Settling in

Uni has finally started after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, im finally starting to get a routime and to feel settlled in. The piso im living in is amazing, and i am there with two spanish girls and an italian girl all who are soo nice! They are very interested to know all about me.. we spend lots of time together and usually cook together, so i am learning to cook lots of spanish and italian recipes. Have joined a gym and started to go there to swim a lot, I also have 6 students that i give private english lessons. All of them are adults and are very nice, although are having trouble adjusting to my australian accent. It rains here most days, but I am getting out and meeting a lot of people. This weekend we had an erasmus party (international students) that had an 80s theme. Ofcourse the aussies went all out, dressed up to the nines. We discovered as we entered the plaza that its not really done much in spain unless there is a national reason. Not one of the other 200 international students got dressed up either, and i put this down to reason that half of them are still in the 80's... we realised that we australians are a bit different.......to overcome the embarressment we partied very hard that night!.

Carnivale and that duck suit

This weekend is Carnivale and there are already kids wandering the streets in costumes. It is tradition to get dressed up and head to a small town outside Santander for the festival. We all decided to get a costume organised for the festival, but as usual at the last minute. We spent around two hours in a costume shop trying on all sorts of outfits... it ended up raining and so we stayed in Santander for the festival. Even went out in our costumes.... Rupert, one the aussies, spent his life savings on a duck suit. It was a hit with the locals and we have decided that whoever has their birthday has to wear it (just so rupert can get his moneys worth). There was a big parade through the streets of Santander that we joined in on... they are crazy here!

Orientation!

Over the last week we have had Orientation for uni, have met all the international students and been shown around Santander and Cantabria. As Im not really one to like being taken round on a bus like a tour group, it wasnt really my cup of tea, but I was able to see a few sights including Santanilla del Mar. This pueblo is cut off from the use of cars, and has been keep in its original form. We also got to see the Palace here and some other monuments in the city.

Beautiful Barcelona

After a week and a bit in Santander with some time to spare, i headed to Barcelona to do a Spanish course and check out the city. I am in love with this city and would move here in a second, it has an amazing atmosphere. I met some great people, learnt a lot of Spanish at a great little language school and got to see the sights of Barcelona. I went along with Jess, another aussie and we spent the evenings checking out the city, eating lebanese food, drinking beer, and ending the week with a night out at Razzamataz- a four level nightclub. What a week. Me infront of some of the street art in Gracia

La Sagrada Familia.

That mullet man stole my wallet!

Bilbao, mullets everywhere and the Guggenheim!First proper trip into Bilbao and we headed to the Guggenheim, it was amazing and there was an awesome exhibition on African Art!The building is so spectacular and the city has a really great vibe. As we were leaving the Guggenheim there were a large group of people heading down to the river for a protest. We hung around to see what happened. Went out that night, only to have my wallet stolen by some guy with a filthy mullet who was cracking onto my friend. Spent the early hours of the morning cancelling all my cards. Oh the joys of travelling!