Leaving Vigo

 Hello!

 My semester in Vigo was sadly at an end. My mother had been staying with me on campus for a few days and would return to the UK with me. Although I was used to travelling on my own, and was fine with it, I was happy to have her with me.

 Our taxi arrived and we said goodbye to the staff at my accommodation. It was a strange day - dry but very overcast. The green Galician countryside and a grey sky surrounded us as we headed to a hotel near Vigo Airport.

 We arrived at the small hotel and checked in, before going for a wander. It was a very rural area, and the first place we found selling food was a petrol station shop. We bought some snacks.

 On the way back I glimpsed an horreo and pointed it out to my Mam. Seeing the traditional granary, one of the icons of Galicia, was a nice touch to my final day there.

 Back at the hotel, I played the game Undertale on my (now happily working) laptop and finally beat Mettaton, the feisty robot. It sounds a bit of a frivolous thing to mention, but the music and effects form a big part of my memory of that day, and they added to how surreal it all felt.

 We went down to the dining room and had toasties for dinner. The dessert menu looked exciting so my Mam tried out apple cake, and I chose cheesecake. They were delicious.

 I ordered hot chocolate and got a chunky sachet of powder and some really frothy warm milk to mix it into, as well as some cake to enjoy with it. The result was a lovely and extremely sweet end to the meal.

 We went to bed, and I fell asleep in Galicia for the last time - the last that year, at least. In the morning, our taxi - the same one as yesterday - took us to the airport. There, we saw one of my fellow Vigo Uni students. It turned out she would be on our flight, and we waited together and chatted.

 We flew to Edinburgh Airport without incident. We collected luggage, took a shuttle bus into the city and then endured possibly the hardest part of the trip - lugging my huge suitcases from the bus to the train station. However, we reached our train and were able to relax.

 I dedicated much of my time on the train to attempting to beat Asgore, the goat king, in Undertale - again, it is silly, but is what comes to mind when I remember that journey. I didn't beat him, in the end, until a while after I had got home, but his catchy battle tune stuck well and truly in my head.

 Finally, we arrived home. It took a while to adjust to not being in Vigo anymore: not waking in the mountains and walking to Uni through foxgloves and blossoms; not eating frozen yogurt by the sea or buying wacky chocolate bars from Alcampo.

 Of course, there is plenty to do in Manchester, and I am living a fulfilling life. However, Vigo and Galicia will always feel like another home, and somewhere I can hopefully return to.

 If you are embarking on a summer, semester or year abroad, then good luck - hopefully you will have a very special experience. If you are considering Vigo, I recommend it with all my heart.

 Thanks for reading.

 Liz x

En route to Lyon

 Hello!

 Shortly after half-term, I travelled to Lyon to have my pastoral appointment with Catherine, the year abroad tutor for French at my home university. This would be a chance to discuss how my time in Avignon was going so far and ask any questions I had.

 I was really excited at the prospect of finally going to Lyon, a city that had been on my radar for a long time but which I had never had a chance to visit. I set out on a Thursday afternoon; I would see Catherine and then have the evening and the next morning to explore.

 The journey there marked the first time I'd travelled via Avignon's TGV station, which is slightly out of town. It turned out to be big and architecturally striking, and I was glad to have seen it. Once I was settled onto my TGV (fast train), happily on the upper level and by a window, I enjoyed the gorgeous views of the south of France flying by.

 I hope you enjoy my photos of the journey from Avignon to Lyon.

 In my next post I'll let you know all about Lyon, one of the most incredible cities I've visited. Watch this space!

 Thanks for reading.

 Liz x

Arrival in Avignon!

 Hello!

Epic ice-cream shop

 So, I've set off on my second year abroad! If you didn't know I was doing one, I've outlined my reasons for it in a post for Third Year Abroad. It wasn't an easy decision but I definitely feel it's the right one.

 Yesterday morning I travelled to Birmingham Airport. It was the first time I'd been there and I was interested to see what it would be like. It was quite comfortable, and refreshingly easy to navigate. The staff were very pleasant.

 Unfortunately I encountered some rude passengers, but luckily none of them turned out to be on my flight. There was also a weird game for kids that involved jumping up and swatting huge mosquito-like creatures on a screen. I nearly jumped every time I saw them out of the corner of my eye!

 There were a lot of empty seats on the plane, which gave us some breathing space. I listened to music on my mp3 player, stumbling upon Outbound Plane by Nanci Griffith, which seemed very appropriate! 

 Then there was a nice moment when Here You Come Again by Dolly Parton came on, just as France appeared below us. I keep coming back here, and every time it's beautiful. I can never stay away for too long.

 The first two thirds of the flight were wonderfully uneventful. However, when we supposedly had ten minutes till landing, the plane started circling the same area and doing a lot of tilting and lurching about. 

 People were getting worried, and we were told the captain would make an announcement but he never did. It was pretty scary. 

 Finally the runway came into sight. Usually I dread the moment when a plane bumps against the ground on landing, but this time I was desperately waiting for it. When the bump came, I think everyone heaved a sigh of relief.

 Avignon Airport is tiny - airports in the south of France often are in my experience, but this was barely a room. I quite liked it. My two trunks were the first to appear on the carousel. A woman complimented me on that - I guess I just got lucky! 

 Although, the fact that they stayed together may be linked to the fact that my mother had threaded the same brightly coloured ribbon onto both to help me identify them as mine.

 Outside the airport there were some cabs, and when I and a couple discovered we were going to roughly the same place, we decided to share one. 

 Despite the massive delay in my flight I managed to reach my accommodation in time to check in - I arrived at the time on the dot. It felt like a strange kind of fate, though I would rather not have gone through that plane experience!

 I had barely got the key to my new apartment when I realised I had to run if I wanted to do any shopping. My local shop is a Casino, just like when I was in Perpignan. Don't worry, there are no card tables or slot machines, just lots of food and toiletries and odd comics.

 As I stepped inside and smelt that familiar Casino smell, I felt for the first time like I was really back in France. None of the products had changed; I grabbed the same old yogurts and the same old microwave galettes and the same old Saint-Paulin, my favourite French cheese.

 I also got ingredients for nachos, and on getting back I made myself some as a first-night treat. I then got a message from Eleanor, the other Manchester student currently in Avignon, asking to meet up. I found her in town and she showed me around. 

 It was dark by then and the narrow streets were like a labyrinth. I don't know if I'll ever totally learn my way around! But Avignon seems really lovely. We went to an ice-cream shop where I got a raspberry sorbet drink. It was gloriously cold, just what I needed in the twenty-seven degree heat.

 The best part of the night was when we sat in the square in front of the Palais des Papes, the Palace of the Popes. The stars were really clear, people were playing guitars and there was a great atmosphere. 

 I was sad to see that the elephant sculpture that used to stand in front of the Palace seemed to be gone - I was really looking forward to seeing it. Ah, well.

 Overall, it was an eventful first day and night - tiring but memorable. Watch this space for my further adventures in Avignon! Hopefully I'll have a really fun semester here.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

La Granja Palace

 Hello!

 After a pleasant afternoon in Segovia we set off for the final destination of the day: La Granja Palace, in the small town of San Ildefonso. 

 When we arrived it was only about five in the afternoon but the sun had vanished and there was an air of greyness everywhere. As we walked through the town we noticed that most of the trees were orange, though it was mid-August. It was like San Ildefonso existed in a bubble of autumn, with Spanish summer trapped outside. It was very odd.

 We arrived at the Palace and I was impressed by the masses of beautiful flowers in front of it.

 There was also a strangely-shaped tree.

 I'll give a potted history of the Palace. Carlos II, the last of the Habsburg dynasty and a very interesting man, died in 1700, heir-less. It was decided that Philippe d'Angou, his grand-nephew and the grandson of Louis XIV, would become Felipe V of Spain. 

 In doing so he began the Spanish branch of the Bourbon dynasty - the Borbón line. It has lasted all these years - albeit with interruptions from Joseph Bonaparte, The Duke of Aosta, the First and Second Republics and Franco - up to the current King, Felipe VI and his nine-year-old daughter Leonor de Borbón who will most probably be Queen one day.

 Back to Felipe V, who ordered the building of a huge Baroque palace. And so La Granja ("The Farm/Country Estate") was created - designed, in effect, to be the Spanish Versailles. It is scarily big and grand and the Baroque style is not one I am particularly attached to. However, I was keen to see the scene of so much history.

 We entered and had to go through security and put our bags in lockers. Photographs were forbidden and it would have been difficult to take a good one anyway, on account of the whole place being very dark. I found it rather cold - in the emotional sense, not physically - and just didn't feel at ease there.

 With long, narrow rooms all communicating with each other in a line so you could see all the way down, it reminded me of Hampton Court Palace - or a Tube train. The thing is, I love Hampton Court and find it very welcoming. Maybe it's because of all the activities they run and the historical re-enactments - there was none of that at La Granja, at least not while we were there.

 There was art from all over the world and all kinds of riches. Of course, it was amazing to walk where so many kings and queens and princes and princesses had walked. But at the end of the day I just didn't like its vibe and I was glad to get back out again.

 The sun had come out a little bit and the town was very pretty. There's something very French about it; maybe it's the species of tree there are. Philippe did a good job of creating his little bit of home away from home.

A booted eagle! (I think!)

  I hope you enjoyed my photos of La Granja from the outside; it's a shame I couldn't get any of the interior. The outside is a lot prettier, though, and more chilled - you'll have to take my word for it.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x