Internship in London: Day Five... last post! (I think)

Second last day of this internship! Not sure if glad or sad. I remember I was so excited for this internship to begin, but it's somehow disappointing... Except that today I was taught to do something! Thanks to you, NEW FRIEND! I was taught how to do some things on tumblr, how to fix the photos so they fit and look good on that platform. So yay! And I said "ok, thanks, I won't trouble you anymore" and he said "you can trouble me as much as you want" WOOHOO someone cares, a tiny bit. Or pretends he does, so that's nice.
It was cheat day as well, like every Thursday, so I had coffee and a muffin and that made me feel very good, so I was so hyper with all those things going on! And stuff to do! So happy. Also in my lunch break I could lie down on a bench and "get a tan". Which means, I could see the sun for a while, something I won't be able to do for some time.

But when I was leaving and said "see you guys tomorrow" nobody replied? what the hell, seriously? Am I that unbearable? Well, how would they know if they never talk to me? HAHAHAHA, that's ironic.

The day started beautifully when I found a flower on the ground right after walking out the hotel, by the riverside (which I love, in case you didn't notice). I don't like to get flowers as presents, it makes me sad to see them die after a few days... I like them better alive in nature. So tip: never give me flowers! But this one was, unfortunately, already cut off... So I kept it, and it's now on "my" desk.I thought it was a nice way to start off a day.

Found this in the ground by the riverside. Thanks #London for lighting up my day first day in the morning #goodmorning #goðandaginn #flowers #pink #internship #smile

Una foto publicada por Paula DL (@diel05) el 23 de Jul de 2015 a la(s) 1:10 PDT

After I left, I felt very down because of that unpoliteness so untypical (or rather, unexpected) from English people. Where are your manners? I'll tell you what: Lara and I always say that Glasgow sucks, because out of 10 times we've been there, 8 was raining. But the people are always so cheerful it's almost annoying. You hear stories that make you thing that you are going to be stabbed while walking around, or some drunkard is going to smash a glass bottle of your head (yep, that's the image we get from Glasgow) but actually everyone is always in a good mood: bus drivers, they like to joke around, waitresses, retailers...People in Edinburgh are nice too, ok, but Glasgow has something else. Maybe because they are always drunk, HAHAHA. (Sorry, it was so easy I had to say it). Stirling is just average, not extremely nice but not as rude as these other people.
So next time something talks about the "English politeness" like they do in Spain, I'm going to mention a few things!

When I got the hotel, I was very down and sad. Probably hungry as well. I didn't feel like going out for my workout, but I forced myself (because I was not feeling tired, just not in the mood) but I went anyway. I started jogging in a different direction I always walk... and I ended up running for so long! Ok, it was almost 40 minutes, but that's A LOT for me! Then I sat on a bench, did some abs work and some random (creepy) guy congratulated on my good effort, so hey!AWESOME!
It's funny how exercising makes you feel a lot better and not as down anymore! I know there are scientific explantions for that, and it's because we release some hormon, but it's odd to feel it yourself. And gratifying!

So after that... IT WAS TIME TO PACK! Oh god, THAT is drama. Real drama. How I'm going to fit so many things? I know if I managed to do it on my way here, it will work out for the way back but I really had to do some tetris in the suitcase... Just procrastinating a little bit, I'll do it tomorrow. (Where's my sister when I need her? :p )

And that's all for today. I won't be able to blog tomorrow... and after that, I'm not sure if I will feel like bothering you, people, with some of my stories (I probably will) so... hopefully, write to you soon!

Internship in London: Day Four

First of all, I must say that I'm watching (a.k.a playing in the background) Step Up 2 (I think) and it's driving me CRAZY because the girl has the exact same voice as Pensatucky from Orange is the New Black but it's not her. But it's her voice. But not her. And I'm getting a headache because it's A GIRL WITH PENSATUCKY'S VOICE! So if I write some nonsense, more than usual, you know why it is.

That said, I must say that the day today was rather irregular, but good in average. I FINALLY talked to someone for LONGER THAN TWO MINUTES in the office. It was most of it about work and such, but IT'S SOMETHING! I don't know the guy's name, or I think I do? But nice that someone tries to engage conversation with me. He even talked to me while lunch. Once again, about work stuff, but yay! He was basically helping me to make the tumblr post I've been working in look PERFECT. And it will. It's just frustrating that it's taking 3 days for a tumblr post, but all we can do is to be patient.
I have also noticed, and again it's very frustrating, that people just do things that I COULD DO myself, and actually, are among my tasks. Let's take twitter. If I'm working with the social media and promotion, I should do the tweeting and such. Well, one guy tweeted three things today right before leaving. And told me on his way out "I've tweeted a few things". THREE TWEETS IN 10 MINUTES! And I'm sitting here all day doing nothing! Why not suggesting me to do it? That made me sad... But when I was leaving, this other guy who talked to me today was also doing on the tumblr post and I asked "why didn't you tell me to do that so I would have something to do?" and he said "you'll have things to do tomorrow", so YAAAAAAAAAASHHH!!

Just to clarify, don't think that I'm a lazy bastard and sit there all day staring at the computer screen. I really, really try to find things to do, but it's a bit complicated because I don't want to disturb the other people with things I think and might be rubbish to them. I might come up with an idea of something to do, but they all seem so busy I don't want to disturb... But still, I keep trying, in case I find something super valuable that makes me a celebrity in the place... or similar.

So that was basically it, although I must mention the moment when the fire alarm went off and everybody had to leave the building, I expected it would take at least half an hour, because when that happens at the Thistles centre in Stirling, we spend a considerable amount of time outside waiting. But not today. In fact, I thought "this could help to make people talk to me, or for me to talk to them". Nope. So I just give up. It just feels so frustrating, nobody asks; nobody knows what I do for a living, they don't even know what I've studied or where I'm from! I guess they know where I'm from, yeah, it's pretty obvious, but... c'mon! Socialise!

I also tried to go to a Three store, my mobile phone company, because I can't get any calls. So I have a dual SIM phone, and if I put the UK SIM card in the slot 1, I get signal, and the calls and all that, but when I answer, I can't hear anything. Or when I call. But when I put it in slot 2, it always worked... until Tuesday, for some reason. So I go to the store:
Incompetent Guy: Can I help you?
Me: [I explain the situation]
IG: Yeah, our company can't operate in dual phones because their setting are too complicated.
Me: But it USED TO work, it just suddenly stopped.
IG: Yeah, we never guarantee anything on dual phones.
Me: I get that, but I think it's weird that it worked BEFORE and it doesn't work anymore?
IG: Like I said, it's not guaranteed. And that can happen, it worked and it doesn't work anymore.
Me: So I can't use my SIM for calls at all?
IG: You could get a new plan and get a new phone for only one SIM card
Me: But I have two cards, that's why I have a dual phone.
IG: Then get two phones [laughs]

LISTEN YOU ANNOYING T***, CHIP FACE, GREEDY C***! Look at me. Do I look like I was born yesterday? Like I don't have a brain? I'VE HAD TWO PHONES, YOU IDIOT, and that's why I have a DUAL SIM now, because it's a lot more comfortable and easy!!! You son of a fart!!! Thanks for your no-help, thanks for nothing!
In UK, I've noticed, it's a common habit to ask for reviews and opinions in retail places. We do at HMV, and we are encouraged to get more and more every week. Well, if this company asks for my opinion, I'm going to give it to them. And they're going to like it, but that guy won't.
Conclusion: I think it's just that because I'm out of Stirling, in a different area, my phone and SIM card have entered a conflict. I guess they don't like holidays together and they don't get along if we leave our cosy village. Well, GET OVER IT. This place is great and we are staying a couple of days longer. Cheers.

Seems like I'm complaining about many things, but I also like other stuff. I like the area, I like the weather (although today was cloudy, but we'll see tomorrow) and I enjoy being out of Stirling for a bit. Fresh air is good.

Done with my workout of the day, I'm going to watch The Fighter because... MARK WAHLBERG! You need any more reasons? And because writing about boxing at "work" makes me curious about all this.
Tomorrow is my cheat day: coffee and cake! And if there's nothing more remarkable, I will skip the post.

Back to you soon, people!

Internship in London: Day Three

Madre mía, madre mía, MADRE MÍA! What a great day. It was sunny and warm again! Which doesn't really help, actually. Being indoors all day seeing the nice weather outside frustrates me, because I'm able to enjoy it just a few more days but I can't! Then I'll be back to rainy Scotland and no more sun for little Paula.

I like this area so much, it's so lovely and cosy. Maybe because the weather is nice so the people are more active, and most probably if I came over during winter it would be as depressing as the North Pole, but anyway.
So I left for work, and walked along the riverside... my favourite. I got there and did stuff. The dynamic in that place is pretty weird, because everyone sits down and people do their thing. Problem is... I don't know what my thing is. Sure, I'm in charge of the online media and such, but there's an editor and I can not rule the place and set everything on fire. Or can I? I'm leaving in a few days anyway, HAHAHAHA. No, seriously. So nobody tells me what to do, so I just go... HECK IT, I'll do what I want and they'll decide what to do afterwards. Conclusion: I tweet and retweet things, post things on Facebook and create some content for tumblr. Those last things need the approval from the editor, obviously, who is right across my desk... but he sometimes seems so busy and focused that I don't dare to interrupt, so I keep researching and trying to find material. Who knows if it will help them in any aspect, but I keep myself busy somehow.

There's another girl doing work experience as well, like I mentioned yesterday, and we get on very well. Only difference is that she's a video editor, and she doesn't show as much iinitiative as me, I feel, so she's spent LITERALLY all day surfing the internet. She would need a little push, maybe... or just ask someone what she could do, how she can help. Anyhow, we had lunch together outsiiiiiiide, in the suuuun, [walk to Bridge of Aaaaaallan...] (the entonation for these words is pretty specific, sorry if only a few of you can get the joke) and we talked about how the staff don't try to engage with us. Nobody has asked us what we do, where we come from, how we're getting on... Which is understandable because we are leaving on Friday, but.. I don't know. I think it's odd. At the end of the day I talked a bit more to one of the guys to ask him how to embed a video on tumblr. and that was it. But hey, it's a beginning! Right?

Although there's something remarkable and that made me very happy and it was... A MEETING! YEES! I'm not joking! So everyone went to the meeting room with these spreadsheets about the plan of the design and content of the magazine for next month and people made an overview of what's done, what's left to do, what to change, what to add... That was exciting! To me, that is, not to the other girl. That's what our teachers have been talking about all year, that's the real thing! I was so happy :D

Plus, lunch was nice because I saw my firtst thistle ever! Which is the flower of Scotland, so YAY!

First thistle I ever see! The flower of Scotland in London! #London #flowers #thistle #sun #Scotland #purple

Una foto publicada por Paula DL (@diel05) el 21 de Jul de 2015 a la(s) 5:52 PDT

Just me... being me

After work, I decided to walk to the hotel, for the sake of fitness and wellbeing. And to enjoy the weather, once again. It didn't take me very long, but I don't think I'll do it in the mornings, I'm not very active in the mornings. If you know me, you should know I'm not a morning person. Nope. Nope. NOPE. So no talking, no work-out, no exercise. All I think is about having breakfast, getting dressed and jumping on the bus. NOTHING ELSE.

When I got here and walked along the riverside AGAIN I was some envious of the people sitting outside the bars and restaurants that I decided to join. I first sat on the edge of a deck, fearing those damn giant swans, but then I went to a Spanish restaurant... that was really disappointing. All I wanted were some patatas bravas with alioli and croquetas! Sure, I had potatos with salsa brava, thta was good. But the alioli was some kind of mustard with spices... nothing, NOTHING like real alioli! And the croquetas? Aagggghhh. There was chicken in them, sure, but why add chive? WHY??? Sacrilege! And the bread crust around it? WHY SO THICK??? It's supposed to be thin and soft, just to create consistency to the mix in the inside, not to make it look like a rolled up porcupine. So glad I didn't order sangría, who knows what would be in it...

PERO EH, tenían CALIMOCHO. Ojo.

What's that yellow thing under my "croquetas"?

What's that yellow mustard thing? That's not alioli, GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT!

After that, of course, I went out for my work-out. I really can't stand running. I'm not a runner, it's a fact. I don't care what you people say, I can't like running! So I jogged for a little bit as a warm up to a bench on the other side of the riverside (yep, I love that place, in case you didn't notice...) and then did this work-out by the BodyCoach, WHO I HAVEN'T MET YET, by the way. Still waiting. I only made a few changes, like 45" instead of 30. So hpefully I will survive supercircuits when I get back on Monday :D
Also, it's a struggle for me to remain seated for almost 7h a day. It's killing me! But it was better today since I tried to keep myself busy. Getting there, getting there.

And I think that's pretty much it. Well, on my way back from the office a guy who I think had got in the water in the riverside blinked at me and said "you alright?" and I looked away so he said "So moody!!!!" but honestly, he looked like a d******* so heck it. But hey, it's something to bump my self-steem up! :p
Plus, when I got to the hotel after my fitness session WiFi did not work. BAD. So I went to the owner and she fixed it. GOOD.

I'll write some more tomorrow, unless it's just the same as today.

This was my view during dinner, it was gorgeous. We have to give them that.

Internship in London: Day two

Wow, two days in a row posting on my blog. This must a record or somethin.

The title is "Day 2" but it should actually be "Day 1" because it was the first day of the internship, but you guys are not that perfeccionist, right? So who cares.

Anyway, so as I said, today was my first day at Forever Sports. I decided to get there early, like I always do, but my most adventorous side decided to take a different route from the one I knew. I didn't get very lost, but that delayed me a little bit. And to be honest, those are the type of things that always make me leave a bit earlier than I should...
It was a bit disappointing to see that it wasn't sunny anymore, and that the sky was grey and cloudy... but oh well. So I took the bus to work, everything fine, but when I got off the bus, where to go? So in my old habit of talking to anyone and making friends, I asked a random girl who also got off the bus at the same stop as me. And she was heading the same way! So she walked me there and we chatted a little bit, the typical talk: where are you from, what are you doing here, bla, bla, bla...

By the way, I haven't said this before, but Forever sports belongs to a media company called Haymarket Media. They also publish many other magazines, most of them very niche. Like medical and economy stuff. So even if we were going to the same place, we were not necessarily working together.

So I get there, talk to the recepcionist, sit and wait, because like I said, I was early... and see the cafeteria. BEWARE! Cafe latte for 1.50, AND MUFFINS FOR THE SAME PRICE!! Didn't even want to get closer to them, because I knew it would hard to resist and it was not cheat day! But Thursday, defenitely.
Then I was picked up and taken to what would be my computer for the day (and I guess the rest of the week) and people were introduced to me. So many that I remember very few. Then a second young girl arrives and sits on the desk next to me, and she was also introduced to everyone. The editor, James and talks to us, and asks me what I'm studying and what courses were in my degree. I really had no idea what I wanted to do while working there, but I expected myself to work a bit with content and design? But I must have a very obvious social-media-expert face because that's the job I was assigned... I asked if I could also come up with some ideas for content for their tumblr and they said yes, so that's basically what I'm doing! Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. 
First 3h for both of us, the new girls, were like "find something you can work with" but without being very specific so I could do very little... Then we went on our lunch break and I started talking with this girl, whose name is Jade. Because, like I say, apparently it's very easy for me to approach strangers and be friends with people. So I started the typical conversation again: what do you do, what have you studied, what are you from, bla, bla, bla... and had lunch together. Honestly, I can try to begin a conversation like that, but it's very hard to keep pushing the person to carry on the conversation, so at some point I decided to go out for a walk around the area.

Because that's something I have also found out about myself: I'm not done for these office jobs. Oh, god, where is all my energy going to? NOWHERE! I can't be sat down for 8h a day, it kills me! I need action, activity, movement! Or maybe because it was the first day and everything was rather undefined... But that doesn't happen in HMV. You just walk around, back and forth, up the stairs and down, and stand next to the tills... and talk to people. There's a lot more interaction and movement. But I guess that's something I'll have to get used to!

The thing is that after the lunch break I had a short meeting with James and talked about what I would be doing for the week, which is basically what I mentioned before, but I showed him some ideas that came up while I was doing some "research" in the morning. He approved, and I started doing it... and then, it was time to go!

I left, a bit disappointed because I DIDN'T GET TO MEET THE BODYCOACH! Hahahaha. Maybe some other day... hopefully! But here's the funny part: took the right bus... on the wrong direction. LOL. I realised after 2 or 3 stops, so I got off and took the same bus on the opposite direction. I got to my hotel area and there are several supermarkets around, and like Alangrangers know, the "reductions" are taken out at 6ish. It was long past 6 so I went to Tesco and Sainsbury's to check and buy my lunch for tomorrow... that's the sad life of the student: food bought in the "reduced to clear" section!

When I got to the hotel, I still felt a bit too hyper so I went out for a jog. It had been grey and cloudy all day, but no even drizzle. UNTIL THE VERY RIGHT MOMENT I STEP OUT FOR A RUN. Of course. Typical. Regardless that annoying fact, I left for my workout, and then got back to the hotel, took a shower and ate my cous-cous and feta salad. Very healthy.

In the meantime, Alangrangers were organising a plan for this evening, they were considering to go to the Settle Inn for the open mic night. Kevin played the mandola last week, and a girl called Judith sang along with him. I hope he doesn't perform tonight, I'd hate missing it! I must confess there's a bit of mixed feelings there, because even though I'm "glad" to miss it because I got this opportunity, but at the same time, I wouldn't mind go out and socialise. This place is so greeeaaaat! And I have to enjoy it alone. Oh well, tough life.

But right now I'm leaving you, my loyal audience, to go watch Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I. Because it's on tv I have nothing better to do. #teamjacob forever!

Internship in London: Day one

So yep, I got an internship! YAYYYY!! And yep, it's in LONDON! Yaaay to that too, right? Well, not completely, since that means that I have to move to London for a week and leave Stirling, Alangrangers and more behind for 5 days. SUCH A PITY to have to abandon my confort zone to take part in an internship at FOREVER SPORTS! My favourite sports magazine in the UK :D
At the same time, I'm also working for Rucksacks Readers by assisting in their promotion on online platforms, also an internship so I'm very happy, I must say!

Like I said, this internship is in London, and here I am. The offices are placed in Mordor. No, not really, they're actually beyond Mordor. So you can imagine the journey to the hotel, because I was not willing to pay for a hotel in the city centre and spend 2h to the offices and 2h back every day, so I booked a room in Mordor, to be closer.

My journey began yesterday after work and having a wonderful dinner with Lara (we ate JAMÓN!) when I took the last train to Glasgow, because my flight in the morning was at 6:50, so I had to stay the night at the airport. No worries, I have a MASTER on spending nights at airports, although this time was tough because it was F****** FREEZING so I couldn't doze off at all. Anyway, I took my plane, headed to London (managed to sleep a bit during the flight) and when I get here... IT'S SUNNY AND WARM. Oh, so delicious. So when I got to Victoria station I just layed down on the grass and read Lady Chatterley's Lover, my loyal companion these days (either the real novel or the transcript of the trial, or anything related...). Because in case you didn't know, that's what my dissertation is about.

ANYWAYS after enjoying a few hours under the sunshine, I walked to Marble Arch, which is quite a walk (just because) and took the tube to Waterloo to meet... DOVILE!!!! Yeeeeeesssssshhh, after five years, FIVE YEARS!!! Unbelievable, and like nothing happened. Remembering those "special" lunches we had in Iceland... It was nice to have a short reunion.

So then I headed to Mordor, as I said, and... I LOVE IT. I love it here. It's wonderful, it's SPLENDID, MAGNIFICIENT. I think this place is in Surrey (I'm terrible at geography) and it feels like it's a little town inside London. The hotel is right beside the river Thames, and you can see it right over the road. So beautiful. Best part is that on the riverside there are soooo many bars and restaurants with tables and chairs outside, and people were sitting there enjoying the good weather, like if they were in Paradise. Or in Spain.
That actually made me feel a bit sad, because I wanted to join but it's a bit pathetic to do it alone... so I missed someone. This wouldn't have happened if I had my other half this year, Lara, especially because she misses the sun and the heat and she would've enjoyed this so much.
I actually just got home, changed my trousers for shorts, and walked out for a walk. It felt so good. I didn't feel even tired, which is weird considering my sleep depravation. I guess that sunshine really gives me energy and I could kept on. This area is so beautiful, really! So I've enjoyed my walk a lot. I even had ice-cream, because there was an ICE CREAM VAN parked there! And I never had had ice cream from a van like that, and this one had italian ice-cream. So... NOMNOM. I ordered chocolate and cookies, my favourite, but it was done... so I just had regular chocolate. BORING. But surprisingly, that was the only thing that went wrong today, which is odd. KNOCK ON WOOD, though. I hope it keeps like this.

Anyway, it feels strange to be able to understand the accent here. And that they don't thank by saying "cheers" and they don't call you "pal". Those wee Scottish things. But the sun is nice, SO I'M FINE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I'll have all those things back on Friday.
I've also noticed a difference in what we call in Spain "el ganao"(Literally, "livestock", but it has a meaning). There's a lot better (and more variety) of stock here. Which is also fun.

And here I show you some pictures from today. I will update you tomorrow with my first day, hopefully only good things.

The view from the front door of the hotel

I WAS WEARING SHORTS!!!!

Riverside

This got my attention and I checked the menu. They have patatas bravas. Gotta try them, probs tomorrow

More riverside

Church

ICE-CREAM VAAAAN!!!!

Velkominn í baenum okkar

Species not existant in Stirling, they were huge

The beginning of England, give us money

This could perfectly be Spain... Look at that garden.

So cuuuuuteeeeee

Just an idea of my birhtday present. If you make him add some dreadlocks, I'll be the happiest

Pretty Reckless

Heeeeey, what's up, people? It's been a while now, huh?
So many things to write about! If you missed me, I apologise. If not, well... you will want more after this post!

Ma super cool project! Woop woop!

I know I haven't shown a lot of activity in the blog lately... Well, I've been busy, you know!? I'm studying a Masters degree, even if my Facebook friends don't believe so. But I do, and I had to work on a Publishing project that took a lot of my time and effort. And tears and blood. But it turned out GREAT, so I'm super happy with the result. I spent hours and days struggling with InDesign and Photoshop, and believe me... it was not an easy fight. And, like me, many other of my colleagues had a harsh time with it. Plus, printing services didn't really help when their machine broke down a few days before the deadline!
So in order to celebrate I was a bit more free, I went to Spain for 10 days. WHAT A COINCIDENCE, the motocross World Championship and the FERIAS took place exactly the two weekends I spent there. SERIOUSLY? Who could've imagined! I also spent 3 days in Benidorm with my sister. That trip also deserves a whole blog post only for itself, same as the one to Marrakech, but it will take me a while to work on it. So hopefully next time I write, I do it about Marrakech, because that's already handwritten so all I have to do is typing it.
So at this right moment I'm working on my dissertation, which is going just fine. If you ask me tomorrow, I will probably say that it's going terribly, and you'll obtain a wonderful answer on Thursday because it's coffee-and-cake day, like every week I work hard in the gym every day,(very HARD! I name myself the Queen of Fitness :p ) but Thursday is cheat day. So I will probably be very optimistic and motivated about my dissertation.


Anyway, my plan was to tell you about last Thursday. Because I did something reckless and I'm pretty sure that if Kayleigh had known about it (she's too busy enjoying her holidays in USA+Canada) she'd tell me to post about it on my blog. So this is for her, because I miss her a lot!

Blairmains Coffee Bothy market.

So Lara and I went to have coffe and cake to Blairmans Coffee Bothy, which is a farm with a coffee house. They sell organic and healthy food, as well as hand made jam, like the one I bought. Yummy. Vegetables and fruits look amazing and they taste even better! I mean, they actually have a flavour! But the cakes are the best. AMAZING. Lara got chocolate cake and I ordered caramel cake. And coffee, of course. Everything was delicious, and even though it's a bit more expensive than other coffee shops, it's worth the cost. Big slices of cake and made with natural and organic ingredients? Give me more! So if you are in Stirling and about, drop by some time. I promise they're not paying me for saying all these nice things, they really are true.
The thing is that I was working that day at 1pm so even though we always go for coffee and cake in the afternoon, we went for breakfast this time. And then I headed to work... by walk. That was not a very clever idea, because I walked along the road to ALLOA.
Yes, my friends, I'm clever like that.
It's just a simple road which means there's no pavement on the sides for stranded pedestrians like me, so I was just walking through grass and plants and flowers and all that. These boots were made for walking! So I did. But SHIT it was tough, and it was starting to rain (WOW, rain in Scotland? Seriously?) and cars were just driving by.
I kept walking... and walking... hoping for Stirling not to be too far, but it seemed unreachable.
So THERE HE WAS, a random stranger who stopped his wonderful and fancy MERCEDES BENZ and offered me a ride.
Random Stranger: "Do you need a lift?"
Reckless Paula: "Hmmm... where are you going?" 
RS: "To Stirling, but I can drive you wherever you are going"
RP: "Ehhhhmmmm..."

What do you think Reckless Paula did?

a. Kindly said no, kept on walking and got late to work after wandering forever.
b. Accepted the ride and risked her life and the possibility of future coffee-and-cake Thursdays.
c. Ran away like crazy trying to get rid of this psycho.

Well, considering that I've called myself "Reckless Paula" during the dialogue, I think the correct option is pretty obvious. So yeah, OPTION B happened. So it went like this:
RP: "Ehhhhmmmm... Sure, why not!" *gets in the car*
RS: "I used to hitch hike when I was young". (OH WELL, that really was a relieve!)

So I thought "what's the worst that can happen?" and yes, of course I know the answer! I know many things that could happen, but... DID THEY HAPPEN? No, they didn't! And yes, I know it was risky because "there are many bad people in this world" but HEY, there are also very nice people in this world that innocently offer you a lift to town. We constantly talk and hear about all those psychos, but why don't we also mention the genuine kind people who also try to help?
After that, everything was fine. The way was a bit TOO longer that I expected, so if I had had to walk that way, I would've been very late to work. I want to emphasise the fact that I WOULDN'T HAVE GOT IN THE CAR if the guy made me cringe. But a Mercedes Benz, with all the business stuff and papers in the seat and well dressed? Nah, I trusted him. And then he asked me what I was doing in Stirling, where I was from, towards what path I was aiming on my career... I didn't ask much because I didn't want to seem nosy, so I just kept answering. Then we got close to Stirling centre and I got off the car while saying "Well, thank you very much, kind stranger". Always myself.

Okay, American Psycho teaches as that you can't trust businessmen either but... oh well! Too late

The funniest part is when you tell the people about it. "ARE YOU CRAZY?? YOU KNOW WHAT COULD'VE HAPPENED?" Well... yes, I read the news sometimes... "No, you didn't do that! You seriously got in the car?" Ehmm... I'm telling you, I did. "I can't believe you did that!" yeah, as I said, I'm pretty reckless, I guess. And in life, sometimes, no risk = no fun. (Or no risk = walk along a contryside road for hours until you get to the place...). Besides, I do boxercise! And I'm getting fittier and tougher at the gym (I just got complimented on Sunday :D ) so what's to worry?
Anyway, my mum's reaction was the best:

I mean... I had to take the risk, even if he didn't even look like him.

Mum: "PAULA! You crazy, how could you do that! And just... don't tell me! You know I watch CRIMINAL MINDS!"
Paula: "Well, I watch Pretty Woman!" 

Because HEY! What if that guy would've been my Richard Gere of real life, he would've taken me out of ... not the streets, but... a lost place in the middle of nowhere, so I wouldn't have to work ever again and had studied a Masters degree for nothing? Well, now we know FOR SURE that's not going to happen, but he had to make sure. Right?
But my mum still had something to comment about it and last night she asked me if I HAD SEEN HIM AGAIN or if I HAD HEARD FROM HIM! No, mum, sorry. My hunting for my own personal Edward Lewis is still up.
Then I think that I earn my own nicknames when I do stuff like this. A colleague at work keeps calling me "Trouble", and I start to think that it makes a bit of sense... It seems like I'm permanently looking for trouble in life! And he also calls me "crazy ass". I guess that's also right. And he also calls me "cheeky monkey" although I can't find a reason for that one!

Definetely, I won't risk it again. Once was enough, we all have a laugh at this and I'm fine and that's all, but playing with probability is not one of my favourite things. I was always terrible at maths.



So that is all for now! I hope you enjoyed this piece of procrastination (for me and for you) or entertainment for all that FREE TIME YOU ARE HAVING DURING YOUR SUMMER HOLIDAYS. (Those are not ANGRY capitals, I promise. It's just that it's loud in here and needed to shout).

I'll write again soon! (Or not...) See yaaa!

Last game of the season... AND NO TEARS!

Now that I'm ill and doing almost NOTHING all day (untrue, I've been doing uni work, but I wasn't able to attend boxercise yesterday nor kettlebells+insanity today, which for me is a synonim of "unproductivity". Addicted to fitness) I've decided to catch up with my blog. And, once again, it's about waterpolo. I promise this is the last post about it, because this was the last game of the season.

Last time I played a "last game" I cried, a lot. It was the last game in Iceland, and I would never play with that people again, or so I thought. So I was very sad about my ERASMUS coming to an end, and having to say goodbye to the people. I fixed it quickly by getting trapped in a cloud of volcanic ash that same evening, or was it the following morning? Don't really remember, and due to the darkness made by the ash cloud, we couldn't tell de difference, but that was fun. We had a great time in the refuge :D (If you want to know more about this, click here to read my blog about it, although unfortunately it's in Spanish!)

SO AS I WAS SAYING, we played our last game of the season against RGU. We could've not made it to the game because Lewis almost crashed the car while going out of Bridge of Allan. Bridge of Allan! That's like 50m away from campus, at least wait until we get to Dundee, so we can hitch hike!

 But yeah, what a... disappointing game. When we played against them last time in October, we won 24-2. I remember that game very well, because even though we won and everyone was very happy, I was feeling terrible for my poor performance, but I had my reasons. And that can be spotted on the team picture, everyone is smiling...except me.
This time we were aiming on winning again, hopefully with a similar score... but nope, it didn't happen. Our purpose was to win so we could end up on the 4th place in the final classification WHICH IS GREAT regardless what other people think/say and try to put us down. And... WE DID!
Unfortunately, final score was 9-6 but it's a victory anyway.
The game started very well, we were clearly beating them in the first quarter, but... something happened and we just started going down and down. For starters, I hate that pool because it has A SHALLOW END and that's just a disgrace. It should be completely forbidden to play in swimming-pools like that, but ANYWAY.
But yes, after the brilliant first quarter, we began to fail miserably, and it just got worse.

Also, what's wrong with those referees? Believe it or not they were WORSE THAN GIANNIS. Because GIANNIS can be a bad referee, but can someone be worse than GIANNIS? Well, apparently the answer is YES! At least GIANNIS has a proper wistle. These guys... AGH. And one of the girls in RGU was being so aggressive to me, and I wasn't playing THAT dirty, but you know who the referee told off?? ME!! "I know what's going between you two, so be careful or you both are out". WELL, let her know that she is not allowed to defend me standing and not letting me swim. Just like GIANNIS, he warned me for no reason. Poor me! I was innocent that time, I promise!

Good thing, we won. So we got a 4th place and no negative points :D Not every team can say that!!
Bad thing, we could've done a lot better. But oh, well, last game of the season, now it's your turn girls to make up for this! Get supper fit and motivated for next year, work hard and play HARDER!

Scorers: Becky 5, Bethany 2, Beth and Paul 1
And because I have a presentation tomorrow and I should get ready for it, I'm leaving this post just like this! Once again, if anyone wants me to mention something, just let me know and I will edit! (I know that Naomi-Moans is going suggest a very funny conversation about someone having a girlfriend, BUT ANONIMITY IN MY BLOG IS GRANTED most of the time, so that's not goin to happen :p )

Game against St. Andrew's

It's been a while since the last post, huh?

After that weekend in Glasgow, we had to play St. Andrew's AGAIN on Monday. This was however a BUCS game, so it was the universities league. Just the league we've been playing all season. If I remember correctly, St. Andrew's was the first team that Stirling played against in this season, but I wasn't a member of the team  yet, so I missed that one. And apparently, there was a very big difference in the score.

Nobody hits ma Kay and leaves freely...SO WE WON!
Eat that, St Andrew's!

Then again, we played against them on Saturday in Glasgow, and we lost 0-9. However on Monday... oh god, best game of the season. Best game EVER. We played so brilliantly! I couldn't be happier, and prouder of being a part of this team. FINAL RESULT: VICTORY! 5-3!!!! It was an amaaaaaaazing game!
**Edit: I was reminded of some aggressive manouvers that were carried by St. Andrew's. Kayleigh ended up being punched on the cheek and a scratch under her eye, as well as Bethany! Their desperation for winning made them take extreme measures. Girls, learn the lesson: violence won't make you win. Being better and brilliant DOES. However, we could hear their coach saying "This shouldn't be happening, Stirling is shit!" oh well... BUT WE WON! (Although later confessions brought up Kayleigh's mum pointing out that St. Andrew's was supposed to be good. Well... thanks to Kay's mum for the support and confidence, I guess? :p )
Also, I'm remembering now seeing their goalie being sick on Sunday in Glasgow in a LIDL bag. And missing...
Apparently, one of their players also twisted her finger. Like Kay said: "Karma's a bitch". Eat that St. Andrew's.
Forgot to talk about the BRILLIANT REFEREEING that day. GIANNIS was very sad because I hadn't mentioned anything about it when I wrote this post, so GIANNIS told me that he was disappointed and I should write something about GIANNIS' brilliant performance as a ref. Because he read his name 1000 times when I last posted about him reffing, so GIANNIS wanted to see that again.
Right before the game GIANNIS warned me that he would kick me out the game if I complained about anything he did wrong while refereeing, because apparently St. Andrew's coach is super professional. So I told GIANNIS that I would behave properly (LIKE I NEVER DO???) but he also had to do a proper job. So GIANNIS did. He's now very proud and has acquired some weird facebook stickers/emojis of refs. Shouldn't be writing about GIANNIS on my post, this was a bad idea.
(Still, Giannis, dick of the day, just because! :D)

Scorers: Stef (3), Becky and Me (1). And here I wanted to thank Stef for showing up and congratulations and good luck in her Masters in Madrid! It was a big effort for her to make this game, and it was very important for us so we owe her big time. So sincerely THANK YOU, Stef!

The heroes of the day

So after that great game we had to celebrate. We had beaten ST. ANDREW'S! And oh god, do never promise anything before a game...
Me.- "Girls, if we win..."
Kayleigh.- "Paula is staying for a second masters!"
Me.- "Haha, sure! And also, we go out to celebrate and DRINKS ARE ON ME!"

Bad idea. We won. So we had to celebrate. So we went to a bar-restaurant close to my place called "The Meadow Park" and... we had a few drinks. We were ECSTATIC so we ordered a bit on a rush and the bartender got one order wrong, he served an extra cocktail. I ordered Cosmopolitan (MY FAVOURITE EVER) and Judy ordered a Sex on the beach (my second favourite) and he served two of those. So I kept the extra one! woohoo! TWO COCKTAILS, why not?
Then I headed to ASH to meet Sergios, Aidan and some friends of his and joined the rest in town. We hit Dusk and OH MAN that was fun!! :D

Also, I want to say thank  you to my Alangrange Bitches for showing up and root for us! You made my evening, and I'm so glad that you attended this game because honestly it was AWESOME and we did best than ever. You are stars!

Pretty short text today but this was so long ago I don't remember many of the details... I'm asking the girls to suggest me ideas about what to write but they being big contributors. Sure, they all DEMANDED me to write a blog about this, so I did, but now... where are the ideas? :p


(I know I should add pictures to this post, but I'm in a hurry  now to do that, so I'll edit and post some tonight! Time for some kettlebells and insanity! WOOP, WOOP!) 

Scottish Student Sports a.k.a Scot unis.

This weekend in Glasgow the SSS was celebrated, so every Scottish University sent their swimmers and waterpolo teams to compete. Except RGU that once again, stood everyone up. So off we the girls were, to have a wonderful weekend and also play some polo :p Unfortunately, the boys couldn't join us for this because they didn't have a team... hopefully next year!

Kay and Mairi as Jasmine. Plenty of them.

It all started on Friday when Kayleigh wanted to get some stuff ready for the Disney themed party we were having that same night. She was dressed as Jasmine (Stirling uni's theme was Aladdin) and wanted some shiny things to wear around her tough, sexy waist. So off to Primark after training, and then on the way back.. her car stars to act funny. Not funny in a "laughing" way, but rather in a "worrying" way and it was supposed to take us to Glasgow! So Kayleigh, who was not stressed+excited already at all, panicked a bit and decided she'd take the train. Luckily we did that trip to Primark so the car would start failing while still in Stirling and not on our way there...but oh what a fun way to start this amazing weekend!
*EDIT*: We just heard that the car died. #RIPMaureen
So we split in other cars, or took the train, and headed off to Glasgow. We met at the Blue Sky Hostel, which sounded very promising, right? Well, we were lucky, sharing a 12 bed room only for the girls in the polo team, but swimmers were not that lucky...and had to share with some other strangers.

We were having too much fun

We all started getting ready to partyyyyy at 7 pm. Apparently, we were meant to meet the rest of the teams at 11... quite a long pre-drinks round, huh? So you can imagine how we all were when he hit the union with the rest of the people. Our costumes were very cool, we had plenty of Jasmines (including the swimmers), 3 Aladdins, one Jaffar, two tigers, two genies... Some of the costumes were full of effort, not necessarily fancy, but they looked very cool. I personally loved Megan's Yago, it was so genuine! And of course Katie 'Titanic' G's smurf. No, wait, she was as genie as well. She painted her whole body in blue, completely. She needed some help for...some body parts, but that's something you readers don't need to know. Although we had graphic evidences of that process...
*EDIT* After painting ourselves in blue, Katie's costume has blue stains. Our waterpolo caps have blue stains. The bedsheets we used had blue stains. Blue, blue everywhere, I'm not gonna use bodypainting in a long, long while.

Genie and Yago

Well, so before going to the union, the swimmers joined us in our room and I was being introduced to people I had never met or heard of and THEY KNEW MY NAME. What the hell? I wasn't sure if that was flattering or offensive, so I decided to change my name for the night and be FRIEDA. But the swimmer boys called me Frodo all night long. People have tended to change my name to male name version lately: Paula>Paul, Frieda>Frodo. Is it a suggestion? Anyway, I'll just take it as a compliment. Not sure how, but I will.

Our tigers

Just for you to guess how we all were at that point, some of the girls were kicked out
of the place (two of them. K&K, we'll keep them in anonimity, although
I've mentioned them already before :p) but they snuck back in! They are so brilliant... One of them just pretended not to be drunk, just "sleepy because this is so boring" and said that she was driving that night and needed to get her car keys. The other one was kicked out for dancing on the stage, and was so honest that confessed she was drunk, yeah, but only because "she hadn't drunk in such a long time..." #BANTER
Then my friend Fran joined us, yes! And I then I remember I fell a lot of times. I am clumsy, and I fall/hit objects accidentally very often. (Specially in FUBAR when wearing heels) but that night... oh god. Then I woke up with bruises all over my legs AND ARMS, and we hadn't played a game yet... That said a lot about my night, I guess.
So everybody went home, I remained alone with Fran and went to take a taxi when they closed the place. On the way, I FOUND 10 POUNDS ON THE GROUND! So free taxi for me! Woohoooo!!
I got to the hostel and didn't even removed the paint on my face, I think...

The following day YES! Waterpolo! At Tollcross swimming centre in Glasgow. Firstly, Kayleigh and I had to do some table duty for two games, and man, that went terribly... Ever done table duty when drunk? Because I wasn't even sober yet.

Saturday, three games in a day, who could imagine? But we survived, like CHAMPIONS. True, we were also beaten up:
-First game against St. Andrew's: 0-9
-Second game against Edinburgh (their good team): 1-16(Scorer: Paula/Paul/Frieda/Frodo)
-Third game against Dundee: 1-11 (Scorer: Paula/Paul/Frieda/Frodo)


So up to that point, I was the top and only scorer of the team. Which is sad, honestly. Very, very sad, because I'm terrible at shooting, and everyone knows. From 0 to 10, I'd give me a -8 at shooting. But oh well, I got that going for me, which was nice. Also, first two games I was still a bit drunk. I didn't sober up until second game was completely done... very uncomfortable. Ever played a waterpolo game when still drunk? I'm pretty sure some of us did on Saturday :p And still, top scorer! Impressive xD
We spent the rest of the day just watching other games, and there was a very tough one, just like I like! Even with violence, and punching! Okay that I don't like, but the game was so exciting! Glasgow ended up winning to Edinburgh? (I don't really remember the team) but it was very tight. You can see Glasgow is not a very beloved by other teams (apparently they are very dirty and agressive, and that I could tell from what I saw in this game...) so only people cheering for Glasgow were... their team mates. The girls, that is. The rest of all other teams were supporting the other team. That was an exciting and fun game, I must say.

After that exhausting day, I wasn't sure if my eyes were stingy because of chlorine or because of sleepiness, but we had a ball to attend... So we hurried to the hostel to get ready, and OH MY GOD were we stunning. We all looked gorgeous!

BEWARE!!! HOTNESS OVERLOAD

Of course, the story does not just begin calmly and normally. We took a taxi to go to the Hilton and we went TO THE WRONG ONE. There are like 3 Hiltons in the city and we went to the wrong one! It was only a 50/50 chance because the third one was llike 100m away from our hostel and we were told that it wasn't that one. But we did it! We had so much fun at this dinner with freshers' challenges and stuff like that. Even though I'm old and postgraduated, I stepped out and volunteer as a fresher with Judy. We raced for lit candles (that made me have two tequila shots with no hands as a forfait, which btw made Judy RUIN MY BANTER at the bar. Thanks for that), not being allowed to say some word we would not know which one was (ten press ups as forfait) and then a speech mentioning the lack of scores we had in the tournament, but how much we would score that night. That earned me one pound from every one of the girls, even though nobody got the reference or found it funny, we had our laugh. First time in my life that I take part in this freshers' challenge thing, AND LAST ONE.
*EDIT* There were guys there wearing kilts. THEY WERE ACTUALLY WEARING KILTS. So Scottish. I have seen men wearing them at weddings and stuff, but I didn't expect boys to wear them in an event like this. It was so cool! I had to ask for a picture.
Conversation went literally like "Hi, I'm from Spain and I find amazing that you guys are wearing kilts. Can I take a picture?" And they did :D 

After that yummy meal at the Hilton some of us went to a club called Sanctuary. Music was not very good at first (for a long while) so after that, when they started to play decent music, I was a bit "meh" and not very motivated anymore. ***But motivated enough to creep out the goalie from the Edinburgh team by staring at him all night. Just Frodo keeping it classy!*** (Learnt the following day that Kayleigh and Katie creeped him out before me telling him that he was the best-looking goalie there...)
Also, that place was okay, but I think we've got too used to nights out in Stirling... and that's sad xD There were some kind of people that wouldn't go unseen, and that you wouldn't bump into in Stirling when in our nights out. That felt weird. And also, too many creeps (besides me).
When we had to go back to the hostel (one more taxi, woohooo!) it was raining like crazy. Weird! Rain in Glasgow? That's odd. And of course, NO TAXIS AVAILABLE. Because if there's something certain about Glasgow it's their TAXI SHORTAGE. If you want to be rich, start up a taxi company in Glasgow. We were trying to call with two phones to two different companies, nobody would pick up... But we eventually made it!

Second day of waterpolo, at least this one was not drunk day for me (but it was hangover for some :p). We played against Aberdeen, a team we've played before and won and drew in each of the games, and also brought up a big issue with Lewis the coach, because he got so angry for the tie in the second game! I still keep saying that we were lucky it was just a tie, because gosh, that game went terribly. (I can't believe I didn't blog about it!). We should've won, we were pretty strong but we just ended in 6-3, which is not bad either, but I felt terrible for missing a penalty. I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE MAKE ME TAKE PENALTIES, you know I'm terrible at shooting! NEVER AGAIN! But I was luckily not Dick of the Day for that, although I know I deserved it.
I didn't score in this game, but Kayleigh, Bethany and Jeanne (woohoo!) did. I was still top scorer of the weekend. What the hell, girls? Kayleigh, you hit too many posts and you know it!
The rest of our free time that day, I spent it yelling things in Spanish at the goalie in Edinburgh's team (in case I hadn't scared him off just yet). That is "¡ME VUELVES LOCA, GOALIE!" or "¡EMPÁCHAME!" Just like Annie said: "I've never heard of anyone who got YELLING working for them". Well, no, Annie, but I tried to be a pioneer! (Like I hadn't had an embarrassing moment the night before with my great speech...)

(Wo)Man of the weekend went for Connie for her ABSOLUTELY excellent performance as a goalie. We lacked our official goalkeeper, and Connie took her place and she didn't disappoint us.
Dick of the weekend goes for JUDY for ruining my BANTER on Saturday night, and for snoring and coughing like crazy all night long in a shared room with 10 more people. Thanks for that, Judy! Wonderful, sweet night :D (She claims on facebook that we voted for her because of a given-away penalty, but I'm not even sure that actually happenned...). Poor Amy had such a tough nigh, she was sleeping in same bunk as Judy and you could hear her saying "the whole bed is shaking!!!". Tough night.

After that, we went to a pub for some lunch and drinks together (I finally had my first sip of IRN BRU ever!!!) and headed off to Stirling. Some of us had to take the train, and to get to the train station, we had to take a taxi. This was a very benefitial weekend for taxi companies, I believe. It only took the taxi 50 minute to get to us! I'M TELLING YOU, START UP A TAXI COMPANY IN GLASGOW! SUCCESS IS GUARANTEED!

Final results:
Women's winner team: Edinburgh
Men's winner team: Aberdeen (after a tough, tough, tough game against Glasgow, but once again, Aberdeen had everyone rooting for them! I find that so funny...)


So after this weekend, all I can say is thank you to everyone who was there. Thanks to the girls, thanks to Lewis for his great coaching and thanks to everyone who participated in this super fun weekend! I'm sorry if I can't be any more critical about our games, but I genuinely think we did pretty well, and I enjoyed so much that I can only say good things.


Last home game tonight against St. Andrews. Wish us all best of luck! Also, there will be a blog about that game (I guess) and for the game on Thursday against RGU, which is the last of the season... my last game with Stirling uni :( So there will be plenty of waterpolo in the blog!


And here's a picture of me on Saturday night. Just because :D

Home game against GLASGOW!

Oh my, that was a fun game!

But first, let me say CONGRATULATIONS to the guys for their victory today against RGU!!! I hope you celebrate like crazy tonight, you deserve it! That's the perfect way to close the season: with a victory! You lads are great :D 

And now... TO THE GIRLS!
Game last Monday  was against Glasgow uni. Apparently, they were in 2nd place in the classification...but not anymore. In the away game, we lost terribly... (not by 30, that's for sure! Regardless what other people say) but also because if I remember correctly, only me and Bethany were the experienced ones, and the newbies hadn't had that much of practise yet. But you should've seen them on Monday! They did so well!
Glasgow started the game being ahead by two goals. Two GIVEN goals, thanks to our president and referee at the game: Giannis. He insists that they were legit goals but we all disagree... Then many other things he did wrong. These Greek people, what's wrong with them! :p
First two quarters were alright, defence was tight and harsh, but still some of their shots were lucky, so they kept scoring...
Third quarter they were knackered, couldn't swim that much and then last quarter... THERE WE WERE!! Fit as hell, swimming back and forth and shortening the difference in the score. We were staaaars!!!

Newbies dared to play hard, and fight for the ball. Hence Jeanne was called for Man of the Match. A practice in this team that I had never heard of, same as Dick of the Day. That title went to (Giannis unofficially, for his shitty refing :p ) KTG, aka Katie 'titanic' G. Reason: she was "defending" in 6, 2m away from the goal and all of a sudden... she was just diving! SINKING even! So of course, offender got the ball, shot... scored. KT denies the whole story, Kayleigh tries to excuse her, but Emma the goalie is on my side. And she's the goalie, so... she knows what happened.

Well, it sounds like we did all perfectly and obviously, it wasn't like that. We also made some mistakes, focused too much on the hole man and we were trying to fill that space so it became too crowded... and nothing could be done. Regarding technique issues, such as passing and such, some aspects can be improved, and they will be!

All in all, this game was our best game of the season. We lost 6-11, but we blame it a bit on one of the referees (last time I mention it here, I promise!) but considering how we ended the away game, this result is very positive and motivating. It's a pity that the season is about to end for us as well... only one more home game on Monday and last one on March 12th!

I've always been proud and happy to be part of this wonderful team, but after this game I feel even fortunate for having the chance to play my favourite sport with so outstanding people, especially these girls. They worked hard, they give their best and they are persistant, and here are the results. I'm pretty sure that next year will be their year. But sentimentalism is left for the last game of the season, enough of that by now!

There's only a couple of things to say:
#staysexyStirling #bleedgreen

Let it snow, let it snow...LET IT SNOOOOOOOOOW!!!!

Definetely, I'm made for the cold weather.
Yes, I went to Morocco last week for a few days, and I loved the sun. And yes, I love a good suntan. And yes, I like warm weather at home. But, oh boy, I love cold. I think I only like it when I know there's gonna be summer afterwards, eventually. Also, I cope with cold better than I do with hot weather. Warmth can drive me crazy and make me irascible (more than normal...). I love snuggling up in cold days and try to feel warm... although my feet and hands are always cold (You know what they say: "cold hands...warm heart!") and other people normally don't like that. Weirdos...
Oh, well, when I chose Iceland as my ERASMUS I did it because of the climate (among other reasons). Then I realised that it was a bit too much. First year was fine, after that it became a bit harder to deal with, but I'll talk about this in a later post.

Last few weeks, I was feeling down for how quickly this year is passing by (MARCH ALREADY, WHAT THE HELL!!!) and I hadn't had a proper winter... but it's finally here! It's snowing in Scotland! Well, it had snowed before, but it was not as much as this. And this is not much. It's not much even for Spain (it doesn't snow very often in Madrid/Talavera, but when it does... it does snow heavily). But of course, this is nothing compared to Iceland. Surprisingly, I was SO EXCITED to see the snow. WHY?? I don't know. But it was beautiful! And I felt so conforted for some reason I don't know...  I guess I just feel comfortable in colder weather. Also, I might find it stressful to see that good weather is approaching, which means summer, which means END OF THE SEMESTER, etc, etc. I definetely have to get over the fact that this is going to end eventually!

But now, off with some pictures:

This is on the way out of the swimming pool. Jeanne was probably getting annoyed by me taking pictures like crazy: "you are like a Chinese! Haven't you ever seen snow?" Well... yeah, but it's been so long!

 Look at the sign, I can't even read through the snow! It's really impresive considering it's Scotland... I guess :p 

 There's a loch at the end of that path. It's my favourite view in the whole campus, and it looks extra beautiful now with all the snow around.

 Well, this is also a very nice view, also in sunny days. I'll show pictures of the same place in a good day, some time. Look at all that lights on in the library, people were probably stuck in there just so they wouldn't deal with the "snow-storm". 

And this is apparently Narnia. I would say that it's Winterfell, but I've found out that not many people would get that reference. WHO DOESN'T WATCH GAME OF THRONES? What the... 








But I'll show you how it feels like in Iceland. I insist, I don't really miss ICELANDIC WINTER, because it's eeeeeeeeendless. But I missed winter, and I missed the snow.




So these are the stairs to the place I lived in my first year. Imagine getting home after a night out, wearing your fancy heels...and having to face this. I can tell you: NOT NICE. And of course, countless times I fell down those stairs because of the freaking snow. The most fun is when it snows, and then it rains, but not enough for the snow to go away. But it still melts, and then during the night it freezes... so it becomes ice. And the streets are covered in thick ice, for weeks. And you have to walk on that. I've probably fell many times when that happened, but I don't even want to remember! I hate being (cutely) clumsy :p

And this is REYKJAVÍK city centre. That's all of it, there's nothing else!
Nah, I'm joking. But just. And this is in a good day, with not a lot of snow. It can be worse (or better) than that.












 This is just a nice photo of me skiing in Bláfjöll which I wanted to show off. I also miss being able to go skiing some time. I might have been able to go skiing in Scotland, but not free time or budget for it... So I'll just be happy browsing through my pictures :p


And that's my rambling about the snow. Writing that word so many times now makes it sound weird. "Snow, snow, snow, snow".
Although, HEY, I haven't shown you my favourite kind of snow! :D

Jejejejeje. Jejejejejeje. JEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJE.
(In case you don't get it... his name is Jon Snow).

After all this thinking, I've reached the conclusion that even though I feel like I want to be a Lannister (in some ways) I'm just meant to be a Stark! Not bad anyway :p (Aaaaaaaaaand end of the references to Game of Thrones!).

We've played a match against Glasgow today. It was great, even though we lost. But I might write some more in a different post some other day. And also about Marrakech. TWO texts about that. So many things to write about, and so little time!