Palm trees and Spanish Mullets

So I finally have a chance to update this thing. Currently, I´m sitting in a cybercafe/gaming cafe thing across the park in my barrio, with a bunch of bratty little kids crowded around the computer next to me watching their other bratty friend play Grand Theft Auto.

Anyhow, it´s been an eventful week for me, as I´m in the very first stages of adapting to Spanish life. So far, so good. As a warning, this is gonna be kind of a long post as I´m gonna be explaining all of the new stuff I´ve done and seen. Might get dry at times, but future posts will probably be slightly less detailed.

Rundown of my time here so far:

Arrived into Alicante on Monday around 4 after being in airports/airplanes for something like 23 hours. Tired and nearing the end of my wits, I had to turn on the social/amiable Dan to start to meet the other 114 students in my program. Not so bad. Meeting people on no sleep is a lot like meeting people while drunk, so it turned out to be a pretty good time. Anyway, after dropping luggage off at the hotel, there was some obligatory orientation stuff, then the group split in two and my half ate at some weird Italian place. Went back to hotel and passed out, only to be awoken by a crazy thunderstorm at 2 in the morning. I guess it never ever ever rains in Alicante (it´s a coastal desert climate), although in the past month it had rained more than in the last 10 years or something ridiculous like that. Since absolutely every walking surface in the city is made of stone, getting around was a slippery fun time.

I´m still trying to figure out if Alicante is beautiful or ugly. On the one hand there is an awesome Arab-built castle (from when the Moors ruled the land) on a big old hill right on the edge of El Barrio, and the whole city, which rests on the Mediterranian, is filled with palm trees. Once the sun came out and the temp. rose to 60, it started to feel a little like paradise when near the coast. Can´t wait for Spring. On the other hand, the city buildings are really pretty ugly. It´s a mix of old and semi-modern architecture (sorry, no pics yet. still not sure if I´m gonna be able to post any or not), and is smattered with crappy-ass graffiti. Oh, and there are mullets aplenty, some with sexy rat tails on the ends of them. I´m still considering growing one myself.

The next day was lots and lots of orientation stuff. As a side note, CIEE really doesn´t have their act together this semester. The program is the biggest its ever been in this city and is basically a logistical nightmare. Lots of waiting, nothing ever happens on time, etc. etc. Not a huge deal, and probably couldn´t be avoided, but just some added stress when trying to adjust to Spain while getting over jetlag. Otherwise, orientation was nothing special and really repetitive. During the day, we ate lunch in some restuarant in smaller groups. I had conejo (rabbit) for the first time. Not too bad, but kinda gamey. At night we ate at this big buffet place that had lots and lots of traditional (mediocre) Spanish food. I like how they leave the heads on the shrimp though, so you have something to play with when you´re done eating. Afterwards, went to a touristy Irish pub and drank me a pint of tasty English Ale. Good to be back over the Atlantic where good beer is the rule, not the exception. Decided not to go out partying with the huge group of kids as we needed to be up at 8 for desayuno.

The next day we had to check out of the hotel earlier than was reasonable. After more orientation, we went over the the University of Alicante campus which is the school I´m taking classes at (aka Trendy Mullet Heaven - my friend, Eric, and I counted no less than 20 mullets in a 5 minute span). We ate some godawful cafeteria food, then met some of our intercambios, which are UA students studying English who we are going to have to do a few projects with over the course of the semester. Some of them were shy, but I managed to talk to a few of them. Needless to say, their English was much better than our Spanish. After that, we went to some building and after an excruciating 2 and a half hour wait, I was introduced to my Spanish host family. They subsequently took me home and fed me a superdelicious Spanish tortilla - basically an omlette that had potatos and onions. They served tortilla at the hotel breakfasts but they were cold and not even a quarter as good. I really like how in Spanish culture, they put the salad in the middle of the table and everybody eats it from the same plate. It gives meals a much more social atmosphere. Some other awesome food I´ve had includes a kickass paella, fried garlic mashed potato balls, about 50 different kinds of pig (Spaniards love their ham), this artichoke and tomato stew/soup thing, and a few different kinds of tasty fish. Also, the fruit here is amazing and fresh. Valencia oranges are incredible as is almost every kind of produce I´ve had since arriving here.

Mi familia is extremely nice. Mi madre, Gabriella, seems to have done this student hosting thing a lot, because she is really good at talking slow and explaining things in simple words so I can understand. She makes me three meals a day, does my laundry, and makes my bed. Good deal. Mi hermano, Javier, is around 27 and listens to metal, so that works out pretty well for me, too. Mi papa, Jesus (can´t figure out the accent thing with these keyboards) doesn´t talk as much as Gabriella, but is still a nice guy and likes to crack wise. None of them, except Javier, speak a lick of English (and he barely knows any at all)... if they do speak English, they aren´t speaking any of it while I´m in the room. It suits me fine, as I´ve only lived with them for 2 days now but my conversational skills have improved immensly.

Yesterday, we finished up with orientation stuff, so I went out and got my cell phone in order. My phone number is 011-34-666-165-635. Send me text messages (shouldn´t cost extra) or give a ring if you wanna chat at any point. I´m 6 hours ahead of the U.S. though, so keep that in mind. Also decided to go out last night to another Irish-type touristy bar. This one was cooler than the first as it had live blues and better beer than the last one. the band was doing near-perfect covers of American blues songs with the accent and everything. I noticed that if Spanish music exists, they don´t play it in Alicante. Every public place that has any kind of music plays American music. Maybe American music makes people want to shop more (???).

Today, we had our placement exams for our 3-week language course. I think I may have bombed mine, but it´s not really that important. Regardless, because I´ve already taken 3 semesters of college Spanish (not that you can tell from my ability to speak), I have been forcibly placed into the program where all of the classes will be taught entirely in Spanish. oughta be interesting... Hopefully the intensive course will do its job.

On the whole I´ve had a great time so far and am loving being here.

Some other stuff worth mentioning:

- It´s definitely a change of pace to live in a country where there is almost no sense of personal space whatsoever. There´s no such thing as a "personal bubble" or whatever. People will pretty much get right up in your face when they are talking or put they hands on you even without knowing you. I don´t mind it as much as I thought I would as its sort of welcoming in a country where I currently feel out of place.

- People in Alicante don´t know nearly as much English as I thought they would, with many of them knowing none whatsoever. This is somewhat of a pleasant surprise as I was worried I would end up having to break down and use English everytime I go out and do anything. Now I´m forced to figure out what I want to say if I want to accomplish anything.

- My fear of picking up a smoking habit can be allayed slightly. As of January 1st, 2006, a new law was passed that has banned smoking from all work places, indoor public places, and almost all restaurants - except those that are under 100 sq. meters - and if they do allow smoking, nobody under 16 is allowed inside. This is also good, because now my clothes will only smell like stale smoke when I go out to bars. There´s also this huge anti-smoking campaign being kicked into gear here, insuring smokers will one day become the modern day leper, just like in the US.

- On the whole, the US and Spain are a lot more alike than I expected. I suppose I should have assumed that most western countries are going to be a lot alike. They shop a lot here, watch a lot of TV, and play video games - not that I really had any image of this place in my mind ahead of time. There´s always plenty of familiar things around me if I need them, though. It´ll be nice to visit some other countries and see how things are different/similar as well.

Well, this has gotten long enough, so I´m off to grab some dinner and figure out what´s going on tonight. Tomorrow is the city tour, so I´ll get to check out the castle on the hill. Nothing on the schedule for Sunday, so I´m gonna go out tomorrow night and see what the Spanish nightlife is all about. I´ve been told its a pretty wild scene here, so it should be a good time. Next time I post, I should be in la biblioteca at the university.

Out.