Post GCSE reunion in Alicante

Fresher’s week is a strange and wonderful time where even the most tenuous of common interests can build friendships for life. Yes, there are T-Shirt parties and other outings of the like, but there are also the obligatory school meetings where you are introduced your school family for the next, say 3-4 years. In my case: the LCS family (Language and Communication Studies). Now this school is a particularly tight knit group, but even so, at the beginnings there are some divisions. Not because people are not welcoming, just because you are grouped based on your level of language. So for me, I was in Post-GCSE Spanish. As was Katy and Stefano.

As you can imagine, when there is only 3 of you in a group, you get to be pretty close. But when year abroad time came, we would have to be split up and scatter ourselves over Spain. I headed to the North (as you know), Stefano went to Madrid and Katy chose to take up study at the University of Alicante.

Katy lives there, sharing a flat on the sea front with the lovely Francesca (lucky things), another good friend of mine from UEA. I was always going to visit them at some point, but the original plan was to spend my birthday weekend in November. But things got too exciting and when I found out that Stefano and possibly Gemma (another UEA lady who did go) were heading there, I decided to jump on the bandwagon.

And I am soooo glad I did as it was pretty fab.

Despite the long train journey (8 hours to be exact), it was totally worth it. I arrived at the station to see two smiling faces that I had missed very much. I got a short tour of UA and even sat in one of the translation classes, which seemed very difficult and made me very pleased that I decided to take a work placement for this year. When Stefano and Gemma arrived from Madrid, it meant the weekend could no ensue properly.

Not only was I able to an incredibly warm day at the beach, I was actually able to take a relaxing swim in the sea. I am a water baby and love to swim out to the buoys, but I am particular careful here in Santander as there are considerably more rocky areas and rougher waves. And on the shore, I was able to just lie calmly and enjoy the heat. What’s more is that I was able to do all this with mindless and fantastic conversation.

I am here to make new friends and to improve my Spanish, and I am loving it. But I have to admit that it is nice, sometimes, to be able to talk without having to think, with people you are already very friendly with. I was able to simply relax.

We continued to relax for most of the weekend, enjoying dinner at an Italian (I had a chorizo pizza  - t’was amazing) as well as an ice cream at the 3^rd best ice cream parlour in Spain. Don’t get me wrong, I think being the 3^rd best at anything should be credited but I found this quite odd marketing. I guess there must be an official thing, but it wasn’t indicated, so it kinda looked like the shop itself had just decided it was only 3^rd best. Surely you would say THE best, no? The ice cream was pretty damn good though, and they gave generous portions. I had some white chocolate and dulce de leche, which was lovely and I was told to enjoy it by passing strangers which was both nice and strange.

And of course, it wouldn’t be a weekend away with your uni friends without some alcohol. Having purchased some already we figured it must go, so we drank as we chatted and watched Doctor Who (an episode that I did not fully understand as I have not seen this series yet despite it being on a to-do list). My choice of drinks tends to be one of two: the first being JD and coke, and the next being Desperados. I enjoy both very much, but have yet to have Jack Daniels here in Spain as it doesn’t seem to be very popular. This weekend though I wasn’t really feeling any specific type of alcohol so just went along with what anyone else liked. Including 4 euro vodka. At 4 euros you just had to buy it! Katy and I split it, mixing it with lemonade and it was … revolting. Like seriously, it tasted like paint-stripper. It was awful, and my face clearly showed my opinion as Katy and Stefano burst into laughter. When it comes to giggling, us three are easily influenced by one another and then I just couldn’t stop to the point where I had to leave the room.

On a separate note, we also noticed, but did not buy ‘cannabis-flavour absinthe’ … okay Spain.

The castle was another notable trip. Personally, I thought it was very interesting, dating back to Moorish times. If you aren’t interested in the history aspect though, it is worth a trip for the views alone. It sits high above the city, so you are able to get a fantastic scene of the sea and the buildings below. And some of the buildings are also very pretty – especially those with all sorts of vivid colours.

Churros and chocolate – that was another highlight.

I was so sad to leave by the end, as we had such a wonderful time. And it really made me realise how lucky I am to have such lovely people as my friends. But let’s not get too soppy - I am sure I will see them again soon. Even then we were already planning a trip to Madrid to happen in the next couple of months, and I am sure you will read that blog post when it comes to it.  

Hasta luego.