So I´m just back from the homeland and loving the fact that exams in Málaga are so late and I get to stay until late February. I survived December here including a couple exams and some assessments to hand in. We had time for a Christmassy meal which consisted of dishes from lots of different countries. Despite this and the millions of lights that dazzled the central streets it didn´t feel completely like Christmas here. Being able to go to the beach on the 22^nd December isn´t exactly normal but I did manage to fit it in before flying back to a surprisingly mild Edinburgh. I did have to think twice before speaking to people, although as expected English came back to me very quickly, too quickly in fact, which has made returning to Spain quite challenging. When I first arrived in Aberdeen I couldn´t believe how strong the accent is! It did feel like a treat to be able to speak my own language again and so great to see the people that I hadn´t in 4 months. After 2 weeks it didn´t really seem like I´d ever been away.

So I´m sure especially this first week is going to be particularly challenging. I´ve heard many people say don´t go home during term time and I can see why. I´m excited to be back of course but home feels even further away again. Even on the best year of your life, there is still time to feel homesick but that is unavoidable. I also have deadlines looming over me, one of them an entire chapter of a novel, which seemed easy enough in English but the translating to Spanish part is taking some time. I know my Spanish has improved dramatically this past year but truth is just by living 4 months in a country, it doesn´t make you fluent. With just another 6 weeks to go I know I will have to concentrate a lot more on the study side of Erasmus, which isn´t necessarily a bad thing.

Lectures start again tomorrow. Exams aren´t until February so while everyone at home is frantically studying for their January exams, I still have coursework and normal lectures to attend. It´s a much nicer way to ease us into studying again. I´m also looking forward to catching up with everyone over some tapas or tinto de verano and there might even be time for a bit of travelling yet. I´ve already enjoyed a couple of warm hours of the beach which makes up for the freezing flat. Heating is a weird thing when you´ve been living in the south of Spain for half a year but I already miss it and that´ll be the first thing on my shopping list tomorrow. And other than that, I´m just waiting to find out what 2012 in Málaga has to offer.