Earlier this week, our CIEE program decided to offer a day trip to Murcia, which is a little less than an hour from Alicante. I'm a big fan of the day trips. I don't mind sleeping on the bus, and it's nice to not have to worry about packing a suitcase or catching a flight or waking up too early to get somewhere or any of that nonsense. Also, I want to see as much of Spain as I can, so I signed up.
There was a very small group of us – about 10 girls – but that made the trip all the more enjoyable. We didn't have to wait for people to catch up and it was actually very possible to hear and understand the tour guide since we were all much closer together.
Our first stop was La Catedral. Murcia, just like every other Spanish city, has their one Catedral which is usually pretty centrally located. We got all the history, including the information about the cathedral's relics (which allegedly includes some of the Virgin Mary's breastmilk. Questionable.). After that, we walked into the Baroque style castle right next door, basically to see the impressive staircase. After a quick snack break, we reconvened at Murcia's Casino. It wasn't the casino like we think of it, but rather a social gathering place that struck me more like a country club. There were rooms strictly for members' use, but also rooms to view and tour. I kind of missed the point of it, but it was cool to walk through anyway.
After that, we broke for lunch (pizza and helado...mmm) and then met up one more time to head over to El Museo Salzillo. Salzillo was an artist who is most famous for his "pasos", lifelike and life-size religious figures representing Semana Santa (the week leading up to Easter). These pasos are carried by several hundred Murcianos in a procession on Easter morning. Although I was exhausted for this part of the tour, this was probably the coolest part, especially because you could see how much it meant to our guide, who was Murcian.
Then we got back on the bus and pretty much instantly passed out. I slept the entire way back to Alicante, and when the bus dropped us off at my stop, I thought I was at one side of the traffic circle but was actually on the opposite and walked about half a block in the wrong direction toward what I thought was my house. I was very confused for a moment when I turned the corner expecting to see my apartment building and instead saw one of Alicante's most beautiful government buildings. Awkkkwwarrrddd...
The next day, Allison and I decided to head over to San Juan's beautiful Costa Blanca via TRAM. It was a little windy for my liking, but the sun was shining so we definitely caught some rays. I can't wait to head back that way when it gets a little warmer. Maybe I'll even take Jack and Joann when they come visit me in ONE WEEK!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Las Fallas en Valencia
After a somewhat epic Saint Patrick's day (my first one as a 21 year old – I'd say I made it a night to remember. Or forget, depending on how you look at it.), we got on the buses at 9am to head for Valencia. We in Alicante are part of the Valencia community, but the actual city of Valencia was about a 2.5 hour bus ride. I think we took the long way.
Las Fallas is a huge week-long celebration in Valencia. Las fallas are huge, cartoon-like structures that are designed according to a citywide theme. There are probably more than 100 fallas created – each barrio (neighborhood) has one. Here are a few ejemplos...
We were in Valencia for the Friday of Las Fallas, which is a pretty eventful day. As soon as we got there, we headed to la Plaza de Ayuntamiento which is where La Mascletà occurs. La Mascletà is basically a fireworks show without the pretty fireworks. It's a lot of noise. Firecrackers go off for 7-8 minutes in a rhythm of some sort, and the Spaniards treat it like a concert. They jump around and dance as if it's music. It was a pretty awesome thing to see (/hear), and it was easy to pick out the Americans around because NONE of the Spaniards had their fingers in their ears. This picture is right after the finale. The smoke cleared away pretty quickly.
The Saturday of Las Fallas, which some people from my program attended but I did not, is the big event. One of las fallas is selected as the best, most beautiful, or most impressive, and the rest are burned. From what I understand, it's quite the show.
Las Fallas is a huge week-long celebration in Valencia. Las fallas are huge, cartoon-like structures that are designed according to a citywide theme. There are probably more than 100 fallas created – each barrio (neighborhood) has one. Here are a few ejemplos...
We were in Valencia for the Friday of Las Fallas, which is a pretty eventful day. As soon as we got there, we headed to la Plaza de Ayuntamiento which is where La Mascletà occurs. La Mascletà is basically a fireworks show without the pretty fireworks. It's a lot of noise. Firecrackers go off for 7-8 minutes in a rhythm of some sort, and the Spaniards treat it like a concert. They jump around and dance as if it's music. It was a pretty awesome thing to see (/hear), and it was easy to pick out the Americans around because NONE of the Spaniards had their fingers in their ears. This picture is right after the finale. The smoke cleared away pretty quickly.
The Saturday of Las Fallas, which some people from my program attended but I did not, is the big event. One of las fallas is selected as the best, most beautiful, or most impressive, and the rest are burned. From what I understand, it's quite the show.
Monday, March 14, 2011
New people
I have a feeling that Jack, Joann, Jill and Jeff are going to LOVE this post.
Along with a program like this comes the presentation of a new college aged-cohort who, aside from their age and desire to study in a foreign country, have very little in common. You can argue that this phenomenon occurs when going to college or when finding a new job, which it does. And I'm certain it occurs to even higher degrees in other settings. But in my "branching out" experiences, which insofar include going to college at Penn State and working at Deer Valley YMCA Camp, this experience has been much...milder.
Most of my closest Penn State friends come from within PA or the very near surrounding regions, giving us the region in common. Almost all of my DV friends camped there before or knew someone who did, so naturally we have that in common. Even here, in my program in Spain, there are people from my side of the country, my state, even my university. But there are also people from down South, from the West, from the Midwest, from the Northwest...you get the idea. With these people the only two things we could immediately have in common were our home country and our age (give or take 1-2 years). With all this time to think, along with new people and forced conversations, I have drawn two simple conclusions: one relating to others and one relating to myself.
1) Good listeners and conversationalists are not easy to come by. I feel blessed to have so many people in my life that I really enjoy talking to. Being here has made me realize that while some people are very chatty and outgoing, it doesn't necessarily mean they are interested in conversing with you. They are interested in talking. Specifically about themselves. While you are talking, instead of listening, they're thinking of what they want to say next. After a little worry and confusion – thinking that these might be qualities that I also, in fact, may possess – I concluded that I do not. Family, while I realize that I do tend to dominate our dinner conversation and cut off people who are talking (sorry Jeff), I think you may be an exception to the rule since I am more comfortable around you than around most others – especially than people I have just met. But imagine talking to someone you barely know and feeling dominated by their conversation like you do by me when we have family meals at the house. No wonder you guys hate me so much! It's very irritating and, to be honest, a little immature.
2) I am...wait for it...introverted. I have gone my entire life thinking I was a cut-and-dry extrovert. I love to talk. I love to talk to people about their experiences and I like to share mine. I have always considered myself the opposite of Beans, who IS a cut-and-dry introvert, because I'm the chatty between the two of us. I can chat up a camper with the best of them, but it's because we have Deer Valley in common (thus they are not a stranger). But I am not good at small talk and I will not introduce myself to random people just for the sake of meeting them. I have a defined group of close friends as opposed to having lots and lots of "kind-of" friends. I have a ton of acquaintances, but I think that they stem from my more extroverted friends. I have always appreciated alone time, but I just thought it was because people were always around (parents, siblings, roommates, etc). Well, I spend a lot of time here not with people (or just with my madre), and I still enjoy it. I think the reason I go out more often in State College than I do here is because I know more people in State College. Does that make me anti-social here because I'm not interested in meeting new people? I hope not. I am meeting new people, but how I want to do it. I think it just makes me introverted.
My mom told me once that she and my dad took that test that tells you if you're introverted or extroverted, and that he tested introverted and she extroverted. I could hardly believe it. My dad always seemed outgoing and my mom always seemed like the shy one. But what I'm coming to learn is that introversion vs. extroversion is so much more than about how chatty you are or how good you are in social situations. It's about personal preferences and mindsets. There's a good chance that this blog was filled with contradictions and things that don't make sense, but whatever. Good vent sesh.
Along with a program like this comes the presentation of a new college aged-cohort who, aside from their age and desire to study in a foreign country, have very little in common. You can argue that this phenomenon occurs when going to college or when finding a new job, which it does. And I'm certain it occurs to even higher degrees in other settings. But in my "branching out" experiences, which insofar include going to college at Penn State and working at Deer Valley YMCA Camp, this experience has been much...milder.
Most of my closest Penn State friends come from within PA or the very near surrounding regions, giving us the region in common. Almost all of my DV friends camped there before or knew someone who did, so naturally we have that in common. Even here, in my program in Spain, there are people from my side of the country, my state, even my university. But there are also people from down South, from the West, from the Midwest, from the Northwest...you get the idea. With these people the only two things we could immediately have in common were our home country and our age (give or take 1-2 years). With all this time to think, along with new people and forced conversations, I have drawn two simple conclusions: one relating to others and one relating to myself.
1) Good listeners and conversationalists are not easy to come by. I feel blessed to have so many people in my life that I really enjoy talking to. Being here has made me realize that while some people are very chatty and outgoing, it doesn't necessarily mean they are interested in conversing with you. They are interested in talking. Specifically about themselves. While you are talking, instead of listening, they're thinking of what they want to say next. After a little worry and confusion – thinking that these might be qualities that I also, in fact, may possess – I concluded that I do not. Family, while I realize that I do tend to dominate our dinner conversation and cut off people who are talking (sorry Jeff), I think you may be an exception to the rule since I am more comfortable around you than around most others – especially than people I have just met. But imagine talking to someone you barely know and feeling dominated by their conversation like you do by me when we have family meals at the house. No wonder you guys hate me so much! It's very irritating and, to be honest, a little immature.
2) I am...wait for it...introverted. I have gone my entire life thinking I was a cut-and-dry extrovert. I love to talk. I love to talk to people about their experiences and I like to share mine. I have always considered myself the opposite of Beans, who IS a cut-and-dry introvert, because I'm the chatty between the two of us. I can chat up a camper with the best of them, but it's because we have Deer Valley in common (thus they are not a stranger). But I am not good at small talk and I will not introduce myself to random people just for the sake of meeting them. I have a defined group of close friends as opposed to having lots and lots of "kind-of" friends. I have a ton of acquaintances, but I think that they stem from my more extroverted friends. I have always appreciated alone time, but I just thought it was because people were always around (parents, siblings, roommates, etc). Well, I spend a lot of time here not with people (or just with my madre), and I still enjoy it. I think the reason I go out more often in State College than I do here is because I know more people in State College. Does that make me anti-social here because I'm not interested in meeting new people? I hope not. I am meeting new people, but how I want to do it. I think it just makes me introverted.
My mom told me once that she and my dad took that test that tells you if you're introverted or extroverted, and that he tested introverted and she extroverted. I could hardly believe it. My dad always seemed outgoing and my mom always seemed like the shy one. But what I'm coming to learn is that introversion vs. extroversion is so much more than about how chatty you are or how good you are in social situations. It's about personal preferences and mindsets. There's a good chance that this blog was filled with contradictions and things that don't make sense, but whatever. Good vent sesh.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Sevilla
This past weekend, I was lucky enough to get to visit TWO Hershey friends without crossing any international borders. My travels brought me to Sevilla, España where I bunked with Skylar Kulbacki for a few days. As it turned out, the weekend I selected was special for several reasons: one, Rachel Cullari was visiting for her spring break. Two, it was Carnaval weekend and Skylar's roommates run a Spain travel program called "We Love Spain" so we had an instant hookup to a trip to Cádiz for the celebration.
The weekend commenced Thursday evening when I arrived in Sevilla. Skylar and I grabbed a quick bite, stopped back at her apartment, then headed to Calle Betis which is a skeezy bar scene – my favorite kind. I actually ran into a few PSU students here...talk about a small world. The next day, we did a little walking tour of Sevilla. We walked past la Giralda, Sevilla's cathedral, but didn't actually tour it until Saturday. We saw Torre de Oros, the park, la Plaza de España, and a few other cool landmarks. We stopped at a little bar for lunch (run by a mother and son) which was probably the most "authentic" Spanish dining I've done since I've been here. After lunch, we picked up Rachel at the bus stop. We figured she'd be exhausted from traveling, not to mention a little jet-lagged, so we decided to keep plans low-key and check out a Flamenco show. It was so cool! Very passionate, just like they say! Then we hit up a BANGIN' pizza restaurant for dinner. And churros y chocolate for dessert, obviously.
The next day we toured la Giralda. This included walking around the church and climbing to the top. Quite a view of Sevilla! Those were pretty much all the plans we had for the touring, because later on that day, we would hop on the bus and head to Carnaval for the night/morning.
Carnaval was NUTS. It was basically one huge botellón where people just drink in the streets. Picture this: the craziest Halloween party you've ever been to, plus Mardi Gras, x1000. Lots of people, lots of costumes, lots of makeup, and lots, and lots, and LOTS of alcohol. However, not so many bathrooms. You do the math.
Got on the bus back to Sevilla at 5:30am. Rachel, Skylar and I made it back to the apartment where I took a nap until I had to leave for the airport. Then, in typical Jodie fashion, I was at the airport with plenty of time to spare (and time to call the parental units, of course) and headed back to good ol' Alicante.
The weekend commenced Thursday evening when I arrived in Sevilla. Skylar and I grabbed a quick bite, stopped back at her apartment, then headed to Calle Betis which is a skeezy bar scene – my favorite kind. I actually ran into a few PSU students here...talk about a small world. The next day, we did a little walking tour of Sevilla. We walked past la Giralda, Sevilla's cathedral, but didn't actually tour it until Saturday. We saw Torre de Oros, the park, la Plaza de España, and a few other cool landmarks. We stopped at a little bar for lunch (run by a mother and son) which was probably the most "authentic" Spanish dining I've done since I've been here. After lunch, we picked up Rachel at the bus stop. We figured she'd be exhausted from traveling, not to mention a little jet-lagged, so we decided to keep plans low-key and check out a Flamenco show. It was so cool! Very passionate, just like they say! Then we hit up a BANGIN' pizza restaurant for dinner. And churros y chocolate for dessert, obviously.
The next day we toured la Giralda. This included walking around the church and climbing to the top. Quite a view of Sevilla! Those were pretty much all the plans we had for the touring, because later on that day, we would hop on the bus and head to Carnaval for the night/morning.
Carnaval was NUTS. It was basically one huge botellón where people just drink in the streets. Picture this: the craziest Halloween party you've ever been to, plus Mardi Gras, x1000. Lots of people, lots of costumes, lots of makeup, and lots, and lots, and LOTS of alcohol. However, not so many bathrooms. You do the math.
Got on the bus back to Sevilla at 5:30am. Rachel, Skylar and I made it back to the apartment where I took a nap until I had to leave for the airport. Then, in typical Jodie fashion, I was at the airport with plenty of time to spare (and time to call the parental units, of course) and headed back to good ol' Alicante.
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