Hello From Spain

Last Saturday I arrived in Valencia after a very long day of travelling. I got up and started to get ready at 4 in the morning, feeding Isla and packing my laptop bag. Me and my dad left the house at half 5 so that we would be at the airport in plenty of time. I’ve never flown with Isla before, so I had no idea how it was going to work out.

It turns out we had no need to worry. The Jet2 staff were extremely helpful once we arrived at the airport, explaining that even once we were through security they would make sure that Isla was able to go to the toilet if she needed to. We got coffee and something to eat before heading through security as we knew by that point Isla would have another chance to go to the toilet if that was necessary.

After we went through security the staff on that side approached us and said we could board the plane first because of having the dog with us. They showed us to another area and Isla’s microchip was checked against her pet passport. That all went very smoothly and we made the plane with plenty of time.

I’d planned to read or listen to music on the plane but I was so tired I slept all the way to Alicante. Once we got there we got a taxi to the train station. We had a lot of time to spare, so after waiting around for a while we decided to go for a walk.

It turned out to be a good decision as we came across a Vodafone store and I bought a sim card for my phone. I get 1.2 gb of 4g, 60 minutes and 60 texts for €15. The minutes and texts aren’t much, but as they’re only to Spain it’s no problem, and most people I’m in contact with use iMessage or other app’s. I can also top up at any point, not just monthly so if I run out of data I just have to put another €15 on it.

I was awake for most of the train journey to Valencia, it took 2 hours, but close to the end I started to fall asleep again.

I’m living in university accommodation, and once I arrived on Saturday I pretty much went to bed straight away I was so tired. However, the next day I started to learn routes immediately. My dad is here for a week to teach them to me, and the most vital route is from where I am living to the school I’ll be going to. So far I’ve learned the route to the bus stop where I live, and from the bus stop on the other side of the road back to the building. I’ve also almost learned the route from the school to the bus stop in town, so for 2 days that’s pretty good, especially as today we went back to the accommodation very early.

Around where I live there isn’t a lot to do, there is a shop that sells some groceries, so a very small supermarket, and a couple of places to eat. However, during the week there are quite a few places within the building where you can buy food and drink. I also have a fridge in my room. Weekends are a bit quieter, in the sense that stuff isn’t open in the buildings, but I suppose after living here for a few weeks I’ll either decide to spend most of the time studying and reading, or find good places to go out to.

Today I hurt my foot, I’m not sure how at all, but to me it feels like a very slight ligament sprain, or something of that nature. We tried to find bandages and tape as I know how to strap it, but haven’t been able to so far. Tomorrow is a holiday here, there won’t be busses running so we’ll spend most of the time in the local area. At least that way I can rest it somewhat.

So that is my first update from Spain, it’s not majorly exciting as it’s involved mostly route learning, however, this is good progress and I feel ready for the rest of the week.