Recent Video from Berlin.

Hi all,
So recently (March), I was in Berlin, Germany, where I was with a few friends for a mate's birthday, just enjoying ourselves really, and whilst we were there, we went to the East Side Gallery, among many other attractions of what I would consider my favourite european city. The East Side Gallery is one of the remaining parts of the Berlin Wall, or Die Berliner Mauer if you speak good ol' Deutsch, and is quite famous for it's artwork and for the fact that it is part of the ominous Berlin Wall, standing there as a reminder of Berlin's, and of course Germany's past. However recently there have been plans ahead to remove it and build apartment building. In my personal opinion this is wrong and the gallery should be preserved. I hate to see history being wiped out. When we arrived at the gallery, there was a demonstration/protest against it's demolition, and I took two videos (not fantastic). Have a look if you want.

More soon readers.

Video Blog

Hi all,

Please watch the video!

If you would like to see pictures, please go to the Photos tab at the top of page and have a rifle through my albums which I have uploaded for all my Year Abroad Adventures.

More soon readers.

Santiago de Compostela

Well I've been travelling again.

This time I went to Santiago de Compostela, Galicia. I went there with the aim to meet up with 3 of my Bangor friends and a school friend. The flight was easy enough, I'm very well acquainted with Alicante Airport now, it lasted 1hour and 20minutes with Ryanair and Santiago Airport was simply to get through also.


The first thing I noticed when I got off the plane was the cold. My goodness, I could see my breath, and also, the landscape. I got on the plane in Alicante and got off in... well I dunno really... I immediately thought that I was not in Kansas anymore. It felt like I was in Dublin or Bangor! The hills were literally of rolling trees, definitely in a Celtic Nation. I questioned Franky and Lyd several times whether I was in Spain or Ireland. Needless to say it was beautiful.

Franky met me at the airport, 2 hours late though, which wasn't her fault, the buses were a nightmare, and my phone was locked due to being never turned off since I bought it. Thank You Elaine Spillane by the way for coming to my rescue. Once I'd put all my stuff down in Franky's hall, we went for little walk, in the rain (Welcome to N. Spain), to the old town and got something to eat. After our mountain of food, we met up with Lyd and Jack and went to a house party which was full of Erasmus and Spanish from Santiago! Met some great people there, quite amusing and drunk also.

After a late night in a club, Franky and I went back to her Halls of Residence and got some kip. Cue Hangover. What a stinker it was. However in my opinion I clearly had a good night! During the next day, Franky, I and her German pal Jessica, went for a walk to show me the sights of Santiago... or the lack of them. There isn't much in the way of sightseeing there, however I will say this, The Cathedrol of Santiago is amazing. Truely breath taking. We also went to Alameda Park which is very picturesque and has a great view of the city. Then later on, we went to the Shopping Centre "As Cancelas", and there I saw Camilla Dorothy Schmid, so strange to see her in Spain, but very exciting to see her and her sister Elsa who was visiting too. I highly recommend Santiago for Erasmus if anyone is considering or has chosen it. 

Soo little time left!

Hola todos.
So it's been a shockingly long time since I did one of these so I'll do one now. It's gonna be a long one so I'd sit down.

MONEY
Eeekk, so it's happened, in the overdraft. I've been pretty terrible with money whilst at university, and this year I decided to be good, which I have been, or at least I thought I had been. Checked the Bank Statement today and in the overdraft by 400GBP. So so so disappointed in myself, particularly with such little time to go and all the travel arrangements I have. It's going to be a a boring few weeks for Lukas. I'm avoiding spending, as I'll be so far into it that I won't get out. I received a cheque from Insurance for my stolen items, but due to payments going through for Santiago de Compostela and going home and Valencia and Rent, alongside general spending. I'm back into it. So very annoyed with myself. I feel like I can't do anything because of this.

HOLLY
So my buddy from Bangorland came to visit my flatmates and I from Mons, seeing as she will be taking over my room when she comes to Alicante, it was a good idea for her to come visit. I'd been hyped up for a while as I have nobody else from Bangor here with me and it would nice to see a friendly face. We had a ball! We went out and had a few drinks, watched the EMA awards.... but sadly the stupid bloody 14N Strike meant her flight was cancelled and she has to go back to Belgium two days earlier than planned. Was annoyed to say the least, but we had fun whilst she was here, and my flatmates really liked her too! So there's a bonus.

FLAT
Internet is still not present in my apartment. *insert annoyed and fed-up comment* We have two new flat mates in the form of our Irish girls. Ella and Elaine, moved in two weeks ago and are in the double room. That's right, they're sharing a bedroom, the room is fairly small and is generally taken up by the two beds but nonetheless they like it and seem to be getting on fine. Nora has been in England for nearly a week, so the flat isn't quite full at the moment. Having the girls move in though has added soo much banter to my daily life, which is good as I'm missing my Bangor banter. The purchase of Board Games too has added an extra feeling of home in that piso at the moment. Farrell and I bought Monopoly and Twister, which we played during the Huelga General (The 14N General strike) as Uni was closed and everywhere was basically shut. However playing Monopoly in Spanish and not sober isn't easy, especially when you don't remember the rules, needless to say I was the first to lose.

IRISH
As you might already know, I have a few friends here who are Irish. Well I've managed to spend pretty much all my time with them now and it's awesome. I love Ireland as many people know, and these girls are like Spanish connection to good ol'Éire. Particularly loving my nice little supply of Barry's Tea that I'm receiving from them! I spent a whole weekend in Kate and Gemma's apartment three weeks ago. What a blast! Will miss them grately when I leave here.

UNIVERSITY
Nothing much is happening in Uni, other than I will have finished 3 modules by the end of this week! Woohoo!! I will only have my Catalan course left, which isn't going well I may add. For some reason I just don't gel with the lecturer and the language itself isn't easy, but after this week it's all I have left, which means only two lecturers a week, yay! However, they're both at 8am, nay!

TRAVELLING
So I have 3 journeys planned for the next 3 weeks! Santiago de Compostela in Galicia (TOMORROW), thursday to Saturday. Madrid, the capital, the week after, Wednesday to Friday. And finally Valencia, the week after that for the day on the Tuesday. Santiago I'm feeling really excited about! I'm going to visit some friends who are also on Erasmus there, Milly (a friend from School), and Franky, Lyd and Jack (from Uni). Santiago seems like a city which is rich in culture and architecture so I'm quite excited to see what it has to offer. Next, Madrid, Madrid being the capital of Spain, was an absolute must in regards to visiting, My friend Claire and I are organising it and we're hoping for about 2 more people to come with us, it's just finding them first. Whilst there we hope to see the Royal Palace, the Plaza del Sol, Toledo Gate etc. All in all, very thrilled about this one! :) Then the week after that, I'm heading to Valencia to visit another friend from Uni, Steph, seeing as Valencia is the capital of the region and not to far away I thought it would be ideal for visiting. I hear there is a lot to do in Valencia. I will keep you updated on my travels. Hopefully with some great photos too!! :)

Money, Money, Money....

Firstly, apologises for not being in Spanish... but I didn't have time to do the whole thing in both languages and I wasn't going to use a translator... I refuse.

ANYWAY....

Money. Money is such a big thing whilst living abroad, as it is in Britain too. However, when you're me, you're more worried as I have terrible money management, but HALLELUJAH!! This year, so far, I've managed to manage my money quite well! It's October and soon to be November and usually by November 1st, I'm waaayyy in the Overdraft worrying about Xmas. This time however NO! No no no no. I still have all my overdraft and a fair bit of money in my account! To say that I'm delighted with myself is an understatement.

So what has Lukas done with his money... trips. Having worked out my finances so that I couldn't touch my overdraft I decided to book a trip to Santiago de Compostela to see some amigos who are there. Also I've got my ticket home for Christmas. 22nd December I will arrive in Luton and hasta luego España!

Trips wise though has taken a down turn. I unfortunately could not afford a trip to Lille and Geneva to visit friends due to the expense. I planned to got to Geneva a while ago for around about this time, but the expense has got too great and I cannot afford it, but I plan to visit Switzerland some day, maybe when in Italy? ¿Quizas? I'm more annoyed about Lille as it was cheaper than Geneva and I wanted to Surprise my 4 friends who are living there at the moment! :( So very annoyed and sad about that.

Alicante wise, the weather is awful at the moment. Rain, cold. I have two blankets on my bed now. TWO!! I live in Spain and have TWO blankets on my bed... damn aclimatization. University is same old and no new annoyances have appeared. Laptop new! I have money now for my laptop (well not yet but I've been informed it's on it's way), so a new will be bought presently. I just wish I could say the same about the internet in my apartment... oh yes. You guessed it. Still no internet in my flat. Enough said, as you can probably imagine how I'm feeling. Stealing internet is still happening, but with two new flatmates moving in at the end of the month, our own Wireless is needed.

That's all for now readers! If anyone has spare €100 knocking about send it my way so I can visit my amigos por favor! ;)

This entry has no relevant title...

"Well Hey there!"
You respond
"How are you?"
You Respond
"Great!"

So I've not done a post for last week, and that's purely because nothing that exciting has occurred other than my folks came to Ali-Alicante para visitarme. So this will probably be a short and sweet post.

Firstly, last weeks events. Last week I started to go off my vegan diet, which some of you will be happy about. I seriously was missing meat too much. I caved. Sorry. I am a carnivore. I have also to the end of my two weeks of non alcoholic beverages, and started on the Beer and Tequila again when I go out con mis amigos. I also found a tandem partner in the form of a Spanish guy from my Translation class, so I will start Spanish Speaking sessions with him soon. Very excited. I beached a fair amount last week, the weather was however a bit dull towards the end of the week and I'm starting to feel the temperature drop a bit, which is disappointing as I came here for sun. Mi Madre y mi Padre were also here last week and we made a short trip to Benidorm, which was a nightmare travel wise. The tram took an age and was annoying as the tram station is nowhere near the sea front which was the location my parents wanted. So as you can imagine my mother was annoyed about this... which was fantastic... Dad was equally annoyed... woop. bonus. Although that all went away when we arrived at the front and we had a grand time. All in all, I believe my parents had a nice time in Alicante.

Secondly, today. A) Erasmus Grant is in my account. I'm buzzing. Literally soo happy that I can start travelling and seeing a bit more of Spain and maybe, just maybe go to Geneva/Lausanne to Toby (a mate of mine on Erasmus there from Bangor).  B) Miss Holly Charlesworth, is OFFICIALLY coming to visit moi in about 3 weeks time! Again, Buzzing! Soo happy to finally see someone from Bangor-land in the flesh and not just skype and Facebook. I'm hoping she's feeling equally excited! (check out her blog @  http://hollyseuropeanadventures.blogspot.co.uk/). C) I started my beginners course in Catalan today. Which I thoroughly enjoyed, despite the fact I had to get up at 6am just I could get the bus for 7am, as the lecture started at 8am. 7am I have decided is a disgusting hour to be in Uni and should not be allowed in any EU country. The lesson, nevertheless, was brillant and I hope I can get the hang of it, it's going to hard though I think... There are a lot of elements from Spanish, French and Italian, all of which I use regularly and also Galician, which I have knowledge of, so I can I see myself 1) getting confused and 2) speaking one of the 4 aforementioned languages. D) We still have no Internet. I'm livid.

And Finally, I just wanted to send people the news of that my next post will be in Spanish, however I will provide a transcript.

TTFN!

Barcelona, Insurance, Vegan.

Ok, it's been a while since I've done anything on the blog recently so I have a lot to tell you Reader! It's a long one so bare with me. I would also like to just say a quick apology to my parents and grandparents who are reading this for my use of swear words in previous posts! Sorry! Lo Siento! Désolée! Tá bron orm! ;)

So firstly, I'm going to start with my trip to Barcelona, Catalonia, con uno de mis amigas mejores, Rachel. After the sudden shock of my laptop being stolen was good to get away from Alicante and see some more of España and more of a chance to practice my Spanish... the latter however was not the case. I was pleasantly and also unpleasantly surprised to discover that Spanish is hardly used in Barcelona (or at least it was in our experience) I found myself having to rely on my knowledge of French, Spanish, Galician and Italian to decipher the street signs and notices, however I got by and it made me look forward to learning Catalan to which I start in two weeks. Marvellous.

Rachel at Park Güell

Me outside La Sagrada Familia

The sights of Barcelona were fantastically breathe-taking! Of course for Rachel and I the main attractions were all the Gaudì archictecture as we have both studied him in School. We saw pretty much everything in regards to Gaudì but I must admit that my favourite was La Sagrada Familia and Park Güell, they were just superb, and the views were wonderful. Whilst we were in Barcelona, there was a famous festival going on throughout the city called La Mercè, which is a catalan word meaning Our Lady, and this festival is a celebration that has been going on since the Middle ages, there is music and dancing and loads of culturally catalan things to see, to which we saw plenty. There were music events going on in every plaça and square! Among other things we saw, we went to see the Picasso museum which gave me a new view on Picasso and I´ve decided that I quite like his work actually. We also started to a journey to the Castle Montjuïc, but did not get there as the cable car workers were on strike and we didn't fancy the walk all the way to the top. We stayed in a great little hostel which Rachel found and the staff were really friendly and it was very clean, which I didn't expect as I'd never stayed in a hostel before now, so Lukas can now add to his list of life experiences "Stayed in a Hostel". Overall the trip was marvellous and I would definitely recommend Barcelona to anyone.

Catherdal of the Holy Cross
and Santa Eulalia, Barcelona.

We arrived back in Alicante a few days later, and Rachel stayed with me and my flatmates in our spare room. The weather was great for her first day here and so we took this opportunity to go to see La Castilla Santa Barbara, which is the castle that oversees all of Alicante and swamps the skyline. The views from the top were amazing and awesome. You could see for miles, and see all the mountains, the sea, the town, even my apartment building. The clear skys made the view even more magnificent. Unfortunately these clear skys did not stay... As you've probably heard in the news some people died in Spain this week due to flooding, and some of you may have heard Alicante was flooded... Well Alicante wasn't flooded but we did certainly have some rain and it poured... and poured... and poured some more. The first rain I'd seen in a month. And it was bloody horrible. So due to this fact, Rachel and I didn't get any beach time which is sooo sad but I'm sure she got over it quickly. And so Rachel went home after 3 days and I'm back to my normal life.

Well not really... Insurance matters where the next of my priorities to sort out. A nightmare to start with, but I would like to thank my great pals, Domino and Simie for letting me use their computers and Printer/scanner for these purposes. All forms have now been sent off and I'm presently just waiting for the check to come in now! Which I can't wait for, I've missed my Laptop and Camera! However, on the news of laptops... Nora (my German flatmate/mi compañera alemana) has TWO laptops with her in Alicante and has lent me one until I can get my hands on my own. Danke Schön Nora! What's quite amusing about this is that the Laptop is in German to which I have absolutely ZERO knowledge of, it looks like this could be fun... I am however learning some German from it, but nothing of use, only things like "to copy" or "click here"... nevertheless I am grateful I have a laptop! However we do still have no internet... but Shhh!! We are presently stealing some from somewhere, no idea where it's coming from but it has no password and very slow... better than nothing.

Now finally, you may all be wondering why on earth it says "Vegan" in the title of this post. Well... I've come to the decision that I'm going Vegan for a month with Nora in an effort to loss weight and be healthier. Now I know what you're all thinking, "you need protein and dairy", which is correct and I don't plan to keep on being Vegan for the rest of my life, just this month as detox and will still eat diary and meat when I go out for meals and when my parents visit, so fear not I will get protein into my system somehow... I'm just a bit gutted that I can't get Cheese (the most staple part of my diet) I'm really missing that. Fortunately, I can still eat Marmite, HALLELUJAH! I'm also back to running again, which I haven't done since I left Britain and it's really nice to go running along to beach when the sun comes up.

Rachel and Gaudì had a great little chat about Moderisme.

Anyway Reader, more later :) Hasta Luego!