Hemos Llegado Al Sol

    After 5520 miles of travel, tired eyes from reading on the plane, a disheveled appearance on all fronts, and a nervousness rumbling in my stomach, I finally arrived in Alicante Spain in the afternoon on January 3rd of 2013.  This city is beautiful, palm trees everywhere, the sun shines with a brilliance that I cannot describe and the breeze from the Mediterranean sweeps over the city like a comforting mantel; I cannot wait to start sailing! We stayed in a nice hotel where we received our orientation and I got to take a well earned nap, there are 55 American students in total from different schools around the country...its a big group.
     The next day we took a tour of la Universidad de Alicante campus led by our Resident Director Pepa and an activities coordinator Nacho; Nacho and I are going to be great friends, super nice guy! The campus is a lot bigger than I thought, and it's beautiful, lots of great landscaping. We then returned to the hotel to meet our host families, I was so excited! My host grandma (her nick name is Abu, short for abuela=grandma) and my host mom's cousin were kind enough to pick me up since my host parents were at work. We walked from the hotel to my new home, the whole time I was going crazy with curiosity. We walked for about 10 minutes, winding through streets shuffling old ladies, young ruffian boys in sweat suits, motorcycles, and stray cats. As we rounded a corner onto another street they told me we had arrived at my new home. I could not believe my eyes. The apartment I live in is a 30 second walk to the marina. We live in "el ático" which is the top floor (7th). I have a beautiful room with a view; our living room (salon) also has an amazing view. My host parents are amazing too, my mom Carolina, my host dad César and my little sister Paula who is 2 years old (pesada y preciosa al mismo tiempo).

    Today I woke up early to go for my first run in Spain. Everyone thought I was crazy in shorts in a t-shirt because for them the cold of winter is biting, but I embraced the upper 50 degree F weather as a warm spring day. I ran along the marina and down to another part of Alicante with the Mediterranean sparkling, it's just unbelievable how lucky I am to be here. I also went out for un paseo with César his bother, my tio Fernando, and Paula. We had some jamón and aceitunas, sitting outside on the street (muy típico europeo) near la Plaza de los luceros. The city was bustling with people getting ready for Dia de los Reyes Magos (a Christmas tradition similar to Santa Claus but with the Three Kings bringing presents instead).  Afterwards we came home for a lunch of tortilla de patata una ensalada. Then César and Paula took a siesta while I read my new favorite book Shantaram out on our terrace, laughing at how ridiculous it is that I was soaking up the sun in the 60-degree weather of January. So far Alicante has exceeded my already high expectations. I am excited to start school but I am also nervous. All I can say is that I am going to be taking every opportunity for an adventure possible…which means I am going to be busy.