ESPANYA – PT 1

ESPANYA!

So… It’s back to the daily grind for me. Last week was the BAC Blanc for 1ères and Terminales (Juniors and Seniors basically). What this means is these students were taking practice tests for the BAC (the final exam to receive your diploma) and some missed my classes because of it. OF COURSE, not a single person from the school informed me about it or what classes wouldn’t show up. Monday there was one that didn’t show, and Tuesday I had another class that didn’t come. Thank god I asked someone about the one Tuesday! Needless to say, I wasn’t excited to return and get back to work, because I had what may have been the best vacation/trip of my life so far.

Spain… Jesus, where on earth to begin? I can tell already this is going to be way too long to put in one post (both for my sanity as well as any readers’). To preface it all, I would love to add pictures into the post but it is not worth the hassle wordpress creates for me.

Days 1 and 2 – Malaga (MY BIRTHDAY!)

The trip started at Gare Lille-Flandres, one of the two train stations in Lille. Even on my way there I experienced something that made me chuckle for the next five minutes. In the tunnel from the metro to the train station there are posters advertising any number of things. This morning, there was a poster with a dog on it… and in real life an old man staring at it talking to the dog. From the minute I turned the corner and saw the man until the moment he was out of view, this guy was just standing there talking to the poster. God only knows how long he must have been there before or after.

We had our rendez-vous at the station and boarded the train – me, Rebecca, Stephanie, Megan, Mary, Katherine, Laura Dixon and Guillaume (the French boyfriend). Megan and Mary, bless their hearts, brought a bottle of champagne to celebrate my birthday, and we enjoyed it on the train at 10:30 in the morning. It put a smile on my face.

The flight was from Charleroi (about an hour south of Brussels), which is coincidentally the crappiest town in Europe due to its weather, industrial sprawl, and crime (I think). While waiting for our flight in the airport, we played a lot of the card game Egyptian Ratscrew, which became a reoccurring activity during our downtime in Spain.

We got to Malaga and took the bus into town, arriving around 9 or so at night. It was quite exciting at first, as Carnaval was going on. There people everywhere, dressed up, partying and making noise in the streets.  Trying to get our bearings, we walked about 25 minutes in one direction (most of which was in a beautiful park, even if it was at night), only to find out we had to go back the other way for the same amount of time. Although it was way out of our way, I could have walked all night through that town- it was so beautiful and warm!

After checking into our hostel and dropping off our stuff, we went out to find a place to eat. We ended up at a delicious tapas restaurant called Pepa y Pepe where we met Lina and Laura, who had coincidentally planned a trip to Malaga and Granada for the same dates. It was really nice to have all of my best friends from Lille together for my birthday. I had a great time.

By the way, Tapas, if you didn’t know, is a traditional Spanish style of eating where everyone shares a bunch of what I can only describe as mostly deep-fried appetizers… but absolutely delicious deep-fried appetizers. For instance, we ordered a succulent plate of deep-fried chorizo, some tasty chicken wings, deep-fried cucumber with honey, fried seafoods, and croquetas (deep-fried balls of mashed potatoes and cheese… OMG YUM!), just to name a few.

On our way back to the hostel we had a huge confetti fight with the piles of confetti spread about the roads. Then we found a little bar right next to the hostel where we met some very interesting Spanish characters. Keep in mind it was a Sunday, not necessarily a huge bar night, although our new Spanish friends wanted us to go salsa dancing with them. Luckily, we declined and retired in our beds. The next day there was confetti everywhere in our hostel as well as every subsequent hostel we stayed in, all remains of my birthday night.

The next day we had to take a bus to Granada in the afternoon, but we got up early in order to explore the city a little bit. Malaga isn’t too large and outside the center area there isn’t much to see, but it beautiful, especially the view from the beach. Although the sand is dark and not as nice as at home, the view of the ocean and mountains together in the distance was inspiring. Other than the beach, one aspect of Andalusia (the southern region of the country) that really caught my attention was the abundance of orange trees everywhere. The fruits are just so vibrantly colorful!

At the bus station everyone grabbed a kebab for the road (though mine was finished before we even got on) and we took off at 3 o’clock. All of the rolling hills and mountains of the Spanish countryside made the hour and a half go by quickly as we headed into Granada…

(more coming soon)

p.s. I have to give a shout out to Linda, Rebecca’s mother, who apparently reads this (one of probably four people). Hello, Linda, and thanks for reading! You’ve raised your daughter well!

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