WHAT I MISS ABOUT BRITAIN

Now feels like the appropriate time to write this - it's two months ish since I got here and left England behind, and it's two months ish until my feet step back onto English soil. Let's reminisce about all the fabby things that aren't here in Spain.

• PEOPLE

Well this one's obvious isn't it, it hardly needs to be said. Even though my pals here in Alicante are lush and I love them lots, I miss everyone at home too. When I lived in Norwich quite often I would just ring home to talk to my family and now I can't do that because it has to be over an internet connection so both ends have to be near decent wifi and it's just really annoying. I mean, I rang my Gran the other day (because she doesn't have FaceTime) and a 15 minute phone call cost me €8. Not ideal. I miss my bestest pal Hollie who's a giant loser shit and only slightly less cool than me. We hardly see each other anyway since I moved to the arse-end of nowhere (Norwich) and she moved somewhere she's very likely to be stabbed (Liverpool) and I just hate life and it's better when she's around. Everyone knows how much I miss LCS. It makes me feel better knowing they're all scattered across the world too and a lot of them share my sentiments. I miss my loser 161 housemates who decided to live in Alicante Way instead of Alicante. Come on guys, what a balls up yous did there. I have flights booked to go see them in janvier and I tell ya they can't come sooner. Can't wait to sleep on the sofa in your freezing cold house xoxo

• POUNDS

This one is a bit silly but I miss paying in GBP because I never actually know how much I'm spending. The money looks like it's straight out of a monopoly box and because they're all the same shape I actually have to look at them to tell what coin it is. What a hardship, eh? I do, however, like the exchange rate. Keep that up (or down, idk) please!

• TESCO

Or any British supermarket. I really miss going into a shop and seeing products I recognise and knowing what they are. I just feel like supermarkets work better in the UK too. When I'm home at Christmas I might request to just be dropped off at Tesco for eight hours and just go around and look at each individual product and marvel at how wonderful everything is.

• NEW LOOK

There is no New Look here. Do you even understand how gutting it was for my favourite jeans to get a hole in, knowing I couldn't just pop to New Look and get some more? I could order some more but I still don't know how receiving parcels works in our dodgy building and also I've lost a bit of weight over here and I'm pretty sure I've dropped a dress size (potentially two on the bottom) so if I ordered the wrong size jeans I'd be soooo annoyed. I don't really trust the shops out here and also I don't know where they have plus-size ranges and I just miss New Look and Asos okay? Okay. (Not a TFIOS reference).

• WEATHER

NO. No I promise I'm not wishing for rain/cold here in Alicante because genuinely the weather is what kept me here in the beginning and is probably the best thing about being here. I love feeling the sunshine on my skin and not waking up to grey skies is the best. I just miss wearing my coat because my coat is probably my favourite item of clothing even though it is ridiculously chavvy. Alicante weather definitely does not call for a leopard print faux fur hood. Oh well, I'll get to wear it every day over Christmas :)

• SEASONAL BUILD UP

Well, holidays and stuff. Like Bonfire Night and Christmas. Halloween happened over here but there wasn't really any build-up - a few of the shops had halloween sweets but that's it. Obviously paired with the fact that over social media it seemed like Halloween was SUCH a big deal back home it made me sad. I don't even like Halloween! Not since passing out in first year, anyway. Bonfire night isn't even a thing over here I don't think. I love fireworks so much, especially everyone going out to watch a display where it's really cold and you wait ages for them to happen and then they do and it's kind of underwhelming yet still a canny night out. Then don't even get me started on Christmas. I know Spain celebrate it too but it won't be the saaaaaame. Christmas decorations are so associated with snow and cold and jumpers and stuff, how is that going to be a thing where it's still warm enough to wear shorts? I just think I'm going to hate not hearing Christmas songs on the radio and seeing Christmas lights everywhere and not going to the annual panto with my family because I'll be on a stupid plane and not having an advent calendar and just booooo. So silly. Knowing I get to do it next year is helping me through.

• FOOD

Oh lord this could have a post of its own. I miss fruit that doesn't taste like soap and vegetables that look safe to eat and chicken that has all the blood vessels removed and a decent selection of crisps. I miss turkey dinosaurs and spaghetti hoops and Sharwoods korma sauce and GARLIC BREAD. Oh my God, garlic bread. Moment of silence please. I miss being able to eat dinner (lunch) on campus because at UA on campus they serve giant meals at lunchtime and boxed sandwiches with normal fillings aren't a thing here. I saw one in a vending machine the other day that was the potato tortilla thing with plastic cheese inside a brioche. So weird. I miss Tesco's Chicken, Bacon and Stuffing sandwich, paired with a Lucozade and pickled onion Monster Munch and a Twirl. Love that Meal Deal life. 

Sunday dinner. Let's talk about that. I think it's incredibly cruel that I was brought up in a country where this beautiful meal is a weekly occurrence and now I live somewhere that sells gravy granules for €3. I would attempt to make my own roast but our oven doesn't work so there goes the roast potatoes and the Yorkshire puddings. Pointless.

As for eating out, my withdrawal symptoms for Nando's are obscene. All I ever want is Nando's. I also miss Gregg's. What I wouldn't do for an iced split right now. I've found a nice Indian restaurant over here but Chinese just doesn't seem to live up to what we have in Inglaterra. The Chinese takeaway in my hometown is so so so so sooooooo good and I daydream about it probably once a week. I need to stop here or else I will just talk about food forever.

• BRITISH PEOPLE/GEORDIES

This is now just people in general. It's not that the Spanish people I've met aren't nice, they're just not like back home. I miss people being polite. Excessive 'please and thank you'ing isn't a thing here and people just look at me really weirdly in restaurants when I say 'gracias' at every little thing they do. How am I meant to just sit there as someone takes my plate? Also the tram is an issue. Every single stop, people try and get on before people get off. IT'S JUST LOGIC. It'll be faster if you let people off because there will then be space for you to stand in!! Also I miss Geordies because I always miss Geordies no matter where I am. We're just a lovely bunch of people and it's a real shame I haven't found any here. Geordie Alicantinos come talk to me plz.

• NORMALITY

The main thing I miss isn't even a thing I can put into words. I just miss feeling normal. To clarify, I am fine here in Spain... no longer depressed/dreaming of home/looking at skyscanner every day. There's just an ever present feeling that this is not the UK and is not normal and I shouldn't be here and that I don't belong. I'm hyper-aware that this is temporary. Add this to missing people and going into supermarkets and not understanding things written on the packages and then the fact that my Spanish isn't really improving and I just feel like a bit of an alien. Especially with the label of 'erasmus' or 'international student' - we're definitely different. I hope one day I do feel normal walking these streets but at the minute it does just feel like a very very long and difficult holiday. I'm very excited to get back to UEA and feel normal. I've said normal too many times.

Okay so that's it, I think. There's probably more but I'm sleepy and I have to be awake in like 7 hours which isn't ideal. Until next time.

Hasta luego.

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