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Published: March 18th 2010
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Hi Everyone!
Last weekend I took my first out of country adventure to Malaga, Spain to visit one of my high school friends Alex. He has been studying there for the whole year so I thought it would be a great idea to go visit someone who is such an expert on their study abroad area! This trip was particularly an adventure because I did the entire thing on my own. I honestly wasn't too nervous about it because Alex was such a great host and met me right at the airport but it was kind of fun feeling like a grown up making my own way through European airports (:
I got in Friday afternoon and met Alex right at the international arrivals gate. I was extremely lucky to have him with me because I quickly learned that in Malaga, people speak very little English. While its fun to be surrounded and exposed to new languages, its kind of a helpless feeling not knowing any words to get across what you want/need to say. Hand gestures are key but I also found myself speaking a mixture of Italian and French- something that achieved some very interesting looks (:
Driving through Malaga on the way to Alex's apartment from the airport, my first impressions of the city were that it looked a lot like Florida-think Miami. The town is bordered by the Mediterranean sea so there were many beautiful beaches and lots of palm trees. Unfortunately it wasn't warm enough to enjoy the ocean but just being surrounded by water and plant life was a sight that I have sorely missed in Rome since the city doesn't have much plant life.
For the weekend I stayed with Alex and his host Mom in their sea-side aparment (lucky me!!). Alex's host mom was such a generous host and was very welcoming and accommodating. Unfortunately Alex's host mom and I had a bit of a hard time communicating with eachother because she spoke no English nor do I speak any Spanish but she really wants to learn Italian so we had fun trying to communicate a little bit with some Italian phrases! When Alex and I first got in she immediately started making us a little meal, the best part of which was a Spanish omelette. I know there is a more common name for this dish which I
Orange Trees
Alex's friend told me that although you really don't want to eat these- you can still see that the oranges are all gone from the bottom because people pick them can't remember right now but basically the omelette was this almost pie-like form that had fried potatoes and onions inside. I am definitely going to try and figure out how to make this!!
On Friday night Alex had gotten him and I tickets to go see the local symphony perform "The Rite of Spring" by Igor Stravinsky. I had actually gone to see the ballet of this performed last year in Chicago so I was absolutely thrilled to listen to just the orchestral music. Overall the concert was phenomenal and I was so happy to have Alex, another music enthusiast, to compare musical critiques of the concert with. After the concert we went out to dinner with some of Alex's classmates and 2 of his teachers. As a stipulation of Alex's program, the students and teachers are required to only speak Spanish with one another so throughout dinner the conversation was of course all in Spanish. While this made getting involved in the conversation a tad difficult on my end, I was absolutely thrilled to just sit and listen to them all. I was amazed by the proficiency that Alex and his friends spoke and found myself getting a
little sad that my program in Italy isn't similar. For dinner, we did a family style meal where we got multiple plates of food and all took a little portion of each. There was such a wide range of things from fish dishes to veggie things... I kind of liked this style of dining because I got the opportunity to try several traditional Spanish foods.
Because of the rain, Alex and I spent a lot of our day Saturday going to many of Malaga's museums. Most of the art that we saw was more on the modern side but overall they were all very different in style. The first museum we went to was the Picasso museum which is particularly famous because Malaga is the birthplace of Picasso himself. Since Picasso's work is so famous, I had already seen many examples of his work and thought I already knew what I thought about him. However, seeing it live in person and also seeing some of his earlier more realistic works gave me a new found appreciation for him. The next museum we saw was Malaga's modern art museum which was so nice because it was free to the public.
However, as I should have expected from my past experiences with Modern Art museums the art in my opinion was a tad strange. To each his own I guess...
On Sunday, I got up early to go to mass with one of Alex's friends at Malaga's main Cathedral. The Cathedral was very beautiful, but very different from the Church's I've been going to in Italy. One interesting aspect of the Church is that it only has 1 bell tower. During the American Revolution, Spain was contributing money to the colonist's efforts and so in order to provide a contribution, the city of Malaga was forced to only build 1 bell tower instead of 2. The Church inside was very ornate. There were several little chapels and altars that were all very elaborately adorned with gold accents and decorations. As always, it was such a joy to go to mass in an international place- it really helps you understand what it means to be part of the Universal Church!
Later in the day, in what ended up being my favorite part of the trip, Alex and I went to a soccer game. As a fan of sports I thought
Inside the Soccer Stadium
Sporting my Malaga shirt! I had an idea of what the atmosphere and fans would be like, but for those of you who have never been to a soccer game in Europe, the experience is completely different from any sporting event that you've probably ever seen in the US. The fans are so passionate and sitting in the stadium it is hard not to get swept up in the emotion and fervor of the game. The home team fans all knew these different songs and chants that they would all shout together and at both ends of the field, fans held up these massive banners with their teams logos on it. All the fans also wore a scarf with their team's name on it that they would all hold up above their heads- a tradition I'm not exactly sure of the significance of but nonetheless extremely cool looking when tons of people hold them up together. If only the Pirates could get a little bit of this excitement!!!
Overall, I'm so happy I took the time to make a trip to Spain. While it wasn't really on my radar when I was thinking about where I wanted to go this semester, I think seeing a different culture and going to a country with a language I'm not familiar with was such a great learning experience for me. And I think hearing Alex's spanish proficiency really motivated me to use more Italian and try to improve on my skills a little bit.
Well as of tomorrow I will be on Spring break!!! Tomorrow I will be leaving for Sicily for a few days then heading to Istanbul, Turkey!! Totally different but awesome destinations. I will be sure to update as soon as possible (: Ciao everyone!!
Love,
Anne
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