Melissa's Travels

This Friday afternoon finds me in an internet cafe very close to my house. Although I´m not very excited about spending my hard earned money on emails, myspace, etc. it is very convenient to have another option so close to home for keeping in contact with everyone. Especially since there are only 2 computers with internet at my school and they´re either occupied or there is a group of students awaiting their turn. Still haven´t figured out what I´ll do once my memory card in my camera fills up...but as of now, I haven´t taken many photos so I don´t need to worry.

I feel like this week has been fairly low key, but nonetheless ¨interesting.¨ Last Friday I went out for drinks and dancing until 6:30 am with my friends from Switzerland, Germany and Korea. The moment I left my house I knew my heels were a bad idea, but somehow I managed to stay out for 7 more hours wearing them...However, I had to spend the entire day on Saturday at home because my feet felt like they were broken! It´s unbelievable how late people stay out here! We met up around 11:30, but it´s very normal to meet up closer to 2am! My friends asked me if I usually go out at that time in the states and I had to explain to them that it´s not even an option!). Around 4am most of the bars close, but for the next 2 hours or so you have the option of heading to the Port for the after hours clubs (where they continue to serve alcohol). Tonight is my friend Mark´s final day in Alicante so I think we´ll head out for more dancing this evening, but hopefully not so late! I don´t like spending all of Saturday sleeping and don´t function well on less than 7 hours of sleep.

On Sunday I went for a walk around the city because it was very warm and sunny outdoors. I´d hoped to go shopping but my family had warned me that everything is closed around here on Sundays. To my surprise, they were right! So instead of shopping I explored a little more of Alicante and meandered down to the beach, which was packed! Rather than join the swarms of people on the beach I opted to journal on a bench along the promenade. After 15 minutes or so a guy came by and asked (in Spanish) if the seat next to me was free. I replied that yes it was and continued to write in my journal, all the while silently praying that he would NOT talk to me! God was obviously not on my side though because after a few moments he initiated a conversation with me. I replied I didn´t speak much Spanish and then proceeded For someone proceeded to take the worst action possible for someone who wasn´t interested in a conversation, because I continued to talk to him in Spanish! And even worse, after talking for 10 minutes and learning eachothers names, I even gave him my phone number! I walked away from the situation shaking my head at myself...but was proud of my ability to communicate with a local in Spanish! For the rest of the night I contemplated what I´d do when he called the next day (he wanted to get coffee and talk more on Mon. afternoon), but by the time Monday rolled around I already had plans with my friends. Hopefully there will be more (and cuter!) Spanish guys who invite me to coffee in the next ten weeks.

Monday found me joining my friends at the beach after class. However, it wasn´t too warm so we soon headed to a cafe for coffee. Nearly everyday I´ve been getting coffee at a local cafe, I keep thinking that it is far cheaper than Seattle, but with the exchange rate it´s probably equal to Starbucks. However, I prefer the coffee here and am not hurting the environment with an unnecessary paper cup. Monday night we met for dinner and then went to a local bar, Havana, for a complimentary salsa lesson! Very few locals wanted to dance so after the lesson it was mostly my friend Jasmin and I taking advantage of the empty dance floor and making up our own salsa-ish dances. We´d taken our friend Mark out dancing that night, it was his first time ever trying salsa dancing! It was quite the sight, I´ll be curious to see how he does when we go out dancing tonight...

Tuesday I went to a cultural class offered at our school all about Picasso, which got me really excited for going to Madrid in 2 weeks and visiting the museums! Some days I worry I´ll miss being so close to the beach when I go to Madrid, but I´m trying to recall how much I loved Madrid. Hopefully whenever I long for the beach, laying by the fountain in Retiro Park will suffice. That night I went out with my two roommates from my host family, but only lasted for an hour. I prefer to hang out with my friends who speak in Spanish, but appreciate my roommate´s hospitality!

Wednesday was by far the busiest day of this week. I had two classes in the morning, then a three hour break which we used for laying on the beach. We were supposed to meet some of our schoolmates there, but when we arrived at the beach we couldn´t find them anywhere! I was about to comment on a group of girls who were sunbathing without there tops when suddenly we realized, these were our friends!!! They said they´ve adopted this local custom, but my friend Jasmin and I are doubtful that this is truly practiced by native Spaniards...Anyways, for the next couple hours I enjoyed a book I´m reading called ¨Diarios Cruzados.¨I think the name signifies that it is the intertwined diaries of 2 adolescents and tells the story of how their path´s cross. Initally I was looking up every word I didn´t understand, but I´ve decided to just read it straight through and try to make sense of the words with the aid of the context. So far it´s going pretty well! Wednesday afternoon we had another class to adjust for the fact that our professor was gone today. During class we discussed our opinions on private school and the biggest problems facing children today in school. I found myself desperately wanting to speak in English because it is so very difficult to articulate my thoughts in Spanish! Following class we joined our professors to go to the movies. We saw a German film called Al Otro Lado that had been translated into Spanish. With the help of an Imdb.com synopsis that I´d read beforehand (we even constructed a character map to bring to the theater with us!), I actually understood the incredibly complicated storyline! When I get back to the states, I´ll have to watch it in English and laugh at all the details I missed out on! My friend Jasmin and I have decided that we´ll start borrowing DVDs from our school to watch at her house next week. Any activity that combines leisure and studying is great for me because I tend to have a hard time striking up a balance between the two.

Thursday was by far my worst day in Alicante because I spent the entire day in bed. I was so incredibly sick!! It was probably the closest I´ve come to having food poisoning and I´m convinced it was the runny eggs or raw looking bacon my host mom served, but no one else in the family got sick so I may have picked up some germs somewhere else. Yesterday was the first day since I arrive in Alicante that I wished to be home. It´s awful to be in a foreign place and feeling sick. However, although I don´t wish to be that sick ever again, I do think it was an overall good experience because it confirmed my independence. If I can take care of myself when I am sick, I am 100% certain I can do anything! Thankfully I awoke feeling much better today. In class I had to give a presentation (completely in Spanish) about my experience studying languages. It was fun to recount my experience learning German in high school, why I decided to study Spanish and how the two experiences have compared (for instance, I don´t think I ever fully understood verb conjugation in German class so Spanish has been incredibly challenging in this area!!). I realized during my presentation that it´s one thing to stumble through Spanish with my friends, but to speak in front of a group is very difficult, even with notes!! My professor had to provide me with a few critques on my verb usage when relaying past events, but overall she enjoyed my presentation! She especially enjoyed a quote I provided that one of my friends (who was studying linguistics) had told me when we traveled together 3 years ago:: To speak in only one language is to see in only one color (see the title of my blog for the Spanish version).

In less than an hour I´m convening with my friends on the beach so I need to head home to grab my towel, suit and of course, put on my sunscreen. My friend Jasmin and I are contemplating heading to Ibiza for Saturday and Sunday so I may have some very exciting stories to tell the next time I write. For now, ¡voy a la playa!