Pictures!!! Some more observations, my goals and what´s been happening!

As promised, I put most of my pictures up! There are still 2 albums of pictures that I still have to put up, but I was getting sick of putting them up one by one so just scroll down and you will see them! So in the past week or so since my last entry, I have just been going to school, eating, sleeping and then doing it all over again the next day. It was hard getting back into the swing of things, but I think I´m ready to go to school now. I did pretty good in my class. I got B´s for most of my stuff, but then today, I finally got 2 A-´s!! That´s actually something to be proud of because the grading system over here is very different. On a scale of 1-10, students are usually really happy with a 7. Now in the U.S., students would be kind of upset with a grade like that. Over here, a 10 is perfect, you made no mistakes and you exceeded expectations. So that means, getting a 10 is practically impossible. Those 2 A-´s were 8´s. So I was pretty proud. We had our final test today, and I think I did pretty good. I´m not sure when we are getting our final grades back, but I´ll let you know what I got!

So while everyone has been freezing back home, I have been able to get to the beach and play out in the sun and sand! The water has been too cold to swim in, but there are still the wackies that jump in and swim. Recently, we´ve been having some crazy wind, like 30 mph with over 60 mph gusts. It´s actually been really fatal. Many people have died and trees have been blown down and tons of people have been without power. Luckily nothing like that has happened to me or my familia, but the wind has been bad throughout Spain, as well as France and Portugal. Mom, don´t read this, but Dad would appreciate it...it´s kinda fun walking around in that kind of wind and getting pushed around...I mean...lol. Also, on Friday, we went to see the movie "Seven Pounds" with Will Smith, but it is translated into Spanish as "Siete Almas (Souls)" which is interesting. It was pretty much the most depressing movie ever. I understand pretty much the whole thing, so I was happy about that...just not happy about hating life when it was over.

Here are some more things I´ve observed. Spain is more Americanized than you think. I mean, everywhere I go, I hear American music, from pop, rap to rock. You just can´t escape it. It´s in all of the stores, the bus, supermarkets. Also, a lot of Spaniards really like Americans. Of course some hate us, but others really like us. A lot of Spanish students like practicing their English and hearing about stuff in the States. Most of the people I´ve met are really friendly towards Americans. Another thing is that I do feel like I can fit in somewhat if I am alone. I was really worried that I would stick out like a sore thumb, but that´s really not the case. Not everyone has dark brown hair, awesome style and the same size. Some people that are Spanish don´t even look like they are Spanish. I was all worried for nothin´.

For my seminar class we had to make a list of 10 goals we want to accomplish by the end of our time here in Alicante, so I decided that I might as well post it on here for everyone and that way I can keep everyone posted on my progress.

-I want to be fluent.

-When I come back to the States, I want everyone to be able to see a changed and different Holly.

- I want to find the courage to step out of my comfort zone.

- I want to see as much of Europe as I can.

-I want to make long lasting friendships with Americans and locals.

- I want to grow and become more: confident, independent and secure of who I am.

- I want to be accepted by the locals.

- I want to find the perfect cafés, restaurants, tapas bars and dessert places that don’t have tons of Americans.

- I don’t want to just “pass”; I want to learn as much as I can and get good grades.

- I want my parents to be proud of me, and I want them to think that it was money well spent.

So there you go! My actual semester of classes starts on Wednesday, so I have 2 classes then and then 1 on Thursday. Can´t wait! Now I´m just trying to figure out when and where I want to travel!

Churros for breakfast and a day at the beach!

Yesterday was my madre´s 65th birthday, and I gave her a card and she loved it. She showed it to all of her friends saying, look at what my American daughter gave me. haha. She´s so cute. For breakfast we had churros con chocolate!! Churros are like a fried pastry type thing, and you dip them in melted chocolate. Yep, and that´s what I ate for breakfast! After breakfast, Amy and I went down to the beach for a few hours. When I came back, my madre commented on how pink my face was. After the beach, I went to my madre´s other house in the country where she has fruit trees and vegetables and small animals. Her son lives there with his family. We all ate Paella that my madre made. She said that it tastes better when it is cooked over an open fire. It was really good. We hung out there a little bit before going back home. Then, some of my padres friends came over to play a card game called Chichurón, or something like that. It´s kind of like Rummy. You have to pay 1 Euro to play haha. I watched them play a whole game through and then decided to play. I lost, but I was doing really well until someone went out in like the first round so I was left with a lot of points. After cards, we had more chocolate and we dipped different types of bread in the chocolate. It was really good, but I shouldn´t have eaten so many sweets before going to bed haha.

Today I had my first test. It wasn´t too bad. I think I did pretty good on it. After the test, I went straight to the beach and got there around 11:30. My friends and I laid out in the sun, ate some lunch, ran around, played on this spider web rope thing, played some soccer, and then some hardcore beach volleyball. It was sooo great. I didn´t get home til 7:45! We all kept saying that we can´t believe that we are going to be doing this for 5 months! It´s gonna be great! Tomorrow we start a seminar class called Living and Learning in Alicante. It isn´t a mandatory class; we could decide if we wanted to take it or not. I decided to because it´s free and you get a certificate for International Learning or something like that, so I figured it would look good on a resume (yep, thanks mom) So that means I won´t have time to go to the beach, oh well! Also, there is now talk about where everyone wants to travel, so I have to start making my list...it´s rather long!

A visit to the castle, something I forgot, and the beach!!

On Friday we finally visited El Castillo de Santa Barbera, and let me tell you, it was worth the wait. The views were just incredible. You could see for miles! The walk up was fun because a lot of us were getting out of breath. I stayed in the back with the other photographers so that I could take as many as I wanted without getting in the way. We would stop at various points on our way up to see the different views. Once we got to the top of the castle, we couldn´t stop saying wow! Tons of buildings everywhere and then the Med. Sea! I didn´t want to leave! I will get my pictures up as soon as I can so you can see for yourselves. I decided though that whoever comes to visit me is going to the castle because they have to see the view. After we walked back down, me and 2 other friends went out for dessert. We wanted churros con chocolate, but the place was closed, so we went to the ice cream place that was soooo good. It was a cool place to hang out and talk.

So the thing that I forgot to talk about was the day trip we took to Guadalest, which is another castle a few hours from the city. It is one of the most visited places in Alicante. We took a tour of it and it had a lot of little rooms with artifacts and books. Again, I took a lot of pictures because of the great view. This time it was just plains and mountains. Also, there was a greenish blue river that was so pretty. After the castle, we went to a cave. I didn´t take any pictures because cave pictures usually don´t come out very well. We took a tour in it and it was pretty cool.

Today was such a nice day in Alicante, so Amy and I decided to go down to the beach and soak up the sun. We saw one of our friends that was already there and hung out with her. A couple others came later. Everyone was laying out or playing volleyball or soccer. Some brave people were even swimming!! I still have to get used to the whole speedo thing...lol. We felt bad for everyone back in the States trying to stay warm while we were watching the sea and getting some color. Once it gets warmer, I am spending all my time at the beach. That is where my homework is going to get done. I can´t wait to swim too!

Like I said, I will put my pictures up as soon as I can. I am using my family´s computer, but will have the internet on mine very soon!

What I actually did on 1/14/09

We had another day of class, which wasn´t too bad. We are starting to get our schedules together because our semester starts soon. Today was just a laid back day that consisted of eating, school, eating, siesta, eating and soon sleeping. Yeah, I think I´m gonna like it here haha. Since this post is short, I will also include some observations/reflections/conclusions.

1. Spanish homes are freezing.
2. They love their coffee and wine.
3. The kisses on each cheek isn´t so bad.
4. Offensive? They don´t know the definition of that word.
5. We aren´t eating lunch/dinner til when??!!
6. The whistles and remarks make you feel good about yourself.
7. If you don´t like oranges, you´re outta luck.
8. You´re expected to eat for like 3 people.
9. The portion sizes for lunch are bigger than dinner.
10. Get used to the staring...
11.It´s not as cold as they think it is.
12. Wear your coat and scarf or DIE!!
13.American music is played everywhere and it gets real old, real quick.
14. I am now addicted to the show Pasapalabra thanks to my padre.

1/14 cont again...

On the 13th, we started our first day of intensive language class. It was kinda boring, but it´s a good review of everything. We have to take the bus to school every day so that will be an experience. My madre was gone for a few days because her step sister is sick, and when she came back, I called her madre and she loved it. She hugged me really tight and was really happy to see me. Her granddaughter slept over too and became my little friend. I showed her some of my pictures of my family and friends. I met my madre´s daughter, Noelia, and she was so great. She was so nice and easy to talk to. She is getting married on the 31st, and invited me to the wedding! She even said that if there is a trip with CIEE, I can´t go cuz I have to come to the wedding. Her fiancé is really cool too. We ate so much food that night, and Noelia´s fiancé said to get used to it. My madre brought back a lot of delicious desserts from her town. I loved everything. It was fun getting to know my madre´s daughter and fiancé. on the 14th, I went over to Amy´s house for lunch after school and we ate rabbit paella....yep...rabbit...and I liked it too. After lunch, we walked down to the beach for the first time. It was amazing. The castle looked so cool, because it was in plain view. The water was a little cold, but it felt just like Cape May! I can´t wait til it gets warmer. I plan on spending all the time I can at the beach. After we walked inthe sand and took lots of pictures, we did more shopping. I think I am adjusting to life here in Alicante. I´m just trying to take it one day at a time. I try not too think too far ahead becuase then I get homesick and miss everyone. Tomorrow we visit el castillo de santa barbera, which I am so pumped for! I can´t wait! I am becoming closer with my family which I think makes my time here go smoother and a little less stressful.

1/14/09 cont...

So, I was really nervous when it came time for me to meet my host family. I kept wondering what they would be like, and if they would like me or not. Well, needless to say, it was nothing to be nervous about. My madre´s name is Aurelia and my padre´s name is Antonio. They are sooo nice, and they pretty much love me forever. They are so easy to talk to. They live in a nice set of apartments too. Right when we got inside, a little dog popped out. Lola, a yorkshire terrier, wearing a little dog sweater. She is the cutest thing ever! I put my stuff on my bed, and my madre asked if I wanted anything. She made us café con leche with galletas (like graham crackers), and we watched her telenovela. She put a shawl around me cuz she assumed I was cold. After we finished, I started to unpack. She came in and offered to help, but I was fine. She commented on how skinny I am and grabbed my waist. I also have a grandma and a great grandma that also live in the house, as well as an annoying bird named Lorenzo that I want to kill. The house is always freezing. They complain about it being cold, but barely turn the heat on. I´ve gotten used to it for the most part. It is hard to get used to the eating times. Lunch time is from 2 to 4, and then dinner is from 8 to 10:30. Also the verb comer and the noun comida are used for lunch, and then cenar/cena is used for dinner. I have done a good amount of shopping and walking around the city. I have gotten lost sooo many times, but Amy and I always seem to find our way back home. It´s actually a great learning experience, because we pretty much familiarized ourselves with practically the whole city. On Monday (1/12), we toured the campus of the University of Alicante. It is a pretty big campus, and it´s easy to get lost...been there, done that, bought the t shirt. But it is such a beautiful campus filled with palm trees and orange trees! It is also surrounded by huge mountain peaks. It is so cool to see scenery like that.

1/14/09

So, I love Alicante, Spain. It is THE beach city. The thing that surprised me most when we landed on January 7th was that there are mountains everywhere, and it´s not really a chain of mountains but rather huge mountain peaks everywhere. It is just a beautiful area. Another great aspect is that it is literally right beside the beach. What more could a girl want? There are palm trees everywhere as well as orange trees in the country side. Also, el castillo de santa barbera is so amazing to see. The legend has it that the king wanted his daughter, Cantara, to get married. So, he had two suitors, prince Ali and prince Abed. He gave them each a task. Abed´s was to search for rare spices from India. Ali´s was to construct an aqueduct that collected the water from the river into the city. Abed completed his task, and Ali didn´t, so the king gave his daughter away to Abed. But, she was in love with Ali, so she decided to kill herself. When Ali found out, he threw himself off the tower of the castle. Because of this, there is a figure of an arab face on the castle that looks like prince Ali. And, that´s how the city got it´s name Ali+ Cantara = Alicante. Yeah, how cool is that story? But yeah, I´ve had good days and I´ve had bad days. As of now, the good days just keep on coming. I´ve only been here a week, but it feels like a month! For our orientation time, we had different sessions about Alicante and the program. We were able to meet everyone in the CIEE program and hang out. We took a tour around the city which was really cool. It was fun walking in and out of all of the little streets, and looking at all of the little shops and cafes. The food we ate that day was excellent. For lunch, we had paella, which is a huge pan of rice and then either veggies, meat, or seafood. I had all three, and the seafood was the best. We even had some calamari mmm. For dinner that night we had Tapas, which are small portions of appetizers. I tried everything the waitor brought, and loved most of it. After dinner we did a toast with shot size glasses of wine and said ``Ariba, a bajo, al centro, para adentro!´´ which means up high, down low, in the center, inside (your stomach). It was a lot of fun.