Week 3

I can’t believe I’ve been here 3 weeks now. It feels like longer with everything that’s gone on! This week was a little more subdued as I managed to catch the cold that’s been going around, so a few rest days were in order. So after finishing my first week of work on Thursday (I get Fridays off for some wonderful reason), I celebrated with my first night out in Málaga centro. There’s a girl staying at my flat for a while with Airbnb, so we set off together to try and find the Erasmus bar. After a surprisingly long time, and plenty of confused walking around with google maps (story of my entire time here to be honest), we made it. Living in such a quiet and beautiful town as Mijas has been wonderful, but I must admit I really rather enjoyed beer pong, shots and dancing in clubs until 5am. It’s all about that balance! 😉

The next day, after sleeping until basically the evening, I took a trip Fuengirola with some friends. Stephanie and I arrived early evening and decided to start the night with a dip in the sea. The water was just perfect. Swimming and watching the sunset, I felt totally rejuvenated. After this we set off to the feria. I didn’t quite know what to expect from a local feria- market stalls? Burger stands? Maybe a band? Oh no, Fuengirola had gone all out. It was huge, full of fairground rides, local food stands, loads of bars and live bands, beautiful lights, decorations and sculptures. It was just wonderful; I loved seeing all the women rocking their flamenco dresses and revelling in everything Spanish. My flamenco dancing left a little to be desired compared to my new friends, but after some strong regional wine I felt a little more confident.

Safe to say Friday and Saturday left me in need of some chill time. The next few days I focused on my teaching at the school, getting to know my new workplace and commute. I’m still finding myself very nervous when attempting to take any kind of control in the classroom, but I’m hoping this is something that will improve with time. The kids are super sweet though, which helps. I found it difficult to focus on much else this week other than school- especially seeing as I’ve had a lot of trouble with admin and Erasmus. The stress certainly takes its toll. I often need to take a few breaths and remind myself that this will all be fine in the grand scheme of things. Then again I suppose we all do.
The weather has also been super temperamental this week. I experienced my first storm in Spain, and it was a big one. There’s something quite disorientating about being in intense rain but still feeling warm, but there’s also something quite therapeutic about the whole thing. The storm coming, shaking the town and washing away the remnants of summer. Then slowly clearing as the sun returns again and we all go back to life as normal.

I wanted to take a moment here to reflect on my Spanish language skills too. It’s only been 3 weeks, but the level of immersion here is more than I ever thought it would be. Somehow being on the Costa del Sol and working in a bilingual school, I expected not to have to rely on my Spanish too much. I was wrong. Despite finding lots of people who do speak some English, my Spanish skills have been pushed to the limit almost every day. It can be frustrating being unable to express myself sometimes, and I find that when I speak in Spanish I lose parts of my personality- I can’t be sarcastic or make jokes in the same way I do all the time in my mother tongue. But I think this is a good thing. It forces you to learn, to become completely consumed in a new culture and language, to find a way to express your personality in new ways. It’s wonderful to feel myself improving and learning, even if it’s only little by little.
Anyway, it’s Friday now, and I’ve spent the whole day being sleepy and relaxed, ready to do some more exploring this weekend. It’s my birthday next week, and I will be coming back to England for the weekend to see my family, so I’m sure my next blog post will be full of celebratory antics and reunions (even though it will only have been a month). Until then!

Week 2

Hola a todos,
What an inventive title, I know, you must be gripped. This week has been so busy, in fact I can’t believe it’s only been a week. I’ve been to Madrid and back for an orientation day, been for my first night out in Fuengirola, and had my first few days at the school- so buckle up kids.
Picking up where I left off, I headed to Madrid on the 27th for two nights. Getting there was surprisingly easy and I was feeling pretty confident- until I arrived and realised I had forgotten my plug adaptor and my phone was about to die (i.e. no Google maps, no return train ticket, etc.) Clearly this was reason enough for me to lose all confidence and cry at the receptionist, who looked suitably uncomfortable but did manage to find a spare adapter for me. I went for food and drinks with some of my fellow Lancastrian auxiliaries later on. Talking to others about their experiences moving abroad, finding a flat, sorting admin and everything in between made me feel a lot better.
The next day I headed to the orientation day for teaching assistants. It was a decent day with some interesting talks, but I have to say the tapas banquet in the middle was the highlight. We finished up at about 15:30 and some of us decided to go out for a drink afterwards. Nine hours, more tapas, and lots of tinto de verano later we were still out and enjoying the Madrid nightlife. The city is absolutely huge- the main street even reminded me of New York. I met some ace people, so hopefully I’ll get to visit them some time in their respective cities/towns.

Feeling particularly cultural, I decided to wake up early the next morning and check out some of the art museums nearby. Alas, I woke up past midday, late for checkout and only just made my train- oops. When I arrived back in Mijas I started preparing for my first night out in Fuengirola- a coastal resort near to where I live. My new friend Stefania and I started the evening at Mijas Auditorio, where we saw an excellent Spanish choir and watched the sun go down. We headed to Fuengirola to meet some of her friends after this, and I stocked up on tapas and tinto de verano (shocker) before going to some of the bars and clubs. Dancing the night away was suddenly the only thing on my mind, and that we did.

Sunday was spent mostly in bed (of course), although I did treat myself to some stuff from Alehop and a pizza to calm the ever-increasing nerves before my first day at the school.
As for my first couple of days- I’m still relatively on edge and nervous- but starting to feel more comfortable. The teachers are so friendly and the kids are actually super sweet. I’m not sure why but I was expecting young kids to be like little monsters terrorising the place. I guess they can be, but maybe I shouldn’t expect the worst all the time cause they’re just people- cute, small people at that. Next week I start doing some of my own activities with them, which is a bit scary, but I’m trying to take it all one step at a time.

Tonight- rather randomly- Stefania and I went to an aeroyoga class in Fuengirola. I had never heard of it before, but it’s like regular yoga where you’re suspended off the ground on a little swing. Weird, fun, and harder than I expected, but I’ll be heading back next week! Would you believe it only took moving to another country to get me to do some exercise? Anyway, if anyone is reading I hope you enjoyed my little excerpt for the week. Onwards and upwards!

Week 1- The Beginning

Hola a todos,
Today marks the beginning of my wonderfully cliché year abroad blog, available for anyone who may want to listen to the highs and lows of this year of my life, or anyone who is considering travelling solo themselves. I am mainly writing this for my own recollection, as I’ve never been one to keep anything like a diary but now seemed like a good time, so feel free to join me for the ride.

So, I’ll give a brief description of my situation to begin with. I study Spanish and Linguistics at the lovely Lancaster University in England, have just finished my second year and am now embarking on the adventure of my lifetime- living abroad and teaching English in Spain. As of today I have been in Málaga for 6 days, and- while I planned to start this blog before I arrived- have only just felt relatively calm enough to sit down and write. What a week it has been. I spent the Summer feeling very excited and happy about my- seemingly distant- year abroad, but the closer it got, the more impending terror set in. By the time it came to actually leaving, I was swinging hopelessly between apathy and a nauseating amount of anxiety- which is really a strange combination.

For the first two weeks I would be staying in an apartment in Mijas Costa while I searched for permanent accommodation. The apartment itself was lovely, although unfortunately within 12 hours of my arrival I was crying on the phone to my parents about how I couldn’t do this. Excellent. After many tears and pep talks I had a good long sleep and woke up to what would be a much more successful day. I had a flat viewing in Mijas Pueblo in the morning, and while waiting for my taxi I spotted a very inquisitive looking duckling just outside my hotel. It seemed like a lucky omen- a reminder of the famous Lancaster ducks, and a reminder that I could in fact do this. Mijas Pueblo turned out to be utterly beautiful. I loved it from the moment I arrived- winding cobbled streets and old tapas bars, a beautiful landscape everywhere you looked and a town just seeping with history. After discovering the flat I was viewing had a balcony overlooking the gorgeous town and a dog, I was officially sold. Alas, yes, I am that person who took the first flat they saw- but I’m so glad I did.
Later in the day I travelled to Málaga Centro to attend an Erasmus pool party I had seen advertised online. Although I had no idea what to expect, I thought getting myself out there would be the best way to meet new people and find out more about where I was living. The party turned out to be brilliant- I soaked in the sun, swam in the pool, danced barefoot till the sun came down and met people from all over the world. It was a wonderful welcome. Getting home later that night I was exhausted, and thankful to have had a much better day. Perhaps things would turn out alright after all. It’s funny how one day can change your entire perspective on something.

The next day was one for relaxing- I spent most of it in bed, drained from the chaos of the last two days. However, when evening came I walked down to the beach for the first time to watch the sunset. It was beautiful. Listening to the sound of the waves, drinking fanta lemon and vodka and reading on the sand. I could get used to this. Later on, I wandered up to a local bar to watch the boxing and enjoy a few more vodkas. I quickly discovered that here, a single vodka is basically a half-filled pint glass. Lethal- but I’m certainly not complaining. I went back to the hotel that night feeling suitably dizzy.
Following this, I thought it would be a good time to try and meet some people living close to me, so the next day I went for sangria with another girl living in Mijas Pueblo. It was so nice to talk to someone and see Mijas with someone who lived there- although her Spanish was incredible next to my broken attempts! Still, I’m happy to have made my first friend. Later I travelled to Fuengirola for another sunset walk on the beach (I think I may have started something) and to meet up with another girl working there for drinks and pizza. A successful social day indeed!
Oh how quickly an up can turn into a down… the next day I decided to visit the school I would be working at, as I had not received any replies to my emails over the summer. Definitely a good idea, as they had no clue who I was and had been talking to a different language assistant all summer. Excellent. Although my anxiety was by this point going into overdrive, the teacher I was working with insisted there was nothing to worry about and told me she would sort me out a timetable and I could still start on Monday. Sort of a success? But I was feeling majorly stressed. The rest of the day consisted of lounging by the pool, drinking beer and reading my book. Onwards and upwards!
Then came move in day- I was so happy to have found a place to live that I ended up leaving the hotel super early. I just wanted to be settled. The flat was just as lovely as I remembered and it felt so good to have somewhere to properly unpack. I spent the evening sitting on the balcony watching the world go by, speaking my broken Spanish to my new flatmates, and feeling suddenly rather content. Which leads us to today. Today was supposed to be productive (story of my life), but I woke up too late to really do anything and ended up just hanging out in a tapas bar drinking tinto de verano. Ah well. I did buy groceries at least, so my life is slightly coming together.

Tomorrow I head to Madrid for an Erasmus training day and to meet up with some friends from back in Lancaster- an adventure in itself- wish me luck!