Ciara Whelan - Málaga

​ Hi, my name is Ciara. I am 19 and from Shankill. I’m currently studying science. I love travelling and animals. I hope to continue studying science and become a zoologist!

I prepared for my trip by filling in and printing off all the coronavirus forms needed for the trip. I also packed my two suitcases and downloaded a movie for the plane. 

 The accommodation is so cute, it is a four star studio apartment. It has a small kitchen and living space with a couch and television. The bathroom is so nice and the shower is really good. Everyone is on the same floor in the apartment block which is really fun too!

The apartment is located right beside the centre of Málaga. It is surrounded by shopping centres and places to eat. There is plenty of lovely Spanish places to eat and there is also some American places such as Taco Bell and Dunkin Donuts. The apartment is so close to the bus routes and train station. I get the bus to work and it takes about forty minutes in total to get to my work experience. 

My work experience is based in a medical laboratory on the east side of Málaga. It is called Bioclon and they specialise in blood work and urinalysis. It is a small lab with a waiting room and testing room. My main tasks include organising the blood samples and the patients’ records. I also help testing the blood and urine samples and have learnt how to separate the blood into plasma and blood cells using a centrifuge. I have tested blood and urine samples for different things such as different drugs and STIs like syphilis. I also check what samples have and haven’t been tested on the computer system and throw out what has been tested. It is difficult to learn these new tasks as the staff have little to no english but we communicate through demonstrations and google translate, it is very interesting though and I enjoy working there. 

My trip was jam packed with activities, some I planned myself and some planned by Erasmus Era. I travelled to towns along the coast of Spain, such as Nerja and Granada. They were beautiful towns full of amazing architecture.

  

I spent a lot of my time wandering around the beautiful streets of Malaga and at the beach. I visited the Picasso museum which was fascinating. I also went to the botanical gardens and a cute butterfly sanctuary. There was so many different types of butterflies. 

There is not a bad thing I could say about my Erasmus trip. I have loved every second and didn’t even want to come back home. It has shown me that I can be very independent and confident in a strange environment. It has really helped my personal development and can not wait to travel again. My advice to the next Erasmus group is to embrace every second and it won’t be perfect (nothing is). Go with the flow and you’ll have friends for life!