BACK TO SCHOOL/COLLEGE: MY MUST HAVE LIST

Welcome back on my blog 🙂 Since the school season already started, I decided to do something like a ,,Must have list”.

This year I will be starting my last year of college. I’m kind of worried because this is the most important year and I really want to do my best. I have a list of things that help me with studying or to survive some classes. If you are interested keep reading 🙂

1. The most important thing for me is a journal. I got used to them when I was in secondary school and they really help ,not only when you are in school or college but also in every day life. I write everything in my journal. It helps me with planning and organisation especially during very busy times in my life.
2. Another thing will be to find a hobby or something that will help you to relax or to stop thinking about school/college work. In my opinion this is very important. When I have an exam I try to relax on my way to college. I usually like to read a book or listen to music. This helps me a lot and makes me less stressed even when I know that I’m not fully prepared for the exam because I had other things to do.
3. Another must have may be weird haha, but it helps me to be motivated to study and to actually go to classes 😛 In my case new and good stationary is seriously very important. I even have certain types of paper I like and I really don’t like when my copy is different than the one I usually buy haha. So yeah in my case good stationary is a must have :D.
4. I also have this one small problem. I can’t concentrate when it’s loud. I need to have a quiet place where I can do my work. If you are like me, I think it is important to have 2-3 places where you will sit and do your things. In my case I love doing my work in a library. Library is definitely my best friend 😛 .
5. My last must have is a good friend who is still in school/college. A lot of my friends are already working and many of them never went to college. It is important to have a friend who is in the same situation as you and will understand your problems. Many people think that college is fun, but the reality is different.  

I hope you like my post. Please stay with me longer and check out my Instagram 😉

See you soon :* :*

 

 

I’M BACK!! SMALL LIFE AND ERASMUS UPDATE…

Hello, I’m back 🙂 I’m finally at home, I finally finished my Erasmus, and I’m finally happy :D. I stopped writing on my blog because I did not feel well, I wanted to leave Burgos as soon as it was possible. It just wasn’t for me and my house mates were not helping me with my well-being.

I did my exams, I had to repeat one but my professor was very nice and she helped me a lot. The rest of my exams were very easy so I had no problem with doing them.

The only good thing I see about the Erasmus is that you actually have a chance to learn the language. When I came to Spain I thought that I have good level of Spanish, but I actually didn’t. I left Spain with a B1 certificate, I learned a lot of Spanish and I was able to communicate with people. I probably forgot some thing already, but I know that it will come back to my brain very fast.

Well… ok, there is another good thing about it. You get a chance to meet people from completely different cultures, which I think is super amazing. I became friends with people from Romania, Hungary, America, Italy, France and China. Wow! OK… I have friends from different countries here in Ireland but that was a different situation. Those people were in a similar situation as I was and understood me very well.

I spoke with many students in Spain and many of them said that they think exactly the same about this program as I do. Erasmus is seriously great but only if:

1. Your language level is very good. Otherwise you will not understand what is going on.
2. You like to party a lot.
3. You find good house mates. My experience in that topic is very bad!
4. You are open to people.
5. You have a lot of money

So yeah… I think I wrote enough and you will understand what I mean 🙂

I went to Poland for a while and it was the best thing I could do 🙂 I felt like I need to relax. I was very busy at the end of my Erasmus and I was very tired. I had an amazing time in Poland. Now I’m in Ireland with my fiance and my two cats :D. I’m not going on anything like Erasmus again. I’m finally happy where I’m. Only one month is left until my last year of college :O .

Anyways see you soon :*

❤

WHAT DO I MISS THE MOST ?

Hello welcome back on my blog 🙂 I will talk about things that I miss the most 😦 There are things that I miss a lot and there are things that I can live without. Living abroad on your own may be very difficult especially if you like to spend time with your family. Even if you meet a lot of new people you will never be as close with them as with  your family member.

The first thing that I miss is definitely talking and drinking tea/coffee with my mum. We always sit and talk together and drink a hot drink. We are very busy and we don’t have a lot of free time so it is very important for me to spend as much time as I can with my mum. We talk on the phone almost everyday but you know… it’s not the same.

I miss my cats a lot! My cats are very important to me. They are like my little children especially Negra. She helped me many times when I didn’t feel well. She is my little best friend 🙂 I miss her a lot. She always makes my feel better.

I wish I could understand everyone. It’s very hard to understand most people here. Many people have different accents. It’s very hard especially when people speak fast.

I miss Polish TV haha 😛 Yes, I miss Polish television 😀 I don’t really watch TV but I still miss it. Sometimes there are very interesting programs  and I like to watch them. Here I don’t even have Spanish TV haha.

I miss my comfortable bed and my bedroom. The bed that I have here is very uncomfortable. My back is very sore. It was very hard to get used to it and I did not sleep well for the first few days. I still have problems with falling asleep. I miss my cozy bedroom. I always light up candles and the whole room smells very nice. The room that I have is very big. I think it’s too big for me and I don’t like it because it’s very dark.

I miss having a normal view from my window. Sometimes when I wake up I would love to look out the window and see something different than a wall and someone else’s windows. It is very annoying because I never know what kind of weather is outside.

I also miss some kinds of food. I don’t really like Spanish food. It has no taste for me or maybe I tried in the wrong place.

That’s all for today hope you liked my post 🙂 Go check out my Instagram 🙂 and follow me here if you want more :* See you soon 🙂

ONE MONTH IN SPAIN- LIFE UPDATE

Hello 🙂 I decided to give you small life update on how are things now. I did a post one week after I arrived. I was very depressed and stressed back then because a lot of the things were very unclear and I had no idea what will I be doing here. I had to change my way of thinking from negative to more positive. It wasn’t easy and it took me a very long time. I still want to go back home because I miss my family a lot.

When I came here my way of thinking was very negative. I was ready to pack all my things and go back. I knew that I can’t do that but I had that idea at the back of my head. I did not understand anyone which was the most annoying thing, they spoke too fast so in many cases I just pretended that I understand them. I was sitting in my room and sometimes I cried and  I was trying to explain to myself that the time will fly fast. I still want to go home, but my Spanish improved a lot. I understand more and I can say more. I’m making mistakes but I don’t really care because it’s part of learning. Now when I want the time to fly faster I listen to music, read or write my blog. I’m only listening to Cleo and Poparzeni Kawa Trzy. They are Polish artists that help me here a lot. It’s the type of music that you listen to  when you feel sad. They are two different types of music but it’s very hard to explain my music taste 😛  I’m not as depressed and stressed as I was at the start but there are days when I just want to lay in the bed and cry. I think everyone has those days.

When it comes to university life here it’s very stressful for Erasmus people, especially if your Spanish is not very good. I have 2 English friendly subjects, one in English and 2 in Spanish. It’s very hard to do my notes sometimes, especially if I only understand some of the teachers. I have to find most of the information by myself. I’m happy that I will be able to do three of my exams in English. It’s much harder for the Erasmus people here than in Ireland. I feel like Erasmus students get more help in Ireland than here. I got used to it now but at first it was hard. I usually do my notes in English so it’s easier.

At the start it was very hard for me to get used to living with people who like a lot of noice. I’m a person who likes to sit in a quiet place with a book or laptop. I live with Spanish students, for them it’s normal to have a loud party in the middle of the week. I had small issues with them but I think that everything will be OK now. I’m the oldest one here, they probably think that I’m old boring granny haha 😀 But I don’t care.

I think I feel more comfortable here now. I still can’t say that this is my house and I still didn’t unpack some of my things. I still need time. I noticed that the time flays very fast so it’s much easier for me now. I just can’t wait for summer because some big changes are coming up 😀 I hope you liked my post 🙂 Don’t forget to follow me if you want more, I also have Instagram where I post more often 😀 See you soon :*

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT SPAIN ?

Hello 🙂 Today I decided to come back to my Spanish topic. I want to talk about things that I like about Spain or the area where I live. If Spain is your future destination some of these things may be useful. I have been here for almost one month and I think that I can already say what I like about this country. Sit back and relax 😉

1. The first thing that I seriously love about the place where I live is the price of the bus. You can get a bus card that costs around 2 euro and you put money on it. Every time you enter the bus you have to tap it and it takes 40 cents from your card. It’s very cheap compering to Ireland because I have to pay around 10 euro everyday when I’m going to college.
2. Another thing that I really like is that most of the drivers are very nice and when someone is crossing the street the car will stop. I’m not very used to it. In Poland and in Ireland it’s a very rare situation. Especially in Poland.
3. A lot of the things here are much cheaper than in Ireland. For example shops like Bershka or Zara are much cheaper here than in Ireland. That surprised me because I thought that the prices are the same in all the country.  Food is also very cheap, you can buy lunch for less than 5 euro. I’m not sure how is it in pubs but I think that alcohol is not expensive here.
4. People are very helpful here. I noticed that even if you don’t understand them they will try to do everything they can so you will understand. I noticed that from the first day that arrived here.
5. I really like how open to others Spanish people are. They like hugging and kissing a lot. They like to be close with the other person they are talking to. Sometimes it might be a little bit annoying when the person your are talking to is very close but it’s normal here. Everyone does it on the streets.

I hope that you like my today’s post 🙂 If you liked it feel free to stay longer with me and don’t forget to checkout my Instagram :* See you soon 😉

MONTHLY FAVORITES

Hello 🙂 Today I want to talk about something a little bit different. I haven’t talked about my favorite products for ages :O I decided to leave the topic I was writing about until now and do something different. Some of the products are from Poland 😛 As usual 😀 But I’m sure you will be able to find it in a Polish shop or you can buy them when you will go to Poland for holidays 😀 I hope you will enjoy this post so sit back and relax :*

The first product I want to talk about is this nail powder from Essence. I saw it for the first time here in Spain it was very cheap, the powder costs something around 2 euros and the sealing top coat a little bit over 3 euros. This makes a beautiful effect on your nail. Normally people get this effect using shellac and powder similar to this one. This option is much cheaper and you can do it at home. There is a lot of beautiful colours to pick. How to use it ? It’s very easy! Just paint your nails with any colour you want and wait for the nail polish to dry, then apply some of the nail powder on to your nails and rub it in. When you get the result you wanted apply the sealing top coat 😀

I got this exfoliating gel here in Spain too. I’m only using this every second day in the morning. It smells beautiful and it does its job. Normally I have very sensitive skin on my face and a lot of the face washes make my skin very red. This makes my skin very soft, it feels very clean and it doesn’t make my skin red at all. It was very cheap. I got it in a shop near the place where I live called Alimerka. It will be definitely my favorite face wash here in Spain.

Russian shampoo? Yes! I know I already talked about Russian shampoo, but I don’t know if I will ever stop. As you all may know by now I’m a person who takes care of my hair a lot. I love cheap and good hair products. These shampoos are amazing :O They are very cheap and it’s very easy to find them in Poland, and probably in Russia too 😀 I love how they smell and how well they clean my hair. I only wish they were bigger, because even though I wash my hair only twice a week I finish them very fast. In Ireland we have a lot of Russian shops, if you go in and ask about it I’m sure they will help you 😉

These two lipsticks from Bourjois :O I got these lipsticks for my fiance’s prom. I could not decide which will be better so I got two 😛 They may be a little bit expensive for some people but I think that they are worth their price. The one on the right is a liquid lipstick. It’s very soft and you can’t even feel it on your lips. It stays for a very long time and I think that this is the perfect nude shade. The one on the left is just a normal lipstick. It has beautiful colour and when you apply it, it’s very soft but it stays in one place. Both of these lipsticks smell beautiful, they are very easy to apply and the colours are absolutely gorgeous.

Another very good product from Bourjois. I really like this foundation because it’s very light and it looks very natural on the skin. It also smells very nice and if you do your make up properly it stays on for a very long time. I don’t use it everyday now because I usually don’t have time for doing make up in the morning, but I got it for my fiance’s prom and I was very happy with it. The only bad thing about it, is that it’s a little bit expensive.

I think everyone knows this face mask very well and I don’t need to explain what it is. I just wanted to say that this is just wow :O It does its job. It cleans the skin very well and it’s not as painful as most of the people are saying, but in my case  I tried similar face masks before, and even the DIY version 😀 My skin is probably used to the pain. This thing is great. If you are thinking about getting it, I think you should. 😀

My favorite mascara ever. I have three mascaras but I’m only using this one. It makes my eyelashes very thick and long. It doesn’t take long for it to dry, and even if you cry when you have it on your face will not be all black. It’s the cheapest mascara I have, because the other ones are more expensive but not as good. I really like the applicator. I will definitely get another one.

The last product I want to talk about is this hair mask/ hair oil. It is a hair product that is supposed to make your hair grow faster. If you follow me on me Instagram you probably know that after the prom I cut my hair very short. I like having short hair but for me it was definitely too short. I decided to stop taking biotin and look for some good hair product. This product was on a sale so I bought it. I’m using this product once a week for over a month now. My hair is a little bit longer now. I was stressed about coming here and at the start of my Erasmus journey I had problems with hair loss. Now my problem is gone. I fell in love with this product. It has so many good ingredients in it and it smells very nice. I got it in Poland in a shop called Hebe. 

That’s all for today 😀 I hope you liked it. Follow me here if you want to stay longer with me, also don’t forget to follow me on my Instagram where I’m more active 🙂 See you soon :*

ERASMUS ESSENTIALS

Welcome back 🙂 Last time I talked a little bit about Erasmus and what it is.

Today I want to talk about some essentials that will help you to feel better when you go abroad. I was looking for a similar videos on YouTube or blog posts on Google but I couldn’t find many. I decided to do this post because I wish I knew about many things before I came here, I think it can help people who will be going on their Erasmus in future. I will not be talking about the documents because there is a lot and I’m sure someone at your college or university will tell you a lot about it. This photo shows  my favorite building in this university :O It’s so big and so beautiful :O It looks like a castle.

Family

I think that friends and family are essential when you are going away. When I came here I was talking a lot with my family. I felt so much better after talking with them because they made me feel that even though we are so far away I’m not alone. I talk with them almost everyday. It is very important to keep in touch with your family, especially during the first few days when you feel lonely. It is important to talk with them about your problems, they might help you to solve them.

New friends 

Friends are just as important as family. Bad thing is that you can’t bring your friends to the place where you are going to. It is very important to be open to other people. You will meet a lot of people who are in the same situation as you. You will have a lot to talk about with the people you will meet. They will have very similar problems, their language level might not be as high so you can learn together or they could be from the same country as you. I was very surprised when I met some of the people and I became friend with some of them.

Taste of home

For me it was very important to bring some kind of food or drink that I would normally have at home. Normally I drink a lot of tea. I brought some green tea with me. That made me feel a little bit better. It wasn’t the same because I usually sit with my mum and we drink tea together, but at least I could have my tea and that made me very happy. I think if you bring you favorite snack or drink it will help you during your first few days. Believe me you will miss the food and drink from your country.

Find something to do

At the start it will be hard I know. It’s important to make yourself busy if you want your time to fly faster. When I arrived here I seriously did not know what to do with myself. I wanted to do something so I would forget that I’m here and the day would end up faster. I called my dad and he told me to start a diary. I had no paper but, I decided to make my little diary here. I think this is a great idea. After the whole thing will end I will read all my posts and probably laugh because I will probably think in a different way. It is important to study and try your best but also to have a life and have some fun.

This is all for today. If you have any questions feel free to contact me 🙂 Follow me on my Instagram if you want more. See you soon :*

 

ONE WEEK IN BURGOS, SPAIN

Welcome back on my blog 🙂 It’s been a week since I came to Spain and I want to talk about my first impression of this country and the city that I live in. Firstly I just wanted to say that I had a little surprise waiting for me outside of my apartment which was… snow. Haha yes! Snow! I could not believe in what I saw because I wasn’t prepared for snow in Spain, and I also left all my winter clothes in Poland because I thought that it will be too warm for these. I hope that it will get warmer because I’m a person that hates winter and loves summer.

I have been living here for one week, but there are things that started to annoy me. I really don’t understand the point of having a three hours break during the day, to be honest I would prefer to finish work three hours earlier instead of having the break. I guess for them it’s normal but for people that come here it can be annoying. When they are having the break all shops are closed but, all shops are opened until late.

I really like the way all buses cost the same amount of money here. It doesn’t matter where you are going you will still pay 1.20 or with the bus card 0.40c . This is very cheap compering to the amount of money I have to pay in Ireland. The only annoying thing about the buses is that you have to stand on the street or otherwise the bus will not stop on the bus stop, and also when you want to get off the bus you have to stand up and press the STOP button because like with the other situation bus will not stop to let you out.

I tried some of the Spanish food. I like some of the things. I will make a post about my favorite Spanish food later on when I try more. So far I tried Churros ( Spanish donut), Chorizo ( Spanish sausage), jamón (ham), Tortilla Espanola, and one type of cheese but I don’t know what it was. I think Spanish food is nice but I’m not a big fan of meat.

When it comes to Spanish people, I think they are very nice and very helpful. I got lost and these two Spanish ladies did everything they could to help me, sadly I couldn’t understand them fully so I just went my own way 😀 #googlemaps 😛 I’m a person that likes to have my own personal space, I also like to sit in quiet places. Usually I like to spend time sitting in a room on my own with a good book. Here people are veeery loud. They love parties. My house mates go to sleep very late and they put loud music until very late. Sometimes it annoys me, but at the same time I tell myself that I’m in their country and if it’s like that here I just have to adapt. I’m not a person that likes to party every week, maybe like every other month or not even. So far I noticed that they are people who like a lot of noise.

When it comes to the university I can’t say much. I have been there three times and my classes are starting tomorrow on the 5th of February. I’m a little bit worried because this university is so big comparing to my little IT Tallaght in Ireland. I’m also worried about the language. One tip for you guys if you are good at language st school or university don’t think that you will understand everything when you go to the country where that language is spoken. I’m studying Spanish since I was 13 years old and I’m 20 now. So yeah seven years of learning the language and I never failed any Spanish test. I will be forced to translate everything and to study more than I usually did. Wish me luck guys. This semester is very important for me so I hope I will really improve my level of Spanish. I can already feel the difference, I can understand more and I started to memorize new words.

That’s all for today guys 🙂 Hope you like my today’s little post. If you want more follow me on my Instagram 😀 I’m more active there. Please free to also follow me here 😀 See you very soon 😀 Bye bye :*

 

WELCOME BACK

Hello everybody 🙂 Sorry for not being here for so long but I went to Poland for three weeks and I just wanted to make the most of my stay. I was preparing myself for what will happen in my life after I leave Poland. I had a very busy stay in Poland, there were a lot of things happening, I was out of my house almost all the time plus I was very stressed. I will explain later on 🙂

When I was in Poland my fiance had 2 bowling competitions, one in Grudziądz and one in Łódź.  I was very stressed during those two events, but thankfully he was Second in Łódź :D. Then he had his prom. I was very happy because I finally got a chance to dance Polonez, which is one of the Polish national dances, and one of the most important once. We also went to see The Nutcracker 😀 . It was one of my biggest dreams to go and see it. It was so beautiful :O. Even Michal liked it :D.

On the 27th of January I arrived to Madrid, Spain. To be honest it was the worst trip I ever had :O. The turbulences were very strong and I also have the fear of height so it was the worst thing ever for me… never again! When I got off the plane I did not knew where I have to go. The airport in Madrid is very confusing. Thank God I found a Spanish man that spoke in Polish and he helped me. Then I got a bus to terminal 4 , and from there I took a bus to Burgos. The city is so beautiful, but It’s very hard to communicate with anyone when your Spanish is very low. It’s very hard for me to understand people because they speak very fast. I’m starting to get used to the language and the accent very slowly but I know it will take time for me to fully adapt.

I already got lost in the city center 😛 I got a wrong bus from the street where I live and I was trying to ask people what should I do now but I could not understand what exactly they were saying. So I just walked from the city center to Calle Murcia where I work with a Spanish family. The children that I’m teaching are lovely and I’m so happy that I have the opportunity to work with them. They showed me where the university is and where  the bus stops are, they also brought me home.

Yesterday I went for another little trip. I went to buy myself things like cup and plates. I love the weather here because It’s sunny everyday and its very warm here, so I go for walks. Usually I go to shops to see what is there. When I went to do shopping for the first time I didn’t know what to buy because everything was weird for me. Today I went to the university for the first time. I got there without any problems ( Google maps helped me :P) but I got lost when I was coming back home. I asked someone where should I go and I don’t know how but I understood what he was saying 😀 Thank God he helped me because otherwise I would be probably walking around the university with my phone in my hand and trying to look for the way back.

I think this is the longest post I have done :O. I hope you liked my little diary and life update. I might be doing it more often now, it actually helps me to feel better. To be honest I feel lonely here and I don’t feel comfortable when I don’t understand what people are saying to me.

I hope you liked my today’s post. If you want more follow me on my Instagram. I’m more active there and I hope you will stay longer with me 🙂 I will upload some pictures now 😀 From Poland and the onces I took here in Spain. See you soon :*