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| My mom and I at the top of the Castle in Alicante |
It has
been a while since I posted, but the good thing about that is that I have a lot
to talk about! School has been going the same. I have started to feel a little
bit behind because I have been slacking a little bit. It is really easy to fall
behind because like I have mentioned before, we really don´t have homework
here. We just have the final papers and exams at the end of the semester, so I
should really get started on the reading and assignments!
I had my
first experience with a house in Spain a couple of weeks ago, and it was really
nice! I made friends with a girl named Mireia and she invited me over to hang
out and have lunch one day, so I went to her house. It was really nice, and the
interior reminded me of the houses we have more up north. She had a really nice
pool in the front yard which is different, and also a sweet garden with a bunch
of different fruit trees! There were oranges, lemons, pomegranates and a bunch
of other types of fruit trees!
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| View of the city of Toledo from the outside! |
I took
another weekend trip with Ali to Toledo Spain as well. Toledo is a beautiful
city close to Madrid, and it used to be Spain´s capital. The city was somewhat
smaller than some of the other ones that I have been to, but there was a LOT to
see and do there. The main attraction in Toledo is the Alcazar. We spent a couple
of hours inside and outside taking pictures of the beautiful scenery. The nice
thing about the museums in Spain is that a good number of them are free on
Sundays! We managed to get everything done in two days, and we bought a bunch
of souvenirs there as well. Toledo is also known for their marzipan, so we were
sure to buy some of that while we were there! Also in Toledo we had our first
experience with sharing a hostel room with strangers! I think we got pretty lucky
for our first stranger experience. We were in a room with 2 other girls, one
from Boston and one from Egypt! They were both really nice, so everything worked
out well.
Wednesday
(March 19) I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity for my parents to
come visit me! I picked them up from the airport in Alicante on Wednesday morning,
and we started our weeklong journey in Spain together! I mentioned before that
the people here all live in “pisos” which are basically apartments, and my
parents rented one of those to stay in for the week so we wouldn´t all be
stuffed into a tiny hotel room together. It was really nice and had a beautiful
view of the sea and a nice kitchen, so I definitely lucked out being able to
stay there for a week!
Their
stay in Alicante was amazing, and I didn´t want it to end. We travelled to
Benidorm and Elche, walked around the city a ton, climbed to the top of the
castle, spent endless hours at the beach and ate delicious food and gelato! My
favorite part of their trip was when my parents and I got invited to have lunch
with my host family. It was such an awesome day for all of us! My host mom
prepared a GIANT pan of paella for everyone, and her nieces came over for a couple
of hours as well. The thing was, my parents don´t speak a word of Spanish, and
my host parents don´t speak a word of English!
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| My host parents (left) and my real parents (right) having a typical Spanish meal together! |
For
those of you who don´t know, my goal in life is to become a translator and work
my way up to an interpreter. So, as you can imagine, I had an awesome time
interpreting between everyone for a few hours. I got to know my host parents a
lot better as well, because my parents were asking some good questions! It was
definitely one of the best day´s I have had here. Tuesday morning my parents
left to head back to the United States, and I was really sad to see them go. I
am so lucky that I had the opportunity to spend a week with them in Spain!
This week
has been pretty uneventful; however I am getting a pretty bad cold! Next weekend
Ali and I are going to Barcelona, and I can´t wait!!! J
