Viaje por la Provincia

Hello all!
What a day! Today we explored the province of Alicante. It was nice to get out of Alicante and see some of the surrounding area.
Our first destination was Villajoyosa, a small costal town north east of Alicante. In the 16th century Villajoyosa was a fortified town with a castle and a fortified church. The church still stands, but the castle has been destroyed by time.

This is the layout of Villajoyosa in the 1500s.

In 1550 (??) the town was attacked by Moorish pirates. The people prayed to the saint of the day, Saint Martha, and she brought a huge storm and the pirates could not dock their boats.
The church is beautiful and the town is tiny and filled with brightly painted houses.

This is what it looks like down by the beach.

Our next destination was Guadalest. Guadalest is a 17th century mountain town west of Alicante. When I say mountains, I mean mountains. Within 30 minutes we had gone from the beach to the mountains, it was incredible.

Guadalest was home to the Orduña family, a very wealthy aristocratic Basque family who moved to the area in the early 17th century and built this incredible house. Casa Orduña still stands, and is complete with original furnishings. We walked through the house and it was humbling to imagine the family living in those rooms and sitting on those chairs and eating off those plates. The house is connected to a path that leads up to the castle and the town cemetery. We walked up the cobbled path to the top to see the view of olive trees shrouded in mist. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. 

The entrance to Guadalest

Casa Orduña, Dining room

Our final destination was Campello. Campello is another coastal town southwest of Alicante. We got off the bus in Campello and went straight into a chocolate shop to eat churros con chocolate. Words can not describe...

I feel asleep on the bus ride home, dragged my tired butt back to our apartment to put these lovely pictures up.

We start our classes tomorrow, so wish me luck! And I'll update you again soon!

Paz

MB

Pienso que es... but No pienso que sea

This week is the week of the dreaded SUBJUNTIVO! 

Our Spanish review Professor is poking at my ego a little bit...I thought I had quite the understanding of the subjunctive, until today. Ah well, I'm learning!

Today was cold yet again. And when I say cold I mean 40 degrees F, which to a Spaniard is pretty dang close to "the earth is going to end!"

Glad I'm a Minnesotan!

I have realized that I have been awfully remiss in describing my living situation!

I live with a Spanish family in a Barrio called Benalúa, it is southwest of downtown. I live in un piso (apartment) with my Spanish mother, Maribel, and her 16 year-old daughter, Candela. 

Maribel is absolutely wonderful! She's ecstatic that fate brought to Maribels together, she tells everyone we talk to. She is extremely welcoming, very chatty (like me), and an absolutely FABULOUS cook! I have eaten so much since I got her. Tonight she was concerned because I ate less than usual, which I informed her was because our lunch was so huge and so wonderful (navy bean soup with sausages) that I couldn't eat any more Tortilla de Patatas, which is my favorite Spanish food.

Candela, my host sister, is very friendly and also very talkative, however, she speaks faster than anyone I have met yet, which is a feat in its own right because everyone here talks super fast. I can't tell how interested she is in me or being my friend, so I haven't pressed her into any social activities yet, but I'm dying to see Alicante through her eyes! 

Our apartment is relatively old, which Maribel loves about it. She has painted every wall a different color and decorated the whole place with very eclectic items from her travels. When she gave me the tour she proclaimed "Soy un hippi!" (I'm a hippie!) 

We live here with three cats, but I only remember Kiko's name because he's the only one that will come near me. I was a little worried at first, I'm more of a dog person, but we seem to be getting along just fine.

I hope I have given you a better look into my life as a Spaniard!

Miss you all!

Con cariño,

Maribezi

La vida española

Cariños,

Today was another lovely day in Alicante. 

Here is what my days look like:

I wake up at 7am and take a shower. There is no central heating in the houses hear so there is a blowing space heater in the bathroom so we don't freeze to death. Spaniards also use handheld shower heads and turn the water off in between rinses -- this was difficult on day one, I kept thinking "how do I shampoo and hold this thing?"

After showering Maribel, my wonderful Madre, brings me breakfast on a tray to my bedroom. We eat in our rooms rather than the dining room because we each have a space heater in our rooms. Breakfast is relatively small here compared to the US; toast, coffee, fruit. And they use olive oil instead of butter. Next time you have toast, skip the butter and put a little olive oil and some salt on top instead. It's quite tasty!

By 7:45 I'm out the door and on my way to the bus stop. I have to walk 7ish blocks (they're pretty short) to get to the bust stop by 8ish. The bus ride is about 30-35 minutes because it stops a bunch to let on more people than I have ever seen inside one bus...time to get to know your neighbor!

The bus drops me off at the University. We are only taking one class right now, Intensive Language Review, which I have at the program office, so I walk across campus to the office. 

We have class from 9-11 and then a mid morning break for "almuerzo." I would describe Spaniards as hobbits because they eat so many meals in a day. Almuerzo is essentially second breakfast. We walk down to the little café for a coffee and a chat before we start class again at 11:30. We finish class at 1:30. 

Once class is over I head home for la Comida, the biggest meal of the day. Maribel cooks comida around 2:30. Today I took a bag lunch and supplemented it with stuff from a campus café because I met with my new Spanish friends.

After comida the day is pretty much mine. Today I walked through the city with some friends. We walked along the Explanda by the sea and bought scarves and looked at the jewelry. We had a "merienda," the after-lunch-but-before-dinner meal, at a café connected to the bookstore and did our homework for tomorrow. I got home around 6:30. 

At 9pm we eat la cena, or dinner. Dinner is not a very large meal, but Maribel feeds me very well! Tonight we had ensalada rusia (like potato salad), fried vegetables, and what can only be described as homemade hot pockets: cheese wrapped in ham, breaded and fried. And bread, always bread!

We watch the news while we eat. Nearly half of the Spanish news is international; my world awareness is growing!

I retreat to my room and my space heater to write here and then head to bed around 11ish. 

Then it's up and at 'em again. 

Things will change next week when we start our university classes; I won't be starting at 9 am every morning! 

Tomorrow I will write more about mi familia española!

Love to all!

Maribezi

Pictures!

Hello family and friends!
I thought you might like a few pictures of Alicante so here you go!

This is the Plaza Luceros. 2 major streets meet here.

This is a view of the Castle of Santa Barbara.

This is the Explanda. 6 million tiles!

I hope you all are enjoying the last bits of January! Next week is our last week of Spanish review and then we start our real classes! 

Dirreccion!

Hello all!
Today was my first day of class! Right now we are all only in one class; intensive Spanish language. It's essentially one massive review so it's a bit boring, but I have learned some cool things.
I went exploring a bit today and it was odd to hear American music in 3 out of every 5 places I went into.
I wanted to put my mailing address up here in case anyone was wondering. Please note: I am not expecting anything from anyone, but if you want to send me a note I would love to get it!

So:

If you want to send me a letter, you address it to my madre so the postman will see it and know which box to put it in. You can write my name on a post it note on the letter so she will see it when she opens it, and make sure there is a return address; another way for Maribel to know it is for me! Also, Maria is shortened to an M with a degree sign or a superscript a, and number is done similarly with an N and then the degree symbol:

Maria Isabel Aranda Arenillas

C/ Pardo Gimeno, Numero 37, Ático Izda

03007 Alicante

España

If you want to send me a package you send it to the CIEE office because business addresses are more reliable. That address is:

Marybeth Murray

c/o Fracisco Diez

CIEE -- Villa Universitaria

Avda. Vicente Savall, 14-16

03690 San Vicente del Raspeig

Alicante, Spain

Love you all!

Maribezi

BIENVENIDO!

Hola de España!
I find myself exhausted after a very full day in Alicante. It is beautiful here!
But the trip over was not so beautiful. On our flight to Madrid we were barred from landing due to fog, so we were rerouted to Barcelona. Where we proceeded to sit on the tarmac for over an hour. Then we flew BACK to Madrid, but not in time for the 10 of us CIEE students to catch our flight to Alicante. But after an exhausting 4 hours trying to get an agent to fix the issue we arrived in Alicante. And everyone's bags arrived...except mine.
So here I am sans energy and sans luggage.
But today has been the most beautiful distraction! Alicante is fabulous! The city is diverse and compact and lively and charming and I could go on and on! We saw the beach and the bull ring and the castle! It's incredible!
I also do not believe that I have eaten this much in...well ever.
Tomorrow we go to stay with our host families! I'm nervous, but more excited than that!
AND tomorrow I will be wearing my own clothes!
Os Quiero!
Chao
Marybeth