Trip to Portugal and Galicia (NW Spain)

It seems absoloutly ages ago since I updated this, which it probably is, but I have had good reason, as I have been to Portugal and up to North Western Spain (Galicia) for the first week of the Easter holidays.

To begin with we went to a place called Leiria where my flatmate Léa has two friends who are doing a work placement there so to begin with we went there on the Sunday (Léa and Malargey had already gone on the Friday) so we had to bus it, which seemed to be the longest journey ever, and we nearly missed our connecting bus, but hey, we made it in the end.

After arriving and finding the hostel we went out for a wander around Leiria, which was nice but really small and nothing to write home about to be honest, it was more or less the same size as Guisborough, we then headed out for dinner for some very typically Portguese Spaghetti Bolognase...... and then off to bed as I was absoloutly cream crackered.

Day 2 - Leiria/Random beach

After a nice sleep in we went to a village next to Leiria which I cant remember the name of to see it, but it was pretty shit, plus it was absoloutly pouring down and we were all like drowned rats. So we headed back to Florent and Benoits flat to make dinner (lunch) nd then chilled out until the storm passed....as in many foreign countries a few hours later you could hardly tell that it had been raining so we headed off to the beach for a play in the sand but unfortunatly it was too cold to get in the water, but we still had fun anyway.

After going back to Leiria to have a few jars and then Tom and I made a curry for the Frenchies, cue many comments like, 'I never knew English people ate vegetables', but the way they wolfed down the curry you could see it was a great success.

Day 3 Leiria/Figueira da Foz/Oportoa

Another late start before we headed for Oporto, but first we spent the day in Figueira da Foz, to have lunch and to have a wander around, which was pretty nice, again a small town but once again spoilt by the weather, so far we had no luck with weather, we then headed up the coast towards Oporto stopping of in some random place for a coffee and some snacks. Obviously we got lost looking for the hostel in Oporto, with it being such a big city and us only having some instructions scribbled down on paper, but to be fair Malargey is just like a tomTom so we got their in the end. We were all pretty tired so we headed out for dinner before having a midnight stroll around Oporto before going to bed ready for an early start.

I will update more later

John's visit to Salamanca

Today was a very good day, one of the best since I got here.
About a week ago I got an email from an old teacher (my A level Spanish teacher) telling me that had organized an exchange in Valladolid and that they were planning to come to Salamanca for the day and we had to meet up as we always got on really well despite the obvious age gap and me being a student and him being my teacher.
I have always had lots of respect for him and I have loads to think him for, as if it wasn't for him, Cristina, Kiko and Chino I would have never took Spanish that seriously but thanks to them four I have got to where I am now.
We met up on the morning and went for a breakfast coffee (tea for me) then wandering around Salamanca before going for pinchos and wine before going for lunch (you can see the Spanish life is built around eating) where John paid for everthing and despite me offering he would not take anything, so I ate like a King for free.

I also met some of the students who were doing As/A2 and I thought, 2/3 years ago that was me, and look how far I had come. John spoke to me in Spanish throughout the whole day (which I thought he might) and one of his bilingual students also commented I had a better Spanish accent than him, which I'm sure hurt his pride a little bit haha
some of his students also knew mysister which was a bit wierd, and someone of their names rang a bell with him from LJS.
Anyway I'm going for a little siesta as I am so full before going to pay the rent.

Warning - long post - Emilie n Stephen, the spring and the trip to Portugal among other things

Buenas tardes.

For anyone who has been not aware, I am now kind of seeing a French girl called Emilie. It's quite a long story which I wont bore you all with, but we first kissed on a drunken night out back in November or December (can't remember when) but we were both very intoxicated and not a lot was thought of it at the time. However, the same thing kept happening everytime we went out, with anything only happening when we were drunk or after we'd 'had a few', Emilie had also just split up with her boyfriend so she needed time bla bla bla. Anyway, after Xmas we both admitted we liked one another and that was that, since then we've spent quite a lot of time together (alone and with everyone as our group of friends are pretty much the same due to the fact my flatmates Léa's best friend here is Emilie so that is how I met her.

I don't actullay remember anything about Emilie at all until we kissed, like we always had friends in common and such but I never actullay asking her anything other than the occasional 'Bonjour ca'va?, but Tom can recall me passing comment on one of the first times she came to our flat back in September that she was really pretty, but I can't even remember having a proper convo with her, but we probably never did anyway till after Xmas as before hand we were always flirting or messing about over stupid things. I guess you could say maybe we're spending too much time together (the last 3 nights for example) but to be honest I aint really worried about that as at the time we're just enjoying each other company despite the obvious language barrier, as her English isn't the best and my French is even worse (except from connasse, salope etc etc, gracias a Léa) and obviously we both speak excellent Spanish but at the same time we don't share each others mother tounge but it can be frustrating but at the same time it is also incredibly funny and some of the things we have got mixed up have been astounding.

Moving onto other things, spring has officially arrived! Yesterday walking home from Em's around 2 in the afternoon I went past a pharmacy which had the temperature at 22c, not bad for the end of Feb/beginning of March. With the weather being so nice Em and I decided to go to the park where I was teaching and correcting her subjunctive (anyone who has ever done Spansih will know how hard that is) which was good. We then went for Ice Cream in the Plaza Mayor which was absoloutly packed with people soaking up some rays and after that went home to phone my Mum for Mothers Day (Happy Mother's day Mum) and headed up to the Puerta de Zamora where we had arranged to meet the usual gang (Malargey, Julien, Em, John, Javi) etc for some Sunday night pinchos and vinos.