First Impressions- Alicante

On the way to Alicante we stopped in Toledo. It was by far my favorite city. It is the ancient capital of Spain. It´s one of the oldest cities we´ve been in and one of the most beautiful. Since it was Sunday, mass was going on so we couldn´t actually tour any of the beautiful cathedrals, but we had a couple of hours of free time to eat lunch, walk around, and take pictures. I really enjoyed it.

About four or five hours later we finally pulled into Alicante. We woke up, looked around, and I was scared out of my mind. "Oh my gosh, we´re in LA." Was my first thought. The city seemed to consist of only apartment buildings, palm trees, and graffiti everywhere. I didn´t share my thoughts with anyone at the time, but on later talking with my friends, everyone got about the same reaction. Now, we have all grown to love Alicante.

It´s a beautiful city, it really is. What makes it beautiful is it´s personality. During the day, it is tranquil. No one rushes anywhere, life moves at a slower pace. The people of Alicante are lovely people. They are always willing to talk to you and to help you with your Spanish. At night the city wakes up and the streets are once again filled with people at about 2:00 in the morning until 6:00. As our teacher explained it to us, the Spanish drink to socialize, to dance, to live, to enjoy each other´s company. They do not understand why the Americans are content to just sit around and get drunk. They drink to have fun. And they do have fun. And it is fun even when you do not drink with them. The Spanish people know how to dance, the men too. They love meeting new people. They love to live. Alicante is famous for it´s nightlife.

The University is on the outskirts of the city. It´s about a twenty minute bus ride from my apartment. It´s a relatively small campus but it´s beautiful. it´s dotted with trees, flowers, some sculptures, and small buildings. I am taking three classes. Every morning I have an hour and forty five minutes of Intermediate Spanish I. There are seven kids in the class which makes the learning even more intensive. Everything goes by very fast, and it is all taught in Spanish. My teacher´s name is Laura and I don´t think she speaks very much English. We were trying to teach her how to crow like a rooster in English and all she could muster was "Coke-a-doodly-dly" She´s awesome. Fifteen minutes later I have an hour and a half of Spanish conversation. There are four people in that class which gives us more of a chance to talk. In there we learn phrases that are commonly used, the polite way to say things, the wrong way to say things, and it gives us different situations to speak in, like finding clothes at a store, or introducing people to a friend. It´s very helpful. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons I have Spanish Literature in English Translation. Professor Garrison from Wright University teaches the class. He has translated about three different spanish poets into English, and is a great teacher. Rebecca and I are the only ones in the class, plus his wife who is sitting in on the class. We like it a lot and he seems like one of the father figures we can have on this trip. We are reading a few spanish short stories, and we´re learning some poems that he has kept in Spanish to help us with the language. Some days we get to translate the poems ourselves and then we compare our translations. It´s fun.

Most afternoons are spent at the beach. The beach is about a ten minute walk (almost a mile) from our apartment. This isn´t unusual though, because the mediterranean lifestyle includes walking everywhere. So most days after school we walk down to Playa de Postiguet (the beach) and swim, take naps, and sometimes take our homework with us. It´s very relaxing. Postiguet is one of the more crowded beaches and what takes some getting used to is that most European women go topless to the beach. I don´t feel like I´m offending anyone keeping mine on, however.

Okay, I´m running out of time at the Internet Café now. So I will try to write more about Alicante soon. In the meantime... here´s more pictures:
http://unlv.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024862&l=7f657&id=23709871