Abroad in Spain 2018

Madrid!! What a wonderful city! Really though, I loved every inch of this city. From the moment I stepped out of the train station, I felt that I was somewhere really amazing. From world class art museums to Christmas markets and amazing shopping, Spain's capital has it all! The first time I visited was only for a couple hours to catch a flight in October, but  I returned with two of my friends in mid December for Christmas break. It was pretty dang cold when we got there, so for anyone wanting to visit remember to pack accordingly. We stayed with a friend who happened to be studying there at the same time, so I don't have any recommendations for hostels unfortunately! What I would recommend is wearing some good walking shoes; we racked up a good 14 miles in one day just walking around the city! One of my favorite things about Madrid is that a lot of the neighborhoods have this wonderful cozy feel, like everyone there knows each other, even though you're in a huge cit

I'd like to dedicate this post to something that's been a huge deal for me here in Spain: making friends. How do you do it? Who should you befriend? Where to begin? Like I've already mentioned, the Buddy Program through the university is a great resource. However, your buddy might be a busy person, and they can't be your only friend. A lot of the exchange students here tend to hang out together and don't branch out too much. This means a lot of speaking in English and not making friends who you can practice Spanish with. Something to note is that a lot of the students studying in Spain from other European countries don't actually know Spanish very well and don't seem to really want to learn it. This is not true for everyone of course, but as a general rule, I stay away from making friends in the Erasmus (European exchange student) group. So this leaves you with the option of making friends with your classmates. It can be nice to have a group of people st

One of my favorite assignments during my time in Spain has been interviewing my friend Lucia. As I mentioned before, I was paired with Lucia through the buddy program here at the UA, and we've spent a lot of time together since! Anyway, I chose to interview her because she has helped more than anyone with introducing me to the Spanish culture. We did the interview over lunch one day. We met up at one of the various cafeterias on campus and chatted for a while before I berated her with questions. Basically, I wanted to know what her perception of the US was and how she perceived her own country. One of the things I've learned about Spanish people is they can be very self-critical. They definitely love their country, but will be the first ones to point out when something isn't right. Anyway, one of the most interesting things I learned wasn't what she thought of her country or mine, but how our opinions differed so much. In her opinion, Spanish people are generally no

As the middle of the semester rolled in, some of the girls and I decided to take a trip to Murcia. This city is the seat of the Province of Murcia, and it is about an hour or so south of Alicante. It's pretty easy and cheap to get there by train from the Alicante train station. Murcia is smaller than Alicante so there isn't a ton of things to do there, but definitely worth a short weekend trip! When we went, the weather was really nice and we got to see a lot of different cool things in the city. First, I would recommend staying at The Cathedral Hostel. We really enjoyed our time there and it's in a great location. After we dropped off our things at the hostel, we headed to the courtyard outside and snapped some cool pictures with the flowers and listened to a wonderful Spanish street performer. We meandered around for a while looking for a bit to eat, but almost nothing was open at that time. In a lot of Spanish cities that don't get a ton of tourism, it can be h

Spanish food, what is it exactly? Many people have the misconception that Spanish food is very similar to Mexican food, or food from Latin America. This is really far from the truth. Spanish food is different in a lot of ways, and this post will be dedicated to the food here in Spain and how I'm feeling about it so far. So being a vegetarian, there are certain parts of Spanish cuisine that I haven't tried, such as jamón serrano or sobresada. I hear they taste great, but not for me. I'll only be talking about the food I've tried here, which sometimes includes sea food but not often. One of the most popular tapas (smaller portioned starters, like an appetizer) is patatas bravas. Every restaurant makes them a little different, but basically you have fried potatoes of some sort with a slightly spicy brava sauce. This is one of my personal favorites here in Spain. Sometimes it even comes with aioli sauce. Next on our list of tasty bites is another potato dish cal

In Spain, the day right after Halloween, November 1, is a holiday called Todos los Santos, or All Saint's Day we say in English. This day is dedicated in remembrance to all the saints in the Catholic tradition. Even if you're not Catholic, a great way to participate is going to the Medieval Fair in Cocentaina! My friend Lee and I drove to this small town about an hour away with a couple Spanish friends and we loved it. The town is pretty small, and not known for much else, but they sure know how to through a fair! The whole town was crowded with small vendor booths, shows and activities! You can also tour the museum there which has a bunch of cool old artifacts from the town. I didn't end up buy anything unfortunately, but I did walk away with a full belly! After Cocentaina, we stopped by the small city of Alcoi. This city is known for its many bridges! It also has a couple fantastic parks and is where some of the richer people in the provin