Hogueras has definitely started in Alicante! There were parades going on at 8 am this morning, and I wouldn't be surprised if those people had not slept yet.
This city is going crazy. There are food stands and vendors EVERYwhere.. and the strangest collection of people.. All kinds of roads are blocked off for the statues and the vendors, it looks like a completely different place. It's pretty cool.
Since we have less than a week left in Spain, our mission is basically just to cram as much beach time/fiesta time in as possible. This week we only have three days of class, one of which is the exam day. Yes we have to take exams, which assumes that we have to study for them in the middle of this massive party that Alicante is right now. It should be interesting.
It's so weird to think that this trip is almost over. It's kind of bittersweet. On the one hand I am kind of ready to be back in my element, and i miss everyone a lot. But on the other hand, this whole lifestyle is going to be so hard to leave, and it's going to suck not being able to just make a phone call and have at least 5 people meet you in 30 minutes to go hang out. But the good news is that everyone is from UT, so this trip will definitely not be the last of our fun.
I built this trip up for so long and it has been so amazing and kind of surreal, so it is going to be so strange when it is behind me. Kind of like a "did that really just happen?" kind of thing. Definitely the coolest thing i have ever done.
Today I am going to church in the barrio, which i am really excited about. I haven't been to church here yet and i know it is going to be so interesting. Later today i'm sure there will be more fiestas. I think right now is still kind of tame compared to what monday, tuesday, and wednesday are going to be. It's going to be crazy.
I don't know how many more posts I will be able to get up while I am here. I feel like these next 6 days are going to fly by in a blur of parades and burning statues and food and fiestas and music and beaches and trying to pack and pretending to do school stuff and maybe sleeping if i can squeeze it in. we shall see!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
a little fun
Myths about Spain:
1. You have to pay to use the bathroom in public (and for the tp): [false] I have not once had to pay to use the facilities, but I usually only have had to go at places that we have been at for awhile and had thus bought something from...
2. You have to take cold/short showers: [false] I am glad to report that hot water functions beautifully in spain, and Conchi and Primi don't seem to think i take too long. Although i do try to keep it kind of quick
3. The food is gross: [false] I have pretty much liked everything, less a few dishes here and there. My family hasn't made any dishes with the heads still on (probably because i told them i was scared of that..)
4. It is really really hot: [true] I'm really glad we live by the sea.. It's hot enough here as it is, in Granada, with no breeze, it was worse than memphis in august.
5. They like to party.. a lot: [true] When in spain..
6. You have to walk.. a lot: [true] I'm actually enjoying this a lot though, the city is neat to look at and i'm getting some good calf action in.
Things I miss from home:
(skipping people because that's just obvious.)
1. Pools- the salt water, although great for the skin, really doing a number on my hair..
2. Ranch dressing- i just use it so liberally at home, and here the just put olive oil and vinegar on the salads.. i need some zest.
3. My cell phone- i want to be able to text at will again, and not have to pay 16 cents a pop.
4. El chico- i want some authentic americanized mexican deliciousness
5. My bed- i miss my feathertop.
6. My car (when the air works)- driving is very relaxing sometimes. not when your air doesn't work however. i still have to fix that when i get back.
Easiest things to adjust to in Spain life:
1. Siestas
2. Living by the beach
3. Paella/Churros/Ice Cream/Sangria
4. A neverending nightlife
5. Desperado Beer (its got tequila in it. Hands down, best beer i have ever had)
6. 14 buddies that have the exact same schedule so you get to hang out all the time
Hardest things to adjust to in Spain life:
1. Seven hour time difference
2. The exchange rate..
3. Going to class when the beach is like two feet away
4. Really expensive phone plans
5. Lukewarm beverages
6. Sleeping when its super hot out, with no air conditioning or fans, and you can't leave the windows open because then you won't be able to sleep because its too loud.. its a pickle.
I love making lists. More to come.
1. You have to pay to use the bathroom in public (and for the tp): [false] I have not once had to pay to use the facilities, but I usually only have had to go at places that we have been at for awhile and had thus bought something from...
2. You have to take cold/short showers: [false] I am glad to report that hot water functions beautifully in spain, and Conchi and Primi don't seem to think i take too long. Although i do try to keep it kind of quick
3. The food is gross: [false] I have pretty much liked everything, less a few dishes here and there. My family hasn't made any dishes with the heads still on (probably because i told them i was scared of that..)
4. It is really really hot: [true] I'm really glad we live by the sea.. It's hot enough here as it is, in Granada, with no breeze, it was worse than memphis in august.
5. They like to party.. a lot: [true] When in spain..
6. You have to walk.. a lot: [true] I'm actually enjoying this a lot though, the city is neat to look at and i'm getting some good calf action in.
Things I miss from home:
(skipping people because that's just obvious.)
1. Pools- the salt water, although great for the skin, really doing a number on my hair..
2. Ranch dressing- i just use it so liberally at home, and here the just put olive oil and vinegar on the salads.. i need some zest.
3. My cell phone- i want to be able to text at will again, and not have to pay 16 cents a pop.
4. El chico- i want some authentic americanized mexican deliciousness
5. My bed- i miss my feathertop.
6. My car (when the air works)- driving is very relaxing sometimes. not when your air doesn't work however. i still have to fix that when i get back.
Easiest things to adjust to in Spain life:
1. Siestas
2. Living by the beach
3. Paella/Churros/Ice Cream/Sangria
4. A neverending nightlife
5. Desperado Beer (its got tequila in it. Hands down, best beer i have ever had)
6. 14 buddies that have the exact same schedule so you get to hang out all the time
Hardest things to adjust to in Spain life:
1. Seven hour time difference
2. The exchange rate..
3. Going to class when the beach is like two feet away
4. Really expensive phone plans
5. Lukewarm beverages
6. Sleeping when its super hot out, with no air conditioning or fans, and you can't leave the windows open because then you won't be able to sleep because its too loud.. its a pickle.
I love making lists. More to come.
Monday, June 15, 2009
hola! i know it's been a week without an update, but that just means i have got lots to tell! everything has just been so busy! I'm not complaining or anything, because everything has been amazing, but its been difficult to keep up with posting and putting up pics on top of hw and papers and presentations and of course, living it up in spain :)
I have done lots of things since i last posted. For starters, we went to la playa de San Juan last wednesday and learned how to windsurf, body surf, and kayak on the mediterranean! Windsurfing was kind of hard but i actually kind of got the hang of it for the most part. i could get up on the board and pick up the sail and and go, but only in one direction haha. i wasn't so good with the turning and what not. once i got to the bouies i had to just jump off.. but it was so cool! my legs killed for the next like 5 days though from trying to keep my balance and turn the board and stuff. then we did body surfing, which isn't really how it sounds. you have this big board and a paddle and you paddle out on your stomach with you arms, then you get on your knees and use the paddle, and then you try to stand up and use the paddle. I was great at the knees part.. the whole standing up thing took me a minute but i did finally get to where i could keep my balance. we realized as we were trying to do all this that we were surfing over a school of jelly fish.. the objective then became to stay on the board at all costs haha, not so that you wouldn't look dumb when you fell into the water and your board flew away from you, but so that you didnt land on top of these huge stinging "medusas" (thats what they are called in spanish haha). Our last activity was kayaking. i've never actually kayaked before but its not very hard, and it was so cool because i mean, we were on the sea.. needless to say that night i passed out from being so tired, but it was definitely one of the coolest things we've gotten to do here.
this weekend we took an overnight trip to Granada, which is about 5 hours away from Alicante. I was excited for one because i love staying in new hotels, i think its really neat; for two because we got to hang out with the whole group all weekend (which we normally do anyway but this was a little different); and for three because i had heard that Granada was beautiful. well it definitely was. the first day we saw the cathedral and the actual caskets of Isabel and Ferdinand, which was SOO cool. We walked through these streets literally full of vendors, like the walls of the buildings outside were covered with things you could buy and it was so neat, and i bought a purse and this really ornate pillowcase thing. We went to a couple bars there, where they give you free tapas (which are like little appetizer things). THEN we went to watch these gypsies do flamenco dancing in this neat little place. they were so good at it and so intense, and when they were done, they started picking people from the audience to come up and try to dance one at a time, and guess who totally danced with them?? yep. I got to dance with the gypsy flamenco dancers in spain. i feel like thats a pretty cool story. emmy took pictures, so hopefully she will post them soon!
the next day we went to see the Alhambra, which used to be one of the seven wonders of the world. it was the hugest thing i've ever seen. we walked around that thing for 4 hours and i still don't know if we saw everything.. it was so beautful though. The Alhambra is this huge castle/fort thing that the arabs built when they first settled in spain. they had all these different look out spots where you could see the whole city of Granada, and beautiful gardens and fountains, and even a summer palace. overall this weekend i think i took 23o pictures haha.. so i'll have to edit those and post them soon so you can see what i'm talking about.
when we got back to alicante there was a huge parade going on through the center of town. Everyone was dressed out in tons of different costumes. We couldn't quite figure out the theme of it, but it was so neat. It got me really excited for the festival of hogueras, which starts saturday night. Hogueras celebrates the feast of San Juan, and its like a 5 day event where they construct these massive paper statues and put them all over the city (like over 80 of them..) It's basically a party for 5 straight days and at the end they burn all but one statue. i can't wait. they told us we probably won't be able to sleep during the festival very much, which should make class interesting.. I heard that the police set a noise limit to 4:30 in the morning, but i somehow doubt that that is really going to make much of a difference..
WELL. with all that, i think i am going to go get ready because tonight we are going to watch the u.s. v italy game in the barrio, and i have to finish hw beforehand lol. pictures will hopefully be on facebook soon if it doesn't act stupid.. sometimes it won't let me.. probably because i have like a million pictures.
oh yeah.. class is going well lol. in spain, it's becoming kind of an afterthought.. i'm not too worried about it. obviously haha.
hasta pronto!
I have done lots of things since i last posted. For starters, we went to la playa de San Juan last wednesday and learned how to windsurf, body surf, and kayak on the mediterranean! Windsurfing was kind of hard but i actually kind of got the hang of it for the most part. i could get up on the board and pick up the sail and and go, but only in one direction haha. i wasn't so good with the turning and what not. once i got to the bouies i had to just jump off.. but it was so cool! my legs killed for the next like 5 days though from trying to keep my balance and turn the board and stuff. then we did body surfing, which isn't really how it sounds. you have this big board and a paddle and you paddle out on your stomach with you arms, then you get on your knees and use the paddle, and then you try to stand up and use the paddle. I was great at the knees part.. the whole standing up thing took me a minute but i did finally get to where i could keep my balance. we realized as we were trying to do all this that we were surfing over a school of jelly fish.. the objective then became to stay on the board at all costs haha, not so that you wouldn't look dumb when you fell into the water and your board flew away from you, but so that you didnt land on top of these huge stinging "medusas" (thats what they are called in spanish haha). Our last activity was kayaking. i've never actually kayaked before but its not very hard, and it was so cool because i mean, we were on the sea.. needless to say that night i passed out from being so tired, but it was definitely one of the coolest things we've gotten to do here.
this weekend we took an overnight trip to Granada, which is about 5 hours away from Alicante. I was excited for one because i love staying in new hotels, i think its really neat; for two because we got to hang out with the whole group all weekend (which we normally do anyway but this was a little different); and for three because i had heard that Granada was beautiful. well it definitely was. the first day we saw the cathedral and the actual caskets of Isabel and Ferdinand, which was SOO cool. We walked through these streets literally full of vendors, like the walls of the buildings outside were covered with things you could buy and it was so neat, and i bought a purse and this really ornate pillowcase thing. We went to a couple bars there, where they give you free tapas (which are like little appetizer things). THEN we went to watch these gypsies do flamenco dancing in this neat little place. they were so good at it and so intense, and when they were done, they started picking people from the audience to come up and try to dance one at a time, and guess who totally danced with them?? yep. I got to dance with the gypsy flamenco dancers in spain. i feel like thats a pretty cool story. emmy took pictures, so hopefully she will post them soon!
the next day we went to see the Alhambra, which used to be one of the seven wonders of the world. it was the hugest thing i've ever seen. we walked around that thing for 4 hours and i still don't know if we saw everything.. it was so beautful though. The Alhambra is this huge castle/fort thing that the arabs built when they first settled in spain. they had all these different look out spots where you could see the whole city of Granada, and beautiful gardens and fountains, and even a summer palace. overall this weekend i think i took 23o pictures haha.. so i'll have to edit those and post them soon so you can see what i'm talking about.
when we got back to alicante there was a huge parade going on through the center of town. Everyone was dressed out in tons of different costumes. We couldn't quite figure out the theme of it, but it was so neat. It got me really excited for the festival of hogueras, which starts saturday night. Hogueras celebrates the feast of San Juan, and its like a 5 day event where they construct these massive paper statues and put them all over the city (like over 80 of them..) It's basically a party for 5 straight days and at the end they burn all but one statue. i can't wait. they told us we probably won't be able to sleep during the festival very much, which should make class interesting.. I heard that the police set a noise limit to 4:30 in the morning, but i somehow doubt that that is really going to make much of a difference..
WELL. with all that, i think i am going to go get ready because tonight we are going to watch the u.s. v italy game in the barrio, and i have to finish hw beforehand lol. pictures will hopefully be on facebook soon if it doesn't act stupid.. sometimes it won't let me.. probably because i have like a million pictures.
oh yeah.. class is going well lol. in spain, it's becoming kind of an afterthought.. i'm not too worried about it. obviously haha.
hasta pronto!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Que pasa el tiempo?
So it's really weird to think that we are already halfway through our trip... I can't believe how fast time is starting to fly by! It doesn't seem like we have been here for 2 and a half weeks.
I'm officially loving Spain. This weekend we visited Las Fuentes de Algar and Guadalest, which are inland in the mountains about an hour or so away from Alicante. It was so gorgeous. We jumped in the freezing springs at Algar, which was so much fun, and then ate at this great restaurant that had a pool. Then we visited the city of Guadalest which is by far one of the prettiest things I have ever seen. Hence the 100 pictures I uploaded to facebook..
Class hasn't been bad. Especially considering I'm getting 6 hours and I spend a good majority of the time staring at the water.. I can't really help it. We have a lot of stuff due soon but I've been able to keep up with it pretty well. Doing homework at the beach with other people is definitely the way to go.
This week we are going to a nearby beach to learn some water sports, like kayaking and windsurfing (which I am really pumped about, because it sounds like lots of fun!!), and then this weekend we are taking an overnight trip to Granada, which is about 5 and a half hours inland. I guess that's why time is starting to fly by, because there is so much for us to see and to do just from what they have planned for us, not including our own fun that we have most definitely been having :) This group is awesome, yay for lots of new friends!
I have decided that I am going to learn how to make paella because it is my fav spanish dish so far. That and churros. MmMm.
I guess that's all for now. buenos noches a todos.
I'm officially loving Spain. This weekend we visited Las Fuentes de Algar and Guadalest, which are inland in the mountains about an hour or so away from Alicante. It was so gorgeous. We jumped in the freezing springs at Algar, which was so much fun, and then ate at this great restaurant that had a pool. Then we visited the city of Guadalest which is by far one of the prettiest things I have ever seen. Hence the 100 pictures I uploaded to facebook..
Class hasn't been bad. Especially considering I'm getting 6 hours and I spend a good majority of the time staring at the water.. I can't really help it. We have a lot of stuff due soon but I've been able to keep up with it pretty well. Doing homework at the beach with other people is definitely the way to go.
This week we are going to a nearby beach to learn some water sports, like kayaking and windsurfing (which I am really pumped about, because it sounds like lots of fun!!), and then this weekend we are taking an overnight trip to Granada, which is about 5 and a half hours inland. I guess that's why time is starting to fly by, because there is so much for us to see and to do just from what they have planned for us, not including our own fun that we have most definitely been having :) This group is awesome, yay for lots of new friends!
I have decided that I am going to learn how to make paella because it is my fav spanish dish so far. That and churros. MmMm.
I guess that's all for now. buenos noches a todos.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
hola!
this will probably be a short one since I am getting ready to go to sleep but i haven't updated in a few days so i wanted to post something.
all is still well in alicante! second week of class hasn't been too bad. i've been able to stay on top of things. the way of life here is so tempting though that it is hard sometimes to try to stay focused. for one, the nightlife doesn't start until around midnight and it just goes and goes, every day of the week. It's hard to decide when to call it a night because i just want to soak everything in! i'm beginning to grasp the importance and necessity of their siestas after lunch. also, the beach is right there. and i almost feel guilty not being at it 24/7. I mean how often do you have a beach so close and accessible? Pretty much never..
Since I last posted we had our first full weekend, which was so much fun. We went all out on friday and it was pretty crazy and super fun. great bonding lol. and then saturday we all went to san juan beach for the day and then met up again later for round 2. (i didn't make it quite as late that night.. lol) sunday i spent the morning at the beach and then the afternoon doing hw...
yesterday we went to this town called la vila where they have a chocolate factory. needless to say i dropped a few euros there. its a fishing town so all of the houses are really neat colors and the beach was really pretty. today we all went out for mexican (not same..) for one of the girl's birthdays in my group. yay for more bonding :)
i think tomorrow i am spending the entire afternoon on the beach. i haven't been able to lay out since monday which is just too long for it being so close haha. i'm excited for this weekend too. we have a day trip on saturday to las fuentes de algar, which i think are really clear falls that you can swim in and stuff. so hopefully i will have lots more pretty pictures.
well i am pretty much spent for today, so i am going to call it a night. hasta pronto.
this will probably be a short one since I am getting ready to go to sleep but i haven't updated in a few days so i wanted to post something.
all is still well in alicante! second week of class hasn't been too bad. i've been able to stay on top of things. the way of life here is so tempting though that it is hard sometimes to try to stay focused. for one, the nightlife doesn't start until around midnight and it just goes and goes, every day of the week. It's hard to decide when to call it a night because i just want to soak everything in! i'm beginning to grasp the importance and necessity of their siestas after lunch. also, the beach is right there. and i almost feel guilty not being at it 24/7. I mean how often do you have a beach so close and accessible? Pretty much never..
Since I last posted we had our first full weekend, which was so much fun. We went all out on friday and it was pretty crazy and super fun. great bonding lol. and then saturday we all went to san juan beach for the day and then met up again later for round 2. (i didn't make it quite as late that night.. lol) sunday i spent the morning at the beach and then the afternoon doing hw...
yesterday we went to this town called la vila where they have a chocolate factory. needless to say i dropped a few euros there. its a fishing town so all of the houses are really neat colors and the beach was really pretty. today we all went out for mexican (not same..) for one of the girl's birthdays in my group. yay for more bonding :)
i think tomorrow i am spending the entire afternoon on the beach. i haven't been able to lay out since monday which is just too long for it being so close haha. i'm excited for this weekend too. we have a day trip on saturday to las fuentes de algar, which i think are really clear falls that you can swim in and stuff. so hopefully i will have lots more pretty pictures.
well i am pretty much spent for today, so i am going to call it a night. hasta pronto.
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