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Last blog entry...

I've just finished my last exam, I'm nearly packed (which is quite an accomplishment - several months' worth of stuff either ruthelessly chucked or squeezed into my suitcase!) and I'm leaving tomorrow.

What an insane, brilliant, topsy-turvy year this has been. I've lived in two countries, in two languages, in two beautiful places. I have had moments of intense, gut-wrenching homesickness, and moments of intense, gut-wrenching happiness and never wanting to leave. I've learnt that even within Western Europe, there is a huge diversity of cultures and ways of life. I have lived, breathed and loved the languages I study. I have made friendships for life. To all the natives who have ever walked past and asked: 'Erasmus?', I am. I have survived my year abroad.

From the middle of Second year, where all the form-filling began (little did I know then what a frustrating nightmare that would prove to be) to arriving in Perpignan that first night, alone with my luggage, to the travels, the friendships, the fun. Ok this is getting too sentimental!

It was by no means plain sailing - there was the maze of foreign bureacracy which had us all in tears and tantrums at least once; whether it was in France with their complications and more paperwork at every turn, or Spain, with its laissez-faire attitude of getting everything done someday and both who went absolutely by the rules, with no reason or understanding. Yes, the Erasmus offices were places of hell, and the mere mention of them will strike fear in my heart for years to come.

The universities were so different from what I knew in the UK; my exams this week in Spain have been so informal and careless - I actually craved the strict rules of filing silently into the hall and not even looking at another person. Here, people carried on talking 20 minutes in, one lecturer even wandered in and out. They don't really get the concept of invigilating. At least Oviedo university had some semblance of being a university, in comparison to Perpignan, which was like a run-down secondary school, and the students were treated as secondary school pupils. I will be glad to get back to Sheffield with its Students' Union (try explaining that to a French or Spanish student!) to the cafes, the shop, the gym, the IC, the workspaces...

But it has been an experience, and one I don't regret a minute of. The places I've been to, the things I've done this year, it's been amazing. In France, I lived medieval history, my passion. We visited Peyreperteuse, a Cathar stronghold, that is a memory that I'll have for a long time. I went to Toulouse, and on a tourist train through the Pyrenees (we saw Peyreperteuse's neighbour, Queribus, from afar). We went to Barcelona, a city I'm desperate to return to one day because I didn't see nearly enough of it. There was Coullioure - you couldn't get a more picturesque harbour town if you tried. Our house in Perpignan was the ultimate Erasmus house - we had Christmas dinner there, we watched the entire back catalogue of Disney in Fiona's room, we spoke tentatively to the Czechs in the kitchen. We saw Palm trees adorned with Christmas lights, saw what happens when you try and create grassy areas in a place where it hardly rains (dust), and spent many a happy afternoon in the lovely little teashop. We shopped in the few shops Perpignan offered, we visited all kinds of places in the pursuit of research for our year abroad projects.

And that was just France. The list is probably boring you now, but I'm just trying to recapture all the wonderful moments I've had over the past year. In Spain, I've been to Madrid, Leon, Ponterferrada, Astorga, Bilbao, Santander, Gijon, and of course, Oviedo. Asturias is a little-known region, but it really is, as the tourist leaflets say, un paraiso natural: a natural paradise. It rains - a lot, I'm not going to lie. But there is sunshine as well. Both have been plentiful while I've been here. And the rain makes the landscape beautiful. Here, we have a mountainous green landscape, and beyond that, a coastline, that outside Gijon and Aviles, is unspoiled and looks jurassic. Compare that to the flat scrubland on the way to Madrid. Oviedo itself is a beautiful, elegant, but slightly zany city. The statues everywhere are always a talking point, from the bum and torso, to the obese madonna and child, the man sitting on a bench, and Woody Allen The old town is pretty and Spanish in style, with its gothic cathedral with that 'half-finished' look the Spanish are so fond of, then in the New town there is an absolute mish-mash of architectural styles, from Baroque ostentation, to sleek, modern towers, all crammed in next to each other. The central park (not THE Central Park - we are still in Oviedo!) is pretty and well-kept, and it has peacocks. There are millions of dogs and old people and amorous couples. It is, quite simply, a brilliant place to live in for a few months. You can never get bored; there is always something to look at, to talk about.

And now it's all over. I've done the travels, the nights out, the French wine and Spanish cider, I've tasted more cheeses than I ever knew existed (I will miss Asturian cheeses even more than French - they are an undiscovered delight) I've coped (somehow) with the paperwork and lectures (my final confirmation of stay form has been signed - after some trouble - Erasmus paperwork: SUCCESS!) I feel prepared now to cope with anything. You want me to fill out an application form? sure, if it's not an Erasmus one, it'll be a piece of cake. You want me to explain something in English? OK! The office is open all day, you say? What, it doesn't close for lunch? Or on odd (or was it even?) days? Amazing! I won't have to explain the concept of a kettle, I'll be able to walk into a cafe and ask for a cup of tea. Not herbal tea, definitely not camomile, just... tea. There'll be baked beans galore, people will say 'hi' instead of 'see you later' as an opening phrase. I can get a proper cappuccino.

And I will probably complain that about all of this. I will miss the funny customs I've become accustomed to. People will think I'm strange because I won't eat dinner until 10pm, I'll expect the shops to be closed on a sunday and at lunchtimes, I'll want tapas and olives. If I have lectures scheduled between 2 and 4 I'll wonder when people are going to have their siesta, and I'll be snobby about the wine. I will scare the incoming Erasmus students by staring at them wistfully, and will ask, in that voice, Erasmus?

I have never been more alive. So many new experiences, language and culture. I have lived deeply, laughed hysterically and cried desperately. I am, for a few more hours, Erasmus. Part of me always will be.

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