This past couple of weeks I have finally managed to start exploring the metal music scene here in Málaga, which is surprisingly difficult to find. My first taste of it was visiting a place called Bar Lemmy, which as the name suggests is a Motörhead fan’s dream. This is a pretty cool bar, with really great music and a great atmosphere. It’s just a bit of a shame that both times I have visited it there haven’t been that many people there.

My second encounter with the metal scene in Malaga was at a place called Sala Trinchera, which is a bit out of the way as it’s pretty much on the way to the airport, south of Teatinos. But it was worth the long walk, as this was a small music festival dedicated to bringing 4 relatively local metal bands to Málaga for a night of (extremely loud) heavy metal. The highlight for me was a band called Witchtower, which had a great NWOBHM sound and had great stage presence as well. However, seeing all of these bands playing in a fairly big venue like this made me wish I had a band here in Málaga, as playing guitar in my band back home is one thing that I miss a lot about the UK.

During these last two weeks I have also sorted out all of my maths classes. I am now exclusively studying second year modules, which is a lot more manageable than before. I am also enjoying the classes more, as I’m getting used to the Spanish university system and gradually making more friends in the classes.

Other highlights include a tandem language exchange night, where I met a group of Spanish students and practised speaking and translating between Spanish and English. One of the tasks we were given was to make a story using certain Spanish words, which turned into my new Spanish friends telling me a story in English, and I would have to translate it into Spanish, which was great practise for all of us.

A few photos of the Botanical garden on campus (the weather is still really good here!)

I should hopefully be back into the regular blogging routine next week, so until then, adios!

October begins!

I can’t quite believe that an entire month has passed since arriving in Málaga, but despite the fact the weather hasn’t deteriorated at all, it’s now October and just over four weeks since my arrival.

This week has been the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) welcome week, so there’s been some great organised activities this week, including trips to the San Miguel brewery, the historic city of Ronda and a tapas night in the city centre. The brewery tour included a free bar where we got to sample all of the different types of beer the company offers, along with plenty of food and a gift of 2 free San Miguel beer glasses to everybody.

Saturday was the night of tapas, which was a great opportunity to sample a variety of typical tapas and drinks. This was followed by a visit to a really cheap bar nearby where they were selling beer for 1,30€. Not bad! I then found out that there is actually a nightbus to Teatinos, with the last the last bus leaving the city centre at 4AM. This is definitely a good thing as it is included on my monthly bus pass, so it’s a really cheap way of getting home after a night out.

The following morning was a bit of a struggle to get up after only 4 hours sleep, but it was the day of the trip to Ronda, so I managed to drag myself out of bed at about 7AM. This was definitely worth it, as it turned out to be a really interesting day, with amazing scenery, dramatic architecture and great food. Ronda is said to be the source of modern bullfighting, so it is a very important city in Andalucia and has a fascinating past.

This week also marked the end of the language class that we’ve been doing for the past 4 weeks, with a series of exams on Monday afternoon. The exams weren’t as difficult as I had expected, and afterwards we went to the beach in El Palo for a few cervezas and seafood. I think I’ll really miss going to the language class; it was a great opportunity to make new friends and it served as good revision for a lot of grammar and vocabulary. Now maths classes have started properly, and with me being the only Erasmus student in the majority of my classes it’s a bit daunting, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it…

Hasta pronto!

Week 3

This week was the first week of teaching for the majority of courses in the university. However, unlike most British universities, each Faculty has its own specific starting date, with the Faculty of Science starting this Wednesday. It seemed a bit strange to start mid-week, but today I had my first ever Maths classes in Spanish, and so far they are going well. At the moment we are doing topics which I’m familiar with from the first 2 years of Maths at Southampton, so it is a more gentle introduction to the course. However, this is definitely a good thing as it is quite a challenge to study in a completely different language.

My Timetable, more or less

On a more exciting note, I now have a full house in my flat! All of my flatmates have now returned to Málaga from their homes. Within a few hours of their arrival we were already making a big bowl of mojito, which turned out to be pretty potent… I then spent Saturday evening teaching them and some of our Spanish friends how to play the British drinking game, Ring of Fire. This ended up being pretty entertaining, and it was a great test for my Spanish as we played completely in Spanish and I had to translate all of the rules and explain them well enough for everyone to understand.

RING OF FIRE!!

The rest of this week looks like it shall be a good one too, with a few nights out planned, a trip to Ronda and a tapas night. I’m sure you’ll be able to read about all of that next time round. Until then, hasta luego.

Week 2

This last week and a bit has been a fairly busy week for me, with a mixture of touristy activities, fun nights out, slightly frustrating administrative tasks to do, and one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. But more on that later…

The week started with a bank holiday that was specific to Málaga, which meant that there was no language course that day. However, it also meant that nothing was open in the city, so I couldn’t do anything that I had planned on getting sorted out, such as getting a bus pass. This turned out to be a bit of a mission in itself, as the first time I went to the Málaga transport office to buy the monthly bus pass, I found out (after queuing for 20 minutes) that I needed a photocopy of my passport. However, I eventually got it sorted, and at 27€ for a month of unlimited travel around the city, it seems like a good deal.

In my spare time between language classes I have doing a bit of sightseeing. Before one language class I decided to find the view of the city of Málaga from the top of the Gibralforo hill, which overlooks much of the city. This turned out to be quite a tiring climb up to the top in the 33 degrees heat, and it did make me question how wise it was to wear a black t shirt and jeans that particular day… But it was definitely worth it; the view from the top is stunning, with the bullring, city centre and coast all surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea.

The Bulring

On Sunday my housemate and his friends introduced me to a great tapas bar in the city centre. Everything on the menu was 1€, including beer, so it ended up being a great place to hang out. I also feel like I’m gradually getting better at understanding spoken Spanish. The Andalucian accent is still a bit of a struggle for me, but being surrounded by it all the time is definitely helping me, and I am enjoying the challenge. They also say that if you can understand Andalucian Spanish, then you can pretty much understand any accent, so it’s good practise…

Playa Malagueta

Perhaps one of the highlights of the week came for me on Friday. This was the day of the Steve Vai concert, which was held in the bullring in La Malagueta. With stunning guitar licks, incredible showmanship and a fantastic atmosphere in a quite a unique concert venue, the gig was pretty much exactly as I had expected it to be. Steve Vai just seems to command the attention of the entire audience, and he knows how to put on an incredible show. Definitely worth the 33€ ticket price!

That’s all for now… Nos vemos!

The beach in El Palo

Steve Vai!

Week 1

I’ve now been living in Málaga for one week, so I thought it was about time I updated this blog…

 

My experience started with a very early flight from London Gatwick at 5:45AM, which meant that I got to my new flat before lunchtime. The flat is situated in a suburb of Málaga called Teatinos, and is less than a 10 minute walk from the university campus. There’s a huge variety of restaurants and bars within a five minutes of the flat and plenty of banks and other useful shops nearby. The flat itself is very modern inside and is in much better condition than the house that I lived in in Southampton. We even have a private swimming pool shared between all of the residents! The city centre is only a 20 minute bus ride away so it’s fairly easy to get to.

 

During the day I have been going to a language course for International students, which is put on by the university. It’s a four week course with four hours of classes each day, starting at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon. The actual language school couldn’t really be much closer to the beach; it is literally less than a two minute walk away, which is quite convenient…  It is also in a slightly less touristy part of Málaga called El Palo, as it’s a good 20 minute bus ride away from the city centre. However, this means it’s pretty unspoilt and definitely very stereotypically Spanish.

Thursday night was the night of the Erasmus beach party. Being my first fiesta in Spain, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it ended up being a lot of fun. During the evening it suddenly occurred to me when speaking to all of the international students in English that this was actually probably the first time I had spoken anything more than a few sentences in English; the rest of the time it’s been more or less in Spanish, which is great for me! I’d definitely recommend living with Spanish people, as you get to practise the language all the time and it’s a great experience.

 On Saturday I also went to the Erasmus welcome party in the city centre. There was quite a lot of people I had met at the beach or at the language school, and many more people who I’d never met. For the first couple of hours there were some good drinks deals, including one litre of beer for 3€ and free cups of Tinto de Verano. We also got free entry to a nightclub afterwards, including quite a significant queue jump, so it turned out to be a great night!

Some of the less exciting things I’ve had to do include setting up a Spanish bank account and phone number. This turned out to be a lot easier than I was expecting, although I did leave my National Insurance card in the flat, which was necessary to set up the account. Luckily the bank is only a 2 minute walk from the flat, but I almost didn’t bother bringing the card abroad at all, so it’s pretty fortunate that I did!

 

Anyway, that’s all for now. Below are some random photos of my time so far... Until next week, ¡adiós!

 

 

T minus 11 days...

Welcome to my blog!

With just over a week before I set off on my year abroad in Málaga, I thought it was about time I made a blog to record how it's going and what I'm up to. For those of you who don't know, I'll be spending a year studying Maths at Málaga University as part of my BSc Mathematics with Spanish degree.


Out of the three choices of cities that Southampton offered me, Málaga seemed the one that was best suited to me. Being in the heart of Andalucía, probably the most stereotypically "Spanish" autonomous community of Spain, Málaga looks like it will be a great place to be.

Once I had decided on my destination, one of the first things I had to consider was accommodation. Although the university does provide Halls of Residence accommodation, it is quite expensive compared to private rented, so I decided to rent a flat near to the university. My search started with easypiso.com, which I would recommend as there were plenty to choose from. After drawing together a shortlist of places to look at and contacting the landlords, my Dad and I visited Málaga for a couple of days at the end of June. After viewing a few different places I settled on a flat within a 10 minute walk of the University campus in Teatinos, Málaga. I'll be sharing with 3 Spanish students, which should be a lot of fun and great for my practising Spanish!

During the year I hope to (obviously) improve my Spanish and experience a completely different way of life. I also have the small matter of a 6,000 word research project to complete in Spanish, alongside the 8 maths modules I'll be studying at uni, which should be fun.... However, outside of academia, I plan on finding a flamenco guitar teacher to teach me authentic flamenco guitar, and potentially form my own metal/hard rock band in Málaga. I am also planning on visiting some of the cities around Málaga, like Sevilla and Granada, which could possibly include skiing in the Sierra Nevada mountains during the winter months!

So far I have sorted out pretty much everything that I need to before I go, including booking my place on the 4 week language course provided by the university. Oh, and I've booked a ticket to see a Steve Vai concert in a bull ring in Málaga! Now it's just a case of waiting until 1st September for my flight from Gatwick before I can embark on my Spanish adventure!

¡Hasta pronto!