El Roble Holidays Alhaurin el Grande

After days at sea we had a short stop in Malaga before docking the next day back in Savona. I have decided that I am not crazy about the days at sea. Even though I really enjoyed all the ports, I don't think I would do anther big curise. The fact that there were only small number of people who spoke enlgish on the ship was interesting. So wanted to speak another language .. any lanaugage. Even when I told the Germans I did nto speak Germann they kept talking!

Letīs see, the following things just about sum up Puerto Banus (near Marbella in the South of Spain):

- clear blue skies
- chirping birds
- wicked hotel with awesome pool
- chic boutiques
- restaurants, cafes and bars
- golferīs paradise
- casino

Aahh... just what was needed for Contiki recovery!

I spent a lot of time lazing by the pool reading, whilst Mark was off either at the Casino ...

... she is from), Paris, and London. I really want to see all of those places.

Afterwords myself, Kate, Kirsten, Christina, and Rebecka walked together to Plaza de la Merced. On the way we encountered a giant Christmas bell and a Christmas tree decoration. Later, we had an interesting time at Plaza de la Merced with the people hanging out trying to sell us hashish.

The one time where I really missed American ...

... of almost 200 of his works

... girlfriend, Maria. Alex reminds me of my high school Spanish teacher. They got some mojitos at a bar but they did not like them so Alex went back in and bought a beer. Maria asked the bartender about the mojitos and why they taste different and the bartender told her that they mixed it with a different kind of soda because they didn’t have any more of the usual kind. So there we were standing in the street drinking and he was ...

... and laughing at the funnyness of where we are.

As we walked past the bars imagine how funny it was to see loads of english couples a little older all sat in a bar watching only fools and horses. I always thought people where kidding when they said they came on holiday like this but is so true. Each to there own is all I can say. Ian is struggling to adjust and keeps saying he wants some spanish food. Lol.

This is by far the most beautiful city I have visited in Spain! Ronda is where the first bullfight took place and is home to the oldest bullring in Spain. The other students and I started out the day listening to one of our professors give a speech about the history of bullfighting, very interesting but after three hours I was ready to see Ronda. We then went to the bullring and had the opportunity to go inside where the fights take place. It was a feeling like no ...

... without taking any water, and returned in a state of collapse.

Wednesday we visited many outlets attempting to uncover the riddle of the internet access, since Jon has been in a constant rage because we were told by the agent that internet wouldnīt be a problem. Of course this rage is directed at me. At least we went to Ikea and I got many essentials, such as ...

Well, today i didnīt have any plans whatsoever, so i was just going to sit around and read for school. Yeah, kinda boring. Well, thankfully, my host mom came in around 1:00 and asked us if we wanted to go to the campo (pretty much outside the city where thereīs more farmland and such) and have a barbacoa (a BBQ). We said YES! of course because that sounded real exciting. So we went out to the campo to a family house that they have there. First of all, the house ...

... to speak english you get ostracized. (or maybe you ostracize yourself, i dunno) But i decided to give in, just like the handful of other students who speak well, so now i donīt speak spanish as much as i could. What have i been doing to compensate?? good question. Well, iīve started to watch tv when the family has it on. (iīm not supposed to watch it by myself, plus iīd get bored real easy just like in the US) Iīve also been writing in my journal in spanish pretty much the same ...