VirtualTourist Member mollymoo0oo0
| Page Views: 2,456 | .::@~~Journey to España~~@::. by mollymoo0oo0 - last update: Jun 14, 2008 |
~~Our 'Research', and where it all began...~~ | Landing on Spanish Ground |
So, my partner John and I decide that life in London was not for us any more - we needed a change. We'd talked before about living and working in Spain, and this seemed like a great opportunity to work towards our goal. That was in February 2005.Onto our journey... there was to be some planning and preparation for this - I've once lived outside of London, for a year as a student in Bristol, but never outside of England... I'd also been on a break from working for some time and needed to think about how to raise some funds and what work I would be looking for.
With the details aside, we were to consider where in Spain we wanted to start.... a great opportunity to explore and discover - a new language, people, culture and many wonderful places. My own past experience of Spain had been mainly touristic, though I'd found a passion for Barcelona on a fortnight trip some years ago.We love parties and festivals, so our first party trip together in Spain was in August 2005 to the Festival Internacional de Benicassim - F.I.B. - held each year for 4 days in Benicassim on the Costa de Azahar, east of Spain.We travelled from London, via Barcelona with a friend, Adam, and camped for a week in the intense Spanish heat under the shade of the big trees on the Bonet campsite... With freshly squeezed Valencian orange juice for breakfast in the mornings, a mere 10 minute walk from the pretty beach, 30 minute walk through town to the main festival arena and surrounded by beautiful mountains. Bliss. The festival is attended by some 30,000 people and comprises bands/DJs and artists from Spain, France, Germany, UK and more. Life on the camp became an international community and we quickly formed friendships with our neighbours and a couple of Mallorcan cousins - Toni and Odon - who we were to spend lots of fun times with...
My favourite music memories included bouncing around to Basement Jaxx, floating with Odon to sparkly mellow beats from LemonJelly, jumping to the wild energetic performance by Peaches, and discovering the funk and groove of Fischerspooner... and that was just the festival - the party continued at the bar on the beach by day, a chance to meet the locals and watch the bar girls dancing on the bar in case anyone had forgotten we were here to party ;)And of course, there was the beach party. The F.I.B. lasts for 4 days, with the campsite open a couple of days before. After the festival has closed down the following night is the big beach party, where all the locals from Benik and neighbouring towns come out to celebrate with festiegoers as a thank you for us coming to their town.
Despite looking forward to this climax of the party week, we did not stay long, as John was unfortunately ill - not from party excesses but from a dodgy sandwich he'd eaten earlier in the day... so we wandered back for a quiet last night on camp before our return to England the next day.
Our journey was far from over, though... it had most certainly only just begun... |
|  | ~~The Prelude...~~ Just to backtrack a little in the story, before the festival, we'd already been to a very pretty and quiet part of Spain, Jerez de la Frontera in April 2005. This was a celebration of our anniversary, and the real start of our Spanish adventure.
....Later on, after our experience in Benicassim, our interest and exploration of Spain was now to take a new twist. We were very lucky to be invited to Palma De Mallorca to stay with Toni and Odon and celebrate my birthday in February 2006 ...in fact, we even went back there in April 2006 to celebrate our next anniversary!
***more stories, tips and photos to come on these places.... poco a poco! (bit by bit!) :) *** |
~~The Journey to Madrid~~ (Part 1) We left London on 30th September 2006....
1st stop: Oliva, 45 minutes drive south of the city of Valencia...staying with a friend of ours from New Zealand who has been living in Spain on and off for 3 years.
The town is small and peaceful... especially being out of season, which meant we were able to have the beach to ourselves on some days! The weather was hot-warm-windy at times, which gave plenty of opportunity for the locals to practice their kitesurfing in the sea - very impressive, a sport I'd love to try myself one day (if I ever get enough strength in my arms!) | | |
| A beautiful sunset in Oliva |
| | ~~The Journey to Madrid~~ (Part 2) So, our next stop was Palma De Mallorca... a few days spent with friends old and new. It was Toni's birthday, and a planned celebration in the mountains was rained off since a huge storm from Menorca was moving it's way over...
Instead we had a great paella party at his mum's house, with lots of people, musica and vino all round!
Also during our stay, thanks to the overwhelming level of rainfall, we were lucky enough to witness a natural phenomenon on the island. For when the rain falls here, there is a certain place on the island where suddenly water begins to burst up from the ground. This instantaneously creates fast-flowing rivers where there were none before... a true spectacular to witness, and difficult to really describe in words. I will add some photos to my Mallorca page about this...
Leaving the island was, as always, a little sad as the place and people there hold a special place in our hearts. However, it was time to continue our journey - and great to know we were soon to be living so much closer than before! |
~~The Journey to Madrid~~ (Part 3) Next stop - Valencia city. Staying with a newly-made friend in a local town suburb. The rain decided to follow us here, and for much of our stay it was quite a downpour! But the sun also shone, and our host introduced us to some more local foods and places to indulge in them.
Paella, of course, being the top comida (meal) to experience here - prepared in a variety of styles with a mixture of seafood, chicken, rabbit, vegetables... very tasty indeed!
The last time we were in Valencia, we had visited the old town, which is quite pretty and has some lovely bars and cafes. On this occasion, we instead took on the chance to see the fantastic modern architecture in the city - in the form of the Aquarium (l'Oceanografic) and IMAX cinema... definitely worth a visit :)
By the time we left Valencia, we were quite keen and ready to get to our new home town and see what awaited us in Madrid... our 'holiday' was drawing to a close.... | | |
| | Estamos en Madrid And so, we arrived in Madrid.... October 2006
Our first week was spent in a hotel, and the city was under constant downpour from the rain clouds that *still* followed us!! In fact, much of Spain experienced unprecedented levels of rain that month, with many floods. I wasn't too impressed to bear witness to the largest levels of rainfall in Madrid since the 1930's, but hey, we were here!!
As we started to explore a little and see what was in the city, we were already liking the place a lot! At first, a lot of time and energy was consumed with flat-hunting and despite not finding the flat-share with fellow Spaniards that we dreamed of, we happened upon a lovely studio flat in the centre of the city instead :)
With time, we have found this to be ideally located, we are in fact with a couple of minutes' walk from 2 metro stations, in a fairly peaceful area, yet still able to freely wander to any part of the central zone by foot and find our way home.
We seemed to settle very easily, the people and the vibe of Madrid are so laid-back and welcoming, and there are so many celebrations with it's many fiestas to bring people together on the streets, in bars, restaurants, and in the family homes we are surrounded with. |
La Vida Madrileña - Life in Madrid So life is going well here... adjusting to life in a country I love has been fairly easy-going, just like the people and culture.
I am constantly learning new things and facing new challenges, which is always good.. dealing with bureaucracy in Spain at first was a bit overwhelming (most certainly confusing, with a system based on organised chaos!), but equally a fantastic learning curve for my Spanish and communication skills!
Currently I am teaching English for Spanish people in their homes and workplaces (clases particulares)... including a university professor, business executives, 2 young brothers, 6 year old triplets, and soon hopefully more children too. This has been my dream for a very long time, and whilst it's not been an easy ride, it's really teaching me a lot about myself! I'm hoping to gain a place on a course to work with children in after school clubs and summer camps. Fingers crossed, we shall see :)
I'm still working on my Spanish and need to constantly test myself... Juan (previously known as John ;) ) has been fortunate to attend an intensive Spanish course, thanks to his company, which has helped him immensely. He is working in IT for a well-known news agency here, as he did previously in London.
Intercambios are fast becoming my favourite way of developing the language here... basically this is a language exchange, either taking the form of organised meetups (such as in bars, cafes) or simply with individuals I meet here (my favourite being hot chocolate meetups with mi amiga Angela, una gran aficionada de todo inglés!!)
My month-long birthday celebrations have been fantastic, filled with fun, friends and fiestas.... well, the partying had to start some time, eh!!Ideas for the rest of the year so far include the following:
*MARCH*
- Dragon Festival, Los Cigarrones (Granada, Spain) ....unfortunately couldn't make it here in the end... will bookmark it for 2008!!
*APRIL*
- Sevilla, Spain (during Santa Semana) ...didn't quite make it and ended up instead on the beach back in Oliva!!
*MAY*
- WOMAD Festival, Carcéres, Extremadura, Spain ???
*JUNE*
- Vilamoura in the Algarve, Portugal for Juan's birthday - total relaxation in a pretty part of town
*JULY*
- Summercase Festival, Madrid, Spain *tickets booked*
- Festival Internacional de Benicassim, Spain *tickets booked*
- Oliva, Spain (Valencian region) - some rest and relaxation at a friend's home by the beach
- Nerja, Spain (near Malaga) - a family visit, and maybe a trip to some local caves!!
*AUGUST*
- Rhythms of Peace Festival, Morocco (now it's not happening this year!! :( )
*SEPTEMBER*
- Weekend Dance Festival, Madrid
- Vigo, Spain (Galician region) for some relaxation, local food, and exploration!!
*NOVEMBER*
- Palma De Mallorca to catch up with some friends
*DECEMBER*
- ???? maybe a trip back to London ...so I hope the travel costs don't rise again before I arrive!!
***~~~2008~~~***
Who knows what way I will turn... will I still be in MADrid? Watch this space!! | | | Birthday paella party in Mallorca |
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| New Year's Eve, Nochevieja in MADrid!! |
| | *~*~*Latest Updates*~*~* **~*~**I am constantly updating this page/my travel pages, and am adding more info bit by bit.... thanks for reading!! **~*~******************************
so, to celebrate my 30 years of life... in true Spanish fiesta style, I celebrated with 30 days of fun throughout February. We had lots of visitors here from friends in Murcia, Mallorca, and London.... AND I finally got to find out what my birthday surprise was!! Juan took me on a fantastic trip back to the beautiful Mallorcan mountains to spend time with a big group of friends there and take in the magnificence of nature, sitting on top of the w0rld..... w0w! Un beso por mi chiquito - gracias a Juanito, te quiero!!
I have now uploaded some of these photos... in a travelogue about Tossals Verds on my Palma de Mallorca page
Missed out on Sevilla at Semana Santa, we booked a bargain 4 day chillout stay in a villa at Vilamoura in the Algarve, Portugal!!
30th April 07 - had my first VT meetup yesterday, which was lovely!! We went for a picnic in the park, and will be meeting up again this evening for chocolate and churros - of course!! Have posted photos and story in my travelogue on Madrid page :)
10th June 07 - I have finally managed to upload some of my Egypt photos and add a few travelogues on the page, plus info on Cairo, Luxor and Aswan... there's more to come too!!
~*~*~abrazos a todo~*~*~
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 Comments for mollymoo0oo0 | | | | |
Zanzibargirl Fri May 30, 2008 22:59 UTC
Hi Molly... Just wondering if you ever found a volunteer project to work on in Goa? You mentioned on my page that you were looking too... In case not, here is one that got my curiosity going! Trying to find out more... http://www.childrenwalkingtall.com/ | a2lopes Fri May 9, 2008 20:23 UTC
Holla Molly. "Mala suerte".. pero como Lisboa te encantó... por certo nos encontraremos en la proxima... en Lisboa o en Madrid :-) Dime quando intentas visitarnos. Saludos desde Lisboa | Redang Fri May 9, 2008 16:27 UTC
Greetings!, ¿qué tal llevas el español? | Jefie Mon Apr 21, 2008 16:06 UTC
Hola Molly! I´m really glad we finally got to meet last night, thanks for the delicious chocolate & see you soon somewhere in the world! Isa xx |
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