Senor Cathal

Hi there my name is Cathal Ryan and I attend BIFE, I am currently doing the Bar & Restaurant management course, I was lucky to be selected to go on this years Erasmus+ programme in Malaga Spain this blog is here to give people an insight on the overall experience and what you could hopefully expect if you too were also selected. 
When I was first told I had received a place on this placement I was excited and apprehensive at the same time I had never been out of Ireland for more than ten days or two weeks so hearing three weeks in a non english speaking country was a bit daunting especially when youre going there to work, but it went very smoothly. BIFE had organised weekly spanish classes with Martina who was great she was very friendly and clearly had a passion for wanting to teach spanish, on top of that there was online spanish classes that you could do anytime anywhere which again definitely made things alot easier and helped with the movement.

13th/14th February

When I first arrived in Dublin airport I was greeted by Louise and a few of the other students there was definitely a buzz in the air everyone was very excited, We dropped off our bags and checked in, Louise had all of our boarding passes ready for us and made things alot easier. We flew out to Spain at seven in the morning and we were lucky with no delays or any hiccups in the airport, We touched down in Malaga at around 11 and again we were lucky that our bags were already on the belt and ready to be picked up, We jumped in a coach that was organised by Bifes man in Spain Ricard from european era. The coach took us to Ricards office and he was so friendly and helpful from the get go he gave us all the final details on our work placements which included our times and how to get there from our respective apartments which he too also organised. Our accommodation was amazing and myself Ethan and Sebastian were extra lucky with the fact our place had only been recently renovated. The following day we met Ricard in plaza del la merced at around 10:30 and he brought us individually to our workplaces to meet the team and familiarise ourselves with the restaurant and the staff, The staff at my work place 'Nio Picqui' were very welcoming and friendly they gave me a quick tour and said we'll see you tomorrow we then had the rest of the day off to explore the city of malaga.

The skys were like this nearly every night which was amazing to see.

15th-17th February

The 15th was my first day properly working in no piqui, I was very nervous going in there that day and within 10 minutes they gave me a tablet they used for taking orders which was ofcourse was entirely in spanish and they made me go take orders from local spanish people which needless to say didnt go down to well but at the same time I think they respected the fact I attempted and didnt argue with them. After my first hour in work I told them a little about myself and how ive been working in a pub for the last few years I showed them I was able to operate a coffee machine and I then got to just make drinks while the other staff took the orders, this system worked much more smoothly for everyone. Richard my teacher arrived on the 16th and that night we met himself and Louise and they took us to Casa Lola which is a well know tapas bar in Malaga richard had told us great things about the place and he was right, it was my first time trying tapas food and  it was a great experience the food was lovely and the way theres so many things to choose from and the way the food all comes out at different times its a really culturally different way of dining that I never experienced

Outside Casa Lola

  

A local spanish Bar Richard had showed us

The stage for Flamenco Show

 

 

We went to a flamenco Show on the 15th which was fun as it was something different but we had to pay 20 euro in which I thought was crazy especially for Spain thats nearly like paying 40 euro in Ireland and anytime you spoke to someone you were told to shut up by some not so friendly staff member.

On the 17th during my shift Richard came in to visit me in my workplace which was nice untill he insisted on taking several awkward photos of me and the workplace, I knew there was a catch! The staff of no picqui were more than happy to oblige with the photoshoots.

Me very awkwardly posing with Marina

After work that day we met Miguel and he had organised a trip of Alcazaba for us, Alcazaba is in the middle of the city and it was the old City walls that were used for defensive purposes back in days it was a great site to see.

Views from Alcazaba

19th February

On Saturday the 19th it was our first day excursion we had to meet early around 8 in the morning and we got a coach to Cordoba we were brought out by Sarita who was lovely she was also part of european Era, she had organised for us to do a walking tour of the old city which was very insightful. After our walking tour we had about 2 hours to ourselves to do what we liked in the city myself and a few other of the students went to a restaurant that our tour guide had reccomended and tried a few of the local dishes.

Photo of cordoba

Cordoba

 

Nothing to do with Cordoba, this was a cool wine bar myself and Christina stumbled upon when we arrived back in Malaga that day.

                                                                                                                                    

25th/26th February

On the 25th when we had finished work a few of us had met up and we decided to go to the Malaga museum, we had initially planned on going to the Picasso museum that day but it had already closed and plus this museum was free entry, The museum itself was massive but when it came to the stuff inside I think most of us were disappointed there really wasnt much to see and the free entry started to make sense however there was one piece of art I really liked for some reason.

Courtyard in the museum

inside the museum

On the 26th we met at the same time and place for our second excursion which was to Nerja and another town up in the mountains called Frigiliana, we first headed to Frigiliana with Miguel and he took us on a walk of the little town. The town reminded us all of greece with all the buildings being white and made of stone some of the houses were made from carving out portions of the hills and literally were inside mountains, the town was beautiful.

We didnt hang around in Frigiliana that long maybe 2 hours max we jumped back on our coach and headed for Nerja which was only 15 mins away from the town, Nerja was a big seaside town and we just got to walk around and explore ourselves, Miguel brought us to a meeting point and told us all to meet back there at 4pm. The meeting point was on 'Europes Balcony' which was a big viewpoint of the spanish coastal line

Nerja 'Europes Balcony'

Firgiliana

27th February

The 27th was a national holiday so we all had a day off so myself and Sebastian visited the Malaga cathedral we had a look inside and then done a roof top tour, the weather was bad that day so the views werent as nice as they should of been but was still a good site to see none the less

All the statues in the church were quite creepy

1st March

As our trip was nearing its end alot of us were not too happy but the boat trip was definitely a highlight for the trip and we were blessed with the weather as the days before hand were cloudy with showers, we got to do the trip with the other school from Dundalk who were lovely people and I knew two of them well enough as they were working alongside me in No Piqui