The thing I was the most worried about before coming to Malaga was making friends. I wanted to make friends around my own age (not too young, I can't keep up- not too old, I want an active nightlife). I also wanted to find friends that spoke English, because I can't possibly spend all my time around Spanish speakers all week, I would go insane. Some people think I should have Spanish friends to learn the language with, but I definitely get more than enough practice here with school, the family, and navigating the streets, stores, and restaurants. Other than being roughly my age, and speaking English, I didn't really have any other criteria.
The friends I have met here so far have been through facebook, couchsurfing, my language course, and friends of friends I have met through those outlets. I don't think I need to worry about not having people to hang out with while I am here anymore... actually, it's getting difficult to manage my weekend schedule because many of these groups of friends don't know each other, so I tend to hang out with each of them separately. I plan on merging some people together soon to see if they hit it off, and we can have a larger group. Some of the friends I have met I have really, really hit it off with. Others, I don't think I'm too compatible with... they are a little strange (sometimes different cultures are a little hard to get along with, and don't really foster the qualities that I like in my close friends).
The first people I met are ironically the ones that I don't get along with the most. I mean, we get along, but I didn't find talking with them particularly enriching, or hanging out with them particularly entertaining. We didn't seem to have similar interests, similar conversation styles, or similar ways of thinking. Nice people to meet, but not to necessarily hang out with on a regular basis. Unfortunately, some of these people have been contacting me to hang out again and again, and what little social time I do have allotted to me, I would rather spend with the people I get along with better.
I am a little hesitant to meet guys online here in Spain, they come off very flirty. I don't want any of them to think that I want to meet up to hook up, so I have to be very careful with the ones I make contact with. I recently met one who was a PhD student (which to me is, for some reason, a safe trait). He was really nice, knew a lot about Malaga, and was able to carry an interesting and intelligent conversation for a few hours which was nice. He had a bit of "european oddness", just something different about the guys here than back in North America or northern Europe. He is an avid couchsurfer, and has a good social network here in Malaga. But he likes to travel on weekends and has a car, so this friendship may come in handy for weekend day trips!
One of the few au pairs I met here is really great too. She is young, fun, and chatty, so we don't get bored together. She is always up for going out and having fun, so we like to hit up bars and tapas places on the weekends together. We also talk a lot about our au pair experiences, and I cannot believe all the similar things we are experiencing and can relate to! She'll be telling a story about something, and I will be freaked out at how similar her experience is to mine. It's great to have someone to talk to about the joys and troubles of au pairing... you always need someone to vent to, and we definitely do a lot of that over sangria at night (although, to be fair, she has a lot more the handle than I do and her family isn't as great as mine). She's from Germany, and I hope to be able to visit her once this contract is up!
I met a girl on couchsurfing who brought her girlfriend to our first meet-up, and we hit it off right away. We spent the night laughing our butts off, and talking about all sorts of things. One girl is from England, and is a teacher here at an English school, and her girlfriend is from Spain (but speaks English) and she is in the University here. These two are so cute together, and I love hanging out with them. We do night things (like a birthday party coming up!) and day things (motorcycling and shopping and lunch) and they know other people here in Spain (English teachers at the school) that I will meet soon. We already have plans to go skiing in the winter, and to go to Barcelona for a weekend to visit the one girl's sister who lives there. Fun and funny girls :)
And thankfully there is a girl in my Spanish class who speaks English and who is my age. Ironically, she is from Ireland and her boyfriend lives in Malaga (ironic because my beau is in Ireland and I'm in Malaga). She is really chatty and friendly (and so nice to everyone in our class! not that I'm not... I just don't really try to become friends with anyone else in that class). She is an English teacher at a school near my place, and she is very excited to have someone else to speak English to and go out with (all her boyfriends friends are Spanish and don't speak English!).
Now I just need to get all these wonderful people together and have one great beach day or night on the town...
The friends I have met here so far have been through facebook, couchsurfing, my language course, and friends of friends I have met through those outlets. I don't think I need to worry about not having people to hang out with while I am here anymore... actually, it's getting difficult to manage my weekend schedule because many of these groups of friends don't know each other, so I tend to hang out with each of them separately. I plan on merging some people together soon to see if they hit it off, and we can have a larger group. Some of the friends I have met I have really, really hit it off with. Others, I don't think I'm too compatible with... they are a little strange (sometimes different cultures are a little hard to get along with, and don't really foster the qualities that I like in my close friends).
The first people I met are ironically the ones that I don't get along with the most. I mean, we get along, but I didn't find talking with them particularly enriching, or hanging out with them particularly entertaining. We didn't seem to have similar interests, similar conversation styles, or similar ways of thinking. Nice people to meet, but not to necessarily hang out with on a regular basis. Unfortunately, some of these people have been contacting me to hang out again and again, and what little social time I do have allotted to me, I would rather spend with the people I get along with better.
I am a little hesitant to meet guys online here in Spain, they come off very flirty. I don't want any of them to think that I want to meet up to hook up, so I have to be very careful with the ones I make contact with. I recently met one who was a PhD student (which to me is, for some reason, a safe trait). He was really nice, knew a lot about Malaga, and was able to carry an interesting and intelligent conversation for a few hours which was nice. He had a bit of "european oddness", just something different about the guys here than back in North America or northern Europe. He is an avid couchsurfer, and has a good social network here in Malaga. But he likes to travel on weekends and has a car, so this friendship may come in handy for weekend day trips!
One of the few au pairs I met here is really great too. She is young, fun, and chatty, so we don't get bored together. She is always up for going out and having fun, so we like to hit up bars and tapas places on the weekends together. We also talk a lot about our au pair experiences, and I cannot believe all the similar things we are experiencing and can relate to! She'll be telling a story about something, and I will be freaked out at how similar her experience is to mine. It's great to have someone to talk to about the joys and troubles of au pairing... you always need someone to vent to, and we definitely do a lot of that over sangria at night (although, to be fair, she has a lot more the handle than I do and her family isn't as great as mine). She's from Germany, and I hope to be able to visit her once this contract is up!
I met a girl on couchsurfing who brought her girlfriend to our first meet-up, and we hit it off right away. We spent the night laughing our butts off, and talking about all sorts of things. One girl is from England, and is a teacher here at an English school, and her girlfriend is from Spain (but speaks English) and she is in the University here. These two are so cute together, and I love hanging out with them. We do night things (like a birthday party coming up!) and day things (motorcycling and shopping and lunch) and they know other people here in Spain (English teachers at the school) that I will meet soon. We already have plans to go skiing in the winter, and to go to Barcelona for a weekend to visit the one girl's sister who lives there. Fun and funny girls :)
And thankfully there is a girl in my Spanish class who speaks English and who is my age. Ironically, she is from Ireland and her boyfriend lives in Malaga (ironic because my beau is in Ireland and I'm in Malaga). She is really chatty and friendly (and so nice to everyone in our class! not that I'm not... I just don't really try to become friends with anyone else in that class). She is an English teacher at a school near my place, and she is very excited to have someone else to speak English to and go out with (all her boyfriends friends are Spanish and don't speak English!).
Now I just need to get all these wonderful people together and have one great beach day or night on the town...
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