Italia/Valencia/Alicante

¡Hola a todas! 

So I figured I needed to update this soon before I forgot everything :) It's been a very busy two weeks here, between flying to Europe and traveling a bit. My time in Italy was fun, it was mainly hanging out with my Aunt Colleen's family in Siena. Kathy took me to Florence for a day and showed off her tour guide skills by taking me on a tour of Florence (which just happened to include some shopping ;) Florence is a very beautiful city, with some truly amazing sites. I especially liked the cathedral there, with the dome and the baptistry outside. The tour was concluded with some amazing pizza. I also got to stop by the leaning tower of Pisa on the way to the airport. We decided that we had just enough time to go there without being late for our flight, if we didn't get lost on the way. (Which of course we did) After we finally found the tower it was just a stop to take cheesy pictures with us and the tower. We had to use Kathy's phone because her camera was in her bag and mine conveniently died right when we got there. We also got openly laughed at by some rude Italian guys when Kathy was trying to get a picture of me holding the tower up, (it is a lot harder than it looks...) haha. We then headed to the airport and made the flight from Pisa to Valencia.

Valencia was awesome, finally a place where I can understand some of what people were saying to me, although it's a little difficult with their accent and the speed at which they talk. Kathy and I stayed with a host family she had stayed with earlier. They were a wonderful couple, with an amazing daughter who stopped by often to visit. They even told me to call them if I had any problems with my family in Alicante and they would help me. In Valencia Kathy and I went shopping ( I went window shopping and Kathy did her best to buy everything in Valencia ;), although I did replace those shoes I had to throw out :) Afterwards we went to a museum that had an expedition about the power of thinking. It was awesome, even if I didn't completely understand everything. We later tried going to the beach, but we missed the bus by like 5 seconds... so instead we watched Catch Me If You Can, a great movie. We also went out with a group of friends that Kathy met in Valencia. We had a fun night of just hanging out and talking. On Sunday we got up bright and early to catch a train (that we just barely made!) and headed to Alicante.

So I finally made it to Alicante! And I love it here :D My host family is awesome. I live with a woman, Chari, and her daughter ( who is about my age) Maria. They are incredibly nice and are helpful with the language barrier. Kathy stayed for a day then left the next day :( but I had orientation for USAC anyways. Orientation was just like any that you would attend in the States: long, boring and it was putting me to sleep. Haha ohhh well. We also had to take a placement exam, which I did not do well on. Because of this, USAC tried putting me in a lower class.. which I refused because I know I will be fine in the classes I signed up for. Telling them this they made me sign a form saying that I am knowingly taking a class outside my level or something like that ( I think it was more of a 'we told you so' for when someone fails). So I am all signed up for classes now, I have made some friends among the group and I have a walking tour of Alicante today. Oh and the best thing? I have found some running buddies :D

And a few things I have noticed/learned about Spain:

It's common for men here to carry purses (murses :)

The boy/girl ratio is horrible, there are only like 4 boys in the group 

Spain has one of the highest AIDS population in Europe.. so I guess no one night stands for me ;)

Everyone and their mother smokes, so I will always smell like a smoker here

And  my family's dog Chico is even crazier than all my brothers dogs combined and continually bites me thinking I am a chew toy.. haha

But I love it here :)

PS Don't judge my bad writing skills, I am new to this haha

♥torin 

Fotos :)

Seriously, the biggest calculator I have ever seen in my life...

Siena :)

Some random cool building in Alicante

The famous Esplanade in Alicante

The Port in Alicante

City hall and the castle in the background

The castle