I found out that I basically live in the center of everything. The center of the downtown area is called "Plaza Luceros" and it only takes me 5 minutes to walk there. The other day, our whole group went to "La Festival de Los Moros y Cristianos" or the Festival of the Moors and Christians in a city pretty close to Alicante. It was a religious parade, but also a party in the entire street in the city of Villena.
Some pictures from the festival:
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| These were my favorite costumes! (They can cost $1000!) |
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| The streets of Villena |
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| Moors |
The next day, Kris, Damaris and I traveled to San Juan Beach (which was about 45 minutes on the tram) and had tapas and cañas and talked politics for a few hours. The water is SO extremely warm, it's amazing!
Saturday night, Damaris, Katie and I looked around and went up and down streets by the beach. One very well known spot in Alicante is La Explanalda, which is their colorful riverfront:
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| La Explanalda |
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| My favorite park, Gabriel Miró, in walking distance and the Fuenta La Aguadora |
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| Interesting graffiti (notice it's in English) |
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| A funny misspelling on one of the "American Diner" menus |
Today, we finally started classes and I think it's going to go smoothly. The directors of this program are incredible! Not only are they directors, but also guides and friends. They took us for our first tour, and also one of them is teaching a class we all have together. I thought I would be way more lost here, but I've felt comfortable and safe the entire time!
Jose Calvo-Ferrer even helped me get my SIM card for my phone (so I can have a Spanish number and call people in my group without insane roaming charges). Thank god he was with me because I don't understand technical terms in Spanish (yet). A plan for 20 SMS/ 20 minutes/ 600 mB cost 10 euro and you can "recharge" it whenever you run out. Not bad, but I'll be using a lot of Wifi as to not go over. So for tonight, I'm going to buy some school supplies and relax for the rest of the day!
Some interesting things I found out about Spain:
- They use the word "conducir" instead of "manejar" for drive (manejar is Mexican)
- They use the word "coche" instead of "carro" for car (carros is also Mexican)
- It hasn't rained in Alicante for almost a year
- You can buy beer at the cafeteria on campus
- They also don't enforce the drinking age (I saw drunk kids at the festival last week!)
- It's easier to take public transportation than drive
- No one here knows what a longboard is. Good thing I didn't bring mine
- The word for "coffee" actually means espresso. If you want a regular coffee its called "cafe americano"
- Locks on the doors are extremely difficult
- It's VERY safe to walk around alone
- There's shops called "tiendas chinas" (chinese stores) that are extremely cheap
- All of the food here is extremely healthy. My host mom doesn't eat ANY processed food. Even the tuna is fresh (and not canned).
- "Monteditos" are little sandwiches you can buy for about 1 euro
That's all for today! Thanks for reading. :)
