Mi viaje a Alicante!

Hello Everyone! (meaning my mother that will probably read this around 7-9 times a day)

Hola de España! I figured this would be an easier way to keep up with me and my crazy life now that it is OVERSEAS! So I am studying at the University of Alicante for a semester. Everything, and I mean everything is in spanish. My family, my friends, the street signs, the menus...NO ENGLISH, and this is exactly where I belong! Alicante is a small city on the southern coast of Spain right on the mediterranean sea. Thats right, I am currently living a hop, step, and a jump away from some of the most beautiful beaches in the world with the warm aqua water of the mediterranean. I like to call this place, "my city of sunshine and palm trees" because it is my own little spanish paradise. The city is gorgeous, and the culture is exactly what I wanted. It is a small enough city to get the real feel of living here, rather than living in a large city like Madrid or Barcelona. I am living a movie - esque life here in southern spain and everyday is pure bliss in my land of sea, sand, and sun. 

I AM HOME

Our first week here is all a blur now. It took awhile to get used to living alone and getting used to the streets, but now I have the city down like the back of my hand. The first weekend we climbed the largest mountain in Alicante, called "El Castillo." This gives some of the most beautiful views of the city possible. I was in shock and awe looking at everything because it was so different than the United States. Everything was old and beautiful. The buildings are probably 10 floors high and the streets are narrow. Sometimes you don't even know a street is a street because everyone is walking in the middle of it and there isn't any way to distinguish the road from the sidewalk in many places.

Sunset on the Castillo

Friends from Mizzou!

So basically life here is completely different from back home. Living in a large city, unlike my beloved Columbia, Missouri has given me a completely different stomping ground. Everything is much closer together and there are about a million adorable cafes and "cervezerias" which serve tapas, beer, and coffee. I am enrolled in a few classes here. Including one, "Deportes Del Mar" which means "sports of the sea" this class is basically Spain's version of a gym class. However, instead of running and playing basketball, we are rowing, windsurfing, and kayaking through waterfalls of the Mediterranean. Rough life, right?  

This is a picture of the first day of "rowing" class with my friends Kailey, Morgan, and Abby. Oh, and don't forget our instructor Juan Carlos who basically just barks orders in spanish at us while we have no idea what he is saying so we just laugh. But hey, he loves us. He even asked us to be friends on Facebook ..so you know we are getting an A now. 

Dont worry though, I have some serious classes too where I actually have to LEARN spanish with students from all over the world. This is the first day of class with some friends from the United States, France, Russia, and Poland.