I´m on a boat!

For my last weekend here we decided to aprovecha the warm, beautiful, perfect weather and do some exploring around the Costa del Sol. And to fulfill our final goal: get on a boat.

Friday we spent the day in Torremolinos at a restaruant/bar/beach club called Cafe del Sol. It was a great day and much more affordbale than a day in Marbella, only €4 for a lounge chair, versus €100 at Nikki Beach, but the crowd was OUT OF CONTROL. I´m talking The Jersey Shore (TV show) moved to the Costa del Sol. Leathery, tattooed, topless, fake breasted mothers frolicing around with their sons. CREEPY. The people watching was ridiculous, not sure if I would like a repeat in the near future though.

Saturday we woke up early and went to Benalmadena. We explored the boardwalk which was filled with restaurants, shops and sunburnt UK citizens. At night we went to Plaza de Sol y Mar, also known as 24hr square and were bombarded by bachelor and bachelorette parties.

Sunday we accomplished the ultimate goal we´ve had while living on the Costa del Sol and took a boat ride around the Mediterranean. While our inital dream had been an invitation by some Euro bachelors on their massive yacht, we paid €10 each for a 2hr ride on a Dolphin Cruise and it wasn´t too shabby. Although we didn´t actually see any dolphins, there was free sangria, fishing, swimming and breathtaking views of the coast.
Above: I´m. On. A. Boat! Above: LC, Alina, Me, and Chrissy at the Puerto Marina in Benalmadena
Above: Chrissy and I jump in the water and hold on to the buoys for dear life.
Above: Chrissy and I bid the boat farwell
Above: Stranded in the Mediterranean Sea. Not too bad.

RIP MKC

I was hit with devastating news from home this past Saturday. A good friend of mine from Vanderbilt, Kyle Craig, who was two years younger, passed away.

I know it's true, that it actually happened, but it's just hard to process since it was so unexpected...The Kyle that I knew was a true "surfer dude." He said things like "yea man," "totally," wore Hollister and backwards hats, and always had a smile on his face. He played in a band and loved theme parties. I met him two years ago when he was a freshman and I was a junior. My guy friends introduced him to me as "the man," a kid "we have to get" for the pledge class, the #1 rush.

The first time Kyle came to the Adelicia last year was with a bunch of our friends for our first pool party. The pool was on the 7th floor of our building, and standing in the pool, looking up all you could see was the clear blue sky. It seemed like the highest point in Nashville. He told me it was literally the happiest he had ever been- that it was "heaven" and he never wanted to leave. After that he coined my roommates and I, "The Adelicia Angels." He would text me during the day "Schu, can I come over to heaven today" or towards the Spring time, "when are we kicking off the season in heaven?" The picture above is from that very first day at our pool, Kyle is smiling in his sunglasses, with a fluorescent bathing suit in the middle.

He was down to earth, fun loving, compassionate and had a lot going for him. It has been hard to grasp what has happened, especially being far away, removed from the situation and unable to talk to my other friends in person. I'll miss you Kyle, I don't know when this will actually start to feel real. May you rest in peace.

"Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of heaven" - Tryon Edwards

La Despedida

It was definitely a weekend of mixed emotions. As usual I was excited to go to Madrid and stay with Rachael, but there was naturally a feeling of sadness being that it was my last weekend there for a while... I just can't believe how fast it's gone by...

The toughest part was having the last "cena" with Mercedes. We had dinner on Thursday night- delicious salad, tortilla, pizza, and sangria. Yum. We talked about the usual things, teaching, Vanderbilt, the economy, gypsys, and what are plans are for the upcoming months. Her son, Fer, says he definitely wants to come to New York this fall and she sounded like she was on board. I'll need to use my unmatchable persuasion skills to make sure she follows through. She gave Rachael and I a little gift so that we "wouldn't forget" her. To forget her would be to erase the past two years of my life.

Even though I know we'll see each other again and therefore there was no need to be too sad I got unexpectedly emotional towards the end and couldn't help from bursting out into tears. I don't know if she'll ever really know how important she has been to me. She is the most thoughtful, caring, fair and motherly person I've ever met that isn't my own mother. I feel so lucky to have ever been a part of her home. She ended her last email to me like this:

"Ha sido increible verte estos meses, eres una persona muy especial y me alegro de que Vanderbilt os trajera a mi casa a Sarah y a tí, espero que no dejememos nunca de estar en contacto, quiero saber siempre de tu vida, cuando te cases... cuando tengas hijos.... etc, etc.

Te queremos

UN BESO GRANDE"

Naturally I was thinking of ways to extend my Madrid stay- quitting my job and moving there for the next month or so to spend more time with her and everyone else -but if I was able to make this year happen I know I'll find ways to come back again.

Above: Me and Rachael in front of El Mercado de San Miguel

Above: Me, Cristina and Rachael at the Yamba Charity Event

Above: Me, Rachael and Cristina at dinner at Castellana DF

Las Amigas

Last week I had two lovely visitors come to play with me in Malaga. It was an extremely indulgent week- we visited and purchased something at every good restaurant and clothing store in the city. We went to Nerja together and I saw the "Cuevas de Nerja" for the first time. Although the site was very touristy, the caves were huge and not what I was expecting at all. Some of the special memories from the week include: "paco," "raise the roof," "you need to tie your shoe," and "muffin man."

Above: Me, Alice and Lily on the Balcón de Europa in Nerja
Abive: Me and Lily at a tapas restaurant in Nerja
Above: Me and Alice at Clay and Emily´s flat

Group Session

Love to CB for coming to play with RW and I in Madrid this weekend. Spontaneity to a new level. I'll never forget it!

Parque Retiro

Retiro Park in Madrid is one of my favorite parks in the world (obv Central Park comes first). It is has beautiful trees, flowers, statues, fountains and a lake where you can rent a boat and paddle around. Here are some of Greg's pictures (with his new camera) from this weekend:
Above: Me and Greg on the way to the park

Above: Me, Rachael and Clay trying to be artsyAbove: Me and Rachael

Above: Me and RachaelAbove: Me and Clay being blown away by the wind
Above: Greg on lion leading Clay into the unknown

Turkey success

The turkey dinner was a great success. Most of us arrived at Rachael´s before 9pm hoping to eat around 10pm. The turkey however took slightly longer than expected so we had extra time to catch up with each other and enjoy all of the bubbly beverages we had brought over to celebrate. We ended up eating in true Spanish style around midnight. There were just under 20 people in attendance. It was such a treat to have everyone there, especially Rachael´s roommates who were celebrating Thanksgiving for the first time. Rachael prepared a delicious turkey with gravy, sweet potatoes, rice, green beans and salad.

Above: Bill cutting the turkey
Above: the whole crew eating dinner.

Happy Homecoming!

Dear Vandy,

We wish we could have been there for Homecoming this weekend. We miss you all very much. Please come visit soon!

Besos,

Emily, Clay, Schueler and Greg

Malagueta

In case you have forgotten what sand looks like I made a little video this past weekend at the beach.

"Se Alquila"

The past two days have been devoted to apartment hunting. Before I came here I knew no matter who I met during orientation I wanted to live with Spaniards (or Europeans). Even though I came here with Clay and Emily and also met several very good friends during orientation, once we got to Málaga I stuck to my initial goal. I was determined to find a free room in an apartment where I will be able to speak Spanish on a daily basis and hopefully make some European friends. So while it was definitely not the easy way to do things, I am hoping that my two days stressed out running all over the city will pay off. The picture below is from a bulletin board at the University that we went to to find phone numbers to call.

There are several websites that are helpful for finding an apartment in Spain such as Loquo, Idealista and Easypiso. However, the easier way to find an apartment is to look for signs that say "se alquila." This means that someone is advertising a "piso" or "habitación" (a room, which is what I was looking for) that is for rent. I called dozens of phone numbers that I found on signs near the main plaza on c/ larios and several near the University. Unfortunately none of these worked out. Many of the numbers I called were actually to rent offices or apartments with multiple bedrooms, whereas I just wanted to move in to a free room where other people were already living.

Luckily I did receive several messages on Easypiso and one of them was from an agency called EPS Malaga. My friend Emily had already put a deposit down for an apartment through this company to move in with four europeans so I was very interested. A young woman working for the company took me to the apartment on c/ Atarazanas which is a great location. It is five minutes from the bus that I need to take to get to work and very close to a huge outdoor supermarket/grocery store as well as c/ larios. There are four european boys living in the apartment. At first this made me a little bit nervous because if they were anything like my guy friends who had houses together in college it was going to be pretty unlivable for a girl. However, the apartment was actually spotless. I could not believe it. I would have my own room and there are two bathrooms, a decent kitchen and living room. There is even a "cleaning schedule" in the kitchen that says who cleans what room what day. I only met one of the guys, a student from France, but there are two Italians and a guy from England.

After my unsuccessful day searching today I went back to EPS and told them I wanted the apartment!!! I am going to move in October 1 (after my first day of teaching). I am very excited and hope that it will be a great experience. I had to sign a lease until at least January, but if I am really unhappy I can always leave (but will lose my security deposit).

New Friends

From left to right: Me, Chrystin and Sarah at a club called Aqua in Sevilla.
Here I am with my new friends at a tapas bar in Sevilla. From left to right: Chrystin, Steph (my roommate at the hotel), Ashley, Sarah, Me, and Alina. All of us will be living in Málaga. We get there tomorrow at 1pm!