Story 4: Special visit

Visit

I am extremely excited for this week, seeing as my sister is going to visit me for a couple of days. I have to admit that the closer the day comes that she will arrive, the more I feel homesick. On Tuesday evening I went to the Airport and awaited my sister in great anticipation. Once we finally saw each other we could not keep it dry and a few tears slipped out. I have an exceptional bond with my sister, and we had never been apart for this long. After our reunion we went to my apartment and decided to grab a small bite somewhere in the city even though it was already 9 o’ clock. You could say that my sister went straight into the Spanish life, seeing as they always eat very late here (in comparison to the Netherlands).

While I went to school on Thursday to go to my classes and make my first test, my sister went to the beach. She made sure to send me a picture of her enjoying the sun. I guess she deserves it, seeing as she will go back to the Netherlands soon where there will be no sun for quite some time haha. The test I had to make was very different than the ones I made in the Netherlands and had various true or false questions and some open questions. I had to go to another building where they had a basement filled with computer rooms. Of course, I could not find it at once, so I had to ask around and finally one of my classmates from another class texted me how I had to get there. I was extremely relieved, seeing as it was almost time. The test went pretty well, and I was really proud of myself, because the teacher was sometimes a little bit confusing. The subject is, of course, philosophical and that means that different people have opposing ideas and theories about, in this case, grammar which made it sometimes a bit complicated for me. To keep apart the opinions of both sides, the formalists and the functionalists and to remember what their main arguments are. 

I immediately received my grade after I submitted my test and I scored an 8 out of 10. I then went home to celebrate my first grade here in Malaga with my sister and we ate some Oreo cheesecake. We also decided to go to a town called Fuengirola, which is a very popular holiday destination for many people. This town has, for example, 8 kilometres of beaches and various shops and shopping malls, but I will tell you more about Fuengirola in my next story. We had a lovely day here and went home with a big smile not expecting what was going to happen the next few days...

Covid-19

The ending of our week together was certainly not the way we expected it to be. We noticed a change in people’s behaviour on Friday the 13th of March and in the Erasmus WhatsApp group they updated us on how serious the Covid-19 situation was in Spain. Almost all the shops closed the day after that, but we were still allowed to go outside. However, when we were back in my apartment that Saturday afternoon, we heard that Spain was going to be in a full lockdown, which meant that we were only allowed to go outside for great necessities. We were unsure if my sister was still able to fly back home on Monday, but we looked at it on the bright side and enjoyed each other’s company (inside unfortunately) while we still could. Luckily, my sister was able to fly back home that Monday and many of the Erasmus students that are here right now also decided to go back home. I am torn between wanting to stay and going back to the Netherlands. I have done so much in the Netherlands to be able to be here in Malaga today, so that’s the main reason why I decided to stay. Quarantine will be difficult, but luckily my friends in the Netherland are also at home so I can always facetime with them. My classes will probably be online from now on, so I am very curious how that will go.