Between Andy,  María and Paz, I finally made up my mind to go back to the university..., something that was one of my priorities when I moved here, but made to look almost impossible by the language barrier and the exhorbitant prices and tuition of American or International universities. They cheered me on, cajoled, bullied and encouraged me to take the step. In September 2009, I did. I enrolled in the " Cursos de acesso al unversidad para Mayores de 25 anos" with UNED. I was told to just try it out and see how it goes, that I shouldn´t expect to pass or at least not all of the 6 subjects I had to study, as it was difficult enough for Spanish people. It was a challenge, one I had no intentions whatsoever of failing... I gave it my best... Andy gave me his time, his help, his support and between two of us, we made it happen! 
Before this time, I had a few health scares which affected me greatly and still seems to do so even now... the people whose names have been mentioned previously and a number of other special people who are an integral part of my life held me hand and loved me through those difficult moment...
Owing to ill health, my studies were interrupted and I thought I wasn´t going to make it, but somehow, I did. And believe me, it was one sweet victory when I discovered I had made good results and was qualified to get into the uni to study English Philology...
During the acesso school year, Alma and Tom came into my life. Alma was a former ballet dancer; a laughing, elegant and beautiful dancer. Tom was just Tom... Tom left, and Alma stayed... she´s still around today... well, in England at the moment. I haven´t seen her in a good while, but everytime I want or need to talk to a girlfriend, her name readily comes to mind. Eventually she moved back to Valencia and couldn´t start the course with me.