¡TOMA LA VIDA CON CALMA, VIVE EN MALAGA¡


We chose to study in Malaga because we wanted to go to Spain to improve our Spanish and because the University of Malaga offered an interesting and diverse study program. Besides of that we decided for Malaga because of the weather - we wanted to have warm/hot weather as much time as possible ;)

La Malagueta district and Malaga's port

Malaga is situated in the center of Andalucia in Costa del Sol. In winter the temperatures do not get lower than 10 degrees and in summer 30 degrees up so from April to October there are many possibilities to go to the beach. Malaga is also a great point to travel around Andalucia and visit nearby cities because of the location we mentioned before. It takes you more or less 2 hours to go to Sevilla by car, 1h 45 min to Cordoba and Granada and 2h 30 min to some amazing beaches like the one in Tarifa or Bolonia beach near Cadiz.

Playa de Bolonia, Province of Cadiz

People in Malaga are relaxed, opened, warm, passionate and they truly know how to enjoy life. They do siesta every day, which is very typical in southern Spain, and their social life is very important to them. They do not miss an occasion to go out for dinner or just beer and tapas with friends or family (bars and restaurants are unimaginably full despite the crisis because for them it is not a waste of money to go out to be with the ones they love).

Malaga's nightlife is lively; there is always something going on. There are a lot of places to spend crazy nights with friends, especially in the city center. Usually young people do botellon (they get together at one's home and have some drinks there), then they go to the bar or straight to a nightclub. The entrance to the nightclub usually costs 5-10 euros and drinks 5-7 euros. There are also a lot of Erasmus parties where you can party only with other Erasmus students. The entrance for that kind of parties is usually lower. Also during the day there are a lot of activities to do, which are organized by different Erasmus organizations. They offer one-day trips, weekend trips, sport activities on the beach, dinners, language workshops, etc.

Erasmus students live in shared flats. Usually you rent a room (the prices are around 250 euros including costs - electricity, water, internet, etc.), in some rare cases landlords rent the whole flat and students must find other students to live with and share the price of the flat.

Public transport in Malaga is well organized. There are buses to all parts of Malaga every 20 minutes. From the center to our university it takes about 20 to 25 minutes. The university offers students the possibility to get the monthly bus card for 27 euros, otherwise one ticket costs 1.30 euros wherever you go. There is also a train called Cercanias that takes you from Malaga to the west (last stop is Fuengirola) and stops at several coastal towns. Last summer also Malaga's metro started to work, but there are still a lot of connections missing, especially the one with the center. To travel around Andalucia you can benefit from BLA BLA CAR (that is similar as our prevozi.org).

UMA (University of Malaga) is divided in two parts. One campus (El Ejido) is situated in the center and the other one in Teatinos. The one in Teatinos is bigger and there is located Faculty of Tourism.

Faculty of Tourism

The faculty offers a lot of different subjects. Professors are kind and they explain everything well, but some of them talk really fast that is why it is recommended to speak and understand Spanish before you go to Malaga. Classes are divided into theory part and practical part. Erasmus students are treated the same as Spanish students that is why you have to study if you want to pass subjects. We heard some stories that you only sign the paper with your name and write beside “Erasmus student” and you pass the exam. In case of Malaga it is not like that, we studied hard and we also learnt a lot about tourism in general and in Andalucia. A good point of studying in Malaga is also that the final grade is composed of different tasks (2 or 3 short tests, group work, individual work and presentations of the group work). If you do not want to get the final grade like that, you can always do the final exam. There is also a cafeteria in the faculty where students can get some snacks to eat, coffee and other drinks, sandwiches and lunch (a meal with first dish or salad, main dish, bread and dessert costs 4.25 euros).

Food in Spain is very delicious. Whenever you come to Spain, even though you do not come to study here, you have to try Spanish food. Usually when we are given the menu in a restaurant, we do not know what to choose ;) Spanish people really know how to prepare tasty food. Some typical dishes are gambas al pilpil, croquetas, patatas bravas, patatas con alioli, paella, tortilla de patatas, gazpacho, salmorejo, etc. Prices in the restaurants are more or less similar than in Slovenia (in touristic places they are a little bit higher, that is why you profit if you go to "restaurantes del barrio" - restaurants there are cheaper, because only local people go there). Prices of food in supermarkets are similar as in Slovenia as well. In Malaga fruit and vegetables are really cheap in markets (not in every stand!).

Typical dish croquetas and gambas al pilpil in the middle

All in all, our experience as Erasmus students in Malaga was great! We got to know so many people from all over the world, improved Spanish a lot, learnt new facts about tourism and visited beautiful places. If we had to decide again where to go to study, we would definitely repeat everything. If you have some more questions, you can write us on Facebook. We thank Malaga and its people for everything and hope to be back again <3

Maša Petek and Martina Poberaj, Erasmus students 2014/15