Valencia, Benidrom, Altea

As my spanish is progressively getting better, I have noticed a slipping in my english!  Sometimes the order in which my words come out just doesn't make sense for a native speaker.  I hope to overcome this problem in my writing, but no promises.

The past two weekends I have been on the road.  Don't get me wrong, I love Alicante and its amazing nightlife, but I'd rather experience the different cultures around España than become a regular at a certain pub or discoteca (not that it's impossible to do both).  I've been exploring all over the city after classes and don't need full days on the weekends to do so more.  Last weekend the CCCS director, Pepa, brought all 48 of us to Valencia on a day trip.  Pepa warned us that one day wouldn't be sufficient to experience the city and that she could only give us a taste, so 8 of us decided to stay overnight, have our first hostel experience in Europe, and continue exploring Valencia the next day.  With the whole group, we started out at the city of arts and sciences- home to an opera house, the largest aquarium in Europe, an interactive science museum and much more.  Next, we moved across town to the older section where we toured La Longe which was a baroque style market built by the muslims during their occupation of Spain.  After the market, we had a couple hours of free time to go exploring before rejoining up as a group at the famous cathedral for a tour.  The cathedral is home to what many believe is the Holy Grail.  During our free time, a group of us went to the Marcado Central (Central Market).  The Marcado Central is a good place to size up the city and see all different types of people.  We also explored, did a little shopping and had some tapas as well.  After our tour of the cathedral, the vast majority of the group returned to the bus to head back to Alicante.  I don't understand the decision making process of some people...  You were given a free bus ride to the city, a "look but don't touch" tour of Valencia (which left me itching to dive deeper into exploring the city), you're in Spain to experience the culture and travel but you won't spend 12 Euro on a hostel room and another 15 on a return train ticket to have a night and full extra day in Valencia?  Que curioso.  The group of us left the others at the bus and went giddily to find our hostel.  We stayed at the Red Nest Hostel and it far surpassed my expectations.  As a first time hosteler, I was expecting a hole in the wall type of place, without reception, security, nice facilities, a game room, clean bathrooms, etc.  We were all very impressed with the hostel experience.  The first thing on our to-do list was to find a very authentic paella restaurante.  Paella is a rice dish that is native to Valencia.  Many foreigners equate it to Spain's dish, but the Spaniards associate it as Valenciano.  A table of people is served one large dish of rice mixed with seafood or chicken, snail, rabbit, beans and green peppers.  The very attractive young españolas working the reception desk steered us in the right direction and we enjoyed a nice meal before heading out to see what kind of nightlife Valencia had to offer.  The next day we returned to the city of arts and sciences to explore some more, enjoyed some more sightseeing, enjoyed some more traditional cuisine and stumbled upon the best park in the world before we took the late train back to Alicante.  The park is actually the bed of a river that was diverted because it continually flooded the city.  The long, green strip going right through the middle of the city is full of fountains, walking and biking paths and the coolest playground ever built!  Hill and I had a field day on it, making sure not to run over all the niñitos in the process. ¿Vale la pena?  ¡Por supuesto!

This past weekend the same crew who stayed over in Valencia (plus 1) decided to explore a little closer to home.  Just a tram ride away, we have the beautiful cities of Benidrom, Dénia, and Altea.  The plan was to make it all the way up the tram line to Dénia, but we got too caught up in Benidrom and Altea to make it all the way up.
Benidorm is a very touristy place where you can get by on just english.  The Brits love it.  This time of year, though, it is like Arizona- mucho antiguos.  In the summer, it's apparently a very hopping place.  Most of the discotecas are right on the beach.  Despite having cliffs and rocky beaches, Benidorm also has two beautiful sandy beaches.  I found a hotel through hostelbookers.com that seemed to be right in the middle of the action and was very cost effective (another 12€ for the night).  When we got there, the couple that owned the place, like all the other people in Benidorm, was from England.  They loved us and gave us their two biggest rooms- despite us paying for smaller ones- because no one else was in the hotel.  They told us where to eat, what to see and about their experiences with kids our age during the summer months.  I think a return trip will be in order.
After spending half of the next day in Benidorm, we went back to the hotel, got our belongings, and split into two groups.  Meg, Hill, Kristen and I went on to Altea while Lethia, Liz, and Abby headed back to Alicante.  I liked Altea more than Benidorm.  It was small, quaint and made me think of Greece.  Just two tram stops away, Altea seemed like another world.  All of the buildings are white and situated on winding paths going up a steep hill.  The top of the hill is home to a beautiful old church with a spectacular view of the slope of white houses separating it from the rocky shore of the Mediterranean.  When we were planning the trip, we thought about staying another night away from Alicante and staying in Altea.  I think we made a good decision to return to Alicante.  Although I loved the town, a few hours there was perfect.

Alicante Photos

Giant Ficas 

Explanada 

Castle of Santa Barbara

Mmmmmmmm

La Playa (learn that word, Gin)

Castle of Santa Barbara (below) 1500+ years old!!!

First swim in the Med

Marcado Central

Ali Ali cante

Hey all, I’m baaaaaaack!  My apologies for the brief hiatus, but my lovely hard drive crashed.  Luckily my favorite little sister in the world gave me the external hard drive that she got for Christmas right before I left and, even luckier still, I used it to back up my computer the night before meltdown! Explaining everything to the apple store guy in Spanish was a blast too…  I’ll just call it a learning experience.  Now I can be a computer geek bilingually!  My week and a half in Alicante has done nothing but get me excited for the rest of the semester!  For my first week here, the weather was unbelievable- getting my hopes up for the rest of the term.  It went from mid 70’s everyday to mid to high 60’s.  It was nice while it lasted, but I can deal with blue skies and 60’s.  Before it got a little chillier I managed to get a little color and go for a few dips in the sea, so I’m satisfied.  It’s only going to get warmer from here on out!

My program in Alicante is split into two sections.  The first month that we are here is called the “intensive period” and it has been living up to its name.  We are taking nothing but a Spanish grammar course (which meets for four hours everyday) and a “social realities” course that meets twice a week.  Waking up early (really early) to catch the bus to the university (30 min ride) has been difficult.  Luckily, once I start the second section of the program (continuation period), my econ and business classes won’t start before 13:00 and I won’t have Friday class!  Long weekend excursions here I come!  Any suggestions?! 

My host family is great!  I live with an older woman named Stella and her 33-year-old son, Andres.  Andres’ girlfriend, Cristina, is always here too.  Stella rents a room to 63-year-old Eduardo.  Eduardo has been living in Spain for six years- since he moved to here from Peru.  I also live with another American student who is in the same program as me.  Nick goes to Eastern Michigan University and is a Spanish and Japanese double major.  He just returned from a semester abroad in Japan and is now in Spain.  What a crazy junior year for him!  His favorite hobby is knitting and he also enjoys theater and music.  Stella is Italian born, grew up in Argentina and has been in Spain for almost 12 years.  What does that mean?  The cooking is fantastic!  For those of you not familiar with the Spanish eating schedule, it is the best!  I wake up for school and eat a little breakfast, which usually consists of OJ, a sweet of some kind and some toast.  Around noon we eat a small lunch (more of a snack) and then 2.5 hours later a huuuuuuge lunch consisting of multiple courses and, of course, a dessert!  Dinner is never before nine and most of the time around 10.  I’m never “starving” in Spain and right when you start to get hungry more food is put down in front of you!  It’s not uncommon to have beer or wine at any meal, regardless of the time of day. 

The other students in my program are a lot of fun!  Of the 50 Americans studying abroad with CCCS in Alicante, only 10 are guys (and I think only 6 or 7 are straight guys-tbd).  The girls are also very cute ;).  Most of the people I hang out with consistently are girls and, other than the shopping I’ve had to suffer through, it’s been a nice change from fraternity life.  I won’t bore yall with names and details, but I definitely going to keep in touch with a lot of these people. 

More on Madrid

Sorry to my three followers (love you Mom and Dad), but I skipped blogging about so much of my time in Madrid.  Eli's family made me a part of their family for my time there and introduced me extensively to Spanish culture (especially cuisine!).  We ate the most magnificent meals.  Before going to bed the night before Reyes Magos, I put my shoes in the hall way next to the other 8 pairs so that the Wise Men would come and bring me gifts!  We woke up slowly the next day and Eli's two brothers and cuñado (brother-in-law) took me to see Plaza Mayor, the Royal Palace and everything in between.  On the way from Plaza Mayor to Palacio Real, we saw the King's motorcade drive by.  It was a series of 10 or so black BMW's surrounding a beautiful old Roles Royce.  In the 20 years that her two brothers have lived in Madrid they have never seen the King and joked that he must have heard that I was in town.  When we got to the palace we witnessed the Royal Guard doing marching exercises and escorting an unidentifiable person to a car.  In the 20 years that Eli's brothers have lived in Madrid they hadn't seen that either!!!  It was my lucky day.  After our 3 hour tour (no I wasn't on Gilligan's Island) we returned and opened presents.  I was shocked at how fast they rushed through it.  They went down the line and each person opened all of their presents before progressing to the next.  Eli, being the youngest daughter, went first and then the outlaws and me, and then Eli's other siblings and Manolo (the father) was last.  After presents we ate cena until we were all about to burst, the young adults played a 3 vs. 3 pictionary/ charades/ cranium type game and my team actually won despite my lack of knowledge of spanish brands and pop culture.  I was surprised that I was able to contribute.  In fact, I answered the game winning question!  After the game we went to see the newest Meet the Parents movie with Ben Stiller in it.  It was the first movie that I have seen that was entirely in spanish without subtitles and I understood the whole thing.  I needed that.  Up until that point I had been very discouraged by my lack of understanding of spoken spanish.  The Madrid accent is very difficult for me for some reason.  Here in Alicante, I can understand almost everything.  In Madrid, the family that I was with up the "theta" (or a slurred "th" sound") on everything, "th" "z" even "d's".  I woke up the next morning, had a quick tour of the Athletico Madrid fútbol stadium and hopped on the train to Alicante!

Alicante

Traveling by train is awesome!  At 6’1” (or ~188cm), having at least three times the leg room as an airplane is a big deal.  I even had a footrest!  The train from Madrid to Alicante is about a three hour ride, but the Blind Side, played in Spanish, made it go by quite quickly (until everyone started crying haha).  The train also had an electrical outlet, so I could charge my computer and ipod!  Upon reaching Alicante, I was quite discouraged.  I was cellphoneless, didn’t have any contact information for anyone in the city and didn’t know where I was supposed to go.  Orientation for my study abroad program didn't start until the next afternoon.  In order to find out where I was supposed to be, I had to find some wifi so that I could check my email.  I thought it was my lucky day when I sat down at an internet café within sight of the train station!  After ordering a cerveza and some papas fritas, I asked the waiter for the wifi password and he said, “no functuando.”  Of course it didn't work, what bad luck...  I finished my beer and fries, paid the bill and asked if there was another wifi hotspot around.  He looked at my 100+ pounds of luggage, laughed, and told me that it wasn’t within walking distance.  Discouraged, I began walking down the street- using my iphone to look for free wifi.  After what seemed like forever, shoulders burning from dragging the worst duffle bag in the history of luggage and lugging a 50lb backpack, I found free wifi!!!  I whipped out my laptop (on a street corner with beggars and street vendors) and quickly checked my email.  I must have been quite a spectacle!  The NH Cristal Hotel was where I needed to be, but where was it?  I decided to take my chances and just ask the next cab that went by to take me there, hoping that the driver would know the hotel.  15 min. later and quite discouraged, I decided to continue walking, heading a north.  Knowing what direction you're going is easy when the Med Sea is visible.  After what seemed like another mile (probably more like just a quarter mile), I found a cab and he took me directly to the hotel.  Less than 5 Euros in fare was way less than I was willing to pay to dissolve all the uncertainty I was feeling.  At the NH Cristal, I found my room, used up my free 30 minutes of wifi informing my family that I was safe and sound, and then met up with Liz (a fellow W&L student whom I’d never met) and went for another beer and some tapas.  After tapas, Liz and I went exploring.  We found The Barrio, walked down to the Mediterranean, out the boardwalk, and talked about how cool of a city we were in.  We were walking out the boardwalk into the sea when Liz turned and screamed.  Taken aback and not wanting attention drawn to us, I scolded her and turned to see why she had screamed.  On a cliff overlooking the city and the sea was a fully illuminated castle!  I almost yelled in awe as well! We regrouped at the hotel and then decided to check out the nightlife.  We came to a mutual decision that Alicante is one of the coolest cities in the world!  I woke up the next day, walked down to the waterfront and ordered bocadilla de tortilla, some OJ and coffee con leche, ate, and then went to the beach.  Coming from the Michigan lakeshore, I have a great appreciation for beaches and waterfront cities and knew that Alicante was right up my ally.  Orientation started at 3pm and I saw my whole study abroad group for the first time.  I guess I’m lucky, because most of the girls in the group are gorgeous and guys seemed pretty chill.  We ate a huge, 6 course comedia, received our orientation packets and cell phones and then had siesta.  After two weeks without a cellphone I was dying to get back into the 21^st century but of course my blackberry’s data didn’t work.  I’m pretty much a techie nerd and tired everything to make it work.  I reset it to factory defaults, removed the battery and sim, synced it with my computer, updated it to the latest OS and it STILL didn’t work…  How infuriating!  After siesta we all met to go through the nitty, gritty details and receive our intensive period class schedules and then went out for tapas.  8 courses later, a few of us went out to the barrio to get a drink and check out the Saturday night nightlife.  Alicante is amazing!  More to come J

Madrid

Didn't know it was possible for people to speak so fast and eat so much... Between the speed and the accents, I am having a very difficult understanding normal discourse and I haven't had a meal with less than 5 courses yet!  When people speak to me and they slow it down I'm fine, though.  I seem to be able to say pretty much what I want, but not always in the way that I want to say it.  People get it.  Elí and her family live right in the middle of everything.  Their apartment is walking distance to the art triangle, main train station, their equivalent to central park, etc.  Today is their equivalent of Christmas Eve, and then their holiday on the 6th is Reyes Magos (or Three Wise Men).  Families get together and exchange gifts.  There is a big parade through Madrid, etc.  We went to the Prado yesterday and it was spectacular!  Today I had churro con chocolate for breakfast and then played paddle tennis with Eli's brothers, which was lots of fun.  After that I got a moped tour of Madrid.  I was told that if you can drive in Madrid, you can drive anywhere in the world.  I'd have to agree- it's crazy!  Bout to go to Plaza Mayor to see the floats from the Reyes Magos parade come in and then see the Royal Palace whatever else is around there.  I've done so much more, but don't have time to write about it all... Maybe tomorrow during siesta :)

24 of my 350 pictures from my first four days