Celebrate ‘Merica, Party like a Spaniard (courtesy of Mike Stapleton)

Yesterday, as you all know, was the Fourth of July.  We had a jam-packed day ahead of us, filled with class, shopping, dinner, and a night of dancing and partying in our new hometown.  First after class we laid out a game plan for dinner and bar hopping, and upon heading home I got to have lunch with my host sister, Elena, which proved to give me some much needed insight about the nightlife in Alicante.  She pointed me in the direction of La Quinta Avenida, a discoteca noted for having a lot of American tourists.  She said we might need a passport or a photocopy of a passport to get in.  While it was on the back of my mind, as I didn’t think we’d stop by, it was kind of intriguing.  At around 5 a group of us went shopping for some dresses (as if I don’t have enough) and boy, is Spain DANGEROUS for an avid dress shopper like me.  Literally, dresses are all the rage here, especially because it’s summertime.  There were dresses on sale for 6 euros (like 8 bucks in the U.S.) and I was in shopping heaven.  But, being a very strong-willed person with a lot of self-control, I didn’t buy a single thing for myself!  That goes without saying, I WILL return to those stores eventually.  After shopping we all headed out to dinner at an American-style burger joint called VIP.  There were plenty of cheeseburgers and milkshakes to go around to celebrate the birth of the U.S. 

 We then proceeded to head over to Havana, a local dance club and our meeting point.  The discotecas were less than hopping, as it was only 11, but we decided to just hang out and have a drink.  After hours of bar hopping and dancing, we finally ended up at the alluring “La Quinta Avenida”.  We didn’t need passports, so we proceed to enter the coolest discoteca I’ve seen yet! It was 4:30 am, and the place was pretty packed.  We danced for another hour and decided we were all pooped.  I made it to my homestay at around 6 am, and fell asleep instantly.  The next thing I knew I was awakened by my alarm blaring in my ear, telling me it was time to get up for our excursion to Altea and Calpe.  Ugh. I was exhausted.  But the evening was well worth it.  Our trip to Altea and Calpe was simply breath-taking.  We hiked and swam at the beach for the day.  By the end of the trip however, I literally was wiped.  I crashed and burned on the bus home, but hopefully I’ll be able to sleep well tonight.  Fingers crossed, but either way, it was a great start to the weekend.  I’m off to siesta, but while I’m catching up on sleep, keep calm and celebrate ‘merica!