Malaga, Marbella, y Madrid

Had a really great week meeting exchange students, seeing more of Spain, and generally checking off exchange student must dos. I spent the early part of last week primarily at the beach in Malaga taking in the sun, the view, and the people.

 On Wednesday I travelled to Marbella to stay with my Rotary counselor Nina and meet my host club.  Marbella is very close to Gibraltar along La Costa del Sol, and there I also met Shona and Charissa two other exchange students from the US.  Shona and I stayed at Nina's house and had a really good time talking about being exchange students.  In the morning we went and saw beautiful Marbella walking along the promenade and all through downtown and historic Marbella.  Then we went to the Rotary meeting and Charissa and I were introduced to the club. 

 Shona and I

That afternoon I took the bus back to Malaga to pack for Madrid in the morning Shona, Charissa and I as well as the other two exchange students in our area CJ and Vanessa. After going to the three day orientation Shona, CJ, Charissa, and I walked around Madrid with some of the other exchange students past and present. Right now in Spain the Prime Minister and other branches of Parliament are raising taxes and reducing the pensions of state employees. In Madrid there was a large protest of this which we were there for. We also saw the Prado, the Plaza Mayor, and ate Tapas typical of Spain. After almost losing Charissa in the crowd and almost missing our train we were on our way back to la Costa del Sol.

The Protests

La Plaza Mayor