Nothing to do but Chill all Day...

This weekend was quite the weekend of nothingness, but in a good way. Friday, I went to the beach. Saturday, I went to the beach. Sunday, I went to the beach... and I guess there was some stuff in between : ) But this weekend was absolutely gorgeous outside, almost hitting 80 every day. My friends and I spent all of our time at the beach... playing volleyball, listening to music, occasionally jumping in the water (which is freezing cold still). It was the perfect end to a long week of studying for my midterms. Alicante is gorgeous!!! Plus I get my midterms back today, and did well on them, which means despite all the chillin on the beach, Iam learning!

Some highlights from this weekend... beach volleyball, a random parade of sweet cars that we watched from our taraza (porch/patio), the dog getting ahold of the rabbit my family skinned...

On Sunday, I joined my family again for another trip to their casa del campo. This week, my friend Kim joined us. She got to experience mi familia loca. In fact, she experienced it all... there was another rabbit skinning, a trip to the beach, twenty people gathered around a table for eight to eat, etc.
I absolutly love the typical day spent with my family here. They are all so easygoing, and Sundays are always absolutly hilarious. Of course, all of my cousins think the time we spend together is the perfect chance to teach me some slang that I probably would´t be learning in class. Plus, the food is amazing. Every week we eat chicken, veggies, potatoes, all cooked in their brick oven over an open fire. Each week we have different apetizers too... these are the things that I prefer to just try a bite or two of... for instance, this week we had salted ham and a sauce made from dates on a pizza like crust. Sounds gross, but I really liked the mix of sweet and salty. Every week their is some different sort of seafood; I tried Octopus this week for the first time... I liked it a lot! Sundays are the day to relax here. We all wear sweatpants and tshirts, and just bathing suits when it´s hot, quite a change from the usual dressed up days of the week. I really look forward to Sundays, especially because I am feeling more and more comfortable around my family every week, like I am part of the fam : )

FIXED COMPUTER

Hola! Que pasa?

I am very happy, my computer is FINALLY fixed! Which means I can communicate better with everyone. Today my Spanish family met my real family on the web cam... I was so happy that they were able to see each other.
This week has been very busy... I have midterms this next week, so I have been trying to master all these irregular verb forms and when to use them. I do not know who decided it would be smart to have to choose between 3 different tenses when you want to say something in the past, and 3 different tenses when you want to say something that could maybe happen. Ah, so much information en mi cabeza! Then throw in having to learn all the musical instruments... I could label a full band and orchestra in Spanish (which might become useful in future Music Travel trips). All this Spanish is making my English horrible. Today I said "wroted" instead instead of "wrote" when talking to my Mom. Originally I was thinking I would come home speaking two languages, but now I realize I will come home not being able to speak. I guess I'll just have to act things out, and all my friends know I am so great at charades.
Things here are better than they were 2 months ago. Two months ago things were great, which means now they are really great. I haven't gotten lost in awhile. I am now brave enough to carry on a conversation with the homeless people who live outside my apartment. I know that I might as well order a coke in a restaurant, because water is never gonna be free. I have learned that I have to act like a Real Madrid fan, unless I want my family to not speak to me. I am ok with accidentally swallowing a fish bone or two, cause at least I didn't accidentally eat the skull. All in all, I am learning more about another culture than I knew was possible. This beats all the sociology classes I have taken in the past.
This past weekend was fun, more family time! On Friday, a couple friends and I went to Elche, a little city about a half hour train ride away from Alicante. It is a pretty town, most famous for having the largest palm tree park in all of Europe. There were so many Palm trees, most of them taller than the ones here in Alicante, which are double the size of the ones in Florida; so that puts it in perspective. On Saturday I spent the day with Kim and her family because they were throwing Kim's seven year old sister, Ariadna, a birthday party. Her parents own a bar here so they simply closed it for the day to host the party. We spent the morning blowing up balloons, setting up the decorations, etc. After an interesting tuna, bacon, and egg pasta dish for lunch and a long walk on the beach, we headed back to the bar and the kids (and their parents too) started showing up. Before we knew it, the bar was full with around 20 kids and 20 parents, running around and screaming. Ariadna was gooning the whole day... it was a fun experience.
Sunday was an absolutly gorgeous day. The sun never went behind the clouds. I went on a 5 mile run to start off my morning, and then spent the day with my family at the beach and their country house. I saw another slaying of a rabbit. I met about 7 more relatives. I love huge families. I miss mine! I feel blessed to have a huge family both here and there!
I am very happy, I finally found a cafe here that doesn't leave my clothes smelling like smoke. I have been going there for a little bit each day to study for my midterms. I have two huge exams and a paper due tomorrow. So, although I do spend most of my time running, going to the beach, exploring new towns, I do spend time studying, occasionally.
This coming weekend is my last weekend here in Alicante ( I think) for the rest of the semester! I am headed to explore northern and southern Spain, meet family in London, and hit up a few more places in Europe. It's so much to look forward to, and I am trying to focus more on the day to day verses constantly thinking about all the exciting things that I have planned.
This next week there is another festival close to Alicante, in Valencia. It's called las fallas and it's basically the whole town getting together to have a parade and then burn down the floats afterward. I am really excited about that!
I hope that things in Los Estados Unidos are looking more spring like and less blizzard like! Hopefully, with my newly fixed computer, I can blog more!
hasta luego!

Mi Abuela

As many of you know, my Grandma Lu passed away this past week.

I can´t begin to explain to you how big of a decision I was faced with when asked if I wanted to come home. Of course my first instinct was to hop on a plane, but once the emotions backed down a bit I was able to see things more clearly. After thinking long and hard about things, I realized, death and funerals are the end to a life well lived, and there are plenty of other ways to celebrate a person´s life, other than to physically be at their funeral, or see them in their last few days of life here on earth. So, I did the best I could think to do being thousands of miles away. I ran a half marathon and dedicated it to my Grandma.
Here are some of the things I thought about during the half marathon.....
1. Grandma Lu had ten children. If she can have ten children and survive, I can run 13.1 miles and survive.
2. I really admire my Grandma´s faith. Even when she came to Indy to visit, she always went to church even being far from home. But then I got to thinking (13.1 miles is a long time to think, I had a LOT of thoughts), faith is so much more than going to church, etc. Looking back on Grandma´s life, she is such a great example of Jesus´s love, in the way that she loved so many people. No matter what our crazy family was up to, Grandma Lu constantly loved us all; what a great example of faith.
3. While I was struggling to breath and keep running, I thought about what a fighter Grandma Lu trully is. Of course it´s so easy for me to see that now, when all these medical problems came into play. But even before that (or so I have heard), she was a great Mom to all my Aunts and Uncles. I have heard stories about my Grandma in more of her Mom stage, and it sounds like she was a great Mom, always fighting to be there for her kids.
4. While I was running, Grandma was in the hospital. It was so hard for me to be here knowing that I should be there. I just kepting lifting Grandma up to God, and allowing myself to accept that whatever happens is His will.

I will never forget my Grandma Lu. It´s neat to think that we share the same faith, and someday we´ll be reunited. I am praying constantly for my family, because death is so much harder for the ones left behind, than for my Grandma who is chillin´ in Heaven.
I love you Grandma Lu : )

MADRID

Hola!
This past weekend, I visited Madrid with CIEE! It was quite a contrast from Alicante, being the capital of Spain. There were tons of people, both Spaniards and tourists, and the city had a completely different feel than Alicante. There was so much to do, and we pretty much spent the whole time doing something. Not that I minded, I had plenty of coffee to get me through... and I may or may not have found a Dunkin Donuts.

After Friday´s six hour bus ride, we had a couple hours to explore the city on our own. Some friends and I headed to the Real Jardin Botanico, home of 30,000 different plant species. Of course, I am sure the garden is a little bit better later in the season, farther away from their recent snow storms. After our stroll through the park, we met the whole group at the Museo del Prado, Spain´s most famous art gallery. Velaquaz, El Greco, Ribera, Goya, and many more artists have their most famous paintings there. It houses more of the classical themed paintings completed by Spanish artists. After the museum, we headed back to the hotel and got ready to go out for the night. I went with a group of people to have Tapas... Calamari, Jamon, Gambas, and different samples of Spanish foods, and wine of course. After talking awhile, we headed out to some different places to dance and explore the Madrid nightlife.
The next morning was quite a drag, considering we had a 2 hour tour of the Palacio Real at 9:30, and most people had stayed out until nearly 4 or later. The Palacio Real was amazing... it´s a huge Palace with more than 2800 rooms, and home to the world´s largest armor collection. We had a tour of it in Spanish, and learned all about which rooms are used for what (because they still use the Palace today) and the reasons behind why things were designed the way they were. After our tour, we had a few hours to walk in the Plaza del Sol, Plaza Mayor, and past a few famous monuments. I also took a quick nap and got a cup of coffee so I´d have enough energy for the afternoon and night. The whole group met back up again to head to another park, famous for it´s glass building and beautiful trees and greenery. After a couple hours in the park, we headed to Madrid´s famous Reina Sofia museum. Looking at these pieces of more contemporary art was seriously the highlight of my trip. I counted over 50 different Picasso pieces, and his famous (and MASSIVE) work Guernica is housed at the museum. There were also works by Dali, Goya, and a number of more abstract painters. I bought a Picasso matching game that I am stoked about playing, because it´s a lot of Picasso´s works on tiny little cards, and a challenge... it´s like a matching game for adults. After the museum, some friends and I ate dinner at a little Italian place near the museum, and I had some very good Pesto. The rest of the night was spent hanging out with friends and exploring Madrid!
It was difficult waking up Sunday morning, considering the hotel beds were so comfortable, and I was so tired. I eventually managed, and met my other zombie looking friends down in the hotel lobby for breakfast. We got ready and headed on our city walking tour. My head was not entirely comprehending our Spanish tour guide´s words, but I managed to get most of what she was saying about the history of some of the most famous buildings in Spain. We then headed to the rasto, a HUGE flea market that is held every Sunday in Madrid. It is a pick pocketer´s paradise and easy to bargain for a good deal. It was fun looking at all the different things people were trying to sell. Some were just mass production souveniers, and some were things straight out of people´s houses that they were trying to get rid of. The last picture on here is of our feet in the very center of Spain, where all the streets are measured from! It was quite a lot to pack into one weekend, but well worth the visit. Now I have to write a paper about my trip (the only downfall to taking a trip led by your school) so I better get started!




Hasta Luego!

Carnaval!

Hola! Buenas!
I hope everyone is doing well. Hopefully it is warming up a bit in Los Estados Unidos.

This past weekend was quite a unique experience, I can´t think of words to describe it. Alicante was the place to be. Everyone gathered in the parks and streets, in all sorts of costumes. Three of my friends and I dressed up as The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We saw people dressed as Dominoes, Tables, Paella, Babies, Soccer Goals, Buzz Lightyear, USB cards.. you get the picture. You name it, we saw someone dressed as it, no exaggeration. Pictures....

The guy dressed as a pink baby is my brother, Fransisco! The whole night he ran around yelling, "mama, mama". The girl in the Cheetah costume is my cousin, Maria Jose. I had a lot of fun talking with her. As you can see we also ran into Pez, tetris, the whole Toy story gang, and many more.

Of course I was dumb and stayed out until 5 in the morning when I had to get up for my half marathon the next day at 7....

: )

para mi abuela con amor

Hola todas! Here are some pictures from this past weekend. I went to Mercado Medival in a city about an hour away from Alicante. It was quite interesting, and a lot bigger than I thought it would be! We walked around, ate crepes, sampled warm wine, and watched reinactments of medival times. The reinactments were a little off the wall, yet really interesting.

Also last weeked, I went to a futbol (soccer) game! I can honestly say I enjoyed watching it (you would be proud Kristin). The two Alicante teams were playing.. Alicant vs. Hercules. Alicant is the big underdog, and has not won in twenty-some years, but it´s always a close game between the two rivals. Hercules won 4-2.
.....
This weekend is quite a big weekend! It´s carnaval (festival) here, and Alicante is hoppin´! All the bars and cafes are packed, and the streets are filled with people. This festival is supposed to be like the week where all the Catholics go crazy before they have to behave during lent. People here are crazy! Everyone dresses up in costumes and walks in the streets. My friends and I watched a parade with all the kids from the city who were dressed up... some of them were dressed like cleaning supplies, some like flower pots, the costumes were so creative! Tonight, 3 friends and I are dressing up like the teenage mutant ninja turtles!
Oh and tomorrow is my half marathon!!! So while you are all sleeping from 4-6 a.m., I will be running 13.1 miles. I am running this half marathon entirely for my Grandma. She just had a stroke, and I would love to be able to see her in the hospital right now. Since I can´t be in the states with my family (although talking on skype with a web cam has been fun!), I am going to devote all 2 hours of my run to my Grandma! I´ll use the time to pray for her and my family, and really focus on how thankful I am to have her in my life! So everyone keep her in your prayers please!
I miss everyone, and my recipe is coming soon; I have to wait to get it back from my teacher who is grading it.
I miss everyone! Hope everyone is doing well!

Alguno de mis pensamientos.

Buenos dias todos!

Well, I have been here almost 6 weeks, time is really flying by like I predicted it would. I feel like I have learned so much, and even if I came home right now, I know my Spanish has improved. The thing is, I really like it over here, and I am completely content with not coming home... yet. I miss everyone, a LOT, but I am starting to really love it here! Every day I feel more comfortable with things here, from the conversations I have with mi madre, to making my way around the city. When I got here over a month ago, I could´t fathom being this familiar with it all, yet I finally am. The cool thing is, no matter how comfortable I feel, something new surpises me every day. I am used to finding bones and sometimes other body parts in the meat I eat. I am used to planning ahead to avoid the 50 cent text message7 calling rates they have here. I have learned what busses to take and how much time I need to get from place to place. It´s the little things like those that consumed my mind for the first bit of my trip. But, now that I am past all those things and not constantly thinking about how different it is here, my eyes are opened to other things.

I feel like I am extremely comfortable with my family now. Mi madre and I have a really good relationship, and every day I thank her for how much she talks to me. I would say we talk at least an hour a day in Spanish, usually more. When I first got here, I felt like we would run out of things to talk about, because my Spanish was so limited. But now, we get into conversations about political situations, Spanish culture, cooking, futbol teams, you name it, we talk about it. The other day I had to do a cooking project with my friend, and mi madre was generous and allowed us to cook in our house. In Spanish culture, if you are not family, you don´t visit people in their houses, so it was a bit of a stretch for me to ask if a friend could come over. The project went so well though.. don´t worry, pictures of our "tarta naranja" or, orange pie, will be posted soon! All that to say, I learned so much that night because every step of the way mi madre was there telling us what kitchen utensils were called, and helping us measure out grams and blend the oranges, etc. Mi hermano (my brother Fransico) even proofread the copy of our recipe. We were laughing the whole night, and I felt like it was a situation that would have happened in Indiana, with my own family. It´s just great feeling comfortable enough that I can focus on learning Spanish verses what my family thinks of me.

For the first month, I honestly just kept comparing the U.S. with Spain.... the food is healthier here, we all drive cars there, the weather is better here, things are bigger there, etc, etc. Now that I have been here for awhile, I am starting to see the similarities. This is so neat for me, because every trip I have every been on, the country is so amazing to me because it´s different than what I have. I guess I have learned that I might be in a completely different culture, but people are people wherever you go. Everything that is happening here is normal for Spanairds, and the more I try to fit in and really live here, the more it becomes normal for me as well. I was very dissapointed to find out that Alicante has a store very similar to Walmart... I remember coming to Spain last summer and thinking, "Wow, everything they want to sell has its own store... farmacia, zapatoria, frutaria (pharmacy, shoe store, fruit store)..." That is what gets the tourists at least, but then you live here and realize that there are cheaper places to get food, and every person wants to buy things for less money. Now that I am past the differences, I can start to see all these similarities! It probably sounds dumb, but if you have travelled to another country, you know that the differences are what strike you the most, because you aren´t there for long enough to see the similarities. Plus, the differences are what makes that country somewhere you would even want to travel to. Some common stereotypes (at least stereotypes I had) aren´t necessarily true... despite popular beliefs, not everyone here is skinny, not everyone drives a smart car, not everyone is catholic. At the same time, there are a lot of differences that I have observed (I am such a sociology nerd) that really stand out to me. The whole social drinking thing... I have only seen like one drunk Spaniard here, but probably 100 drunk Americans. They know their limits, and know that they should never pass those limits in public. People are so much more conservative with their resources here! I keep learning new ways I can conserve water, energy, gasoline, etc. just from observing people.

I really am enjoying Spain, I mean what´t not to love about studying on the beach and their famous churros and chocolate : ) The more I am here, the more I love it. I wish everyone could come and experience this with me! My next post will hopefully be the recipe that I made for class, if anyone wants to try it out! It turned out ok, really interesting tasting.

Well, gotta get home for lunch, mi madre is making paella today, and if you have been to Spain you know that you should never turn down good paella : ) Adios amigos!

!muchos fotos buenos!

Finally! Lots of pictures! Here are pictures of my room... as you can see I have a desk which I never use for studying. If you look closely, I have my peanut butter and Nutella : ). I need to print more pictures to put up. I had no idea I would have a whole bulliten (sp?) board! My bed is very comfy, and Spaniards don´t typically heat each room of their house, so I have 5-6 blankets on my bed! You can see my closet, as well as my sweet new studying technique on the door... I do abs on the floor and read my vocab words that are on that door. Here is my bathroom, I am so lucky to have my own! I actually have my own little hallway too, connecting the bathroom and my room.
The house in the pictures is my family´s country house. The adorable, sweet kids are Claudia and Kay. They are so fun to play with, always laughing. I love reading books to Claudia because it helps me with my pronunciation and I actually understand everything I am reading. Kay is so cute, and very into cars and anything that moves. Don´t be fooled by the kids coats, its really not that cold here. The locals think its freezing, because they are used to 90 degrees and its only 65.
Finally, here are more pictures from that hike! The mountains are so pretty, and I can´t wait to do more hiking! As soon as I can I will write more about this weekend as well as post more picturse... I went to a futbol game and spent a lot of time with friends! Oh and Happy Dia de San Valentin!

HOLA!

It has been quite a busy week for me, and I feel like there are so many updates. First of all, I will put pictures up as soon as I can, I have SO many new ones! These pics are from my friend Anna, because I can´t find an internet cafe that has a slot for my memory card, and my computer is still broken! Oh and sorry if my writing does not flow very well, as I get better at Spanish, it´s harder to focus on my English writing!


I had a blast this weekend, it was the first weekend I really tried to (not in a mean way) get away from my American friends. On Thursday night I went over to my friend Vicky´s apartment. I met ten of her friends, and they had made tapas, and we ordered pizzas. Half of the girls are English majors, so we talked in sort of a mixture of English and Spanish, but I tried to use my Spanish whenever possible. The pizza was weird, it had cream cheese, mushrooms, and crushed tomatoes on it... I actually liked it. I am starting to really like a lot of foods I used to hate, here I am all about trying new things! I now like mushrooms, tomatoes, salmon, a LOT of other seafood, and still hate mayonaise. But anyways, we all sat around, talked, and laughed a lot. At 2 in the morning or so, we all hopped in a taxi and headed to the city to go dancing! I am learning a lot about the Spanish culture, and one thing is for sure, they sleep a lot less than we do, at least the people I have met. We danced until 4 or so; I liked going out with them because we went to all the local places verses the touristy places I have gone with my American friends. It was a really fun night, and I am so happy I have found a good group of Spanish friends!

Friday I slept in and took it easy, because Saturday I climbed a mountain!! I got up at 6:30 AM and headed to meet the group so we could head inland towards the mountains. The hike was organized through the University, and a lot of different people from different countries went. It was considered an easy climb, but it was still a bit difficult. It took us about 5 hours to go up and down, and we stopped to eat lunch at the top. The view was breathtaking, and we could see Alicante city from the top, although it was about a centimeter wide from our view. The whole way up it was freezing, and there was even snow at the top... probably was not the best thing since i was starting to feel sick.


I took a long siesta (nap) when I got home, figuring that I would feel better by the time I woke up. I woke up two hours later with a fever, plus I was windburnt. But, I decided that Alicante is one awesome place to be sick in, because I drank 2 glasses of Valencia Orange juice and sat on our sun porch for the rest of the afternoon, and already felt better.

The next morning I was feeling fine so I decided to once again join my extended family for lunch at one of their country houses. This week we ate at mi abuelas (my grandmas) house, and there were about 20 people there. We walked down the road to mi tios (my uncles) house and we talked with the family for awhile. At the end of our conversation, the uncle handed us two rabbits. Two minutes earlier we had just looked at all the bunnies and I had commented on how cute they were, and that they sure had a lot of pets! Once mi madre was holding two rabbits by their legs while they tried to squirm free, I realized that this was our lunch. Sure enough, by the time we arrived at mi abuelas house, the rabbits were a little less squirmy and everyone was running to help. Two cousins ran and got tupperwear, while my brother got some newspaper to lay on the ground. An aunt went to get a knife, while another couple cousins held one rabbit down on the table. This part is pretty graffic, just warning everybody... mi madre started cutting off the pour rabbits´head and my aunt held the feet while she literally pulled off all of it´s fur. I didn´t watch much of what happened after that, but I do know that they were cutting all the meat off and throwing it in one pile, and all the stuff they didnt want was getting thrown in another pile, for the dog to eat. I didn´t know that rabbits made noises, but they were screaming a lot right before they died. It all happened so fast, and none of them thought twice. I explained to them that I had never seen an animal being skinned, and they were shocked, and said, " Just wait until we have a chicken, or better yet a pig." It was quite a different experience. I am really starting to love just hanging out with mi familia. I feel very comfortable with them, and look forward to their ordinary experiences.

HOLA TODAS!

Hi everyone!

Sorry I haven´t written in awhile. My computer charger is broken, so it makes is a bit harder to post stuff on the internet. I have had quite an interesting last few days, many changes to things. I started my actual classes, and I LOVE THEM. Being in all Spanish classes that interest me makes learning the language so easy, because I am constantly hearing it and speaking it without really thinking about anything but what the teacher is talking about. I am certainly most estatic for my gastronomia class. We are going to create our own recipes, cook for each other, cook for our familes, learn about Mediterranean specific food (which I know nothing about because my family americano doesn´t eat seafood), go out for churros, go to the mercado together, learn about wine and how it is made in this region, and lots of other things! Even in Indy, I am constantly cooking and experimenting and have this interest in healthy food, so this is such a great fit for me, and it´s all in Spanish!

The other class I am taking is a literature class. I chose this one because it´s actually smart for me to take it because it transfers back as one of the requirements I need for a Spanish major, opposed to just an elective. Although it´s just a requirement, I think it will be neat because there are only four people in it and the teacher told us we can decide as a group what we would like to read, depending on the kind of literature we like. So the first half of the course we will kind of go through everything briefly, and then the second half we will read things that we like. Oh and I have a ten page paper (in Spanish of course!) due at the end.... but I think I am ready for the challenge.

This past weekend was great. My friend Kim and I took a day trip to a city called Murcia, southwest of Alicante. It´s actually bigger than Alicante, and is known for it´s many monuments. We spent the day walking around, shopping (window shopping para mi), and finally, eating at PIZZA HUT! American food! I laughed at people who had already broken down and ate McDonalds or Burger King, but now I am one of them. After a certain point you just miss the greasy, disgustingly unhealthy food that is served in America! Here are some pics from the trip....

I started my baile (dancing) classes! Every Monday and Wednesday I go to the academia de baile de Alicante and learn to salsa and merenga (sp?). I am utterly awful at it, but hopefully in a few weeks I will be alright. It´s just hard to move my hips as much as these Spaniards! I would put up pictures of my dancing, but that would be embarrassing!

One more thing, I know I have already told a few of you this story, probably the funniest thing that has happened here so far... Mi madre served me brussel sprouts, and I tried a bite and just couldn´t eat them (especially drenched in olive oil) so I apologized and she began to make me something else. Then she asked me something along the lines of "well is there something you miss from home that i could make you?" I began to tell her about how at home my mom will cook calzones for me and some friends. We will literally have get togethers where people come over to have calzones that my Mom cooks. Little did I know, that "calzones" in Spain means "skanky underwear" so I went on to explain how we have "fiestas de calzones" all the time. Mi madre kept asking, "wait, so your Mom comes to these parties" and I replied, " Oh yes, my brothers and Dad usually have calzones with us too!" She apparantly was thinking that all the time I have parties with my parents, family and friends where we all just sit around in skanky underwear. She was shocked and kept giving me really strange looks, but then I looked up calzones in the dictionary and explained what happened, and we laughed for awhile about it.