Hello! As I told you all in my last blog post, this is my last time writing from sunny Málaga. You already know that this project came about as part of my intensive Spanish course. I can’t lie, this has been such a fun way to share my daily life from Malaga with you all!

This morning, I was trying to think about how to say goodbye to the blog and I started to read my first blog entry. I remember spending more than two hours trying to put together my ideas in Spanish. My teacher María had to correct so many of my first pieces. Swedish is a language that comes from Latin so it should’ve been simpler for me to find similarities with Spanish—but this was not my case. As you can now see, however, I’m a great example of how effort and ambition can make any goal attainable.

linguistic courses

Flamenco and Spanish classes at AIL Malaga.

I first decided that I wanted to learn Spanish when I retired. Up to that point, I had already taken a few classes at a language academy back in Stockholm. When I first arrived in Malaga, I realized that, I needed something different. I already had a basic language level to maintain conversations but I need a true linguistic immersion to loosen me up and get more comfortable in Spanish.

As you read my posts month after month, you can tell that I’ve been living an absolutely incredible experience. Andalusia is a wonderful province with heartwarming and friendly people. Here, I have lived the full “guiri experience”: an amazing New Years Eve with the 12 grapes and karaoke, catching candy at the Three Kings Parade, experiencing Spanish Easter and even attending the Carnival of Cadiz. The truth is, I’ve really done it all here, as I feel I don’t have much left to do on my list.

In every post, I’ve taken the chance to share anecdotes about Malaga, my friends, or my best plans in the city. I hope it’s given you lots of ideas so that you too can have the most amazing trip in Malaga.

club 50+ spanish courseThis morning I went to say a heartfelt goodbye to Maria, and she thanked me for my excitement and eagerness about the Spanish Club 50+ courses. I told her that really it was all my pleasure. These are chapters of my life in Spain that I will forever be able to show to family and friends when I get home (but I’ll have to translate to Swedish first…).

Even though I always talk about Maria, as she is my Spanish teacher, I want to also take a second to thank the members of the school. From Gabriel and Silvia who have always helped me with any doubts, to the rest of the teachers who always took the time to ask me how my experience at AIL Malaga was going.

never too late to get to know new culturesI want to also take advantage of this last chapter of a “A Swede in Spain” (my title as the author of this blog) to encourage all of you to go have an experience like mine. Especially to anyone over age 50: you are never “too old” to travel. It is never too late to get to know new cultures, travel, and live new experiences. I am a great example of this!

Now, it’s time for me to keep packing my suitcase. I came to Malaga with one suitcase and I already have to leave with three. Luckily, Primark has come to Malaga so I am taking everything I want home for a great price!

By the way, I will obviously also be taking the giant pink flamingo I won back in bingo at New Years Eve: it’s going to be hung proudly in my room!

So long to you all, it’s been a real pleasure sharing my experience in Malaga with everyone. ❤

Agnetha 😊