Back in Santander

Christmas seems a very long time ago now, but still is seems like only yesterday I was writing up my top Christmas films to share with you all. But now I realise that has been weeks since I last blogged and I reckon it’s time to change that now, don’t you?

So let’s start with the Christmas holidays, shall we?

Even though I am loving my time here in Santander, and have not suffered any severe homesickness, I am aware that I can settle very quickly back into home life. I am not necessarily a home bird, but being at home is one of the easiest things to do in the world for me. So I was a little worried that being at home in the UK might make it difficult to head back to Spain.

It didn’t help that I had the most wonderful time. When I first got home, we celebrated by heading straight to the local chip shop. I think most of my fellow British year abroadies had the same idea seeing as my newsfeed on Facebook was abundant in instagrammed fish ‘n’ chip pics. No one else does fish and a chip like the British – even when they claim to, it is never the same, and I have missed this dish an awful lot.

It was even more lovely as our house was decorated with all the Christmas decorations (although not many people put up Christmas lights this year, I found). And our Christmas tree was lovely and tacky, as always with everything up except the angel that I was responsible for.

We sat and watched crappy Christmas TV and all of it made for a very nice, cosy atmosphere. And of course, being with your family (who know who better than anyone) meant you could relax a lot more.

What’s more is I was able to go out with friends who all speak the same language to places that I knew very well. We were able to take pictures like this: we came to the conclusion that this would be the poster for our very successful sitcom. 

So at that moment, I thought: no, I don’t like the idea of leaving here again.

But, when the time came for me to jump on a flight back to Santander, I found myself feeling slightly indifferent. The only way that I can put it is that even though I was not looking forward to leaving the UK again, I was looking forward to being back in Santander if that is even possible. And with that in mind, I was sure that it would all be okay once I had settled back in to the life here. Meeting other language assistants on the journey back was lovely as well as it meant that I didn’t have time to think about leaving my parents at the airport again: we were a’chatting the whole way.

And when we finally were able to get out of the airport at the end, who else was waiting for me but Arina, who had kindly brought along bread (which I would always prefer over flowers). From that moment, I knew it would all be fine even if I do miss home on occasion.

I was proved right as the week went on, starting back at the school and getting back into the swing of things. I was happy to start lessons again, as I often enjoy talking with my students and trying to help them with their questions (lots of them have planned trips to London).

The intercambios and nights out began again, and what is more, the plans for trips away have already begun! And I am so excited for them.

My first trip is in just a couple of weeks when I shall be heading to Madrid and Toledo for a long weekend. There who else should I meet but uni people and I am really looking forward to seeing them. It has been too long.

And I also have Barcelona planned, as well as the break for Semana Santa. This Easter I am particularly excited as Arina and I plan to spend it in Seville, along with anyone who’d like to come. I can’t wait for it as I really do believe it will be something special. But we’ll leave that now and I’ll blog about it later.

Wish I could write more, but I have university work to do so I must stop here. But, I promise to at least try and be more regular with these posts. Hopefully now I have got the first one of the year out the way, the rest will be easy to do.

Hasta luego