Myself and Tyler have been in Malaga, Spain for 10 days now. We have had so many opportunities and made so many memories in such a short amount of time.
Tyler and I met in Dublin Airport before joining the rest of the Erasmus crew. Although our fight wasn’t until 7.40am, we arrived at the airport at 4am to allow time for the recent delays with going through security. We ended up getting through security super easily which gave us plenty of time to have a look around duty free and get food before hopping on the plane. We ended up joining Cian and Kamile to grab snacks in the shop and relaxed at our gate before the plane journey. We got on the plane and although it was a bit of a bumpy landing, we got there in the end. We got off the plane and had to wait for about an hour in security queues which was annoying but allowed us to introduce ourselves to other people on the trip. When we got through security we got our bags and hoped on a coach to our accommodation in central Malaga. It was a student accomodation and thankfully we all had our own rooms. We checked in and had time to unpack our things and settle into our accommodation. We then met the others for a meeting in relation to work and making sure everything was ok with peoples work experience along with some rules for the residence. After the meeting, a few of us decided to make our way down to McDonalds for food where we sat outside and it definitely helped break the ice. There were pigeons everywhere outside McDonalds which wouldn’t leave us alone. Later that night we all headed to the Grand Cafe which was located across the road from our accommodation. I thought the pizza was a bit soggy but Tyler had it demolished before you could even say the work pizza. After food we all headed back to our rooms for an early night after a long day of travelling.
On Day 2 we were up early for work. We met with one of the residence staff at 9.15 so she could show us how to get to our work experience. We walked down to our work experience and met with the dog groomer. Her name was Paula and she was so lovely. The vet wasn’t there but we were told we would meet her the next day. Tyler and I walked down along the beach on our way home and explored the city. We had a look around some of the shops. We met up with some of the others and made our way down to Lidl to grab some snacks and water etc. That night we went out for Jades birthday and there was live music. We all had a boogie and definitely helped us all to get to know eachother better. We walked home together and on our way home we met a Spanish boy called Falco who was talking with us.
Day 3 was our first day of our work experience and we arrived there at 10am. We met Paula and Susan the vet. We watched Susan have a consulation with a big dog that came in as he was limping. Susan said it looked as though he had a bit of a rash on his leg which was causing him pain and she prescribed him antibiotics and a cream. We got to see a dog get his teeth cleaned. His name was Bruno and he was a little Yorkshire Terrier and he was very fiesty. Susan had to give him a very high dose of anesthetic for him to finally calm down. We watched as she removed the large lumps of callusses from his teeth. After this we helped Paula to groom one of the dogs. It was such a sweet dog and we gave it a bath and a blow dry while Paula cut his hair. On our way home from work we got McDonalds where I was very happy to discover they did chocolate sundaes which was a big part of my childhood before they were discontinued in Ireland so it was safe to say i was over the moon happy while tyler looked at me like i was a crazy person. That night we ended up going down to the games room in the accomadation and playing pool and ping pong.
On Day 4 we were up bright eyed and bushy tailed for work again. We got to work after being there for only 30 minutes as the only dog that was scheduled in for the day ended up cancelling their appointment so Paula said there was no point in us being there with nothing to do. We found a cafe by the beach called ‘Venus’ where we got toasties and orange juice. We explored the city and did some shopping. Surprisingly you would think it was me dragging Tyler around the shops but instead it was the other way around. We went back to our accommodation and had to have a teams meeting for a group project for our communications module in college. Although it was a big annoying to have to do college work while on our erasmus, it was nice to see our fellow classmates that were at home and it was safe to say they were very jealous of all the stories we were telling them about our trip. After the call was all done, we got ready for our night out that time. We went to a bar in the city to watch a Flamenco show. We were all super interested in the show and it gave us a phenomenal insight into Spanish culture that we wouldn’t have gotten if it wasnt thanks to Laura, Paula and Uma for arranging it for us. We all really really enjoyed it. We headed to the grand cafe afterwards for awhile. Then we headed to bed for work in the morning.
On Day 5 we headed down to work and the first thing that we did was wash a big curly dog which then took ages to dry. Tyler and I had a hairdryer each and spend probably 45 minutes trying to dry the dog completely. After we were done drying the big dog, Paula let us go grab some breakfast so we headed back down to Venus for toasties. When we went back we got to wash a small little Yorkshire terrier. After work we went home and i had a nap while Tyler relaxed in his room. We headed down to the beach for water sports. Water sports was at 6 but we headed down at around 3 so we could sunbath and go for a swim beforehand. We walked down to the beach with Cian and Kamile. Once we got there Kamille and I were sunbathing while Tyler and Cian were chatting away. We all hopped into the sea which was a lot colder than I think any of us anticipated. After a quick swim, we all played Volleyball and football together. We all got very competitive with the sports. Cian was playing as if he was an olympic athlete. That night we all played pool together and chilled for the night. We were all so tired after a day of sports and being in the sun.
On Day 6 we got into work and did the usual washing and drying of dogs. We had a little white westie that was so well behaved. After work we headed back to the accommodation and had some chill time in our rooms. We took the time to video call family and friends. We then got ready to head out that night. We headed to an Irish pub with everyone from the trip along with a few people from another erasmus trip that were staying at our residence. We then headed into the town for the night. We all got home fairly late but had a great night. It was a fairly chill day but we were glad of the restful day as we had a busy night.
On Day 7 we were meant to go on a trip to Granada but myself and Tyler were feeling unwell and exhausted from our long week. We both stayed in our rooms the whole day apart from around 11pm where i joined a few of my fellow Erasmus students for a game of pool downstairs but Tyler decided against joining us as he was feeling very home sick that day.
On Day 8 we headed to the beach with Kamile, Christine, Lyndsey, Shauna, Sandra and Tomeka. We had a meeting when we got back from the beach to see how we were getting on with our trip. A few of us got sunburned at the beach which only started showing that night. We all had a few games of pool and then headed to bed.
On Day 9, worn was a bit different. We had a dog come in with exzema that needed special shampoo. I ended up washing the dog and we felt awful as the dog was clearly in a lot of discomfort with its skin condition. We dried him and he seemed a lot more content afterwards. That evening, we went for a hike up to see a view of the entire city. We went with Shauna, Jun, Lee, Donald and Tomeka. Although it took some time and a lot of energy we got to the top and it was all worth it. The view at the top was phenomenal. We could have stayed there for hours. We headed down and ended up trying to find somewhere for food for ages and eventually ended up getting food in the grand cafe. We headed home for some games in the games room then headed to bed.
On Day 10, we got up for work and headed down to the shop. We had a Yorkshire terrier in the morning and a chihuahua came in to be minded while its owners went on holidays. A golden retriever came in for a wash and dry. While we were drying the golden retriever i was holding the little chihuahua. Then suddenly a dog which Paula was washing, escaped and ran out the front door. Tyler and Paula ran out after it while I watched the other 2 dogs. We met with the owner and were chatting to her for awhile before heading to McDonalds after work. We headed back to our rooms after being in a food coma from the McDonalds. I went for a walk with Shauna and Tomeka to get ice cream and a few bits in Lidl and Aldi while Tyler stayed at home. When i got home i made dinner while Tyler went for food with a few of the lads. We went down to the games room to play pool for the night.