Moving To Madrid (Again)

I sit in my bed writing this post exactly 18 months after a blog post called “Moving To Madrid” – and so I’ve had to tag “Again” on so that WordPress doesn’t shout at me for having two blog posts with the same name! Last time I’d just moved here to start work with Erretres as an intern, but this time I sit in bed awaiting to start my full time job with them tomorrow morning.

As you probably know by now from my last blog post, I have accepted a job to work here permanently and so just yesterday I left from England to start my next chapter here in the big city. The moving process kicked off well before then however, as I had to scoot around Leeds and Burnley to say goodbye to everyone I could get hold of!

As you can see above, I started with a couple of days in Leeds, where I visited everyone I could including a bunch of friends who are either designers or have somehow been sucked into our design world. Convening at Belgrave, I had a lovely evening catching up and seeing everyone off whilst sipping lemonade (no cider due to a bad head) in one of our favourite old haunts.

After hugging and waving everyone off it was time to head back to Burnley for my last day at Burnley Youth Theatre, where I’ve worked on and off for almost six years. What I didn’t expect was a big surprise buffet, complete with a theatrical hand-clicking opening and a background of Spanish music!

After helping ourselves to heaps of chorizo, jamón, olives and even some nice warm churros, the team gathered and it was time to make a quick speech – something I am hopelessly bad at, but I gave it a go. More hugging ensued, and sooner or later it was Wednesday morning and still without having packed a thing I was roused early to go to visit my sister Ellie in Sheffield, where I’d agreed to make her university room a bit more homely by installing the lights I used to use in my university room – better than them being stuck in a loft!

On Thursday I was back in Burnley again, where I headed out for coffee with a friend from high school, then went to get my hair cut, then out to lunch with Amber. Unfortunately amidst the excitement of a leaving present she’d bought me (a hilarious mechanical walking beefeater) we forgot to take a photo, but thankfully we took one whilst we were catching up in the pub the week before.

That Thursday night I still neglected to do any actual packing, however I did manage to pull out a few piles of clothes and toiletries and group them together ready for packing. The next day was Friday and that heralded my last day in England, but my mother insisted that I spend half of it with her picking my sister up from Sheffield once again. I know the road to Sheffield like the back of my hand now, I swear!

Anyway, we eventually picked Ellie up and returned back to Burnley for our last supper together as a family, but on my return I abstained from packing once again and instead had a nap to try and stave off a gradually worsening cold. Once I woke up it was panic stations as I rushed to get everything organised and packed into a mere 30kg total baggage allowance – it may sound fine but it’s not much for everything one needs for the foreseeable future!

Needing to be up at 2:30am to make it to the airport in time to catch my flight departing at 6:30am, it’s no surprise to discover that I didn’t sleep at all once I’d climbed in bed at about midnight. Fuzzy headed I said goodbye to my room, my sister and then my parents once I got out of the car at the airport, and then made it through bag drop and security in a tired daze. I don’t remember much of the flight, I popped on a new pair of headphones I bought in the airport (one last treat before the budgeting begins) and I think I drifted in and out of sleep for the whole 2 hours.

Sooner or later I found myself whipping out my trusty Madrid travel card which gets me super discounted travel throughout the city, and eventually wound up at the door to my new flat. Being shown my room by my lovely host, I soon met my flatmate and was invited out for a meal of tapas and sherry with one of her friends – an offer I couldn’t really turn down!

After a lovely evening of chatting, dining and of course drinking, we headed back to our flat relatively early as I was (and still am) full of a cold and we both wanted to get rested. We did, however, take a quick detour to Plaza Mayor, where there was an installation consisting of a huge circle of grass which brought a breath of new lease of life to the square – everyone was sat down and enjoying the ambience!

Today it is Sunday (I say this more to remind myself than you guys, it has been a busy week), and I had a relatively calm day visiting Lush and IKEA to buy a few essentials (yes, their rosewater scented solid shampoo is an essential). As I mentioned at the start of the post I am sat in bed having watched the sun go down from my window, a photo of which I attach below.

At 9am tomorrow I will be headed to the Erretres office to begin in earnest, and make no mistake that I will be back on my blog to tell you about all the shenanigans of my first week as soon as I can next weekend! Until then however I must bid everyone dulces sueños as I should really try to get some kip in!