DAY 231: Gracias Madrid

It only seems right that I end this blog in the hungover state in which I have written so many of these posts.

It was my work leaving party last night...or "despedida" as they call it here and I think everyone enjoyed one too many drinks. The 9 of us in the department went out for a lovely dinner to Mabel´s favourite restaurant, Makkila, and the amount of food that was ordered was ridiculous. In classic Spanish style, it all was all made to share, and we had croquettes, Spanish omelette, Spanish ham, bruschetta, pork, a goats cheese salad, spicy Spanish potatoes and lots more - all the food I love and am definitely going to miss. And of course with that all, we were all on the "cañas". A "caña" is a wee Spanish beer that everyone orders here. The guys were sweet enough to get me a wee leaving present as well, a photo of all of us in a beautiful frame, sweets and big card with lots of lovely comments signed by all of them, and of course I cried, which of course is now caught on camera. Cringe. Then I had to make a speech, which after a few beers and in a "fragile" state ended up being a complete mess. Anyway, we then headed on to a bar, after ditching the Big Boss who, (shhhh - no one really likes), and a many gin and tonic were ordered and the conversation moved on to sex, cocaine and Geordie Shore. Here it´s called "Gandía Shore". It´s fair to say that this morning, everyone is looking a little bit pale. 

So that´s it, my time in Spain has come to it´s end and I can´t quite believe it. Highlights - I don´t know, there are too many to choose from. The girls at work have been so lovely to me and I am really going to miss them all. Yes, there have been some days where I have had shit all to do, but generally I am kept reasonably busy - for Spanish standards anyway - and it is a fantastic experience to have. Events Management is definitely something I would be interested in doing in the future. The Spanish way of working life is damned relaxed and although in some senses this can be great - arriving into work late and no one caring, taking your time to do tasks, lots of coffee and fag breaks and a middle-day siesta - it also pinpoints the reason why the Spanish economy is so bad, and although I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here, it is sadly not where I want to live in the future. I think my department is special, we all get on so well and there is a sense of humour between us all, which is what made last night even more great. As Mabel said last night "I wish we all went out together more".

Of course there are also all my British and American friends I have made and I have good memories with them too. The number of pre-drinks I have hosted at my puny flat, having the neighbour complain far too many times, and the number of nights out finishing at 7am - is something I will never forget. Spanish nightlife is pretty crazy and it´s fair to say that everyone effectively dies the next day. Clubs in the UK are closed by the time people start going out here, and arriving back in daylight is something I wasn´t entirely used to. Kapital, Shoko, Joy Eslava, Starstudio, Space Monkey, Ocho y Medio - been to them all. Best nights, hmm, our St. Andrew´s day party where we all dressed up in tartan and painted the Scottish flag on ourselves, whilst Jared, a guy we all think is a bit of a "legend" turned up with his Ohio flag, not really understanding that it wasn´t just a "where you are from party". Any nights out with Andrew have been great, and very drunken - I blame him for all my chunders. The top one being a spontaneous Tuesday night out which ended up with us dancing on a bar, getting cava poured down our throats and people dressed up as LMFAO in their underwear dancing around the place. I have to also mention Oktoberfest which was absolutely brilliant. Cheesy music and some good old routines, whilst chugging litre glasses of beer and high fiving a terrible Elvis tribute act. I had my 21st birthday in Kapital, the 7 floor club which I absolutely love, but sadly I don´t remember much of that night. I´ve been told I was having a good time though as I ran up and down all the floors with no shoes on. Kapital the other weekend with Emily was pretty good as well, running away from creepy Spanish men and Emily telling a guy that he was a 5 after he asked her to rate him. 

With these friends I have also traveled around Spain, taking the party with us of course, and those weekends that we haven´t traveled we have found something else to do. Madrid has so much opportunity for that. The Retiro Park is genuinely one of my favourite places in the world, and generally Madrid is just a really beautiful city and always thriving.

Living on my own has been a challenge certainly and it definitely has advantages and disadvantages. I would, however, recommend it to anyone. There have been days where I have felt lonely and it is with that that you really have to push yourself to either meet up with people or do something productive. It´s good to keep busy. And there have been days where I guess I have had too much time alone with my thoughts, and I am a mahoosive overthinker, and this can really affect you, and make you feel sad, worked up, or even a little bit crazy. But, as I have mentioned before, there are advantages and generally I have loved it. It´s so relaxing and so free and as cheesy as it sounds, you learn a lot about yourself. 

The first blog I wrote was "La gordita inglesa" as I very much worried I would put on lots of weight here because of the Spanish food. Sorry to say, I have, I feel like a whale right now, but at the end of the day I have enjoyed myself and in a few days everything will be back to normality and back to a healthier lifestyle. People talk about the "Mediterranean Diet" and how healthy it is, but let me just say something, Spanish food is NOT healthy. EVERYTHING is fried, dripped in olive oil and salt and practically everything is full of carbs. Beers aren´t seen as alcoholic drinks here, it´s just the same as having a coke, and so you drink it whenever because seriously, that´s what they do.

My flight back to Edinburgh is on Sunday night and it is a weird feeling knowing that it is not a return. 2 hours left in this office, and I can feel that the tears are building up. 

Madrid, Spain - you have been fantastic. Te querré para siempre.

DAY 220: ¡Como no te voy a querer..! ¡Hala Madrid!

For those of you who have the delight of having me on snapchat, you will know that I was very much "going hard" this weekend. Yes, it was the Champions League final of Real Madrid v. Atletico Madrid, and Madrid....was wild. 

I´ll start off with Friday night though as I went off to one of my favourite clubs, Kapital, which is one of the biggest in Europe with 7 floors. Hosting the pre-drinks yet again, because I am lets face it an oh so a fabulous host, I decided to use up any left over alcohol from previous pre-drinks by making a sangria. This consisted of a big red bucket filled with 3 bottles of wine, a bottle of gin, a third of a bottle of vodka, fanta lemon, lemon concentrate and chopped up fruit. Very, very lethal...but very very yummy. The Spanish certainly know what makes up a good drink. Anyway, fair to say it went down a storm. Miss Neighbour Next Door was once again not happy, as she banged on the walls on several occasions, but as per usual, we ignored her, only ever silencing ourselves for like 30 seconds after she had banged. That woman will be glad to see me go next week! So after pre-drinks, of everyone being fascinated by a very lively Lorena who had been drinking since the early hours, and of course a little bit of dancing to the Spice Girls, we headed out to "Kapi" to bust some moves. The night was mainly spent on floor número 4, the reggaeton floor, grinding it up on Spanish men and trying to bag ourselves free drinks. There, we came across a man who claimed he was the footballer Marcelo´s bro, and after not believing him at first, he pretty much proved us wrong with lots of photos with Marcelo on his phone and the fact that they really did look very very alike. It was at that point I then decided to head up to the smoking area on the 7th floor where I was continuously hit on by one very persistant Spanish man who would just not leave me alone. He told me that going home with him would be "the night of my life" and that I have "never experienced good sex until I had been with him". I beg to differ, love. After then telling him that I was not going to go home with him, he then, proper gentleman and all, invited me to the bathroom so he could "show me his huge penis". I declined the offer. That wasn´t the only compliment that night I got though, as as I complemented Emily´s friend, Vanessa, on her outfit, she goes to me "What? Are you serious? I just wish I could dance like you!"....I think she was joking....me stumbling around taking selfies is not what I would qualify as being a good dancer. But hey, thanks anyway.

Now I must talk about the football. Have I ever been excited about football? No. But how can you not be when THIS match is going on in the very city you are living in. As I said earlier, Madrid, was crazy. I met up with Sanderson, a huge huge football and Real Madrid fanatic to go and find a bar to watch the match in. Now, thinking we were being clever, we thought we would go nearly 3 hours before the match in order to get seats, and just start drinking early. We weren´t clever though as everyone else had exactly the same idea and trust me, every single bar was filled to the brim. It was then at this point we decided to walk back to mine, go to the corner shop to get LOTS of booze and watch it mine. Emma then came round to join us and then Andrew and his friend Beth after telling him he could only come round if brought us food. Which he did, the sweetie. I´ll put it out there, I didn´t think the first half of the match was very good, and I was pretty sure that Atletico were going to win after that first goal. ¡Vamos Real! You could hear the guy in the flat opposite me lighting some sort of fireworks from his balcony and we knew that as soon as we headed outside, everyone was going to be getting "mad wit it" - I do live right next to San Bernebeu after all...! My mother, meanwhile, was texting me from a bar with my Dad, cheering about the fact that she could stay in the bar for another half an hour, and therefore she would buy herself "yet another strawberry daquiri"...oh Mum. We decided to stay in the flat for a while before heading out to the madness and when we eventually left, we stopped back at the corner shop and I have never seen that place so full or crazy. Normally it´s just me in there buying my diet coke and cigarettes, but this time, oh my god, there were like 50 people all screaming and so much stuff was being stolen. All the alochol was gone and so was basically all the food. It was then time to head down to Cibeles. Now the saying goes that when Real Madrid win everyone goes to this area, Cibeles, and if Atletico win, to a place called Neptuno. Police were absolutely everywhere, and as we got to centre, there was the biggest crowd (thousands and thousands of people) - I don´t think I´ve ever been so squished. It was madness. There were fire crackers, flames, beer everywhere and of course so much chanting. "COMO NO TE VOY A QUERER...." "ASÍN REAL MADRID! ASÍN! ASÍN"....."HALA MADRID".....I was so into it....as my snapchat lovers should know. The plan was to wait there whilst the team flew back from Lisbon to Madrid. They would arrive back and come to Cibeles, at about 2am...what was planned. But no, they didn´t end up arriving until 6am and we had long gone before then, apart from Sanderson, who stayed by herself, in that shambles of a crowd, until the very end. I have never seen her so passionate about something. I don´t think ever seen any fan that passionate about football.....and I have two older brothers.....Hearts season ticket holders and all.....GO THE JAMBOS!. Somehow, I didn´t end up getting home til after 5am though.

I met up with Emma on Sunday for lunch and we sat in a cool "urban playground/plaza", eating tostadas and watching live Spanish music. It was great and so "hipster". Again, the atmosphere was buzzing. After then a little siesta at Emma´s pad, we met up with Sarah again for some more Real Madrid madness in the Puerta del Sol, where at 8.30pm the team would arrive and show off the cup. Was pretty cool, was pretty cool. Another huge crowd and another lot of chanting. As Sarah then stayed on afterwards for some beers with some other friends, I decided, sensibly, to go home. I had lasted on about 6 hours sleep the entire weekend and my bed was very much needed. Avoiding the metro, as my line goes to Bernebeu, where the team where then heading, I walked back, and my bed was so comfortable. I did not want to leave it this morning. 

So here I am, second last Monday of work....not really doing any work. Coffee in my hand, pencil skirt on, tired as fuck and smiling about my fantastic weekend. Madrid I love you. ¡Hala Madrid! 

DAY 213: Me meaban los perros

The past couple of weeks have been fairly "normal" ones in Madrid. We had a bank holiday, yet again, on Thursday, so I was out for drinks on Wednesday night with a few friends....aiming to get the last metro home at 1.30am but instead arriving home 4.30am....my bank holiday was spent in bed watching Harry Potter. Last Friday it was Emma´s birthday, a big flat party eventually shut down after a neighbour called the police followed by a night out at Ocho y Medio Club...which if I´m honest is all a bit of blur, but apparently I was being very "loving" which I guess is better than my classic angry Sarah drunkeness. This most recent friday we went to Shoko but bailed quite early due to the lack of good music. When I say early, I mean 4.30am....this is Spain after all. On Saturday I went to Alcala and watched "Tangled" with Liz and Leo for I think the third time this month....such a loser....but such a great film...and then yesterday I met up with my friend, Emily, from Germany, who has just arrived in Madrid for univeristy after doing her Erasmus year in Paris. We drank A LOT of sangria...the jug seemed to be bottomless...and then chilled in the Retiro park with Liz and Lorena, where I happily indulged in an afternoon tipsy siesta on the grass in the sunshine. That was soon followed by yet more booze with a couple of beers with some good old chat about babies, Spanish tendencies, food, men and my now favourite Spanish phrase "me meaban los perros"......"I was so drunk, dogs were pissing on me"....aka "I passed out". 

Work has been fairly busy and I think I will be really sad when I leave it....depite some things driving me crazy, Mabel, as always, is such a sweetie, firstly organising a going away dinner for me, and secondly, after just spending the weekend in Ireland this weekend, where she met up with Niall Horan´s parents (family friends yanno...), asking them to get Niall to send me some One Direction stuff....hahaha, such a babe. I must also note that now into her summer wardrobe she is looking even more stunning. She walked in last week in this outfit that someone like Nicole Scherzinger would wear, hair done perfectly wavy, pretty make-up and killer heels....she looked like a blooming supermodel. No surprises when later that week, she told me that I was looking really nice and I blushed bright red thinking "omg the supermodel is saying that!" I actually feel as though I´m becoming more arrogant with my looks whilst I´m here though what with men always shouting "guapa" at me down the street. Not that I approve of this, and knowing that the men here only do it because of my pale skin and light hair and the fact that all Spanish men are complete sleazes....but still....when I walk down the road or into a club in Newcastle, lets be honest...I am not going to get that sort of attention!

Liz was asking me the other day if I am going to miss my wee apartment here. I guess there are kind of mixed feelings in regards to that. There are downsides to living alone definitely, you do get loney and you really always have to make an effort with people to keep your social life up. I´m also just a massive mahoosive over-thinker, so spending all that time alone can make your mind go a bit mad and fill up the ash tray with hundreds of cigarette butts! On the plus side, there is so much freedom, when I´m hungover I don´t have to talk to anyone (not the most sociable hungover person here....in fact...I generally just dislike people when I´m hungover...), I can eat when I want, sleep when I want, ignore tidying up for a while and of course the best part...NAKED TIME! I would say I spend 90% of the time in my flat naked....I´m even sleeping naked now, which before I ALWAYS had to have my jammies on lol. The only downside to being naked is the cooking part....oil splutters are not the funnest on bare skin!

Finally, although I´ve never been the biggest football fan ever.....of course the excitement of Atletico winning this weekend was great fun....town was filled with people in their Atletico strips all weekend and every single madrileño was in a good mood. ¡Viva Madrid!

DAY 212: El reencuentro ecuatoriano

After my wee break in Barcelona I had some visitors come to Madrid - Graeme and Elaine who I spent my "gap yah" with in Ecuador. They weren´t staying with me, to their own benefit of not having to deal with my unwashed dishes, stench from the shower drain and general mess, and despite me having to go to work in the mornings, it was so great to see them in the afternoons. 

On Monday, after a reasonably busy day of work and a fair amount of sweating in my tight pencil skirt, which I really shouldn´t be wearing in this weather, I headed off to meet the others for some chill time in the Retiro Park...truly one of my favourite places in the world. Now, seeing as we don´t have a beach here in Madrid, this is where people go to tan and so to Matt´s delight (Graeme´s friend), I found a nice wee patch with lots of practically naked women. After that, I took them to another great place, the Círculo de las Bellas Artes, which has a rooftop bar overlooking Madrid. It´s so lovely, and although expensive, is really worth it. We indulged in some cava, whilst Graeme kept saying to me "you have such a great life here Sarah" and although I guess I do, I had to remind him, that drinking cava on a rooftop bar in the sun isn´t actually part of my daily life here.....maybe for someone from Made In Chelsea though! The next stop was to my favourite restaurant in Plaza Santa Ana, Tartufo, where I have been far too many times, showing the others the Spanish way of ordering lots of tapas and gorging on sides of jamón and manchego cheese. I felt bad not going out with them after the meal, of which the last hour consisted of taking each other´s phones and messaging people on Tinder, but Graeme had a wee "date" planned anyway and Andrew, who came along with us, took Matt out for a few drinks after too... it was sleepy time for me though as I´ve started trying to be "sensible" during weekdays....hmmm....

Drama happened on Tuesday, the crack of the screen of my beautiful iphone causing it to completely not light up at all. I´m a phone addict so this was just not an acceptable occurance, and it especially did not help for later on when I was meant to be meeting the others. However, all got fabby, I was recommended a phone repair shop in town, and left my poor baby there all beaten up, to be collected later all fabulous and new. Anyway, I was meeting the others (and Lucy) to go to the Madrid Open (ATP World Tour) and it was so much fun. They had got there earlier whilst I was at work and then Lucy and I joined them about 4pm just in time for the brilliant Ferrer/Ramos match. Ferrer won, much to what seemed the crowd´s delight, as even though they are both Spanish, Ramos is Catalan...oooh. The others really enjoyed it and it was their first time watching live professional tennis so I was really glad I got us tickets. And my mum, the tennis addict, was very jealous. Elaine then had to rush off for her flight and Lucy off on a date (people are getting lucky this week ;) ) and so Graeme, Matt and I then went off for yet another meal out, before again, I called it a day.

I feel like I´ve had a non-stop couple of weeks what with Izzy coming, then being ill, then going to Barcelona and then having the Ecuador lot here, but I can´t really complain...it´s not a bad life! Knackered yesterday, I had a big siesta and avoided once again any cleaning, and today I finished my uni essay, finally (nothing else to do at work)...so I´m a pretty happy bunny. Emma´s birthday night out this weekend with perhaps another wee trip to the Retiro but apart from that, not much else to do but enjoy my last 4 weeks!

DAY 213: La Visita de Isabel

Having not seen my friend Izzy since the end of uni last year, I was so excited on Friday for her to come and visit from where she is Barcelona. After arriving early evening, the first thing we did was crack open a bottle of red in preparation for the long catch up we desperately needed and then headed to one of my favourite restaurants in Madrid, Tartufo.

The rest of the weekend I had to put on my tour guide cap and I was fairly proud of what I could remember and how to get to places....my sense of direction isn´t the best and the invention of google maps on your phone is normally of big use to me. We started off by going to the Royal Palace which is absolutely huge. Each monarch had about three big rooms for wardrobe, sleeping and "chilling" and the decor was detailed with gold, paintings and intricate patterns on the walls. The next stop was for a fro-yo and a wander before a good old siesta and a night out. 

Bringing Izzy into the Puerta del Sol (the place where it all happens) at 1.30am, we scrounged around for promoters who all wanted us to go to their particular club. After almost being persuaded to go to a place called Palace, we decided it wasn´t really our scene. He originally started his spiel with how it was house and electronic music and when we asked if there was commercial stuff he just agreed with us as to get us in. It´s probably pretty clear by now that that´s not really my thing and Izzy, being a big fan of The Den, Floritas and Dirty Pop in Newcastle, was on the same level. After then telling this random guy that the club, Joy, was shit, we ended up there, with an awkward moment of seeing him in the club and eating my words. However, it turned into a great night, with a bit of hat-stealing, running away from creepy Spanish men and dancing like we did in the toon. A night out with Izzy has never been a dull one. 

Surprisingly, we felt less hungover on Sunday morning than we did on Saturday.....it seems to be that one glass of wine now can have a serious effect on how my head feels the next morning. The first stop for us that day was El Rastro, Spain´s biggest flea market and I´m really glad we went because Izzy seemed to really enjoy it. The best stall we came across was a crown stall and we spent a good 15 minutes taking selfies whilst trying them on before the owner started to realise that we were in fact not going to buy anything. We did think, however, it was a weirdly good look, that sort of elfish look that maybe could be taken as a new fashion statement in Newcastle....that´s "edgy" right?

Afterwards, we met up with our fellow course mate, Minna, for some good old Mexican food and then headed to the Prado museum, where I tried my best to be "cultural" and explain to Izzy my favourite paintings. I think the best I came up with though was "so this painting is famous". A walk through the beautiful Retiro Park was then on the cards before the lovely Spanish sunset hit, ending the night in El Tigre, one of my favourite bars in Madrid where you get mojitos the size of your head with platefuls of free food alongside. Oh, and then we had another fro-yo. 

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, potentially one of my favourites, and we are already planning now a trip to Murcia...although with 5 weeks left, I´m not sure how possible that will be.

Work is dull but it´s only a 3 day week this week and tomorrow I am off to La Rioja with Liz...the land of the Spanish wine! 

DAY 208: Vuelvo a Madrid

Back in Madrid and it´s raining....it was sunnier in Edinburgh!

So it´s actually been a fairly dramatic week at work. Marta, one of the girls on my team, appeared on Tuesday 2 hours late in her jeans and suddenly announced she had quit PwC (as of that day). She didn´t give any reasons for it and hadn´t informed the boss or human resources or anyone, she literally just gave no notice and said she had just come in to collect her stuff. Now, I´ve known for a while that she never really got on with the other girls on the team, but was shocked that as she walked away, no one even hugged her goodbye. Confused and assuming I hadn´t understood the Spanish correctly, I went after Marta to ask what was happening and she just repeated that she was leaving and that she would be back at 1pm to tell the boss and that then she would explain to me. About half an hour later, Mabel came in, unaware of this news and her reaction was literally "well Marta is fucked up in the head"....really a bit harsh Mabel...don´t really like that, love. Anyway, Marta didn´t return and so I messaged her to ask what was up. About 6 hours later she replied "I am moving on to a better life and my despedida (farewell party) is on Thursday. I hope to see you there". In addition to this, she didn´t invite anyone else in the department. I´ve always thought that some of the girls at work could be a bit bitchy, but since then it´s really been taken to an extreme...bitch bitch bitch bitch.

So that was that and I felt I bit bad that just that morning I was considering leaving the job slightly early....however, despite my boredom here at work, literally have fuck all to do these days, I think I will now stay on - 6 weeks isn´t long!

It is nice to be back but coming back to an apartment by yourself can be a bit hard and so far this week I´ve not really done much. A lot of tv has been watched and I´ve been crying away at both Made In Chelsea (poor Binky) and Eastenders....I really am far too emotional :P.

Anyway, this weekend will be fun as my friend Izzy from uni is visiting me, and I´ve got to get my "tourist cap" on.....San Bernebeu.....Retiro Park....The Palace........let´s hope the sun comes out again! Then next weekend, well actually as of Thursday as Spain is giving us yet another holiday, I am off up to the north of Spain with Liz for a wee "break" (yes, both of us already need a break!). As to do it as cheap as possible, we have found a random person on the internet who is driving up there and who we are effectively just going to hop in a car with. Probably not something my mother would approve of but with the two of us I´m sure we´ll be fine!

Hasta luego.

DAY 195: La Semana Santa Viene

So another 4 months down in Madrid and it´s time for my Easter holidays and I´m really looking forward to a relaxing week at home. Spain definitely has had both its fun times and hard times and the whole experience is something I will vividly remember.

If I think about work, I came out here terrified, and speaking Spanish all day every day was so intimidating. Luckily my Spanish has improved a lot but with Mabel speaking to me in English all the time, perhaps I should be better. I think the whole thing when learning a language though is confidence and the more you speak it, even if you do make mistakes, the more you will improve. Anyway, despite her always speaking English to me, I have to thank Mabel for a lot. She´s so kind and has always been so supportive of everything and she is a really fantastic businesswoman. On top of that of course we have the fact that she is bloody gorgeous. I know I´m not a lesbian but I definitely am attracted to her ha. Her boyfriend is a lucky lucky man! The rest of the team are lovely too and Mariangeles is another girl who I ´ve really appreciated here. She sits opposite me and we chat all the time (this time in Spanish)…mainly about Ryan Gosling! It´s been really nice sitting with her for the past 8 months and despite her being a good 15 years older, she´s really been a friend. We of course have the people I don´t like though, and for people who know me well, the list of people in this world who annoy me is probably far too high! But anyway, first we have Noelia. Noelia came about a month ago and she is an intern like me but a few years older. Anyway, if I´m going to be honest here, she just absolutely loves herself and I can see her judging me every day and she always makes snide wee comments which piss me off. She´s so patronizing as well and thinks I can´t speak Spanish so just doesn´t like talking to me. Almudena is another one, or “Almu” as she gets called, which I don´t know why cracks me up. She´s nice I guess but just very…very.. dull. Finally, we have the German girl, Alex. It´s very much a love-hate relationship. For an 18 year old she is very close-minded and judgemental and comes across quite rude, but at the same time I do go for coffee breaks with her a lot and today we got on ok so I haven´t closed my opinion completely on her yet. I think she´s just complicated to understand, plus I guess we are just very different people. Anyway, enough of that bitching and back to work – sometimes boring, sometimes difficult and sometimes enjoyable – the matter of the fact is though that it has been a very good and possibly rewarding experience for me.

When I come back after Easter I will hardly have anytime left here and I know I´m going to miss the friends I´ve made out here a lot. I don´t really socialize outside of my work with my colleagues but of course I will miss them too.  If I´m honest we have probably had too many nights out of drinking far too much, doing silly things, kissing boys and munching on McDonalds but that is part of what the year abroad is about, in my opinion (that´s coming from the view of clearly a drunken mess). And of course we have had fun travelling…..Valencia….Lisbon….Toledo….Salamanca… - I literally just want to travel all the time now!

It also took me a while to embrace the Spanish culture. First of all…they eat so bloody much! I still don´t understand how most of them stay so thin – I swear they are eating at every moment of the day whether it be a “snack” (although to me a sandwich is not a snack?) or a big 3 course meal…with of course lots of bread and litres and litres and litres of olive oil. Olive oil is literally put into every single food they have here. You see people buying 5 litre bottles of it in supermarkets and that’s just to get them through the week! I for one am looking like a plump pudding. In addition to that, it took me a while to get used to them eating so late. I have lunch at 3/3.30pm every day and I´ve been out for dinner with friends at midnight, which isn´t even unusual! Spanish timetabling is something else as well…it´s so relaxed and mightily inefficient – the amount of times I have complained about at it this year has led me to write my assessed university essay on the year abroad this year about it. We also have the culture of the men, the very pervy, very sleazy, very sexist men. In clubs they want to grab you at any chance they get, so much so that two of my girl friends have ended up punching men in the face, and I´ve left the club fuming ranting my traditional “I hate men” speech. In the streets they yell at you and ask you to sleep with them and the sad thing is, that you just kind of have to get used to it!

However, as much as I do complain about things though, and I do like to complain, Madrid is a great city. The madrileños are incredibly friendly and welcoming people and the city is beautiful and always thriving. It feels like a city that never sleeps and everything is also all so cheap (apart from make-up…almost every British girl I know here really misses Boots). I can´t really complain about the weather here either – blue skies and well today, its 27 degrees. Of course I am sunburnt, and of course the Spanish are still going round in their unfashionable polo-necks!

Anyway that´s me off for just over a week. A nice big lunch with Sanderson after work today to celebrate and then Newcastle tomorrow followed by HOME. Here´s to my final stint in Madrid after Easter!! Not much longer to go!!!

DAY 166: Me duele el pie

I love Mabel. If she knew how much I went on about her, she would find it creepy, but I do. She is so cool. And being the wee babe that she is, she recommended her hairdresser to me who says they will do it cheaper for me just because I´m her "friend". Oh Mabel you wee babe. And I´m going to get my hair done like hers haha.

I don´t think she was too impressed with me yesterday though as I arrived into work 45 minutes late, still drunk from the night before. I´m guessing it was pretty obvious anyway. After going out for dinner with a few friends, Lucy, Andrew and I decided to go to a foam party at Pacha. Knowing before I went in that this wasn´t going to be a good idea and that I needed to remember to go home early, I ended up (of course) getting drunk and (of course) getting absolutely soaked in the foam. You could have gone swimming in that club it was so foamy, and it was so bloody dirty as well with everyone grinding on each other all wet. I had done my hair all nicely before I went out as well, all curled, which I never do, but of course I came out of the club (at 4.40am) looking like a drowned rat. Anyway, I don´t get how this happens, but I must just go into a serious deep sleep after drinking, but I (of course) missed all my alarms and woke up, luckily, at 8.50am - ten minutes before work! Now being in Spain and all, it is quite the norm for employees to arrive late, getting in for 9.30 am when you are meant to arrive at 9 always goes unnoticed. However, 9.45am, the time at which I arrived, was pushing it a little and Mabel give me a bit of a mean look. I was definitely still drunk as well, giggling away to myself and dropping things, and then the hangover hit me later on in the day, once I had left.

So I´ve fucked up my foot a little, all of you lucky enough to receive my snapchats will know this. It´s pussy and bloody on the top, with a massive blister on the bottom, and it is slightly sprained. And yes, this is all from Wednesday night. And no, I do not know how I did it. Anyway, I am literally hobbling along in pain at the moment and wore 3 socks today to work, making me foot look ever so fat. Don´t know how I´m going to cope tomorrow though as I´m off to Valencia again, and seeing as it´s a day trip, there will probably be a lot of walking.

But yes, Valencia tomorrow for "Las Fallas", a Spanish festival involving setting things alight, parades and dressing up. Just like we did in Salamanca, we are getting on the bus at 10am in Madrid and leaving Valencia at 4am Sunday morning. Sunday will be a sleep day. 

DAY 151: El Finde

The weekend back home was awesome. I ate so much of Judith´s lovely home-cooked food, cuddled with dog, caught up with a couple of my friends and did A LOT of shopping. 

Thursday Night - Arrive in Edinburgh (after a horrendously slow boarding of the plane a la Spain) and get picked up by Mum. At home we proceed to drink a bottle of red wine and feast ourselves with food. So was not much different to my lifestyle in Spain.

Friday - Shopping. Again, something I´m quite keen on in España, the difference being this time that mumma is with me, aka...I wasn´t funding the expenses. Bought way too much stuff, and mostly all summer clothes, so the weather better pick up in Madrid soon! The rest of the day was filled with more eating (bread and Camembert - so again not really taking a break from the food in Spain) and Mum getting me to test a bed from one room to the other to see if "noises" can be heard. Yes, she wanted me to roll around and jump up and down to assess the slyness of having sex in it - don´t ask - all I can say is, it´s for particular guests that are coming, not for her and my father thank god. 

Saturday - A cheeky morning virgin cocktail with a friend (so so Chelsea) in Cent O Tre on George Street with a lot of chat about how things are, facebook stalking and gossip. A big lunch then of lasagne and cheese to follow with some family friends. Saturday night was a chilled one with the padres and I had almost forgotten how amusing (and sometimes irritating) it can be to watch tv with my father. As we watched "Take Me Out" Dad decided to rate each girl. "Paha no one´s going to pick that whale Clarissa" and when she did get picked "I don´t get it. I don´t get it." Such a charming father.

Sunday - A glorious roast for lunch - yes I´m obese ok - and then back to Madrid. Was pretty sad coming back actually and arriving back at my wee apartment all alone made me feel lonely...but I´ve already been back on the vino socialising again so things are back to normal (although work this morning isn´t too dandy).

I have a uni essay to write (in Spanish fml), a lot of laundry to do, a stack of dishes to wash and it´s still fucking raining, but apart from that, I will be doing more eating, more drinking, more "working" and my life in Madrid rolls on...

DAY 139: Pedro

I had started to think that beautiful Pedro from when I first came to Madrid had forgotten me! I saw him when I first came and since then hardly ever. However, today as I was working on some boring excel with my ears completely blocked by blasting music from my headphones, Pedro appeared, beautiful beautiful Pedro, and naturally, I went all red. Either it´s the fact that he is just so handsome or my difficulty in understanding sexy Spanish accent, but literally my mind always fails me when I speak to him and he now thinks I´m a retard who still can´t speak Spanish after 5 months here. Anyway, being all charming (it is Valentine´s day after all ;) ), he invited me for dinner with him and his family. How lovely and very kind, but also, how awkward....let´s just say..things with his nephew, Alvaro, the fittie Hollister model from a while ago, did not end so well....*cough* asshole *cough*.  After Pedro left, you could see all the other girls giggling and smiling and then they all came up to me and asked "who is that Sarah?"...yes beautiful, beautiful Pedro is still well and truly "smokin hawt".

So I did something I hadn´t done in a while yesterday...I slept in through work! I thought those days were past me now that I am a mature 21-year-old, but sadly no. I knew I shouldn´t have been going out on Wednesday night in the first place but it was Sanderson´s friend´s last night in Madrid so something had to take place. Fair to say, the night did not end up so smoothly though....my neighbour now literally hates me and was buzzing on my door all day yesterday (of which I never answered because I´m too scared), I got into an argument, got punched, failed to make it to the club, got a taxi home which I couldn´t pay for and called my friend back home crying my eyes out...total mess. It´s times like that I just think, wow I´m an idiot, and that it really is time to cut back on the alcohol consumption. Saying that, I am going out tonight BUT I aim to just drink some beers...(come on, not not going to drink at all..).

So apart from a cheeky wee day off yesterday work has been pretty dire this week. My life is filled with boring databases and excels at the moment and the highlight this week, as always, has been getting the left over food from events - fat pig here. I´ve tried to be healthy, I really have, and I managed it up until Wednesday, but when Thursday came and that hangover was bangin, salad just wasn´t going to suffice.

Thank God it´s Friday though, and I plan on being a little more chillaxed this weekend. Also I´ve been thinking about the fact that if I hadn´t extended my job until June, this would be my last day, which just seems crazy. I don´t want to leave - I love it here! Viva Madrid.

DAY 135: Sanderson

Well after a horrendous week at work of office fuck-ups, people I wanted to slap and some mind-numbingly boring tasks, I was so so so ready for Friday. I met Rosie after work in Starbucks where she was waiting after her flight had come in and we went for a big fatty pizza lunch and it was gorgeous. We also indulged in a bottle of wine which lead to a very sleepy Sarah who had a siesta in the afternoon, waking up with a massive cock drawn on my face by Rosie 2 hours later - great. 

That night, it was time to celebrate Sanderson´s birthday and I had offered to have the party in my flat seeing as Sanderson lives way out in Alcala. It was good and very loud, and luckily the neighbours didn´t complain this time! There were 3 neck nominations, one of which was me drinking whisky and vodka through a straw whilst doing a handstand...fair to say, it did not end very smoothly. Anyway, we left at about 1am in order to get the last metro into town but by 2 metro stops down, it was fair to say that Sanderson just wasn´t going to make it out. As we all carried her out of the metro and into the street, causing a lot of attention from the locals who looked at us British folk with disgust, Sanderson proceeded to chunder and we all knew that really she wasn´t going to make it into the club. So, off Rosie, Emma and I left, leaving the others behind, to take Sanderson back to mine. As we reached mine, Sanderson had completely gone by this point and the taxi driver had to help us carry her up to my apartment. I have to say, it did feel a little bit like we were carrying a dead body. At mine, I threw glasses of water over her to wake her up (and to half amuse me) at which she woke up and replied "stop chundering on me"...oh Sanderson. Anyway, she got to bed, slept it off and Rosie and I got pizza and danced around to One Direction for a couple of hours....taking the party with of us of course (even if it was One Direction..). 

Sanderson wasn´t even hungover in the morning, much to Rosie and I´s disappointment who were feeling the effects of last night´s pre. Anyway, we did get ourselves up though to do something "cultural" as last time Rosie was here, we missed that part out. Of course first we decided to have a nice lunch though and surprised ourselves greatly by ordering a salad....this never happens on a hangover. I then attempted to take Rosie on a tour of Madrid, telling her that a cathedral was the Royal Palace and that a mosque was a cathedral and so on....god, I´m great at this stuff. We ended up at Madrid´s Egyptian temple "El Templo de Debod", which really isn´t as facinating as it sounds. All it is is like 3 small walls with a wee moat around it. But you know, at least we were doing something. Soon it was time to head back to the flat for yet another siesta, which turned into a good 4 hour sleep. We needed it though, as we were determined to have a proper night out this time. 

We went to this club called Joy, which is an old theatre and looks really cool. It played all the classic songs you could sing a long to and we found this amazing man who had some incredible dance moves...oh he was hilarious. We even got on the stage with him at one point just because we thought he was so cool. Surprisingly though, Rosie and I did not feel the slightest bit drunk. We had had 3 gin and tonics in the space of an hour before we left, 2 strong vodka red bulls when we first came to the club, and then a jaegar and another strong gin and tonic later on. We just did not understand why it wasn´t hitting us. Sanderson was being very sensible this night and sipped on one gin and tonic for about 4 hours. 

Waking up the next morning, we didn´t feel ill but just exhausted and proceeded to spend the entire day in bed watching episodes and episodes of 90120 on Netflix...shit show but addicting. There was a small trip out to lunch but it didn´t last long and we were quickly back in bed after being practically blown away by the strong wind and drenched by the rain. Seriously, the weather at the moment in Madrid is horrendous. Should probably just move back to Scotland where it likely to be nicer. 

So I´ve probably gained about 2 stone this weekend as we have literally eaten so much pizza, ice-cream, sweets and cheetos....(the guy at the corner shop must have thought we were weird with the amount of cheetos we kept going in to buy..but they are just sooo goooood). Attempting to detox a bit this week, but knowing me it will probably only last a day. I really am an unstoppable fatty. 

Hate Mondays and I am exhausted, but hopefully work this week is just a tad better...if not, could be getting into trouble for wacking someone in the face...really need to stay reserved.

DAY 122: Cheryl Cole

Well got the nose piercing and being classic Slaw, drama was involved. The actual piercing didn´t really hurt but it was quite scary when I was left alone with a big, fat, bald tattooed man coming at me with a massive needle. Anyway, all was dandy and I left the piercing place with Sanderson to head for some drinks. As we walked away I suddenly felt really faint so I asked Sanderson if we could sit on a ledge on the side of the street for a while. Fine. Got up, started walking again, and the next thing I knew I was sitting on the floor in the middle of the street with a crowd of people around me. Great - I had fainted. My first thought was, oh shit my bag, being in Madrid you can never be too careful, so I flung it at Sanderson and sat there in despair. The police where also there and blatantly thought I was just some classic drunk British girl and I felt kind of lame saying to them that I had just had my nose pierced, complete pussy. What made the situation (funnier?) was that this was all bam in the middle of Madrid´s prostitute street. Not really the best place to pass out. After then throwing up in police station closeby and sitting down for a while, I decided it was time to go and eat something (wise) and drink something (not so wise). Anyway, I really like it!

Friday night was chilled as the couple drinks with Sanderson had turned into quite a few drink and a late night, resulting in death at the office the next day. Liz and I watched The Wolf of Wall Street at mine which I loved and was hilarious but just too bloody long. I have to say I drifted in and out a bit. We did get a lesbian crush on the main girl in it though...stunning face, stunning tits, stunning body...ugh...I want to look like her. 

On Saturday we headed out to Salamanca, about 8 of us who knew each other and then a bunch of others we didn´t know - have to say, all pretty annoying. There were these girls who literally thought they were they were THE SHIT and I was just like "err no, fuck off". There was this one girl in particular I just didn´t like, without really having a reason for. We went into one of the shots bars on the bar crawl in the evening and were told to order "mamadas" (blow jobs) or otherwise just a shot you have to drink without your hands. First time I´ve ever asked for a blow job at a bar I have to say! Anyway, as we were going in, this stupid girl was like "it´s ok guys, I know how to do this" and I was like "shhh you´re like 12, piss off". She was pretty thick as well...later on the night she was getting with my friend Jai and kept asking him if he was Mexican. As he replied "no" on several occasions, saying that he was actually from London, she goes "oh so where in Mexico is London?" Seriously girl , just go. ANYWAY, rant over. 

Salamanca was great fun though and so so beautiful. We took so many "tourist snaps" and in the evening did a bar crawl where...O...M....G...after 4 months of requesting that they play Cheryl Cole in a club....THEY FINALLY PLAYED IT. Omg - highlight guys! The routine was wapped out and everything ;) God, I´m obsessed. Sanderson asked me yesterday if my highlight of Madrid so far was having Cheryl Cole played in a club or Mabel having the same skirt as me (I discovered yesterday)....and it was just a really hard decision. Oh my life. I really am a complete loser. 

DAY 117: El Cumpleaños

Well nightmare this morning having the top come off my water bottle on the way to work and soaking every single item in my brand new Michael Kors handbag. Shit times. At least it´s only water and so the bag isn´t ruined but my phone charger I doubt is going to work. Dammit. 

So had my birthday night out last week and well it was probably one of the most drunken night´s in Madrid I´ve had so far, however, I did manage to stay out til 7am! Sent away from the door at first to go and ´sober up´, we went to McDonald´s round the corner, where I ate three measly chips and staggered around calling people outside. Eventually I was let in though and continued to drink telling every single person in the club that it was in fact my birthday. Every single DJ hated me and the Kareoke guy wouldn´t let me sing, probably because I kept trying to smoke inside, but hey, I had fun...from what I remember. 

The next day was a complete right off - see that´s what happens in your old age of 21, hangovers just get worse and worse. I couldn´t even make it to the shop next door so I had to make do with some horrible pasta I had tried...frying?!...when I had got home the night before. I was even tired the day after but did manage to get myself out of bed and walk round Madrid the whole day with a girl I met through my friend Jo, also called Sarah. 

There´s a new girl at work, but unlike the last one, she´s actually lovely! She´s German and 18 and I´ve loserishly taken on the role of her sort of ´mentor´being like "ahh yes I was the same when I first I arrived...I remember this...I remember that.." She´s probably thinking, "Sarah, please shut the fuck up, you´re not cool." But oh well. 

Luckily Mabel is back so things are a bit better. Her birthday was the day before mine and I gave her a wee tartan scarf from Scotland which she seems to really like. She goes to me "Sarah we´re like twins with our Scottish clothes and almost matching birthdays" and I´m like " I wish Mabel, I wish". The girl crush is never ending...

Emma and I went to a Scottish bar last night, literally just named "Scottish Pub" - how original. However, as we went in, expecting to find irn bru and haggis (a girl can dream right?) we realised that it was just a very typical Spanish bar and we and an old Spanish man were it´s only customers. Beginning the night chatting all girl talk - mostly boys and tinder - the bar man then decided to quiz us on our opinions on Scotland´s independence and other political things and the Royal family. It was fun though and by the end of the night he was telling us to go out there and have fun and have some flings with Spanish boys.

Off to Salamanca this weekend with some friends, which will hopefully be better than last time I was there, with my horrific school exchange, who never smiled and was just an incredibly awkward person. Also going to get my nose pierced today...feeling a bit scared and worried it will get infected and give me some sort of disgusting looking witch´s wart on my nose but fingers crossed it´s ok! 

DAY 101: Hola Madrid

Well first day back at work and I´ve already made a mistake. To be fair it wasn´t my fault - I was told to do something by someone which turned out to be wrong and then it messed up something for someone else and things have gone out to clients and so on...basically, it´s a pretty big shitty mistake. However, NOT MY FAULT so I am just going to move on from it...oopsies. It is quite nice being back though - getting all dressed up in my fancy work clothes, fannying around on a laptop and seeing all the girls again. Oh and of course there´s Mabel, beautiful Mabel. She comes over to my desk, looking gorgeous as per usual,  new highlights in her hair and gives me a massive hug and tells me how beautiful I am and hugs me again and asks me about Christmas - I just love her. I´m like ´babe, I´m not beautiful, you are´and it goes on like that, mwah mwah mwah, la la la, etc. 

Everything was closed yesterday when I arrived back as it was sort of like the Spanish Christmas Day where they celebrate the Three Kings coming (kind of instead of Santa). There were hardly any cars around and the streets were filled with leftover fireworks and sweet wrappers etc, however, of course, my wee 24 hour shop around the corner was open, just to save the day as I had zero food in the flat and was starving. 

It didn´t even feel that weird coming back, it just felt normal, like arriving back to where I lived - sounds really weird but I had expected it to feel a bit strange. I had forgotten that Spain has a smell. This isn´t just Madrid, I swear it just has this smell about it of hotter air and tapas. Again, sounds weird. I am weird. I didn´t get to sleep for ages last night, blaming it on my one hour time difference but yanno, I think I was just buzzing/was getting worked up about a certain person who pisses me off and couldn´t put my mind at rest. 

So apart from this fuck-up at work, of which was passing my time quite well, I´m back to doing nada - writing a blog, which I´m kind of bored of now and facebook stalking. Hola España. 

DAY 90: La Vida

I haven't written in ages so memories are becoming pretty vague, what with my excessive drinking that my friends keep commenting on, so let's see what I can say....

Work is goooood and my Spanish is getting better and better, so I'm pretty chuffed. Thankfully, without sounding like too much of a bitch here, the new girl left. She was meant to stay here for a year but clearly just couldn't hack it like savvy Slaw can....Don't get me wrong, nice girl, but you know, I just couldn't help but be a bitch to her because she really was just irritating. She would do things wrong and them blame it on me or she would try and delegate her tasks to me etc..it was just like, babes, get a grip. Anyway, she left...wasn't enjoying it...so now it's just me and I have a lot more work to do now she's gone. It's quite good as it does keep me busy and I often stay until about 7pm doing stuff, but it can also just be a bit like eurghhhhhh and many fag breaks are taken. 

I'm obsessed with my boss, Mabel. She's soooo pretty and I think I just fancy her. I literally always try and dress fashionably so she thinks I look good because she is so "on trend" with everything. The others are all pretty great too. Sometimes annoying and sometimes soooo unorganised, like this morning I was woken up at 6am to be told to get into work early - thanks for the warning - wouldn't have stayed up watching the finale of Breaking Bad if I had known. To be fair though, at least I wasn't hungover... 

What pissed me off today though is this guy in the office. So he only arrived last Thursday and sat in the desk in front of me and I did not think anything of him. We spoke no words and I don't think I gave him a second glance. Then when I was packing up my stuff at 7pm he told me to wait and handed me a piece of paper with his phone number on it. Now being classic silly me, I just kind of giggled, which probably came across kind of rude thinking about it now, but hey, who cares - I'm the one being given the number :P. Anyway, I felt it was rude not to text him seeing as I would be seeing him at work today (we had Friday and Monday off). So I texted him and just said it was me and then he proceeded to ask me out on 2 dates over the weekend, both of which I declined - I hate dates with someone you don't know, so bloody awkward. So today he came into work and it was just so incredibly "uncomfortable". He kept staring at me so I pretended I was focussing on my work and then he kept texting me and I just pretended I hadn't seen my phone. No banter whatsover, not the kind of guy I am interested in. One of the texts was like "isn't it funny how no one here knows"...I'm like dude there's nothing here to know and actually they do know because I was taking the piss out of you with them earlier. So then he asked me out for drinks after work and again I declined and he responded with "that's ok, means I can go back to working out in the gym"...really? Did you really just say that? Gag.

I've been getting quite lonely recently in my wee apartment, the novelty of living alone is kind of wearing off. I come home and I have no one to talk to and so the amount of tv watched is becoming ridiculous. I'm considering just taking my dog back with me from Edinburgh after the Christmas holidays. I miss my wee cutie. 

And of course there have been a few drunken nights but I can't remember anything silly I've done....oh no wait, that's a lie. I poured a beer over a guys head the other night because he was insulting Scotland, which was fairly amusing. He then got me back by pouring his vodka over me and I got raging yelling "but I have hair unlike you!" Damn hair was so sticky the rest of the night. Need to learn. We also almost got robbed the other night but luckily my friend Michael was there to save the day as I claimed he was my husband. 

Just over a week now until I am back home and I CANNOT BLOODY WAIT. Can't quite believe I've done 3 months here now, time has flown by and I have absolutely loved it! I am so excited to go home though and see my family, my doggy and my friends, eat Mum's cooking and have my 21st birthday party (woop). Until then, I am munching on purely celery sticks as I'm very very worried that my outfit for my party isn't quite going to fit....yum.

DAY 64: Las bebidas gratis

Well, this is great, I am sitting in work, stinking of alcohol with a horrendous headache. Everyone knows I am hungover, I have already been "told off" and eurgh I haven´t even had breakfast. Queiro morir! (I. want. to. die.).

So Sanderson and I went to a shop yesterday..."Los sabores del mundo"..."The flavours of the world"....purely to find one thing...IRN BRU. There really is nothing like it. It´s so expensive here but just so worth it (especially on days like today). I ended up spending 16 quid ...oopsies. They also sold Dairy Milk (another important purchase) and Smarties!! (I know what I´ll be doing this afternoon...). So after this (very important) trip, we decided to go for drinks and dinner. Strolling around Sol, trying to find the cheapest place for beer (of course) we were preyed upon by a promotor (of course). He took us to a bar where we each had a pint of (very strong) tequila sunrise for 3 euros. I really have only just remembered this and it definitely explains the goings on later in the night...

Dying for food, we ventured on to the restaurant where I have now been 3 times...parents, Liz and now Sanderson. They just love me there and of course we were conned into getting free drinks AGAIN. We arrived there about 7.30pm and they kept asking us to stay until 2am when they shut. We were so against this to begin with, but yes somehow time flew by (6 hours in a restaurant?!) and we both ended up hammered and going to the Irish pub next door with them....where we bought more drinks. In addition to this, there was a man selling funny glasses and hats etc outside and thinking it was hilarious, we bought some. I was going around this bar with pink flashing Minnie Mouse ears on.....We must have looked so stupid, made better by the fact that we were taking so many selfies (who doesn´t love a selfie?!). So these MEN we came if with, the waiters and two random fat bald guys separated us. It was a sad moment. Both clearly too drunk to notice, I was taken downstairs and Sarah was kept at the bar. Finally, we found each other and decided to run away (to McDonalds) and then to my apartment where we nom-ed and passed out.

I woke up this morning at 8.50 (10 minutes before work) when Sanderson suddenly said "Slaw, don´t you have work at 9?" Christ, what is wrong with me. I haven´t done this for a while now but clearly nothing has changed! However, I DID MAKE IT INTO WORK by 9.30am..just looking a bit "drab". Cannot wait til I finish. It is days like these I love just having a desk job. Poor Sanderson had to go and teach English to a bunch of 14 year olds.

So apart from that, I really have nothing else to say. Work´s the same, except for the new girl kind of annoys me...(I´ll rant another time) and I am really still pretty lazy. However, I have started walking to and from work every day, which is about 50 minutes each way...so that´s pretty healthy! It´s kind of embarrassing actually..I listen to the Nick Grimshaw Breakfast Show every morning on my way to work (brilliant show just brilliant) and I must look like such a freak because I am constantly laughing or smiling to myself about what´s being said....people must think I´m in love or just had sex or something. ANYWAY, yes that´s all for now. I´ve now been asked to "do some work" and I´ve already unimpressed them with my "antics" so best be off...ciao.

DAY 61: La Puta de la Oficina

Still at work! My first "full" Spanish working day. They work until 7pm waaah. (However, did get a nice big lunch in the cafe followed by some sunbathing outside the office with a few of the girls...so so Spanish!). It has been so busy up until now and I am pretty damn proud of myself. I was given a task on Friday to be completed today and it was quite technical and important because the big bosses would be reading it. Anyway I got it all done and Mabel checked it over and apparently I did a "fantastic job" #gome. The new girl didn´t help though. I´m becoming such a wee office bitch. We were initially meant to split the task but then she did it all wrong and I had to go over and correct it all...I mean geeeesss....it´s almost as if I have never been in that position.....

I can´t believe I´ve been here two months now! Cray cray. Time is flying by. And to think when I first came I literally hated this job and couldn´t do anything right....things have changed so much. I´ve also now been able to extend my job until June next year! So so so sooooo happy! Initially, I only had it until February and then I had to go and find another job elsewhere, which is pretty tricky in the current Spanish economy, especially without "Daddy" as a contact...

So the weekend was fun, and for once I wasn´t out getting shitfaced. I´ve been quite embarrassed lately as two people over the past week have both said that I am "like a child". So there´s my friend from uni who said I always just talk about "embarrassing myself when drunk" (which is true...) and then my friend here who said that I sing and get hyper too much. After years of thinking I was "older than my years", I´ve discovered that I really am just an immature 20-year-old...I have two months until I should probably start "growing up". ANYWAY, Liz and  I went shopping on Friday evening (that´s right, after complaining for two months about how I am so broke and going to be homeless soon, MY ERASMUS GRANT CAME THROUGH and I actually just feel so bloody rich!.....Bets on how long it lasts...2 weeks?) So yeah we went shopping and I bought a jacket, a t-shirt (in the sale at least) and lots of jewellery (and only cheap crap that makes my fingers green...would you really trust me with an 100 pound necklace...err no. (There are no pound signs available on a Spanish keyboard btw fyi). We then had a gorgeous dinner in a nice wee Spanish restaurant where I took my parents when they came. After finishing our meal and asking for our bill though, the charming waiter did not want us to leave, so invited us to a free glass of wine (I´m just irresistible, I know). After thaaaat, we then asked for the bill again when we were then offered a free shot. We gracefully declined (see, that´s me, growing up...). It was pretty evident they were trying to get us drunk.

In hysterics, Liz and I got the metro back to my flat where I just "tipsy-ly" sang and danced for her. She is a lucky girl eh? But the wine had kicked in making us sleepy by this point and so bed it was. I have a bit of a problem with wine. If I drink too much of it, I just don´t sleep well. So I slept for about 3 hours before waking up at 3am, amusing myself with Liz´s sleep-talking. It was this at this point, I decided to put on ma pod and have a wee boogie in the bed, waking Liz up with all my bootaaay-shaking. It was very strange, I literally felt like I was high or something. SO WIDE AWAKE. So this continued until 7am - not all "dance-floor fillers", I also went through an emotional I HATE MY LOVE LIFE phase with Adele and (this is cringe but, Demi Lovato)...and then through my "chill" playlist until I could finally feel myself getting tired. 

We went to Toledo the next day which is the old capital of Spain and it was really beautiful. There were cathedrals and a mosque and we even got to see the start of a Spanish wedding, which was pretty cool - not sure the bride was too happy with us gate-crashing though! By the end of the afternoon, however, we had gotten pretty bored, that was enough culture (and walking for the day). It was then back to Alcala for a night of X Factor viewing and movies.

Cristina made me YET ANOTHER fabulous lunch yesterday. I´m not really sure what it was but there was a meat in it that tasted a little bit like black pudding....nom..

I don´t have any plans this week :( However, I guess that is very Spanish and so I´m hoping something "spontaneous" will come up. Apart from that, might be planning a wee flat party. Show everyone my "pad". Or as my friends here call it, my "lad pad" because you know....just bring back sooooo many men don´t I.....naaaat. As I said to my brother drunkenly on Facebook about two weeks ago "I am not a slut Pat! Don´t worry your little sister is not a slut!"....rambling on....I don´t know why....about some "goings-on" in first year....oh dear Sarah, oh dear.

DAY 57: La Prostituta

Sometimes I feel like I´m a prostitute. Not because I ask people to pay me for sex (although that would come in handy given my current financial situation) but because when I go out for drinks I literally just stand around the streets waiting for someone to proposition me with flyers for free drinks. It sounds sad, and of course when I say this I´m not implying I do this alone, but it does actually work. So take last night for example, Andrew and I went out for some vino and got some free shots, some free drinks and a free shisha. We did, however,  have to pay for some of our drinks....what a pain :P. There´s this wine bar near Sol which gives you large glasses of wine for 1 euro a glass....so of course we ordered 2 each at the same time and poured one into another...we know how to play this game. Andrew and I also really know how to lower the class in any situation. There was a cute wee old British couple sitting in front of us who were obviously out to have a nice wee evening together. Without realising at first that they were in fact English, I started telling Andrew about a story I heard from Castle Leazes when I first arrived in Newcastle....I may as well repeat the story now for those of you who don´t know it:

"There once was a girl who went back with a guy after a night out to have a bit of fun. In the morning, she snibbed the door and went to the loo where she took a massive shit. Blocking the toilet, she (strangely) decided to fish out the poo with a plastic bag (I really don´t understand this...I personally would have just run...). She then proceeded to carry the poo in the bag to find a bin. On her way to the bin she went back into the guy´s room to pick up her things and leave and also wrote him a wee note saying something like ´Thanks for last night. I had fun. Here´s my number´(this a very polite girl)! She left the note beside his bed whilst he was sleeping and left, unsnibbing the door. Now of course us ex-leazes folk will remember the big drama of locking yourself out your room if the door is left unsnibbed. (Too many funny images of students having to go down to reception in their towels after forgetting their keys). So anyway, as she left, she suddenly realised she had left her bag of shit beside the note! What a lovely ´reward´ for the ´lucky´guy to wake up to after a night of drunken sex."

SO, yes I told Andrew this (far too strange and unrealistic to be true) story or "myth" in the bar and the old couple literally looked at me like a piece of filth. As I said, I really know how to bring down the class in any situation. Andrew and I downed our drinks and left.

Woke up this morning feeling a little bit ropey, but thats nothing some Irn Bru imported from Edinburgh Airport at the weekend can´t solve! I bought two bottles at W H Smith...you know...the little 2 for such a price offer that you get there....and drank one on my flight and "saved" the other one for Liz, who is also Scottish and who I´m sure also misses the bru (who wouldn´t?!). However, when I´m hungover, my thoughts for others just fly completely out the window, so sorry Liz, you can wait another month until the beautiful bright orange soda hits your lips again!

I was on Skype to my friend Felicity yesterday who asked me a very important question. "Sarah, do you actually do anything cultural, you know, besides going to work and drinking?" So this is embarrassing, no I don´t Felicity. No I don´t. What is my life? Uni sends you to a foreign country to learn a language and some culture....I´m really failing at life right now. It also makes me laugh how uni gives you money to go (not that I have received it yet). Surely they must know what most of that money is spent on? a...l...c...o...h...o...l. Saying that, my friend Rosie made a very important purchase with her grant...a wee designer handbag! Seriously, only Rosie would do this...bloody model. Andrew was also telling me last night about someone he knows who literally got a nose job with hers! When in Rome right?

DAY 56: SCOTLAND

A few weeks ago I would have said that if I went home mid-way, I probably wouldn´t want to come back...however, I really do love it here so all is good. Home was nice though and I literally stuffed my face with roast pork, lasagne and whatever else Mother Hen had cooked for me....I think she secretly wants an obese child...It was a pretty chilled weekend with lots of cuddles from my lovely doggy and just a tad of shopping. I say "just a tad"...I now have no money. I thought my Erasmus Grant would come through yesterday....but it hasn´t...#financiallyfucked.

So I got back today and there was a girl sitting in my desk. I´m sorry, WHAT. Been here 2 months now..I have established my working area bitch. She´s the now new girl and was offered my desk, so now I´m sitting opposite her, hidden by a closet next to me so no one can see me...don´t know if that´s good or bad. Plus side, I can go on Facebook more easily (and write stupid stuff like this), but then it also now means I´m a complete loner. Geeees, just as I was starting to make ´work friends´....oh well. 

Not sure what plans are for this week apart from another party with the insurance lot, the crazy crew. You would never think people working in insurance would be that fun...I take that from my Dad who works in that sector....although saying that, he did get pissed on Saturday afternoon going to a football match with his uni mates ... "The Reekers" they call themselves...and then had to go to a dinner party afterwards, of which Judith (mother) was not impressed. Anyway yeah, drinks with them and then think I´m going to see the stage show of "The Lion King" in Spanish lol....love a wee a musical. 

Diet has started, bought a shit load of salad yesterday. However, I have decided not to count alcohol as let´s be honest, that´s not going to happen. 

Here´s to the next 6 weeks!

DAY 34: La Patata

I mentioned in a previous blog that when the other girls were dancing on the bar, I refrained, as to save people´s eyes. However, things change. On Friday night Rosie and I found ourselves up on the air above everyone, acting as though we fucking ruled the club. We also hopped on a podium thing and no one would dare even ask us to come down because yeah, we were fucking awesome ;) All in all it was a very good night, drinking almost an entire bottle of vodka between us, stealing shots at the bar and dancing away until it was time for a much deserved pizza slice! We arrived back at the flat (with Andrew) at about 3.30am (far too early for España) so continued to drink until we decided Mean Girls was all of a sudden a good idea :/ Munching away on doritos and salsa and a pizza I tried cooking in the microwave that literally turned black and tasted vile, we all lay in bed, laptop in front of us and loaded Mean Girls. Rosie and I woke up about 11am - Andrew was gone, the bed covered in crumbs and the titles of Mean Girls playing on my laptop...neither of us remembered watching any of it...pretty sure we all just passed out, oops. 

So you would think that as I had a friend to stay we would be proactive in doing touristy things, sight-seeing, walking, exploring the city...ok we did go and get some tapas (being all ´cultural´ and all) but really we spent most of the next day watching episodes and episodes of Breaking Bad. Yes, I am only JUST getting into it...so please stay hush! Saturday night involved slobbing in front of the tv even more, watching The X Factor and gorging on cheese. Sunday was shopping day! I say shopping day when in actual fact we only went to one shop, Sephora, spending so much time painting lipsticks and eyeliners on our hands and buying much more than we should have. For some reason I bought this sparkly fake tan that you can also put in your hair to make it ´sparkle´. Not such a great idea, my hair is not sparkly but instead a greasy, sticky mess...good thinking Sarah! We had a pizza for lunch and then decided to fat ourselves up even more by ordering a chinese for dinner. Seriously, I feel like I need to get liposuction! Diet starts today! 

So all in all it was a pretty fun weekend. Great chat and gossip (what else would you expect from two girls who haven´t seen each other for a few months), lots of wine, a lot of dancing (we were still complaining about our aching legs yesterday....we just worked our bootays so hard) and a lot A LOT of food. I am officially a potato.