Languages student: a bigger world (food for thought)

Being a Languages student has some amazing advantages: you can travel and speak to people in their own language, and they’ll let you into a culture “normal” tourists don’t usually get to see. However, all this comes at a price: when the time comes to go back to your “origins” you realise that, while your world got bigger, the previous one hasn’t changed a bit, and you suddenly feel there is simply not enough space for you there.

Every time I go back to Italy I find something new to complain about, and this is just making me sad. This time round it seems to be one of the worst ones. I spent all summer traveling, and the anticipation to move to Spain is killing me, and spending three weeks in a place where there is absolutely nothing to do is not helping my moodiness. And of course the weather isn’t helping: it hasn’t stopped raining a single moment, and it’s got the same temperatures as England in November!!! (Food for thought: I just had to put a throw on my bed in order to keep me warm tonight).

Then of course there’s my friends, whom I’ve only seen once in the past two weeks. And be careful, I’m not at all blaming them: they are simply the victims of the same system I wanted to avoid when I moved to Britain, a system which punishes you just for the fact you are young and a student. That simply isn’t right, and after a series of domino effects I’m the one who finds himself angry for them!

However I do not mind doing things alone: small problem though, around here there is absolutely nothing I can do!! Three weeks is just turning out to be too long to stay here, and I feel the need to leave. Straight away. And of course I still miss my coursemates, everyday a little bit more, and I can’t wait to see them again. I just want something to do to get my mind off things. People who know me know I like to keep busy, and I always am: having nothing to do is turning out to be the most tiring thing ever!

Minus 8. It’s getting here. And I can’t wait. A year of new experiences, some good, some bad, but all to cherish. And I need this moment to arrive, possibly quickly.

In the meantime, STOP BLOODY RAINING!!!

Sorry for the depressed post. The next one will be written from Madrid though, so it should be good!!!

Until then, ¡Hasta luegoooooooooooo!

Traveling on a different scale

Luggage packed. It currently stands at 44 kg, and that excludes hand luggage. Some people may ask: “are you traveling with a house?” Well technically, yes. Considering I am moving to a different country, that’s not bad going I think! However there is a downside to all of this: they started their journey in Norwich, they followed me to France for the summer, came back up to Leicester, and now they’re following me to Italy before actually going to Spain, where they’ll stay for a fair while. My arms can’t take it anymore!!!

However, other than complaining about weight, I wanted to use this post to reflect a bit on what happened and what’s to come. Starting from this summer, it must have been one of the best I’ve ever had! People close to me know that I don’t like having nothing to do, in fact the busier the better, so spending the summer working on average 15 hours a day suited my character! I did a bit of everything: from assisting teachers in the first few weeks, to doing some revision with small kids after that, to manage a small web radio, and finally to having a French class of my own for 4 weeks! The people I met, adults and kids, have been amazing, and left me wanting to come back, and hopefully I will next year! However, after 10 weeks there, I was happy to leave and enjoy being pampered for a short while.

So what’s next? Well, first of all, I need to get to Leicester station. If you go back to the beginning of the post and look at the weight of my suitcases, you’ll realise it might be a bit of a challenge… Then I need to find some space on the train for them, then I need to carry them around St. Pancras, then in another train down to Gatwick, and then, hopefully, someone will actually help me before I fade away? I think, by the time I get to Italy tonight, I will have lost about 4 stones in weight myself…

After then, preparation for my year abroad begins! I need to book my flights, get in touch with the school and my university, find a house… so, lots to do!!! At least I know where I’m going… I’ll be working in Pinto, a small town in the Comunidad de Madrid about 28km south of the capital. It doesn’t look like anything special really, but I’m curious to see. I’ll probably be living in Getafe though, a city closer to Madrid but with easy transport to the workplace: however, being about 4 times the size of Pinto, there are a lot more things to do, and houses are a lot cheaper! So that’s one of the things I’ll be looking into in the next few weeks…

It’s now been 3 months since I’ve seen my course-mates, and you can’t even imagine how much I miss them! Funny thing though, most of them are moving to Spain, so I’m hoping I’ll see them quite soon!! They’re all preparing to leave as well, so I’m guessing I’m not the only one going through all these issues… (at least, I’m hoping so…)

The next post will probably be in 3 weeks’ time, from my new house in Spain (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!). Until then…

BON COURAGE!

¡HASTA LUEGO!

A PRESTO!

SEE YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!!!!!!!