Well, I made it…still not quite sure how or how all of this
is real, but I’m here…IN EUROPE!! In SPAIN, no less, a country known for its
“sun, sand, and sangria”, according to the new textbook I’ll be reading for the
next five weeks, Ghosts of Spain. The flights themselves ran smoothly enough,
although my first overnight flight proved to be a little less than
comfortable. Regardless, we made it…no
hassles with baggage claim, no major delays, and no lost students along the
way.
Now for the good stuff.
Alicante, Spain is a medium-sized metropolis on the southeastern coast. It’s located right on the Mediterranean Sea,
making it, well, AMAZING. We were taken
from the Alicante airport to Hotel Alamo, our temporary sanctuary while we sorted
out logistics…fortunately, still in English.
Once we were all settled in, the girls and I realized we hadn’t really
eaten a meal in 8 hours. But Spain was
our oyster! Home of sumptuous cheeses, tapas, wines, meats, seafood, and
sauces, all made with authentic , rich spices and flavors…I’m salivating just
writing about it. But what to our
wandering eyes did appear? Pizza. Yes,
pizza. Our first meal in Spain and we had settled on pizza. We hung our heads in shame as we entered the
pizzeria. But I can honestly say, with a
page and a half worth of different kinds of pizza, the Spaniards know a thing
or two about this pie. I ordered
probably the most questionable thing on the menu: pizza topped with caramelized
onions, tomatoes, goat cheese, apples, and walnuts. Yes, apples and walnuts. Surprisingly though, the combo was perfect!
Honestly one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had, just based on how complex the
flavors were. I didn’t even mind the onion
breath. But FYI, for those of you
planning on heading to Europe sometime soon, it’s usually not customary to tip
the servers. Being a server myself, this
seemed almost criminal as I paid my bill.
However, in Europe it can be considered offensive to leave one, as the
servers have a higher set salary than those in the U.S. Learn something new every day.
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| First meal in Spain After a lovely meal, and some slight orientation, we hit the beach. The Mediterranean Sea definitely lived up to expectation, but we were definitely in Europe…swim trunks had left the building and left the key under the mat for, you guessed it, speedos. But regardless of the slight culture shock (as many of you already know, women going topless is a common occurrence at many European beaches) we had a blast swimming and lying out on the beach for a good hour or two. One thing to watch out for: Spanish men. Note to self: they’re not kidding when they say there’s a stigma about American girls in Europe, and the European guys are not ones to dismiss that stigma. Gabriel showed us a video to demonstrate…obviously this is an extreme, but it definitely kept me at a distance from the opposite sex. Enjoy J
SNL-Vicki Cristina Barcelona Parody
So all in all, a pretty epic first day in Alicante…still
don’t know how I’m functioning on less than two hours of sleep (we still might
be staying up to watch fireworks at midnight…we’ll see if THAT happens). If anything, I feel like I’ve been humbled
just seeing this much of such a beautiful country. What’s even more humbling is that this is
just the beginning! Until next time,
keep calm and…sleep.
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