It has been over a month now. I have a daily routine, I have friends and I am enjoying myself quite a bit. It is a good feeling that fills up my body when I get out of bed in the morning. I almost look forward to 6 days straight at work – but only almost. The best part is of course the days off spent with new friends, family visiting and all the shops full of stuff I keep falling in love with.

I have become 5 years older in the past month (holy moly that is old!!), I now enjoy shopping for groceries, the look of my room after I clean it, and I love cooking myself a nice dinner. Everything is going as planned, I feel good and content.

Honestly this has gone from being a challenge to being a wonderful experience. Do not get me wrong, I still have bad days where all I want is my mum and my good old bed in my good old room, or days where I miss celebrating Tequila Tuesdays with my best friend. I do miss home, but I love it here at the same time.

I have been here nearly three entire weeks now. I am closing in on the longest period of time spent away from home and I figured it was time to talk about what is happening.

Wednesday 16^th of July 2014 at 6:40am I got on the plane to London. A day later I took the train to Ascot. Here I still am nearly three weeks later. Lying on a blue couch in a sand coloured bedroom with not many belongings and far more longings.

I miss everybody at home. I miss knowing that school is starting in a few weeks. I miss the odd comfort of knowing that when I wake up in the morning I will see the same people I have seen all my life. I miss my hometown though I never thought I would. Mostly I miss my bed. My big, warm, soft, cloudlike bed with my gigantic duvet.

The bed is a symbol of course. It is always the first thing people miss, I reckon. Whenever someone returns home after a holiday they always mention how great is was to sleep in their own bed. East or west, home is best. The bed is a symbol of the comfort we feel in the safety of our own home, the place we know the best. The place where we go to sleep every night feeling secure and well. This is why I miss it so much.

The hard and bitter truth is, that it is no bed of roses to move out like I have done it. It would be easier to have left for a year of studying abroad, I would have been put in the home of a host family, I would have been assigned a school and naturally found friends there. It would have been easier to travel as an au-pair, here I would also have been put in contact with people right from the beginning.

But I love it and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am making friends in my own way and so far I have met some amazing people here.

These next 3 ½ months will be great.

It was a rather cold day to only wear a cowboy jacket last Wednesday. But you know, when the destination is Malaga, you will manage. 
After nearly 6 hours of traveling I made it to the airport – half way there! I ate some delicious Thai food which almost sat my mouth on fire and then I was off to the gate and on to the plan. Goodbye cold and rainy Denmark. Hello Costa del Sol!

I went to Malaga with school for an extended weekend. AND IT WAS GOOD. Sun, warmth, shopping and cheap drinks – the perfect cocktail (pun intended).

We started out with 25-degree weather, which made even me pull out the pale Danish winter legs and get some sunlight on my bare skin. But of course all good must come to an end and so did the short Spanish summer. On Saturday it rained and rained and rained and then it rained a little bit more. And what do you do to pass time when the rain is pouring in your face? You find a shopping centre of course!

It was not all shopping and partying – though Malaga has a great scene for this – but I also got to enjoy some of the lovely sight in the area. We even spend a whole day in Granada where we spotted the huge old castle Alhambra.

Malaga is definitely worth a visit. And not just because it is the heart of Costa del Sol. It is a lovely city with friendly people, but be ready for a vast amount flirting – Spanish guys do mean serious business!

Sunny weather and palm trees in Malaga.

Alhambra with Sierra Nevada in the background in Granada.