Carpe Annum

(L-R) Coco, Juanita y Concepción 

Last year I had a conversation with a friend about maintaining a long distance relationship whilst being abroad in a country where the girls are notoriously beautiful and the food (especially Valencian paella) is second to none. After a long period of consideration we decided that, for me to get the most out of my year in Spain, I needed to try to eat as many Spanish babes and bang as much paella as I possibly could. So how have I done? As tasty as my friends Coco, Juanita and Concepción look, I'm yet to eat them and I don't plan to before I leave in the next two weeks. As far as the paella is concerned, I've been slightly more successful. One morning after the night before, I woke up in a hungover stupor sitting on a sofa with one foot quite happily sitting in a plate of a paella and the other (still in a cast from my Parkour injury) on a chair next to the paella. Partial success.

The run up to exams recently has been filled with the inevitable time spent in the library and trip to Ibiza. A group of us took a trip to the latter a few weeks ago for a long weekend with the intention of learning about the Eivissenc dialect and how it compares to our more familiar Valencian dialect. I had an awesome time and went for lots of swims.

Life in the fast lane

Three particular observations from the library are worth pointing out. First, excess Spanish public displays of affection do not limit themselves to outside the four mighty walls of learning. It is very common to see a couple fondling each other, opposite you, and exchanging saliva whilst highlighting their notes. Second, it is not uncommon to see cool people smoking a spliff during their revision break. Third, at 6 o'clock everyone has a tea-time break called 'Merienda' where everyone seems to bizarrely congregate to slurp on their carton of milk and peach juice and nom on Bart Simpson endorsed break sticks before returning to normality again. Other than that, most things are the same unsurprisingly.

Before I came here I optimistically predicted that I'd be going to Benicassim with all my new (and cool) amigos. I am saddened to tell you that this is not happening and I am in fact returning to the motherland later this month. However, I did ask myself how it would be staying forever and entering abuelohood here. Again, this dream was shattered when I went to one of the city's parks and saw a respectable looking abuelo walk straight under a tree to rub his face against the leaves of the low hanging branches before moving on to tickle the top of his head with a bit of lavender. I understand how this might be a nice thing to do at lunchtime but I'd prefer a different sort of retirement.

(Ibizan) Sunset on the Adventures of Simon Baker

I could continue and complain that my lectures are copied and pasted from Wikipedia or be cynical about the advert draped over one whole side of the football stadium that advertises holidays to Turkey and Greece with a photo of Venice, but these are minute things in an otherwise wonderful city. I've thoroughly enjoyed being here and being with the fantastic people that I've met along the way. Sin duda, a year I won't forget.

Muchas gracias y hasta luego,

Simon