La Primera Semana






The view from the top
of an old village.
Alicante

 


 A yummy Chocolate Napalitano found
at Pastelerias.





Below the Castle of Santa Barbara on the Mediterranean
Sea. (15 min. from my apartment)

 So I decided to take a break from my busy life to update my blog. Actually my life really is not that busy. It consists of sleeping, school, studying and on occasion, going to la playa (beach). In the past week and a half there have been a lot of ups and downs and a lot of random memories created. All of which I wish I could remember, but to be honest, my memory kind of stinks. So I will do my best :)

  

I will start with school. I am in Track IV, which is the highest they offer. However, my skills are not quite up to par. The professor is very nice, but she teaches all in Spanish. Because my vocabulary is not all there I only catch about 80% of what she says… well we will make that 70% because the Spanish lisp throws everything off. Last Thursday, I basically had a meltdown and wanted to cry during class because, well, because it was like a foreign language!! Everything she said was right way over my head. It seems to be getting better, but I guess only time will tell. I really need to work on my conjugations and speaking. Luckily, my speaking professor is awesome. She is very patient and very helpful. When we have class with her on Mondays and Wednesdays it is such a blessing because I am not as afraid to make a mistake. In class yesterday we had to say one of our fears, and as weird as it may seem, I am afraid to talk in Spanish. I am afraid I am going to make so many mistakes! I also am in a history class, Spain up until the 20^th century. I know right! Talk about a lot of history. It is a little daunting because my textbook is in Spanish. YIKESABEE! Anyways, hopefully I will survive school. After all it is what I came here for!

 

 Random thought: I was thinking yesterday how the tables have turned. Last year, I was an RA in Gabaldon dealing with many international students, and here I am now, the International Student. Crazy





The culture here in Spain is so different from anything I am used to. When I read in the orientation book, "Alicante has a great nightlife", I had no idea what that really meant. Last Thursday we kept getting flyers for parties at clubs that said, "Free entrance until 3:30 am". WHAT!? Now, in Flagstaff, when I go out I am in bed by 3:30. Here they stay out until 6 or 7 in the morning! I do not know how they do it! It must be the ciestas! Also, we took a walking tour of Alicante and on the boardwalk the government bought wooden chairs to scatter everywhere to promote the idea that Spain is a social area. It seems to be true. Jamie speaks much better Spanish than I and she will end up in conversations with Spaniards that go on forever because they just love to talk! The layout of the city is even different than what I am used to. Every shop and store is on the first level here and all above them are apartment buildings. No one really socializes in their house either, they all go out somewhere. There are a few streets that cars are not allowed on and the restaurants along there put out tables and they offer services outside. Everything here is in walking distance, and the people here love to walk! Also, they have excellent mass transportation systems here. I wish the states did also! They have a train, a tram and a great bus system. All of which I have utilized.



Sooooo I actually wrote all this a week ago… but I was trying to figure out a couple things about my blog so I never actually posted it. Since then, I have moved into track 3, I determined I was not quite up to par to be part of level 4 and I hated going into class feeling like a complete idiot. I am very sorry for the delay! But here it is now, and I have two more spectacular things to write about. So stayed tuned…

P.S. I have decided blogger needs to be more picture friendly. Like NOW. K thanks!