Abroad in Spain 2018

As winter break starts, I'm struck with a bit of jealousy for all the people I know headed home for the holidays. Since my program lasts the full year, I unfortunately won't be able to go home for Christmas. However, I have so many great opportunities for travelling and really getting to know Spanish culture more.  In the spring I start an internship at the University of Alicante in the Department of Ecology. I'm really excited, but also extremely nervous. I feel like my entire undergrad career has been leading up to this point, and I'm not sure I'm prepared for it! If there's anything I've learned about being in Spain, it's that life doesn't wait for you to feel prepared. If you want to have confidence going forward into unknown territory, you just have to act like you already have that confidence. Don't hesitate, just keep plowing forward without worrying about messing up or failing (because surely you will a couple times).  I know I hav

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

So after being in Alicante for a couple months, I've had quite a few great experiences and quite a few terrible ones. This post is dedicated to all the best of and worst of Alicante. 1. Best of : A Wine Named Val I've always liked wine, but usually preferred other drinks. However, since coming to Spain, my appreciation for good wine has increased. Here's a picture of me, with a wine called Val, basically begging me to buy it. Don't forget to try tinto de verano, a sweeter wine drink that's served in almost every restaurant! Would recommend?: yes absolutely yes Where to find: Local Supercore 2. Worst of: Is this Mexican food? We held out as long as we could, but eventually the craving for tacos overcame us. We decided to try the Mexican food restaurant closes to us, La Tia Juana Alicante. The inside is decorated with some pretty convincing traditional Spanish decor, including these great Luchador masks and fighting ring. What could go wrong!

My first major trip outside of Spain was to Toulouse and Lourdes in the southern part of France. I happened to have a good friend studying in Prague the same time as me, so we decided to meet up in France for the weekend. This is a friend that I originally met on a trip to Israel. As it turns out, we've spent more time with each other outside of the US than inside. I booked a train ticket to Madrid from Alicante, which usually costs about 25 euros both ways, but can be worth it if there's a cheaper flight out of Madrid, or sometimes that may be the only option. I flew Ryanair, arguably one of the worst airlines in Europe but also the cheapest so most students use them. Flights are pretty uncomfortable and you can't usually check in a bag, but for less than 30 euros you put up with it. I landed in Toulouse, The Rose City, in the early morning on a Friday and waited in the airport for my friend to arrive. When she got there, we took off for the nearest tram station into the

So for most people coming abroad, there's a pretty substantial amount of time in the beginning where you don't feel quite adjusted, you miss everything about back home, and it can be really hard to not feel overwhelmed by anxiety and stress. A lot of the time we generalize all these feelings as culture shock - the feeling of being in shock from entering and immersing yourself into a new culture. A couple things specific to Spanish culture that are different include: -When you greet people, a lot of times you give dos besos, a short kiss on each cheek. Men don't usually do this with each other, but girls do it with both guys and girls. If you don't know the person that well, a handshake will do. If you feel awkward giving a stranger dos besos, welcome to the club. -The concept of time is very loose in Spain. Be prepared for people to always show up late, and always stay late. If you make plans with a Spanish person during the day, it might last well into the late af

So the first week of classes was rough. I've never felt so overwhelmed in my life. Sitting in a class taught in Spanish and understanding VERY little of what's going on will certainly make you wish you had studied a little harder at NAU. Anyway,  I started out with a couple courses that turned out to be mostly different from my finalized schedule. The first week of classes here was more of just a trial it seemed. We met up with our adviser in the middle of the week to actually make sure we were all in the right courses and such. I began with a class on marine contamination and one on the Mediterranean in Prehistory. I ended up ditching the class on marine contamination, only because it was a little too advanced for me and didn't quite work out with my schedule. Instead, I enrolled in a biology course, and a couple weeks later int the semester my Spanish level B2 class began. Including my online course at NAU, I was taking four classes. Now this may not seem like a lot,

About three weeks after arriving in Alicante, it was time to head to the university for orientation. The three other girls from NAU and I boarded the bus for the 25 minute ride from the center of Alicante to San Vicente. The campus was beautiful; palm trees line beautiful walkways, students are often found lounging around the numerous fountains or duck ponds, and the greenery on campus is just gorgeous. We all filed into the Mobility Office, which is where you go if you're an exchange student not from the European Union. We met other students there from Australia, the US and other parts of South America. It was a bit overwhelming to meet so many people at once, but they handed us all a packet of information and told us to come back the next day for Orientation : Part 2.  A little frustrated that we came all the way to campus just to pick up some papers and be told to come back the next day, nevertheless we made new friends and went out for tapas afterwards.  I should ALSO me