half way

So I know I haven't been updating my blog as much as I should be so I'll make this post a good one =) So I'm halfway through my stay in Spain and the closer I get to June the harder it is because I don't wanna leave =( I just wish I could bring all my friends and family from home here and I could stay because I'm having the best time of my life! I just finished exams for my business classes and so far I passed 2 of my 3 classes (still waiting to hear back from the 3rd but I think I did fine =) ) so this means I only have one class left until the end of June which means lots of going to the beach. Speaking of the beach the weather has been PERFECT so I have been going to the beach almost everyday... working on my tan so I can be supa dark when I get back.

Good things that have happened this past mont:
1. I went to las fallas in Valencia which is a really cool festival where they burn these huge paper statues.. you can check out my pictures on facebook if you want to see what they look like!
2. I TURNED 21!!!!!!! I can't believe I'm finally 21. My birthday was so much fun. The night before my birthday we did cake and champagne in Mulligans and then the next night we went to a mexican dinner.. and then out again. Can't wait to re-celebrate my birthday when I'm back home in the states ;)
3. My dad came to visit!!! It was so nice to see someone from home and show him around my new life here. We tried lots of new restaurants that I hadn't gotten a chance to try and went to the beach and the castle and walked around. I miss him a lot and can't wait to see him again.
4. My mom and stepdad are coming this Tuesday!!! I'm so excited because it will be like when my dad came.. getting to show them all around Alicante. And they're staying a little longer so we are probably going to take a few day trips to other places in Spain.
5. Yesterday me and Valeria reserved our spots to go to Ibiza in May!!! I'm sooo excited because we're going for about 6 days and I haven't been anywhere outside of Alicante or Valencia yet so this is gonna be a lot of fun =)

Some not so good things that happened:

1. Saint Patrick's day I busted my knee open on the stairs and had to go to the hospital. My hospital experience was pretty interesting but I had my friends Caitlin and Selin with me for support =) Of course I cried a lot because I hate seeing my own blood so I was acting like a baby but afterwards we got Mcdonalds and ice cream and all was well. minus the fact that its still pretty hard to walk on my knee.. probably gonna get that checked out again soon. OH and healthcare here is way better the States of course. My whole visit was free =) including x-rays and everything.!
2. I got pick-pocketed in Valencia. We were at a huge club with a lot of people and somebody took my cell phone, cash, debit card and keys. Needless to say I was really pissed but I got a new cell phone and only had a little cash on me so it could've been worse.
3. Anddd heres the hard part =/ This is the first time I'm actually publicly talking about this not to just my good friends and family but I think it's good people know so that they can be more careful then I was. I was attacked going into my apartment 2 days after my birthday. It was one of those "it will never happen to me" type things but it did. Everyone told me before I left to never walk alone but when I got here you realize that everybody is doing it and its not a big deal but it is. Luckily I escaped before too much could happen but it is still really hard because the guy was never caught. I just hope that anybody that reads this sees it as a wakeup call like I did that you have to be more careful because these things CAN happen. I'm still recovering from this but I have the support of my awesome friends and family who I love so much and have been here for me. I've moved apartments into a better and safer place right near all the shopping (I haven't gone yet because I' scared I'll spend too much money!!) and my dad coming really helped. I almost went home after it happened but I decided to stay and I'm so happy I did. This is the best experience I could ever ask for and I've learned so much and met people that I truly think I will be friends with forever.

Well Erin is here now and we're about to go get sombreros for a friend's Mexican-themed birthday party tonight. Hope you all enjoyed and learned some things!!! =)

Spain =)

Ok so I fail at keeping up with my blog and making my posts interesting so I'm planning on making this a good one and sharing a lot of things that I've realized since I've been here since it's been about a month. For starters I can tell that I'm not gonna wanna leave when June comes around. I feel like in Boone I see the same people every single day and even though here I see alot of the same people and hang out with alot of the same people, I'm constantly meeting new ones. Everyone here is just nicer and open to new things because almost everyone is in the same position of being in a new country and just trying to make the best of it and that includes making new friends and trying new things. It's crazy how diverse my group of friends is now...besides the group of us that came from App, almost all of my other friends are from a different country, and I feel like I'm learning new things from everyone everyday.
        School here is pretty boring just like anywhere, and it makes it harder that every class is 2 hours long BUT I will be done with all but my business spanish class on April 15th.. which means I will be going to the beach and hopefully traveling as much as I can.
        Going out has been a ton of fun too.. there's so many different bars and clubs here which is also a nice change from Boone, and there's always different events going on. Monday nights there's beer pong and then other nights have open bar or themed parties. One theme party that Mulligans has was called a "Sex and Love" party which is mainly focused towards single guys and girls meeting. At the door each guy and girl picks up a piece of paper that has who they are looking for (for example I was looking for "my millionaire") and your supposed to go around looking for your match because there is a match for each guy and girl.. well it turned out that they must've mixed the guys and girls pile up bc by about 3am me and Erin realized we were eachother millionaires. hmm.. fun night anyways though!
        Also!! I found a mexican restaurant that makes me extremely happy because mexican is my favorite food and I can't go without it. The place had delicious margaritas and the waiters gave us lots of free tequilla shots and we got to wear sombreros during dinner.. so definitely my kind of place.
        Shopping here is awesome because despite what I thought.. most things are cheaper. Groceries are alot cheaper then back home and then there are alot of clothing stores with really cute stuff for super cheap. Since we all go out so much here it's essential to keep up with the dressier spanish style, and since you run out of outfits I just had to go buy some more... One thing that alot of spanish girls have are the thigh-high leather heeled boots that pretty much look like hooker boots, but I've decided that I want to get a pair just so I can wear them while I'm here.. not sure how practical they'll be back home.
        Next weekend we're going on a day trip to Elche, the next town over, to shop in the outlets and visit some musuems and parks so I'm super excited about that because even though I love Alicante, I feel like I need to start traveling outside of it more. Caitlin and Erin went to Sevilla this past weekend which I was super jealous about, but because of their last minute decision it was a little more expensive then it usually would be, but the pictures look amazing so I'm excited to start planning my trips for the future. My main goals of places I want to go are Granada, Sevilla, Barcelona, Morocco and maybeee Greece and Amsterdam.
        A few things that I've realized about my apartment are that I take having a dryer back home for granted. People in Spain don't use dryers at home at alllll... so having to hang my clothes and sheets everywhere is slightly difficult.

Yes.. those are my sheets, jeans, shirts, etc drying on my bookshelf. Another thing I've taken for granted are long, hot showers. Our shower only gives about 3 min of hot water so I never have that relaxing of a shower. But despite all that, I like my roommates alot, and my room is big, with its own bathroom (minus the shower) and a balcony, so even though I'm paying a little extra its definitely worth it. I don't have as good of a location as some people but I'm still only a 10-15 min walk from el barrio (area with nightlife) and about a 20-25 min walk from the beach... and there's nothing wrong with a little exercise. And speaking of exercise I went to the gym on campus for the first time today (which is essential if you don't want to gain weight from too much fiestas, siestas, and comida here) and it is pretty much all guys. I guess I probably would've felt a little more comfortable if I didn't go my first time alone, but that's what stepping out of your comfort zone is about. The machines are very old compared to those at home and its mostly guys just lifting weights with a few bikes and elipticals in the back corner and my gym clothes pretty much scream American with my Cary High Football tshirt (american football not futbol!)  so I defintitely got a few more stares than I would've at home.
        All in all I'm having an amazing time here, and despite a lot of cultural differences I absolutely love it. I'm missing my family and friends but atleast some will get to visit and my dad comes in less then 2 months. Oh and as a closure... my 21st birthday is in one month. Holla!!!

hola

So I started classes this past week and they're definitely different then back home. I'm taking Human Resource Management, Cross Cultural Behavior, Entrepreneurial Initiative and Business Spanish. All of my business classes are in English and there's people from all over in them so it's been fun to meet new people. My business spanish class is through the university and the teacher talks really fast but it's getting a little easier to understand her. I don't have Friday classes which has never happened for me before so I love that and it should make it easier for when I want to travel =) Last night was alot of fun because we all had mexican food because I've been craving queso and burritos for weeks now so that was super tastyy. Going out has been fun too..meeting tons of new people and trying to talk in spanish over loud music is always a lovely challenge baha. It's crazy how late people stay out till here... we were out until 7 am this morning and now I know why siestas are so essential. Also we've been to the beach a few times and its soo nice.. I can't wait for it to get warm bc I'm gonna be there every day. I'm not a very good blogger so sorry if my posts are boring haha but I'm starting to plan a few trips coming up so I will keep everyone updated. I'll post again in a few dayss!!

A little over a week

So it's been almost a week since I posted last and I haven't done too much because I've been sick the past few days. We all went out last weekend to the different bars/clubs so that was alot of fun. After that we went to El Castillo de Santa Bárbara which was absolutely beautiful (go on my facebook to look at pictures). Then until today I've been sick in bed but I'm finally feeling better so today we all went on campus to figure out our confusion with classes and basically those of us that are from App did not quite get what we signed up for. To make a long story short, all of us are in the international business program but were planning on taking two spanish language courses, but only one can be easily taken, but I'm pretty sure atleast my schedule is figured out now. Tomorrow we have our final meeting then Monday classes begin. I've been resting all week so tomorrow night I will be out on the town again so I'll update with more exciting stuff after classes start!

Day 4

Since my first day I've definitely gotten alot done and had alot of time to explore. On Tuesday we got our prepaid phones, walked around downtown, and went on campus for the first time to register for Orientation. Wednesday we walked around downtown again and went by the beach which was soo pretty and actually a shorter walk from my apartment then I thought (15-20 minutes). That night me Erin and Caitlin met up with the guys from App that are at Alicante too and we all got dinner then went out to Havana Cafe and another bar which was alot of fun. The bars here close around 6am so that's definitely a big change and we were out till almost 5 but it was good for everyone to get to know eachother. Yesterday we went to a super store downtown that's basically a wal mart but better with 6 floors. I got a hair dryer and a space heater since there's no heat in my apartment and it's freezing at night. For dinner we decided to get some authentic spanish cuisine and tried a seafood paella ontop of pasta instead of rice and I don't think it was quite for me haha. There were octopus tentacles and whatever Erin had had fins on it... definitely gross. Today we went to Orientation and the guy talked in all Spanish so it was a little hard to keep up. I'm pretty sure our business classes actually end in April and the Spanish still go to June so I'm going to try and get my Spanish classes for the morning so when April comes around I can go to the beach everyday =) Registration here is also a little different.. you get a week to try out a bunch of classes and see which you like best and then you register for those..so hopefully I'll get the classes I want. After Orientation I went to a big bank here to open an account and even though the welcome guy gave me information in english that actual person that opened the account for me that I had to talk to spoke in only Spanish so that was kind of a challenge but I got good practice =) Now I'm siesta-ing and later tonight the girls and guys from App are gonna eat dinner, then meet up with Margaret (Caitlin's roommate from Lithuania) and two girls we met at Orientation that are from Austria and Finland to go to bars in El Barrio. Basically to sum everything up... I absolutely love it here and I'm having alot of fun already =)

First Day!!

I'm finally heree after a full day of traveling. My connection from Madrid to Alicante didn't go too well considering I got myself very lost and took a bus to a terminal about 15 min drive away and wandered around for 2 hours, then me and Erin's taxi driver was a total douche and refused to respond to anything I said, even though I was talking in spanish but that's okayyy bc IM HEREEE =) =) People definitely act, dress, etc very different here but I like it. My roommates are really cool and I have my own room with a bathroom so that's nice and everything is in walking distance. Me and Erin met up with Caitlin and of course we were starving when nowhere was serving food (they eat dinner around 10ish here) so we went to some small pizza place, so I haven't had a chance to enjoy real spanish food yet. Buttt I did order a legal sangria so that was satisfying. Plans for tomorrow are to check out the bus pass situation, go on campus and hopefully register, get my prepaid phone, figure out a bank situation, and hopefully explore some more. I don't think I'll be able to call back to the States so if anybody wants to talk your gonna have to skype me!! Well I've been awake for a day and a half straight now so I'm about to go pass out. I'll keep everyone posted on what I'm doing here!

4 days

ahh so in 4 days i will be headed to Spain!!! I'm getting way too excited, having spanish dreams every night and making travel plans with Erin everytime we talk.  I'm still a little nervous about the packing situation considering I have way too much stuff, but the fact that I got a new huge leopard print suitcase will make it a little more fun. I've also been trying to figure out how I can hide my dog Isamu on the plane to smuggle her into Spain but I'm pretty sure that's not gonna work. Anyone who knows me and my obsession with my dog knows how hard it's gonna be for me to leave her =( =( But on a happier note my best friends from Boone are coming to visit in Cary before I leave for good so I'm pretty excited about that. OH and I've made a pretty big decision...or i think hah.. I've decided to put my vegetarian lifestyle on hold while I'm abroad because I want no limits in trying new food, and since food is my absolute favorite thing in the world I think I've made a good choice. Welll... I'm gonna stop writing in this till I'm actually there for good since it's probably getting pretty boring but I'll end with this.. I have NEVER been more excited for change. New food, new people, new hot spaniard boys, drinks, beach, oh.. and school. hasta luego!