January 2017: Madrid getaway!

In the midst of trying to adjust to living in la bella Italia to which I moved a couple of days ago, I am trying to pick up the habit of updating the blog again. So let’s go little by little and start by putting together this short post about the weekend I spent in Madrid last week.

I booked a short trip to Madrid, just three days, to visit Erin after her exams before moving to Italy. Honestly, I wanted to check out her hall of residence while I could, but visiting the sister is always a plus. I was curious about what her life in the big city is like.

I woke up at crazy-o’clock on Friday the 20^th and got ready to go to the airport. I was just travelling with a small bag and my new cabin bag – a black American Tourister which I got for Christmas to replace my trusty red suitcase which unfortunately broke while I was away in France. It’s a pretty spacious bag and I really like it; it’s got for wheels so handy to push around and the only drawback is that the handle seems a bit fragile – no problems thus far but I have to watch out and not lift the suitcase by the handle just in case. Travelling so early is a pain but it means you actually get some daylight in the destination once you arrive… I made it to Barajas and headed over to the Metro to get to Erin’s residence. I swear, all subways work exactly the same and the one in Madrid is a pretty good one so I didn’t get lost – even if Erin was sceptical. I bought my 10-journey ticket and made my way to Nuevos Ministerios where I changed over to number 10 and got off at Gregorio Marañón. Erin, being the good sister she is, was waiting for me at the entrance and helped me drag my stuff across the five or six zebra crossings it takes to get to the other side of Paseo de la Castellana. Her residence is amazing! Because it’s so new and international it literally looks like a 5 star youth hostel or something! I went up to her room and since we had some time to spare before lunch and I was knackered, I crashed in bed and took a nap.

Lunch was alright. The catering service is offered by this eatery company called DoEat, which translates into a lot of wraps, ready-made yogurts and hipster food. Not my kind of thing, but I was hungry. I met some of Erin’s friends, Nicole and Fabi, who were really nice and joined us on the tour of the residence- gym, swimming pool, loft terrace… Amazing views by the way!

After lunch we chilled for a bit before heading to Calle de Fuencarral to do some sales shopping. We made our way down the street towards Gran Vía and then to Sol. I didn’t really buy much – there were so many people! I did get a nice black skirt and a denim dress which were really nice.

Once back in her room we decided to order pizza and I introduced Erin to Domino’s. So easy to order and get it delivered it might become a bad habit, but the food was glorious! I was starving and craving freshly baked cookies! That night we attempted to watch The Da Vinci Code and failed after it crashed. It looked like a really good adaptation of the book so I have to get round to watching it again…

On Saturday we decided to go for an early brunch at 11. I learnt that pain au chocolat is called a napolitana in Spanish and felt like a stranger to my mother tongue. I also ate tortilla for breakfast and met some other friends of Erin’s, Belén and Álvaro. Quite a few new things for a short amount of time! Then we walked towards the Estación de Chamberí in Andén 0 museum. The day was sunny but chilly and we had to queue outside and wait inside for ages before we were allowed in, but it was definitely worth it! The station was closed in the 60s and has been restored and opened to the public for free. It was pretty busy as there is a quota of people who can access at a time, but if you’re ever around Madrid, that is a more “alternative” thing to do. I’ve been to Madrid so many times that this time round I wanted to visit some different places and Andén 0 did not disappoint. They showed a very interesting video about how the Metro was first built and how it has changed over the years and then the actual station looks amazing – vintage signs still up and so are the original ticket offices! Definitely worth a visit!

After that we headed to the nearby Casa Sorolla museum. We thought we’d have reduced tickets and, lucky us, since it was Saturday afternoon we got in for free. The house looks like an Andalusian haven in the middle of the concrete city – orange trees and Spanish pottery decorations.  The house itself is amazing; it is full of original objects and, of course, Sorolla’s paintings. I particularly enjoyed his study, which showcased his brushes and some of his most known works, but also I loved seeing his piece ‘Madre’. It was a lovely visit, another successful decision.

Then we were free for a couple hours so we decided to head over to the nearby Natural Sciences Museum. I think this was an alright one, nothing extraordinary. I have definitely seen better ones in other parts of Europe, but to be honest this one is worth a visit at least once, particularly if you have children. I do have to mention how strange I find that you have to pay to get into the museum – I’ve been spoilt in England, most important museums being free to the public!

Then we made our way to Sol to meet with Sofía. Bad decision because that station has like four different exits into a crammed and busy square, especially on a Saturday afternoon. I happened to stumble across Barbara from Bath who is doing her Erasmus in Madrid – what a small world! When we finally managed to find Chopi, we headed towards El Retiro and stopped at Starbucks to grab a snack. I swear, I made those two girls see more Madrid while I was there than all the time they’ve been living in the city! We strolled around the park and saw the lake and then went to Palacio de Cristal only to have the door shut on our faces. It was beautiful to watch from the outside anyway though… We ended up chatting away while eating strawberries on a park bench. Once the sun started setting we made our way back to El Prado – snaky queue going along the building as it was free entry time. We went towards Lavapiés, which is a really cool area I hadn’t been to before. Perfect if you are of a more hippie vibe and looking for international food and enjoying a caña with some friends. At around eight-ish we parted because Chopi was meeting with some girls and we were definitely tired and in need of a good sleep.

Once back near Erin’s place we stopped at Vips for dinner and happened to be served by a guy from the Canary Islands – again, what a small world! The food was really good, berry and mango ice-cream being the best part! That night I skimmed through Erin’s new book acquisitions: Milk and Honey and This Modern Love. I really liked both of them and hopefully I’ll have more time in the future to read them properly.

On Sunday it was my last day in Madrid. We woke up early to go to El Rastro, which Erin had never been to either. The streets were crammed with stalls selling all sorts of things: from clothes and souvenirs to all kinds of junk. We explored the area and bought a few different things: a Jurassic Park pin, a black old-school looking belt, a Thelma & Louise postcard, some old movie star cards… It was a good bunch of finds. We then went back to the residence as the market was starting to become really busy. It was great to go, but watch out for pickpockets!

Back in the residence I packed my suitcase (well, more like put everything back in) and then we chilled for a bit before heading to Oli and Gabi’s house for lunch. We had lunch with them and it was great to see them and catch up. Later it was Oli who drove us back to the residence so I could pick my suitcase up and go catch the subway back to the airport. The trip back was fine and I happened to be sitting beside Ana Oramas, who would’ve known?

It was a lovely weekend in Madrid before embarking on my Italian adventures. Thanks Erin for having me! <3

YA-8: crossing borders and growing up.

Happy New Year! I hope you’ve all had a lovely festive season and I wish you all the best for the New Year.

2016, aside from the popular opinion of it generally being a crappy year for the world (which I agree with), was a pretty good year on the personal spectrum. I finished my second year at the University of Bath with good marks and a great end-of-year BUSMS show called ‘Encore’. I worked at the Open Days in June, which I would love to do again (I mean, a big point of my posts is to help people who are looking into going to study at Bath, so the Open Days were the next natural step!). I travelled quite a bit; I visited Brighton, Stonehenge, Lacock and Cardiff amongst other places in the UK, I went to Utrecht and Amsterdam to visit Sofia. I had a great summer and enjoyed the sun and surf in my home archipelago. I spent four fantastic months in Fécamp, France as part of my Year Abroad working in an English language school – I met amazing people, went to amazing places (including Mont-St-Michel from my bucket list) and gained valuable experience. And then, right before the year ended, I finally passed my driving test and got my driving license.

I really cannot complain about the past year on a personal scale, and 2017 looks promising too. I hope you will accompany me in my adventures, like a lot of you have over the past two odd years.

Today I come to you with a shorter but more reflexive post; a bit of a reflection about my years of living abroad. However, before I do this, I’m going to bring to your attention a couple of links.

Here is my new Facebook page for the blog, ‘Gathering Smithereens’. I thought it was high time I created a page, since most of my readers come via Facebook links and I think it’s an easy way to keep everybody updated. So head over and give it a like!

And, this is the link to my third post on the University of Bath Placements’ Blog. This time I wrote about ‘Things I’ve Learnt Whilst on Placement Abroad’. I think this is one that anyone will find interesting. I was quite concise but I believe I managed to come up with a couple topics anybody living abroad will identify with – and there are tips in there too!

Now, to the topic of this post.

The feeling you get when you cross borders is one that I have talked about a couple of times already on my blog. However, every time that I shift countries it becomes even clearer and it is something I feel like everybody experiences when they travel abroad for a considerable amount of time. It’s hard to explain really. I mean, when you simply go on holidays for one or two weeks the feeling that fills your head is solely the excitement for the short period you’ll be away – a sunny tropical beach, a snow-covered landscape, a cosmopolitan city – because you know you’ll be back home in a blink. The feeling of crossing a border is different. You still feel the excitement of what awaits you in the new place – the people you’ll meet, the things you’ll see and experience – but a big part of you also feels sad for what you are leaving behind, because you know you won’t be back for a while. It happens when you leave home, but also when you leave the “new” place that has eventually become your home over the period you spent there. It happened to me when I first moved away from home to study at Bath, and every time I come back to Tenerife for the summer holidays and leave my second  home, Bath. It certainly happened to me when I left Bath last June and it also happened when I left Tenerife and went to France at the start of my placement. And when I left Fécamp at the end of it. It will happen again in a couple of weeks when I move to Siena in Italy. And I’m certain it will repeat when I leave in the summer and return to the Canaries. A long time ago I came across this quote on Tumblr. Apparently, it is a quote from a film called ‘Motorcycle Diaries’ which is still in my list of films to watch, and I think it sums up this idea of crossing a border pretty accurately.

The excitement of the unknown is always there for the travelers, but the difference of long-term wanderers in the sadness of leaving behind what you do know.

Similarly, a couple of days ago I came across another picture on Facebook. I have no idea who the author of the quote is; do let me know if you do so I can credit it properly.

Airports. I have a love-hate relationship with them. Physically, I don’t really like them. Dragging suitcases around, queuing at the counter to check-in, having to go through security and then wait for what seems like a life-time for your flight, which is not particularly a better experience than the wait. It is a long and tiring experience. However, from a philosophical point of view, I love airports. As the quote states, they symbolize both an end and a start. They are the crossing at the border that I just talked about, particularly for those like me whose home is a tiny island and so don’t get the privilege of catching the train to go back.

But I think the truest phrase in that image is the last: When I arrive back home from being away, I’m never the same person as when I left. Travelling changes you. I want to believe it is always for the better, that with every experience you live through you learn something new and become a better version of yourself. That is why I love travelling. That is why I overcome the challenges, the long waits at lounges and stations, the strain of pulling three bags up a hill on my own. It doesn’t matter because, at the end of the day, the things you will remember are those which shaped you into the person you are today, not the small annoyances of the journey.

It might sound stupid, but a simple example of how travelling has changed me is in helping me a great deal with my confidence. I am and have always been an introvert. Growing up I was always the listener and rarely the talker and, even though I had quite a large and close group of friends, I have always enjoyed time to myself. By travelling on my own, I have had to get over my shyness because of the situations in my path. When I was at the train station in Massy on my way to Fécamp last September, I was running out of time and didn’t know what to do. The pressure of not missing my train made me lose my inhibitions and ask anyone I came across with if they knew where the platform was – in French, or course. I didn’t care if I made mistakes, I didn’t care what they thought of me, I just needed someone to help me out so I could get myself on that train. In the moment, it wasn’t a great experience, but in retrospect, I’m glad that it happened because it made me realize I am now able to do things I once always tried to avoid.

Travelling has not only showed me amazing places in this world, but it has also allowed me to meet incredible people and helped me shape who I am now. Travelling solo has shown me that I am strong and resourceful and, even though I am still shy and probably will always be, I can take care of myself and solve problems on my own if I have to. I can get out of my shell and go up to people and strike a conversation with them. Yes, I still prefer time to myself, but I am not confined to being alone if not approached anymore. Travelling still makes me anxious at times, but the thrill of what awaits me and knowing that the situations I’ll face will change me are what keep me packing my bags again and again.

I am certain that at the end of 2017 - even in a couple of months for that matter -, I won’t be the Zoe I am today, but I hope the change will be for the better. Life is all about improvement and making the most of your time in this world, isn’t it?