And so ends my Andalusian Advenuture

Well, after 11 weeks spent living in Malaga, Spain, the time finally came to return to Stockholm. It was a difficult parting. I had certainly become accustomed to warm weather, beach and a general lack of any pressure.  Sunday breakfasts at our usual cafe, sitting in the sun, were hardly a punishment.

Cooking paella at the school

In case I'm conveying the wrong message, I didn't only spend my time dilly dallying in beach cafes.  I was also there to learn a language. In fact, if I do say so myself, my Spanish has improved a lot. Better said, from A2 to about B2 (The EU has created a standardized system of language understanding. A1 and A2 is for beginners, B1 and B2 for intermediate levels and C1 and C2 for advanced language skills). I've gone from hesitating and having to think about everything to simply speaking and applying more complicated grammatical structures to my expression.

The courses were good, but it was the teachers that made the difference.  One teacher in particular, Patricia, practically taught me everything I'm taking away from there. She would thoroughly explain new verb conjugations and vocabulary through her enthusiastic and interactive teaching. Furthermore she provoked us to discuss controversial topics like religion and the death penalty to have real discussion as opposed to talking about reality TV and paparazzi. However, some weeks with other teachers the pace became so slow that it felt like I was becoming worse at Spanish (essentially the times where we would talk about the latter two of the aforementioned topics). Nonetheless, I would recommend the school to others wanting to learn Spanish.

Drinking a "jarra" in Malaga's popular 'El Pimpi'

My knowledge of the language was put to the test when on my last weekend in Malaga, I was visited by good friends from Freiburg - Joaquín, Judit and Borja (my old roommate). Together we ate tapas, went to the beach, drank cerveza, and were up very late at night for activities provided at such times on the weekend. All in all it was too short but I think I speak correctly when I say that it wasn't the last time we see each other. After saying goodbye I gave myself a little pat on the back for having spoken Spanish with them the entire time :)

My fried sandwiches got quite good
towards the end

Leaving was difficult.  Realizing that I will no longer be drinking 5 cups of tea a day together with my flatmates and playing ping pong on the hostel terrace on nice days after school abets a melancholy not so easily amended. I leave Malaga behind with what I came for and much more. A conversational proficiency in Spanish, a host of new experiences and great friends.