The time has finally come, the long run has reached the final furlong. Ten months of living in foreign climes is slowly winding down, accompanied, in my case, by the sounds of Jakwob and Death Cab for Cutie (for there is no better way to pass one's time).

My classes are all wrapped up, and, aside from a minor error with my subtitling assignment which needs to be sorted out soon-ish, I am free of the shackles of University life until September. While I'm not exactly the hombre who likes to catch the rays out on the balcony, it does give me a lot of free time for doing such things, should I wish. Instead, I have invested in a trip to Pavia, again, to see those people who never fail to make me happy. Oh, and of course, for some Aperol, as I miss the hell out of that drink. I'm also looking into going elsewhere on my travels, but, with only really two free weeks I'm limited on cheap flights and such -- we'll see, however.

More things to update you on? I'm sure I can find something:

1. I'm pretty much sure this will be my last blog on blogger. I know I said I wanted it to go out with a bang, but, right now I feel its best to let the poor thing die with a fizzle, like the damp squib that it is. For those eager to still keep an eye on me, you may update your bookmarks and such to point to Hermetic Aesthetic. I've said it before, but I aim to actually cover more ground in the new blog -- all my old blogs and tumblrs have been rather poorly shared and thinly spread, while one, consolidated blog might just be the thing I need.

2. If you clicked the above link, you'll see the section marked Vlogs. I know, I know, I say I'll do this every year. However, I guess I now have no excuses. My camera runs up to 1280p HD video, as does my phone. There's no reason, aside from my own dislike hearing my voice being played back to me (which may hinder the editting process) for me to not post regular vlogs. What's more, with a family trip to Disney World planned for the end of August, I'll need to get the practice in to join hundreds of other fools talking to cameras when they should be enjoying themselves. If you're interested, you can head to my channel and subscribe in anticipation of the half-baked things to come.

As far as the rest of my life goes: my summer is, beyond those two weeks in Florida, totally unplanned. I head back to the UK July 6th, and from then on, whatever I do pretty much falls down to whether I get a job (thus having little time for anything else), whether other people invite me to do things, and how I plan on filling the time when there's nothing else going on. So, with that, I guess it's time to close the doors on this old Erasmus blog, and leave it to cover itself up with internet dust.

I shall see you all on the other side...meaning on the new blog...in July.

As the year starts to wind down, it's only fair that I try to keep up on blogging. So, what have I been up to since we last spoke?

I've spent more time scheduling blogs for the beginning of July on a totally new post-Erasmus blog, so I haven't really been thinking about the here and now. I've just been scribbling thoughts, opinions, guides; anything that means I'll have regular (maybe too regular?) posts for people to read once Erasmus ends. I guess I'm giving myself a buffer to take me up until I'm back on Terra Firma in the UK -- so, July 7th -- but, it's not all gloom and doom and outdated articles. Without 'spoiling' too much, once I get on top of it all, I should have a nicer mix of things for people to read, rather than just "Today, I boiled an egg. That is all."  Just six more weeks before that all comes to fruition!

In other news, my parents visited for the week. They stayed in Tarragona, so I assume most of their time was spent on the beach and in the surrounding area. For the days when I wasn't busy with classes, or with an essay on Sexual Awakening in Erotic Dreams in the Literature of Antonio Ros de Olano, I was playing tour guide, showing them the sights in Lleida, which they seemed to enjoy, and even giving them a guided tour of the older part of Barcelona. Yet again, I missed out on the Parc Guell, and the Camp Nou, but there's plenty of time in my life to see these sort of things.

Beyond those two delightful things, there has been very little going on in the last nine days. Student loan is holding, sort of, and the British Council grant is due to come through sometime within the next few days. All in all, with only one essay, one exam, and one assignment remaining, I think this is going to be a pretty lazy end to my Erasmus year. Hopefully, this blog can go out with a bang in June, rather than a fizzle...but, as they say, Don't count your eggs before they hatch. Perhaps, given the searing heat, I'll have melted by then anyway...

Last night was potentially the best night of my Erasmus life. Or at least a close 2nd to all those nights of 3am pizza in Pavia. It was, essentially, the grand finale of the Festes de Lleida; one big fair and festival ground in the lead up to Sant Anastasi today. It's been going on since Friday, but I wasn't really interested in the lesser-knowns, and only had one (well, two) reasons to go: Manel, and El Guincho.

Manel are, for those of you haven't listened to them (or me rambling on about them), the only Catalan band to top the Spanish charts. They've only been around four years, and play a style of folk-pop that is distinctly Catalan, but also easily enjoyable outside of Catalonia. They are also my favourite Catalan band. El Guincho, on the other hand, is an electronic artist from the Canary Islands. Pitchfork, that dreaded magazine, seemed to like him, especially when his video for Bombay came out and was four-odd minutes of topless ladies jiggling around in strange scenes.

A group of us went along, with the intention of seeing Manel. We turned up around midnight, with 45minutes to spare, and went to the only stage playing music at that time. It was some blues and rock'n'roll cover band. Most of the songs were in English, as was most of the crowd interaction, which I felt was kind of silly. Hey-ho, I'm not Catalan, so I don't know how to appreciate this. Around 20minutes into the set, I pondered walking home to get my camera, but figured I wouldn't have enough time to keep my amazing spot for Manel.

Oh, how wrong I was. The music dragged on, with a 10minute rendition of James Brown's I Feel Good, or perhaps it was Papa's Got a Brand New Bag. They always sound the same to me, especially in a 10-minute feelgood rendition. After, we looked at each other confused. Perhaps Manel was on another stage? Perhaps the one furthest from us. No, that had a list up. Perhaps the one behind us. Well, there's nothing going on, so we could always walk...

And the first notes rang out and I felt like a giddy schoolgirl. Not only was it Manel, it was Manel playing El Miquel i L'Olga Tornen, from their new album, which is my favourite song from that disc. And it just kept getting better and better. When gaps in the crowd emerged, I managed to sneak further and further forward, but never quite close enough to enjoy the fan-crowd at the front, who were really into it. I could probably attempt to write out the setlist, having sung (badly out of tune, and garbling most of the Catalan) to most everything they played. They added stories -- El Canço del Soldadet was built up as being a story told to Arnau, the drummer, two years ago "when he was just 6 years old, and made a wish to grow up; he's now 30." -- and audience participation. They even teased everyone with an encore that started off poorly, with Deixa-la, Toni, Deixa-la, a fairly melancholic tune, but topped it with their cover of Pulp's Common People (La Gent Normal, in Catalan), and finished up with Al Mar! a song I've never been too fond of, but which resulted in me, and the group of young guys behind me shouting it into the ears of the bewildered older ladies in front of us.

All finished, and I was lost. But, you know what? While normally I would panic and spend time trying to seek everyone out, instead I went to  see what else was on, alone. There was some early hours techno thing going on, and El Guincho. However, Manel's encore had made them run on til about 1.15, and my wanderings had left me turning up to El Guincho's set with about 10minutes left -- I got to appreciate his music, slightly, before everything stopped, and I was alone still. But, I was in my element. It was actually nice to wander alone, the sound of Manel fresh in my ears.

Now, the question is, after seeing Manel for free, do I spend €70 (and the train fare to Barcelona) on seeing a lot of bands that I like at Primavera Sound...?

It's rare, very rare given my uncanny penchant for staying up to unreasonably late hours, that I am awake at pre-7am. By British standards, I have been awake since about 5.30 waiting for my alarm to go off, making it now 6.15 (7.15 local time). It's early. Damned early. And I kind of like it. I always like it when I manage what, to some, is a relatively easy feat. In Spanish, they have a word for people like me: dormilón. It sounds like a pokémon, but really it's just a nicer sounding way to say sleepyhead. I enjoy my sleep; and sometimes let it take precedent. It's these rare moments of 7am lucidity that I cherish, as they are so rare. And now, on with the news:

I can finally quit complaining to you that I am the poorest of the churchmice. As of Saturday, I've been granted my final dose of student loan for the year...which I proceeded to spend on a new phone, because, let's face it, 24months tied down to one is too long in this day and age. I have other plans for this cash, including living expenses, getting myself home for the summer, and frivolities including a selecció catalana jersey from the football shop on the corner. Oh the joys of money.

There are exactly eight weeks left of this Erasmus journey. At the moment, with essays and courseworks still due, I can't say that I'm going to miss it. But, who knows; give me eight weeks and I might just change my tune. I might even change my blog -- I know, I've barely hit 100 posts here and already I'm leaving. Well, I feel that VENT was a nice leaping off platform. It was meant to be regular, short, bloggy, about travels and adventures and new experiences. Perhaps it fulfilled this, perhaps it didn't. Since I'm not going to be abroad, and since I'm not going to be journeying into literal terra incognita, I'm of the mindset that, come July I'll switch to another URL, and try to do a better job at this blogging malarky. Don't worry; I'll let you know where you can find me ahead of time!

Finally, in rounding off, I'm less than happy with the outcome of the elections and referendum on Thursday. We didn't get AV, because as ever the British public are more conservative (with a small c) than they'd like to let on. Perhaps that's a little harsh when only 42% of them actually bothered to vote, like the lazy, apolitical asshats they are. We, being the Welsh, also got a shoddy result in our election seeing Labour fall one short of a majority. Where is the humanity? Where are the Plaid Cymru voters? All I can say is that I'm thankful someone got it right and gave Alex Salmond and the SNP a 9 seat majority in Scotland. It's just a shame the rest of the country can't be so forward thinking...

And on that bum note, I hope you have a good rest-of-the-day! I'm off to make some coffee!

We're into May, and I'm still sitting on my rent & bills money as, as far as I am aware, the landlady hasn't come round with our little slip where she tallies up the bills and divides it by five. I guess I'm in the clear until Monday then! But, I'm not here to give you another installment of "Alex is poor, so cry me a river!" In fact, I'm here to educate.

As most of you are aware -- if you are reading from the UK anyway -- today, May 5th, was election day in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. For those of you who have stumbled on this from another country, or who I have met on my travels, well: now you know. But, the other important thing on this day -- aside from Cinco de Mayo (or Hanko de Mayo) -- is the British referendum on Electoral Reform.

Sounds like a bore, right? Well, I guess most of it is a bore. It's all numbers and sheets of paper, and things that the average man on the street doesn't give two hoots about. Right now, in Britain, the voting system is pretty simple: tick a box, your vote counts; if your guy gets the most votes, he wins, and everyone else is left out in the cold. Simple. The joy of First Past the Post.

What's going on today in Britain, however, is a referendum to see if people want to change that system. In other words, a change towards a more democratic system. I think it was put best in a video about the Canadian elections held this month, that in the last (2008) elections, over 40% of Canadians voted for nobody, meaning only 17% of those entitled to vote actually wanted to have Stephen Harper's Conservatives representing them. The same happens in Britain, where the norm is for the party in power to be in on 36% of the vote (that is 36% of those who voted, which is usually less than 70% of the country), meaning only around 15-17% of people actually want the Prime Minister and his party to be representing us.

That's where today came into play. Owing to a lovely scandal over MPs and money, people wanted a bit more transparency and a lot more accountability. But, how can an MP voted in by a tiny amount of his constituency actually be held accountable? The other people can't moan because they lost or didn't vote; and those who did actually vote him in are in the minority, despite being the so-called majority. What do you do? Overhaul the system.

There are hundreds of potential voting systems out there. Some of my favourites include the Mixed Member system used in Wales, which, though confusing, gives people the best of both worlds. Constituencies are voted in on a First Past the Post (i.e. most votes wins) basis, and the remaining seats are given out proportionally on a Party List.
The other one I love is the French presidential system of dual-round voting. That is, essentially, that when your candidate loses, you go back to the polls two weeks later and vote for the two remaining candidates. You may be unhappy that your candidate lost, but at least you have more of a chance for your voice to be heard the second time as there's a 50:50 chance your man will get in.

So, in Britain, what have we opted to offer? Do we take on the Mixed Member system of Wales? Do we use the Single Transferable Vote found in Australia? How about the good old "Majority vote" found in schools across the land? Nope, the British government chose to offer the Alternative Vote. I won't go into the gory details, but essentially: rank your candidates in preference order, and when they get knocked out your 2nd preference is counted, then your 3rd if they get knocked out. Pretty simple.

What I'm noticing, however, is a split in the country. Those on the Right don't want the system because they think it will change everything. Those on the Left don't want the system because they are scared of minority parties suddenly gaining power. In reality, neither is going to happen. The British public, I'm sorry to say, are too slow-witted to suddenly change their voting habits from Lib-Lab-Con to Green or BNP. Rarely, if I'm honest, have I encountered someone who was willing to put their FPTP vote on the line and vote outside the Big Three -- that is, someone who is willing to throw it all away in the hope that someone else will vote with them. Only those of real conviction for their party seem to do that, while the others just tick the party of their current MP.

Case in point? The Rhondda, where I live (for those not aware), is a Labour heartland. For over 100 years, since the foundation of Labour, there has not been a day when it has not been represented, at a National level, by a Labour MP. Of course, on the devolved levels -- the Welsh Assembly, and the local council -- we see that people are more willing to put up with a Plaid Cymru or Liberal Democrat candidate. On the whole though, nobody says "You know what, I've had enough of that Chris Bryant and I'm voting Plaid!" Instead, they say "I've had enough of that Chris Bryant. But I don't trust anyone else!"

Admittedly, in heartlands and safe seats, the AV will only serve to strengthen the legitimacy of the candidate involved. Those 2nd place votes for Labour in the Rhondda will be added on to the first place tally, meaning we have more of a right to complain when our MP messes up. Where it will really matter is in those few marginals that see switches from Labour to Conservative or Liberal to Labour depending on the mood of the people. Essentially, legitimacy, accountability and, hopefully, some transparency will come out of this.

So, you may ask yourselves, why am I informing you of all of this? Well, the answer is simple: we're looking at a very likely No vote. In writing about this, I just hoped to get it out there that there is more to AV than what the Yes or No campaigns say; there is no massive change, there is no confusing system, there is nothing more than three boxes to tick instead of one. The downside, you use more ink. The upside, accountable MPs. But, hey-ho. As we see, year-in, year-out with elections, the British public are never going to change their ways and we will forever be swapping between Labour and Conservative, in the hope that, eventually, one of them will get it right.

I suppose, once the results are out, I write a status on Facebook and a line on Twitter about it all. Until then, if you read this far, let's have something a little more lighthearted:

I always feel guilty when I don't blog. It's not that I have an avid fanbase who awaits the next installment. It's just that I feel I am neglecting those who actually do enjoy reading about my mundane life. Since, as my last post put it, I have very little doing -- I would like to thank the ever-prudent Student Loan Company for this; damned QUANGOs -- I guess there's not much of an "I did this, I did that" post coming up. In fact, I'm going to hypothesise instead.

Ever since my first day in Spain, which was spent in a hotel in Barcelona, I've been asked by friends "So, what are you actually going to do when you finish your degree?" It's a fair question. A lot of my friends who went off to study at the same time as I did will be finishing their degrees this year; in fact, most of them will have graduated before I get home no doubt. They probably have career options lined up, internships, Masters degree applications on the go. Me? Well, I have another year left in Cardiff, so I've not really put any concrete thought into what I'm going to do with the rest of my days. However, I have narrowed things down.

• Journalism: I know, I know, the world is full of two-bit hacks. I originally wanted to apply to university to do a degree in journalism and Spanish, but JOMEC (Cardiff's journalism department) said that such a degree combo was impossible. I have a lot of friends doing media-based courses, or who have really geared themselves towards a career in journalism through writing non-stop for student publications. I guess, I've only really written for myself. If it came to trying to get onto a Master programme, or even just another undergrad, the most I would have to prop me up are my sparse tumblrs. It's an option, but it's one of those ones where I'd really have to put in the effort.
  
• Teaching: The bane of my life would be teaching just Spanish forever. I've slowly fallen in love with Gallo-Romances, that's to say Italian and Catalan. I can't exactly teach Catalan anywhere, because most Catalan tutors are brought into the UK via the Institut Ramon Llull (and the lovely Nuria Corominas). The same goes for Italian; there isn't that much of a demand for a single-serving Italian teacher. All of the teachers I've know who speak Italian (all one of her) actually taught French, and I never heard her speak a word of Italian, and just had to base it on what other teachers told me. I suppose I could teach Spanish, but it would end up with a feeling of self-loathing, that I had somehow lost control over two far more beautiful languages.
  
• Lecturing: It's a step up from teaching, I'll grant it that, and so the workload to get there is much higher. In order to get even a chance at a Master or PhD, I need to be maintaining an average of 68+ from now on; heck I need to be maintaining a 70+ just to stand out from the crowd. I'd be looking at dropping out of Spanish, and concentrating solely on Italian. From there, it's just work, work, work; eat, sleep and breathe Italian, which is something I'd be very happy to do. But, being very happy to do something, and being good enough to get a doctorate and a teaching fellowship out of it are two different planes of existence. On the one plane is George Bush Jr, happily chuckling that politics is like playing soldiers in the garden; and on the other plane is Barack Obama, trying his hardest to make a Utopia out of a country where the very word only seems to transliterate to Commie Bastards.
  
• Writer: Colin Meloy once wrote "I am a writer, a writer of fictions; I am the heart that you call home." For me, that is exactly where my heart lies; in writing. Of course, when you lack the inspiration and self-confidence to see something through to the end it can be a torturous process where you think that you are the worst of the worst. Obviously, this is just a pipe-dream, but, hey we can all chalk up dreams on the board and say "When I grow up I want to be [x]", right? So, mine is "When I grow up, I want to be a writer" -- I guess, aside from teaching, all of the potential futures I have in mind involve some kind of extended writing; albeit journalism and academic articles are far more factual than the subjective poetry and prose that a writer presents. I realise that saying this is like saying "I want to be a rockstar," because the chances of success are slim-to-none, unless you have a sob story...

Every April I hit this horrible financial low. It's usually because the Student Loan Company thinks it's a brilliant idea to space loans four months apart, unaware that Easter tends to mess things up. Some years you can finish your second semester early, and it doesn't matter that you only have £50 to your name. Others, you're hanging around til the end of April, living off Tesco Value tinned beans. This is one of those years.

Normally, I'd say 'sod it' and keep spending, and just live off the 4p-a-can spaghetti-o's from LIDL. Being in Spain, though, I've decided I'm a little bit further from 'the norm' than usual. So, while everyone I know has had the chance to visit Andalucia and the Basque Country, and hop off to Prague or Rome, I'm left stewing in my own juices on the sofa in my room, trying so hard not to spend money. I can safely say this has been the most boring Easter on record.

This explains the lack of blogs. I haven't been "too busy" to write. In fact, I've had a lack of anything to write about. I haven't had the funds to go gallivanting off to more interesting places. I haven't even had the funds to do something interesting in Lleida -- tapas, variat, xurros -- nada. Damn and blast! What's worse: it's 8 days until rent/bills, and then it's another week until I will have any funds beyond what I am hoarding to be able to do my usual €20 Monday shopping.

So, the only half-interesting piece of news I can give you is that those applications paid off. Well, one of them did at least. I am assuming the worst (as there is only a best and a worst with applications) and saying that I did not get picked for Erasmus Soc committee -- I guess telling them that you think their society could do better to integrate with non-Erasmus Societies isn't the best way to apply for a position. But, on the plus-side, I did get selected as President of the Spanish-Italian Society for next year! Huzzah! It also seems to be run by all fourth-years, without the input of any 2nd years -- Freshers, I am disappointed you didn't have the balls to apply, and if you did: Spanish-Italian Committee, I am disappointed you didn't think any Freshers were good enough to take on the challenge. I kid, I kid; it just means keeping our heads about us, and remembering we have to cater for everyone, not just us post-Erasmus folk!

Any other business? Subjects have been picked for next year. I'm back on to Catalan, since I may as well stick it out and parlar molt bé rather than waste what I know in favour of cinema or political history (though that module will be the one with the best stories, considering both Andrew Dowling and Montserrat Lunati are teaching it). On the Italian side of things, I've got a semester of Art History, and I foolishly picked up a dissertation -- they say you have to meet certain requirements before you can do one, so I'm just hoping that I have met those. No idea what I'd write about though -- Dante as Literary Critic in De Vulgari Eloquentia? Dante as linguistician in the same book? Interpretations of Risorgimento in Post-Unification Literature? Marinetti and the Futurists? I have so many interests I would like to pursue, but only my tutor will be able to tell me what exactly I am allowed and not allowed to look at. Maybe I'm thinking too broadly, on more of a PhD thesis kind of exploration, when really I need to be thinking of something very focussed that will give me 6000-8000 words. I have time, I guess...

Anyway, I suppose that's enough about my boring life until May, unless something amazing happens and I win the lottery. Until then: what's going on with you guys? Facebook me, tweet me, comment me; I am genuinely curious as to what other human beings have been doing with their time!