SUMMER 2019 -- A nostalgic photodump of my holidays in Spain (someone pls bring summer back)

Yes I know it's October and kinda late to be posting about my summer, no I don't care, my blog my rules

I guess this is mostly just me being in denial over the fact that it's October and no longer summer and nearly 2020 and I'm in year 13 now and my exams are next year and yeah mind if I SCREAM

This July, I went to visit family in Galicia, Spain. It was very hot and very tiring (making awkward small talk with adults who I barely know is so draining for me) but it was also really amazing in so many ways (seeing my coussies! Swimming in the sea! Staying in hotels! Almost breaking my knee in a crash cart! -- ok not that last one). We went mostly for my cousin's First Communion, and to spend some days at the beach with my aunt, uncle and cousin, as well as to visit the family in general (we hadn't visited in nearly two years - time goes wayyy too fast honestly). 

So anyway, it's photo dump time!

I took a whole load of photos of the Galician countryside on the drive from the airport to my mum's family's town. Most of these were taken from a moving car, so excuse the somewhat shitty quality:

We stayed in my mum's grandad's old flat, in the same neighbourhood as my grandma. It was on the fourth floor. There was no lift. Going up and down those flights of stairs every day was... interesting.

This was the view from one of the windows: 

The day after we arrived was my cousin's First Communion celebration. Considering I'd had a grand total three hours' sleep the night before (it was so hot and stuffy in my room I could barely breathe, and there was really loud music playing nearby, plus I never sleep well on the first night in a new place) it was actually alright. There was a big meal which tasted amazing, and I hung out and talked with my eleven-year-old cousin a lot (my younger cousin was off playing with other kids the whole time). The restaurant where we had the meal was really pretty, too. 

I'm not going to post photos from the actual communion (don't wanna post pics of my family), but this is me being a typical Basic Teenager and taking mirror selfies in the bathroom in the middle of the get-together

Embrace the Basic Bitch-ness

There was this lake just outside the restaurant. It was such a beautiful place 😍

While we were in my family's town there was an event called Las Fiestas, which are basically country-wide celebrations where there are loads of food stalls and attractions for kids set up all over the centre of town for a few days and everyone stays up until late and has fun. It's not really my thing -- crowds and bright lights and loud music generally do not get along with me -- but I still had a pretty good time. I went on the crash carts with my cousins, which was fun for about five minutes until I hit my knee twice on a metal part of the cart and it hurt like hell and I decided to get off because I had managed to go seventeen and a half years without breaking a single bone and that was not going to change because of some bloody crash carts (those things were a death trap, honestly). 

I built this with my nine-year-old cousin. It's one of the dragons from Harry Potter. It took me like an hour to build, I am embarrassingly bad at Lego (my cousin is basically a Master Builder, he can build anything, I felt so judged)

There's this family of street cats that live in my grandma's neighbourhood and are cared for by people who live nearby. They're a mummy cat and three grown-up kid cats and I love them so much, they're adorable 

A random square that I thought looked aesthetic, IDK. 

And then we went to the beach! 

This was the view from my bedroom window while we stayed there. 

We went with my nine-year-old cousin, aunt, uncle, and my aunt's friend, and stayed in a villa in a small town by the sea. The villa was in a really beautiful remote area, it was so peaceful

There were rock pools

Prettyyyy😍

One of the days, my mum and I went for a walk along the beach in the afternoon and it started raining. We got soaked through, but then the sun came out and we got to see this gorgeous rainbow over the sea 😍 It was magical and so worth it.

On our way back from the beach, we stopped by Santiago de Compostela (which is where the other half of my family lives) and saw this fireworks display, which was so amazing (the crowds were awful though, ew I hate crowds)

After spending a few more days in my grandma's town, we spent the last few days in Santiago, which is just. The Most Aesthetic city you could ask for. There's a cathedral and loads of really pretty streets and I just love it there

(sorry to all the random tourists I accidentally took pictures of, collateral damage I'm afraid)

Santiago Cathedral! It's massive, and so beautiful

The edited Instagram version 😂

The cathedral at night through the trees 😍 I love this picture, it looks like a magical castle in the sky, it's a shame it's a little blurry or this would be perfect

The lightning was terrible that day, but look at this pretty park!

My mum and dad actually went to university in Santiago, and my mum took me on a tour of the university campus, pointing out the different buildings she had lessons and accommodation in throughout the years, and telling me stories about her time there. It was an amazing experience to see the place that my parents studied and made memories in so many years before I was even born. It made me really excited to start my own university adventure next year

Aaaand that's everything! We went home after that, and I spent the rest of the summer holidays chilling out at home and doing summer homework (sixth form has no chill😥). I feel like my summer went way to fast, I need another summer holidays now pls and thanks 😭

Talk to me: did you do anything fun over the summer? Go anywhere? Did you feel like it went way to fast, or is it just me?

Also I know I promised an announcement: I'm working on it! It'll be up soon.

See ya

>>Andrea