January-June 2014 Memories - Blogmas Day 7.

During the few brief days that I did Blogmas last year, I wrote about my favourite memories from 2013, first from January to June and then from July to December. They were definitely some of my favourite posts to write, as it was nice to look back on the year. This is why I find it so important to document experiences, no matter how small they are. It was nice to go back and find photos from days that I'd completely forgotten about, so it only made sense to do the same thing this year. Here are my favourite memories from January - June 2014.

January:

• An Educational Trip That Turned into a Photo Session: This trip had originally been planned to go and see The Phantom of the Opera and to see some ruins. The ruins were fun, only because of the climbing over them we all did. The Phantom of the Opera? Not so much. I do not remember there being flamenco dancing in the original. I wrote a whole post on this day, which you can read here. 

• Julia's 50th: In a sentence, Julia and Jed are basically my unofficial parents. A year ago they bought a house just 15 minutes away from me, and it's been hard to get rid of them since. Despite the fact they still work in the U.K and that, for now, this house is just a holiday home, I still think they're in Spain more than the U.K. Their trip out for Julia's 50th birthday was the first of about ten holidays that they've taken out here this year, the lucky sods.

February: 

• Valentines Day: Apparently, even with boyfriends, Valentines Day is also the perfect way to have a girls day with your friends. Oh, and dissecting hearts... A little bit morbid, but hey, it certainly made for an interesting Biology lesson!

March:

• Another Education Trip: This one wasn't quite as fun as the last. Don't get me wrong, the 'fun' part of it was, well, fun. We spent the day shopping, meeting street performers and eating a ridiculous amount of churros and McDonalds, it was just the educational side that wasn't that fun. We basically spent the day at a museum, looking at paintings, that we couldn't quite decipher what they were showing. On a positive note, a random man walked up to me and gave me a flower, which someone wasn't quite happy about. Again, I wrote a whole post on this day, which you can read here.

• Carnival: It appears that I've written a blog post on most of these events, but considering I use my blog to document experiences, that's not exactly surprising. You can read about Carnival here. The day started with Noelia and myself making our costumes, as well as taking a lot of photos, before eventually heading into the Carnival itself. I think we look pretty damn amazing.

• I Got a Nephew: In December 2012, we welcomed Isabel into the world, and it wasn't long before Oscar joined us. Isabel was a name I actually had picked out for my future daughter, and Oscar was what one of my best friend's, Meg, had picked out for her son, something I'm not sure either of us are over. Olivia was their second choice with Isabel, which, coincidentally, is another name I have picked out! So weird. I guess I'm going to have to beat them to it, so if they wouldn't mind waiting about ten years...

April: 

• Festival: Every year, schools and colleges from across Málaga make their way to our college for a massive show, all to raise money for Zway, Africa. We were told that this could have been the last one our school was planning on putting on so, as some of the oldest, we were determined to make it them best. I actually spent the week leading up to it in bed, ill and feeling very sorry for myself, so it was down to my friends to organise everything. I managed to make it in for the day, and to do our performances and dances, and it was honestly amazing. People are still talking about one of our dances, which may have included a few people dressed in fox onesies. I won't say anymore, but you can read about it here.

• Meg Came to Stay: Meg's trip actually coincided with festival, which meant both of us actually spent the week in bed, watching films while I tried to keep the coughing, sneezing and everything else that comes with sinusitis to a minimum. We still managed to make it out of the house a few times though.

May:

• Went On a Hike: Come April 2014, it has been almost a year since I broke four bones and, I think it's safe to say, I wasn't exactly in the best shape, so I convinced Saoirse to come on a hike with me, in the hope that it would kick-start me into getting back into shape. I was surprised by just how easy the both of us found it! It wasn't the hardest hike and terrain ever, but considering we were in Vans and Converse, we had my rather excitable dog and Saoirse managed to fall over twice, I think it went a lot better then expected. The landmark at the top wasn't quite what we were expecting though, something that the view more than made up for. See more of it here.

• Dancing At Tivoli Festival: Dancing at Tivoli World (a theme park) is a yearly tradition for our dance group. Having missed out on the previous one because of being in cast from fingers to shoulder, it was nice to be back. I missed out on all the fun afterwards, due to having about six exams to study for, but it was nice to be there all the same, especially as it meant spending time with some of my favourite people. 

June:

• Beach Day and Shopping: This is ironically what I entitled the posts that I wrote on this day. You can read about them here and here (Surprise). This day somehow proved once again just how much Saoirse, Alba and Noelia have grown up in such a short amount of time. I still remember when they weren't even allowed on the train into town because of how worried their parents were. I did remind them that I'd be with them and nothing would happen to them, but I think that just made it worse...

• Belly Dancing in the Rain: Literally. Despite the fact we live on the Costa del Sol (Sun Coast), in the Valley of the Sun, there still managed to be a torrential down-poor in the middle of June, lightning and thunder included. We'd got all dressed up to dance at a local show in town for nothing! We did learn one thing though: fake eyelashes sliding down your face is not a good look.

And that's it! I hope you enjoyed. 

What was your favourite memory from the first half of 2014?