Although Ancient Rome was around well before the arrival of Christianity, the word “Vatican” was used even then to describe the area that is now The Vatican City (officially the State of Vatican City). The most obvious thing that people know about the Vatican City is that it is the home of the Pope and […]
year abroad
When in Rome…
As the gloomy British winter looms outside, I can’t help but dream about one of the best cities I’ve ever visited: Rome. I went to Rome in Summer 2015 with my favourite human in the would: my mummy! Neither of us had ever been to Italy before but always wanted to and as I […]
NTU Graduation 2016
Anna the graduate… I know, not so much of a travel blog this one. But I guess I’m taking it back to what I originally made this blog for: keeping my family in the loop of what I’m doing as they can’t follow me around like sheep! (…and they probably wouldn’t want to anyway!) As […]
Final Summary of my Year in Alicante!
The End Of An Era 9.5 months later and my year abroad is over. It has been the hardest 9.5 months of my life with several break downs but I’ve made it. Somehow if you had told me in November that I was gunna cry when I left and actually miss it I would have […]
Bye Bye School!
It’s two weeks late but here it is; the end of my contract at the school. I don’t think I can really describe how tired I was on the Saturday after 4 pretty hectic last weeks. Maria was on a planned leave from the school so I took over as the teacher for year 5 […]
Spanish National Pole Dance Competition!
2a Copa Pole Style España 2015, Alicante I guess I should start this blog with a few apologies. Firstly, I’m sorry this has taken so long to write because I’ve had so many people asking me about it and secondly, I’m sorry but there is no video to go with it. You’ll understand the reasons […]
The Perfect Spanish Weekend: Granada!
Last weekend I fell in love. No, sadly, I did not have some sexy Spanish man come and sweep me off my feet (at least, not yet anyway!). In fact, I actually fell in love with a city. I went to visit my friend Becca in Granada who is a friend from my uni course. […]
Optimism vs Reality
The reality of living in a foreign country alone vs the everlasting optimism that things will get better. I’ll be honest and actually say it out loud; my year abroad is not living up to the hype. The amount of times I’ve heard the phrase “a year abroad is the best year of your life” […]
Spain’s beautiful little hidden gem: Guadalest
Today, Beth and I went for a day trip to Guadalest. Guadalest is a tiny village in a valley, just over an hours coach journey from Beth’s flat in Benidorm. I’ve been before when I came to Alicante on holiday in 2010 with my family but I didn’t remember it at all until I got […]
Spanish Festivals in Spring
Festivals in Spain Obviously, there are a lot of festivals in Spain and I have already mentioned Halloween and Christmas in previous blog posts. Spain loves a good party and if there’s the opportunity to drink in the streets then Spain does it – and they do it well! This term I have seen two […]