Edinburgh Exchanges

Righty-ho, just back to class after the “puente” of the 1st of May. When we have long weekends, they're called “bridges” here. So. Since I didn't let mum and dad come to Barcelona in Easter we decided that we'd meet up in Granada (Andalucía) for the long weekend in May, whaaaat a great place it is! More about that in a second. Last week was so insaaaanely hectic, I really could probably count the number of hours' sleep I managed to get on one hand. It was just basically deadlines galore and partial exams and all kinds of torture. I didn't even go out at the weekend, I was all cooped up like a recluse trying to figure out why my program was producing 03 e4 3c instead of 52 f6 01... or something like that :S Wasn't fun!

On the Friday (1st of May) there was no class, so I was up at like 4am or something ridiculoso like that to get the first train to the airport and scoot on down to Málaga. It's a wonder I didn't have to pay for excess luggage for the bags under my eyes, I tellz yeh! Mum and Dad obviously thought I looked a bit run-down (which I was!) so I got stuffed with lots of good food. No complaints there.

We all met in Málaga airport, and then caught a bus to Granada (a bit of a hassle, but worth it). Granada's really not as famous as other cities like Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia etc, and I really hope it stays that way because it's so nice; Sevilla was brilliant too but I think I'd give the edge to Granada. It's probably Edinburgh-sized in comparison, and it felt like... if I was studying there I would manage to get to know every nook and cranny of it quite intimately, unlike the hugemungous BCN with its endless supply of discoveries. And it's really cool because it has the Sierra Nevada mountain range around it, so although it's blazin' hot, you can still see snow!

We stayed in an apartment in the Albaizín, the old Arab quarter... look how beautiful the view was:

The weather in Andalucía is generally a bit warmer than in Cataluña but that weekend it was particularly warm. Probably the most famous thing in Granada is La Alhambra. Here's a picture I took of it, see if it rings a bell:

It is amazing... those moors really knew how to live. It's so huge, so intricately detailed and just generally awe-inspiring.

Apart from that, we went to Sacromonte, a “sacred mountain” where the houses are actually caves with a door on the front. People still live in caves!

Also, we were there for the “Santa Cruz” festival, which I'd never heard of... but was a big deal to them! Every barrio of the city made a big deal-style tribute in the square, usually a cross (cruz) and flowers and sculptures and stuff. On the Saturday night we went to see a great flamenco show.

Then we went wandering the streets in search of life, I wanted to find a pub that had Licor 43 to show Mum and Dad the greatness that is Licor 43. Licor 43 is a Spanish Liquor, if you ever see it, buy it! For it is great.

Anyway eventually we found out that in past Santa Cruz parties too much damage had been done, so the mayor decided to ban them in public areas. Anyway long story short we ended up finding ourselves in a private Santa Cruz party in some random's garden!

It has been a while again, but this time I think I have an excuse! If you've been following Hannah's blog as well then you'll know that I've had visitors for the past couple of weeks. It was really good to have people to show around and I knew straight away that they would re-awaken my appreciation of Vienna.

Having met them in Bratislava, we decided to take a taxi from Suedbahnhof since Sophie and Hannah had been on enough public transport already. The taxi-driver decided to take the scenic route around the Ringstrasse which was great for Sophie and Hannah as it showed them all of the main buildings lit up. They were awestruck and it really reminded me of how I felt when I first arrived here, although they of course lacked the sense of panic and all of the tears...

They didn't have much time to settle into Vienna as we headed to Budapest early the next morning, which is just 4 hours on the high speed train and definitely worth a visit if you're already in Vienna. It didn't quite live up to my expectations, I'm not even sure what exactly I was expecting but I think my impression was affected by the fact that Budapest looks like a construction site at the moment as they're overhauling their entire transport system. It also just didn't feel as safe as Vienna, though very few capital cities do. The architecture is amazing though and the city has a really interesting history, having once been two cities; Buda and Pest. We took advantage of the cheap spas, which was definitely needed after we climbed St. Gellert Hill in the heat. We also visited the cave chapel (which I absolutely loved) and the castle as well as taking a boat trip on the Danube which included a walking tour of St. Margaret Island ( a tiny island between Buda and Pest).

After arriving back in Vienna on the Sunday afternoon we had quite a hectic week trying to do as much sight-seeing as possible. By the end of the week we were all absolutely exhausted but psyched ourselves up for another weekend away, this time to Prague. Again Prague is only 4 hours away from Vienna (by bus this time because it's so much cheaper!) and definitely worth visiting. This is the second time I've visited Prague this year and I still absolutely love it, especially the Jewish Quarter which we did visit last time but were too cold to fully appreciate. The weather this time round meant that it was too hot to do any hardcore sightseeing but in a way that was better because we got a good feel for the city just from wandering around. We stayed at Sir. Toby's again and met loads of backpackers and exchange students there, it's always so interesting to hear everyone's stories and to chat to people you probably wouldn't meet in any other situation. On the Saturday night we went on a pub-crawl, which although expensive (by Czech standards, cheap compared to Edinburgh) was a great way to sample Czech night-life and I will cherish my t-shirt forever.

After another weekend away we took Han and Sophie's last week in Vienna a little more slowly which I think was appreciated by everyone. We still managed to fit in quite a lot of sight-seeing and managed a couple of day trips to nearby towns. Baden bei Wien was really pretty and we attempted to head to Seegrotte, Europe's largest underground lake. It's only 17 km from Vienna and is supposed to be quite easy to get to...

After being left stranded in a random village just outside Vienna and having the question 'how do we get to Moedling?' answered with 'not at all, right now' we weren't so sure. Giving up on trains we decided to catch a bus. It was then that I realised I hadn't until that point encountered a non-touristy Austrian town, and used to the Viennese accent which as far as Austrian accents go is fairly well-pronounced, I couldn't understand a word anyone was saying to me. After about an hour of hanging around Moedling bus station, we eventually boarded a bus headed to Seegrotte and were immediately stuck behind a May-Day parade, which although was nice to look at (and listen to, as we had discovered at 8 that morning as a brass band passed under my open window) with the adults in traditional Austrian dress, it did mean that we were even longer getting to Seegrotte. In the end we completely missed the stop and got off in a random little village, which to be fair was gorgeous! We had almdudler in a little Gasthaus and then got the bus back to Moedling (Seegrotte was closed by this time) - the bus driver looked at us as if we were completely insane, which to be fair was our general feeling at the time as well.

With it being Sophie and Hannah's last evening in Vienna before boarding their night-train to Strasbourg at 11 pm, we headed to Charlie P's for a goodbye dinner, which after a long day was very much appreciated. We had enough time for Sophie and Hannah to repack, having somehow acquired an extra suitcase worth of stuff (as is usual) and watch some television before heading to Westbahnhof for our goodbyes.

It was a really good couple of weeks which really allowed me to re-appreciate Vienna and has made me a little sadder about leaving here. The past week I've been ill and so have had a bit of time to reflect on what I'm going to have to get used to when I go back to Edinburgh in a month's time:

- living in a flat with other people.
- working in pounds.
- not speaking or hearing any german.
- how early restaurants close.
- lack of Austrian beer as well as missing almdudler, kinder, milka and good coffee.

I'm definitely going to miss Vienna but having just booked my flight home today, I am getting used to the idea of going back and I know that it'll take a while to settle back in and I'm sure after a while it'll be like I was never away.