Hello and Happy Halloween! The end of October has rolled around, though I think sneaking up would be the more appropriate phrase. With the beginning of sports, school, and colder weather, October always seems to fly by back home. Those Octobers were nothing compared to this one abroad, though. Although September feels like another lifetime, it is difficult to believe it is already the last few days of this month. My weeks were filled to the brim with long days of classes, evenings of homework, and weekends of catching planes and trains. Collectively, all of my group members and I are exhausted. Something they don’t tell you about having an incredible month of traveling and having your classes in Spanish all day? Your brain and body will feel something akin to Jello-O cups. You also daydream about Christmas and lazy snowy days more than you would have thought. Please don’t mistake my gripes about tiredness as regrets about all that was accomplished this month, however. October was incredibly good to me and makes me excited for these last four weeks of living as a Spaniard before those Christmas daydreams come true.
My month began with searching the streets of Barcelona for cheap pizza after our late-night AirBnB arrival before beginning a weekend of seeing the gorgeous sights of the city. Staying the weekend in Barcelona was the best way to kick off our crazy month of traveling. The four friends I have been traveling with and I were able to bond and test the waters of handling transportation and full days together. Barcelona was an exciting and awe-inspiring first weekend of October; it still feels a bit celebrity-like to say I’ve been to Barcelona… Immediately following Barcelona, we entered the new and intense 4 week schedule of classes. For Mondays and Wednesdays, I had class straight on from 9am until 3pm with just short breaks within my first 3 hour class of Spanish. It felt like high school again, though more tiring because there was no lunch and the classes were broken up less frequently. Although this schedule only happened twice a week, the first couple occurrences were very difficult to get used to. I can definitely say I have learned a lot about Spanish culture though, which has allowed me to feel more at place here in Alicante. Tuesdays and Thursdays were slightly less intense, with Spanish from 9am-12pm and then a 4 hour break before my Tourism class from 4-6pm. Because the bus ride between my house and the school is about 30 minutes long, I always stayed on campus for those 4 hour breaks, having lunch and catching up on homework. Taking 4 classes at once made my homework load increase very suddenly, though it was much more mild compared to the homework load I am expecting once we return to SU. School was a difficult thing to deal with this month since I have not handled that many hours of class straight in a few years. However, it also was helpful in filling up my days and meeting new international students. I may have been drained by 4pm most days, but my brain is filled with more Spanish language and culture than I ever expected. The weekends of October were similarly exciting to the first one; our little group went to Athens, Greece for a long weekend on the second weekend of October, we visited the small town of Altea the next, and Granada with our whole program last weekend. Athens, as you may expect, was incredible. Lots of amazing food, ancient architecture and sculpture, even the bit of rain we had felt a bit magical. Our miles of walking in Athens required a little rest each day, but it was nice to have the chance to recharge and feel like legitimate Spaniards taking a siesta! Altea is a very small but gorgeous coastal town about an hour and a half north of Alicante, and we took the tram line up to walk around for a few hours. Altea had white plaster houses, similar to the islands of Greece, that shone against the turquoise water. The middle weekend of October was not an especially busy one for Haley and I, in terms of traveling, but it was important to take a chance to breathe and explore our local areas. Finally, we had a program-mandatory trip to Granada last weekend that was beautiful. Granada is a famous city 4 hours southwest of Alicante where we visited the Alhambra, an enormous palace and fortress that has stood since 889 CE. Granada was an especially cool and relaxed city that carried that sense of age that made it feel important to just be there. In between Altea and Granada, I even got to have family visit me! My grandparents stopped in Alicante for Tuesday-Friday as part of their 2 week trip through Spain and Portugal, and it was wonderful to see them and catch up. Playing tour guide was even more fun than I thought it would be! This was a long winding recap of a month that was more than I could have dreamed of. Even though class often isn’t fun and homework never is, these past 28 days of October proved to me that every day is a fresh set of hours just waiting to be filled with something amazing. They also proved to me that you can go a lot farther and see a lot more in one weekend than I had ever really believed. There were very difficult days in October, especially for my family, but we have made it out to the other side even with virtual love. I am very excited for all of that love to be in person in just 4 short weeks, but October taught me the lesson of not taking any days or weeks for granted because so much can happen in just as few as 28 days.
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Hello! Another week finished and edging on another month finished too! It is hard to believe that the halfway point is behind me and steadily moving away. Despite my excitement to return to everything I love about home, I feel so grateful for having this semester and know that the last month will be one I never forget. I may wish to be reunited with people and things from home, but I would never wish to have not done a semester abroad. There’s my little weekly thought about time passing and homesickness even though it is always basically the same, and now onto my blog topic. Here in Spain, I live in a homestay. This means that a family local to Alicante hosts me for the duration of my program and is responsible for my laundry, meals, and place to sleep. In my case, and for most of the people here in the Spanish Studies Abroad program, the host family is a single woman with grown children that live on their own. Some are widowed, some divorced, but many of the host mothers live on their own when not hosting international students. Hosting international students is a form of income on the side for them as well as an opportunity to meet new people, learn about where they are from, and help them learn as much as possible about Spain. My host mother is divorced with two grown sons, one that lives in the same building as her and the other lives in Barcelona. She works in a juvenile court center, always having some stories about wild kids that come through her office’s doors. She has hosted many international students throughout the years, both for semesters and summers. She has told us about how no abroad student is the same and every experience is different for her. She has had students practically fluent in Spanish and some that didn’t speak a word of Spanish, the latter of which made a long few weeks one summer. She even once had a Muslim student that came abroad coincidentally during the 30 days of Ramadan, and the student could not eat any of the meals she would prepare! It’s safe to say she has seen a lot and learned a lot through her experiences of being a host mother, but she seems to love it. In my homestay, I have another Susquehanna student here living with me, Haley Muth. Since we found out at the beginning of last summer that we both would be in Alicante, Haley and I had been texting and planning flights together. Only then to find out mid-August, about 2 weeks before we came to Spain, that we would be living together! I have been really glad to have Haley to live with because it eliminated the majority of the awkwardness and loneliness homesteads can bring sometimes. We can talk about Susquehanna together plus our lives together here, and we have each other to bounce off of during dinner conversations with our host mom. It is also exciting to know that we will be on the same campus together in the spring, able to hang out and reminisce and make new memories together, unlike the other American friends we have made here who will scatter across the country in a few weeks. Of course living in a homestay as the only international student is not impossible, and is sometimes preferable for people, so don’t let me scare you off. Having Haley living with me just ended up being the best possible scenario for me personally; it combines the college dorm fun of living with friends and the excitement of living abroad. Living in a homestay always will come with pros and cons. It has been difficult to lose the freedom of food choice for our meals and the chance to cook for ourselves, but these are small negatives compared to all the benefits. We always have a warm meal, don’t need to spend money on groceries, and have our bathroom and laundry cleaned for us each week. Most of all, we have been given a new friend, tour guide, and maternal figure all wrapped up in one in our host mother. The homestay has been a central part of shaping our experience here in Alicante and I am so glad it has all worked out so well. I hope that any GO student reading this is getting excited for their own homestay! The second week of October has ended, marking the halfway point of my twelve weeks abroad! I am unsure how to feel about this milestone, whether it has gone fast or not, but I know there is a mix of gratitude for this trip and the time left as well as excitement to return home. A balance like this is important and normal for spending so long away from home.
It has always been difficult to pick a favorite season, but fall holds a special place in my heart. The crispness in the air, the excitement of holidays upcoming, the colors in the trees, the cool rain that lends to a perfect excuse to set the fireplace and watch a movie; autumn is magical always. It has been difficult at times to accept that I am missing all those things this year, even though living near the beach past summertime has been exciting. Even though those of us abroad are missing a precious Mid-Atlantic autumn and all its colors, the weather here in Alicante has not yet been very different than what my loved ones are experiencing in Maryland or Pennsylvania. Experiencing a different climate here in Spain took some adjusting for sure, but now the weather seems just about right! If you are preparing to study abroad in another continent, it can be very difficult to try and predict what the weather will be like for 3 or more months, no matter how many weather and climate pages you visit online. When we pack for living at college, there is a bit less pressure since there is always the option of going home and switching out tank tops for sweaters once the temperature starts dropping. Living abroad through the changing of seasons can make packing very confusing. Although my experience in costal Spain is very different weather-wise than that of someone living in England or Scotland, I can provide a bit of insight and advice on the weather in Spain and how to pack for it. When we arrived here six weeks ago, it was hot. Hot, humid, sweaty: all of the above. Although the beginning of September in Spain is much milder than July and August, the Mediterranean sun showed us it meant business and was much more difficult to get used to than we anticipated. All the rest of September was warm and sunny constantly, though we physically were able to adjust after a week or so. Therefore, if you are studying in a city like Alicante, pack plenty of short-sleeved or sleeveless shirts because if there is one thing I found, it’s that you will sweat more than you thought- even just during a low-key day of class! Central air conditioning is very rare in normal homes in Spain because of energy costs, so you will even be hot in the house! Summer in Spain includes all of September, so be prepared to enjoy the beach weather longer than any of your family at home. The beginning of October brought some whispers of change with the weather. We gradually no longer needed a fan blowing constantly to sleep and it was more comfortable in the house during the midday heat. Recently, we have even been wearing jackets in the morning and jeans all day! Although I found it difficult to believe my host mother when she said we would be able to wear those jeans and long-sleeved shirts we brought, it is beginning to look like she was right. Since I live in Maryland, a fairly temperate state situated in the middle of the East Coast, the daily highs and lows of temperature at home have not differed too much from those of Alicante. October has brought cooler nights in Maryland than we have here, but during the day it has been generally similar. Here in Alicante, we even have leaves on the ground! It is not quite the same, though, because leaves just seem to die and fall off their branches rather than going through the fantastic color changing we are used to. Although the cold of late November will be a brief shock when we exit the airport doors upon arrival back home, the weather changes from living here have not been too dramatic. Locals seem to respond to the weather in a similar manner to those at home too. They don jeans and light jackets on the cold mornings, and eventually get into the habit of wearing long pants everyday instead of reaching for shorts. The beaches are less packed, we have down comforters on the beds now rather than just a sheet, and the meals change slightly. With the weather cooling down, my host mother has served more warm and heavy meals for dinners. The produce selection has changed slightly, with strawberry season being fully over and mangos being more common for a post-dinner fruit. Overall the culture in Alicante is not severely impacted by the changing of the weather because it is still a tropical coastal town that never experiences snow or drastically cold temperatures, so the locals do not need to change their daily activities much. Every season in the United States has its own traits and things to look forward to, and it is difficult for all of us here studying in Alicante to miss the precious, comforting things about autumn. However, the weather here is wonderful and bright and although intimidating at first, nothing to stress over while packing to come abroad. And holiday time is creeping up soon! Hello again readers! Thank you to everyone that has been following along, somehow it is already one week into October. This month will be exceptionally busy between the school schedule and multiple trips, but that will just make it all the more memorable. Speaking of trips, this past weekend, my friends and I went on our first one! We visited the beautiful and buzzing city of Barcelona!
Traveling outside of your host city on an independent excursion is scary that first time. No matter the confidence you have in your Spanish, trying to figure out signs, schedules, directions, and maps remains intimidating. Thankfully, the friends you’re traveling with are either there to help where you may fault and/or to commiserate with you over the confusion. Either way, traveling around with the new friends you make abroad is exciting and a perfect bonding experience. Our trip to Barcelona was decided fairly last minute, about a week out, and we purchased train tickets and an AirBnB all together. Although that brought some stress because train tickets to Barcelona are pricey, every dollar was worth it and we were all in it together. The train station in Alicante is pretty small and straightforward, with under 10 platforms all in one line. We were grateful for the lack of packing restrictions for a train so that we could stuff our bags full of snacks bought from the supermarket under a department store here in the city! Now, although train rides are very picturesque and more spacious than a plane, this did not do much to distract from the length of the ride. A train from Alicante to Barcelona takes 5 hours, which is especially not very fun after the day of class and exams we each had. However, transport like that is just part of the journey, so make sure to enjoy that as well! Once in Barcelona for the weekend, we did a lot of walking, ooh-ing and ah-ing, and a few classic tourist locations. We took the metro to the center of the city to start our Saturday morning, which I highly recommend if possible rather than taxis all the time. We took taxis at night since it was a bit of a walk between the metro station and our AirBnB and we did not want to make that walk in the dark, but the metro is the cheapest and most straightforward way to get around in a populous city like Barcelona. Since we all use the public bus or tram day in and out here in Alicante, it was an easy choice for us. But getting back to our experiences once in the city; on Saturday, we visited La Sagrada Familia. La Sagrada Familia is a very famous basilica that has been under construction for hundreds of years because in 1926, Antoni Gaudí died suddenly and the project was suddenly without an architect. Since his death and a major instance of destruction between 1936 and 1940, restoration to the Basilica has moved slowly under the leadership of collaborating architects and Gaudí’s disciples. Inside was gorgeous and incredibly tall, filled with towering stained glass windows that made soft rainbow beams of sunlight cover the walls and floor. I personally have lost my connection to faith in a higher power since leaving high school, but La Sagrada Familia was quite obviously an incredible place to feel connected to something bigger than yourself. Our Barcelona Sunday was spent at Parque Güell, another location that Gaudí was a part of. Park Güell is an urban park that is a World Heritage Site, and it has classic Barcelona mosaic works. There are sculptures of different animals or large fairytale-inspired houses all covered with mosaic pieces of different colors and patterns. The mosaic art was beautiful and the tree-covered pathways felt like a strange little sanctuary within the craziness of Barcelona. Between this place and La Sagrada Familia, our group definitely felt like we saw some of the most important and beautiful locations of the city. Our first non-mandated excursion outside of Alicante was an important experience of international travel and traveling together as a group of girls that have only known each other for four weeks. With the bigger trips we have coming up soon, Barcelona was definitely a perfect step to feel confident in our abilities to plan a trip, get around a new city, and have a great time together. I would definitely recommend to any study-abroad students reading this to not be afraid to visit somewhere outside of your host city, especially if you are in Europe. And if you’re specifically studying in Spain, get yourself over to Barcelona! |
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