Before we get into the all important blog content, you may or may not have seen that Sara Somewhere now has it’s own Instagram account! If you have Instagram and would like to follow along there, you can find it at @sara_somewhere_. See you there!

To follow on from my dad and sister’s visit to Mulhouse, we had decided to make our way to Switzerland for a few days skiing. Now, Switzerland in general is known for being expensive, as is skiing as an activity or a holiday so surely skiing in Switzerland was going to be really expensive? I won’t lie, there are definitely cheaper places but the reason that we decided on Switzerland and not somewhere in France or even Germany is because of the accessibility by train. We only had Wednesday to Sunday and didn’t have access to a car so the place we settled on, Grindelwald, was perfect.

As I mentioned at the end of the last blog, my dad and Kirsty left earlier in the day than me to head to Switzerland as I was working until 1pm. I took my wee suitcase with me to work and left directly from there to go to the train station. The first leg of my journey was just to get to Basel, only 20 minutes and a route I know well at this point. I had a solid 20 minutes to change trains, plenty of time to navigate the station – I should have enjoyed it while it lasted… From Basel, I was on the train for an hour and a half to Spiez, a town on the shore of Lake Thun. In Spiez, I only had three minutes to make my connection. THREE MINUTES!!! I panicked when I first noticed that on my ticket, to the point that I googled what platform I was getting into and what platform I was leaving from. Thankfully I got into 2 and left from 3 so all that was needed was a quick hop across the platform. I went another 20 minutes further along Lake Thun to Interlaken, nestled between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, where there was no need for more panicking because I had 10 minutes to change trains. I was finally on my last train of the day, the one that would wind its way up through the mountains until it reached Grindelwald.

It sounds silly to say this but the landscape in Switzerland is just so… Swiss. It’s exactly what you would think it is, going from the rolling green hills to suddenly great sheets of mountain slicing their way up from the earth to the wooden houses littering the fields. The journey from Basel to Spiez was nice, with my first glimpse of mountains as we pulled into and out again from Bern. From there until Spiez was incredible though. All of a sudden these mountains popped up on one side, sliced through with deep ridges and dusted with snow, and on the other side was Lake Thun. It had this deep turquoise water, darker than the bright turquoise that you might find in the Caribbean. I actually found the area around Spiez much nicer than approaching or around Interlaken. Once we left Interlaken and started heading into the mountains towards Grindelwald, the view out of the train window started to remind me of walking through the edge of Moosch, a small village outside Mulhouse where I’ve gone hiking before. The houses started to get more and more scattered and the mountains more prevalent. We were travelling down a valley, green on either side but heading towards a wall of white. 

I was met at the station by my dad and Kirsty, both waving frantically to make sure that I got off at the right station, Grindelwald Terminal rather than Grindelwald. I didn’t know there was another option! Our apartment was just over the road out of the station, couldn’t have gotten closer if we tried, but we went down to the ski rental shop before going over. The station is part of a big complex that has some shops, ski lockers and very usefully, also the two main lifts to get up to the ski slopes.

Along with Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald is part of the Jungfrau region, sitting in the Bernese Oberland mountains 1034 m above sea level. It is surrounded by mountains, most notably Mönch, Jungfrau and Eiger. The Eiger is the smallest but most well known of the three mountains because of its intimidating north face. The north face is 1,800m high, making it the biggest north face in the Alps and one of the most challenging, and therefore tempting, ascents for climbers. It was first climbed in 1938 but since 1935 at least 64 climbers have died during their attempts. This has earned it the nickname mordwand meaning murder wall in German, a clever play on it’s actual German name, nordwand (north wall). The Jungfraubahn is the railway that climbs from Kleine Scheidegg, one of the main passes and ski stations in the valley, up to the Jungfraujoch, the saddle between Mönch and Jungfrau. It includes a tunnel that goes through the Eiger. It is the highest railway in Switzerland and Europe with the station at the top being the highest in the continent as well.

Grindelwald has three main areas for skiing, Kleine Scheidegg, Lauberhorn and Männlichen. As a ski resort, Grindelwald is great for beginners because it has blue slopes relatively high up, meaning the good snow isn’t kept just for those capable of doing black runs. After an 8 year break, it’s safe to say that that isn’t me anymore! It’s not just skiing though, there are also a number of tobogganing routes and winter hiking paths. Nothing sounds worse to me than winter hiking but we saw lots of people out enjoying them.

Männlichen was where we started on my first day of skiing since I was 16. It hadn’t been quite as long for my dad and Kirsty but still a good three or four years. Because we’d all had an extended break and because we only had a short amount of time to get back into it, we had decided to get things going with a private ski lesson. We took the bubble lift (Männlichenbahn) up from Grindelwald Terminal to Männlichen and I could barely contain my excitement on the way. We met our teacher, Mela, at the top. She was lovely and throughout the lesson was really encouraging. It was good to start things off with someone who could lead us down some runs and fix our technique. We went down a blue run that turns into a red following the Männlichenbahn down to the Holenstein mid station, the halfway point. It being the start of April we were approaching the end of the season so the snow in general was a little icy but not too bad to ski on. Earlier in the season, with better snow, it is possible to ski all the way down past Holenstein and right back to Grindelwald Grund.

We basically just went up and down the same run three times over the course of the two and a half hour lesson. Mela gave us some exercises to practise certain things, like short turn, bending our knees and leaning forward for body position, holding our poles in front of our body and keeping something between them, practising hockey stops (basically emergency stops), 360˚ turns and skiing backwards. I was so surprised by just how quickly it all came back. On the first run, I was a little slow and cautious but by the end of the lesson, it was like I never left! I was always a fan of a bit of speed and I felt that coming back a bit too. What also came back however, on a slightly less fun note, were the muscle pains. Skiing takes a lot of physical effort and after just a few minutes my thighs were screaming and I had some cramp in my feet. For me, it wasn’t too bad and was just part of the normal process of adjusting to your ski boots. Anyone that has ever gone skiing knows that the best part about wearing ski boots is taking them off! Kirsty on the other hand was suffering too much from her boots so stopped in at the equipment shop that is at the top of the Männlichenbahn to get them changed.

At the end of our lesson we stopped in at a cafe at the top of the bubble to have a coffee and some chips. In a bid not to bankrupt ourselves with Swiss prices we had brought some homemade sandwiches with us for lunch but it was nice to get a little hot food and drink as well. We actually decided to head home after our snack because we were all knackered after skiing again for the first time in years. We spent the rest of the afternoon in various stages of passing out, with just a brief trip out to the closest supermarket for provisions.

After a great, if short, day 1, I was ready to get back out there and have a jam packed day 2. The weather had other ideas though. The wind was supposed to be a little heavier today plus there was a chance of rain and was just generally warmer than yesterday. We headed into the station at Terminal to get our stuff from our ski locker and then had a look at the lift map. Because of the wind, the Männlichenbahn was shut and was going to be all day. But never fear, there was another option. The Eiger Express is a gondola that takes you up to the highest point you can ski, the Eigergletscher station.

The wind really picked up as we were going up in the gondola, to the point that we could hear it whistling through our bubble and could feel it swinging about. It really wasn’t pleasant so Kirsty and I distracted ourselves by singing In the Heights until our dad pointed out how inappropriate the song choice was! It was the longest 15 minutes of my life to get to the top but get there we did, only to find out that the Eiger Express was now closed due to high winds. We must have been one of the last groups to get on and got to feel the exact reason that it had been shut.

When we got to the top of the Eiger, there were a few options. You can change to a train heading for Jungfraujoch, via the actual Eiger (which we weren’t going to do because it takes 45 minutes to get up there and costs an extra 60 CHF per person). The next option is to just start skiing, either on a blue, red or black run or there is the train that goes down to another station, Kleine Scheidegg. We decided to take a minute to figure out what to do because none of us had been happy in the gondola and didn’t want to ski in wind like that. In the end we decided to get the train down to Kleine Scheidegg because the high winds meant that there was only one chairlift open. It’s all well and good to find a run to ski down but it’s no help if you can’t get back to the top again! 

Kleine Scheidegg is actually the same height as Männlichen and it is possible to use the runs and lifts to work your way over from one to the other, not that that was something we did or really wanted to do. We took the blue run down from there to the chairlift that was open but the blue was actually quite difficult! For anyone not familiar with difficulty levels for ski slopes, green is a learner slope, usually wide and flat. They aren’t very common in Austria and Switzerland, Grindelwald doesn’t have any. Blue is a beginner slope and red is intermediate. The reds can sometimes be challenging the whole way down or be relatively easy for most of it but have one more difficult section. Black slopes are expert slopes – much steeper and much more challenging! This particular blue run wasn’t steep at all but it was really narrow which none of us liked. There was a red run starting from the same place and ending at Arven as well so we gave that a go and it was much better despite a fairly steep section in the middle that was a bit mogully.

In general, the snow today was much wetter and heavier than the slightly icy snow we’d had the day before and this wasn’t helped by the fact that everyone else that wanted to ski today had also flocked to the area around Kleine Scheidegg and the only chairlift that was consistently running. The slope got worse with each run we did and Kirsty was really struggling with cramp in her feet and shin splints, made worse by the bad snow. We stopped for a little break at the restaurant in Kleine Scheidegg and got some little pizzas to share while we figured out where we stood. It was frustrating because we all wanted to ski more but the weather was really working against us. We got the train down from Kleine Scheidegg to Grindelwald Grund, another small station a short walk away from Terminal (15 minutes with ski boots on, 5 minutes without). It was really cool to wind our way down the mountain, at much closer proximity than in either the Männlichenbahn or the Eiger Express.

After a frustrating but ultimately out of our control day 2, day 3 was exactly what we were all hoping for! It had snowed during the night and still was when we left the house. Most of the lifts were open too which was encouraging to see after yesterday. We started by heading up the bubble to Männlichen but were met with a new issue – visibility was really low because the snow was still coming down. None of the runs had been pisted either so there was a thick layer of powder. We hung around until it cleared a little, although it was still not great. We took the run that we knew well from our lesson on day 1 but it was still really difficult to get down and very tiring. Powder is great when you know how to ski on it, which we all used to but not anymore. We didn’t even make it down to the midstation and we were already exhausted and not having fun. We got a chairlift back up to Männlichenbahn (side note, it had a cover that you could pull down to protect yourself from wind and snow. Great for staying warm, less good if you’re claustrophobic!) and went into the cafe again to regroup.

The final decision was to get the bubble back down and brave the Eiger Express again. Thankfully the wind was a lot lighter than yesterday so we were able to get to the top without fearing for our lives. We got down to Kleine Scheidegg and went down the same red run as yesterday and it finally felt like things were clicking into place. The snow was still quite thick but manageable plus it was a slope we were familiar with. I even began to enjoy the steep section with moguls! The other two tried a path that skirts around that bit and were happy with that. We were bombing up and down there several times, happy as Larry with just a few pauses to go to the bathroom and for falls. It was absolutely the best part of the whole week for all of us. It was a shame that this only came on the last day but at least we got a good day in at the end after a rockier first two days.

The next day we headed home, back to Mulhouse for me and home to Dunblane for my dad and Kirsty. It was so so so so lovely having them here (can you tell I had a good time?). I enjoyed being back on the slopes and it’s made me want to try and go more regularly next year. You can ski in the Vosges, the mountain range in Alsace, so it’s right on my doorstep and ever since I went to Andorra in October, I’ve been tempted to go back for some skiing! My favourite bit of their visit though was just having them in Mulhouse and showing them my life there. Sharing my favourite spots, giving them a tour of my apartment, introducing them to the local cuisine, it made me feel even more at home there because of how comfortable I felt doing it. It’s a good thing I like it so much because there were more visits coming up straight away!

…and I’m going home. Twice in a month! (Bonus points if you know the song reference). Mid-February rolled around and it was finally time for my rescheduled visit home! I was so excited to be going home at last. It has recently dawned on me that I was in France without going home for longer than I was in China in total! That really blew my mind because it felt like I was in China for so much longer than I’ve been in France.

It felt so good to see my family (and pets!) again. Most of my first few days were taken up with spending time with the people I love and not much else. That’s what I had missed most about not getting home at Christmas. I had still had the Christmas food, I had still watched the Christmas movies and felt the Christmas spirit but the most important part of Christmas for me is always spending some uninterrupted down time with my family. That’s what I had missed and so that’s what I wanted most out of this trip. I went on long walks with my dog and my dad, chilled on the sofa with my mum and sisters, had several XXL glasses of wine with my best friend and even overlapped with a visit from my aunt and cousin who live in England! We even had a bit of snow!

Besides stocking up on quality time with my family, my first priority was getting my booster vaccine and the second was getting a haircut! Both would have been possible in France but just a lot more complicated. Because I had my first two vaccinations in Scotland, it was simpler to also get the third one there as well. As for the haircut, I hate getting my hair cut as it is because it never turns out how I want it. Add in having to navigate that in French and you’re asking for a disaster. I went for a pretty hefty chop as well, in my usual pattern of letting my hair grow long enough that it starts to piss me off and then chopping it short. I was impressed that Amber, my hairdresser, managed to do exactly what I wanted with very vague instructions. This was my first proper haircut since waaaay before the pandemic (though I did have two kitchen trims in between) and I was so happy with the end result!

After spending the first weekend at home in Dunblane, I headed down to London bright and early on the Monday morning. Some of my best friends are based down there and even more uni friends have gone to the dark side and moved there since we graduated so I had a lot of of people to catch up with. I was staying with my friend Jesse in Stoke Newington so the first day was spent exploring around there. Jesse took me to Abney Park Cemetery, a little green haven in the middle of the Hackney streets. You enter and within a couple of metres you are engulfed in the trees, the sounds of the streets left behind. We did a little turn around there and then headed to Clissold Park. In the evening our friend Amy came through from Surrey and we went out for a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner at a Turkish restaurant. No one else I’d rather spend it with! There’s usually a fourth person in this particular group but unfortunately Lucy couldn’t be there because even though she was also in London, she had covid! We finished the night with possibly the cheapest gin and tonic to be found in the whole of London – only £3.20!

My second day in London was very chill, spoiled a little by some horrible weather. I didn’t mind though because at this point I don’t go to London to DO things, I go to see people. We got lunch from a 24 hour bagel shop (opposite the 24 hour baklava shop, for all your midnight snack needs). Jesse lives right next to Stamford Hill which is an area of Hackney with the largest concentration of Hasidic Jews in Europe. The bagel shop is known for its salt beef bagel which me, Jesse and Amy all got. Super thick slabs of the tenderest beef I’ve ever tasted with mustard and gherkins. That evening I met up with a bunch of uni people in Canary Wharf for dinner and a drink. This group all seemed to have ended up either living or working around there (other than one who came in from Surrey for the evening) so it made sense to meet there. It was my first time in that area and it has a very different personality to the areas of London I’m used to!

For my last morning we headed over to Jesse’s family’s house to have brunch with them, some lovely pancakes! Jesse gave me a proper tour on the way over, showing me all the sights from Ridley Road market to her old high school. In the end I could only stay for about an hour before I needed to leave to go to the station to head home. It was a lovely few days, just what I needed to catch up with some people I’d really been missing. There was a bit of a storm blowing through that disrupted my travel back but after a few delays and a lift home from Edinburgh, I made it!

Back in Scotland, I went to Glasgow the following evening to meet my friend Hannah for dinner. We went to a place called The Hug and Pint that does small, vegan, Asian plates and then went for a few drinks. We ended up in a pub where her flatmate was playing in a trad circle. Immaculate vibes.Being in Glasgow even just for one evening really made me want to live there one day. It’s been on my mind for a while that I think I could like Glasgow. It’s something very different from Edinburgh, something new. It’s a bit of a Scottish cultural hub, in a way that is missing from Edinburgh, despite it being the capital and having so much history. Trad and folk music have such a presence as does Gaelic and the more I learn of Gaelic the more I want to keep learning and get involved more.

The next day saw an early birthday and very late Christmas dinner! At this point it’s almost a tradition for us to have Christmas dinner not at Christmas (because it’s also almost a tradition that I’m not there at Christmas) and so we combined it with a birthday meal this year! We started with our traditional starter, a spicy tomato soup and then a turkey or a veggie option with all the trimmings. We followed up with a raspberry semifreddo, a semi frozen dessert made in this instance with Greek yoghurt.

And that brings us to my birthday! Or should I say our birthday, I am a twin after all. Unfortunately my mum got covid for the second time halfway through my visit so our day started with a socially distant visit to wave at her through the window! The main event involved going through to Edinburgh for some drinks. Amy and I parked ourselves in the Pear Tree and had lots of our lovely friends drop in on us – my uni friends, Amy’s uni friends, friends from home and others that are close enough to Edinburgh to pop in and say hello. It was such a fun afternoon with a great mix of people so thank you to anyone reading who came along and made my 24th special!

And with that I flew back home after a lovely ten days. It felt great to spend some time at home in Scotland and surrounded by family and friends. So great in fact that it wasn’t two weeks before I was back again! This time it was just for a long weekend, from Thursday to Sunday, in order to attend the Edinburgh University Swimming and Water Polo Club (EUSWPC) alumni weekend. EUSWPC was a massive part of my university experience and the alumni weekend is always a good time, with everyone from recent graduates to those who left 10 years or more making the trip back.

The celebrations didn’t start until Friday night so I had a bit of time to catch up with uni friends first, some of whom I’d seen at my birthday a few weeks before and others I hadn’t. I saw my friend Hannah for a bahn mi at a little place in the Arches and then a few drinks. She had just moved back to Edinburgh from Glasgow and was letting me crash in her room over the weekend while she was in London. We had a few drinks at the Library Bar in Teviot, one of Edinburgh University’s student unions, for old times sake until she had to go and make dinner with some friends. I spent the rest of my evening with two of my old flatmates who are still in Edinburgh, Lizzie and Georgia. We had a takeaway, drank some wine and watched Gogglebox then an embarrassingly bad rom-com. It took me right back to Friday nights in lockdown in the Rat Flat, our affectionate nickname for our home as students.

On Friday I spent some time in a cafe by the Meadows working on my lesson plan for the next week. My friend Laurence dropped in on me there and then on my way back to Hannah’s I dropped in on my friend Jack. Friday night was the Welcome Drinks for the alumni weekend which started in Vodka Revolution and ended in Subway (a club not the sandwich shop) for my first proper night out since before the pandemic! It was great to see everyone, especially my Queens (the name of the women’s seconds team that I was part of and eventually captain of). Because of the pandemic, we obviously didn’t have alumni in 2021 so the last time I had seen a lot of people was the 2020 event, just a few weeks before lockdown. I loved catching up with everyone but loved the club part of the night a lot less.

On Saturday I got to see my mum! I fought off my minor hangover to meet her, her partner and Amy at Loudon’s for brunch. Afterwards me and my mum went for a wee walk around Edinburgh, just the two of us. It was nice to spend some quality time together after missing out on it during my last visit. We sat in Princes Street Gardens for a while to people (and dog) watch. Eventually it was time for me to head to the pool for arguably the main event of the weekend, the actual water polo match.

Every year there is a swim competition, a men’s match and a women’s match, all alumni versus students. There was such a great buzz around the pool with people packing in to watch, covid-related capacity be damned. Alumni had won the swim match and it looked like they were going to win the men’t match as well. There were a lot of alumni that wanted to play in the women’s match, which suited me because that meant I could go in for a few minutes, play hard and get out again. I got to see my old coach Derek which was so lovely as I didn’t get to see him last year when I was captain of the Queens because of covid. He was coaching the alumni team which was great because he knows everyone and their skills after having coached pretty much everyone that was there. It was a good game, I had some good battles with a new girl from the firsts team until I got an (accidental) fist to the face! At the end of the match, which we won, I was taken by surprise when I was given Queen of the Match! This is essentially the MVP, something I never got while actually at uni. The Queens and EUSWPC mean so much to me, as does the sport of water polo itself, and this felt like the cherry on top of a great four years in the club.

That evening was the formal alumni reception, dress code cocktail attire (if anyone knows what that means, please let me know, I’m still confused). I wore my one and only (and favourite) nice dress and heels, at least long enough to get some nice pictures and then my trainers went back on. It was a good chance to catch up with people that either weren’t at the drinks the night before or that I didn’t have the chance to speak to. The night ended at Big Cheese, Edinburgh University’s club night, which has been EUSWPC’s go to for many years. I seemed to have aged out of the club life a little and I headed home pretty early like the night before.

Sunday morning is made for brunching and I obliged by meeting my old flatmates again before I had to go to the airport. We went to a nice spot in the West End called Indigo Yard for some good food and some good laughs. After that it was time to head to the airport. The journey home was pretty easy if a bit slow once I landed in Basel, as it always is getting back to Mulhouse on a Sunday evening.

I wasn’t meant to be home twice in such quick succession but it felt so good. I feel fully stocked up on quality time with my family and friends. Scotland isn’t where I want to live at the moment, or really in the near future, but it’s always nice to be back in the homeland. While I may call other places home, Scotland will always be Home. Having the time away from Mulhouse, I’m also ready to take on the remaining weeks in the semester and enjoy what is still to come!

Andorra might seem like a rogue choice for the second half of my trip but it’s actually somewhere I’ve wanted to go for years. There something about it’s tiny size, it’s position entirely enveloped by France and Spain and the fact that it’s relatively unknown by many people. I myself didn’t know much about it at all but just the fact that it’s a bit off the beaten track drew me in. I knew I was leaving Lucy in Valencia on the Wednesday, the same day her parents were arriving, so I thought I might as well make use of my remaining time by going somewhere else – and why not Andorra? This was my chance to finally satisfy my curiosity about the little country. In doing some research before booking my trip, I read varying opinions from different travel blogs about whether Andorra was worth a visit but regardless, I knew it was something I had to do for myself.

A little background for those of you who, like myself, don’t have a lot of existing knowledge about Andorra. Andorra, or technically the Principality of Andorra, is a landlocked microstate located in the Pyrenees between France and Spain. It is the sixth smallest state in Europe with an area of just 468 square kilometres, making it about a third of the size of London, with a population of around 77,500. Catalan is the official language but French and Spanish are also widely spoken. Tourism accounts for the majority of Andorra’s GDP due to it’s tax-free shopping, ski resorts and hiking paths. Fun fact, in 2013 Andorra had the world’s highest life expectancy at 81 – must be all that mountain air!

From Valencia I took a bus to Andorra, via Barcelona, which took about 8 hours in total. It’s nothing I’m not used to but the buses were definitely more comfortable than the chicken buses in Honduras. There is no airport in Andorra nor any railways so the only way to enter is by road. The scenery along the journey was stunning, with the arid mountains on one side and the sea on the other on the way to Barcelona and then climbing higher and higher as we approached Andorra in the second leg of the journey. I arrived in to Andorra around 6pm. Andorra is in the Pyrenees so the last hour or so was coming through these amazing mountains that climbed up to the sky with the road sitting in the depths of the valley.

I arrived into the capital of Andorra La Vella, the highest capital in Europe. As most of Andorra is made up of mountains, the city is nestled in one of the country’s three valleys. I walked from the bus station up to my hostel which was technically in Escaldes-Engordany, another town that is basically attached to Andorra la Vella. It was about half an hour walk, slightly uphill all the way through the main shopping district. After a long day of travelling all I was really interested in that evening was going straight back out to find some food!

I had two full days and three nights in Andorra. I figured that between the two days I should have one in the city and one in the mountains. After looking at the weather, the next day, Thursday, looked like the better option for heading into the mountains. Considering that I didn’t have any proper hiking gear and that I would be going by myself, some of the more difficult or isolated hiking routes weren’t appropriate. I asked Rebecca who works at the hostel if she could recommend somewhere. She looked at the fact I was in jeans and sneakers and suggested taking the bus to a town called La Massana and walking from there to another town called Ordino.

It took me a while to find the right bus stop but eventually I was heading out of the city. La Massana isn’t very far from Andorra La Vella but feels quite different. I could really see the presence of the ski industry even though there was no snow yet. There were ski hire shops everywhere, ski schools, and even a chair lift heading into the mountains. It also feels more in the mountains than Andorra La Vella which sits in a valley surrounded by mountains by comparison. The timing of my trip, at the end of October meant that I had gorgeous views of the autumn leaves accompanied by soft sun and crisp air.

I headed out of La Massana towards Ordino as instructed. The walk took about 40 minutes in total, heading uphill along a valley. The sun was shining and it really wasn’t cold at all, though Andorra was definitely cooler for me having come from Spain, mostly because of it’s altitude. By the time I reached Ordino I had taken my jacket and jumper off and was just walking around in a tshirt so still not that cold! All the way up I had views of gorgeous mountains with the most amazing autumn colours blazing across the forests. On my way I passed by a vineyard and also the Ruta del Ferro which charts iron production in the area.

Ordino was cute and even smaller than La Massana. I wanted to find somewhere to sit and have a drink and I came across a place that had such an amazing view that I had to stop. I sat for a drink and some lunch – a delicious crispy-based pizza topped with rocket, tomato, parmesan, beef carpaccio and a balsamic glaze. A big shoutout to what might have been my best meal of the holiday! The view itself was so gorgeous I almost felt a bit emotional! I really took my time there, enjoying the crisp air and the warm sunshine while eating my pizza and appreciating the view.

I got the bus back from Ordino and had a pit stop at my hostel for a wee rest before heading out for a walk around town. Safe to say my step count was off the charts this week! I set out towards the old part of Andorra la Vella that has most of the main things to see. The sun was starting to go down so it was a really nice light. First up, and probably most surprisingly, I walked past a sculpture by none other than Salvador Dali. The Nobility of Time (or ‘La Noblesse du Temps’) has been there since 2010. I remember studying Salvador Dali at school so it was pretty cool to see an authentic piece out in the wild.

Public art installations are actually an important feature around Andorra, including another of Andorra’s must sees – the 7 Poets. The seven figures sit around 10m off the ground and represent the seven parishes of Andorra. It can be found below Andorra’s government building and lights up at night in a range of colours. Nearby is Casa de la Vall, an old manor house that was the parliamentary building until as recently as 2011. The square in front of Casa de la Vall gives an amazing view over Andorra la Vella, over to Escaldes and the surrounding mountains.

After going for a walk in the mountains yesterday and also walking around the old town, I decided to take it pretty easy today. There wasn’t really much else I wanted to do and after almost a week of travelling and some pretty busy, activity-heavy days I was feeling a bit of the old travelling fatigue. I had toyed with the idea of going to Caldea, the famous spa, as it’s not actually super expensive but in the end I decided against it. I had a slow morning and then went out just to have a wee walk around and a coffee, mostly for something to do. I headed down to the central park and then looped back up to the main shopping street.

I spent most of the afternoon just chilling in the common room at my hostel, reading my book and chatting to people. One of the things I like most about staying in hostels is making friends with other travellers. It can be an intimidating thought when you’re by yourself and it definitely pushes me outside my comfort zone but sometimes that’s where the best experiences and connections happen. My hostel was full of Argentinians (and one Venezuelan) who had all recently arrived in Andorra for seasonal work. I got chatting to them on my first evening and got to know them more during the rest of my stay. It was nice chatting to them in Spanish, though the Argentinian accent is one I find difficult to understand. It was fine while I was directly involved in the conversation but it got a bit overwhelming once they all started talking to each other. After just a day though, I was able to follow their conversations a bit more as I got used to the accent. I ended up speaking way more Spanish while in Andorra than I actually did in Spain!

Now might be a good point to talk about some interesting things I noticed around Andorra. First of all, while I’ve already mentioned the fact that French and Spanish are both widely spoken, I only ever used Spanish. In my hostel, this was obviously because of all the Argentinians that were staying there but even when I was out in the streets, I heard much more Spanish than French. Whenever I was in a cafe or shop or spoke to a local I would naturally start in Spanish. I think Spanish’s proximity to Catalan, the actual official language of Andorra, might have something to do with it being more widespread, or at least seeming that way. Interestingly, the school system is also split into Andorran schools, Spanish schools and French schools, with the teachers in the latter two systems being funded by Spain and France respectively. The student population is pretty evenly split between the three, with slightly more in the Andorran system and slightly less in the Spanish system. Andorra also doesn’t have it’s own postal system. It relys on either the French La Poste or the Spanish El Correo.

I could definitely see the effect of the ski industry, even though there was no snow yet. Particularly in the smaller towns like La Massana I was reminded of the places in France I’ve skiied just without the snow, which I think is coming soon! The temperature was already getting cooler though I was lucky to still have good weather, at least for my first day. It was cool and clear and with blue skies and sunshine there was nowhere nicer to be. Saying that, on my second day I saw just how easy it is for the sky to fall in. It also took a long time for the sun to appear in the mornings and the opposite in the evening, the sun disappeared long before it actually got dark. I blame this on the steepness of the sides of the valley that Andorra La Vella and Escaldes-Engordany sit in.

When it comes to the people of Andorra I have nothing but good things to say. Rebecca, who worked in my hostel, was lovely and very helpful whenever I, or anyone else, had questions. She made the hostel a warm and friendly place from the moment I arrived. Everyone I encountered, from servers in restaurants and cafes, the woman in the tourism office and the old lady at the bus stop who helped me find the bus I was looking for, to the woman I got chatting to before my bus out of the country, all were very open and willing to help or chat. I’ve already spoken about the other people in my hostel that I met and got to know, they had such an impact on my trip as well and are a big reason I’ll look back on Andorra with such fondness. It actually wasn’t just my hostel that was brimming with Argentinians but the whole city of Andorra la Vella. Just walking down the street I would see multiple people sipping on mate, a traditional tea-like drink from Argentina served in a gourd cup and drunk through a metal straw.

My journey back to Mulhouse started with a bus back to Barcelona on Saturday. I had the afternoon and evening there before flying out early on Sunday morning. I arrived about 2pm and walked to my hostel, stopping for some food on the way. It turned out the hostel I had booked was on the Passeig de Gracia, which I didn’t know by name but recognised when I got there. It’s one of the main roads that comes off the opposite side of Placa de Catalunya from Las Ramblas. It’s also just one block away from Casa Batlló, my favourite Gaudí house in all of Barcelona. My hostel was huge, quite a different atmosphere from the cosy, friendly vibe in Andorra. It had a fantastic roof terrace though, with views across Barcelona.

It was pretty late in the afternoon by the time I was ready to do anything, plus I was tired and Barcelona was uncomfortably humid so I decided to just go for a short walk. First up I headed to Palau de la Musica Catalana, quite possibly my mum’s favourite building in the entire world. I obviously had to phone her to rub it i- ahem, I mean let her enjoy it too… I looped round to the Barcelona cathedral (different from the Sagrada Familia) and headed back to the hostel to prepare for my 4am start.

After one of the worst night’s sleep of my life, I was on a plane and back in Mulhouse by 11am. It was a very easy journey home, if a little slow. As it was a Sunday, I had to wait longer than usual for the bus then the train then the tram back to my apartment. Even after an incredible week away, it’s safe to say I was happy to get home and into my own bed!

I really didn’t know what to expect when it came to Andorra but I was blown out of the water. I mostly came to satisfy an interest that I’ve had for years. I was prepared for it to be a bit underwhelming but at least then I would know. But that is absolutely not what happened at all. I loved my few days here. One thing I would say is that if you come any time other than the ski season, you probably don’t need very long. If you wanted to do a bit more hiking by all means come for a few extra days but my two days were perfect. I’m very tempted to come back in the future to experience Andorra in full swing during winter but I’m glad that I came when I did for my first time. The blazing autumn colours of the leaves were a sight to behold and were such a gorgeous contrast with the bright blue sky and dusty, far off mountains. I loved Andorra and think it’s perfect for a more unique long weekend away. A hidden hem indeed!

Carrying on from my whistlestop trip to Paris, there’s no rest for the wicked as I left the next day for Spain! I had a week off from classes so had decided to go and visit my friend Lucy who is studying in Valencia for a semester at the moment. The plan was to stay for a few days and then head north to Andorra. It’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit and this seemed like as good a chance as any! You can hear more about that part of my trip in the next blog.

Thankfully my flight wasn’t until late afternoon so I was able to sleep in after my busy day in Paris. The travelling was all pretty easy, the flight is about two hours from Basel to Valencia and I only had a backpack with me. I breezed through everything on either side, so much so that I actually beat Lucy to the airport. It was so good to see her when she finally got there as we’ve been able to support each other going through some of the same things in the past few months with moving to a new European country around the same time.

We took the metro straight to somewhere in the old town to get some food. My first night in Spain called, of course, for some tapas. Lucy had heard good things about the place we headed to but in the end it was a bit disappointing. It didn’t have a lot of choices so we just had some olives, manchego cheese, olive oil crisps and a beer. We caught up on how France has been and how Valencia has been and then walked around a little bit to find somewhere else. We found a new place near the Mercado Central and got some patatras bravas and a wee cod fritter each. I also tried a version of Valencia’s signature drink, Agua de Valencia. Typically it is made with cava or champagne, orange juice, vodka and gin. The one I tried was a little different, I think it had a little bit of cranberry juice or something in it but either way it was very nice!

Lucy actually still had classes that week including an 8am the next day so we headed home after we finished eating. We walked through Plaza del Ayuntamiento which is the city’s main square with the council buildings, post office and art museum. The buildings are all beautiful and very Spanish looking. Our taxi got us just opposite the main train station and the bull ring which looks like a mini coliseum. Apparently they still run the bulls in Valencia even though a man died during a bull running festival in the Valencia area only days after I was there.

The next morning I headed off on my own, following some of Lucy’s recommendations while she was in class. Lucy had suggested that I head down to the City of Arts and Sciences (La Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciènces) which is a really cool area to wander around. It was about a 25 minute walk from her apartment in lovely warm, sunny weather. The main buildings there house a science museum, an IMAX theatre and a performance centre in some incredible architecture. There is also the Umbracle which is a strip of enclosed garden space that was full of cats! From there I went and sat in La Turia which is a park that fills the old river basin. After a flood in the 1950s the river was diverted out of the city and the space converted into a 12km park that runs from the City of Arts and Sciences in the east around the north of the city centre.

After lunch – a local favourite of tortilla española in a baguette – we headed towards the beach. This was one of the only things that I requested we do because I love the beach and the sea but am very solidly landlocked where I am in Alsace. We walked via the port but it still didn’t take long to get there. It’s a really long, wide beach and it had some decent waves, not quite big enough to surf in but fun for swimming. After we’d been for a swim and jumped around in the waves a while we headed to a bar just off the beach that Lucy wanted to try called La Fábrica de Hielo. It was a really cool space that apparently does live music sometimes. After that it was time for some dinner and I couldn’t leave Spain without eating some paella and drinking some sangria!

We started my second full day by going to the Mercado Central where I got some maracuya juice (passion fruit, a favourite from my time in Honduras) and a caramelised onion and goats cheese empanada. From there we walked around the old town and saw La Estrecha Valencia, the narrowest building in Europe which is just 107cm wide! We headed towards Torres de Serranos, one of the gates in the old city walls that gives you a good view over La Turia and the city. The afternoon included a stop at 100 Montaditos, a little chain that serves cheap beer and tiny little sandwiches, and Cafe Ubik, both in the Russafa neighbourhood, an area popular with young people. Cafe Ubik is really more of a bar and a bookshop than a cafe but was really cool. At this point we were really just killing time until going to a Honduran restaurant for dinner, the second of my specific requests for my time in Valencia.

Valencia has quite a few Latin American restaurants and even a few specifically Honduran ones. Lucy was in Honduras with me so we were both super excited for Honduran food but a little apprehensive in case it didn’t live up to our fond memories. The restaurant was called El Saborcito Hondureño and was decked out with a neon sign with the name of the restaurant and also the outline of Honduras itself. We obviously had to start with a Salva Vida, one of Honduras’ national beers, and then decided to split a couple of things. We ordered a portion of baleadas con huevo (a flour tortilla folded in half with refried beans, dry cheese called queso seco, mantequilla which is a bit like sour cream and scrambled eggs in the middle), catrachas (a deep fried tortilla topped with refried beans and cheese) and pupasas de queso y frijoles (tortillas stuffed with refried beans and cheese). It was… perfect. It tasted exactly like in Honduras and immediately took both of us back. When we were paying we got talking a little to the staff and I’m pretty sure they’re all a Honduran family which explains the authentic taste.

We ended the night with a drink at another bar by the beach, Mercabañal. It was like a food hall with different food and drink vendors. It was Lucy’s 23rd birthday the next day so we had a pre-birthday drink before heading back to her flat to celebrate at midnight. It was a nice way to finish my time in Valencia and visiting Lucy. My bus left at 10am the next morning so that pretty much wraps up my time in Spain. Even though I’ve been on wee staycations in the UK, this felt like my first proper holiday since Covid started and it was amazing. I really liked Valencia as a city, it’s a bit bigger than Mulhouse but not an unmanageable size. There’s lots to do, lots of neighbourhoods to explore and of course the beach is a big plus! Thank you to Lucy for being my host, tour guide and translator for the length of my stay – your 5 star Tripadvisor review is coming soon!

The last thing I posted on here were some reflections on coming back to the UK. I had just started Chinese classes in Edinburgh and was coming to terms with my early return. I wasn’t sure whether or not I was going to keep posting on here. Despite having several drafts in various stages of completion, I felt like maybe the blog had run its course and that I might be milking it if I kept posting. Plus, with all my classes and starting up all my social and sporting activities again, I suddenly had a lot less time than I had in Dalian!

Now however, things have changed. With the coronavirus now an increasingly serious situation here in the UK (there will definitely be a blog about that one), we are all locked down in our houses, trying to come up with new ways to pass the time. Taking all of that into account, and suddenly with a lot more time on my hands, I figured everyone else has nothing better to do than read any blogs I write!

So first of all, I thought I would catch everyone up with what I got up to on my (reluctant) return. It started, of course, with some bittersweet reunions. My mum met me at the airport which was very tearful and overwhelming. When we got home I woke up Kirsty who, despite being rather unresponsive, was very happy to see me. I went over to my dad’s the next evening to see him AND HAVE THE ALL IMPORTANT REUNION WITH MY DOG. The only person left to see was Amy. She was up in Aberdeen at university but I planned to go up and visit as soon as I could.

Continuing the reunions I went out for dinner that week with my best friend Kathryn and then to Deep Sea World for the day with my friend Amy. I went in to Edinburgh for the weekend to catch up with all my uni friends. Laurence, the only other person from my group that was on a year abroad but in Spain, just so happened to be back that weekend too for some early birthday celebrations.

I finally made it up to Aberdeen about a week after I got home and got to see Amy for the first time in five months!!! We had a great few days that included a trip to the Ythan Estuary to see the seals, an early birthday night out with all Amy’s friends and a visit to the cheese cafe. I also met up with a couple of my own friends who are up in Aberdeen, one of which was at the avocado cafe!

We both went back down to Dunblane together because we had tickets to see the musical Six in Edinburgh at the weekend. A brief moment to praise the wonder that is Six. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like if the six wives on Henry VIII formed a pop group, this show is for you. That or you just enjoy six badass women absolutely killing it on stage to songs based on various pop sensations. Amazing. Empowering. Definitely not to be missed. I also got the chance to see the Lion King a few weeks later. I first saw it when I was 12 and in the 10 years since then I’d forgotten just how beautiful and meticulously designed every single aspect of it is. Wow.

For one last visit I went up to Dundee for a night out with my friend Carla. We’ve known each other for several years through water polo, we’ve played on various teams together or against each other over the years. The day I went up just so happened to be a social with the Dundee University Swimming and Water Polo club. The freshers were in charge and turned the tables so they were dressed up as professors and everyone else as students.

My last hurrah before settling back down in Edinburgh was a trip to London. My mum had planned to take my two sisters to London as a birthday trip for both of them, fitting in a few musicals while down there. Now that I was back she told us that she wanted me to go instead of her so that we could have our first trip together, just us three sisters. All I can say is thank you because it was a great few days!

We didn’t have long but we packed a whole lot in, despite a slightly delayed start due to our flight being cancelled. No worries though, we were just put on the next flight two hours later. We started our first night having pizza on Brick Lane with one of Amy’s friends from uni who is on placement down there this year. From there we went for a few drinks in Boxpark in Shoreditch.

Our second day started with a very windy walk from our hotel near the Tower of London to the Breakfast Club, next to Borough Market. A delicious way to kick the day off. From there we headed to Camden and met up with one of my friends, Nina. We wanted to just have a wander around the markets but I was also keen to check out the Vagina Museum, a pop up that opened last year and has an interesting exhibition called ‘Muff Busters’. We battled some horrible weather to get down to Kirsty’s favourite area of the city – the theatre district! We went to the Theatre Cafe, that is all things musical theatre themed, soundtracks on in the background, show posters all around and some very clever drink names (for example I had the Defying Gravi-TEA, green of course). To finish the day we went to Chinatown (a nice throwback for me, sad face) for dinner before seeing Dear Evan Hansen, one of my favourite musicals EVER. And it did not disappoint. There were chills, there were tears, even a momentary technical issue, just because we’re special.

Day three was a little more chilled after our jam packed day two. First off, we had a little adventure to the Garden at 120 – a rooftop garden on the top of a random insurance building in the City of London. It’s got great views down to Canary Wharf and across the river but the views to the north are blocked by the likes of the Gherkin and the Cheese Grater. From there we walked back over to Covent Garden (really getting our steps in) and had lunch in a pizza place over there. We met up with another of my friends, Jesse, and her girlfriend for a few drinks before heading to our second show, Come From Away. It is an incredibly moving musical about a town in Newfoundland, Canada where 28 planes were diverted after 9/11. As you can imagine there are certain scenes that are rather harrowing but the overwhelming impression that you are left with is the strength and openness of humanity.

We left London the next morning and I was back to Edinburgh where the classes that Edinburgh uni had put on for us had started while I was away. I moved in with my friends Jack and Conlan who I had stayed with when I visited Shanghai and had obviously had to come home from China too.

Despite the fact I would much rather have been in China, being back in Edinburgh was great. I was back with all my friends, having catch ups over coffee, nights out, dinner parties, days spent in the library, people’s birthday parties and pizza or game nights. I was also able to join my water polo team, the Queens, again and play in matches. I went up to Dundee and over to Glasgow and Stirling for matches and even managed to get some goals in. I also happened to be back over the time that the club was having its AGM. I had run for a position at the end of my first year but wasn’t successful and didn’t think that I was going to be able to run for any other year. But you are now talking to next year’s Treasurer! There were also plenty of socials, including the alumni weekend which is always a big event in the club calendar. At alumni I got to see Kim who had been working in Shanghai and I’d met up with while I was there and also a girl called Hannah who had been working in Hong Kong, both of whom had also been forced to come home because of the virus.

All in all I packed a lot into the seven or so weeks between fleeing the virus on one side of the world to being locked down because of it on the other. It’s a good thing I did because I’ll be living off those memories for the foreseeable future. In the meantime I hope everyone is staying safe, sane and, most importantly, HOME! There are definitely a few more blog posts coming so I hope they keep you somewhat entertained, or at least pass the time as we ride out this lockdown together.