Paulina and I left Murcia Sunday morning and headed back to Granada together. When I got to Granada, I bought a bus ticket to Málaga and I was on my way for the last leg of the trip. Read about my time in Granada and Murcia if you haven’t already!
When I got to Málaga, I followed the Google Maps directions I had saved. It was supposed to be a 15-minute walk, and it would have been if I had had a map. Unfortunately, the directions were unclear and I wandered around for 45 minutes. I was so tired and I was trying to suppress my tears of frustration. Eventually ended up taking a taxi. I maintain that was the best 5 euros I spent on the trip because as we drove I realized how far away from my hostel I was. I had been wandering around for almost an hour on the other side of the bus station from where I was supposed to have gone.
When I finally did make it to the hostel, I had a pleasant conversation with the receptionist at the hostel (in Spanish, of course) and I got to finally lie down for a while. I took a walk just before sunset to explore a bit, but didn’t stay out long, because I was still in a bad mood from spending nearly 6 hours in buses and getting lost.
When I got back to the hostel I planned out the next day, with the intention of taking it easy. I also met one of the girls I was sharing a room with. She was Swiss, but had studied Spanish in Málaga and had come to visit the people she knew from then. It was cool that Spanish was the language we used to talk, and she was really nice.
The next day I got up with what I thought was plenty to eat breakfast at the hostel, but it turns out I heard the wrong time, so I didn’t get breakfast.
I ate one of the oranges I had picked in Murcia and headed out. I went to explore the Alcazaba, which is kind of similar to the Alhambra. There is also a castle further up the hill I planned to go to. I was very happy to find that admission for students is only 60 cents, which is very reasonable, I think.
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| Roman theatre |
I walked around there for a while and since I started a little late and didn’t feel like walking up the big hill, I just went to the Picasso museum.
Picasso was apparently born in Malaga, and the museum they have there is really good! My student ID also got me a half-priced ticket and free audio guide, so I was pretty happy. I once again listened to the audio guide in Spanish.
When I was buying a ticket, the staff greeted me and talked to me in English at first, but I kept talking in Spanish (mostly because I didn’t really register what language they were talking to me in and because at that point it would have taken more effort to switch to English than to keep talking in Spanish). Eventually my strategy worked and the staff talked to me in Spanish. When I went back to pick up my bag from the coat check area one of the guys I had talked to earlier started to talk to me in English and quickly switched back to Spanish.
I couldn’t take any pictures inside the museum, but I was very interested to see Picasso’s work from different periods across his 80-year career. I really enjoyed the museum, and would highly recommend it.
After the museum, I went to find a bocadillo, which I took back to the hostel to eat, because it was more of a take away place. I ate lunch and took a siesta, since I was completely exhausted from the rest of the trip.
Most of the exhaustion, I think, came from speaking Spanish all day every day for a week. This was really my first experience being immersed in a foreign language in a foreign country. I’m glad it was only about a week, because it was a lot, but I also want to try it for a longer period of time, ideally before I go abroad in my third year. I would also like to find some strategies for getting over the exhaustion and feeling like my head is going to explode.
After my siesta, I walked over to the beach and people watched for a bit, but headed back to the hostel after about an hour, because I don’t like beaches that much and it wasn’t really that warm.
I didn’t do anything that evening except pack up my bags. I didn’t feel like doing anything and I really just wanted to be back in Edinburgh. I had already been traveling for a week in Scotland before Spain and I was starting to think about my upcoming exams and all the things I would need to do when I got back to Edinburgh, including leaving three days later for England, so I just took it easy.
The next day, after a long day of traveling, running through airports, and almost missing two flights, I finally made it back to Edinburgh.
I don’t want this leg of the trip to detract from the overall experience in Spain, which was amazing, but that’s hard since it was the last leg. I really did enjoy traveling and speaking Spanish and eating all the wonderful food, but I’m glad to be back in Edinburgh for a while.
