JOURNAL
Day One Book Version 1.0 Printed on 25 April 2019 dayoneapp.com
SEPTEMBER 2018 Calle de Lavapiés, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 26°C Mostly Clear
Monday, 3 Sep 2018, 21:59 CEST
Our first night in Madrid! Paella time!
Tuesday, 4 Sep 2018, 15:57 CEST
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European University of Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid, Spain 27°C Partly Cloudy
Tuesday, 4 Sep 2018, 15:57 CEST
First time visiting the uni!
Calle de Lavapiés, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 23°C Mostly Clear
Tuesday, 4 Sep 2018, 22:19 CEST
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Calle de Goya, 41, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 28°C Mostly Sunny
Wednesday, 5 Sep 2018, 17:00 CEST
Sightseeing on the way to IKEA
Thursday, 6 Sep 2018, 20:05 CEST
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Plaza de Jacinto Benavente, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 25°C Partly Cloudy
Thursday, 6 Sep 2018, 20:07 CEST
First drink on the streets of Madrid! We love Sangria!
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Friday, 7 Sep 2018, 11:56 CEST
First welcome day of university: introductory talks and tours
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Plaza de Jacinto Benavente, 5, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 19°C Mostly Sunny
Saturday, 8 Sep 2018, 21:05 CEST
Amazing gelato! Brownie and nougat flavour
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Buen Retiro Park, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 21°C Mostly Sunny
Sunday, 9 Sep 2018, 11:22 CEST
Visiting El Rastro market for the first time!
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Monday, 10 Sep 2018, 15:05 CEST
First trip to Park Retiro!
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Calle de Lavapiés, 11, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 25°C Mostly Clear
Tuesday, 11 Sep 2018, 21:21 CEST
Mine and Lucy’s amazing Thai green curry! Best homemade meal so far
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Royal Botanic Gardens, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 29°C Mostly Sunny
Wednesday, 12 Sep 2018, 15:12 CEST
Sangria in the market next to the Royal Botanical Gardens
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SEPTEMBER 2018 Calle de Lavapiés, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 27°C Mostly Clear
Thursday, 13 Sep 2018, 21:24 CEST
Vogue Fashion Night Out!
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Calle de LavapiÊs, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 30°C Partly Cloudy
Friday, 14 Sep 2018, 20:23 CEST
Admiring the view from our apartment over dinner!
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Calle de LavapiÊs, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 27°C Mostly Clear
Saturday, 15 Sep 2018, 20:50 CEST
My 22nd Birthday!!! Toledo for the day, rooftop bar and cocktails!
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Royal Botanic Gardens, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 24°C Mostly Clear
Sunday, 16 Sep 2018, 22:40 CEST
First photo shoot of the year! For our first task for ‘Specialised Photography’ we had to practice double exposure; so I did a shoot with Lucy and used a Nikon DSLR to do it, mixing two images together
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Calle del Calvario, 4, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 18°C Mostly Clear
Monday, 17 Sep 2018, 22:45 CEST
The first time my boyfriend Harry came to visit me! He arrived today and is staying for a whole week, to celebrate a belated birthday with me too!
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Calle del Calvario, 4, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 22°C Mostly Clear
Tuesday, 18 Sep 2018, 22:42 CEST
Today I completed my scanography task for my ‘Introduction to Photography’ task. The items used resemble what I feel are symbolic and prominent to me about Madrid e.g: places I’ve been and what I’ve seen and experienced a lot of in terms of the culture here.
Calle del Calvario, 4, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 22°C Mostly Clear
Tuesday, 18 Sep 2018, 22:50 CEST
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Calle de LavapiÊs, 11, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 26°C Mostly Clear
Wednesday, 19 Sep 2018, 21:25 CEST
Today was the day Harry and I were celebrating my belated birthday! He surprised me with a delicious brunch, going to the Madrid zoo, going to Arabic baths and having a 15 minute massage and a delicious meal and cocktails in the evening!
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Calle de LavapiÊs, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 27°C Mostly Clear
Thursday, 20 Sep 2018, 21:29 CEST
Today was the first time I went to the San Miguel tapas market! This was a burrata with ham, chutney and balsamic vinegar!
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Buen Retiro Park, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 22°C Mostly Sunny
Friday, 21 Sep 2018, 09:16 CEST
Today Harry and I went on the rowing boats in Retiro Park and discovered the Lime scooters to get around on!
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Vintalogy, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 22°C Mostly Sunny
Saturday, 22 Sep 2018, 09:18 CEST
Today I went vintage shopping in Madrid properly for the first time; Harry and I visited a lot of vintage shops around the street Calle de Velarde as well as ones such as Vintagology like this one! We got a lot of good bargains and enjoyed dressing up!
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SEPTEMBER 2018 Calle de Estanislao Figueras, 1, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 23°C Mostly Sunny
Sunday, 23 Sep 2018, 09:21 CEST
First time trying a ‘bocadillo De calamares’ (deep fried calamari in a baguette)
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Calle de LavapiÊs, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 27°C Mostly Clear
Monday, 24 Sep 2018, 23:30 CEST
This evening we spent our time looking at City Life Madrid events and getting excited about the new experiences we might encounter!
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Calle del Calvario, 4, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 26°C Mostly Clear
Tuesday, 25 Sep 2018, 00:45 CEST
Today myself, Lucy, Jasmine and Kelly all went for dinner at this beautiful restaurant! Kelly and I shared a burrata which was injected with pesto and then I had a pork tenderloin steak! Very yummy food! We then went for bowling afterwards at an American themed bowling alley I won both games and got a strike and spare in both!!!
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Calle de Lavapiés, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 26°C Cloudy
Wednesday, 26 Sep 2018, 15:59 CEST
Today I went back to rephotograph vintage shops in Malasaña for a blog post I’m doing and I had this mocha!
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European University of Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid, Spain 23°C Mostly Sunny
Thursday, 27 Sep 2018, 11:51 CEST
First time having froyo in Madrid! I had strawberries, chocolate hazelnut sauce and biscoff pieces on mine!
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European University of Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid, Spain 24°C Mostly Sunny
Friday, 28 Sep 2018, 11:51 CEST
Sunbathing at university today, inbetween classes!
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Calle de Lavapiés, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 27°C Mostly Sunny
Saturday, 29 Sep 2018, 14:13 CEST
Today we went to Sublime Dream Foods and I ate one of the biggest burgers I’ve ever had! It had a beef burger, pulled pork, cheese, bacon and bbq sauce in it!
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28036, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 27°C Mostly Clear
Sunday, 30 Sep 2018, 20:26 CEST
Tonight we went to the Rolling Dance and Burger and Lucy and I were awful!
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OCTOBER 2018 Calle del Prado, 18–22, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 23°C Mostly Clear
Monday, 1 Oct 2018, 20:28 CEST
Today we had dinner at Goiko Grill after craving nachos all day! They were huge portions, so much so that I couldn’t finish mine!
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Polígono Calle Lérida, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 18°C Mostly Clear
Tuesday, 2 Oct 2018, 21:17 CEST
Tonight we went to an outdoor cinema, the first one I’ve ever been to and of course the first one I’ve been to in Madrid! It was American themed, there was a diner and we watched Jonny English but it was in Spanish! So we mainly just laughed at the slapstick comedy....
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Calle del Calvario, 4, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 27°C Mostly Sunny
Wednesday, 3 Oct 2018, 15:23 CEST
I spent the day editing the photos I had taken yesterday for our ‘group portrait’ task for the Specialised Photography class. I am very happy with the results and this is just one of them!
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Calle de Lavapiés, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 27°C Mostly Sunny
Thursday, 4 Oct 2018, 15:24 CEST
Today I finished editing the two other shoots I did for the ‘portrait task’ - the two ‘bokeh’ effect ones, I am very happy with the results for all these shoots for the Specialised Photography class.
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Calle del MarquÊs Viudo de Pontejos, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 22°C Mostly Clear
Friday, 5 Oct 2018, 20:34 CEST
This evening we went for pancakes after having been at uni and a long trip to IKEA! I ordered Nutella sauce, strawberries and white chocolate buttons!
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Saturday, 6 Oct 2018, 13:43 CEST
Today we went for drinks in the sun! It was a lovely hot day, we came here after the City Life Madrid Welcome Day which turned out to be awful; barely anything was being given away for free so we were very disappointed!
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16 Crown Street, Oxford, England, United Kingdom 8°C Mostly Clear
Sunday, 7 Oct 2018, 19:37 BST
Today I came back to the UK for the first time since living in Madrid, first stop is my boyfriends house and we made enchiladas for dinner and they were so yummy! I have missed real cheddar!
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16 Crown Street, Oxford, England, United Kingdom 15°C Mostly Cloudy
Monday, 8 Oct 2018, 13:10 BST
Today we got some lunch from Itsu!! Lovely sushi and a Korean BBQ chicken rice bowl, very tasty! We didn’t want a huge lunch because we were having pizza for dinner before a night out!
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M40, High Wycombe, England, United Kingdom 13°C Partly Cloudy
Tuesday, 9 Oct 2018, 09:31 BST
Today we had quite a chilled day in Oxford after been on a night out last night, we went and had a coffee in this cool vinyl cafe shop!
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Fennels Wood, High Wycombe, England, United Kingdom 16°C Hazy
Wednesday, 10 Oct 2018, 09:33 BST
Tonight we spent the evening The Alchemist, we had an amazing cocktail called the ‘Mad Hatter’ to share, a sharing meat platter and Katsu curry etc! It was very nice cocktails and starter but the mains weren’t amazing!
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OCTOBER 2018 492–493 Ipswich Road, Slough, England, United Kingdom 19°C Mostly Cloudy
Thursday, 11 Oct 2018, 10:34 BST
Today was Harry’s 22nd Birthday, part of the reason I had come back home for the week I have! I surprised him throughout the day, firstly we climbed the o2 as seen here! We had a glass of champagne at the top, it had great views of London and wasn’t too hard to climb although the harness wasn’t overly comfortable! I then took ya to Camden Town for some shopping and food, followed by a meal at the Blues Kitchen (an American Diner) place and then we went to see the Book of Mormon musical; which was it of course fantastic!
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Friday, 12 Oct 2018, 22:26 BST
Today I met my brother in London for the day to see Michael Mcintyre’s World Tour in the evening at the o2! We ate a huge pizza and wandered through Regents Park and then got an Emirates cable car which runs from the o2 arena across the otherwise of the river for great views of London - 92m high!
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19 Minden Drive, Bury St Edmunds, England, United Kingdom 24°C Sunny
Saturday, 13 Oct 2018, 15:21 BST
I went on a lovely, autumnal walk today with my family and we collected chestnuts which we will later roast and eat! It’s been a very relaxed and easy day, we went for a drink at a local pub and are watching a film this evening!
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London Stansted Airport, Stansted, England, United Kingdom 10°C Haze
Sunday, 14 Oct 2018, 18:18 BST
Today I went to my godmother’s 70th birthday party with my parents in Cambridge! It was a lovely party with lots of champagne and canapés! It was lovely to see her and friends and to celebrate her birthday with her, but the greatest outcome of the day was that her partner gave me his old film camera for free! A Nikon FE which is very high quality and he gave me the lens it came with which is 52mm, very generous of him! I’m so excited to use it! I’ll test it out over Christmas so I can practice loading and unloading a film with my parents who know film cameras quite well, just so I’m with them doing it for the first time!
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London Stansted Airport, Stansted, England, United Kingdom 13°C Mist and Fog
Monday, 15 Oct 2018, 20:37 BST
After having a last day chilled at home with my family and getting any last bits to take back with me like a black pepper grinder and j-cloths! I am finally going back to Madrid, my flight was delayed so leaving late! But I should get back to the flat around 1.30am or so
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Calle del Calvario, 4, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 21°C Mostly Sunny
Tuesday, 16 Oct 2018, 18:38 CEST
After Jasmine and I had been to uni today to complete our pinhole camera task and go to our specialised photography class, we went to the World Press Photo exhibition! It wasn’t as good as the one I saw last summer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, however, the images and stories told through the best selected photojournalism of this year were some of the most harrowing but almost beautifully shot! Well worth going to
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Plaza De La Paja, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 21°C Mostly Sunny
Wednesday, 17 Oct 2018, 18:42 CEST
Today I spent the day editing and creating my new photography website with Wix and then in the evening we met Jenni for food and a drink! I had this dish, ‘bomba’ which was breaded potato with a mince meat sauce with sour cream and chive dip and a spicy tomato sauce and green sauce; it was lovely and something I had never tried before!
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Adolfo SuĂĄrez Madrid-Barajas Airport, Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Thursday, 18 Oct 2018, 20:10 CEST
Today I spent my time editing and creating my new website and starting research and writing for my presentation for the introduction to photography class. I then made my way to the airport to meet Harry who was visiting me until Sunday morning! My wait at Tirso de Molina tube which I’ve done many a time....
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Adolfo SuĂĄrez Madrid-Barajas Airport, Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Friday, 19 Oct 2018, 13:01 CEST
Me and Harry had a fairly chilled day today, had a lie in and watched tv, but we also tried Taco Bell for the very first time! It was tasty but for fast food, I would only get it again if I was in the mood for Mexican as I wasn’t amazing! We also saw A Star Is Born at Cine Ideal cinema at night which was amazing!! So well acted and directed by Bradley Cooper and acted by Lady GaGa and I cried at the end!
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Calle de Lavapiés, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 20°C Partly Cloudy
Saturday, 20 Oct 2018, 17:34 CEST
Today Harry and I went to the Royal Palace and gardens, we also visited the cathedral there and went to Campo del Moro which is a park nearby. It was all very beautiful, I’m so glad I went to see these attractions!
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OCTOBER 2018 Calle de Lavapiés, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 21°C Mostly Sunny
Sunday, 21 Oct 2018, 17:55 CEST
Harry left this morning and this evening me and the girls and Jenni and her flatmate went to a house music event ‘Brunch in the Park’ - it was fun to do and we got a bit drunk!
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Calle de Lavapiés, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 22°C Mostly Sunny
Monday, 22 Oct 2018, 14:27 CEST
Today the girls and I went to Anton Market for the first time and got a €10 Set menu, starter main and dessert all included! The food was quite average but it’s a nice market to go to for cheap set menus and to experience new food!
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Calle de Jesús y María, 27, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 18°C Mostly Clear
Tuesday, 23 Oct 2018, 20:11 CEST
Today we completed a Specialised Photography class task in uni - High Dynamic Range. I took the photos from Emily’s balcony in our flat of Lavapies, one overexposed, one underexposed and one with the correct exposure! We had to put it into this format like a magazine cover in class.
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Calle del Calvario, 4, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 23°C Mostly Sunny
Wednesday, 24 Oct 2018, 14:36 CEST
Kelly and I spent the day doing work! Firstly at home in our apartment and then we visited this lovely cafe called LOLINA Vintage! It had a very 60/70s decor vibe and the coffee was lovely! A fun place to do our uni work and apply for our legal documents to live in Spain!
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Calle de Lavapiés, 11, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 24°C Mostly Sunny
Thursday, 25 Oct 2018, 16:05 CEST
Today me and Kelly had to spend our time doing work and sorting out filling forms out at CityLifeMadrid for the NIE and Empadronmiento documents! We then treated ourselves to a delicious menu del dia for €11.50!
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Calle del Calvario, 7, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 11°C Mostly Clear
Friday, 26 Oct 2018, 04:03 CEST
Kelly, Lucy and I all went on a night out tonight! It was my first night out in Madrid and I really enjoyed it! It was a very fun night and the club was good, we got two free drinks and queue job for €10 at Icon club!
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Calle de Lavapiés, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 8°C Partly Cloudy
Saturday, 27 Oct 2018, 20:22 CEST
Me, Lucy and Kelly all enjoyed a hangover day today! It’s consisted of us watching Hot Fuzz, Hell’s Kitchen and Dark Tourist on Netflix! We have just laid in bed, chatted, watched TV and eaten lots of snacks!
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Calle del Calvario, 4, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 7°C Mostly Clear
Sunday, 28 Oct 2018, 23:24 CET
Today Kelly and I completed our 5 different shutter speed techniques which we needed to do for the Introduction to Photography shutter speed task. This was one of my final edits! Freeze motion, background blur! It was a tiring and cold day!
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Calle del Calvario, 4, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 9°C Mostly Cloudy
Monday, 29 Oct 2018, 18:41 CET
Today Kelly, Lucy and I all went to uni to complete another task: high key/low key and a 50s style Hollywood portrait in the style of George Hurell. This was for our Specialised task, I was very happy with the outcomes! It was another long day of shooting and editing but we’re up to date with the tasks now!
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Calle del Calvario, 4, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 8°C Rain
Tuesday, 30 Oct 2018, 19:34 CET
After a day of gymming and doing uni work, I made one of my classic dishes for dinner to use up all my leftover stuff before going back to England to visit Harry! Couscous, vegetables, chorizo! It was also so cold and wet outside today, we didn’t go out!
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OCTOBER 2018 Wednesday, 31 Oct 2018, 13:20 GMT
Today I arrived back in Oxford to visit Harry and Maisie! It was of course Halloween, so we all dressed up and went to one of their friends’ house party for the night! Me and Harry were vampires, Maisie a potato and Jack was Wayne Rooney!
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NOVEMBER 2018 Thursday, 1 Nov 2018, 13:23 GMT
Harry and I felt a bit hungover from the party last night and I was still tired from travelling the day before! So we had a very chilled day, watching scary Halloween films in bed!
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Friday, 2 Nov 2018, 13:24 GMT
Today me and Harry wandered round some of the Oxford university building grounds, we also went and visited two history museums, one of which was about mummys and world history etc and the other had dinosaur skeleton casts and lots of taxidermy and weapons! Both were very interesting to visit and informative! We then went for a meal out at Banana Tree in the evening!
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Saturday, 3 Nov 2018, 19:24 GMT
Today Maisie and I had brunch together whilst Harry was at work, Harry and I then went to South Park’s fireworks and bonfire display in Oxford! It was a very large and impressive display! We both really enjoyed it, we then went home and watched Detroit which was an amazing film!
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Calle del Calvario, 4, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 9°C Rain
Sunday, 4 Nov 2018, 23:07 CET
Today Harry and I went for a lovely Spoons cooked breakfast! We then browsed some shops and then chilled at his before going to see the amazing new Bohemian Rhapsody film about Freddie Mercury’s life and Queen with his housemates! After that we went bowling and Maisie joined us, a really fun way to end the trip!
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Calle de la Cabeza, 25, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 8°C Mostly Clear
Monday, 5 Nov 2018, 22:16 CET
After a long day of travelling, then cleaning my room and doing a wash, food shop etc upon my return to Madrid, I spent the evening relaxing and watched a Gogglebox episode!
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Calle del Calvario, 4, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 9°C Light Rain
Tuesday, 6 Nov 2018, 17:34 CET
After gymming in the morning and doing work all day in the flat, we decide to all venture out into Lavapies and go for a coffee at PumPum cafe before watching a Christmas film in the evening!
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Calle del Calvario, 4, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 10°C Mostly Clear
Wednesday, 7 Nov 2018, 19:37 CET
After a hard long day of gymming, then uni work, then going to receive my NIE certificate at my appointment and having a big kerfuffle with having to ring UEM for the correct documents to get it, Kelly and I treated ourselves to a very nice Spanish pastry on the way home from La Malloquiera! It was only â‚Ź1.40 each and was very tasty!
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Calle de San Cosme y San Damián, 20, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 11°C Light Rain
Thursday, 8 Nov 2018, 15:54 CET
Today my family (Mum, Dad and Tom) came to visit me in Madrid until Tuesday! It’s very exciting to have them here! They arrived just after lunch time, so once they had checked into their flat we went and got some lunch. We have this lovely pizza place near where they are staying in Lavapies, which is very close to me! We then shopped around Carrefour and relaxed for the evening and had a meal out at 100 Montaditos!
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Calle de San Cosme y San Damián, 20, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 12°C Mostly Sunny
Friday, 9 Nov 2018, 15:55 CET
As it was a nice sunny day today (yesterday was raining), I took my family to Retiro Park! We went on the rowing boats, saw the Crystal Palace and walked around for ages! This was a new area I hadn’t seen yet, a beautifully tiled area of the park with lots of peacocks! After this we went for a bite to eat and then came back to their flat to relax for a bit before going for some beer and tapas in the evening!
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Calle de Lavapiés, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 12°C Cloudy
Saturday, 10 Nov 2018, 11:20 CET
Today me and my family went to visit San Jerónimo El Real church which is one I’ve wanted to visit ever since I moved to Madrid! It was very beautiful inside, we then went to the San Miguel tapas market before visiting another church in the afternoon! We then went to La Tablacerna exhibition venue and saw a large art exhibition with some photography which was very interesting! We then went for a lovely meal at Mas Al Sur!
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NOVEMBER 2018 Calle de Lavapiés, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 16°C Mostly Cloudy
Sunday, 11 Nov 2018, 14:13 CET
Today I took my family to the El Rastro market in the morning, we then went on the cable cars in the afternoon going from Argüelles Metro to Casa de Campo Park! We then went to the Reina Sofia museum and saw Picasso’s Guernica!
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Calle de LavapiÊs, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 14°C Mostly Sunny
Monday, 12 Nov 2018, 16:35 CET
Today we did some shopping on Gran Via, going to the famous Primark! I also took them to Sol etc and then we went to a Temple deBod in the afternoon for amazing views! We then went for a special last meal at Mas Al Sur again in the evening where I had some lovely paella!
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Calle de LavapiÊs, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 10°C Mostly Clear
Tuesday, 13 Nov 2018, 21:22 CET
Today my family left at around lunchtime, after a lovely brunch at La Rollerie and then doing a big food shop for me and then packing, we said our goodbyes and I went to uni when they left my flat! This was the dinner I made: pesto pasta which they bought me and a lovely San Miguel beer they left me too!
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Calle de LavapiÊs, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 15°C Mostly Cloudy
Wednesday, 14 Nov 2018, 21:45 CET
Today me, Jasmine and Emily went to uni to complete our Specialised Photography task where we had to copy an advertisement campaign as accurately as possible! We chose a magazine one of Zayn Malik, we also did a little studio shoot with this model for our portfolios which made it worth our time!
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Calle de Luis Vélez de Guevara, 2–20, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 13°C Mostly Cloudy
Thursday, 15 Nov 2018, 22:12 CET
Today I sent off my questions in the morning to Hashtag Photography for an interview/article I am doing for them, then Jasmine and I went to the abandoned building and swimming pool near UEM (up the road in the residential area) to do a portfolio shoot each and to complete the depth of field task for our Introduction to Photography class! It went really well! Apart from seeing a dead cat in the pool and it being quite creepy :(
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Calle del Calvario, 4, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 12°C Mostly Cloudy
Friday, 16 Nov 2018, 23:01 CET
Today after gymming me and the girls went to Lolina Vintage cafe to do work and then I went to the airport to meet Tom and Sam who have come out to visit me for the weekend! We went out today with Emily, Lucy, Jasmine and Callum! It was a fun night but quite eventful because Emily lost her phone!
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CĂrculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 14°C Partly Cloudy
Saturday, 17 Nov 2018, 18:19 CET
After eating a lot of pastries to cure our hangover, I took the boys to see Retiro Park and the Crystal Palace as it was a beautiful sunny day! I then took them to Sol, Plaza Mayor and we got some lunch! Then we went to the rooftop bar and had some drinks, we then went for a lovely meal at Rosi La Loca and shared some lovely paella before coming back to chill in the evening!
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Calle de Lavapiés, 11, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 10°C Rain
Sunday, 18 Nov 2018, 22:12 CET
Today Tom, Sam and I went to the El Rastro market, then got some brunch and then the San Miguel market and then the Royal Palace/cathedral and then we went for some drinks before watching the Pride film back at mine! We then went for a lovely meal at Mas El Sur with the rest of the flat! Then we all watched I’m a Celeb together! A lovely last day and night together!
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Madrid Puerta de Atocha, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 14°C Partly Cloudy
Monday, 19 Nov 2018, 12:00 CET
This morning I got up very early when the boys left around 6.45! I then went to the gym and cleaned my room and then spent the day doing work, including a new blog post about my busy November month before Harry’s plane got in in the evening!
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Tuesday, 20 Nov 2018, 14:49 CET
Today Harry and I went to El Mini Bar and had this amazing goats cheese tapas and squid and breaded chicken and sangria! We then went to a cosy bar and had some more drinks at Taste Gallery
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NOVEMBER 2018 Wednesday, 21 Nov 2018, 14:15 CET
Today Harry and I went to the Auschwitz exhibition, we spent at least 4 hours in there! It was massive and very informative but arguably a bit too big!
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Thursday, 22 Nov 2018, 20:31 CET
Today Harry and I went to the Lolina Vintage cafe to do some work with the girls after meeting my future Spanish tutor who I’ll start lessons with after Christmas! It was also our 3 month anniversary today so we decided to treat ourselves by eating at Pampa Beef restaurant where we shared this amazing starter of Provolone cheese and crispy onions and then shared the sharing steak!
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Friday, 23 Nov 2018, 23:35 CET
Today Harry and I made the most of the Black Friday sales and went shopping around Madrid and online! However, back in Coventry, my work was displayed at Draper’s cafe as part of the LAHAD exhibition which I entered! Jasmine was there so was able to take some photos for me of it!
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Calle de Bretón de los Herreros, 68, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 9°C Mostly Cloudy
Saturday, 24 Nov 2018, 15:20 CET
Today Harry and I went on a beautiful countryside hike in Cercedilla, just an hour from Madrid! It’s the mountain range located on the outside which I’ve always wanted to go to! We did a 3.15 hour walk round trip and we went through beautiful pine forest, passed a dam and saw many picturesque high views! I definitely want to go again in the warmer, sunnier weather! But it was very atmospheric and pretty going in this cloud!
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Calle de Bretón de los Herreros, 68, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 7°C Partly Cloudy
Sunday, 25 Nov 2018, 20:42 CET
Today Harry and I got pastries from La Mollaquiera as it’s so lovely, then we did some work and chilled and then went to the Rolling Dance and Burger Citylife event in the evening! The roller skating was quite difficult, as I found with the girls too, but it was still really fun and it was a very relaxed last full day together!
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Calle de la Cabeza, 37, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 11°C Mostly Sunny
Monday, 26 Nov 2018, 17:43 CET
For our last day together Harry and I just chilled and ate some yummy food! After dropping him at the airport I came to the gym to do one full hour of cardio to make up for the past week I hadn’t been! It felt good!
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28860, Paracuellos de Jarama, Madrid, Spain 12°C Mostly Sunny
Tuesday, 27 Nov 2018, 13:39 CET
Today I had a very busy day! I went to the gym in the morning and did some work for the Hashtag Photography piece I was doing. I then had to ring my parents about SFE, then later the girls and I went to this cafe to do some work which was very pretty - Cafe Barberi in Lavapies! However, I had to leave after being there for only 15 mins or so because it was too busy and noisy and I couldn’t concentrate! When I got back to the flat I sent off the final piece to Hashtag Photography and did another blog post and then sorted out some work to do for my tasks I’ll have to do! I then packed for my trip to Oxford!
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M40, Banbury, England, United Kingdom 13°C Light Rain
Wednesday, 28 Nov 2018, 08:37 GMT
Today I flew out to go visit Harry in Oxford! I managed to get a fair amount of uni work done on my journey out there, when I arrived we made some late lunch and then in the evening we went to the pub with some others to watch the football game and have some drinks and 25p chicken wings!
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Calle de Carabias, 22–24, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 6°C Mist and Fog
Thursday, 29 Nov 2018, 09:35 CET
Today Harry and I did both of my photography shoots I needed to do for my uni tasks, a sequential narrative for Introduction to Photography and a portrait one to edit in beauty and Dragan style for Specialised Photography. He really enjoyed doing the shoots with me which was great, he was a good model and I was pleased with how they went! We got caught in the rain just at the end of this shoot and then went shopping where I bought a new winter fur coat! The below photo is my final image for the sequence one, I’m really happy with it!
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Paseo de Húsares, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 7°C Mostly Sunny
Friday, 30 Nov 2018, 09:38 CET
Today Harry and I went for a walk in a nice park before he went to a Bring Me The Horizon gig with his friend, after he left I did some uni work and then went for a meal and drinks with Maisie and her friend which was really fun!
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DECEMBER 2018 Autovía de Extremadura, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 10°C Mostly Sunny
Saturday, 1 Dec 2018, 14:08 CET
Harry and I went into town today for a late brunch, we really fancied a greasy fried breakfast which is something I miss living in Madrid! We then headed back to his as the weather wasn’t great and got a Chinese takeaway as our last meal together in the evening!
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Polígono Industrial Carretera de San Martín, Alcorcón, Madrid, Spain 6°C Mist and Fog
Sunday, 2 Dec 2018, 22:19 CET
Today was a day of travelling back to Madrid, I treated myself to a Christmas coffee in the airport to get in the seasonal vibe! Once I got back and had a catch-up with the girls, I submitted my uni tasks which included completing this Specialised Task of making the anti-smoking advert!
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TorstraĂ&#x;e 56, Berlin, Berlin, Germany 9°C Mostly Clear
Monday, 3 Dec 2018, 21:46 CET
Today I went to uni to our Introduction Photography class, presented my task and did 2 hours of work on my presentation. I then came back and packed and prepared for our holiday trip to Berlin tomorrow! In the evening, we went to see The Vaccines at La Riveria which was an amazing gig, they were really good and had a lot of energy!
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Torstraße 56, Berlin, Berlin, Germany 6°C Partly Cloudy
Tuesday, 4 Dec 2018, 15:51 CET
Today we got a very early flight, having only a few hours sleep and arrived in Berlin for our 4 day trip!! Upon arriving we checked into our hostel and then went to explore! We explored the Alexando Platz square and it’s Christmas market and had a lovely curry lunch! We then also went to the cathedral which was very beautiful and impressive but only to view it from the outside! Tonight we’re going to another Christmas market!
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Wednesday, 5 Dec 2018, 11:52 CET
Today we had a packed day, we did the following things: East Side Gallery, remains of the Berlin Wall Checkpoint Charlie Jewish Memorial/The Holocaust Museum The Brandenburg Gate The Reischstagg Building (parliament) The best and biggest Christmas market in Potszdammer Platz It was a really fun day, it was amazing to see all the things we did!
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Thursday, 6 Dec 2018, 13:00 CET
Today was an even busier day than yesterday and although we had an amazing time we’re glad it’s our final day as it’s been a knackering city break! We did the following today: The Pool Gallery A famous graffiti street (Haus Schwartz or similar) and gallery there too Berlin Wall Memorial A 2 hour tour explaining the routes civilians took to escape from the entrapment of the Berlin Wall by going underground and seeing tunnel replicas DDR interactive museum Asian tearoom for a drink Our last German meal at a traditional pub!
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Friday, 7 Dec 2018, 13:10 CET
Today is the day we fly home! We’ve had the most amazing time in Berlin and we’re so lucky that we’ve been able to travel to such an amazing country! After having the buffet breakfast at our hostel we almost unfortunately nearly missed our flight by going to the wrong airport! But thankfully to a nice taxi driver we were able to make it to the correct one in time for our flight home!
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European University of Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid, Spain 9°C Mostly Clear
Saturday, 8 Dec 2018, 19:51 CET
Today me and the girls had our ‘Christmas Day!’ We started the day by going for brunch and having pastries in a cafe! We then got the last bits from Lidl and went back to the house to do Secret Santa presents! I got a handmade painted mug, some Polaroid photos printed, Lindt chocolates and PG Tips teabags all from Kelly! We then basically ate, drank and played games for the whole day - it was a lovely Christmas!
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European University of Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid, Spain 3°C Mostly Clear
Sunday, 9 Dec 2018, 21:28 CET
Today I did a much needed full hour of cardio session in the gym! And then I spent the day doing my Specialised Photography photographer presentation (uni work) and then shopped for Christmas presents online!
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Calle del Calvario, 4, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 15°C Mostly Sunny
Monday, 10 Dec 2018, 17:23 CET
Today Jasmine and I did our Introduction to Photography presentations at uni which went really well! After then being set the next few tasks before Christmas, I printed my boarding pass at uni ready for going home for Christmas on Wednesday! I then went to the gym when I got back and did errands for packing! One of which involved me complaining to FILA about how the writing was already wearing off after not even owning them for 2 months!
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DECEMBER 2018 19 Minden Drive, Bury St Edmunds, England, United Kingdom 5°C Mostly Cloudy
Tuesday, 11 Dec 2018, 10:12 GMT
Today was a very busy day! I got up very early this morning to pack my bags ready to go home tomorrow! I then went into uni with the girls to use the studio to take photos of myself holding a magazine for our Introduction To Photography task, we then tried editing and figured out the technique to make ourselves silhouettes. We then went to our Specialised Photography class in the afternoon and made the image shown here! After uni I got back to the flat and finished packing, made dinner etc, chilled with the girls and finished completing these last two uni tasks before going home for Christmas! So I have completed the last uni tasks now for Christmas!
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20 Minden Drive, Bury St Edmunds, England, United Kingdom 7°C Sunny
Wednesday, 12 Dec 2018, 10:16 GMT
Today I got up early to catch my flight and flew home for Christmas break!!! When I got back, I was surprised to find my Dad had put these new lovely shelves up for me in my room with the Christmas fairy lights! It’s lovely to be home again, I did some last minute birthday shopping for Dad with Mum for tomorrow and then Tom and I bought us all an Indian takeaway in the evening!
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25 Minden Drive, Bury St Edmunds, England, United Kingdom 6°C Cloudy
Thursday, 13 Dec 2018, 10:20 GMT
Today it was Dad’s birthday! After giving him all his presents and cards we had a relaxed day, wandered into town and then got ready for our evening meal at Cafe Rouge which was very tasty! We then came back and watched The Incredibles 2!
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24 Minden Drive, Bury St Edmunds, England, United Kingdom 4°C Cloudy
Friday, 14 Dec 2018, 10:22 GMT
Today as my brother was at work and my Mum and Dad were doing things around the house, so I got a lot of my presentation script and PowerPoint done for Specialised Photography!
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19 Minden Drive, Bury St Edmunds, England, United Kingdom
Saturday, 15 Dec 2018, 10:19 GMT
Today I finally finished writing my Specialised Photography presentation (the script and PowerPoint) and I then went to get my haircut which is now a lot shorter! I then met some of my friends from home for a Christmas coffee! It was lovely to have a catch up with them!
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20 Minden Drive, Bury St Edmunds, England, United Kingdom 8°C Sunny
Sunday, 16 Dec 2018, 10:26 GMT
Today me and my family went for a Christmas coffee and then Tom and I did a lot of Christmas shopping! We then came back and wrapped a lot of our presents, it was a festive day!
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Monday, 17 Dec 2018, 22:39 GMT
Today Tom and I did some more Christmas shopping and wrapping of presents, I practiced my Specialised Photography presentation with him ready for doing it in January and then I packed for Harry’s tomorrow! This evening we all enjoyed watching the Netflix film Mowgli about the Jungle Book and Yoko enjoyed it too!
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Tuesday, 18 Dec 2018, 08:30 GMT
Today I travelled to Harry’s all the way in Hereford to visit him and his family for 6 days! I’m very excited and have all of their presents and cards ready to give them for Christmas! This was a photo I took whilst waiting for my train in Bury this morning, I thought it was quite pretty I love the sugar beet factory!
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Wednesday, 19 Dec 2018, 18:24 GMT
Today Harry and I just chilled at his during the day, catching up and then in the evening we went to Hanbao in Worcester for this delicious and extravagant burger meal!
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Thursday, 20 Dec 2018, 12:52 GMT
Today Harry and I took the dogs for a walk in the morning where I snapped this pretty view! We then went and did some Christmas shopping Hereford and went for a Christmas coffee before going back to Harry’s with some yummy snacks to chill with in the evening!
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DECEMBER 2018 Friday, 21 Dec 2018, 14:44 GMT
Today Harry and I took a day trip to Bath! We visited the Royal Crescent Building, the Bath Abbey/cathedral (which was stunning), the Roman baths, the Pulteney Bridge and did some shopping! We then went for a lovely steak meal in the evening and then played glow in the dark golf at ‘Bath On Ice’ which was atmospheric despite the rain - before heading home!
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Saturday, 22 Dec 2018, 16:07 GMT
Today Harry, myself and his family had our own mini Christmas! Harry and I opened our presents to each other in the morning in bed which was so lovely! We then had a chilled day at his and had a lovely Christmas dinner in the evening with prosecco, nibbles and roast beef! We then exchanged presents, Harry’s parents opened theirs from me and I opened mine from them! They got me some comfy slipper socks and some pretty dangly earrings! It was a warming festive day!
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Sunday, 23 Dec 2018, 16:11 GMT
Today I sadly had to leave Harry’s and travel back to Bury for Christmas! But we did go for a yummy Wagamama’s lunch before I left and got on this gloomy train!
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Monday, 24 Dec 2018, 23:04 GMT
Today was of course Christmas Eve! After some last minute shopping and wrapping and Tom taking me for lunch at Ask - Tom and I cooked the evening meal! We made smoked salmon (with gold) cream cheese blinis, baked Camembert with pancetta and cranberry pastry twists and these Christmassy jam tarts! We went to a carol service in the evening too to get us all in the Christmas spirit!
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Tuesday, 25 Dec 2018, 20:32 GMT
Today was of course Christmas Day! After 4.5 hours of unwrapping and giving presents and 3.5 bin bags full of wrapping paper we had a late lunch and played Articulate and then had a Christmas dinner and pudding later on in the evening! We watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation as we watched a Muppet’s Christmas Carol last night! It was a lovely and relaxing Christmas with all of us four together!
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Wednesday, 26 Dec 2018, 11:59 GMT
Unfortunately today Tom had to work, despite it being Boxing Day as he had Christmas Eve and Day off! My parents and I went for a lovely scenic walk in West Stow, where I started my new roll of colour 35mm film on the Nikon SLR family friend, Vince, gave me! We later then went to visit my Granny and we took her for a coffee at Cafe Rouge, partially to also see Tom whilst he’s working! We then had hot gravy turkey sandwiches for dinner and watched Christmas TV!
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Thursday, 27 Dec 2018, 09:14 GMT
Today Harry arrived at mine in the evening for the Christmas-New Year break, at night we went out with my friends from home for my friend Mirwin’s annual birthday pub golf night! We went to 8 different pubs and the club at the end and I managed to do some karaoke in one of the pubs with my friends Megan and Kayleigh!
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Friday, 28 Dec 2018, 09:18 GMT
Today Harry and I were very hungover from the night before of pub golf and so had a day of just chilling, watching tv and films and lying in bed!
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Saturday, 29 Dec 2018, 13:35 GMT
Today Harry and I went for a very cheap lunch at Cafe Rouge, kind courtesy of my bro Tom! We then ran a few errands in town before going back home to watch a film and chill!
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Sunday, 30 Dec 2018, 15:01 GMT
Today Harry and I decided to go for a nice Christmassy walk to get some fresh air and do something different! We drove to Lackford Lakes and had a lovely hour long walk around the landscape and in the bird hides! We saw some beautiful starlings settling down for the night and a heron! I then went to Abi’s in the evening for a girls Christmas night which meant I got to see some of the girls! We played some games and a Christmas quiz!
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DECEMBER 2018 Monday, 31 Dec 2018, 20:33 GMT
Today was of course New Year’s Eve and Tom’s birthday! Harry and I went to Tom’s for the big event, here’s Kayleigh handing him the amazing birthday cake she made him! It was a really fun night with games and drinking and fireworks!
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JANUARY 2019 Tuesday, 1 Jan 2019, 19:47 GMT
After getting back from Tom’s, Harry and I chilled at mine and then decided to go for Wagamama’s in the evening for a New Year’s Day meal it was really tasty! We shared chilli squid and duck gyozas and then teriyaki salmon soba and duck donburi!
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Wednesday, 2 Jan 2019, 20:53 GMT
Today was sadly mine and Harry’s last day together, but we spent it chilling and watching tv etc! My auntie came around in the afternoon which was nice and I got my Christmas present from her, we then had a nice New Year’s meal with my parents and crackers for the last night! We then watched Ghost Stories (a horror film) in the evening and made this duvet nest on the floor to make it more comfy and cuddly!
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Thursday, 3 Jan 2019, 12:35 GMT
Today we set off early morning and drove up North to visit some family and have a mini holiday. Firstly we stopped at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and walked around its grounds and galleries after having a coffee; it’s a beautiful place but the sculptures weren’t that impressive this time around! We then went to visit Auntie Marisa and Lucy before going to eat out at an Indian and drinks!
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Friday, 4 Jan 2019, 12:44 GMT
Today we had breakfast at the Holiday Inn motel we stayed in, then we went to Junction 32 to do some outlet shopping! I got some bargains and treated my family to a Starbucks coffee with my Christmas scratch card winnings and then we went to visit my grandparents before driving home again!
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Saturday, 5 Jan 2019, 13:56 GMT
Today Tom was very kind and treated myself and him to lunch! We went to this incredible steakhouse in Bury where all the food and drink is unlimited throughout the meal and you can cook your own steak on a hot stone slab! We then briefly went to say goodbye to Granny as I leave for Madrid tomorrow! I then did some shopping for taking things back with me to Madrid, then me and my family watched a film in the evening!
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Sunday, 6 Jan 2019, 18:28 GMT
Today was my last day at home and day of my flight! After a stressful morning packing, I enjoyed a lovely lunch at home with my family and we watched some TV and played games before they drove me to Stansted airport! Here is the Starbucks I bought with the money they so kindly gave me to do so before my flight! I’ll get into Madrid late tonight but I’m excited to be going back after the Christmas break; although I’ll miss everyone of course!
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Monday, 7 Jan 2019, 19:26 CET
First proper day back! I unpacked, did a big food shop at Lidl, did a wash and went to the gym for 15 minutes before it shut! We then all made chicken fajitas wraps together which was lovely!
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Tuesday, 8 Jan 2019, 14:55 CET
This morning I did some work and then went to the gym, then Jasmine and I went to uni to do our Specialised Photography presentation - the last one, it’s finally all over! No more presentations! We also got set our final task today; when we first arrived at uni we found snow on the ground! First signs of snow in Madrid!
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Wednesday, 9 Jan 2019, 14:13 CET
This morning we went to the gym and then we went to La Bicycleta Cafe after lunch and did lots of work! I researched and planned the most recent uni task we had been set of Street Photography and mine is Street Art! I got a lot done which felt really productive!
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Thursday, 10 Jan 2019, 12:37 CET
Today me and the girls went on a day trip to Salamanca roughly an hour train ride from Madrid! It was a really pretty places, went up two towers, visited the cathedral and walked around the city! We also visited an Art Deco museum! It’s a beautiful place, although despite the sun it was very cold!
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JANUARY 2019 Friday, 11 Jan 2019, 13:40 CET
This morning the girls and I booked a very spontaneous trip to Morocco: £53.40 with return flights and accommodation for 4 nights all inclusive with breakfast! Although since doing this we’ve realised that perhaps we won’t have enough time to have the right vaccinations in time before going so we’re not 100% if we’re still going which would be a shame if we didn’t! We then went to a cafe and did work all afternoon through to the evening which was productive! The cafe was the same as the other day: La Bicycleta Cafe!
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Saturday, 12 Jan 2019, 20:38 CET
Today Jasmine and I went to the gym in the morning and then we went to Retiro Park to do our collaborative fashion shoot project with Sabrina, her friend Nacho and the model Frank! We each chose an outfit and location and then each had 7 minutes to photograph and direct the model how we wanted! It was a really good opportunity and definitely challenging, I’m really happy with some of the photographs I took too! I love being able to practice my fashion and portraiture work!
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Sunday, 13 Jan 2019, 20:38 CET
Today Jasmine and I went to the gym together again and then after went out photographing for an hour or so! We then met the girls for brunch at PumPum Cafe; we had juice, a coffee, croissant, granola and yogurt and eggs benedict - really nice! After this, I went out photographing by myself taking both digital and colour film images for my street photography task for Specialised Photography but also for my own sake as it’s my own personal project too! The shoot went really well!
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Monday, 14 Jan 2019, 21:11 CET
Jasmine and I gymmed in the morning again and then we handed in our colour film to be developed at Fotocassion from the shoots yesterday! We then found a lovely cafe to work in called Aborado in Lavapies before heading back for lunch to do more work after!
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Tuesday, 15 Jan 2019, 17:12 CET
Today I booked my flights home for Easter! Then Jasmine and I went outside to photograph some more street photography with black and white film which we then went into uni - Laura taught us how to develop black and white film and then we scanned in the negatives! It was a productive day and meant we have more images for the Street Photography task now! And we’ve learnt how to do it for free now which is great!
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Wednesday, 16 Jan 2019, 15:17 CET
Today I woke up early to do 3 hours of work before we headed off to get our train to the nearby town of Aranjuez! We visited there for the afternoon, walking to and around the Royal Palace grounds and were able to get into the palace for free due to the day and time we went! It was very impressive inside with a variety of different rooms, some Japanese and Moroccan themed! We then sat by a cafe and had some sangria with cake! We then headed back early evening! As there wasn’t much to do there!
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Thursday, 17 Jan 2019, 15:24 CET
Today we had our first Spanish tutoring session! It went really well and I’m very excited to carry on learning! Also, I went to pick up my colour film of Street Photography which went really well and then the girls and I went to a cafe to do work and then later on in the evening I went to the airport to pick up Maisie who was visiting for a few days!
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Friday, 18 Jan 2019, 14:37 CET
Today was Maisie’s first full day in Madrid! Firstly we went to Adorado Cafe in Lavapies to do some work! We then went to the La Tablacerna exhibition space and I showed her around; there were some weird exhibits on but also these cute flower pots! I showed her around the Lavapies too! We then went to visit the Royal Palace, the El Prado Museum and then went for tapas and drinks out!
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Saturday, 19 Jan 2019, 09:17 CET
This morning Maisie and I went to brunch at La Rollerie, we then went to Retiro Park and went on the boats! It was a lovely day; we then went for a coffee in the Tribunal area which was a Greek styled cafe which was v pretty! We then went shopping in that area and around Gran Via so I showed her round all the shops! We then went for a meal and drinks at El Sur in the evening! It was lovely
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Sunday, 20 Jan 2019, 11:31 CET
This morning we went to the El Rastro market for shopping, then we stopped off at a cafe for a bite to eat and coffee in Lavapies! We then went to the Reina Sofia bookshop and the SAN Miguel tapas market before we had to leave for the airport where I dropped her and picked Harry up!
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JANUARY 2019 Monday, 21 Jan 2019, 16:43 CET
The first day with Harry here we visited the Mercado SAN Anton; it was very pretty and interesting but turned out it was all too expensive to buy from! We then went to this Casa America place which is a cinema and exhibition space and saw this interesting photography exhibition! We then went to a Salsa class in the evening which was really fun; we both really enjoyed it and felt it was a great cultural experience and went for some drinks after with the girls!
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Tuesday, 22 Jan 2019, 16:22 CET
Today Harry and I went to El Mini bar for lunch, we then went to some photography bookshops Matt (course director in Cov) had recommended to me such as IvoryPress which had this extensive range of photobooks! It was really great to see and shop around looking at some for inspirations for projects etc! We then went to see The Favourite in the evening at the cinema! It was good but not worth all the Oscar nominations!
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Wednesday, 23 Jan 2019, 19:38 CET
Today Harry and I went for brunch in the morning at Plenti Cafe which was very tasty and cheap! We then went for my Spanish tutoring session in the morning! Then we wandered around some more shops and went for a coffee in Lavapies - Harry bought it! Then we went for a lovely meal at Oven in the evening; it was amazing!
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Thursday, 24 Jan 2019, 21:47 CET
Today Harry and I decided to have a very chilled and relaxing day as the past few days had been quite busy and we wanted some quality time together before he leaves tomorrow! We just chilled at mine, watched tv etc and then we went to the cinema in the evening to see Glass! It was an incredible end to the sequel and great to see at the cinema - more Oscar worthy than The Favourite!
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Friday, 25 Jan 2019, 13:30 CET
Today is sadly the day Harry leaves Madrid :( I was quite upset a few times during the day as I’ll miss him a lot and he won’t be back here until May! We went to this Steak and Shake place for lunch and then spent time together at mine before I had to take him to the airport in the evening! It was sad to see him go but I’ll see him in 3 weeks! (This is the longest we’ve ever gone without seeing each other!)
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Saturday, 26 Jan 2019, 21:51 CET
After going to the gym in the morning, washing my clothes and bedding etc and getting things sorted again after having had Maisie and then Harry here, in the afternoon Kelly and I went out to get our 15 surveys answered for our documentary project! We managed to get them all done which is great - we got some very interesting and exciting responses and look forward to this progressing!
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Sunday, 27 Jan 2019, 21:14 CET
Today I went to the gym and then got ready for Morocco with Jasmine and Lucy! We sorted out an itinerary for when we’re there and insurance and an airport transfer! I’m very excited to go in a few days, although I’m very tired now in the evening and so am relaxing watching New Girl!
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Monday, 28 Jan 2019, 21:26 CET
This morning we went to uni for our first class of the new semester! The class sounds promising but we shall see, it was the Visual Creation and Development techniques one! We then printed stuff for Morocco holiday and packed when we got back! I then did some blog posts work! Also, Ellie from home aired her episode of being on Pointless tonight!! The photo is my friends from home watching and supporting her; they’ve printed out masks of her face! I can’t wait to watch it when she’s recorded it as I can’t watch the BBC channel here! I’m very excited for our holiday tomorrow!
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Tuesday, 29 Jan 2019, 16:53 GMT+1
So today was the day myself, Lucy and Jasmine began our holiday to Morocco! After our flight got in in the afternoon to a very small airport as you can see, we took our booked taxi to the hotel and checked in and had an amazing view from outside our room! They greeted us with Moroccan tea which was nice! It’s very scenic here in Ait Benhaddou where we’re staying and we had a lovely traditional meal here tonight of soup and tagine! It’s all very desolate but so beautiful! Our room is made of clay and wood! We have breakfast included every day which is great too and there’s a pool!
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Wednesday, 30 Jan 2019, 11:36 GMT+1
Today we had our first proper, full holiday day in Morocco! We organised a taxi tour for the whole day to take us to various places. Firstly, we visited a kasbah called Tifoultoute which had some amazing views, it was an old family home! We then went to the Oasis Fint - a beautiful landscape with a body of water and lots of palm trees. Locals lived there and we saw them washing their clothes in the river and saw their way of life! We stopped off for a drink at this restaurant which is also had amazing views! It was very beautiful! Next we went to the Atlas Film Studios but we also stopped off at an Argan Oil shop on the way and learnt how they make that - with almonds! The film studios was what we expected; some props and sets to see but it wasn’t very informative about what was used for which film! Then we went to Ouarzazate and went to the Taourirt kasbah there! It wasn’t overly impressive so wandered around the surrounding areas and stopped off for a drink/ice cream. Next we went to the Ouarzazate central market which was interesting to walk around but we soon had seen it all and stopped off for another drink! We then ended our first day at La Kasbah Sables, a wonderful French and Moroccan restaurant in Ouarzazate we had delicious steak! It was a beautiful place with Moroccan lamps and a central pond for decor!
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JANUARY 2019 Thursday, 31 Jan 2019, 11:32 GMT+1
Our second full day! We arranged another taxi tour to take us to several different places (as this is the only way to really get around). Firstly we went to the Telouet Kasbah, a famous one for its mosaic room. But on the way to here, we drove through Ounila Valley in Ait Benhaddou and the rest of the drive up was other valleys and they were all so picturesque and beautiful! We stopped to take photos on the way back down at viewing points. The Telouet Kasbah was so beautiful, with amazing views and magnificent decor inside! We also stopped at an old and decaying Kasbah ruins to take photos on the way back from the first Kasbah before continuing to drive to Skoura city. In Skoura, we went to the Skoura City Kasbah which had lovely panoramic views of the palm groves! But this one was more like a house! We then explored these palm groves and the allotment of trees etc they’re in with a local guide - this was very pretty. We stopped at a river on the way home for beautiful views! We then watched the sunset from our room balcony in the evening and ate at a restaurant in Ait Benhaddou called Kasbah Valentine which was quite disappointing; not very tasty chicken couscous!
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FEBRUARY 2019 Friday, 1 Feb 2019, 11:30 GMT+1
For our final full day of the holiday, we decided to take a taxi tour to the Tinfou dunes of Zagora desert which is part of the Sahara desert. We were picked up early at 7.45am and began the 3.5 hour car journey! Upon arrival, we were greeted by a local man who lives there in huts with his camels and had some Moroccan tea with him. We then explored the sand dunes together, playing around and taking photos! The views were beautiful and it was very peaceful there. We then enjoyed some Moroccan tagine for lunch amongst the locals. On the way back down we stopped for a few photo opps! One of these was one of the many palm trees and the amazing brown rock formations. We then finished the day by hiking up the hill to the Ait Benhaddou Kasbah for sunset and views. The views were amazing but there were winds of 30mph so we had to come down before sunset as the sand was getting everywhere! We had our last meal in the hotel.
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Saturday, 2 Feb 2019, 13:54 GMT+1
Today is the day we sadly fly home :(. We had a lie in this morning as we were very tired and then ate our breakfast before packing and checking out. We then went to a local cafe for a drink which had lovely terrace views. We then waited outside our hotel (where you had this beautiful view of the Ait Benhaddou Kasbah) for our taxi driver to take us to the airport. Overall, it was an absolutely amazing holiday and I saw so many incredible things, I’m feeling very lucky and happy I went! We arrived back in Madrid around 6pm, ready to be back to reality tomorrow!
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Sunday, 3 Feb 2019, 14:06 CET
This morning I cleaned my room, washed my bedding etc and sorted my room out a bit after being away! I then went to the gym and do an hour of cardio! Me and jasmine then made this gigantic amount of soup! It’s made from onion, leek and butternut squash/pumpkin! We roasted the seeds in the oven and put them on top of the soup! It was very tasty, we also did a big food shop today and then did some work this evening - I planned the black and white film shoots I’m doing with jasmine this week!
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Monday, 4 Feb 2019, 15:13 CET
This morning I went to the gym and did abs which I definitely felt! Then after lunch we came to this cafe called La Collectiva in Bilbao - it’s a really nice cafe with lovely coffee and had a great work space to get work done!
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Tuesday, 5 Feb 2019, 20:02 CET
This morning I went to the gym again, followed by going to La Collectiva cafe again to do some work! It was a very productive afternoon and Kelly and I planned more of our documentary/Brexit project together! Then in the evening Kelly and I made Shakshuka together and garlic bread; which was very tasty!!
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Wednesday, 6 Feb 2019, 15:37 CET
This morning I went to the gym and then loaded my film cameras ready for my shoots this week! After lunch, Jasmine and I photographed a male model in Plaza Mayor for a black and white film photography project we are doing together! (I’ll be doing another colour film shoot with Kelly for a different project on Friday). After this, I met the other girls for a drink in this old cinema place; it’s a bar/cinema now and has amazing decor! We then went to a vegan bakery for some yummy cake and I got some jeans for €6 in the sale! We then had a drink at Don Buri before making dinner!
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Thursday, 7 Feb 2019, 19:06 CET
Today I had a Spanish tutoring lesson in the morning which was good but very tiring! I then went and did another black and white film photography shoot with Jasmine for our project! Then me and the girls went to this Google StartUp workspace; it was really cool and we got a card for getting in! It’s a great space to work in with WiFi, plug sockets etc and a cafe! Kelly and I took this opportunity to pin up on their notice board about our documentary project to see if anyone would be interested in contacting us about being involved in it!
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Friday, 8 Feb 2019, 16:40 CET
This morning I got up, unloaded my film from the shoots Jasmine and I did this week ready to hand in and sorted out some backing up of storage issues I’ve been having! Then after lunch, myself and Kelly went out to take some photos for our documentary project! This shoot involved photographing some of the places we really appreciate from living here in Madrid. The other girls came too to take their own photos, we went to Temple Debod; Campo Del Moro and walked the entire way so we could observe the architecture too. We did 3 of our 11 or so places we’re going to photograph and this was one of my favourites in Campo Del Moro! We also had a lovely sangria in between in the sun, to keep us going!
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Calle Corredera Alta de San Pablo, 24, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 10°C Mostly Clear
Saturday, 9 Feb 2019, 21:02 CET
Today I went to the gym and did a session of cardio! I then spent the day doing blog post/website work and then went for drinks with the girls in the evening, Jasmine’s friend Kate is visiting so it was nice to see her too! We first went to a bar which was also a weird music museum but did good cocktails and then we went to TupperWare (another funky bar) for a Tinto de Verrano! (Before coming home to eat snacks, it was a nice evening!)
162
Sunday, 10 Feb 2019, 15:42 CET
Today I spent the day doing blogging/website work and then after lunch, around 3pm me Lucy and Emily went swimming for the first time in Madrid! We’ve been wanting to go for ages and today was the day! It only cost €4 each for us as students and we had to wear this very ugly swimming cap! But we were in there for 1 hour 15 minutes and I did 62 lengths! That’s the most I’ve done in ages so I’m very happy with that! We also nipped into the sauna at the end which was good!
163
FEBRUARY 2019 Monday, 11 Feb 2019, 18:10 CET
This morning me, Lucy and Emily went to uni for our second class with Hernando and discussed the task set - a group stop motion task. After we got back and had lunch, we all planned it briefly and got ideas for it and then we did the Spanish homework we had been set by Camilo ready for our lesson on Wednesday! It was a tiring day but productive! Then we all just chilled watching tv in the evening!
164
Tuesday, 12 Feb 2019, 14:52 CET
This morning I did some more Spanish homework to practice and develop my skills as well as what I did yesterday! I then went to the gym and then we all went into town after lunch! I got some Valentine presents for Harry and a new top for ₏4 from Zara in the sale! When we got back, Jasmine and I spent the evening making red envelopes for the Valentine’s Open When Letters! We bought the paper and made them entirely ourselves! It was lovely and sunny today as you can see, shopping on Gran Via!
165
Wednesday, 13 Feb 2019, 15:05 CET
This morning the girls and I had a Spanish tutoring lesson, but our tutor was late and we taught ourselves some of it so ended up doing more like 2 hours 20 minutes or so which was good! Then after lunch, we went to La Collectiva cafe to do work until dinner time. After dinner we all went for some drinks at 100 Montaditos with Emily’s boyfriend Callum!
166
Thursday, 14 Feb 2019, 19:37 CET
This morning I went to the gym and then afterwards I spent the whole day doing work; specifically working on redoing my photography Facebook page! Then in the evening, for Galentine’s Day, Jasmine and Lucy and I went for a drink in Plaza Mayor square and then went to Mimi’s Creperie for dessert/dinner! It was delicious but we felt a bit sick afterwards and then as we walked back home we saw a projection show as part of the recognition of the celebration of Plaza Mayor Square being around for 400 years starting! It begins officially tomorrow!
167
Friday, 15 Feb 2019, 16:15 CET
This morning I went to the gym and after that Lucy and I went to La Collectiva cafe again to do some work! I spent the afternoon writing my ‘Open When’ letters for Harry’s Valentine’s Day gift! We then met Jasmine, Emily and her boyfriend for a few drinks and then in the evening Jasmine and I secretly met up with Freya and Liz and brought them to our flat to surprise Lucy!! It was a very sweet thing for them to do and we all teared up! It was very emotional and lovely of them!
168
Saturday, 16 Feb 2019, 14:33 CET
This morning I went to the gym for the last time this week; I did an hour of cardio and it was tough but worth it! Afterwards Jasmine and I picked up our developed black and white films from Fotocassion and submitted our project to Coventry Uni for the New York exhibition! Then we had lunch and Emily’s Mum’s bday yummy vegan cake! I then finished doing my Valentine’s letters for Harry and then spent the afternoon packing, cleaning and getting ready for going to Harry’s in Oxford tomorrow!
169
Sunday, 17 Feb 2019, 15:27 GMT
Today was the day I flew to Birmingham to have a week long trip visiting Harry in Oxford! After the long journey, I arrived in Oxford on the train in the afternoon and Harry and I went straight to a pub called the Port Mahon for a delicious Sunday Roast lunch! I’ve been craving one for ages since living in Madrid and it was so yummy! After this, we went back to his and chilled for the evening, catching up and watching New Girl!
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Harcourt Hill, Oxford, England, United Kingdom 10°C Partly Cloudy
Monday, 18 Feb 2019, 11:40 GMT
Today Harry and I got up in the morning and went to Rick’s Cafe in Oxford to do some work and we both ordered a full English breakfast too; something else I’ve missed in Madrid! We did some work there for a few hours and then we went back to his and finally opened our belated Valentine’s presents to each other! He got me this vinyl, an album I love and we saw Anderson Paak together when we were first getting together and we’re seeing him together next month! We then went to the pub in the evening with the rest of his house to have some food and drinks!
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A452, Royal Leamington Spa, England, United Kingdom 7°C Mostly Cloudy
Tuesday, 19 Feb 2019, 09:03 GMT
Today Harry and I got up to go to his uni for a careers lecture and a diss meeting he had to go to! The careers lecture was quite interesting, informing them of what paths and routes to take after uni career wise! We then came back to his and finally booked our accommodation for both Copenhagen and Stockholm for our holiday in summer! We then chilled for a lot of the day, watching tv etc and then we went to play laser quest with Maisie, the house and everyone in the evening! It was so fun, we played 2 games and it got very sweaty! We then ordered takeaway pizza in the evening!
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Wednesday, 20 Feb 2019, 20:40 GMT
Today Harry and I got up and did a few things we needed to like sorting out my new hard drive, replying to emails etc! We then went out to Cowley Road, browsed a few charity shops and then went to a cafe for a coffee and piece of cake! I then made my Valentine’s meal for Harry and I in the evening of steak mac and cheese! We both decided to choose a recipe to buy the ingredients for and cook for each other, it was very yummy and we had a little wine too!
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FEBRUARY 2019 Thursday, 21 Feb 2019, 19:06 GMT
This morning I met with Maisie to go clothes shopping to buy something formal for Charlotte’s 21st bday party in March! Luckily I found a lovely black dress from Zara for just £26! We then met with Jack and Harry for a pub lunch at Spoons, sat outside as it was a lovely day! Harry and I then went to see If Beale Street Could Talk at the cinema, with our new student membership cards meaning we can see films during the day on weekdays for just £5.50! It was a really good film, we then headed back and got dressed up for our 6 month anniversary meal at Oli’s Thai! It was absolutely delicious but quite rich, we then went out in the evening with Maisie, Jack and the others for cocktails at a bar for their friend Stephen’s birthday! They were really tasty and 241!
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Friday, 22 Feb 2019, 20:05 GMT
This morning Harry and I went to a cafe again to do some work for several hours, we then went to the cinema in the afternoon to watch Greenbook which was a really good film! We then came back and Harry cooked for me our Valentine’s meal, he made us steak with chips with blue cheese and bacon sauce, green beans and mushrooms and garlic in a beer sauce and red wine to drink! It was very yummy!
175
Saturday, 23 Feb 2019, 13:47 GMT
Today was our last full day together, so we made sure we just chilled together! We had a chill morning, showered and then went for a pub lunch at The Rusty Bicycle for their notorious yummy burgers; I treated myself and Harry to the meal and it was so yummy with cheese and truffle oil flavoured chips to share! We then just watched a few films together: Paranorman and Three Billboards! Harry also taught me the drums a bit today which was really fun, I got to a certain point where I could do a bit but it’s really hard to do! Harry made us a lovely pasta dish in the evening and we had apple crumble and custard as our last meal together!
176
Calle de Lavapiés, 14, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 5°C Mostly Clear
Sunday, 24 Feb 2019, 21:41 CET
Today I flew home back to Madrid! I had an early coach from Oxford to Birmingham and then caught the same flight back with Kelly! We got back and did a Lidl shop and I tried a vegan Greggs sausage roll courtesy of Kelly bringing some back which was really tasty! Then me and the girls started watching a new series on Netflix called Dirty John; it’s lovely to be back in sunny Madrid!
177
Monday, 25 Feb 2019, 16:27 CET
Today myself and the girls went to the gym in the morning and did a cardio workout! I did one full hour on the treadmill, I was very proud, 45 minutes running and 15 minutes walking! Then we came back and made a batch of soup with Kelly and Jasmine! Then afterwards, me Kelly and Lucy went out to do our shoots in Madrid we needed to do for the uni stop motion task, once we finished them all we joined the others in Retiro Park to sit and enjoy the sun in the afternoon! It was 18 degrees today and definitely getting warmer!
178
Tuesday, 26 Feb 2019, 17:00 CET
This morning I went to the gym and did abs day! It was tough but definitely felt good! After lunch, Kelly and I made the long and strenuous trip to Toledo for photo shoots. We took some for our collaborative project and my final one for the group uni stop motion task! After wandering around, taking the photos and soaking up the sun we sat down to enjoy a croissant and tinto de verrano for just ₏3! It was yummy and cheap and it was 22 degrees today; it’s definitely warming up already!
179
Wednesday, 27 Feb 2019, 15:46 CET
This morning Lucy, Emily and I went for our 5th Spanish tutor session, it was difficult but enjoyable! After lunch, we all went to Chinchon for the afternoon to visit the town and Kelly and I took photos for our project! It was a really beautiful, very peaceful, picturesque town and a really warm day! We wandered through the town, to Plaza Mayor and the castle! We spent several hours there before heading back!
180
Thursday, 28 Feb 2019, 22:11 CET
This morning I finally started revamping my photography Instagram and then I went to the gym! After lunch, the girls and I finished our uni stop motion task which showcases all our favourite places and memories of our Erasmus year so far and being in Madrid! We then also planned our other task and sent it to our teacher to check. After dinner we all watched a film and then I finally put up all my prints I got done recently via FreePrints! I love how they look on my walls all around my bedroom!
181
MARCH 2019 Iglesia De San Antonio De Los Alemanes, Madrid, Madrid, Spain 19°C Mostly Sunny
Friday, 1 Mar 2019, 13:20 CET
This morning the girls and I went to the gym for leg day and then we came back to get ready for our day out all together! We all got dressed up and decided to go and enjoy a delicious Menu Del Dia for €11! We got tortilla, bread, spaghetti carbonara, salmon and vegetables, brownie and ice cream and a glass of red wine! Afterwards we enjoyed some sangria in the sun for several hours before coming back to the flat to chill, watch a film together and have some chocolate snacks! It was a really lovely and relaxing day; especially all together as we often don’t do much as a 5!
182
Saturday, 2 Mar 2019, 18:14 CET
This morning I did a lot of my Spanish homework set before going to meet my parents and brother at the airport! They’ve come to visit me for several days which is really lovely, we went to El Mini Bar for a late lunch and wandered around Plaza Mayor; we also popped into this beautiful church on the way back! We then had some more tapas for dinner later at a beach themed place just up from me! It was a tiring but fun day, it’s so nice to have them here!
183
Sunday, 3 Mar 2019, 15:59 CET
Today we had breakfast at La Rollerie and then visited Museo Sorollo which was so beautiful! An impressionist artist’s old house that he worked in, showcasing many of his works in the grand house and surrounding pretty gardens! Afterwards we grabbed some lunch and headed to Parque El Capricho - it’s very pretty and there’s lots to see. After that, we headed back and ate out at the amazing pizza NAP place in Lavapies!
184
Monday, 4 Mar 2019, 15:26 CET
Today my family and I went to the nearby town of Alcala de Henares. I can get there for free on my travel card and they only had to pay €6.80 return for the train! It’s a beautiful old Spanish town, only 40 mins from Madrid with lovely buildings such as a palace, 15th century old university building, ArchBishop’s palace and more! We ate cheap and tasty tapas for lunch and really enjoyed walking around it! The calle Mayor square and surrounding streets are very picturesque too! In the evening we had a delicious meal at Mas El Sur and went for a drink in the theatre bar just outside my flat!
185
Tuesday, 5 Mar 2019, 11:41 CET
This morning we started the day by going to the Matadero which is a former slaughterhouse in Madrid which is now see for art exhibitions! It had some really cool ones on and was a very impressive building, after this we then went to Campo Del Moro so I could show them around the lovely park. Afterwards we went to Mimi’s Creperie for lunch as it was pancake day! We then went up the rooftop bar and I showed them the beautiful views, we then went back to the flat to chill for a bit. After this we went to El Mini Bar for dinner and then we headed to La Coquettes blues/jazz bar to see some live music which was very entertaining!
186
Wednesday, 6 Mar 2019, 10:24 CET
Today was my family’s last day visiting me :(! After packing and checking out in the morning we went for breakfast at the San Gines churros place, the best churros in Madrid! This is where I took some Polaroid’s as I wanted to have some with them! We then had lunch at 100 Montaditos, until we were stuffed! We then had a coffee in a cafe before they gathered their things from mine and got a taxi to the airport! It was sadly raining and very windy so we couldn’t do much anyway, but it was a lovely relaxing last day with them!
187
Thursday, 7 Mar 2019, 15:34 CET
This morning I went to the gym and bashed out an hour long cardio session, it was tough but worth it! After lunch, Kelly and I walked to Retiro Park to photograph for our project, photographing there and a long street on the way back home. We then spent time contacting galleries about our project for a possible chance to exhibit our work! I then did some Spanish homework before making dinner!
188
Avenida Príncipe de Asturias, Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid, Spain 11°C Partly Cloudy
Friday, 8 Mar 2019, 12:19 CET
This morning I went to the gym and did some Spanish homework before I had to get ready to go and meet Abi (one of my girls from home coming to visit me for the weekend) at the airport after lunch! After picking her up, we went for a few drinks at 100 Montaditos and then went on a night out with Kelly Lucy Jasmine and Jack! We got free entry and a bottle of ‘champagne’ to share as it was International Women’s Day! It was a really fun night!
189
Saturday, 9 Mar 2019, 17:01 CET
This morning Abi and I went to get a coffee and pastry in the morning after a lie in before meeting the rest of the girls who arrived at lunch time! Once they got here I took them for lunch in a restaurant with a lovely terrace! We then went to the rooftop bar for some drinks and great views and then Retiro Park in the lovely weather! We then had to head back for them to check into their Air BnB whilst I made up a bag to stay there with them! We then went for dinner in Lavapies and had some chilled drinks in the evening - it’s so lovely to have them here visiting!
190
Sunday, 10 Mar 2019, 13:11 CET
We started today with a trip to the El Rastro market where some of us got some very cheap bargains, including myself who got a â‚Ź1 Zara top! I then took them to the Conde Duque culture centre where we visited some art exhibits and had a look around which was lovely! We then had lunch at a lovely vegan restaurant called Vega! I then showed them Gran Via/Sol areas and took them to Plaza Mayor to sit and have drinks in the sun and to the San Miguel tapas market! After this, we headed back to get ready for our special last meal together at El Invernadero Salvador Bachiller - greenhouse themed restaurant on Gran Via which was so pretty!
191
MARCH 2019 Monday, 11 Mar 2019, 11:48 CET
This morning the girls and I checked out of the Air BnB (Abi left early around 7am) and we went to grab a coffee in a cafe called Bocono in Lavapies - a quirky and arty cafe which has permanent photography framed on its back walls! After this, we headed to 100 Montaditos for some drinks in the sun before going for some traditional tapas at Lateral! It was delicious and after, we got Kayleigh some mini churros and the rest of us all got ice cream from a lovely shop called Mistura! It was really yummy and so lovely having them visit; after they left around 3pm I headed to the gym and did a food shop!
192
Tuesday, 12 Mar 2019, 15:40 CET
This morning I went to the gym for my last session before I go and visit Harry in Oxford on Thursday! It was tough but I’m glad it’s over with, myself Lucy and Kelly then took the long commute and went into uni for Laura’s class to understand how to do the scanimation illustration in Photoshop ready for printing next session. It was a tiring and pointless class as is the task! I then went back home and cracked on with the scanimation uni task - it’s very hard and boring!
193
Wednesday, 13 Mar 2019, 16:19 CET
I spent my morning packing, getting ready for my trip to Oxford tomorrow to visit Harry! After lunch I nipped out into the centre briefly to get some fresh air and some euros in cash incase I need it for a taxi on my trip back! I then did some Spanish catch-up/learning and other jobs/cleaning I had to do before leaving tomorrow! I then had a relaxing evening doing a face mask and painting y nails, I’m so excited to go tomorrow!
194
Thursday, 14 Mar 2019, 12:42 GMT
This morning I began my long journey to Oxford to see Harry! I left the flat at 10am and won’t get into Oxford until 8.15pm or so :( I’m on the coach to Oxford now and it’s considerably colder here than it is in Madrid; the flight views were very cloudy and limited! It’s gonna be a super long journey but me and Harry are enjoying some pizza tonight when I get to his!
195
Friday, 15 Mar 2019, 22:23 GMT
Today Harry and I did some work in the morning-early afternoon and then got ready to go to London for our Anderson Paak gig with Jack! We got a coach into London and stopped off at a very busy Spoons for some food and drinks before we traveled up to the venue! Alexandra Palace was the venue and it’s such a pretty one, his support act Tayla Parx wasn’t great but he was so worth the wait! He didn’t come on until about 9.45pm or so, but he put on a fantastic show! He played most of his new album Oxnard, but he also played some of his classics from his older album Malibu and his new song from an upcoming album! He’s such a talented artist, being able to rap, sing, dance and play the drums insanely well! It was a really fun gig, even though we didn’t get back until late!
196
14 Crown Street, Oxford, England, United Kingdom 10°C Cloudy
Saturday, 16 Mar 2019, 16:40 GMT
Today Harry and I did some work in the morning and then I headed over to Maisie’s around 4pm to get ready with her and the girls for Charlotte’s 21st bday party! It was a very extravagant night, an open bar, a pizza van, a silent disco and canapés! It was a really fun night and it was nice to have fun with everyone there!
197
Sunday, 17 Mar 2019, 20:42 GMT
Today we all had a suitable hangover day, recovering from the night before from Charlotte’s party! We just chilled and watched films and in the evening we watched the anime film ‘Spirited Away’ and ordered some sushi from Itsu! It was a very chill day
198
Monday, 18 Mar 2019, 17:09 GMT
Today Harry had to crack on with his dissertation work, so we headed to the library and did work there for the day before coming home to make dinner in the evening! It was a productive day which felt good after being so lazy yesterday!
199
Tuesday, 19 Mar 2019, 12:26 GMT
Today Harry and I went for brunch at Cafe Coco, I had this yummy overnight oats dish with an ice coffee which were both delicious! We then headed into town and went to a games cafe for several hours and played a variety of games such as Guess Who? before heading back to make dinner in the evening; it’s been a fun day!
200
Wednesday, 20 Mar 2019, 20:22 GMT
Today we went to Rick’s Cafe to do work all day, after two rounds of coffee and 7/8 hours later we had a very productive day of work and decided to treat ourselves to a meal out at Byron Burger! Harry was able to have a handy 40% off the food, so we only paid roughly £19 each for our food and sharing a bottle of wine! We had some yummy chicken wings, burger and chips with some lovely red wine!
201
MARCH 2019 Thursday, 21 Mar 2019, 16:36 GMT
Today we had a chilled day, watching some tv and lazing around! We then decided to get out the house for a bit so we popped to a local pub and I got Harry to test me on my Spanish which was definitely handy and helpful for me learning it! We then practiced his French and Japanese a bit; then in the evening I finished a university task and Harry polished off his dissertation and handed it in!
202
Friday, 22 Mar 2019, 20:33 GMT
This morning I took Maisie out for a belated birthday treat; I took her out for afternoon tea at The Grand Cafe in Oxford, we had a ‘high tea’ each and it was very yummy and lovely to see her! Harry was of course very happy and relieved he had handed in his dissertation, so we chilled for the rest of the day and then I took him and I out for a meal at Zheng in the evening! A restaurant that he chose, which serves delicious Chinese food and we got the ‘chef’s recipe’ where they choose the dishes for you based on what you like! It was really yummy and it was a great way to celebrate him handing in his dissertation!
203
Saturday, 23 Mar 2019, 20:24 GMT
This morning Harry and I chilled and then went to meet Tom in the afternoon who’s come up for a few days before we watch Childish Gambino tomorrow! We walked around Oxford a bit and popped into a cafe for a bite to eat and then went back to Harry’s and watched a really good film called Blindspotting! Tom then very kindly took us all out for a meal at Cafe Rouge which was delicious and we then met Maisie and Jack at Curzon cinema to watch Us - Jordan Peele’s new film! It was very creepy and scary and it was a fun watch, we went for a pint afterwards before heading home!
204
Sunday, 24 Mar 2019, 21:41 GMT
This morning we went for breakfast at a lovely cafe on Cowley Road which Tom so kindly treated us to, we then wandered into the centre and went up the Carfax Tower for a great view! We also went for a walk around Christchurch area which was lovely as it was so sunny, just to show Tom around Oxford more! We then met up with Maisie on the bus and made the journey to London to see Childish Gambino! Firstly we went to Spoons for some food and drinks and then we travelled to the o2 arena and watched his support act H.E.R who was really good! Then the main event - Childish Gambino himself!! He was well worth the wait to see from the cancelled gig in November, he put on such an amazing performance and show! It was a fantastic way to end my trip visiting Harry!
205
Monday, 25 Mar 2019, 20:05 CET
Today was sadly my last day with Harry! Tom left this morning and it was so lovely to have seen him, then Harry and I chilled and made some lunch before I went to get my coach to the airport. It’s been a long journey back always, my flight wasn’t until 8pm, but I’m happy now as I lie in bed back in my Madrid flat that I’m here again. It’s always sad leaving Harry and I’ll miss him a lot but I’m excited to be back in Madrid again to do fun things and get some more work done!
206
Tuesday, 26 Mar 2019, 20:21 CET
This morning the girls and I went into uni for our class with Laura to do our book task, to unfortunately and annoyingly find out that the class had been cancelled because it was ‘Communications’ week and we weren’t notified! So to try and not make the long trip pointless, Kelly and I printed out our Spanish homework and did that and some other Coventry uni work! We then travelled home and I did a big food shop! I then cleaned my room, unpacked, put a wash on etc and then myself, Kelly and Jasmine made these delicious healthy snacks! We’ve been wanting to make some healthy and tasty ones for a while, so we made these no bake ones! Made from walnuts, almonds, cranberries, dates and 90% dark chocolate! We made approx 17 balls each; some lovely healthy treats!
207
Wednesday, 27 Mar 2019, 15:36 CET
Today Kelly and I went on a very long 5.5 hour hike in Cercedilla for our photography project! We did a different route to the one I did with Harry and it was very tiring! We had a very steep ascent toward the end that felt like it went on forever, but the views were worth it when we reached the top of the mountain! We were so high up! We walked a total of 10.2 miles! It was a very long and exhausting day but we got the photos we wanted of this beautiful place to show how much we appreciate being able to go to places like this so easily, for our collaborative project! So, that’s another shoot done for it! We then made shakshukka together in the evening as a well deserved substantial meal!
208
Thursday, 28 Mar 2019, 19:54 CET
This morning myself, Emily and Lucy had a 2 hour Spanish lesson and then afterwards I had my private, free session with Camilo (our tutor), as the other girls are also doing, to complete an A1 level test to bump us up to A2! It was also to have a conversation about what we wanted to do more of in the lessons, I mentioned how I want to do more speaking and practice scenarios in which we would need sentence structures for e.g in a restaurant etc. After this, I had some lunch and did some work and then the girls and I went for some drinks in the evening! As we’re not all together that often now, we wanted to make the most of it and have some drinks before it became too busy at the weekend! Firstly we went to this Vacaciones bar for yummy cocktails and then we moved onto this gin place where you could make your own gin cocktail! It was a lovely evening!
209
Friday, 29 Mar 2019, 15:00 CET
This morning I finally returned to the dreaded gym, I did an abs workout which was tough but it felt good to be getting back into it again! After the gym Jasmine and I made a bulk of broccoli and leek soup (of which I added some blue cheese to) and then we went to the Adorado cafe to do some work!
210
Saturday, 30 Mar 2019, 17:32 CET
This morning I practised and did some Spanish work and the girls and I went to the gym and I did a HIIT workout with them on the bike and then an abs workout, it was tough but felt good! After lunch I did some uni work and then we all went to this supposed ‘event’ at the Reina Sofia museum! We thought it was going to have a flamenco show to watch for free, the tickets to the event was free so we thought why not! Turns out after sitting in the restaurant/bar place it was being held at, it was just flamenco music! The DJ was quite good to listen to before the band started playing, you can just about see them at the very back of the crowd in the photo! There was a guitarist and singer and keyboard player, shortly after an hour or so when we realised what was going on we decided to go leave and go make dinner! It wasn’t what we had hoped it to be, but it at least got us out the flat!
211
MARCH 2019 Sunday, 31 Mar 2019, 15:28 CEST
Today I did uni work in the morning and afternoon and then the girls and I went swimming, hence our beautiful attire as shown in the photo here! We did 40 lengths which was still a good amount compared to last time but we had to go slightly easier as we were very achey from the past few gym sessions! It felt good to have done it though and it’s a different kind of cardio so that’s good!
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APRIL 2019 Monday, 1 Apr 2019, 16:52 CEST
This morning the girls and I had a Spanish lesson with Camilo, we read through Alice in Wonderland the children’s book - it was difficult but he helped a lot and it was definitely helpful! It was a tiring session but I think worth doing! Then after lunch, the girls and I wanted to do something fun but as the weather had been quite grey and grim, we settled for bowling! It was fun, 2 games for ₏6 too!
213
Tuesday, 2 Apr 2019, 12:09 CEST
This morning I did some Spanish work and then did leg day at the gym; it was intense but felt good! Then after lunch I did uni work in the flat, overall a pretty boring day but I admired the lovely street I always walk down on the way back from the gym!
214
Wednesday, 3 Apr 2019, 18:19 CEST
This morning I quickly went to the gym for a 30 minute run, then came back and got ready to go and me my brother who’s visiting me today until the 8th! On the way back from the airport to mine, we firstly went to a lovely cafe for some coffee/cakes called The Little Big Cafe (one I’ve been wanting to visit for ages) which was delicious! We then tried some really fresh croquettes on the way back into the centre! After dumping his stuff at mine we decided to go to a cat cafe which was really cute, paid €4 for half an hour and a drink and got to stroke and play with very cute kitties! We then wandered back to mine, coming across this really pretty and quirky eco-friendly public garden! Then in the evening we went to Mu! For this incredible steak meal, I don’t want to eat meat for a while now after sharing a huge Black Angus steak off the bone with Tom!
215
Thursday, 4 Apr 2019, 15:29 CEST
Today Tom and I went to a cafe together in the morning for a coffee and a pastry before going out for the day! We decided to go to El Escorial which is somewhere I can get to for free on my travel card! It only cost Tom €8 return, when we arrived we had a beautiful 20 min walk or so up to the huge monastery where we then explored beautiful views of the countryside and surrounding mountains and the monastery’s gardens! We explored around for a bit and soaked up the views and beautiful monastery and grounds! We didn’t bother going in as it was quite expensive but we stopped for a coffee before heading back and then walked through a lovely park on the way back! It’s lucky we ran for the train at the end otherwise we would’ve missed it! When we got back we went for a lovely Italian meal at Oven!
216
Friday, 5 Apr 2019, 13:35 CEST
This morning myself, Tom, Lucy, Kelly and Jamie all went out to this Madrid outlet stock sale thing; it’s a huge event in a warehouse that happens occasionally selling discounted brands! I got a pair of new black boots for €5, an expensive Cowshed hand cream (that’s usually £8) for €2 and a sun cream for €2! We then all went for a menu del dia at this lovely Amargo restaurant! I had a prawn risotto to start, salmon tataki with prawn crackers for my main course and carrot cake for dessert all with a cerveza con limon! After this, Tom and I went to see the new superhero film Shazam! At the cinema and then we went for dinner at the NAP Italian pizza place! Overall a lovely and busy day!
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Saturday, 6 Apr 2019, 15:59 CEST
This morning after our coffee and pastry, Tom and I went to the Chamberi ghost station metro in Madrid, it’s one of the top tourist attractions and we thought we would give it a go! After queueing for half an hour or so, we finally got in! It was alright, quite interesting to see how they were in the 50s/60s etc! After lunch, we then made our way to the Bernabeu football stadium to watch a Real Madrid football game!! It was really exciting as both me and my brother don’t really watch live sport and it was the first football game I watched live! It was so amazing and such an event at a HUGE stadium; Real Madrid won 2-1! After this we got some yummy Mexican food from Tako-away and then we went to the cinema to watch Boy Erased which is an incredibly sad but amazing film about ‘conversion therapy’ in America for homosexuals, that I think everyone should watch and be educated with!
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Sunday, 7 Apr 2019, 17:54 CEST
This morning Tom and I went for breakfast at Adorado Cafe for a lovely brunch before then going up the Faro de Moncloa observation tower for beautiful and panoramic views of Madrid! We then wandered our way to visit the History of Madrid museu, nipping into the Lindt shop to buy every flavour to try beforehand! We then went for a drink in the square before going to see the broadway show ‘West Side Story’ - a wonderful surprise treat from Tom! It was very fun and the dancers and singers were very talented, we then went for a lovely dinner afterwards! A lovely last day!
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Monday, 8 Apr 2019, 10:53 CEST
Today was sadly Tom’s last day, we went out for brunch in the morning, generously paid for by Tom! We then got him a few bits before he left like cash and cigarettes, we packed for him and chilled at the flat and then had a quick coffee at the airport before he got his flight! It’s been so lovely and special having him visit, I was sad to see him go!
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Tuesday, 9 Apr 2019, 18:53 CEST
Despite recently having contracted a very nasty common cold (typical that I’ve got it now and it’s April!), I went to the gym this morning with the girls for a cardio session and tried my hardest but could only manage 45 minutes! After this, Kelly and I got ready and went to UEM for our class and to put our scanimation book together. We printed out our illustrations and the rest of the book templates for the other girls and got Laura to teach us how to do it. We both finished our 2 booklets each (2 illustrations each) of our scanimations which will eventually all be glued together to make the final book! It’s been a tiring day but I’m glad I was able to finish and do my bit for the task, I then made a sweet potato jacket for dinner with cottage cheese!
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Wednesday, 10 Apr 2019, 14:59 CEST
This morning I did some work and practiced Spanish, I didn’t go to the gym today because I’ve got a horrible cold and trying to get better! After lunch, Kelly and I went to La Collectiva Cafe to do some more uni work, so a productive but long day!
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APRIL 2019 Thursday, 11 Apr 2019, 16:11 CEST
I didn’t go to the gym today either as I’m still trying to get over this cold, although I think I am getting better! I did work this morning though, working on my new street art photography zine and some Spanish! Then after lunch, Kelly and I headed out and finished photographing for our collaborative project; we walked all the way to Museum Sorolla and back and around Lavapies and finally finished our roll of film! So it’s good we’ve finished that, this was a lovely balcony covered in ivy that we decided to photograph!
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Friday, 12 Apr 2019, 14:54 CEST
This morning Kelly and I went to the gym, it felt good to get back in there and feel well enough to work out! After lunch we went to do work in a cafe, a newly opened one in Lavapies just a few buildings down from our flat! We enjoyed nice coffee there and a cinnamon roll and I got a lot of uni work done! We also enquired with them if they would be interested in exhibiting Kelly and I’s photography project in the summer and they said they were interested which is really exciting!
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Saturday, 13 Apr 2019, 16:14 CEST
This morning I practised my Spanish and did some uni work and then after lunch, Kelly and I enjoyed our Saturday by browsing a few shops in the centre and going for a delicious fresh juice at this cafe called Frutas Zumeria! It was nice to get out in the sun (after we’ve had a lot of rain) and just enjoy being here in Madrid as we’ve been so busy this week with work etc! Then this evening we had a movie night with popcorn which was really relaxing!
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Sunday, 14 Apr 2019, 14:40 CEST
This morning Kelly and I went to El Rastro market and I got a Pull&Bear dress for €3 which I’m really happy with! Afterwards we went to the gym and then after lunch we did uni work in the flat, I finally got my street art zine made which means it’ll be ready to print at home when I go on Tuesday! It was a productive day and I took this photo of our local square on the way back to the flat after the gym because it’s finally sunny and warm here again after a lot of rain!
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Monday, 15 Apr 2019, 19:32 CEST
Today was my packing day and last day in Madrid before I go home for Easter holidays! I spent the morning packing, taking back with me in my hold suitcase any winter clothes or things I won’t miss having here so I will have less to bring home with me in summer! I then packed my two carry on bags! After lunch I nipped out to get some cash for my taxi (which is very early tomorrow morning at 2.45am :() and then I did a few hours of uni work and Spanish practice! I then spent my evening cleaning up and having a bit of a pamper night with a face mask and painting my nails before catching my flight home tomorrow!
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Tuesday, 16 Apr 2019, 05:51 BST
This morning I had to get up in the very small hours of 2am to finish gathering my things together and getting my taxi to the airport for my flight! After getting there extra early due to reported strikes, I had to wait 45 mins for the check in gates to even open! It was a long journey but I finally arrived in England at 7.45am, local time! My parents picked me up and I was home by 9.30am! We had a lovely lazy breakfast of dippy eggs and a big catchup, I then unpacked and we got to the train station around lunch time to pick up my boyfriend who is visiting me here in Bury for a week! We also had a lovely catch up and watched the new Game of Thrones episode! It’s definitely lovely to be home, I’ve missed being here and my family and boyfriend and I look forward to having the Easter weekend here and really relaxing and being able to do work here for the next 10 days!
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Wednesday, 17 Apr 2019, 17:10 BST
Today Harry and I had a nice lie in as I had to get up so early yesterday morning! We then did a few hours of uni work after lunch and then went to do a pub quiz with my friends in the evening! It was really fun, we didn’t win but we got 38/45 right and the quizzer even marked one of our answers right even though we guessed on a whim and got it wrong!
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Thursday, 18 Apr 2019, 13:10 BST
Today Harry and I went to my parent’s new house viewing to see the new house we’ll soon be moving into which was very pretty! We then popped into town to grab some lunch in a cafe and we sat outside to do some uni work; the cafe had a lovely outdoor terrace with this beautiful ivy growing on the trellis! We then all enjoyed a lovely cheese fondue in the evening!
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Friday, 19 Apr 2019, 12:18 BST
Today Harry, myself and my parents all went to Norwich for the day to go shopping! We enjoyed a lovely Spoons breakfast together in the morning and then meandered down town to start off at the vintage/record shops, passing this lovely church, before then going into the cathedral and its grounds! The grounds are beautiful, as is the cathedral and Harry and I sat out on the green enjoying the hot sun! We then mooched around the town’s market and other shops before going home; we got a few good bargains including me getting a vintage Yankee’s baseball shirt for £12 and Harry getting jeans for £20!
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Saturday, 20 Apr 2019, 20:21 BST
Today Harry and I had a fairly chilled day, we did some uni work, we all went for a drink at a pub as it was such a nice day and then went out to get the ingredients to make a lovely meal for us all tonight and pudding tomorrow! We decided to go all out and treat ourselves to making duck in plum sauce with vanilla mash and garlic butter spinach; it proved difficult but was delicious and everyone loved it!
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APRIL 2019 Sunday, 21 Apr 2019, 13:35 BST
Today was of course Easter Sunday and it was a gorgeously sunny day for it! In the morning we did an Easter egg hunt (of course) and then had a fairly chilled day, Harry and I went to a local pub for lunch outside and enjoyed some sun before enjoying a lovely roast in the evening! We of course had to get a cute pic with my cat in my spring garden!
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Monday, 22 Apr 2019, 17:03 BST
Today was mine and Harry’s last full day, we decided to go into town and have a mooch around some shops and treat ourselves to a McDonald’s with vouchers we have! We then all went for a drink at a local countryside pub, which has this beautiful view in its beer garden, before coming home to relax and watch a film!
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Tuesday, 23 Apr 2019, 13:49 BST
As Harry was leaving this early evening, we had a chilled day of watching tv and treated ourselves to Aldi’s finest chilled pizzas for lunch! After he got packed and ready, we all took him to the train station to get his 5.57pm train back to Oxford! It was very sad to see him leave but I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with just my family now too!
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Wednesday, 24 Apr 2019, 22:11 BST
This morning my Mum and I went into town to run around and stock up on a few things to get me before I soon return to Madrid; toiletries mainly! I also got mine and Kelly’s film for our project developed so that we can get started on editing and progressing with that once I’m back in Madrid! After lunch I did some uni work and then got ready to go out with some friend’s from home for two of their belated birthdays! We went for cocktails and tapas in funnily enough, a Spanish restaurant; indulging in the cuisine a little closer to home! It was a lovely night seeing some more of the girls before I go back to Madrid and the food/drink was delicious!
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