Life is funnier when you're dressed as a clown

A lot can happen in 2 weeks. To pick up from where I left off from my last blog, I had no idea how what I would be doing over the next few days let alone the next two weeks. Ok, I did end up in Granada the following weekend, but never in a million years would I have predicted that at 6am on November the 1st, I'd have ended up in a fountain (again) with Roisin and Laura, dressed as a zombie in clown pants. That's just the way life goes here, I love the spontaneity of things, spur of the moment random ideas that lead you on wild adventures. And the best thing about it all is I didn't even know at 5pm on Halloween what I'd be doing/dressed up as, but as the cliché goes, the best nights out are always those that are unplanned. Everyone who knows me well will agree that I can't plan my life out, I just live it. OK, you obviously plan things like events, holidays, etc, but when it comes to the bit, it's just brilliant to get there and decide what you want to go, and just have that freedom of choice and flexibility. Granada started like that. On Monday morning, my friend Lambert mentioned he was driving there with some friends and it'd be cool if a few of us went, so that week, it was decided, Nick would take his 17 year old Toyota Starlet (that had impressively survived the gruelling journey from Holland to Spain), and in the car alongside him would be Davey, Roisin, and myself. After finding out that we could only book our hostel with a credit card, we didn't have a room to stay in until that Friday night when I managed to book a private 4 bedroom suite for 15 Euros each. After that, it was late to sleep (again) then an early start, as we were meeting at Nick's at 10.30. Rushing to get out the house, I made it only to find out that our trusty driver had slept in, so after fighting sleep for an hour on his couch/watching Davey win more money at online poker, we made it to the car, only to find out that the door was opened and it had been robbed of its radio.......and torch! I'd really love to know what goes through someone’s mind when they spot an absolute banger of a car and decide to go to the window to see if the radio was worth stealing. For the record, the car is so old that it came with a tape cassette player, but that said, the CD player was over 10 years old, so bad that the thieving scumbag who stole it would probably have to pay someone to take it off their hands! The fact that they'd be willing to risk a chance of being arrested or a kicking from a big Dutch guy is beyond me. It was bad enough we had no radio, but worse than that metal at the top of the door was permanently facing outwards, so the door couldn't fully close, leaving the car very very vulnerable for anyone to climb in it and go on a joy ride. After learning from a local petrol station that all garages in Córdoba were shut for la fiesta de San Rafael, the only place we could get it fixed was in Granada, so after 30minutes of cursing the scummy pricks who broke into the car, we were off! Not the best start to our trip, although I now have the word "godverdomme! (God damn in Dutch) etched into my mind, thus furthering my knowledge of swear words in foreign tongues. Situated under the Sierra Nevada mountains, the first impressions of Granada were that it was an impressive place. My friends Jen and Cheryl live there and rave about it, although sadly, they were in Madrid that weekend, so I didn't get the chance to meet up with them for some drunken IBML antics in Spain. Things were looking up when an engineer at a garage fixed our car door in a matter of seconds (we'd been trying to bend the wrong part of it), but then we got lost. Oh so lost. For an hour or more, we drove round the tiny streets of the place, growing more frustrated by the second, until we made it up a mountainside to the famous landmark that is the Alhambra place- the most visited site in Spain. We knew our hostel was situated close to it, so by good fortune, we drove past it, then found our parking space amidst the celebrations. It was a brilliant place; on a mountain overlooking Granada, yet the town centre was only a 15minute walk downhill. We had a wonderful rooftop terrace, and the owner was a very helpful hippie English guy who showed us good places to eat and visit. Speaking of hippies, the place is overrun by them! From street entertainers to general stoners, it's hippies galore! One of the greatest sales pitches I've heard was when I got offered MDMA in the main square! "You want to buy some, it'll make you see things that don't exist". If I told him that I didn't really exist and was in fact a fragment of his trippy imagination, he'd probably have believed me, but I just politely declined, before he desperately offered me some crystal meth as an alternative. Sandwiched between and epic meal and a night of partying, we managed to fit in some cultural activities and made it the plaza San Nicolas, a famous view point that gives stunning views of the Alhambra, the Sierra Nevada, and the town below. Sunset was a perfect time to go there, I never thought upon leaving Scotland that I'd view some scenery equally as good, but this was breathtaking. It certainly made the trek up and along the winding streets totally worth it. We returned to the hostel via getting a carry out, and we met with the others before having drinks on the roof and then heading to a club. The club in question, is apparently one of the dodgiest in Granada- I got told this when I was back in Córdoba by my flatmate Laura studied there for 2 years, so was shocked and surprised when I told her that there were in fact no fights and guys with knives there. All in all, it was a top night, and we even got a kebab at the end. However, at 10am that morning, I was awash with a rage that only overcomes me when I'm woken up at an ungodly hour after very little sleep. There was a baby crying just outside our room! But no, not just any baby, a devil child!! For half an hour solid, it cried, and cried, and cried, until the 4 of us were awake and were chatting about how we wanted to strangle it! Tired and a tad hungover (surprisingly not too badly), we decided to make for Córdoba early when we still had a fairly fresh driver, and light, due to the clocks going back that weekend. The weekend was ended with perfection as we got back in perfect time to watch Liverpool tear Man United to shreds at Anfield! Oh yes!!!!

Back in Córdoba, Halloween was one of the best that I've ever had. We had planned to go out, although no one had any ideas as for what to dress up as- cue a trip into one of the cheap Chinese stores where you can buy everything and anything. We had a vague idea that we'd buy cheap T-shirts to cut up and go as Zombies, but I never expected to walk out the shop with a ridiculous looking pair of clown pants. Halloween here is still fairly new, so costumes are strictly scary, no joke outfits like you'd see back in the UK. However, the moment I saw them, I knew I had to do it just for the laughs. They're actually incredibly comfy, and I can definitely see myself holding onto them to where when I'm messing around the house. We began the evening at Adrien's flat where we zombie/clown suited up. Along with Adrien, Davey, and Roisin, 4 normal looking people become 4 messy dark haired, pale faced zombies, wearing ripped smeared t-shirts and one idiot in a pair of clown pants. The idea went down a hit, and the 4 of us all received laughs and compliments on our outfits at a flat party we had moved onto prior before going clubbing. The club we went to was packed, and although many revellers were in costumes, there were still a lot of people just dressed up as if it was a normal night out. I met Carlos, Anna and Laura, who had come directly from our flat, and the expressions on their faces was priceless. The image of me out in public wearing clown pants has definitely confirmed that they do now really think that I'm off my nut. As time has gone by here, just having a laugh with them has become a recurring theme, and there really is now a strong type of family bond amongst the 4 of us. I really first noticed it on one of the earlier nights when I was refused entry into a club with Carlos and Laura, but despite me telling them to go on in, they stated how they'd stick together, if one doesn't get in, none gets in. That really just set the tone of how things are when it comes to our flat, but we always look out for each other when we're out and just have such a brilliant time in each other’s company. Lately, Anna has taken to calling me "Yayyyyyyyymes", after pointing out that a lot of girls I've met who are local to Córdoba just can't get their tongue around my name, and instead come up with a nasally sounding "Yayyyyyyyyyymes". It's mainly based round Carlos' friend Mao (yes, her nickname Mao is the same as that of the Chinese dictator), who whenever is around greets me with "Hola Yayyyyyyyymes". She's not the only one who does it, but she's by far the funniest. Halloween ended at 6.30 in the morning, and by then, I'd ended up posing in fountain, posing with random people on the street, giving abuse to a guy wearing a kilt for being a fake Scot, and also meeting a guy who spent his Strathclyde Erasmus year in Córdoba, 2 years prior to my own adventure. He's now living in Zaragoza with his girlfriend. I didn't get speaking to him much as I met him at a club, but was mightily impressed with how he managed to find me; the description I sent him was to look for a tall guy in clown pants. My weekend ended by watching Ajax dismantle a poor Feynoord side 5-1, with a very happy Davey, and then a lad’s poker night at another friend's flat. It was a brilliant night, one of those lads’ only nights that you need every now and then, i.e. no penis, then no entry. Sadly I was the last eliminated from the primary rounds, and despite making more comebacks than a fading rock star, I didn't quite make the final table where the cash could be won, but I really enjoyed my night, and I hope that will be the beginning of a bi-weekly tradition, like our regular football games that have been occurring for the last couple of weeks.

For the first time since the 26th of August, I'm sitting wearing a jumper. Well, I actually wore one last night when I was sitting in watching the Real Madrid game, as the temperature has really dropped this week. It's still hard to think it's the start of winter though, because the leaves are still green on some plants, the sun still shines, and I walk past palm trees going to uni, although I think my days of wearing shorts are dwindling for the time being. I've now been here over 2 months and really, it's next to no time until I'm back for the Christmas holidays, just over 5 weeks or so. It's incredible how fast the time is flying by here, and although I'm loving every second of it, I am really looking forward to spending the festive season back home. I plan on spending New Year at the George Sq street party, and no matter what the weather that night, I've got a feeling that it'll be a good good night, the novelty of being back home in Scotland and the company I'll be with, it's really lining up to be potentially the best ever- I just hope Idlewild play at the street party again as I'm gutted to miss them by two weeks when they play in November. Halloween was brilliant, but all the same, I have to admit that I missed my mum's incredible devoted re-decoration of our house for the week, and Stephen moaning about how 'lame' the decorations are- really, they're awesome! That said, the last Halloween night out I had, I was walking home freezing in the rain with Jamie in 2nd year, so it was quite incredible to be walking home in a T-shirt that had been further ripped apart in the club and taking a dip in a fountain and feeling the cold water as welcoming on my feet that had been bruised to bits from the football game on Friday night. As things stand at the moment, uni has finally worked itself out, and I now seem to have a routine (officially got my classes changed today), although I've been spending the last week doing group work with a group consisting of people who don't seem to think spending 2 hours on editing colours and fonts on individual slides boring, and who are far too into their work and not happy with having Erasmus students in their group. Annoying as this has become, the presentation is tomorrow, so after I spiel off some introduction in the best Spanish I can conjure at the time, I'll let them drone on about the prevention of risks in the workplace, then hopefully bask in the glory of a good mark :) More importantly though, Midweek European football is back again, so until the next time, I'll be living on a glimmer of hope that an injury ravaged Liverpool can get a win tonight in Lyon, and the Celtic can defy all the odds and win in Hamburg on Thursday. As for now, time to go and meet the group for PR and lose a few hours of my life- It's really not all siestas and fiestas here.......just most of the time ;)

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