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posted by Leo at 5:20 PM

Last night in Spain. Very weird. Still hasn´t really hit me that it´s all coming to an end. Plan to write emails to friends from the trip tomorrow, but in the meantime just a quick thanks to a truly amazing group of people with whom I´ve shared some of the best months of my life. Am strangely ready to go back now - don´t think I have the energy for another week of partying. Hope to see everyone at one of the reunions or back in the UK

hasta luego...
posted by Leo at 6:43 PM

Didn´t post during my last week in Barcelona due to a particularly nasty bout of food poisoning. After months of eating fresh I gave into temptation and got a Kentucky Fried chicken. Thought the burger looked and tasted odd but was too hungry to care. A few hours later the cramps began and pretty much lasted for a week. Hadn´t eaten in over 24hrs so it can´t have been anything else. Seems to have been a weak strain of salmonella - yuck!

Anyway had to give up plans to visit more on my list of selected restaurants and skipped several nights clubbing, but managed to make all my classes and ended up getting ´notable´in the final exam (equivalent to 75-85%) which I was happy with. Since then have had a ´relaxing´time with the folks down near Cadiz on the south of Spain sunbathing, reading (in English for a change), Sherry tasting, eating a wide range of fresh seafood, walking around the streets of Cadiz and generally catching up. Now back in Barcelona for the night of the Merce (big local festival) and four more nights of holiday with little if any study before heading back to Scotland. Only problem is the lack of a flat to live in...
posted by Leo at 5:50 PM

Had a nightmare last night that I was back at the BBC and asked to put out a news bulletin with John Milne at very short notice. On arriving at the broadcast suite I discovered someone else was using the computer and another producer told me they were too important to disturb. Instead I was supposed to use a 1970s computer with a 1 inch screen to put out the bulletin - and there was no TV, script print out or talkback available to help. Remember thinking that the BBC couldn´t possibly expect a decent bulletin but feeling incredibly stressed as the second ticked away. Not a good sign - this is just one in the latest of a series of work related nightmares I´ve had this week, including others in which work colleagues have told me that they intend to destroy my career and getting stuck in traffic with a key interview.

Spain continues to be a blast - hopefully I´ll finally meet up with some of my Spanish friends this week and put it all to good use. Ironically outside of the classroom I´d often speak to more Spanish people back in Glasgow than here (at least over the past week). Tons more UK friends are about to arrive so I´m going to have to start juggling the hours.

Hope everyone´s well back home - scary to think only a month to go... (and yet in the past when I had month long holidays they seemed like an eternity).
posted by Leo at 6:06 PM

Just a quick entry to confirm I am still alive - if only barely. Have had an amazing past week in Barcelona with a really superb bunch of mates. Probably one of the best times out in the city - visited tons of superb restaurants, nightclubs, sailed on a catamaran around the city at sunset, seen Parc Guell (Gaudi park in the north), done a bicycle tour, visited numerous bars, walked miles, listened to singer songwriters, danced to a big band, chilled in several of the city´s squares, sunbathed on the beach and even managed to squeeze in a bit of Spanish learning. All this should explain why I haven´t been updating this too often.

About to have my first night ´off´ - a bit of study, supper and perhaps even an early night (ie before 4am). More soon...
posted by Leo at 6:13 PM

Well another break between blogs. Since I last wrote I finished up at Valencia and had a week of rest in Ibiza and have now arrived in Barcelona for what should be my last month of school.

Valencia was great and once again I met a great bunch of people and had a series of great days out at the science centre, tapas bars, open air nightclubs and much more. Also managed to complete ´Advanced Class 3´at the school so am really getting to grips with the language.

Despite all this it was ironically in Ibiza that I got the best opportunities of the trip so far to put my Spanish to use - chatting with numerous taxi drivers (one of whom seemed generally pissed off at the tourists and told me at the end of the ride he would have chucked out the other passengers at one point had it not been for me - cool!), several Spanish girls and a couple of Spanish guys who let us hitchhike with them after we missed the last bus back from a remote beach. Because the classes are always pushing you to improve yourself it can seem that you aren´t really getting better til you have the chance to speak to the locals.

Ibiza was a different experience this time round. We (me and a mate, Martin, who flew over from the UK) went to the trendier beaches and bars and only had 2 nights at the clubs. The result was that we hardly met many Brits. It also meant that I got a chance to chill out and relax which I needed after the past few months.

Quick recommendations - Pacha (club) as ever was amazing - especially a DJ playing in the small room called James Fielding (I think) who was mixing what seemed to be electronic-house (ie. old style electronic but new music - not electro or techno). Didn´t draw a huge crowd but was the first NEW thing I´ve heard in dance music for years. Bars KM5 and Underground also were great. Though Space (club) was definitely overated. Overall the music is getting harder and harder and some of the prices for a bottle of water (up to 8 euros I think for 20cl) are ridiculous.

Am now really looking forward to my time in Barca. Was very strange arriving by boat yesterday - had a real sense of returning home which I wasn´t expecting to be so strong. I guess after so many travels in so many places it´s a bit weird to be back in a place I know so well. Also the fact I don´t have a flat in Glasgow or London means that I´m pretty rootless back in the UK as well.

Anyway have friends coming over every weekend - people from the Salamanca, San Sebastian & Valencia schools as well as from back home. Also think one of my mates from Sevilla is here as well. In addition several Spanish friends will be in town from the start of September so I plan to put the Spanish to good use.

Running out of credit again so will write more soon---
posted by Leo at 12:35 PM

It´s been nearly a month since the last entry. Can´t believe so much time has gone past.

Am now in Valencia coming towards the end of my penultimate week before taking a break from Spanish studies. I don´t think I have ever been quite this exhausted before.

Since writing last I had a great fortnight in San Sebastian in the Basque country. Made some amazing friends and enjoyed the best nights out since Sevilla. Had timed my visit (by luck) to coincide with the annual Jazz festival. Great music provided free for a week including nightly DJ sets on the beach. Very, very cool.

The school was OK - one of my teachers was the best I´ve had yet. He always knew exactly what he wanted to acheive with each lesson and gave brilliant advice and instructions on how to improve our accents - a topic which is often skipped elsewhere. The other teacher, however, had a ´unique´sense of humour which involved repeatedly telling us we weren´t great at Spanish and pulling ´unhelpful´expressions if we made mistakes. I don´t want to turn this into a character asassination so I´m going to stop writing about her now. The end result, though, was that we did improve our standards even if we didn´t always feel inspired to speak Spanish afterwards.

I´m currently in the ´Advanced´level in Valencia which sounds quite impressive (at least to me). In truth I´m very happy with my grammar, but over the past few days seem to be struggling when speaking. Think (or at least hope) this is just a side effect of being so tired. Currently have classes from 1pm to 7pm each day incl. a 30min break and then will work in the flat from 9pm til midnight or 1am and then a couple of hours in the morning. Not much time for anything else and have yet to explore the city. However I can tell you it is bloody hot. The problem is not the temperature (around 38-40 degrees) but the HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGHHHH level of humidity. I have to take a change of t-shirt for when I get into school (after a 30min walk). yuck.

Computer has just told me I have less than a minute before my credit runs out so I´m going to save this now in it´s rough state and try to write more about the past few weeks soon.....

posted by Leo at 6:14 PM