I have been born and living in New York City all my life. Both of my parents are all of Spanish descent coming from the warm Mediterranean coastline of Costa del Sol. They emigrated here in New York City long before they conceived me, looking for that American dream. And they have found it and they have been successful.

A few years after I was born, they keep on telling me stories about Costa del Sol, their hometown. They always say that the food there is great and people there live long lives unlike here in Manhattan or the Bronx where people just pass out at the age of 17, high on Valium. According to my Pop and Mom, people in Costa del Sol and the whole Mediterranean coastline of Spain are living longer lives because they have very rural and coastal traditions. Long before Atkins and South Beach were a fad here in the United States, my parents and my grandparents have strictly adhered to a Mediterranean diet which consists of fresh picks from the Mediterranean either sautéed or grilled with olive oil. Olive oil is said to be the healthiest cooking oil in the world because of its low fat content.

Pop and Mom also mentioned that when you dine out at seafood restaurants in their place in Costa del Sol, you yourself will pick the lobster or the fish swimming out in the aquarium and you have to wait for almost an hour for your food to be cooked. Pop and Mom said that patience is a far more prudent virtue than the fast food lifestyle in the West where food served usually has high calories. It reminds me of the documentary Super Size Me which made me literally puke.

Pop and Mom also mentioned that if you like meat, they also have very yummy lamb meat but low cholesterol and uric content which they process as tapas. To maintain a balanced and healthy lifestyle, top everything off with sherry. Now that I’m on a student exchange program in Madrid, I cannot help but experience all of these foods within one semester in Spain. During weekends, I’ll make sure I’ll be available to visit my grandparents on both sides once I’m there in Spain.

As an economics student in one of the colleges in New York, I think now is the sensible time for people to travel, binge, and shop and spend. For instance, I’ll be boarding an Iberian Airlines flight from La Guardia to Madrid. I’ll be contributing to the Spanish economy for that because Iberian Airlines is registered under Spain. When I’ll be paying my boarding lodge at the University of Madrid, I’ll again be contributing to the Spanish economy. Even when I’m still a student, I am proud that I can contribute in my own little ways to help maintain economic stability of my parents’ homeland, Spain.

COSTA Del Sol is that part of Spain where the waters are serene and conducive to bathing nude. There are nudist as well as conventional resorts in this part of the country. In the nudist resorts, make sure to have someone with you because lifeguards and the Guardia Civil do not usually stray to remote beaches. But it’s really nice to skinny dip at nighttime on a moonless night because you will see planktons clinging near your body illuminating it underwater. The sight is really spectacular similar to the one portrayed by Virginie Ledoyen in the 2000 hit The Beach. People here have a longer lifespan because they stick to a Mediterranean diet which is composed mostly of redfish, groupers, sea bass, salmon, lobsters, mollusks, clams and shells harvested from the bowels of the Mediterranean Sea by entrepreneurial small time fishermen. And these sea catches are cooked fresh and not frozen to ensure that people really eat them fresh. In fact, in most seafood restaurants here, there are aquariums for customers to choose which sea product they liked to be cooked as stipulated in the menu.

One of the best things that have emerged from Costa del Sol this year is the solar electric car prototype invented by Foroohar Aghili. This invention from Aghili is indeed very noble and is Costa del Sol’s answer to the growing environmental concerns around the globe as expounded by the former vice president of the United States, Al Gore, in his film The Inconvenient Truth. The Universidad de Malaga which is based here is one noble institution too as it is funding student exchange programs from all over the world. So if you are a college student from the United States or the Philippines and you are rooting to go to Spain, then all you need to do is apply for the student exchange program. You can actually choose whether to be here in an academic semester or two more semesters. It is really cool to be an exchange student because aside from having the opportunity to learn Spanish, you can also enjoy the beaches here. But it is more advantageous for students coming from areas such as Florida or Puerto Rico because they know the Spanish language too well already and they can easily adapt to the culture here. The student exchange program at the Universidad de Malaga is one way to demonstrate to the whole world that Costa del Sol is indeed a paradise.

Later this year, a conference among IT professionals will be held in Costa del Sol particularly on June 16 to 18. Aside from the usual sessions, they will also have a game of golf on the side and of course beach combing since June falls under spring season which is a pretty good time to be here in Costa del Sol. So come now to Costa del and have a jolly good time this 2008. Isn’t that great?