting and I think I will really enjoy the course. The teacher (Juan Felipe) is really nice and friendly however he speaks quite quietly so you have to listen really carefully and for people at the back I doubt they could hear well. I was so pleased at understanding 99% of what he said and was chuffed at how far I have come since I started learning Spanish, to understand a proper Spanish lesson in a top Spanish university made me feel really happy and made me realise that I really am Bilingual.
It's hard to describe how the lesson was different from home really, the lesson was from 6-8 and we arrived about 5.50 to find the Aula (classroom) and we were waiting till 6.15 and noone had come, however when all the Spaniards walked in at 6.10 we should have clicked..... lessons in Spain dont start on the hour, despite it putting this on the timetable, they start at 6.15! Another thing I was amazed at was, with it being a two hour lesson we had a 15 minute break at 7-7.15 which I was amazed at. Apart from that it was pretty similar to back home.
After the lessons tom and I met with Marta and Lorena to go to our facultys cafe/bar which is so cheap it is untrue, we all got beers and bocadillos de jamón (ham sandwich) which only came to like €4 which is like £2.70!

Si fueras como el aliento en la arena, llegarías hasta el corazón de quién se esconde como yo...

Been a few days but I guess I've been kind of busy for the first time since I got here.



Tuesday and Wednesday nights were taken up by the footy, on Tuesday I went to see the Madrid game with Mats and then we went out after with Astrid and Camilla and on Wednesday we went to see the Barca-Lyon game, however I didn't stay out much as we had a meeting on Thursday at the Uni and I needed to get up early for it.



So roll on the meeting, there was an absoloute machine of a man talking switching from language to language, I think in total he spoke about 6 languages fluently, not bad.


So anyway, we found out who our coordinator was and we found out how we picked our courses, (we can pick 2 from outside our faculty, so I think I'm going to pick 2 courses from the translation faculty) It is a bit strange, as for the first two weeks you can just wander into any class to get an idea of it without being registered on it, we have to make appointments on Monday to go and see someone to meet and finalise our courses, as long this is done before the 8th of Oct its all good, so basically classes dont officially start until 8th Oct, This would only happen in Spain.


After the meeting we went out for some Tapas and went to Carrefour (like Marks' and Sparks but not as good) to buy stuff for Ray's fajita frenzy on the night. It was all fine but the guacamole was terrible, it had cheese in! CHEESE!? I'm so craving Guacamole from Marks and Sparks...


So on Thursdays I helped Julien to make a curry and for Tea we went to Ray's for tea with Julien, Lily, Ray, Tom and myself and had a mexican, it was so nice and probably the best meal Ive had here.


Here is the dish I contributed, I like to call it Muchos nachos.


Friday, well Tom has been locked out his flat for two days so it was my turn to babysit him, we had curry for lunch at mine (soo nice) and we just hung out here as it was raining very heavily.
We headed out to Tom's to see if his neighbours had a spare key and got soaked and she didn't so it was our seetee where he would be sleeping (only gays use this word according to Tom). We then got dinner, some chicken thing I had which was nice, we then went to O Haras to meet some people we know here and then we headed to our new favourite bar, paniagua for some kalimotxo and came home about 3 as we were both knackered.

Right now I'm going to make dinner and then sit down and listen to the Boro Sunderland game and chill out.

Sigo buscando una sonrisa derepente en un bar..

I have got some photos from my friends out here to show the horrible weather from the last few days... but luckily the sunshine has now returned!

Nothing much to say today, went out last night to watch Real Madrid V Werder Bremen, was a really good and open game, and was lovely to see Raúl back to form. Went out for some kalimotxo after the game and that was that.

Storms in Salamanca

Yes believe it or not the last two days we have had lots of storms and lots of thunder and even some lightning, and on Sunday something happened that I have never seen before, hailSTONES, and the stones is capitaised on purpose as the hail was the size of small stones, I was standing under this shitty tent in an Medieval market and I was right in the corner so my back and the back of my legs were getting pounded with big frozen stones, and I had three quarter jeans and a small top on so I was freezing and for that reason I feel quite ill today, I have a sore throat and the classic symptoms of a cold, it probably didn't help hanging out with Tom as he was ill but I will get over it. It also didnt help that Eirik hit the top of the tent roof as I was kind of hanging out so loads of water and frozen hailstones went all over me, but dont worry guys, I am planning my revenge....

Bueno haber....

Friday - Went to meet Tom about 11ish, then we went to the 'casetas' with some friends of his flatmates, had a bite to eat and some cañas (beers in the smallest cup ever) then we met Kati (another Colombian friend of Toms) and they took us to Bar Llamas which was pretty full and even outside you couldn't move so we decided to go to another bay that they liked called Paniagua which I have to say was extremely busy and crowded but it was excellent. Some absoloute top music, from the killers to primal scream to despistaos, and we were all sharing huge glasses (probably about 2 pint glasses) of beer (lager to us) and calimocho (red wine and coke which sounds horrible but it is lovely and very sweet), the bad thing was that it was very smokey so when Marta rang me and said want to go somewhere with her and her friends wel me and Tom said yeah why not. We then went to Siglouno where we saw RayTay and her flatmate Jo Jo was DJing, however we only stayed a short while and went off to another place with Marta, Lorena, Tom, Philip (dutch guy) and me. We went home at about 7ish and had a really good night and met some great people.

Saturday - Got up late, was going to go to Avila to see the lovely Gema, but in the end I didn't feel like it plus I had loads to do (Lo siento nena si estas leyendo esto). I watched the qualifying for the F1 and was appauled at the Alonso wankfest. The rest of the day I was with Ray and Tom just having a wander and then went to see Real Madrid V Almeria but after that I went to bed cause I was cream crackered.

Sunday - Got up and cleaned my room and then had dinner. Then went for a mooch around the market when the hail came, so I ran to Tom's and got cleaned up and then we went for some dinner and to watch the most boring match ever (Como me aburro Riijkard) barca 0-0 osasuna but met some nice people in a bar who were lovely and reminded me of Yedra' s dad and her friends with good banter flying around.

So far today I have just had dinner and a shower and then I got to sort out some Uni stuff, fun not.

Well I'm leaving this or I will be writing all day.
Os echo de menos

Yo pienso en aquella tarde....

Buenasssssssssssss

Before I start I have to give so many thanks to Japanese Charlie for helping me set all this up as I suck at computers.

Well I have some spare time so I can let you all know what is really going in Salamanca.
I have enrolled at the Uni and stuff and we have a welcome meeting on Thursday which should give us more information and we start properly on the 24th, when we will get our student things and things like that. Apparantly we choose 3 modules from 'filologia' and the rest we can do anything around the uni, physics, pe, basically what we like, I'm hoping to pick up Portugese or Catalá but I don't know if it will be possible.

It was lovely to see Marta and Natalia today, as they were in Liverpool two years ago and we get along fine and I'm sure they will help me should I run into any difficulties. Also they're going to introduce us to more of their Spanish friends which is a good thing, and also people like Bea, Miguel and Anyi all come back in a week or so, so that will be great to see them all and catch up, I'm also imagining that Kiko will be through soon enough as Bea is his girlfriend, and I'd love to see him as hes a top guy.

As lessons have not started I have not been up to much, thinking of heading to Avila tomorrow to see the lovely Gemilla and for a chance of scenery and to get some of them legend cakes they have there! Do'nt know what is happening tonight due to the fact that I may have to get up early to take the train tomorrow to Avila, but if not a few beers could be on the cards I guess.

I love everything about Salamanca, on various occasions I have walked home alone at 3, 5 and 6 in the morning and I have always felt safe, safer than even in Guisborough which is strange as only about 18000 people live there...less chavs, innit. My uni is mint, the people have good crack (well most) and there are plenty of bars and restaurants to eat out in that are all very reasonable, infact some seem too cheap to be true, but hey Tom, RayTay and myself aint complaning. We have found a mint cheap tapas bar called Bambú which is just of the 'Plaza Mayor' (the main square) so in a prime location, we are already becoming one of their best customers I feel. We're also looking less like 'guiris' everyday and hopefully we dont stand out too much, although I guess we do more than some but a let loss than others

Football is back this week! Yey! Hopefully we will find somewhere to check some English games out, mind you I doubt Middlesbroughs trip to West Ham will be on live, which is una puta mierda. Real take on Almeria at 10, so I'll be seeing that.

Reet, I'm going to sign off as the washing machine as finished and I need to peg it out as its lovely and sunny then maybe a siesta....when in Rome..........

Stephen

Put your hands up for Salamanca

Hello all from the beatiful autonomous region of Castilla y León, or if we are being more specific, Salamanca.

I'm setlling in very well now, loving the place and have met some cool people, and others who are just totally annoying and I can't bear to spend more than a couple of hours with them, but hey, I'm happy overall. Luckily I get on like a house on fire with my flatmates so all is good.

Right now I got to go and make lunch as it is lunch time here (2pm)

Adiós chic@s