Face, Mañana, Unexpected

Three nights ago, sitting at a bowling alley for a new friend's birthday, Esther, Mish and I each decided to pick three words to describe our respective experiences in Málaga so far. I've picked one from each of our lists to share below.

1. Face

Without too much thought, the word "face" came to me when I was fishing for words. Coming over here, for me, meant facing the consequences of my decisions, my curiosity, and my passions. As such, every time since I've been here that I've seen that "what have I done?!" look on my face accompanied by a lump in my throat, my response to the quivering young man in the mirror is "YOU WANTED THIS!"

Something out there awaits!

Here's the Feel Hostel, where I met my first friend! Kara, an auxiliar from Colorado, and I happened to be staying in the same room here while we got our bearings.

2. Mañana

Here's Esther  and me on the left and Mish and me on the right. We've stopped fighting the fact that these green walls are the backdrop of 80% of our photos.

If we only get three words, at least one of them should be Mañana. My friends and I have started to frequent this spot in town called Mañana Bar run by two Latvian guys named Eddie and Rob. It's impossible not to love this place. It's busy on weekend nights, but they also have things like Sunday barbecues and Tuesday intercambios (language exchange socials). Eddie always greets us when we come in, brings us chips with the drinks we order, and sometimes even brings us a free round. It's so much fun to spend a night there laughing and telling stories around a big table. One night, a big group of British travelers, some auxiliar friends and I played "Never Have I Ever" in a big circle. Oh my God. A few things that came up were so, so, so funny. Half of the time this game makes you feel like a good kid, then someone says something that happens to single you out and megalols ensue. What fun!

This is the first night we all went to Mañana, and the first time I met most of these guys.

3. Unexpected

I didn't expect there to be so much life on the other end of my trip over here! It's hard to come to a new setting with any kind of accurate picture in mind of what life's going to look like. I guess I thought my plane would just land on a map of Spain and I'd head for an empty Málaga. I'm so happy I was wrong!

I've hit the lottery meeting these guys!

Okay, so I did expect to eat the occasional tapa, but not with such good company. (Right to Left: Me, Mish, Esther, and Kara)

Here are Mish, Esther and me at the Alcazaba, a Muslim fortress on a hill in Málaga. It's a lot like Granada's Alhambra (or the Irvine Spectrum. Look! A Cinnabon!).