Just checking out my new neighbourhood online, and it turns out its been bombed twice in the past 6 months by the Basque terrorist organisation ETA. The last blast was a month ago against a political party's (PSE) headquarters - 5 kilos of explosives + a timer, and 7 Basque police hurt......
What am I going back to?!?!?!?!?!?
Photogenic
Well, here I am counting down the days until I land in Spain.... 37 days......
Here in the photo (and the new blog header) are my favourite photos that I took the last time I was in Spain. They are (left to right, top first) Cuenca, Tarifa, Cadaques, Tarifa, Estepona, Valencia (during Las Fallas), Cadaques, and Barcelona.
I'm quite stoked because the two Cadaques photos (and another two of mine, the London Eye and a pipi shell in Raglan) were selected from 4,000 photos in a FlickrYahoo! competition, and made the top 100, so were put in the Auckland Art Gallery. Quite chuffed about that!
I have a place to stay in July now, flatting with an Aussie near the heart of Bilbao (as opposed to living near the sea in Getxo like last time). I'm starting to prepare my English classes too! Actually, if you go to that link, and have a look around, you'll even find a photo of me teaching there in 06/07!!
I've decided on where I'm going to do my 1 month intensive Spanish course, the University of Santiago de Compostela will be the place. I've never been there so am definately looking forward to that!!! Santiago de Compostela is famous for being the destination of the Camino de Santiago, or in English, the Pilgrims Trail, which starts in France, and ends up in the corner of Spain (about 800km).
After August however, who knows where I'll end up!!!!
~~
Quote from the photo: When you travel, curiosity is never-ending; everything is new and you want to get to know it.
Lemons
Right. A long time since last post...... I´m still in NZ, but I´m coming back.... June 21, note that down everyone! Am I excited? Yes. Am I nervous? Definately.
Teaching a summer camp type course in Leioa (between Getxo and Bilbao) in July, and after that I´ll still be doing my university Spanish course, but as of yet I don´t know where that will be, it could be any city in Spain at this stage!!! Then after August I´ll either pack up and move to the big smoke to find a job (not teaching English, hopefully something with my business degree), or stay put in the city I did the course in and find a job there. By big smoke I mean Barcelona or Madrid. Possibly even back to Bilbao seeing as its such an awesome place! (and where most of my friends are...)
Have been finishing off my Bachelor of Management Studies degree at Waikato University here in my hometown of Hamilton. Currently finishing off my final project at AgResearch, a crown research institute. I´m looking into thier carbon footprint and cost effective ways of reducing thier impact on the environment. I´ve been working many jobs, which include (but are not limited to) sorting mail for NZ post, security guard at Farmers department store, research interviewer for ConsumerLink, helping my dad audit schools at his accountancy firm, being an EF (*sigh* its like AFS) representative (organising meetings and interviewing high school students to study for a year overseas), babysitting occasionally, and being a summer intern at AgResearch writing literature reviews and an annotated bibliography.
Definately a busy year, though I did manage to relax a little travelling down to Christchurch and Wellington during April this year (photo above in Banks Peninsula), and in February I had an unforgettable trip to attend an EF conference in Brisbane, Australia. The family camping trip to the tip of New Zealand / Northland was also an awesome experience, possibly the last family camping trip! And even with a broken toe, the few days spent mucking around Ruapehu/Tongariro National Park were great with Renelle, Hamish and Ben. New Years at the beach was also a highlight.
So thats me in a nutshell at the moment. A bit overwhelmed, a bit lost, a bit busy, and still quite a bit heart broken.
As always you can find my photos here, or look me up on Facebook, I´m always around.
Besos for everyone! Kisses para todos!
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