El Castillo

The first thing I saw in photos when I found out I was going to be living in Alicante was the castle. "Oh cool," I thought, "that will be fun to go see one day." Well turns out I see it everyday. The castle over looks the city on a huge mountain. It is a sacred place for the people of Alicante even though it is also a huge spot for tourists to go. 

One can either spend the good part of an hour (or more, I wouldn't know) to climb up the stairs to the castle, causally passing by the moat and old castle doors or one can take the elevator that has been strategically placed in the center of the mountain. Castillo Santa Barbara over looks the entire city of Alicante. 

The city, the mountains, and the Mediterranean Sea.

 

There are cool archways, passages, and walkways that were originally built by the Moors, but the palace has been extended since it was forst built in the 10th century. The castle boasts cannons, a palace, dungeons, a moat, the ruins of a small church and a look out tower over the Mediterranean.

The bull ring in Alicante. 

My host mother, Dani (the Faroese exchange student also living with us), and me!

 The streets of Alicante, and a large blue cupola.

Embarrassing Things that Happen to Me at School

I know it has been a while since I posted, but I have been SO busy! But here's a quick story about my school, which seems to be where all the interesting things occur. Probably because it is a place that doesn't have toilet paper, soap, lights that work all the time, or teachers that come, or students that show up for that matter. But don't get me wrong, it is a good school, the teachers are for the most part interesting, from what I understand.
About a week ago we had a test in my history class. I had a particularly tough time with the test as you can imagine, but I powered through it and did my best, even though I have the vocabulary of a small child (as my art history teacher has told me word for word - well duh, I'm just learning, it's like I AM a small child, lady, come on!). Anyways, when we got our tests back everyone had to read their grade aloud so the teacher could mark it down in her book, which fyi she had already done. I think this was a way to make those who did not do well embarrassed. It works.
As the class read their grades (scale of 0-10, and 5 is passing) some giggled, others scoffed, but I sat their in utter fear. There was not even a number written on my test, all it said was "Bien," -- what was I going to say? By the time the teacher read my name I had calmed myself down and was able to say that I did not have a number, she looked puzzled, but then remembered, oh yeah this girl is clueless, and asked what it said at the top of my paper, "bien," I said. The class laughed at me, oh that exchange student, how hilarious, she doesn't even get a grade. To make it worse, my teacher laughed too.

Another incident that occurred later that week was in my Castellano class (equivalent to an english class), when the teacher decided to ask me what the word "eslogan" meant.
"Well, its any phrase that represents a business or group, so that you remember their product," I said (in spanish) and was very proud because the class looked shocked and my teacher looked pleased.
"Please give an example..." my teacher responded.
"Well, shit," I thought,  "I don't know any spanish slogans!"...."Well, for example, the slogan for Mercadona (spanish super market) es 'Mercadona, mercadona'" I sang in the voice of the loud speaker voice that plays the super markets trademark song.
The class erupted in laughter. I giggled too, it was funny, yes, but they didn't stop. They are still singing the Mercadona song when they see me.

Perks of Being an Exchange Student

Today, when I arrived at school no one was in my class. I sat at a desk for a while thinking maybe someone will tell me what is going on. No. I sat in the classroom for the first period, not knowing what to do. The second period, my math teacher came in, surprised to see me, why was I not on the economy field trip?? Well, I do not take economy. Then why are you at school?? I guess my class failed to inform me that due to the 26 students on field trip we would only be having one class today, at 11:05....

I was alone with one teacher after the next, until finally at 11:05 there were 8 people in history --very small compared to the normal 32.

Parque de Las Palmeras

Tomorrow marks the fourth week I have been living in Alicante, Spain.

They say when doing an exchange program that the first month is the hardest, because everything is an adjustment: the food, the culture, the timing of meals, the education, your family, the city, and of course the language! If the first month is the hardest, I am in for the year of my life. Yes, I have had some struggles-- the first day of school a girl put a mouse in my desk, I have been yelled at by teachers countless times, I can't really join conversations, and I miss my Mommy-- but I have already learned so much about the spanish culture and language that I can't wait to dive into the next seven months and push myself to talk with people even though I have been struggling.

My host sister, Maria and my host mom, Lyana are so great! They have been so supportive and welcoming, they have definitely made my transition easier, not to mention Lyana's cooking is amazing. She has taught me to make so many cool things, from apreas (in previous post) to quick and easy lemon pie!

Last weekend on Sunday we took a 15 minutes bus ride to a park in another area of Alicante. The park is called: Parque de Las Palmeras, all you have to do is take the Number 1 bus all the way to the end, and you will find yourself in paradise. We spent about two hours walking through the dirt paths of the botanical gardens. There are so many palm trees and beautiful waterfalls everywhere! Unfortunately, my pictures are not in the right format but here is a small sample.

On a lot of the smaller palms there were dates! We couldn't eat them but they were the brightest yellow and so much smaller than I thought they were, they gave the park a somewhat pumpkin pie like smell. I was surprised when the smell lingered beneath my nose all afternoon, until I realized my hands were covered in the caramelly-sap of the fruit tree.

Authentic Arepas

Last Sunday, my host mom woke me up at 10am. I was not very happy, that is until she told me she was going to teach me how to make arepas. Ever since a trip to Venezuela when I was 15, my mother and I have been obsessed with the cornmeal cakes. Lucky for me my host mom is originally from Venezuela and has grown up making arepas. She could do it in her sleep, with her hands tied behind her back, while singing the nation anthem of Switzerland.

Now, with arepa making there is no exact science, I do not know how many this recipe will make because it depends on what size bowl you use to start with. We started with one cereal bowl full of the cornmeal.


1. Fill cereal sized bowl with P.A.N. pre-cooked white maize cornmeal
--dump into larger mixing bowl
2. Fill same cereal bowl with water
--dump into mixing bowl with cornmeal
Fill cereal bowl half-way with water
--dump into mixing bowl
3. Add salt, more than a pinch but less than a teaspoon
4. Add milk if you desire, however only add about a tablespoon or less
5. Mix aggressively WITH YOUR HANDS, it is very important not to use a spoon, you need to feel the texture as you mix. Mix until smooth and you can no longer feel the grains, the batter should stick to your hands.
6. Add more milk if needed
7. Heat a pan on the stove until hot
8. Add about a half inch of frying oil to the pan
9. Coat your own hands in oil and mold the batter into balls (any size you like, but i would say slightly larger than a tablespoon size) once in balls, flatten between the palms of your hands (shown in picture above).
10. Cook until gold brown on one side, flip to other side, cook on high for about 4 minutes and then set the burner to low for the remaining cook time of the second side.

                                                                               To eat, cut the arepa with a knife through the center as if it were a bagel. Smoother the inside with butter, add jam, ham, cheese, whatever you want! Enjoy! 

Alicante, el mejor ciudad en España

Each day I am in Alicante, I love it more and more. My host family could not be more perfect and I have started to get into the swing of things school wise. It is all falling into place. Almost everyday I see something new I want to do or try or somehwere I want to eat or visit, or shop at! Because we live in the center of the city, and everything we need is close, we don´t have a car. Walking everywhere has been and will continue to be a gift. I have seen and heard so much more by walking than I would have in a car.
Today there is a huelga, I have yet to get a firm deffinition of the word, but basically it is a rally at the city center. Apparently it is a big deal because out of 25 kids in my class at school, only 3 showed up (1 of them was me). Hm. So I spent about two hours in school and then went back home. When I got home it was 10:30, I decided to go for a run. It was 10:30 am and the only people on the beach were over the age of 75. People were just beginning to start their days, but the city is quiet until about 6. At 6 shops open back up after siesta and tapas places and bars line the streets with chairs and tables. You will find the most people on the street in Alicante at about 8:30 pm. It is so different than Portland, where at 9 pm you´re either in your house watching a movie or asleep already!
Unfortunately I do not have much to say in this blog post, my computer broke so I have been un able to upload photos for some really interesting posts. More to come! Hasta luego!

What I have learned, or rather, have yet to learn in school

I am taking seven classes in Spain. I understand two of them. English, which I am only required to go to twice out of the four times a week and math, because well, numbers are numbers. Today in philosophy the class was learning something about Plato. I say the class and not me because I wasn't learning anything. I only understood one out of every seven words. Our teacher was telling us something about Physis -- I burst out laughing. Everyone looked at me. With a spanish accent the word "physis" is pronounced "feces."

It is safe to say since I was younger I have been a somewhat fan of poop humor. A little immature probably, but we all have our faults. 

The teacher did not see what was funny, nor did the class. I assume my face would have turned bright red, but it probably was already the shade of a sun ripened tomato considering it was 85 degrees, sunny, and our school has no air conditioning. The teacher said something to me in rapid spanish; I nodded, concluding that she was probably chastising me, she continued on with the her lesson about "feces."