Hey all!
It’s been a
while since my last post and I just wanted to start by thanking you all for the
lovely messages I got after it went live. It was nice to know I’m not alone in
neither my frustrations nor my lack of plans regarding ‘what’s next?’. The
holidays are not a great time for those struggling either, as you get all the
questions from your nosy relatives – have
you found work yet? What are you up to now? Surely you have something in store
by now… Any boyfriends? Any girlfriends? – hang in there, it will be over
soon.
My life at
home hasn’t changed much. I’m still (unsuccessfully) waiting to hear back from
my degree equivalence at all. The
fact that I’ll be applying again but for the MA this time is no more encouraging…
I’ll be ringing them up again to see if I get any information but at this point
I’ve given up on the ways of the Spanish government and bureaucracy…
I’m still
doing some translation work which allows me to try out different fields and I’m
teaching some English conversation lessons. I’m almost done with the legal
translation course, which has been super interesting and a great introduction
to legal translation… doing a Law degree though, that’s a whole different
story. Anyhow, I’m not going to get much more career-wise out of being at home,
so the plan is to job hunt this January to find work in France beginning in
March. If you have any recommendations regarding areas to look at, hmu, I’m
looking for a student city which isn’t too large as I plan on being there only
for a few months (think Erasmus vol.2).
In regards
to the traineeships, again, I’m still waiting on those. If by some sort of
miracle I’m selected, that would solve my ‘I want to go away in March to some
place where they speak French’ situation quite nicely, so I’ll keep you posted,
but in the meantime I’d better start looking for alternatives…
GOING BACK
TO BATH
Something I
was really looking forward to was going back to the UK for the 9 days I’d
booked to attend my graduation. I was quite short on time, but I managed to fit
in quite a lot!
We
travelled on the 3rd of December and Dad and I arrived in Bath super
late, at around 2am the next morning, but fortunately it hadn’t rained so we successfully
dragged our bags along the canal road and into our Airbnb and cranked up the
heating.
Wednesday
was an errands day. I had to do a few phone calls and go to the station and
bank. We also visited the Christmas market (hectic as always), since my Dad had
never been. It was weird to be back. It felt the same and different at the same
time. Thinking back on the few days I spent there, I realized that, cheesy as
it sounds, I’ve changed and I’m kind of glad I didn’t feel as connected to Bath
as I thought I might feel – I’m moving on and hopefully to new and better
things. I managed to do my Christmas shopping and buy myself a tub of Alpro
coconut yogurt (I haven’t had yogurt in ages, so if you know of good non-dairy
non-soy brands I can find in Tenerife let me know!).
I’d been
waiting for Thursday since August, when I booked Hamilton tickets *heart emoji
face* I really didn’t think I’d manage to see the show, but I was so glad I bit
the bullet and bought us tickets (which, for what we paid and the view, ended
up being pretty gooooooooood!). We took the train to London around 10am so we
would avoid all the morning commuters and then headed to Victoria to pick up
the tickets before stopping for lunch at Wasabi (can’t say no to some sushi).
There was a group of carol singers nearby so it really felt festive! Our
tickets were for the matinée, so we browsed a few shops inside the station
before heading to the queue outside the Victoria Palace. I loved Hamilton! I
was truly curious to see how the music would look like set on stage (after
listening to the album on repeat for the last two years) and I was not
disappointed… It was also lovely to go to the theatre with someone else for a
change, since I’ve been so many times on my own in the past year or so. Don’t
get me wrong, I love doing things solo but it’s nice to be able to chat about
our impressions. Dad was happy. I was happy. I bought merch. I took pictures. I
ticked another show off the bucket list. Wins all over.
Then we
headed towards Oxford Street, which was pretty stressful because of rush hour,
but it was dark outside and we wanted to see the lights (and I wanted to stop
by Lush…). We wandered around the busy streets for a bit, admiring the
Christmas light extravaganza and then decided to go to Paddington station to
chill and have some food. We had quite a lot of time to kill but it was alright
as we just waited inside the station and we were both quite tired anyway. A few
hours and one annoyingly delayed train later, we were back in Bath in our cosy
studio flat after a long but exciting day in London town.
On the
Friday I’d arranged to meet up with a few friends. I had coffee with Emilie in
the morning and it was lovely to catch up! And then I went up to campus to meet
James and also have a chat. It felt so bizarre to hear about campus life now
that I am so detached from it all… I miss it, but at the same time I know
staying in Bath wouldn’t have made sense. In a way, it reminded me of my
Erasmus in Siena – I had an absolute blast while it lasted but stretching it longer
would have been a bad idea because those there change and, let’s be real, I also
feel old. It was great to catch up though; I know I still have people around if
I ever find myself needing a sofa to crash into!
On Saturday
morning Dad left super early to take the train to Pewsey to visit the fam,
while I stayed behind as I was meeting Vidushi for breakfast and Megs for
lunch. It was great to see V again and hear about the few weeks she’d spent at
home. We missed Amélie but she was in France visiting her fam… Almost a Brendon
reunion, we’ll have to save that for another time! Then I went to finish off my
Christmas shopping, visit a few charity shops and antique markets. I had some extra
time to kill so I decided to go for a walk around the Circus and Crescent and I
bumped into an artisan market in Queen’s Square which had lovely stuff! Then I
met with Megs and we went to Beyond the Kale for lunch – I’d never been before but
oh my days, it was wonderful and there was no way I would’ve been able to
finish that delicious roasted veggie wrap! It was huge! I’d really missed Megs,
my travel buddy and partner in crime, so it was lovely to see her again and
such a coincidence that she happened to be spending that exact weekend in Bath!
Later that evening I took a very packed train to Pewsey and made it to Josie’s
just in time to kiss the nieces and nephew good-night. Such a long day!
Sunday was
a pretty chill day. After breakfast Josie took Izzy, Dad and me to the garden
centre to see the animals and so that my Dad could buy some (more) seeds and
bulbs. Then we had lunch and, while Dad, Josie and Jamie were away for Jamie’s
taekwondo grading, I stayed at home, did some work and played cards with Izzy,
Pheebs and Bill. Our visit to the fam was short and sweet, but I was glad we
managed to fit it in as we don’t get to see each other very often (also, I got
to meet their cute dog Maggie) <3
On Monday I
met up with a few other people – squeezing in a short catch-up with Mia and visiting
my former landlady Sara, which was really nice. I also did a few last minute
shopping and then went to bed early since I was working as an usher the next
day and I had to wake up early to get to the Assembly Rooms by 8am.
Working at
the graduations was cool. A little bit like summer, but a lot more hectic as
there were few of us and this time it all went down in the same venue (gowning,
photography and the actual ceremonies), so there were a lot of people around. A
few people I’d worked with back in July were there and I got to see Prince
Edward again, our Chancellor, and a few of the honorary graduands were really
interesting, like the curator of TED, Chris Anderson. It was a long day and I
literally didn’t see the sunlight at all, but it was good and also gave me an
idea of what would be happening the following day… my graduation!
On
Wednesday morning we slept in a bit, had breakfast and then got ready to head
up to the Assembly Rooms to pick up my gown while another ceremony was going on
so we’d avoid the mass of people (top tip right there). We made the most of the
sun outside (the day had begun gloomy and raining) to take some photos and then
stopped at Boston Tea Party to have lunch. We then went to the departmental
reception and it was great to see everyone again, course mates and teachers
alike. It was interesting to hear what everybody has been up to over the past
few months and it was a lovely group photo opportunity.
 |
| 'It's like a renaissance painting' - Fitz, 2019 |
We then
went back to the Assembly Rooms for registration and the ceremony, which began
at 5pm. Dad had a front-row seat, so we couldn’t have asked for a better view,
and the ceremony itself was pretty chill. I’d done the whole shebang before and
had sat through 4 exact same ceremonies the previous day, so I knew how it
would go down. To be fair, it just felt like a fun event with friends to
celebrate that, after all our hard work, we made it. We graduated. We are
Masters of Arts. After the ceremony and handing in my gown, we stopped by the
Airbnb to drop off some stuff and went to Nourish for dinner. I had walnut bolognese
and Dad went for laksa curry, plus a shared chunk of chocolate cake with fresh
fruit for dessert. It was all delicious and I’m glad Dad enjoyed it, because
his previous vegetarian experiences haven’t all been great… After heading back,
I left Dad at the Airbnb and joined my course-mates at Brew House, like the
good old times, to have a drink. The highlight of the night was a tipsy Steve
who later on showed up randomly at the pub… We almost got him to come to Opa
with us, but alas it was only a few of us girls who went. At around 1:30am I
decided to go back to the Airbnb since we were flying back home the next day
and had to get up early.
The trip
back was fine. I was really tired from the lack of sleep and our flight was
delayed due to French air traffic strikes, but we got there eventually! Good-bye
England (at least for now)!
CHRISTMAS
Once back
home I had a fair bit of work to catch up on before heading to Las Palmas to
spend Christmas with my family, but managed to squeeze in a Christmas dinner at
La Verdulería with my friends. I hadn’t seen a few of them in a while so it was
great to hang out, I’m super lucky to have such a tight girl gang <3
This year for
Christmas I decided to make a vegan nut roast, which was a success with
everybody except for me lol As every year, we had our Christmas Eve dinner and
exchanged presents and then took the boat back home on the 25th and
opened the rest of the presents at home. I must’ve been a good girl because I
got all I asked Santa for!
These past
few days I’ve been working and trying to get back into the swing of exercising because
it really helps my mental health and it’s been slightly up and down lately. Similarly
to last year, my NYE plan is to spend the evening with my family and then meet
up with friends to go to a house party in Tegueste – an easy option but last
year we had incredible fun (and a massive hangover – hopefully not this time!).
As I’ve
said, I’ll be job hunting this January and then in February I’m spending a week
in Caen, Normandy because I have been selected to be part of the international
jury of Prix Liberté 2020, a prize developed by Région de Normandie to
encourage young people to think about human rights and freedom. I’m the only
Spanish representative and, along with 23 other young people from around the
world, we’ll be shortlisting the candidates. I’m super excited and I can’t wait
to meet the others and see what the week has in store for us!
2019 has
taught me a lot. It has shown me I can be strong, it has shown me I should be
more confident about myself and it has shown me to successfully bullsh*t my way
through situations when there is no other choice. It has also been one of the
hardest years of my life. I’ve felt really down, lonely and frustrated and I’ve
learnt that sometimes asking for help when you’re struggling is alright (in
fact, it’s probably something you should
do). I’ll now take all these lessons with me into 2020 and I do hope what the
new year has in store will be good. We’ll find out together!
Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year <3
Zoe
