Forests and Waterfalls

Taken by Giselle Helene Elizabeth Boxer 

Monasterio de Piedra, Zaragoza, Spain. 

Monasterio De Piedra

During my Aupairing adventure, I spent just over a week in a place called Monasterio De Piedra, a forestal area near Zaragoza. We stayed in a Spanish farm house on the top of a cliff, which looked down onto waterfalls and a huge forest. Despite the area being beautiful, it was my least favourite place during my Aupairing experience, as it was pretty bloody boring. There was no TV or internet in the house, and the nearest shop was at least 20 minutes away in the car. Despite dying a little inside when I found out there was no internet, it was actually really refreshing to spend a week away from technology, focusing on my own thoughts and taking in breathtaking surroundings. We spent our mornings at the swimming pool, afternoons walking around the national park, and our evenings making pancakes.

Pamplona - San Fermin

When I was in Madrid I decided to go to Pamplona for 1 night to experience the festival San Fermin aka the Pamplona Bull Run. I knew it was going to be a great weekend, but I never thought it would ever be as eventful as it was!

I embarked on a 5 hour bus journey down to Pamplona very early on the Saturday morning. The journey was actually pretty chilled, and went by a lot quicker than I expected. But as soon as I arrived in Pamplona, I was feeling out of place, silly and very embarrassed. When I arrived I realised that I was wearing completely the wrong outfit. The whole flipping city was wearing white tops, white shorts and red scarves round their necks, and I turn up in a full length black jumpsuit. Typical Giselle getting herself into awkward situations. 

I met up with some friends from Madrid and we got drunk Spanish style in the street. We were all in high spirits, but as it approached the early hours of the morning we all started to lag. We didn't have a hostel to stay in as they had all been booked up months in advance, so we had to stay awake until 8.30am on the Sunday to watch the bull run. The boys decided to do the run, whilst the girls waited in the Bull Ring to watch the run on the big screens. The bull run only lasts a couple of minutes, and then the bulls and the men enter the ring. The Bull Ring was completely packed and holds nearly 20,000 people. As you can imagine the atmosphere was insane! After the big bulls left the ring, the next event involved baby bulls entering the ring so the participants of the bull run can 'play' with them. I really didn't enjoy this part. These poor bulls are let out into the ring with hundreds of drunk men prodding them, slapping them and generally winding them up. Obviously the bulls react, and I witnessed many males thrown into the air and trampled on. One of the guys that I was with jokingly smacked the baby bull on the bottom, which resulted in a horn going through his mouth. Not a pretty sight. Pretty damn scary as well. Multiple stitches later he was left with a very swollen mouth and couldn't eat properly for a couple of weeks.

I told you it was eventful! Here are some photos which I took during my 24 hours in Pamplona...

Doner Kebab

I am writing this post from a random hotel room in La Almunia de Doña Godina… To cut a very long story short, we left Monasterio de Piedra at 5 o'clock this afternoon to go to Comaruga, a town on the beach near Barcelona. Three and a half hours later, we had only made it 30km down the motorway...

The mother was having a panic attack at the wheel as she said the car felt weird to drive… She's a very stressy, nervous woman, and overreacts all the time about the tiniest things. So she decided she needed to stop somewhere to get the car checked out. We trekked around 5 or 6 car garages, and finally found one which could look at the Audi. However, they could only look at her car the next morning. So after various heated phone calls between the father and mother, we decided to leave the car at the garage and check into a hotel for the night. Everyone was starving, and there wasn't a McDonalds or Burger King in sight, so the mother decided we should have pizza from a random Doner Kebab shop. It was the exact replica of my favourite Doner Kebab joint on Broad Street which I only ever frequent when I'm intoxicated. I went for the safe option and decided upon a cheese pizza, and whilst I was munching, I saw on the TV that Kate Middleton had given birth to a baby boy! What a classy way to celebrate the birth of the future King of England. 

The next day we found out that the car wheels had too much dirt on, which meant the car felt odd to drive...WOW. 

Summer Plans

I really wanted to get an internship over summer, something related to social media and blogging, because at the moment I have a real passion for it. After lots of searching, applications and interviews, it obviously wasn't meant to be. So then I started looking at working abroad over summer. After living in Madrid for a year, all I want to do now is travel. I then started looking at Aupairing. My cousin is the cutest little thing in the world, and even though he can be a little terror at times, my family always comment on how patient I am with him. So I thought, maybe I could spend the summer in a hot country, getting paid to look after little kiddies! I signed up to Aupair World, and I was so surprised at the amount of Spanish families that wanted English Aupairs. 

Long story short, I have met a lovely family from Madrid, with three children, who want me to travel with them over Summer. I can't believe I will get to return to Madrid, my true love! So I'm going back on the 1st July for 2 weeks, then we are going to Zaragoza to spend 2 weeks in a Monastry/National Park, and then the family are going to spend 2 weeks in Chelsea, London. The Aupairing experience will be completely different to the Erasmus experience, but I'm very excited nonetheless.

I thought that My Little Spanish Adventure was coming to an end, but it now there is another adventure that I will be embarking on. I cannot wait to see what it has in store for me this time! 

Thank You Madrid...

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to meet people from all over the world.

Thank you for providing me with the craziest, strangest, best nights out ever.

Thank you for pushing me out of my comfort zone.

Thank you for igniting in me a huge interest in travelling.

Thank you for forcing me to become independent.

Thank you for your amazing vintage clothes.

Thank you for Fro Yo.

Thank you for the friendships I have made here.

Thank you for inspiring me.

Thank you for your beautiful architecture.

Thank you for making me try Beef Carpaccio.

Thank you for your terraces and afternoon Gin and Tonics.

Thank you for your eclectic mix of people.

Thank you for your beautiful squares, perfect for people watching.

Thank you for making it acceptable to meet people in the street, and then becoming close friends with them days after.

Thank you for making me laugh for 99% of my time here.

Thank you for all the hilarious dogs I have seen.

Thank you for your beautiful sunshine.

Nostalgia

I've been feeling pretty nostalgic recently. I cannot believe my Year Abroad is nearly over. Weep. Blubber. THE WORST. I've met so many incredible people here, experienced so many fun memories, seen so many cool places. I've definitely got the travelling bug now. I have never travelled before, and spending time away from my family and friends at home has been difficult. Times have been hard, but I feel like I have really developed as a person here. I have a clearer outlook on what I want to do with my life, the people I want to spend my time with, the places I want to see. I will be incredibly sad when I leave Madrid, but for now I'm just going to make the most of the time I have left. I remember someone telling me before I went to Leeds Uni, that my University life will go past in a split second. And that exact thing has happened. Don't waste it doing things you don't enjoy. And say yes, to everything. 

Barcelona

I'm going to Barcelona in 8 days, to celebrate my 21st Birthday. YEAAAAHH BABY!!!!

 I've been doing a wee bit of research on where to go, what to do etc, and came across some beautiful photos. Here are a selection of my favourite photographs that I have found on various blogs and sites.