Story 2: Carnival in Malaga

20 maart 2020 - Málaga, Spanje

Carnival

Every year on the 21st of February till the 1st of March there is a two week long Carnival celebration in the whole of Spain. During my stay here, I found out that Spaniards are very fond of traditions. So is Carnival, since certain events are planned on different days. At the Plaza de La Constitución, which is a common meeting place for the Malaguenas, I saw a very large stage where presumably several local bands would perform. However, before all the Carnival festivities begin, the Malaguenas start off with something that is called Previa. In various restaurants of the city people can enjoy free typical regional dishes. 

On the first evening, there was a grant gala where the god and goddess of the carnival were announced. The following day was probably the highlight of my carnival experience. Seeing as I have never before experienced a carnival in my life, I was especially curious about the parades of the gods. I really enjoyed the different kinds of costumes made by the inhabitants of Malaga. Another activity that I went to was the Batalla de las flores. This is seen as a “flower fight” in which groups walk along the Larios shopping street singing along to some music. They throw paper flowers at each other and at the audience and I was certainly not surprised to still find confetti in my hair and on my coat the following days.

The grand finale of the carnival celebration here in Malaga goes up in flames, litterly. They burn a paper anchovy on the beach and after that they will all enjoy some dinner.

This fish is a symbol for the city and is also an indispensable ingredient in the popular fish dish: Pescadito frito.

Carnival 2020, MalagaCarnival 2020, MalagaCarnival 2020, MalagaCarnival 2020, Malaga

Hike with ESN

Hiking with ESN

I did not only want to focus on speaking Spanish during this minor, but also the English language and what better way than to apply for activities that are planned by an organization focussed on bringing Erasmus students in contact with one another. One of these organizations is called ESN, which stands for Erasmus student network. They were going on a hike in Torremolinos and I joined them. It was quite the climb, but I met some great people from Germany, Poland and Argentina. I am so glad that these kinds of organisations exist, so that I can get into contact with people and learn about their culture as well.

Classes

I met some great people in my classes and one of them is a girl named Mihaela from Romania, but she has been living in Spain for four years. She also offered to help me with drawing trees, because I found it quite hard. With this English class, Morfosintaxis, I have to do assignments that I have never done before and it is quite hard for a beginner, seeing as most of the students from my class already had a subject that connected to this one. She is really helpful and makes sure to explain things to me when I don’t understand what the teacher means.

In one of my Spanish classes I met a girl named Anne from the United States. She is extremely nice as well. We mostly sit together during this subject and try to figure out what the teacher is saying in Spanish and so far, it is going quite well. My other Spanish subject is doable as well. It is hard to understand the teacher sometimes, but luckily, I also met some Erasmus students in this class as well and together we can come a very long way.

Modelos gramaticales is a subject that came as a total surprise to me. I expected to be talking about English grammar in this class, but instead this subject is more focussed on the philosophical side of grammar. For example, we talk about Noam Chomsky and his ideas about the Universal Grammar and those who are opposed to his ideas. I find this quite an interesting subject, because it makes you really think about the language on a deeper level. You will ask yourself: Why do we have these rules? Are these rules arbitrary or not?

Next week, I will have a Flamenco workshop and I am very excited about that, seeing as I love dancing.

Foto’s