Episode 7: A New Start

Holà to you chicos!

I could not leave you without any information about what happened after my housemates from Holland left and my life in my new appartment. I did not think it would be possible but time seems to fly way faster during this second semester than the previous one. By that, I mean it seems like Amal, Ciciel, Melody and Pali left just yesterday. But they actually left almost 2 months ago already... It feels crazy. The countdown has started now: I have more or less three months left here in Malaga and let me tell you I plan to enjoy it to the fullest!

After two difficult months in terms of temperature inside the appartment, I realized that my new appartment turns out to be warmer than the previous one! And that's really good news I have to say. February went so quick. Just after my Dutch friends left, my dad and stepmother, plus my older sister and her husband came to Malaga to visit me for a few days. In the end, it made me really busy so I did not really have time to get sad about the fact that my friends had left Malaga. I litterally became a touristic guide for almost a week, taking them to the places I knew and loved. We went out for tapas, but also had sangria and some special ham from Malaga (called Jamon Serrano) in one of the most famous bars of Malaga: El Pimpi (Antonio Banderas' favourite one by the way).

It was nice, we visited the region by renting a car and went to places I had not had the chance to visit before.

- We went to Nerja, which is probably the second best thing I've seen around Malaga so far after Sevilla. An awesome, beautiful spanish little town on the coast, fully made of typical white houses... Gorgeous! I wish I could show you pictures but I don't have any right now but just type Nerja in google images in order to have a little idea about it. As a matter of fact, going there for one day is probably enough, it's only 1 hour from Malaga by car (you can also get there by bus) and the good thing about it is you have a tremendous view on the sea and the coast. The village looks really cute but it's small and it won't take you more than an afternoon to see it all.

- I also went to Marbella, and what a disappointment though! Maybe it's because it was in February and it's really quiet there, but still. I think it looked actually pretty fake and definitely not worth it. It's just full of rich superficial people and jewelry shops everywhere... nothing more really. In comparison, Nerja was so much better because even if there were tourists, it just looked more honest and true to itself. I can't explain but I think I'll never go back to Marbella, it was boring.

- Same thing can be said about Gibraltar but it's only because when I went there, the weather was awful. It started to rain and we really felt like we were in England (which was actually the case). You can pay both in euros and pounds there. The rock looked so impressive, if you haven't heard about it yet, you should check it out here. The only problem is there was too much rain and humidity so there was no point climbing up there that day, and it's a shame because it's actually the whole purpose of going to Gibraltar: climb up the rock and appreciate the view and see the African continent. But hopefully, I'll go back there in a couple of weeks when the weather is nicer since my mother will visit me around that time!

- With my dad and my stepmother, since it was not far, we visited the ugly Torremolinos for an afternoon. NEVER AGAIN and I don't recommend anybody to waste even one hour there. It's just full of english tourists and contrary to Marbella, it looks really cheap. It's full of high 70s ugly buildings and awful little shops for tourists. On top of that, the beach is not even that nice.

If you want any advise from me and if you want to visit the region of Andalousia, here's my top 3 of the best things I've seen so far:

1. Malaga: It's just not the simple beach city everyone expects it to be. The beach is only a small part of it. To be honest, during the winter, it was a bit too windy on the coast, so I spent most of my time in the city centre and there are plenty of things to do there. Malaga is a very cultural city, and most people have a misconception about it. You've got several museums, two castles (including one which is said to be "a small Alhambra") and many theatres and cinemas. Moreover, there's a film festival in the city right now.

2. Sevilla: I still have no words to describe how beautiful that city is. 

3. Nerja: Just the most beautiful and typical "beach town" I've seen so far, as explained earlier in this article.

Next Article to come: A Week End in Leeds, England.

Episode 6 : This Is Not A Goodbye, Just A "Hasta Luego"

After the trying and tiring situation I had to go through on the 23rd of December, I was finally home. And it felt nice to sleep in my amazing bed from home again. But it felt weird though during the couple of days that followed. I had a weird sensation after having spent 4 months in another country. I felt a bit like "is this my fucking home? where do I belong to?". Anyway, I saw some friends and spent most of my time with my family at home for some christmas festivities (which I'm tired of to be honest). I enjoyed the food though (and the gifts). Everyone asked me how it was in Spain but it was pretty much impossible for me to explain how things have been going on for 4 months. It's hard to tell. Plus, I met new people in Spain and discovered things which are kind of difficult to share with people from my hometown. For New Year's Eve, I did not feel like celebrating at all or going to any party, so I spent the whole evening with a close friend from France at my place.

While I was in France, I kept a bit in touch with Carmen, my spanish housemate, and we both decided that after Ciciel and Melody leave the flat (since they were only going to stay in Spain until february), it'd be nice for us to move out to another flat just the two of us. We knew we would get on very well only together so we decided to search for an other appartment. When I got back to Malaga (and this time I did my best not to miss my flight), we started visiting several just by calling some phone numbers we found on the streets. It did not take long until we found one. It was really weird to leave the appartment because I had to leave it one week before my dutch housemates actually left Malaga. I moved out to my new flat end of January and a british girl took my old room. I could not stand living there last week of January to be honest, the electricity switched off all the time, we had mould coming from the bathroom and it was really cold in there. All those problems could have been solved if we had had a landlord who actually cared. But the truth is she did not. I was just glad to get my deposit back and know that I would never see her again.

Early february, I moved in my new appartment, in a smaller room than I had before... But still, I have more space since I only live with Carmen now. It's actually great and we cook together quite often. Plus, the appartment is situated in the Picasso Museum street so it's a perfect location, in the centre. Moreover, it's quite cheap, less than 500 euros for two people, everything included.

                                   

Actually I am just going to be honest with you, dear readers of my blog. But I felt homesick after Christmas. It was really hard and really confusing to go back to France for 15 days and then just go back to Spain and pretend nothing happened. I did not really miss my life in France, I missed some friends and my family though. On top of that, I don't really like the studies here in Spain, same crap as in France when it comes to studying foreign languages. I started to get a bit bored and depressed to realize that my dutch friends were going to leave. I knew they would since the beginning, but what I was not aware of is I would get that close to them in only a few moths. They were just so cute and we had such a good time together. If I have to dedicate this article (and maybe even this whole blog), it is obviously to them.

So... mid-february, my dear Dutch friends finally left Malaga and we went out together (Miranda also joined us) for their last evening in town. It was quite hard to say goodbye... maybe it was even REALLY hard. I surprised myself crying, I did not expect to get so emotionnal, but it was just a really unpleasant moment to see them leave while I knew I was going to stay here for 5 more months. On top of that, I had exams at that time so I could not really spend too much time with them during their last few days in Spain. I took them home for the last time and then we huged and I left them to go to my new flat... I switched on my ipod and listened to Cher's Strong Enough on the way back home because I thought it might cheer me up, but weirdly it did not really work. Now they're back to Holland, and I have to make my new life without them... I will tell you more about this in the next post!

Episode 5 : Once upon a time, on a 23rd of December... My life turned into a nightmare!

Early December: My dad books my flight to go back to France for Xmas on the 23rd of December. Nice present as I did not have to pay a thing to go back home. The flight was not cheap, just saying.
December itself happens to be a really warm month in Malaga, I have a lot of fun with my dutch housemates, even if the appartment gets filthier and filthier with the mould and the humidity inside.

December 22nd: Big moment, I feel really stressed about going home after 4 months away and not that excited to be honest, as my dutch housemates decide to stay at home for Xmas. In the evening, I end up skyping late with my boyfriend, not really caring too much about tomorrow, my flight is only at 10.30 in the morning after all.

December 23rd: THE BIG DAY... BUT OOOOPS I wake up at 10 o'clock. A bit late since my flight is at 10.30. Ciciel enters my bedroom and starts to show a really worried face. I suddenly get to be panicked, realizing what is going on. I have litterally missed my flight. FUCK. I decide to go to the airport straight away, that's what Ciciel advises me to do and to be honest... what else can I do anyway? I call my dad on the way to the airport, completely scared of his reaction. Weirdly, he does not react too badly, and tries to find another flight for the same day on the internet. He actually succeeds in doing this, but the prices turn out to be outrageous... 400 euros for a single minimum to go back to Basel. The kind of investment you regret for life when you're a student. Okay, after two hours of desperation at the airport, I finally get to talk with the company which was going to save my life: AIRBERLIN (since there was not other flight with easyjet before Xmas). I book a flight with them for 250 euros. Ouch. But it turns out to be the cheapest I find and I do not have a choice. I won't put too much emphasis on the fact that my debit card did not work for unknown reasons and I had to call my father immediatly so he could give me his bank informations. SHITTY DAY.

Anyway, I have finally found a flight to go back home and I try to convince myself my life is not as horrible as it seems, even if 500 euros have been spent in total to go back to my beloved french life for only 15 days. I know I'm going to have "free" food in the plane so I try not to winge too much about my situation.
However, when I get to the gate, the plane is announced with one and a half hour late. I'm suddently getting to hate my life. Especially because I'm not going directly to Basel, first I have to land in Mallorca and then have another flight to Basel. Once I was in the flight to Mallorca, I got really scared not to be able to catch the second one. Fortunately, the second flight got delayed as well for me and other passengers who had to take it. Mallorca's airport is probably the ugliest thing I've ever seen, just saying. I finally get home safe at 11 p.m. WOW that was a long day. My father meets me at the airport in Basel and takes me back home. I go straight away to bed after this extremely stressful day with a positive thought in my head though: NEVER EVER AGAIN.

Episode 4: Holà Sevilla! (December 2010)

Okay okay, it's been three months I haven't been posting anything on this blog, and I feel pretty ashamed now because when I look back at what happened during the past three months, well... I've got so much to tell you.

So after the pirate party, what happened? We celebrated Sinterklaas in my appartment with my Dutch beloved housemates, mes chéries amour (like the Stevie Wonder song, if you haven't heard of it, then you should do it here).


Sinterklaass is like Saint Nicolas in several countries of Europe. I'm posting you a link which explains what it is exactly  because I don't really have the patience to tell you, but basically we eat pancakes similar to the crêpes we have in France. It's quite nice and joyful. I celebrated this with them early december and we played a traditionnal game with gifts to win, and I think I won three of them, including great dutch breakfast sets and glasses.... and a LOVE PAN. I was happy!

Amal and Ciciel

Anyway, I was also clearly excited that day because I knew my awesome English boyfriend was going to visit me the same week, and for 7 days! I won't tell you about my sexual life in this article, but I will tell you that we had the best time and that we actually did not stay in Malaga for the 7 days. We went to Seville by train, which is the most beautiful thing in Andalousia I have seen so far. The city is gorgeous, full of TREMENDOUS monuments to visit. It's just nice to have a walk in the city centre, everything looks so typically spanish there. The cathedral looked awesome, but it was partially closed because of renovations.We visited the Alcazar arabic palace, just in front of it, and I was astonished by the beauty of that monument. I found it so much more impressive than the Alhambra in Granada. It was clearly breathtaking and really cheap for students (actually I'm wondering now if it wasn't even free). Anyway, if you go to Seville, this is a MUST and the gardens inside look gorgeous.

Later during our first day there, we saw the famous Plaza de Espana. There isn't much to do there but it's quite massive and impressive. Everyone who goes to Seville should see it I guess. Then we had a little walk in the Maria Luisa gardens and we had the best time there!  In the evening, we went to this nice vegetarian restaurant, here is the link: http://www.habanita.es/   and then we went out in bars across the river and I had churros with chocolate at 3 in the morning. I enjoyed it.
We stayed in a hotel called HOTEL SEVILLA located in the city centre (Calle Daoiz, 5, 41003 Séville, Espagne). The price was really cheap and the quality was really good, the design of the rooms was modern and it was really clean inside. A bargain! 

Back in Malaga, we had dinner in two awesome (and really different from each other) restaurants. The first one was quoted in the Michelin guide and was actually quite posh but really delicious and worth the price. It is called El Cafe Del Bolsa, it is the restaurant of a 4 stars hotel called Molina Lario, located in the city centre. I'm giving you the link of the hotel and you can check their menu online, it's amazing: El cafe del Bolsa






The second restaurant was a bit more informal and is called VINO MIO. You can check their menu online as well, there's quite a relaxed atmosphere there and the place is owned by a dutch owner. There's a flamenco show every evening in the restaurant, but the most important part is the good quality of the food, which is quite international. You can basically eat everything there and they have meals for vegetarians as well. 

We visited the Gibralfaro in Malaga, an old fortress of 131 meters with an impressive view on the whole city and on the sea. Definitely worth all the climbing to get there. I had one of the best weeks of my life in December and Xmas was so close already and I did not feel like going back to Mulhouse at all, even if I missed my family and friends. But I had to. I did not know it would be so complicated to go back there though and I would have to go through a horrible nightmare before... read the next article to know about this next adventure!

Episode 3 : Let it snow... or not

Holà!

Partying on a pirate ship... life is GOOOD

New article after more than a week of silence. What happened? So let's just say I've been freezing those past few days in my appartment (I know you must hate me) but I promise it's true: it's really cold inside the appartments in South of Spain: no heating system, no isolation, no nothing! It's actually warmer outside than inside! However, I all the same want to make you guys jealous, so maybe I should tell you about the weather yesterday, which turned out to be the most perfect day of december I've ever had the chance to see in my life: not even one cloud in the sky, and more than 24 degrees in the afternoon... I was just wearing a t-shirt: quite cool for early december, isn't it? The city center looks amazing for christmas, they put a lot of decorations, and at night, when the lights are on, it's really beautiful... it still doesn't feel like Christmas for me though, because Christmas means cold weather for me. Here appartently, it's normal to be hot. Well, I'm not going to complain :)

It can be quite cold in the evening: look at what I'm wearing!!!

Something that sucks in my fucking appartment: my houseowner... I used to like her, but now she's getting on my nerves, because she does not take care of the appartment. I mean, my window has just broken, there's a crack in it. I told her about it, she put tape on it but she does not want to fix it properly before January because she does not have any money????!!! Let me laugh, she asks so much from us for this crappy appartment, it's clearly overpriced for normal spanish rents. For french people, it's cheap though. Anyway, she's a bitch... she's not the one that's gonna get cold at night now!!!

Otherwise, everything's perfect here... a lot of things have changed in a couple of months: Prescilla moved out to another appartment 2 weeks ago, and Ciciel lives with us right now. So basically, the appartment is now composed of : Mel, Ciciel, Carmen and I. Everything's going on quite well.



I did not do anything with my day... Oh yeah, I went to the hair dresser: 5 euros to get my hair cut... and it looks quite nice! Spain is so cheap compared to France!

I was out last night on a huge 18th century ship at the port, disguised as a pirate. It still feels like a dream, because I was way too drunk to remember everything I did or saw. Not my fault, I blame it on Tinto de Verano, a famous wine-based drink in Andalousia. It was fun, and I went there with Miranda, Arno and others to get wild with other Erasmus people. Fun fun fun. (By the way, big thank you to Mel and Amal for puting make up all over my face for the pirate look haha)

I'll go back to France for Christmas in two weeks, only for a couple of days but just the thought of it makes me feel so weird. I mean, I've been here for 4 months now, and it's going to be really awkward to come back to my "normal" life, see everyone, face troubles, see my family again... Plus, I don't even know what I'm going to tell them about my life here, don't know what to start with. My life is so different here, but in a good way. It's "only" been 4 months so far, but still, I can already tell Erasmus is a fucking great and intense experience. Every student should have the chance to do it once in his life. Being far from your everyday life, meeting new people, discovering another culture and learning the language... It also helps you be more independent and learning more about who you really are deep inside. I already feel like I've changed so much in a couple of months, in a good way I think. I've learned so much about myself and I really feel like I'm finally growing up for real lol. It's an amazing feeling. I'm not sure anyone can really understand it as I do though because it's quite personal and you have to experience it to get it. Have I convinced you now??? Go away from home and go on Erasmus! You won't regret it!

Christmas tree in Malaga

However, before going home and facing the cold Alsacian winter, I'll be welcoming my boyf who'll be doing all the way from England to visit me here for a week... sooooo happy. I'm going to take him to Sevilla, never been there before but I heard it was a romantic city. Can't wait, I'll tell you more about it.

Studies, studies... it's not really the case to be honest. Okay, I have more classes than most erasmus students here: I have to follow 8 different ones per week with 3 hours per subject. However, it's not that difficult and I have to admit I skip many hours (naughty me) but I don't really see the point attending a class when the teacher takes her notes from Sparknotes.com or Wikipedia, just saying.

Okay, now I have to go, enjoy my blog ;)

Hasta luego!

L'hymne de l'appartement - The hymn of the appartment!

Episode 2 : The Popje Team

Hey, here's a brand new article for you curious visitors of my blog!

Amal, me, Pali, Ciciel and Miranda

Where did I stop? Last time I wrote here, it was to tell you what happened the past 2 months. Now, let's go on.

End of october, I went to London just for pleasure, because I love this city and a certain someone I met there. I went back to Malaga early november, and then went to Granada for a whole weekend (2 nights and 3 days exactly)

I went there with the Popje Team (Popje = cutie in dutch), my girls from Holland. Let me introduce them to you!

Ciciel: Dutch, lives at Plaza de la Merced and studies psychology in Malaga. She comes over quite often, first because she likes me, and second because she secretly dreams of moving in my appartment: she can't stand her housemates anymore, who spend most of their time locked inside smoking pot. I can understand how desperate she must feel. Last time I went to her appartment, had to leave it ASAP because it was so stinky in there! We often meet at Dunkin for coffee because it's nice there and they sell the most fatening daughnuts of Spain. We have been through a lot together: hanging out at la Malagueta, we used to swim there and we were always afraid of the idea of getting bitten by a horrible jellyfish. We also laughed once watching this guy with the biggest balls we have ever seen in our life. And what about all those times when we talked about our boyfriends? Ciciel's a good adviser, and she can be really funny, especially when she claims loud "I hate fat people" whereas she knows it uspets me lol.

Mel: I tend to call her "bitch" most of the time, just for fun. She's my dutch housemate, we've been through a lot as well, but we survived as you can see. What's to think about when we had to clean the horrible and disgusting fridge together? What's to say about those delicious plates we've cooked? What about the ones that were disgusting? The funniest story and the most horrible one at the same time, is when we got locked out of the appartment without our keys. We had invited Ciciel over for diner. She spent the night with us. Carmen, my spanish housemate was off to her home village for the weekend, and Prescilla was out somewhere in Malaga. Ciciel only lives 5 minutes by foot from my flat. Mel and I suggested to take her back home because it was quite late. However, right after we closed the door, we both realised we had left our keys and our phones inside. So we got locked outside at 3 in the morning... a tad scary, isn't it? In hindsight, it is actually less scary than it seemed to be at the moment. We had no idea of how and where we could find Prescilla and to be honest, we did not feel like going inside every single bar of Malaga to find her... Ciciel could not even call her for us, because she did not have her phone number. Besides, we were only wearing slippers and clothes you usually wear to go to ... The WALK OF SHAME in Malaga started then. We went to Miranda's appartment, where Prescilla usually hangs out. Jessica, Miranda's housemate went down the stairs to open the door for us and to tell us that Prescilla was on her way home. Relieved, we went back to our flat and everything ended perfectly. ¨Prescilla opened the door for us (might be useless to say we found her dancing all alone in the lounge, a bottle of Santa Cruz in her hands). Anyway, it was a funny experience now that I think about it again.

Amal and Pali: They live in the same appartment, a few minutes from mine. They are both from Holland as well. They're really nice and study english linguistics. I like going out for marrocan tea with Amal and taste delicious pastries with her in the TETERIAS of the city center. I'm still waiting on her to accept to follow the LENGUA INGLESA II cass with me (english conversation). I guess it's hard on her, because this is actually the most boring class ever, and the easiest one I attended. The students are supposed to already have a high level but they turn out to be quite weak. Plus, the teacher can't stop making mistakes in english, which is quite worrying for a university teacher. He should stop proposing to us as well, it's getting to be tiring. And who cares if his favourite movie is Priscilla Queen Of The Desert or La Cage Aux Folles? Nobody f*****g cares! His accent is funny though, sometimes annoying... so spanish as you can guess! A message to Amal: never stop calling me "chouchou", I love it, it could even convert me one day! A message to Pali: thank you for being the most patient girl ever the other day, when I wanted to buy trainers. I'm not sure I would have been strong enough if I were you.


Miranda: She is an exception to the rule in this article, because she's the only person who is not from Holland... my partner in crime. She is from Canada. She's the cutest and funniest of the Canadian girls in the world (the only Canadian I know actually). We spent much time hanging out in El Palo on the beach, after our spanish classes or at la Malaguetta. We used to hang out at Sala Gold a lot in the beginning, it's a c;lub in the center where we danced on Waka Waka with a lot of alcohol in our blood. I'll never thank her enough for taking me to her place one afternoon at 5 p.m because I had drunk too many mojitos (3 euros the litter, the second is given for free, a bargain). Miranda's a great girl to party, but also a great cook. What can I say about her delicious canadian fries served with an amazing sauce and melted cheese? Only Canadian people know how to make such thigs! She loves cheese and chedar, just like me, and she speaks good french. I've also made a lot of progress in english since I met her. I almost forgot to tell you she's got the most amazing (and most masculine) laugh I've ever heard in my life... How could I not find her sexy then?

What about Granada by the way? Let's say I really liked the city, a bunch of different cultures, spanish and arabic. Interesting. I wandered in the arabic neighborhood with the girls, it was tremendous, we went to a hookah bar, drank marrocan tea and ate like crazy. Granada's also great for shopping. It was a lot colder there than in Malaga, since the city is surrounded with mountains full of snow. Gorgeous.

A few disappointments:

- The Alambra, probably because we had booked our visit too late and we had to get up at 6 a.m on a sunday morning since we had to be there at 8. It was nice, but no information about what happened in that palace. A little disappointing.

- I expected something more impressive when it comes to the architecture in general. I'm looking forward to Sevilla, where I'm going next month with ...........

- The guy wanking on the top of a hil, on a saturday morning, enjoying touching himself in front of people to get the attention. I know, it sounds scary and disgusting but it's a true story.

Hasta luego mis amigos ;)