First few days in Alicante

Link to the photobucket page:

http://s577.photobucket.com/albums/ss211/memoagomez/CMU%20in%20Spain/?albumview=grid

Well let's see, Wednesday in Alicante, did quite a few things, still need to upload a handful more photos, and hopefully I got more tan from the Alicante sun.

Estudio Sampere Alicante

Monday: My first real day here in Alicante, Sunday I was getting used to the environment, getting to know everyone, and reading the map so I don't look like a tourist referring to it all the time. So Monday was pretty much and Severin (Swiss housemate who looks a lot like my cousin) finding Sampere, walking around Alicante during our lunch break and eventually we ended up at the port where there is a shopping mall on top of the dock.

Mall on the dock

After class that day Nicole showed us this little mountain not too far away from the house where we could get an amazing view of Alicante, right next to a little skate park with little activities for April to enjoy. And oh man was it amazing! I could see just about everything from there, from the little districts of Alicante to the ports in the distance. I chatted with Nicole and Severin a bit to get an idea of who they were, if they were crazy, if they were comedians, artists, philosophers or any of the beautiful underrated professions. Turns out they were high school students, and Nicole is also into photography :D!

Video of the view of Alicante (epic)

After this we walked back to the house where we relaxed the rest of the day, I uploaded a chunk of photos to photobucket, and I slept and had very strange dreams... I think it was the change in climate that did that. Alicante is warmer and more humid than Madrid so I still have to get used to it.

Diego and April

Tuesday: Here is where I felt more like a local and less like a tourist, I would talk to people on the street with no problem whatsoever and all my other friends who are learning Spanish would see me as the interpreter. At times I confuse them (I do speak Mexican Spanish, and I am a little strange no?) but at the same time I help them get around and talk to the non-English speaking tour guides.

Street in Alicante

Today we went to the beach, and here indecent exposure isn't a class 2 felony... on the beach anyways. Every now and then there'll be a kid who's streaking across the beach while his mother is trying to catch him, or someone sunbathing topless, but I told Severin how you can't do that in the US and he gave me this strange look that said "No way!". Apparently nudity is a 100 Swiss Frank fine, it somehow makes the USA seem somewhat conservative... ah well.

Nicole with the view of Alicante in the background

After going back home after the beach we had dinner made by Diego (who used to work in a restaurant) and then we got to know the rest of our housemates. There was Christian from Italy, Matias from Austria, Severin from Switzerland, and Natalia (also came by late) from Poland. I got to know each one over dinner a lot better, and surprisingly I'm around the same age as the people here in Alicante... in Madrid they were a good 3+ years older than me, here there's a difference of no more of a year (older and younger) between me and the rest of the group.

Edman, err I mean Severin

Apparently, Estudio Sampere isn't the only study abroad program using Alicante as a place to study, in fact the only Sampere students were me and Severin. I went out with the house to meet up with more people from other programs all from different countries (Denmark, France, Germany), it was like a model UN! We went out to different pubs, clubs, to hang out, get to know each other, and dance a bit. After the night was through (I can't get poetic today for some reason :P) we all sat outside of a club, smiles on our faces, the warm night being no different than inside the club, we started to head home and I slept like a baby last night.

Silhouette shot of a statue in the mountain park of Alicante

Well there's not much more to say, I still need to explore, shoot more photos, and have more fun! I'll update as soon as I can and upload photos as soon as I can. :D

-Guillermo :D

I was thinking to myself out there — well, you wouldn't think you're anybody else, would you? Cut out the middleman I always say!
-Lee Evans