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Published: February 2nd 2009
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The semester has finally begun! I'm staying with a host family now and had my first day of classes at the University of Malaga today. Classes went really well and I passed all my placement exams, so I'm extremely excited! Getting to and from class has been very interesting though....the map I got to show me the way to and from school doesn't extend far enough to show me where the apartment I am living in is....which is really annoying because it caused me to take a really messed up route there, where I had to stop and ask fast Spanish talking people for directions three times, and then on the way back I was pretty much just flat out lost. I ended up calling my host mom's daughter and tried to explain to her where I was so she could help me get back, and it was really frustrating to try and communicate in another language when I didn't know where the heck I was and loud cars were driving past me so I couldn't even hear her...it took me over an hour to get home and I live a half mile away, so I was not too happy about
that. And now I'm missing a chance to see a tour of Malaga with the rest of the group because I didn't get home in time to be able to pick up my things and walk to the place where our group is meetin and be able to figure it out with my crappy map that doesn't even have my freaking house on it!!! (Run on sentence, my bad) Spanish roads are confusing enough as it is, and there are no street signs at intersections to tell you where you are, so I'm really hoping that I can find a better resource to find my way to school, but of course I can't get anywhere to print something off for myself because I don't know how to find my way there either and I have absolutely NO IDEA where anything is! I don't think my host family understands how difficult it is for foreigners to get around here, because to them this is a small city, but to us, this city is huge. Other people either live closer to school (and are actually on the map!),or have roommates that already know where to go, so its been a bit difficult
for me. My family tried describing to me how they would get to the school, but it was really difficult to understand all the terms they were using, so it didn't work very well. GRRRRRRR....at least I found a random wireless connection outside of my room....thats something to be pretty excited about.
Other than my annoying situation today, I love Malaga a lot and am really enjoying the people in the program. The city is really pretty, although the place is kind of a mess right now from Malaga's first ever tornado last night! Yes, that's right, us Americans just bring all the luck I guess. Other than that, the weather over here is really nice....my host mom gave me a strange look when I first met her and she saw me wearing flip flops. Apparently Spanish people like to wear boots during the winter, even if their winter might be 60+ degrees out. WHIMPS....haha
I'm still amazed by how different things are over here....the lifestyle in Malaga is my favorite so far though, so I guess its a good thing that I'm living here for the next few months!! I enjoyed Madrid as well, but the city
was a little too big for me and I felt like people were constantly in a rush to get places. The lifestyle here is much more laid back and easy going, and its hard not to get along with people. The one thing that's weird to adjust to is the constant smoking that goes on around here....I'm not opposed to people smoking or anything and it doesn't really bother me, but it weird when people are doing it constantly no matter where you go. Any cafe you visit around here its pretty much guaranteed that just about every customer will be smoking at it...and not just at their tables, but they'll do it while they're standing in line waiting too...its definitely different. But that all goes back to their laid back attitude and not really caring about anything, which I definitely love!
So far I really like my host family a lot...my host mom is super cute and loves to feed me...A LOT...haha. I also have two older sisters named Lorena and Gemma, and a cat named Boni, who really seems to enjoy my bed. We live in an apartment off some street called La Conde del Guadalhorce, which
is about a ten minute walk from school and somewhere around a mile from the Mediterranean Sea! So far I'm enjoying it a lot and I think the housing situation is going to work out very well.
I am also making a lot of friends within the group I'm traveling with, which makes me really happy, because I don't feel like I'm totally on my own anymore. Everyone in the program is extremely open and friendly and no one really leaves anyone out...its nice that we all have the same drive that brought us here and I feel like we can all relate to each other really well.
I hope the weather is improving over there, and hopefully everybody is having a good semester!! Love you all!
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Katy
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Try Google Earth for a map! Or at least to orientate you a little? Is Orientate a word? :D I love you! And I'm glad you're doing well! I'M STILL SUPER JEALOUS