The Easter Oleedays!!

Well, what a busy few weeks it's been. Literally hectic.....but absolutely FABULOUS!!

First of all, when I last posted, I was a mere 20 years old. Now, however, I've turned the grand old age of 21....officially adult age now. And, to help me celebrate this 'joyous' occasion, the family came out to Barcelona for the weekend. The day of my birthday, I had a wee party at my school with the year 6 class, I felt very embarrassed but very happy as they brought cake! It was also my mentor's (the other English teacher) birthday on the same day so it was sort of a joint party and really lovely. 

Then, the family arrived. That's not meant to sound as gloomy as it does. It was brilliant (albeit a little odd) to have them here and to show them around Vic, and I think they liked it. I even gave them a super awesome tour (with super awesome facts) of the city and all it's contents. After having Tapas for lunch (something they had A LOT of that weekend) and fuelling up on cups of tea for the ride back down to Barcelona we parted ways so that I could celebrate with my amigos! We had a lovely meal in a restaurant and then went on to celebrate the way 20 something year olds are supposed to, I won't bore you with the details on that. I'm very lucky to have such great friends and it truly was a great night!



The next day I headed down to meet the tourists. I was feeling a little tired and quite hungover but I wasn't going to let that stop me! We did all the touristy things; Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Montjuic, Olympic Stadium, the beach, the cable car, the food market and basically the whole city. I included more super awesome fun facts whilst we ambled round the best city on the planet! We ate some amazing food (mainly Tapas) and I loved every moment with them all in the big city. I want to thank them for making my 21st a super special time and a birthday remember- love you guys!

Ok so that takes us up to the end of term. I was lucky enough to tag along on a little school trip to a local newspaper company which was really interesting; there's more than just newspaper stuff actually- there was a TV set, radio studios and lots of people running around with bits of paper. It was a super day and it really tested my Catalan, I reckon I understood about 90% of the information which isn't too bad. Although, I have to continue playing dumb to the kids telling them that I didn't understand any of it. This prompted one of the kids to say to me: 'so, you've been here for six months and all you can say is 'hola', that's ridiculous!' It's a little frustrating but it's not the end of the world!
On the last day, we went on the annual bike ride with the school, all 380 of them. Fortunately it was mainly farm tracks and back lanes so there wasn't too many disgruntled old men that couldn't get to their bowls tournament. I'll tell you who did suffer though, my bottom! I was not wearing the appropriate attire for a 17km bike ride and it's safe to say that I suffered a wee bit. Hey-ho, it was great last morning and a good exercise session!

So, the day after was the start of mine and miss Emily's big adventure in Andorra and Toulouse. We set off from Barcelona Sants on the Saturday morning on the coach, not really knowing what to expect in Andorra although we were kind of hoping that we would have to cross a border or something to let us know when we had arrived in the tax-haven. We were not disappointed as we were stopped for some time whilst we had our passports and the bus checked- it was thrilling!

Caldea (the spa)- aka heaven in swimming pool form

Anyway, so we had arrived it what can only be described as a mixture of France, Spain and Catalonia where they speak and mixture of French, Spanish and Catalan. Needless to say our heads were exploding! However, we were on the 'Spanish' side so we got by just fine. We were staying in a little hotel in Escalders which is joined with Andorra la Vella (the 'capital' city) so we were in a great location to explore. We spent our days wandering the tax free shops (which consist mainly of cigarettes and alcohol), going to museums, eating and soaking up the 'Andorrasian' culture. The highlight of the trip was most definitely going to Caldea- Europe's largest spa. We went at 9.30 at night and the best bit about this place is the outdoor section. There was a Jacuzzi and rapids where you could glare up at the stars and the snowy mountains which was connected to the indoor bit by canals that you swan through. It was like swimming pool heaven for me, and although I fell in the pool and subsequently got told off for climbing in the wrong way, it was a fantastic experience!

French and Spanish post boxes side by side

The next day we set off for Toulouse through the mountains of Andorra where there was at least 6 feet of snow, fortunately the roads were clear so we could just admire the beautiful scenery as we headed to the land of wine and frogs legs!
What can I say about Toulouse? Well, it's very French and it's full of French people. Our hostel was in an 'interesting' area of the city so we didn't hang around there too much. We did the standard French touristy things including all the cathedrals, monuments and museums, including the natural history museum which was super! We even went on the awesome but rather chilly Tourist Land Train.

The main square in Toulouse

Surprisingly, the museums were not too expensive but anything else was quite pricey, especially food and alcohol in bars. However, being students we were able to live quite happily and made the most of the city.

So came the end of our road trip, back in time for Easter and ready indulge in a ridiculous amounts of chocolate- courtesy of Emily's family! We had a great few days back in Spain where we made the most of the beautiful weather on the beach- still a little too chilly to swim in the sea mind. 
We also ventured up to Tibidabo- the big monastery on the giant hill in Barcelona. Not much to say about this other than it's beautiful but extremely high at the very top- a mere 500 metres above sea level. The views were incredible though and definitely worth doing.

The view from Tibidabo

Well, that's that. I hope I didn't bore you all to death with all of this useless information, but that's what I've been up to for the past few weeks. I only have 2 short months left here and I am definitely not wanting to go back to the UK any time soon, I can't believe this time of year has come round already! This means I have to make the most of what time  have left and I am most definitely going to do that- I assure you!

P.s. Just an FYI- my English phone is no longer working.