Alicante

                                                       View from our rooms
                                                       Walking around the city
                                                        Lobby of our hostel
                                                       Me and Kimball at a bullfighting museum
                                                    Outside our hostel
                                              View of bullfighting ring from castle
                                              Ben and Kimball testing out the water


                                               The Harbor at sunset
                                               View from the castle
                                                        The castle
                                                 Me and Lauren dipping our feet in the water

In our program there are trips to different parts of the country planned throughout the four months we are here. Sometimes we will be gone for a weekend and sometimes we leave for a whole week. But we do have a couple free weekends that we can plan on our own. So this past weekend we got to go to Alicante. A city right on the coast next to the beach down in southern Spain. It was about 20 degrees warmer and sunnier than it has been in Alcala. Once we stepped off the four hour train ride, I was immediately happy to be there, of course the coat that I have been living in 7 days a week had to go. I have never appreciated walking outside as much as I did this past weekend. After getting a cab we went to our hostel. I was a little nervous to see what my first hostel in Europe would be like but it was actually really nice, it was right in the center of the city, and about a block away from the beach. The water was so blue, not exactly warm, but walking on the beach with no shoes was exactly what I needed. There was only four of us and so we could just relax without eighteen people all putting their opinion in about what we should do. We got some gelato and went to the harbor and just sat on a bench for over an hour and watched the sunset. There is a castle in Alicante built right into a mountain, we walked up to the top and it was amazing. You could see everything, and the water with the mountains was so beautiful. It was really crazy to think that the castle was built in the 700's and its still standing. The history here is incredible, it dates back so far. That night we went out for tapas. Its like going out to dinner but much later and its more family style where everyone shares. We had paella, a Spanish dish with rice and a lot of different seafood. They bring it out to you in a huge frying pan and we ate the entire thing. There was also a lot of other food, ham and cheese and tomatoes on bread is a common appetizer, papas fritas, basically french fries, and different kinds of meat. I don't think I have ever eaten so much. When you are done you get a round of shots for everyone, don't worry Mom we did not drink it. We finished dinner at 11:30 and the streets were just starting to get busy. Back in our hostel at 4:30 in the morning we could still hear people outside. There is no way they could do this without the siesta in the middle of the day. The next day we found a bullfighting arena, unfortunately there was a match the day after we went home so we didn't get to watch one but we did go to a museum there and saw a lot of bull heads mounted on the walls with descriptions about the match when they died. Its actually pretty sad, but I still would love to see a match before I leave. The trip over all was just a nice relaxing weekend. I can't believe I have the opportunity to go all of these places and see all the things I have seen. Getting back to Alcala was a little disappointing watching the temperature go all the way back down to 1 C. But it's good to be back to our little town.