Terra Nova

Too tired, write up tomorrow - but here's Santander as it loomed out of the mist.

Well! Last night was actually quite fun - after trying for about 40 minutes to sleep in the reclining seat that I'd been allocated by the ferry, I gave up. I'm sure that they've designed them to be as uncomfortable as possible - they even slowly brought themselves upright slowly, so that before you knew where you were you were upright again... not too good! So I went and paid an extra £78 for a cabin, and as soon as I lay down I was convinced it was the best thing I'd ever done. Nothing quite like sleep when you need it most.

Up at about 9am, and up onto the deck in time to see a pod of whales in the distance. I was in good company - there was a mini-cruise of whale watchers taking the ferry to Santander and back to Plymouth just to watch the wildlife, as it's the migration season. Also saw a pod of dolphins. Not a bad start to the day!

Breakfast was crappy, ?3 for the tiniest bowl of frosties... but I had food enough in my cabin.

A few films later, and the Spanish coast was looming on the horizon, pulling itself slowly from the depth of the sea and into view. At this point, my heart started going a bit mad; on the boat it was easy enough to forget why I was actually there - but as soon as I could see something other than the wide open sea the reality struck hard and fast. I hurried down to my cabin to get my stuff, and then sat by the window to see where I'll be living for a year get closer and closer.

I was met at the dock by my new flatmates Alberto and Christina (Chris), who were amazingly nice and paid for the taxi back to the flat, showed me around the local area and took me out with their mates, who've just finished exams. I hope to god I don't have exams that late for Geography!

I was able to keep up with the conversation for the most part, but as midnight drew closer and my tiredness closed in my capacity to speak in Spanish slowly diminished until all I could manage was a laugh and a nod. Still, at least I could still understand most of what was going on!

bedbedbed was lovely.