Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!
Here's a little preview of my Christmas:

Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

The sign says "Merry Christmas 2011"

At my school, the kids in the 2nd ESO held a Christmas concert.

Skyping with my family on Christmas morning :)

Robby and I cooked a nice dinner

Feliz Navidad and Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmastime in Copenhagen

Denmark, Day 1
I woke up early this morning to catch a bus to málaga to catch a metro train to the airport to wait in line at the check-in counter to get on a plane to Denmark. On the plane, I was surrounded by little children and babies and an absurd amount of little dogs in carrying cases fancier than my purse.  But it was all worth it when I heard my name, "Kaitlyn" as soon as I exited from the international section past customs. Ingelise was standing right outside waiting for me. She is so sweet and it was so good to see her and hg her again. When we got back to her apartment, she put the nice dinner she had prepared into the oven and we sat down with a glass of wine and just talked. We talked about so much this evening- about my time in Spain, her time in Denmark, languages, traveling, family, etc. The dinner was absolutely delicious- pork tenderloin in an apple, onion, mango and curry sauce over rice. Eating this reminded me of how poor a cook I actually am. This was a true homemade meal that I have been missing out on. And to make it even better, I was eating it in the company of Ingelise- family. A little bit of home away from home. So even though I didn't do any sightseeing today, it was such a great first day in Copenhagen. I'm so blessed to be able to see family that lives so far away from me. They are so special and I'm so proud of my Danish heritage. I'm just so happy and blessed to be here.

Denmark, Day 2
Grocery shopping: check
Stroget: check
Danish National Museum: check
Family: check check check

Today I didn't get to cross off too much of my sightseeing list. It took so long to actually get going. Breakfast was nice and relaxed and then we went to the grocery store to get food for dinner tomorrow night. After that was done we went on our way to the city a little past noon. We took a nice stroll down the Stroget (the longest pedestrian shopping area in Europe). It was beautiful with all of the christmas decorations over the street and in the store windows. There we stopped in a few stores to look at pretty things we could not afford. One of these stores was the Royal Copenhagen: Danish Porcelain store. Everything there was so beautiful. I was tempted to buy the 2011 Danish christmas plate, but it was a little out of my price range.  Plus, we have plenty at home anyway from other years.  After window shopping for a bit, we went to have coffee to escape the cold since the wind was so strong.  When we got to the other end of the Stroget we made our way to the Danish National Museum. This was really interesting because it was full of archaeological artifacts and information about the history of Denmark. We spent most of our time in the section about Danish prehistory. After the museum, it was time to go to Carsten's house since he was preparing us a nice dinner. He made us tenderloin stuffed with ham and cheese with a delicious mustard gravy. This was a wonderful meal. (It's making me hungry just typing this up again).
   I think it's quite amazing. This concept of family. There are people out there, some you have never met before, but because they are family, because they love people who you are related to, they take you in, care for you, and on top of that they care about you too. I think it's such a lovely thing.
  After dinner we looked at pictures from Ingelise and Carsten's trip to Edinburgh last year since they heard that I am going there for my Christmas break.
  Tomorrow hopefully we'll see more things. It'll probably be another late start since we didn't get back until really late. But that's okay, I have the time here.

P.S. Carsten made some really funny jokes today that reminded me of my dad. For example, Ingelise said, "I don't think the busses are running anymore" and he responded, "I don't think they'd be driving anymore either." Well, he's an engineer too. Maybe they all have similar minds.

Denmark, Day 3
First stop, Rosenbborgade, where Soren Kierkegaard lived and wrote a few of his famous books I had looked up the address from a blog online but when we got to the number it gave us, it didn't look quite right and there was no plaque. We looked around for a little, but gave up after about 5 minutes of looking. We decided to just continue down the street towards our next destination. Lo and behold, we found it! It was number 7, not number 15. So all was not lost. It looks like a really interesting location to live too. It's right near the royal park and Rosenborg castle one way and a  nice walking street, round tower and old university dorms in the other direction.  From Kierkegaard's home, we then walked towards Langelinie, the little mermaid.  On the way to see her, we walked down Nyhavn and saw the Christmas market there. Then we went past Amalienborg palace on the left and the Royal opera house across the water on the right. None of the Royal family is here at the moment so there weren't that many guards. Apparently in July, there had been a big storm and the ground floor and kitchens to the palaces had been flooded and they still have yet to be fixed. So no grand changing of the guards while I'm here. 
Then we walked a little more and got to Langelinie. "The Little Mermaid" is a popular fairy tale by the Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince. But this story doesn't end quite the way that Disney portrayed it. The prince thought it was a different girl who saved him and so he married the other girl.  If the little mermaid slays the prince and lets the blood drip on her feet, she will become a mermaid again. But she cannot bring herself to kill the prince so she throws herself into the sea and dissolves and becomes a wandering spirit sentenced to wander for 300 years. Yeah. Not the happy Disney ending... But still a cool story and a pretty statue.
After seeing the statue, we went to a cute little coffee place to warm up for a bit and then we did a little souvenir shopping and then home to a wonderful warm meal.


Last day in Copenhagen
This time in Denmark has gone by both quickly and slowly. Quickly because you can never have too much time traveling or being with family. Slowly because you can see most of the touristy things in the city in two days, but I had more time than that so we could do things slowly.
Today we went into the city around noon again. This time I wore leggings under my jeans since yesterday I near froze to the bone. We saw the old stock exchange building with its beautiful architecture, the outside of the parliament building and the royal library with the royal gardens. I also continued my Kierkegaard scavenger hunt. Inside the royal gardens there was a statue of Kierkegaard.  Then we met up with Carsten at a place called Charlie's Bar. It was a really cozy spot near Stroget. 
After that we went on to Tivoli. It was just about dusk when we got there so I was able to see some of it in natural light and then I got to see it with all of the lights since it got dark pretty quickly. There was so much light from all of the christmas lights. There was also a special Christmas exhibit in Tivoli about Christmas in Russia. They had some Russian gift shops, Russian food stalls, and a little building in the center with Russian architecture. This was really cool, especially since Russia was on my list of places I would like to travel (But I can't since it's expensive and really hard to get to). So I got a piece of it, however fake it was, here. After Tivoli I took Ingelise and Carsten out for a nice dinner at a place called Klubben to thank them for all their hospitality and then I went back to Ingelise's place. Tomorrow I have to get up at 5am to get to the airport. I have loved my time here in Copenhagen and I would love to come back and see again, especially with friends and people more my age. Hopefully someday...

Busy, busy weekend.

I guess that's just how life happens. Nothing really happens for a couple of weeks and then everything happens at once.  Well that just happened to me.  No complaints, but now I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend. Sorry about the length of this post, but it comes with the territory of being busy...

It all started on Thursday for me.  I went to school in the morning, and everything was pretty normal. I taught my kids about Thanksgiving and about all of the thanksgiving foods and traditions.  As soon as I came home from school, though, I dropped my bag by a kitchen chair, not even taking the time to go upstairs, and I started to peel potatoes. I had taken it upon myself to cook my mom's recipe of mashed potatoes, which have always been my favorite. But I had to make it for 25+ people. The day before, I grabbed 6 kilos of potatoes, and so as soon as I came home I started the peeling process.  I didn't think we had a peeler, so I just used a knife.

 About 2 hours in, Leslie comes in to start her vegetables and finds a peeler in the drawer for her carrots.Oh well, I was already pretty much done.  All during this time too, I helped out with the turkey, making sure that it didn't dry out.  Then, as soon as people started coming, I was pretty much put in charge of where to put all the dishes. Also, I was the only person who knew how to use the swiss army knife can opener, so of course, I had to open all of the cranberry cans, etc. (Shout out to my parents for taking me camping where I learned this).  Once everyone started eating, though, everything became much less stressful for me and we all had a great Thanksgiving.

The next day, early in the morning, I got up to head to school. Normally I don't go in until 2nd hour, but this day was special so I had to get up bright and early. This was the day of the school excursion to el pantano (the man-made lake at the bottom of the mountain). We walked down through the streets of Periana to a steep path through olive orchards to the lake. When we got to the picnic area, the kids dispersed to different picnic benches and the teachers started to set up our barbeque. Even though I had had so much food the night before for Thanksgiving, I wasn't going to miss out on all of this food.

Then while more food was barbecuing, the teachers split up to run different games and activities for the kids. I helped run this huge board game where the students were the pieces.  Then after the activities, the kids just went off and did their thing while the teachers ate more and hung out.
We walked back up a different way since the way down was so steep. This way was steep too, but not quite as steep. The views were so gorgeous.  When we got to the end of the path, there were busses waiting for us to take us all the way back to the school. However there was some miscalculation and they were short one bus so a few teachers stayed behind with the rest of the kids waiting for a bus to return to get us. One finally came and we made it back to school moments before the last bell rang.  The day at the pantano was a lot of fun, but on such little sleep from the night before, I was ready to go home and take a nice long siesta. But....

When I got home, a group of friends had come over to help us eat all of the leftovers. I hung out with them and ate even more.  We played some games and watched part of a movie. Then we decided that we were going to go out dancing that night so they went home to get ready and I went upstairs to take a nap at 10pm until they came back.  They came back to our place around 1am and we headed off to the discoteca to dance off all the calories we had eaten the past couple of days.  I came home a little early, but I guess that was understandable since I was the one who had the least amount of sleep in the group.

The next day, Saturday, I got to sleep in finally! Anneli, Nick and Ron came over and we headed into Málaga to see all the lights.  This was the first night that the lights were lit in the city and there are always a lot of people on the streets going out to see them. In one plaza there was even a small concert.  These lights were amazing!

I thought the ones in Madrid were great (which they are) but these ones were just so colorful. In Málaga we met up with Leslie, Adam, Eddie and Robby who had gone in earlier.  That night, we spent the night at Anneli's since she lives in the city.
The next day, on Sunday, when everyone else went back to their respective homes, Anneli and I went to the Picasso museum since the last Sunday of each month has free entry there.  The museum was cool and interesting. There aren't any big works of Picasso since those are all in the big museums, but you could see all of the different styles Picasso experimented in and his progression as an artist.  But I'm glad I went when it was free.

After the museum I finally went home to relax and have some down time after such a crazy weekend. I was successful in relaxing for the most part except for all the dishes and cleaning...and our power going out.  Randomly our power went out, so our landlord came over and finally figured out that water was seeping behind our dishwasher and getting around the outlet which blew the fuse.  After all that was settled, things settled in the house.  Overall I had an amazing weekend with great friends and great experiences. But it's good to relax too.

When life slows down.

Life has kind of slowed down recently.  I've gotten into my routine of working 3 days a week, doing something or other on the weekend, and then cleaning and lesson planning and running errands on Monday and Tuesday (when the rest of the people in my apartment have work).

Contrary to popular belief of most of you who read this, I do work. Granted, it's not much and it's not extremely hard. But it happens. 3 times a week on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.  I carpool with different teachers every day and the 20-30 minute drive to school is breathtaking.  My school, Alta Axarquía, is literally in the mountains. One day, the entire town of Periana was enveloped by a cloud. This was no regular fog. This was a legit cloud. You could not see more than 10 feet in front of you. That kinda made the drive through those windy roads to get there a little scary, but the teachers that I commute with know the roads really well.

View from a window at school

Wednesdays I have a short day where I just need to come in for the afternoon and then Thursdays and Fridays I have full days.  Most of my classes are English classes, but I also have some other classes within the bilingual program such as Physical Education, Natural Sciences, and Social Studies. Math is also a course in the bilingual program, but I don't have any Math classes until February.

Leslie is the other Auxiliar de Conversación at my school. We are actually living together which is nice since we can help each other with lesson planning and ideas.  She works Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays but in February we are going to switch our schedules so that I can have Fridays off since a lot of our friends also have Fridays off. It's also cheaper to travel Thursday-Sunday than Saturday-Tuesday.

Every other week, I teach a 30-40 minute activity in my Social Studies class with the 4th year students.  Two weeks ago, I taught the American War for Independence.  Since it was also around Halloween, I incorporated candy into the lesson. I gave each student 4 pieces of candy, but I told them that they were not allowed to eat it until the end of class. Then, I appointed tax collectors and I collected taxes (of candy) to simulate the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act, etc.  The kids were not happy that I was taking away their candy, and they tried to reason with me. But I told them that they did not have any representation in my parliament, so I would not listen to them.  At the end of the activity, one kid who does not speak up in English very often raised his hand and said "Teacher" (referring to the Social Studies teacher, Fábian) "I propose we start a revolution."
This was probably one of the most rewarding classes I've taught so far. Sometimes I wonder how much they pay attention when I am talking in English or how much they understand. But with the combination of the worksheet and the activity, I feel like the students really learned something with learning in English.

Soon, I will update about my commute and hopefully get pictures of the drive.

Ibiza

Sorry for not updating in a little bit...I'll try and do better to keep up with it.

Two weekend ago I went to Ibiza with los Lobos. Ibiza is one of Spain's Balearic islands of the eastern coast in the Mediterranean.  It was towards the end of the season in Ibiza and a lot of places were already shut down (It apparently becomes close to a ghost town when it's not summer). Nevertheless we made the most of it.  It was also good because places had a lot of great off-season specials for tapas and such things.

The first night we were there we went to one of the most famous discotecas in Europe. At least in Spain and they have the best discotecas in Spain in the first place.  We went to Pacha Ibiza. I had been to Pacha Madrid when I studied abroad and it was a lot of fun, but this was even bigger. There were a couple different rooms so you could decide which music you liked better. Anyway, in the spirit of a Spaniard, we stayed out until the place closed at 6am.


The next day we went to one of the really nice beaches.  Even though Ibiza is an Island with a lot of beaches, not all of the beaches are beautiful. The beach outside of our hotel was nice enough, but it also had a lot of seaweed buildup.  The sand at the beach we went to was so incredibly soft (unlike the sand here in Torre del Mar which is not as fine). We soaked in the sun and went in the clear teal water. Mind you, this is in October.

Out in the distance, you can see this cool tower, so Robby and I decide to take a hike and explore.  On the way there were all these really cool alcove beaches from the water eroding the shoreline over time.  And then we get to the tower we found out that it was an old watchtower first set up to protect the fishing industry and then it was turned into more of a defensive tower. In the distance, from this point, you could also see a beautiful lighthouse.









Oh, and the last night in Ibiza, I rode a mechanical bull.

The Balcony of Europe

This weekend, I decided to take a "week off" from big traveling trips. And by that, I meant I just went on a low-key day trip. But for being so low-key, it sure was beautiful.
On Saturday I went to Nerja with a couple of girls, Allison, Britt and Julia.

Nerja is a beautiful town with gorgeous beaches, a really cool "old-town" walking section, and what they call the Balcony of Europe.  It also has caves on the outskirts of town, but none of us wore good shoes for the 45 minute walk out to the caves.

We walk around the town, following signs for El Balcón de Europa and we get to this one really cool outlook over a small beach and the ocean.  It's beautiful- however, it does not seem impressive enough to stand up to the hype of El Balcón.

Even though we're a little underwhelmed due to our expectations, we take in the gorgeous view...that is until we read the sign. This isn't the Balcón de Europa, it's just the overlook to a nice beach.  We keep walking through the old part of town with cool walking streets and every once in a while we would see a small outlook overlooking another beach and another wonderful view of the ocean. Finally we get to this bigger plaza filled with tons of people, cute restaurants, 5 ice cream places and El Balcón de Europa. It really was this balcony that stood over where the balcony of the old castle of Nerja used to be.  Pictures really can't do it justice. Everywhere you looked it was another beautiful picture, either of the coastline to the left or to the right, or the sea that went on for miles and miles. 

The water was also such a beautiful color of blue.

After we admire the balcony of europe, we grab some tapas and leisurely eat taking in the atmosphere of this cute little plaza. We're amazed at how little Spanish we hear. It seems like everyone here is a tourist. There's German, French, English...pretty much everything except Spanish.  After eating, we head back to the bus station going through the old part of town, stopping in to shop in a few really quaint stores along the way.

I will definitely be back to Nerja. It's only about a half-hour bus ride away. Next time I'll bring the shoes to check out those caves.  Sometimes you don't need to do huge weekend trips to experience Spain and Europe. I have it all practically right in my backyard.

I had a monkey on my shoulder.

This weekend, the crew from my house met up with our friends in Málaga to do the next step towards getting their foreign residency cards.  As this was on Friday, I had class but met them in Málaga later on that day to go to Nick and Ron's place in Marbella and then do a day trip to Gibraltar.

This group is comprised of Eddie, Robby, Leslie, Nick, Ron and Myself. Sometimes a few other girls. We call ourselves Los Lobos (The wolves).  I arrive in Málaga and they meet me at the bus station, but there's one more person who I don't recognize. Apparently, while they were waiting in line at the police station, they met another girl who was doing the Auxiliar de Conversaciones too. Randomly, they asked her if she wanted to come with us to Marbella and Gibraltar and so she became initiated into our wolf pack.

We then head over to Marbella and have a great time just hanging out, getting to know Anneli and catching up with Ron and Nick.  The next day we take a bus down to Gibraltar. Well, the bus goes to the Spanish town La Linea and then we have to cross the border into Gibraltar since it isn't technically a Spanish city.  When we were in there, it was a complete mix of Spanish and English. You could hear both languages being spoken, you could pay for things in either the Euro or the Pound and you could eat anything from Paella to Fish and Chips.

The weather started out British today too.

Since we were limited on time, we took a van tour up the big Gibraltar rock. While there, we saw the Pillars of Hercules (which used to be considered the end of the earth), the caves of Gibraltar, the old british army tunnels carved into the rock for protection from the siege, and of course, the monkeys!  They were everywhere. Our tour guide coaxed them up onto our shoulders, but we were not allowed to touch the monkeys back since they have a habit of biting.

When we got back from the rock tour, we went to a Fish and Chips place that was owned by an Englishman for authentic Fish and Chips. 

Overall, it was a great weekend. We got to see our friends from the other side of the Málaga, we met a great girl, and I had a monkey on my shoulder.

Best Paella in Spain

(Written in my Journal on Sun. Oct 2nd)

The hospitality of Southern Spain showed itself in full colors today.  Mari, a friend of a friend who I met at the Feria, had people over to her parent´s house in "el campo" for Sunday lunch. It was a very ecclectic group of people, mostly ERASMUS students. There were people from Germany, Italy, France, Etc... Driving over there was an experience in itself and I didn´t know where we were going either.  We drive out of the only part of Málaga that I know (Torre del Mar) and get on the highway. Next thing I know, we are on this windy road up a mountainside. You know, one of those roads where if you swerved away from the mountain it was a straight shot to your death.  Exaggeration, I know, but it was still a tiny windy road.

In no time at all, we turn onto this dirt road up another hill. Eventually we make it to this one small white stand alone house with a huge patio overlooking the valley and hill (more like mountains) on the other side, all dotted with small white houses of their own.  We arrive at the house and are greeted by her mom and dad and three family friends- greeting all of them with "dos besos".  Everyone in the group gathered around the patio because it was so hard believe the beautiful views from the house.

 Then Mari mentions something about "burros." Curiously I followed the group, and behold, they have two donkeys!  One is young and very spirited, the other older on, Magdalena, was very sweet.  Mari's dad brings Magdalena to the patio and is like "hop on" and we're all like "what?!" So anyone who wants to gets to ride a donkey. Of course I volunteered after a few people did it.  It was a little tough to get the donkey to cooperate completely but at least she stopped for me in the end.
Then we all sat down for lunch (around 2:30/3 like the Spaniards do). Olives and cheese spread were placed around this huge table on the porch.  Then the paella was brought over to the table in the huge pan (pan is an understatement) that it was cooked in.  I'm not normally a huge fan of paella, but this paella (rabbit paella) was absolutely delicious.

After filling myself to the brim with paella, Mari took us down the hill by this tiny rocky path to their chicken coup.  She explained that the orchards around the hills were made of over a million mango trees!  There weren't just chickens in this coup though. There were also a few sheep and one loud-mouthed turkey. I don't think it liked us invading it's space because it kept gobbling at us.

I can't believe I was so lucky to be a part of this experience. I hope I made a few friends in the process too (we're facebook friends at least). I also believe I found the best paella in Spain: In a small white house on a mountainside in Málaga.

La Feria

Spain is so cool! Every town has a Feria (fair) for their patron saint and this week happened to be the Feria in Velez (About a 20 minute walk away from my house).  During the day there were parades and lots of drinking in the streets. A lot of stores were closed and people took of work to celebrate the long weekend.  A huge parking lot was converted into this huge fair with carnival rides, food stands, and tents that were converted into huge discotecas every night.  On friday we went to the night fair. Leslie and Eddie rode on the huge bungie cord bubble, but we lost them in the crowds on their way so we just wandered around taking in the sights. There were the basic necessitites of a fair: bumper cards, rides that spin you around until your brains fall out, the whole lot.  As the night went on, more and more people looked really dressed up. You knew where they were heading.  Even though there was blaring music everywhere you turned, if you followed the loudest, you ended up at a line of about 6 tents of the discotecas. There was no cover at all so you could go in and out depending on which song or crowd you liked better. The lights were so bright that it seemed like evening even though it was the middle of the night.  Spain definitely knows how to celebrate.

Anyway, sorry that this post is so short and rushed. I´m sitting here at an internet cafe and probably won´t have internet for another week or so.

Week one of Málaga

Lugging around luggage. Yes, those words are supposed to be similar. Having one large suitcase, one small suitcase, and an over the shoulder bag is way too much when you keep switching living situations without any form of transportation besides walking.

We arrived in Velez-Málaga on Friday afternoon after a long day of traveling.  Once we get settled into the hotel, Robby and I decide to go find a place for lunch. We end up wandering around this little city without a map and with no clue where we're going. It's a very cute little town and it seems like there are very friendly people here. They definitely observe siesta though, because upon walking back from lunch (around 3:30/4ish) there was hardly a single store open. Which was fine by me. After such a long day of traveling, I welcomed it.

Then began our apartment hunt. We decided that we wanted to definitely live in Torre del Mar instead of Velez-Málaga after the first night here. We went out for tapas/drinks and there was hardly a soul on the street. It becomes a ghost town here on the weekends since everyone goes to Torre then. So starting Saturday, a bunch of us just go around Torre del Mar, walking down every street and calling the number on every "se alquila" sign hanging from balconies. Frustrating but necessary. We probably got an answer 1 out of every 10 numbers we called.  Turns out that there is pretty much a monopoly of real estate angencies on the market so half of the ones we get an answer from are one of these companies.

Sunday we go to one agency and we get to look at a few places. One of them, a house (not a stand alone house, but a house nonetheless)! The price had just been lowered substantially, so it was finally in our price range.  Pictures to come soon. Oh, and did I mention that it's probably about 50 meters or less to the beach?

View from our top terrace

Our living room with our very own fireplace

In our down time, between looking for an apartment, looking for phones, etc. we had some amazing relaxing time on the beach! Is this real life? The water is so clear here. The sand is a little less fine and it's a little more black than the sand from home, but it's still beautiful hot sand.  Of course, I burned a little. But not too much. Hopefully that's a sign that no bad burns will be in my future.

The rest of this week will be moving into our new home and relaxing on the beach. Interspersed with getting ready for my first day of school which will be Monday!

(Photos coming soon. I won't have internet for a couple of days, so I just wanted to get this posted for all of you who read this.)

Orientation: Sevilla

Last week was orientation in Sevilla. Wow, what a whirlwind. Breakfast was super early, then we had seminars all morning until a typical late Spanish lunch. On Tuesday, after the seminars we had a quick tour around the city and saw the Alcazar of Sevilla. (An Alcazar is pretty much the royal hotel for the region). It was absolutely beautiful and reminded me how much I loved the Mudejar style of the Moorish culture that can be found everywhere in Andalucía.

In this particular Alcazar, the Catholic King (I don't remember which one), was so fascinated by the Mudejar style that he had this part of the Alcazar modeled completely after the Moorish style.

After the Alcazar visit, we had a quick tour around the city, seeing the main sights. And by quick, I mean real quick like. We pretty much just passed all the main sights, hardly stopping to even take a picture. I feel like everything orientation week was done in this fashion. But it is still a beautiful city.





Wednesday was full of more classes. Good seminars on how to incorporate our culture into the classroom, what was expected of us in our jobs, and a quick Spanish review. Then we had a meeting with a couple of people who did this program last year and we got some good tips from them. Then in the evening we saw a Flamenco show! I love Flamenco. The guitarist was so great and the dancer danced with such emotion and power (not to mention lightning fast footwork).

Thursday after our seminar classes, we finally had free time. But of course, this free time was not used to catch up on sleep or slow down the pace. Instead, we went to the Cathedral for a tour. Luckily, since we have student ID cards from the University of Sevilla (through CIEE), it was free for us. We headed up to the tower of the cathedral and had a beautiful 360 degree view of the city. After the cathedral visit, we kept going and saw the Plaza de España which was gorgeous!

There was absolutely no down time this week. Even in our "down time" we didn't use it as such. What a whirlwind. Even though I did so much in the city, I feel like I hardly saw it. I'll probably end up going back at some point. But for now, I'm glad orientation is over and that I can start to get to know Málaga.