Christina In Malaga

Hola! Me llama christina y tengo diecinueve años.

I am currently studying Restaurant and bar management.

I prepared for this mobility by attending Spanish classes in the college as well as practicing in my own time. I studied Spanish for 6 years in school and have visited Benalmadena just outside Malaga loads of times, so I was so excited to finally visit Malaga City center!

Me and Luiza shared accommodation just a 8 minute walk from the main shopping strip and about 5 minutes from all the buses. Our apartment is a two bedroom/ two bathroom place. We’re both working in a little burger restaurant located near the ‘fisherman’s village’ right on the beach. It’s a beautiful spot with an amazing menu. We’re helping with both front of house duties as well as back of house, such as food prep. Our shifts start at 12 and finish at 4 Monday to Friday.

13.02.2022 - Sunday 13th February

The day we arrived in Malaga we all met up at the airport at about 4am, got our bags checked in then waited to board the flight at 7am. We arrived in Malaga airport at about 11:30 and by 12:30 we were on our way to Ricard’s office at European Era. We met with Ricard then went to his office so he could give us all the details on our work placement and accommodation.

We got so lucky with the weather throughout our trip and this day was definitely no exception, it was really hot out. Ricard ordered everyone taxis to bring us to our accommodation.

Me and Luiza were sharing an apartment in the amazing neighbourhood called Soho. We got so lucky because it was only 5 minute walk to the bus stop and another 3 minutes to the main shopping area. There were also so many amazing cafes and restaurants around our apartment, some of which we only discovered in the days before we left! We were so delighted with our apartment once we got in. A two bedroom, two bathroom space with a sitting room. The only thing it was missing was an oven, but that didn’t bother us too much because we wanted to try all the food around and eat out as much as possible.

On that Sunday we didn't do much else because the majority of the cafes around our apartment were closed. we got lunch in one that was open then went back to unpack. everyone was exhausted so we had dinner in the apartment that night.

14.02.2022 - Monday 14th February

For my first official day, we were meeting up with Miguel to be shown our work placements for the next three weeks. I woke up at about 9am and went to get breakfast in this little cafe beside the apartment that we ended up going most mornings for the rest of the trip! I had a toasted jamón y queso sandwich and a café con leche which I had every morning. We then went to meet Miguel at the tourist office at 11, we got a bit lost but eventually found him. We got introduced to a few other girls from the Dundalk Further education college. We took the bus to where our placement was, a little burger place called ‘La Calle Burger’ right along the beach. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer location for our placement, the views were incredible!

The view from the 2nd floor of
La Calle Burger!

Just outside La Calle Burger.

After Luiza and I met a few from La Calle Burger, we went to a little cafe just a few doors up and had a coffee and empanadas, we ended up meeting two of the other girls from Dundalk there so we had coffee with them too.

After we came back we went to have a walk around Malaga and look in some of the shops, this is where I met Chloe a little French bulldog.

After we got lunch we just wandered around a little more then went for dinner in a local restaurant.

25.02.2022 - Friday 25th February

I Woke up and went for breakfast at about 11 at the little cafe beside our apartment. Then at about 12 we took our bus to work. We arrived to work at 12:30 and I began prepping food for the day like burger buns, veg, the sauces they use, rosemary salt ect. I helped prepare orders from Uber Eats which is what they use for takeaway orders, I helped assemble the burgers ect and packaged them up, putting them in the correct bags attached to the orders. As well as helping assemble the food for dine in customers, it was busier than the previous days but still relatively spaced out. They seem to get busy at around 2:30/3 so from 12:30 to when it gets busy, a lot of it is just prep. I finished work at about 4:40, got something to eat then got the bus back to the center where a few of us decided to go to the Malaga museum only a short walk from our bus stop. We spent about an hour there looking through all the art displayed. It was an incredible museum and the art was beautiful.

1.3.2022 - Tuesday 1st March

I woke up at about 9:30 and went for breakfast in La Bella Julieta, this really nice little cafe about 5 minutes from our apartment. I got a sandwich and coffee. We got the bus to work at about 12 and got there at 12:30. I started out like most days by doing the food prep for the day and night ahead. It was a quiet day until about 2:30 when it started to pick up because of the good weather as the days before had been dull. I had food there and went back to our accommodation. Then we went on an amazing boat trip at 6 until about 8 where we were able to watch the sunset. We walked down to where the boat was at the marina area, the weather was so nice so it was a really nice walk down. The boat ride was by far my favourite memory of the trip because of how incredible the view was.

Then we went back to our apartment to change and a group of us went out to a steak house called ‘Pampa grill Malaga’ a place I had walked past loads of times and kept meaning to go in. It was a little more expensive than some of the other restaurants but definitely worth it in my opinion.

2.3.2022 - Wednesday 2nd March

This was both me and Luiza’s last day working in La Calle Burger so we were both feeling bittersweet about it. We both got on so well with the people we worked with and were put into a work environment that enabled us to learn so much more about the Spanish hospitality sector and the language itself. Two or three of the staff only spoke a small amount of English so it really pushed us to speak the language which was great. The last day was quite busy, i helped again with prep and orders both takeaway and dine in then at 4:30 we said goodbye to Miguel and Emath

and then we got the bus back to Malaga center for the last time.

Because Mimi our manager wanted to give us our last day in Spain off, Luiza and I planned a last minute overnight trip an hour away to Benalmadena. I booked the hotel the day before so when we got to our apartment we quickly got our bags and headed to the bus stop. We got the bus and after an hour we were at the hotel, one i had stayed in many times before. We booked the presidential suite that had a wrap around balcony for an incredible price compared to the hefty price of €550 a night in the summer months.