Can't a girl get some decent champú or acondicionador around this place?!

Soooooooo people here don't use conditioner. Well, I mean, they DO... sort of. Long story short, I went shopping today for shampoo (champú), conditioner, lotion, all that good stuff, but lo and behold, when I got to the conditioner part (of the aisle), there was none! I saw two different types of conditioner (labeled as acondicionador): Treseme has a nice looking brand, but it was not nicely priced at 5.45 euro a bottle. That would translate to a little over 7$. Also, there was a sasquatch sized bottle for about 4 something euros, but again, I didn't want that giganto thing to take up all my shower room and also it was kind of sketchy looking. No scent! Finally Rachael and I asked a lady about this masquilla thing that we found: it works the same way, just you leave it on for longer. And would you look at that! Only 1,70 euros for a tub!! They even had different kinds for different hair types :) My rizado (curly) hair couldn't be happier...

Ser un arma de doble filo

This is a phrase signifying to be a double edged sword, or that something is tricky business. I have discovered that there are many words that 'son un arma de doble filo'...

1) paja: noun, meaning blow-job. we learned this word from out teacher actually. I know what you are thinking "Why is your teacher letting you in on words like this???" But actually, it is very helpful. The question was raised how you say 'straw' (like the thing you drink from) in class the other day. Our teacher told us that the word for straw is 'pajita', literally meaning 'little blow-job'. However, when you say this in context, for instance in a restaurant or cafe, it is taken to mean straw. We had good fun with this one.

2) polla: noun, meaning dick. This one was learned from a French guy we met in a club, and then went to KFC with at 2 in the AM. Yes, Spaniards go hard, so KFC being open at 2AM is actually less strange than there actually being a KFC here haha But I digress... we were talking about the chicken, the word for which is 'pollo'. Notice the difference in the endings, because its very important. Being stupid Americans, we were drunk and mistakenly said 'nos gustan la polla muchisimo!'. Ugh. Ya, it happened... in the middle of KFC at 2AM. Fortunately, the rest of the customers were fellow club-going, Americanos borrachados (drunk Americans). The guys behind the counter had crossed eyes and were pissed at us for making so much noise, so I think they tried to ignore us as much as possible; hopefully they didn't hear. Otherwise, it might have increased their opinions of American chicas as sluts lol But fortunately, the Frenchman only laughed a little bit, and corrected us. Thank God...

3) Echar un polvo: verb, literally meaning to throw dust, it translates somehow to pour milk, or have a screw. I'm not sure how it works, but it does. And if you hear someone saying it, don't respond positively. Like in the movie Mean Girls when Jason asks Cady if she would like her muffin buttered, or if she wants them to assign someone to 'butter her muffin'. No. Ew. Gross. Dirty. It basically means 'Let's Fuck' in much nicer terms.

4) Un coño: noun, female genitalia. Not to be confused with ¡coño!, which means "stupid!" as in "I'm so stupid! I forgot my keys at home!" or "Stupid! Why did you do that?" No no no (as our teacher would say), un coño is the less beautiful part of the female anatomy. Again, I'm not sure how the two are related, and frankly, I'm not sure I want to know.

That completes my list of dirty/double edged words for now. When I learn more (as I'm sure I will, since we don't learn them in school) I'll make sure to let you know ;)

Monks

Today on the way home I saw out of the bus window three monks... they were dressed in the stereotypical brown sackcloth robes with white ropes around their waists. I had no idea where they were from or if there is a particular monastery or hermitage nearby where I saw them. I did a little bit of research and one of each but they are both slightly too far away for it to make sense. When I get the chance to explore more the other parts of the city I will definitely look for it. I have never seen a legit fully robed monk before, with the shaved head and all. It was just super interesting... we shall see....

Canciones y Programas

So yesterday I was unwinding after a long and very eventful Friday night, watchin' some boob tube in the ole Spanish casa, when I happened upon the movie Legally Blonde. Watch that in Spanish sometime, its hilarious! The movie is shot in English, and the language is changed, so there are just voice overs of all the characters but you can watch their mouths moving in English and out of sync with the Spanish words. It really is a trip... then today the madre and I watched The Devil Wears Prada, which wasn't so much funny as just intriguing, like it was a soap opera or something. This morning when I got up, I watched Sex and the City, which in Spain is referred to as Sexo en Nueva York. I love that show, and watching it in Spanish was great :) Besides the TV and movies, which many of are American made, the music that is played in stores and at clubs is mostly American too. Maybe I am just going to the wrong places haha but for the most part, I hear English songs everywhere! its funny to go to the clubs and see everyone there dancing to songs that we have been dancing to for months.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

Okay, so I'm not sure whether or not the people I am referring to are rich, and I'm almost positive that none of them are exactly famous... but I have noticed that many people  here drive what would be considered a 'nice' car  in the US. I am talking about BMW's, Ferrari's, and Audi's. They aren't exactly common, but much more visible here among common people than in the US. Its weird to see so many of them roaming around when normally they are reserved for people with a lot of money. Someone told me its probably because they are all foreign made, which I guess hadn't occurred to me before.

Also, REBAJAS is a word that any girl can appreciate (and any guy too, for that matter lol). It means sale, and this time is year is the time for rebajas. Literally, REBAJAS REBAJAS REBAJAS are plastered all over all the sop windows from the upscale Macy's twin El Corte Ingles, to the small shops and boutiques on the side streets. Everything is on sale from January until around March, generally because it's after Christmas. But seriously, over the knee boots, real leather, for only 19,99 euro. Equivalent to about 25 or 30$, I was almost drooling on the boots. Its nuts, but it just means more exploring for me :)

Ole blue eyes

So one interesting (though not really surprising thing) about Spain is that there are very few people here with light colored eyes. Most of the native born Spaniards have brown eyes of one shade or another. De hecho (in fact), one of the native speakers who was helping our group during orientation commented on my eyes and told me that it is very very rare to see someone who is actually from Spain with blue or green eyes. I hadn't really thought about it, but after she brought it up, I noticed that a lot of people look at my eyes before they notice anything else about me. And I think that is how most people know (or assume) that I'm not from around here haha Also, a lot of people here REALLY LIKE Americans. Of course there are those who don't and many people probably think we're kind of stupid at times lol but a lot of people get a lot more friendly when they find out you are a estadounidense (from the US). But honestly, I kind of feel like a celebrity sometimes :) Everyone stares and takes notice of me because I'm different and rather than wearing my sunglasses to hide my eyes - like celebrities normally do - I try NOT to wear them haha Maybe it's going to my head or maybe I am just imagining all of it, who knows? But one thing I do know is that I've never liked one of my features more than I do my eyes now :)

Margarita.

No, I'm not talking about the drink lol although that is good too :) Margarita is the name of my Spanish mother during my stay in Alicante, aka mi madre. Spanish madres are famous for their natures. Typical of Mediterranean lifestyle, they are very sympathetic, caring, and want to feed you. All. The. Time. haha they want to make sure you have everything you could ever want and more. Marga (her nickname) is a 5' nothing woman who MAYBE weighs about 80 lbs. She is sooo cute! Although she is about 60, you would never know. I have noticed (and been told) that the women here in Spain like to keep up with their appearances. They tend to dye their hair, work out, and dress nice almost everyday, with a little bit - or a lot - of makeup, depending on their tastes. Marga looks about 45 haha She is a single mother whose kids are grown and gone. Her daughter, although a couple of years younger, has a son who is only less than 1 year old! He is frickin' adorable as hell. His birthday is in March and Marga said we would celebrate. I can't wait to be here for it :) Her son, who is a couple of years older than his sister, is handsome. He has a girlfriend and although no grandkids yet, both of Marga's children live close so she can be there to help raise her niñitos (grandkids). He is also really into Guns n Roses, and when I told him that was one of my parent's favorite bands, he got really excited and said that's because its one of the BEST bands lol He also speaks really good English because he studied in Ireland. Because it's just the two of us, she tries to give me basically everything that I want. I have my own bathroom and I am living in her daughter's old room. All the families have WiFi (here it's pronounced wee-fee because of the Spanish accent) and so I can get online whenever I need to. She cleans up my room everyday, does my laundry, and had a new shower installed because my bathroom didn't have one. The first day was kinda rough because I was homesick and things were hard to get used to. But now I really enjoy being here. Although it's definitely not HOME, I am coming to think of it as my home away from home.

SOOOOOOO Much To Tell!

I really don't even know where to begin... I kind of touched on some of my adventure so far but I think a thorough going over is in order. I think Friday would be great, but it was so long ago in terms of the days I've spent here so far. I feel like I haven't had a second to take a really long, deep breath until now. And I'm definitely lacking in the sleep department. But let's see, Friday...

I arrived to Alicante around 3:30 PM here, it was bright, sunny, and warm! Okay, so much warmer than at home where the average winter temperature only reaches a measly 32. But it was around 62 or so here, and the high so far has been about 68. Which, although still pretty chill when you are in the shade (and for los Alicantinos), is great when you think that only a week ago I was shoveling snow out of my driveway. Anyways, i took my sweater and lugged my baggage into the hotel where we were checked into rooms that are adjacent to the University dorms. I met a ton of new friends right away because everyone was really outgoing, which surprised me at first. But then I chalked it up to the fact that we are all on this great adventure together and need support from those who are going through the same thing.

It was kind of intense actually because everyone spoke in Spanish immediately (the guides and the people here,  not the kids). So it was pretty hard to get used to. Imagine flicking a switch and turning off the lights... for me at least, the difference was that dramatic. Friday, although relaxing, wasn't enough time AT ALL to catch up on all the sleep I lost during the 20 hour plane ride. I didn't get to sleep a wink, not even a cat nap in the airport:( But we did get time to relax, and of course all we wanted to do was shower! I felt disgusting!!! We went to dinner at this little place near our hotel called La Hacienda de Jamon, and literally, ham thighs were hanging from the ceiling. I know what you're thinking, but it wasn't too bad lol Then we went back and CRASHED! Going to bed at 11 and getting up at 7:30 did nothing to help my sleep deprivation, but the next morning was full of stuff to do. We had a tour of the city and because we were split into groups, we got to meet more new people. They like to do things alphabetically here, like, all the time. So I was in a group with people from the program who are at the beginning of the alphabet. We toured allllllllllllllllllllllllllll over the city, and by the end of the day, I felt like my feet were made of lead. But we got to see a lot of cool sights, most of the pictures of which I posted on my Facebook. After a while, I became so tired that I actually stopped taking pictures haha I figure I'll be here  for almost 6 months. I've got time to take them:) For lunch on Saturday we had paella, which is a famous Spanish dish. It is local to Spain and is rice that is typically mixed with vegetables and meat. Since much of Spain is coastal, the most popular type of paella is with seafood... I loved the miniature shrimp and scallops :) The vegetarian paella was good too, but I didn't care much for the sauce it was in. We finished our tour, headed back to campus for some break away sessions about program information, and then it was time for dinner. We had tapas again (I am not sure how often people here actually eat tapas, but we had them like 3 days in a row. They are good, but I did get kinda sick of the same thing over and over :/) and one of the program directors bought us shots that were of some kind of sweet liquor, maybe caramel vodka, I'm not sure. The cool part is that they were inside mini cups made of ice cream cone. Literally shot sized ice cream cones that were lined with chocolate and had whipped cream on the top and chocolate sprinkles. Best dessert I've ever had in my life ;) We left the restaurant late, and only had about 15 minutes to get ready to go out. Because believe me, Spaniards GO OUT!

There is this place in the heart of the city very close to the beach called el Barrio. Its the oldest part of the city, where the buildings are squeezed together and the streets barely let two people pass at once. They are also lined with bars. There are sooooo many with many different themes. Most have tables to sit at, but many are also discotecas... dance halls! My favorite:) We went to two clubs, at both of which our new friends David (who is here for the whole year and has already made friends with the bartenders lol) bargained to get us $1 shots. I had this vodka that was called vota negra: black vodka. It is actually a deep blue, but it tastes like jollyrancher. Delicious :) Then some caramel vodka, also scrumptious. And of course, being in Spain, tequila. Its so much better here, I won't even drink it at home. Overall, a very fun night. We managed to find the correct bus stop (there are so many that its impossible is you don't know your way around, which we didn't. Not to mention we weren't exactly in the right state of mind to put on our thinking caps haha) and had a conversation with a Spanish boy named Erik. He was very funny lol Then, as we all crawled out of our holes after only 3 hours of sleep - or less - , we had another full day of sessions, presentations, and a tour of the University campus. Which is HUGE by the way. It used to be an airforce base but now the barracks are classrooms and the plane hanger is a botanical garden; see pictures on Facebook. It is gorgeous though - orange trees and ponds are everywhere. Its very scenic. So much so that there are many cats who like to come to live there. I saw at least 10 on my first trip through haha

Monday brought the first day of classes of the intensive cycle, during which we have a two week class that meets everyday for 4 hours, 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Its not all that intensive, its just a review. But its hard to get into the swing of things when you need to buy stuff and get a phone and all that jazz. So that brings us to today, which was the 2nd day of class. Monday Feb. 3rd marks the first day of the actual semester and actual class... should be interesting. Until then, I'll try to update more, but no guarantees. Right not its 10:40 and I plan on being in bed by 11 :) Next time I write, I'll tell you about my host mom. She is adorable.

What an adventure...

so far, I have had a whirlwind past few days! From getting up at 8AM on Thursday morning to a 7 hour flight to Madrid which landed at 6AM, (during which I thought I was going to die and had flashbacks of Lost and the plane cracking in half because of turbulence) to a delayed flight to Alicante which got us here around 3PM, I haven't had much time to just stop and do nothing haha Even the 8 hours of sleep I got last night didn't seem like enough... I could sleep for days, I am so tired. Last night was a fun little tapas bar, and today is full of touring and sightseeing our new home. I can't wait :)

P.S. tapas is like a meal made of appetizers... its great! these little things that were like loaded baked potato bites, a salad, cheese, little extremely thin slices of salted ham, garlic mushrooms... it was delicious :) and Coca Cola made with real sugar lol it was great! if you can't tell, so far I'm happy. Breakfast was bread, pastries, juice, and coffee. I'll miss my bacon haha but it wasn't bad. Now I'm off to tour!

Hasta la Mañana...

I leave tomorrow. Wow. In the spirit of this new adventure, I have a bit of history about Alicante and the role it has played in Spanish history.

Alicante, like much of the rest of Spain was settled some 7000 years ago, between 5000 and 3000 BC. Tribes of hunter gatherers traveled down from central Europe, which were joined by Greek and Phoenician groups who brought iron making, and the common alphabet. The fort of Akra Leuka (Greek for 'white point/mountain') was established by a Carthaginian general and it the spot of modern day Alicante. The city was subject to the violent changes of power that the rest of Spain experienced which fluctuated control of the country between the invading Romans and the Kings and Queens of Spain, including King Ferndinand and Queen Isabella of Aragon and Castile, whose kingdoms fought over the area for decades (although Ferdinand and Isabella ended up marrying!). The economy of Alicante also suffered the tides of change from these battles, but throughout all of the changes of power, Alicante maintained an overall healthy economy which thrived off of a strong fishing market, and trade of olive oil, rice, wool, and oranges.  Alicante also sustained itself through World War I and several local wars, which actually helped make the economy stronger through wide use of the ports of the city. When the Second Spanish Republic (1931-1936) gained control of Spain, Alicante provided many strong Republicans and supported the new government. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), Alicante was one of the last Republican strongholds to refuse the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, and one of the last cities to fall under his dictatorial rule. Franco died in 1975, and Alicante, along with the rest of the country, began to reinvent itself and focus on growth in it's economy. During the 1980s, Alicante suffered an economical downfall, and since then, has focused it's attention on it's tourism business which provides a huge revenue for the area.
Today, Alicante is a very touristy place, located along the Mediterranean in an area of Spain known as the La Costa Blanca (the White Coast). Not only because of the voracious tourism, but also because of the overall wealth of the area, Alicante has a rich city life that includes some of the best gastronomy (wine growing/producing) in the country. One of the most famous sights Benacantil, and dates back to the 9th century control of the area by the Muslims. A 2009 census of the area gives population totals around 335,000. Interestingly, many of these inhabitants are foreign, residing originally in Morocco, Columbia, Ecuador, Argentina, Russia, and Romania, among other countries. The climate is mild, ranging from 40-60 degrees Fahrenheit during the winter months (December to Feburary), to 50-85 degrees during the warmer months (March to November). The temperature fluctuates often and is typically much warmer during the day and very cold at night. Although there is very little rain in general, the wet period of the year is September and October, when the cold fronts start to roll in. During this time, flooding is common. Like much of the rest of Europe, Spain (and Alicante) uses train as its main transportation system, although Alicante has a small airport of its own outside of the city.
In general, Alicante is a jovial town which enjoys nice weather and friendly, Mediterranean people. There are many festivals, especially during the summer months. Two of the most famous include Los Fogueres de San Juan (the Bonfires of Saint John) and Moro y Cristianos (Mores and Christians). These festivals include days and nights of drinking, dancing, and feasting. This party like atmosphere is often bolstered by la Universidad de Alicante, the local university. The student population of around 30,000 adds immensely to fiestas!

All of this will be my home for the next 6 months. I will be one of those 30,000 students (although I'm sure they wouldn't include me if asked haha). The food (mainly seafood, rice, grains, and fruit) will be my new diet. I will be tanned and loving the beach.

I can't wait. Hasta la mañana Alicante!

FINALLY!

soooooooo... I leave in 7 days. That's right, 7 days from now, I will be on a plane on my way to ALICANTE!!! I seriously can't believe, like, at all. My break has been spent working, being sick, and, oh ya, thats about it :/ But soon my adventure will begin and I barely have words to express my emotions. I don't know what I am feeling lately but butterflies are definitely floating around already haha. I am nervous and excited... and ready to start this new chapter! I think I am gonna do some historical research about Alicante to see exactly where I'll be living for the next few months :)