It’s
our last couple days in Spain and it has been jam-packed as always. We’re all trying to get in last minute
activities we want to check off our to-do lists: one last gelato, last beach
visits, one last hike up to the castle. Thursday
we had a wine-tasting and our farewell dinner schedules as a class. We all got
gussied up for the occasion, and I must say I felt pretty damn elegant at the
wine-tasting. We learned all about how
to sample wine and what categories we needed to look for. A gentleman from the winery told us to smell
various types of extracts to determine the different aromas present in the
wines. Finally, we got to the fun part:
tasting the wine. We were given five
glasses, and then sampled one white wine, three reds, and an aerated white
wine. My favorites were the white and the
red from Alicante, but at the very end we got to sample a rose wine called “Rosado
de Lágrimas”. That was definitely my
favorite by far. After the wine-tasting
we all went to a pizzeria to celebrate our last dinner as a group. The food was pretty good, but my favorite
part was dessert (of course). We were
given tiramisu, one of my favorites!
Following dinner we decided to troll around the barrio and go
dancing. Getting home around 4:30 seemed
oddly early to me, but at least I got more sleep than usual.
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| Last dinner |
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| Night out...with chupitos! |
Friday
I did some last minute shopping and went to Muchavista beach with Alex and
Rosie. It was absolutely beautiful and
was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.
I counted, and I’ve been to a total of 6 beaches while being here! You’d
be hard pressed to name 6 beaches in Wisconsin…one of the many things I’m going
to miss about this place. After the
beach we got ready for a night on the town.
First we went to tango lessons that were being held in a plaza. It was so much fun, but even cooler was the
fact that people of all ages and all walks of life were there to dance. We had a blast dancing and listening to a
fantastic singer after the class. We
were then invited to dinner at Ashley’s place.
There were at least 7 different kinds of tapas for us to enjoy, and it
was a lovely evening. Following dinner,
it was time for one last hoorah in Alicante.
Bar hopping, dancing, laughing, and trying to avoid persistent Spanish
men was second nature to the Alicantinos we’ve become. I stayed out until 6am, an hour that seemed a
little more familiar to my newly adjusted internal clock. I don’t know how I’m going to readjust to
U.S. schedules. But nonetheless, it was
an amazing last night, hanging out with my friends in the beautiful and
wonderful city I have come to call home.
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| Ready for a night out! |
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| Tango lessons |
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| Tapas! |
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| The crew at Havana...one last time :( |
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| The gang's (almost) all here |
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| Night-ender at Quinta with Elvis |
We leave tomorrow morning early, so today is my last day
here. While it’s mostly going to be
filled with packing up my things, I’m relishing the last few hours I have. I can’t wait to return to Spain, hoping to do
so after I graduate in two years. If not
then, I know at some point I have to come back. I have had such an amazing time here, and I’m
glad I was able to document my experiences.
I hope that after reading this (those few of you that have) if given the
opportunity, you decide to study abroad.
It gives you so much piece of mind, teaches you independence, and humbles
you immensely. I feel like a totally
different person, and I can’t wait to get back to the states to share all that
I’ve learned over the past five weeks, and to start the next chapter of my
life. Signing off for the last time, but
don’t worry: Keep calm and viva España!
