Thank you

This will be probably my last post. I have to say sorry because in my first post I said that I was going to write everything both in English and in Spanish and I haven't done that.

I would like to have written a bit everyday but I find it very difficult. For me, be constant with something is almost impossible and that has happened with this blog.

In spite of that, I have enjoyed telling you how my travels have been. They have been important events in my life. I have learned lots of things with each one of them and, what is more important for me, I have met incredible people.

I don't know if I will write more once I reach the initial goal of this blog. Maybe, in a few months I will be back telling you how I am spending my summer. Maybe not. Maybe one day I start to translate the posts. Maybe not. Frankly, I don't know what is going to happen with this blog.

I hope you have enjoyed reading it. Thank you so much!

Maria

The Pleasure of Travelling: Part 4 // El placer de viajar 4ª parte (2nd)

The day after my arrival was the one I spent to familiarize myself with the town. I have forgotten to say that in Malta, the towns are too close that you don't know where you are if you are traveling through them. It seems that you are always in the same town because there aren't limits between them.

That day I was going to meet my Egyptian friend. I had to wait for him outside my residence and he would come there. While I was waiting for him, two girls came and asked me if I knew somewhere to have lunch. As I have just arrived, like them, I couldn't tell them a place. They told me that would live in that residence so we shared our phone numbers and they went to look have lunch. After a minute, Ahmet, my Egyptian friend, arrived at the residence and we two went to look for Cortes, my other friend. We three went to eat something and then Ahmet made us a tour. It was a really hot day and we ended up very tired. We were together all the day until middle afternoon. Then, each one went to their respective houses. I went to my residence and there I met who would be my new flatmate, because the girls who were living there, were leaving Malta that day.

As I told you before, I am going to describe you how was the residence. It was a big place, with a big place outside the rooms building with tables and chairs to sit there and be relaxed. It was the nicest part.

There where also a swimming pool but it wasn't as nice as the other place. The water was really hot and dirty. I think they don't clean in the entire summer. The only good part of the pool was that there where sun lounger to lie down and tan your body.

And, what about the rooms? They were small and quite dirty. There was a kitchen and a fridge, small too. The bathroom was tiny. You couldn't move while you were having a shower because the curtain was too near that it even stuck to your body!

The cleaning ladies came only twice a week and we didn't have something with which we could clean, not even a broom. We had to buy washing-up liquid to wash up the dishes.

The room was also too hot. It seemed a sauna. No air passed through it. The best thing was that we could cook our lunch and dinner and, for me, it was funny. I like to cook so I was always preparing lunch. We loved pasta salad so we ate it almost everyday. We also cooked potato salad, macaroni and rice. The best thing I brought there was olive oil.

Little by little, I was making friends because new people came to the residence and I also started my English course.

The first day, we did a level test and then we were told in which group we have to go. In my class, we were 5 people and I was the only Spanish. That was perfect because I didn't have the temptation to speak Spanish. The teacher was quite good and we didn't waste time in the classes. We talk a lot too.

Me and my friends visited lots of places: the islands of Gozo and Comino, Valletta, the capital, Medina, the old capital, Sliema... But the one that I liked more was the island of Comino. It is a place almost uninhabited. There were a lot of people because it is a touristic place. The water that surrounds it is completely clear and having a bath there is incredible. However, I was bitten by a jellyfish. It was really painful!

But, the best of everything I could see there was the nightlife. It was incredible! Everyday, streets were plenty of young people, wanting to have fun and make friends. Discos were free and music was good so it wasn't difficult to enjoy your evenings.

In my travel, I felt hot and I felt fear when I traveled by bus, because the bus drivers drove really fast. But I met a lot of incredible people who I still keep in touch with, I practiced my English, I spent really good nights in the discos and...I have a lot of photos to remember my nice days in Malta!

The Pleasure of Travelling: Part 4 // El placer de viajar 4ª parte

- MALTA -

Last summer, I made an incredible travel (and my last one by now). My destination was a small island lost in the middle of the Mediterranean sea: Malta.

I was given a grant to go to an English speaking country and spend there at least three weeks doing an English course. I didn't know where I wanted to go because there were a lot of possibilities: England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, United States, Canada and Malta.

Going to the States would have been unforgettable but I couldn't afford it. It was a 1,700 euros grant and with that money you can't go so far. Australia was impossible too, and so did Canada.

I had gone to Ireland the summer before so my last possible destinations were England, Scotland or Malta. I compared these three countries and I thought: the weather in England or Scotland isn't as good as in Malta (is summer, I need the hot and the sun!) that means that if I go to a place where it rains a lot I couldn't go the beach. It also implies that you have to carry an umbrella every time you go out (as I did when I was in Ireland) and, moreover, England and Scotland are more expensive so...the decision was clear: Malta will be the country.

One of the conditions of the grant was that I had to search for an English course so once I knew that I was given the money, I started to look for an agency that offered me good prices for my course and my accommodation there. I chose to live in a residence that was quite near from the school and very close to the beach and the places where young people used to go (including the discos!). I will tell you more about the residence in a while.

As I was traveling alone, I decided to ask to the travel agent if there was someone who will travel to Malta the same days I was going. She told me that it was another girl looking for an English course like me. I told her if she could provide me her email in order to contact her and start talking. And that was what she did. After that, Cortes, the other girl, and I, started to talk and surprisingly we get on well very quickly. She had booked another residence, different from mine but, Malta is small so we weren't too far from each other. She was my first friend there.

In my research for more people who traveled to Malta, I found a Facebook group of my school. There, I left a message introducing myself and saying that I wanted to contact with people who were going to Malta. A boy contacted with me. He told me that he Egyptian and that he was living in Malta because of his father job. We too started to talk a lot and, as I spoke English with him, it was good for me because I could practice my English before I went there.

In short: I had booked my course, I had found two friends and the most important thing: I was looking forward to go!

The departure day, I met Cortes at Manises airport. It was early in the afternoon, some hours before we could check-in. It was nice because we could know each other better and share our thrill for the adventure we were about to begin.

The flight was fine, we didn't have problems. When we arrived in Malta, we had to look for the driver we had contract. He would drove us to our residences. So, at that moment, each one would go to a different place but we decided to meet again the next day.

My first night at the residence was very, very strange. I arrived there and a boy took my personal information and brought me to my room. There was a mess. A lot of clothes over the bed and some alcohol bottles over the table but nobody in the room. I left my things on my bed and started to read the information I was given. I wanted to know with who I was going to live but nobody appeared. I was really tired so I decided to sleep. After a few minutes, three girls came up and introduced themselves. I did the same. They told me if I wanted to go the the swimming pool. I said I didn't, of course. It was 5 am and I was too tired.

The Pleasure of Travelling: Part 3 // El placer de viajar: 3ª parte

Some months ago, I was telling you my travel to Ireland but I didn't conclude my story. Here it is the next part.

The school facilities weren't as good as we expected but I have to admit that it isn't important if you want to enjoy your time there and you have some friends to enjoy with.

Once we had been separated into two groups, we went to the our classroom and started to talk a bit with the teacher. She, whose name was Carmel, asked our names and wanted us to explain from where we come and the places we had visited before. That first conversation was a bit cold because we didn't know each other well enough and the teacher seemed to be a bit harsh. She told us that she didn't want to hear a word in Spanish. That is a bit difficult in a group of young people who are experiencing their first contact with another culture and another language, but we tried to follow her instructions and little by little we spoke fluently.

Classes were quite amusing. We did grammar exercises, vocabulary exercises and group conversations. But we also listened to songs and watched some films, in English of course.

Two afternoons a week we had to do an activity called "Project Work". The whole group were divided into groups of 5 people and each one of the groups had to chose an aspect of Irish culture. My group chose "Food and Drink". The days when we have to do the Project Work, we searched information on the Net and made a mural with it. Well, we made two murals: one with the food and the other with the drink. In the latter we talked about Guinness, of course.

The other afternoons of the week we had free time to do what we wanted. We could watch a film, play cards, play basketball or, what we most liked, play volleyball. I remember that volleyball afternoons with a big smile because we really enjoyed it. Me and some friends also spent some afternoons singing English songs. It was really funny!

One day per week, we had a day trip. We visited some places. The one I most remember is the Cliffs of Moher. It is an enormous and beautiful precipice.

We also visited an island that was inside a huge lake that was uninhabited. It was a green and thick forest, with plenty of vegetation and wild little animals. It also had an old cemetery. It was really beautiful.

We couldn't miss a trip to the city of Galway. We lived an hour far from there so we go by bus to do some shopping and see how was the life there. Galway is a city with a lot of street artists: musicians, magicians, showmen, mime, etc. It is a pleasure to walk through its streets.

Leaving apart the school life, I would like to talk about my host family. They were a 4-children family, three boys and a girl. The father was a farmer so we live in a farm. But it really didn't seem a farm. The house looked like a fairy tale house and so did the garden. The views me and my roommate had from our room were incredible. See a big lake surrounded by vegetation we you get up is the best way to start your day!

The mother took care of the house and the family and also helped the father with the animals. They had a lot of them: donkeys, horses, cows, ducks and a dog. She was a really good cook. She made delicious meals for us.

The family treated us very very well. The talk with us and asked us things about Spain and our culture. We also ask the things about Ireland.

My memories of the time spent there are all good things. It has been an incredible experience that I thing everybody should live. Is amazing to see how you can manage in a country that it isn't yours thanks to the people that live there, because the give you all they have and make your stay much more comfortable.

It is also amazing to notice that you can make good friends in a month. Friends that still are my friends. It is true that you can't go out with them because each one lives in a city and it is a bit difficult to see each other as much as we would like. But, in spite of that you know that are your friends and will be there if you need them.

I'll never forget my month in Ireland.

Stiffness

Stiffness: the quality of being firm, hard or unable to bend.

According to the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, feeling stiffness on a muscle implies that you can't move it. I agree with that. It is almost an hour I have finished my aerobics class and I can't move my legs yet. The teacher has been particularly hard today. We have run ourselves into the ground!

We have been doing exercise for an hour and one can say : "It's not that bad". In fact, it's not that bad but I'm not used to do such intense exercises because the teacher we had before this one made more relaxed classes.

The truth is that I prefer this ones because when I finish the class I feel better; I feel new (Well, tired, but new). Thanks to sweat, your body eliminates substances that it doesn't need and that is why you feel revitalized. The best way to do that is doing exercise.

Doing exercise is also good for relaxing and helps to being concentrated. So, although I know that tomorrow I couldn't move myself, I feel good and happy for having done that aerobics class.

To Doubt or not to Doubt

Doubts, little blows, slumps that start as simple thoughts but become, little by little, in a small hole deep down.

Thoughts that expressed on a loud voice seem insignificant but that are hard to get over in one's mind.

The problem is that the main cause of these unnecessary thought seems not to have intention to help me to avoid them.

I think it is (and in fact it is) a matter of character. Every single person is a different world; each one of us feel in a different way and that is the problem. One can express his or her feelings by saying them or by showing them, or both. The heart of the matter, and the heart of my hurting thoughts is what happens when a person needs words and shows of affection while the other part has enough with some acts.

I don't know what to do but what I'm sure is that I don't want to crack up more.

Enough for today.

Rain

It is raining again and that makes me feel depressed. When you get up, look through the window and see that the sun isn't shining because the sky is cloudy, you only want to go to bed again.

This awful weather gets me sad and discourages me. What I need is the sun, because with it I feel full of energy and as I have a lot of things to do, that is a good point in favor. This rainy weather reminds me of winter and I want to forget the cold season.

In spite of the bad weather, I have to oblige myself and spend the whole afternoon doing homework and starting to prepare my exams. I won't go to the library, because I can't take a bike to go there so I have decided to stay indoors and do the same work here. It is a bit difficult for me, because I get distracted very quickly. I will have a break in a while and then, I will continue with my tasks.

What I only hope is that this horrible weather improves soon.

Time Well Spent

Today, it has been a well spent day

I have got up at 8 o'clock. I have taken my cup of coffee with milk, like every single day. If there is a day I don't take it, I feel tired so I need it to be active during the day!

After that, I have dressed myself up and I have arranged all the things I needed to go to the university. Then, I have gone downstairs and I have walked to the "Bicicas" to take a bicycle and ride it to the university. In my way to the university, I have met Alexandra and Maite, that were waiting to take a bicycle to, so I have waited with them and when they had their bikes we three have pedaled to our destination.

When we have arrived, Alexandra and Maite have gone to the library to prepare their Friday presentation and I have gone to my class with the teacher Dora Sales. There, I have finished one of the exercises we will have to hand in in a few weeks.

When this class has finished, we had a Spanish lesson with Isabel García. There we have done some exercises related to the vocabulary. This has been my last class.

I have taken another bike at 13 o'clock, approximately and have ridden it to my house. Here, I have prepared my lunch. I have eaten a complete salad. It contained: lettuce, sweet corn, tuna, cheese, ham, some olive oil and some salad spices. It was really tasty! I love salads!

Then, I have taken my computer and have prepared my things to go to the library. This time, I have chosen the bike again to get there. (It is the best means of transport on sunny days!). In the library, I have been doing the "Memoria de documentación" which the written paper we will have to hand in together with the other documentation exercises we make with Dora. I have been there from 3 pm to 6 pm so I have really get on with it.

After that, another bicycle was waiting for me to bring me back home. When I have arrived, I have left my bag with the computer inside and I have taken my wallet to go to the "Mercadona" to make some shopping. Having finished my shopping, I have cleaned the bathroom, because this week was my turn to do it.

And now, I'm lied down on my bed, with the computer above my legs and writing this.

In brief, I thing that today I haven't wasted my time, so I am very happy for that!

See you soon!

A month

It is only a month to start our exams. A month!

It seems impossible that our first year at university is about to end. It has happened so fast... I still remember my first day and my first class. Our first lesson was a French one, and our faces represented our feelings: nervousness and enthusiasm. We didn't know how university works, how are their classes, how are their teachers...

I have to admit that the first impression was good. My classmates seemed cool and the class wasn't as bad as I had thought. My impression since that day has changed a bit but not because of my classmates.

And now... In a month and a half we will have finished our classes, we will have to say goodbye to our classmates because each one of us will go to our respective towns and cities, we will have to say goodbye to the university until next year.

But, we have a month to enjoy of each other and...to study hard, of course! This last month, is a month that requires perseverance and concentration because we need not to waste our time and we have to start studying as soon as possible.

We have lots of things to finish for this month: we have to read two books, we have to hand in a documentation memory and its practical exercises, we also have to give in a press dossier, write the Spanish book review, we have to write the appropriate number of words in the blog, finish the audiobook and... finally but not less important, we have to prepare the exams.

This semester I want to study hard because I would like to get good marks. I need to beat my last semester marks, it is really important for me because it will imply lots of things and it will imply that my relation with an important person in my life change or not. That's why I have decided that I will do my best to achieve my goal. I am afraid that I am going to spend a lot of hours in the library but it would be worthwhile, I am sure.

I will need a lot of patience but I can do it, I'm sure!

What is happening with the spring?

What is happening with the spring? Where is the hot weather? I don't know what is happening this spring but I'm looking forward to enjoy of the sun in this period of the year one more time.

I want to hide my coat, my scarfs, my gloves, my winter pajama...everything related to the cold!

I want to go out with my sunglasses. I want to wear my T-shirts, my shorts, my sandals...

I want to lie down on the grass at university, I want to ride a bicycle to the beach...

Sun gives us happiness and good humor, it makes getting up more easy...

Spring, moreover, paints the city in colors because flowers grow up and trees become green...

I'm fed up with rain and cold weather; I need the sun yet!

The Pleasure of Travelling: Part 3 // El placer de viajar: 3ª parte

-IRELAND-

On May 2008, I was given a grant to spend a month in an English-speaking country to practice and improve my English. The month was July and the destination was the country of Leprechauns and clover: Ireland.

Two weeks before the leaving day, all the students who have been given the grant, were summoned to a meeting, in which organizers would tell us what can we expect to find when we arrived: food we were going to find, daily habits, weather and, of course, everything in English!

We were given the departure day, together with the time of departure and the city in which we were going to live. From that day I began to get nervous because I was going to live with a family and share with them everything. I thought I won't be able to made myself understood in English and I would have problems with them. But all this stuff was provoked by uncertainty, because I didn't know how my host family would be and I didn't know also if I could manage there. However, everything was perfect and nervousness and insecurity soon disappeared once I arrived there.

The departure day I found myself and some of my friends, who also were given this grant, waiting at the airport to be told the name of our host families. We were there with other people who also would come to the same city I was going to. I forgot to say it was the city of Galway, or at least that was what we thought. Moreover, we first meet there a boy and a girl who would be responsible for our group.

We all had a strange feeling when we were given a paper in which we could find our host family's name. We start to compare names because we wanted to see if there was some relation between our names and we found that there were a common feature: we had been divided into two groups and each group would live in a different town in the County of Galway.

From that moment we started to talk each other and during the flight we shared more feelings and impressions about the journey we have just started.

When we arrived at Dublin's airport, we felt a bit shocked because from that moment English had to be the language of communication and that was something quite difficult for all us.

We had to take a bus to go from Dublin to our respective towns near Galway. It was a 4-hour travel, but it was nice because we could enjoy the green views that Ireland shows and we could get to know each other a bit more.

About 4 o'clock I arrived to Ougtherard, the town in which I was going to live. When I got off the bus, there was my host mum to pick me and brought me to the house that would be my house for a month.

At first, I was going to be the only Spanish at home, but organizers phoned my host mum and told her if she could take in another girl who hadn't have a home. The woman asked me if I would mind to have a roommate and, of course, I said I wouldn't mind it at all. I knew that having a roommate would imply that I wouldn't speak the whole day with the family in English, but at that moment I preferred it because it meant that I would have someone in my same situation and that is a positive thing when you find yourself alone in a country whose language is not yours.

The girl who was to be my roommate was one with whom I hadn't speak during the travel by bus so I didn't know anything about her, not even her name, but that was solved quickly. We got on well and didn't have a problem during the whole month.

The day after our arrival, we had to go to school to take our classes. There we found all the people we had met the day before, even though the ones who were living in the other town, because the school was in mine. There we made a level test to got separate in two groups. Once we had made the test, organizers showed us the facilities of the school. I have to say that was a very old school and facilities weren't so good. There were basketball courts outdoors and also a gym.

To be continued...

The Pleasure of Travelling: Part 2.1 (A special feeling) // El placer de viajar: parte 2.1 (Algo especial)

I wrote this text the same day I come back from my journey to the Sahara desert. It is a translation because I wrote the original in Valencian. I hope you like it!

"Here, at home, some memories come to my mind. Memories about the moments lived in a place whose people welcomed me really warmly, as if I were one of them. That place took in an important number of refugees thirty years ago.

Those people were taken form their country to be exiled to a desertic, infertile land, where no plant grows, but flourish people. There you receive all you need because them, Saharans, give you all they have.

From the first moment you meet them, you notice that they are friedly, cheerful, hospitable, respectful and really really fighter. They have an enormous feeling of unity capable of knock down walls and frontiers. It is a feeling that shudders. Sharans live to fight for returning back to the country that belongs to them and that was once snatched.

It also come to my mind some images that I have recorded in my retina: a starry sky that makes anyone shiver, where you are able to find stars that you didn't know they exist. Stars that shine on your eyes and get recorded forever. There you can observe the fugacity of a star that appears out of the blue and lets you make a wish at the same time that you have the creeps. You make a wish with the same hope it become true that Saharians hope to return to their country and recover their identity.

When I close my eyes I also see the brown of the desert and the blue of the sky, colours that have gone with us everywhere. These tonalities have something deceitful, a different beauty impossible to deny. This beauty and all I've lived there will be recorded in my heart and eyes forever!"

The Pleasure of Travelling: Part 2 // El placer de viajar: 2ª parte

-Refugee Camp in the Sahara Desert-

On March 2008, me and some classmates and teachers, along with more people from other schools, began a journey which destination was the Sahara desert, in Algeria.

That journey was part of a solidarity project promoted by a group of teachers. The goal of the trip was to know how Saharan refugees live in the middle of the desert and brought them some food and other things we thought they would need.

We went there for 8 days. We were living in "27 de Febrero" camp but we also stayed in Dahla camp and visited Smara and Rabuni, other refugee camps.

The best way to know their way of living was living together with them, it was, living in their houses and spending the time with them. We made small groups and we were distributed among the different houses.

Me and some of my friends went to a house that was quite good. Our family was very lucky because their purchaising power was better than the one that other families had. We lacked for nothing because they gave us all they had. It is clear that they don't have as many things as we could have so that's why we should value more all they offered to us.

The house didn't have the facilities one can find in Spanish houses, for example. They didn't have neither a toilet nor a shower, or rather, they didn't have a toilet or a shower our houses use to have. There was a latrine instead of a shower and a hose and some washbasins to clean ourselves instead of a shower.

They didn't have chairs, we sat on the floor over a carpet. When we had to eat, they put some small tables and placed the food above them, but we stayed sit on the floor. They don't use culteries, but as they know that we do they lend some to us. The food the woman did was really good. The only problem was the sand the bread contained. They made the bread so it is normal to find sand grains in it but you get used to the sand crunches quickly.

We made some activitities in the different camps we visited. One of the activities we organized was a concert in which each one of the different groups arrived from Spain had to prepare a performance. My group and I prepared a "Batukada", but other ones prepared typical Valencian dances or even a small play. We repeat it in all the camps we visited and Saharans enjoyed a lot with us. They also prepared some performances and showed us their dancing and singing customs.

One of our trips there was to Dahla camp. Dahla is the poorest camp. It is the farest one so there doesn't arrive the food and medical supplies that arrive to the other camps. There is no road to go to there and traveling there is quite difficult and more uncomfortable. It is a 4-hour journey through the desert in old trucks. Dahla it is also hotter than the other camps, so the day we spend there was a bit harder than the other ones.

Being in the desert is an incredible experience. It is nicer than I would have imagined. Although all you can see is an extension of dryness dominated by brown colour, it has something that captivates you. But what I remember with more emotion is seeing the sky in the middle of the night. I could see it completely clear. I have never seen anything like that. I was the most beautiful think I had ever seen and it is something I will never forget.

And, what can I say about Saharans? Only good things. They treated us really good. They are incredible fighters and know exactly what they want: return back to the country that was once grabbed by someone interested in the richness of the place. It is their country and I hope that thay can return there as soon as possible, because live in the desert is something really hard.

I hope I could go back some day, because it had been an experience that I would like to repeat. I encourage all of you to go there and share your time and solidarity with them because seeing how grateful they would be with you for your visit is the best reward one can bring from a journey of this type!