I do actually do some school work here.

We started out normal class schedule this week for the content classes we'll be taking. This means, no more boring intensive Spanish! My other classes are still of course in Spanish. I have one called "Colloquial Spanish" where I will apparently learn how to send a text message in Spanish slang and abbreviations (haha), and then three others: Spanish and EU Law, Literature and Women in Spain, and Politics and Terrorism (with an extremely attractive professor which makes the class quite interesting). I am really excited about all of them and they seem really interesting, however dorky that sounds. Unfortunately at the end of the semester I have some really long papers to write. They wouldn't seem long in English, but 10 pages (1.5 space) in Spanish is not going to be too fun.

I got a big surprise yesterday when I received a huge package from my aunt and uncle. They sent me a HUGE tin of popcorn from The Popcorn Factory. Everyone was quite jealous about my present, but there is A LOT of popcorn, so I can definitely share. =) I took it to my home stay to offer some to them and they were just really confused why anyone would have this quantity of popcorn and didn't want any. haha It's alright; I'll enjoy the popcorn while they eat the lentils and asparagus. Nonetheless, this definitely made my day!

In other news, there is a program here they call "intercambios" which is basically forced interaction with Spanish students in one of our professors other classes. Nonetheless, it's really fun and we've been hanging out more with Spanish people, which is always good for practicing the language, although many of them try to speak English. We had to learn 10 "slang" phrases or words and they helped us out with that and we're planning to go for coffee next week. The girls I was partnered with seem really nice. =)

I went to a museum yesterday in downtown Alicante which was supposedly named the best museum in Europe in 2004. Although it was interesting at some points, it was all in Spanish which was challenging with this specific vocab, and I just ended up getting distracted a lot. It's an archeology museum which tells the story of Alicante's history from the time of Neanderthal humans to modern times (the Iberics, the Romans, the Arabs, the Christian reconquering). We are going to another museum next week so maybe I will like that one more.

I'm leaving for Barcelona/Italy in less than a week now and I am super excited! I'm going to be in Barcelona with Colleen for 3 nights/2 days and I'm hoping I get to go visit the Dali museum. That guy is awesome/intriguing/interesting/insane, so I really hope I get there (it's actually an 1 1/2 hour outside Barcelona by train). Check this out if you don't know anything about Dali: http://www.salvador-dali.org/dali/en_index.html. In Italy, we are going to get to see other Georgetown students when we go to Florence and I'm going to go check out the Leaning Tower, among many other things! I feel so lucky and blessed to have this opportunity!

This week should otherwise go by quickly. We have class, but really don't have any homework yet so I barely know what to do with my free time. Today I decided to utilize it by sleeping until 2pm and then taking a 2 hour siesta after la comida (the lunch at 2:30pm). =) I think this schedule is alright with me. I have a lot of travel planning to do still (buy our train tickets in Italy, reserve our hostels) so that is one time-consuming thing to get accomplished.

Hope everything is well with everyone! Write me if you're in the mood!

C/o Francisco Diez
Oficina CIEE
Aulario II
Universidad de Alicante
San Vicente del Raspeig
03690 - Alicante, Spain

Acculturation

Sorry for not writing for so long again. It's hard not having internet in my house, but I actually went out and bought myself a router, so I'm hoping I'll be able to create myself a network at home and have the internet whenever I want. Ojala.

Things are still going well. In my quest to find free WIFI I have been going to a nearby parque/plaza where I can sit on a bench and steal someone's internet that isn't secure. The problem is that there are 100s of children in this park and they are all generally quite intrigued by my laptop since most of them apparently haven't seen one before. There are three girls that are about 6-10 who are always there and always chat with me, and they're fun. Unfortunately there are also some 10 year old boys that shot me with a little fake BB gun and scream in my ear. Nonetheless, it makes for some interesting interactions and the last time they were there they asked me to play music and they were all dancing around me. As much as I find it amusing, when I need to get some homework done it is not the most productive place to go.

Last week I booked my flights for two trips that I am very excited about. We have a week-long fall break in the beginning of October and I will be going to visit Colleen in Barcelona and then to Italy for a week! I'm starting in Pisa and then going to Florence (the Villa!) and Venice for three days each. We also found a 26Euro (about $32) round trip flight to Paris in December so we're going there for a weekend! I really like this traveling in Europe thing... I'm also looking to go to either London, Sweden or Amsterdam for another weekend we have free. =)

The city of Alicante is centered around this huge old castle that was built by the Arabs when they invaded Spain. It sits just next to the ocean and it is really beautiful. Our group of students all had the chance to climb it with a guide last week and it was amazing, although by the time I got to the top I was exhausted. Here are some pictures:
The castle from below before the climb.
And the view from above of the Mediterranean Ocean... =)

at the top overlooking the ocean
all of the American students in my program here in Alicante

This past weekend it rained A LOT. Everyone told us "It never rains in Alicante!" but what did it do all Friday evening and all of Saturday until about 10pm but rain. This of course meant no beach this weekend sadly and I think I'm losing a bit of my nice tan. Friday was actually hilarious when the downpour started. I was walking with one of my good friends here, Rachelle who is also from Georgetown, and we were shoe shopping. At the point we were ready to leave it really looked like a monsoon outside so the store owners kindly offered us garbage bags and plastic bags to wear and put over our clothes and heads. Thank god we had them! We had a good 10 minute walk to get back to Rachelle's house and we would have otherwise been as wet as if we had jumped in a pool. We looked hilarious and all of these espanoles were laughing and pointing at us, but it certainly paid off. We have a picture somewhere so I'll have to put it here later. I spent that night hanging out with Rachelle and her family (who happen to be awesome) and we watched a movie together. Although that was fun, I want to get back to the beach this week!

Saturday night, when it finally stopped raining, I went out for a bit of traditional Spanish nightlife. We actually stayed up dancing ALL night and went for breakfast in the morning at 7am when we were on our way home. It is customary that people go for churros and chocolate in the morning after a night out here in Spain. Look it up if you are unsure what it is. We were so excited to finally live the tradition and it was delicious! This of course means I slept almost all of Sunday...

Unfortunately, I have my final tomorrow for my intensive Spanish class so I will be glad when that is over. I'm currently procrastinating studying by writing this blog entry. I have an A or A- average right now I believe so I'm not stressing over it. =)

I hope all is well in the States. Leave me some comments por favor!

More pictures!

Not too much to write about now, but I wanted to add some pictures. This weekend we all went on a wine tasting tour in nearby Jumilla, Spain. They have a special grape which is indigenous to the area and makes some very delicious red wine. We saw how the grapes come in, where they get squished, where they ferment them, etc... It was quite interesting. And we got a free bottle of wine!

So now, more pictures from Spain:

my bedroom with my host family

my cute little puppy!

we had a group trip to the beach


some of my good friends here (from the top left: Alex and Kellie, from the bottom left: Erica and Catie)

we went out dancing for the night! (in this picture: Nikisha, Giovanni, Meghan, Dan and Teresa)

Pictures from the Wine Tour/Tasting:

tons of grapes!

the place where the wine is made

we got to try some local red wine out of these fancy glasses

me and the big barrels of wine...

Write me! Hasta luego!

un poco sobre Espana

So I know it's been a bit since I wrote - I've been busy, but in a good way! We've gotten into our class (I actually had a test and presentation today - yuck) and I had a really great weekend in Ibiza. It was so much fun and I really like all the other students that I went with! But I want to write about some of the cultural differences here so you can get an idea. I also need to add some pictures, por supuesto (of course).

- a lot of men here wear mullets, and even some women. and they don't think it's at all strange.
- people are ALWAYS dressed up
- wearing less clothes is quite fashionable, especially when you go out at night or even more importantly, at the beach
- they are ahead on a lot of social things (really good social welfare programs, education, etc..) except they are lacking in TECHNOLOGY (not as much as Tanzania, but I would expect a bit more here)
-g enerally, kids live with their parents until there are at least 20, but often until there are even 30 years old.
- people get married late and it's not a very popular things to do, and hence they have children very late, meaning they usually have very few
- We eat at really weird hours:
*breakfast as usual, when you get up, but it's really, really small
*lunch at 2 or 3 in the afternoon (with nothing in between!)
*"dinner" at 9 or 10 at night
Basically, I'm hungry a lot. Also, my mom is a vegetarian (which is pretty strange here) so I miss meat right now...
- tv is HUGE. it is on all the time, especially during meals. I really like "Los Simpsones" in espanol. They dub over all the American shows you could ever want.
- all the stores are closed from about 2pm-5pm for lunch ("comida") and the traditional siesta after, which no one really takes that much anyway it seems
- there are a lot of immigrants here, and no one seems too overly happy about it, but generally the immigrants do all learn Spanish because they are from too many different places not to assimilate at least a bit. I'm going to attempt to find someone that speaks Swahili so I can practice, but I think it is a long shot.
- there is never a rush and being on time is always 5 minutes late.
- you can go out on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday night and there is always a party.

Well I think that is a pretty good introduction, so now, some pictures!


the very beautiful Universidad de Alicante


La Plaza de Luceros in down town Alicante


From the Festival de los Cristianos y Moors


La Plaza de Espana right next to the beach


the group that went to Ibiza

Viajes!

I only have a few minutes, but I wanted to write something quick! Spain is still going great - we´ve now finished up orientation and I´m getting settled in. We had a trip to a huge old caste from the time when the Muslims occupied Spain (for approximately 800 years) and afterwards some nearby waterfalls to swim. It was wonderful - freezing but just really awesome, especially to jump in the water from the nearby platforms. I am hoping that I have some good pictures. The next day we went to a nearby festival tin celebration of the Christians and Moors. It takes place in a town called Villena and about one half of the entire population participates (and the other half watch!) They are all dressed up as either Christians or Moors and they parade down the streets in these grandiose costumes. Everyone is singing and dancing, etc... and it goes on until 4 in the am (unfortunately, we could only stay until 8pm). Quite fun!

Now we´re getting settled into our classes. I have intensive spanish for the next three weeks and it seems like it will be challenging. I have to write a composition tonight because I am going to Ibiza this weekend (a nearby island that is supposed to be a lot of fun) and I have to do it before I leave. We had class this morning, but I was able to spend all afternoon on the beach half studying, half sun bathing. The beach is only about a 25 minute walk, or a 10 minute bus ride, so it´s pretty awesome. =) The weather here is GREAT! Right now, I feel like this is more vacation than school, but I have a feeling this will be changing soon. For now, I´ll just enjoy it!

Getting accultured!

Things are going well here in Spain - I've moved in with my host family and started to learn my way around Alicante. We're finishing up all of our orientation activities tomorrow and I'm starting to get more settled. The other students in my program are from a bunch of different places around the US and are all quite agreeable. My host family is really nice - it is just a mom and her 15-year-old daughter (and a really cute little puppy). In Spain the job of "mother" is taken super seriously and they really coddle their children. They do all the cleaning, the cooking, the laundry, etc... and they do it really well. I could get used to it. =) We leave in a really cute little apartment in a neighborhood that is just a short jaunt from down town. There isn't internet in my house, but the cafe is right across the street.

Alicante is a beautiful city! It's very modern and very developed. It is also quite the change from both Tanzania and Egypt culture-wise. It's quite "liberal" and very European if I had to describe it, at least if you were judging by clothing. The people dress really well all the time - no sweat pants to go outside at all, even just to walk the dog for a few minutes. Many of the women walk around in dresses and heals all day! My poor feet are trying to cope with my new shoe needs. At night it can be a bit scandalous. Lots of tube tops with midriffs completely exposed and of course on the beach, lots of topless women. Oh did I mention that I am living a 15-20 minute walk from the beach? Apparently it's not the nicest one, but I think it will do for me. I need to get on a train and check out the others that are nearby.

Tomorrow we are heading to what is supposed to be a really beautiful waterfall that is just outside Alicante and on Wednesday I start my intensive Spanish class. The language is a bit of a challenge, but I think I'm picking it up quickly and I've stopped replying/thinking in Swahili at least.

Time to go now since it's 9:20PM here and I haven't yet had dinner! I will have to explain the eating schedule/food later! Ciao! Besos!