Beaches, Castles and Dancing

I can't believe I've only been here a week. I feel like I've spent a lifetime in this country. Getting on board the plane last Thursday morning amidst a cloud of crazy feels like another world.

Right now I'm sitting on top of the rooftop terrace, surrounded by Spanish tile, hanging laundry and beautiful green plants. Its nice and cool up here -- everywhere else in the house is hotter than anything. I've got to say, I'm already tired of being sweaty all the time!

The last few days have been pretty fun, and a little surreal. As I wrote before, I'm living with my family, which is kind of a trip. I have two 'sisters' that I've met, one who is named Mari, and she is totally hilarious. We're friends and laugh a lot, although I can't understand half of what she's saying. The older one has two sons, who are named Mario and ...I forget the other one's name, but they are completely adorable. (And speak Spanish better than I do!)

On Thursday, we had our tour of the campus and met some of the professors and stuff. The campus really reminds me of a SoCal campus, just because of all the palm trees and stuff. We also learned how to use the bus system ... and by I say learned, I mean, they said, alright, get to this place by this time, go! And we had to just, figure it out. There's another student who lives right by me, his name is Andrew, and we pretty much got lost for an hour. At least we discovered the area around our houses, right? Hahah.Ayelune, a student at the University and one of our helpers. She's cool.

After that, we all decided to go the beach -- one of the Spanish Helpers (a current student at Alicante who speaks some English and hangs out with us) showed us how to get the Playa de San Juan, which is this beautifulll beach only a short train ride away. Haha, however, Andrew and I once more got lost and had to sprint to catch the train with everyone because we almost missed it because we live so far away and couldn't figure out the buses! Once we got there tho, it was amazing. The water was soo warm, we swam so far out! A group of people stayed really late playing volleyball, but I didn't want to miss dinner with my family, so me and a group went back a little earlier. (Food, by the way, is amazing, but I'll post more about that another time.) That night I fell asleep at 9:00! I was just going to rest for a bit, but nope, I didn't wake up until the next morning. I am so tired constantly. I think its because my brain is always working to figure out what the heck is going on.La Playa de San Juan

On Friday, we had an 'end-of-orientation' field trip to Altea and Gualdapest, which is a medieval town near Alicante. Hello, gorgeous. First, we went to Gualdapest, which is this tiny little town in the mountains. There was a castle there that we looked at and wandered around...although I think it was more of a big house than a castle. Mom, I kept thinking of you and what you would say about this stuff, because I was like, mrehhh okay, this is cool, but, I don't care. Hahah. We walked around and like, looked at their furniture and stuff. I mean, I guess it was cool, I just didn't really know what I was looking at. I was like, oh hey, a really old chair, awesome. Hahaha. The view was amazing, though.

The streets of Gualdespest.

We climbed up those stairs....

Our view from the top. Yes, the water really was that blue!


Obligatory photo of myself :))

After that, we went to Altea, which is a beach town. It was a rocky beach, so it wasn't as nice to swim in as San Juan, but it was still pretty! We swam out pretty far, and one of the girls got a snorkeling mask and saw the bottom! There were a ton of fish and she even saw a jellyfish! One of the other girls stepped on a sea-urchin, too. (But she's okay.) We got out of the water after that!

Spanish student helpers and us hanging out on the beach.

This view is SO pretty. The coastline of Altea.

We climbed up a huge mountain and a ton of stairs to reach the top of the city, the old city, which is really historical and pretty. We got a view of the whole beach and coastline, which was really awesome. But I was so tired by the end of it! So many stairs.

We climbed all of these PLUS a hundred thousand more.

The view from the top was great! Lauren and I being silly :)

The whole group! Or part of it, anyway. We made it to the top!

After, we came back home to nap and shower and eat dinner. Luckily, I also discovered that there's a couple more people who live right by me, which is excellent. We found a way to walk so we don't have to take the bus, which can get expensive. Plus, walking is good for you, right? It's not that far.

Last night, I met up with some friends and walked to the wharf area right by the beach, which has music and shops and places to eat and stuff, so we got some lemonade ice drinks and found a table and people-watched. Even though it was like 11, everyone was just starting to come out! It was fun. Then, we met up with some other Spanish students and explored the Barrio, which is the bar area in Alicante. That was a new experience for me!

It was really fun, though. I felt like a celebrity because I'm from California -- everyone thinks that's so cool. We kept getting pulled into places -- there are sooo many different pubs with different personalities, I can't wait until we find ~our spot~, you know?

Our whole group, exploring the Barrio!

Me and Elena, she's a Spanish student at the University of Alicante :)

During the middle of writing this (I was on the terrace outside), it started thundering and raining on me. I love it, it smells so fresh and clean. Especially because it is always so hot, the rain is just a blessing. We ran to open the covers so that the rain can water the plants and grow. I love the rain. Especially after all the heat, it makes everything feel fresh and new again.

Anyways, I have more to post because it takes me forever to write these, but I'll do that tomorrow. Adios, amigos!

Te amo,

Kandace