Las Fallas!

Hola!

I know it's been another drought of me updating. My laziness definitely gets the best of me sometimes.

The past couple of weeks have been pretty packed, with the next 3 looking to be even more so. I start Spring Break on Saturday and will have TONS to talk about so I figured I better post about the past couple of events before they get lost amidst of the craziness.

Two weeks or so ago, there was a big festival called Las Fallas in a near by city called Valencia. Basically, everyone shows up to this shindig cause it's pretty much pure madness. In short, the purpose of the festival is to honor St. Joseph, well that was why it was started. However, now, it's just a party...the city builds these massive monuments and burns them all at midnight. Fallas means "torch" in latin (more or less). And we're talking about fire...there's about a hundred of these monuments placed all over the city...and every single one gets burned.

So since, it happens St. Joe's Feast Day aka Father's Day in Spain...there is no school. So my friends and I took the train to Valencia and hung out all day...eating paella and taking in the sights. It was pure madness. We left right before the riots started, so I guess I didn't get the full experience, but it was still fun.

one of the many statues/ monuments

another one...

oh paella...

city cathedral

night shot.

So, hopefully you all can hang tight until tomorrow or maybe Thursday. Cause I promise...I'll post about this past weekend when I went to Granada...I'd write about it now...but it would be alot. Soon though!

Hasta,

Megan

Day Trippin'

Hola amigos!

So I know I owe you one post...but that post is being put on the back burner, cause honestly I can't keep up right now. So I am gonna write about some recent happenings...This past weekend I took 2 day trips to 2 different coast towns on the Costa Blanca (also where Alicante is). The first was with our group to a little town called Campello and the second was to a town called Altea with some friends that came to visit from the States. Let's start with Campello.

To be honest the trip was kind of a waste of time, kind of unorganized, but nevertheless, it was nice to get out of Alicante and see something new. Campello is tiny, tiny town that pretty much is desolate in the winter months. We walked around, took some pictures, bought some illegal DVDs (not me), and ate some churros con chocolate (yes me). We were only there for a few hours, but it was fun.

churros and chocolate!

Something was really interesting was the fish auction we saw. Every day in Campello, after fisherman dock for the day; there is an auction for what fish they caught. People come and gather around this table and bid on the goods. It was something I had never seen before, I guess people who restaurants and what not come to get fish for their menus...oh the benefits of living on the sea!

fish auction

The second trip was taken this past Sunday to a place called Altea. It's alot like most of the costal towns here, but I thought it'd be good to show my friends a picturesque view of the Mediterranean and Espana. It was definitely a tiring journey, probably due to the lack of sleep we had, but we embraced it.

at the train station

cute little street in altea

Alright, there's a few more day trips coming up, so I will definitely be posting about those soon! Tomorrow we go to the waterfalls in Guadalest!

Hasta,
Megan

Update Round 2: Toledo

Hola!

I apologize for not posting yesterday, I had a busy day and a very sensitive internet connection, so I decided to wait until today so I could post at the University. Alright..vamos.

This past weekend, our group took a trip to Toledo. No no, not in Ohio. So try and resist making a joke. According to our tour guide, Fernando, Toledo is a city that has three cultures integrated in it's history: Christian, Judaism, and Arabic. All three of these cultures have fought over the years to gain control of the city, so you can see pieces of each spread throughout the city. They are also famous for making swords.

We did the basic touristy things, but I enjoyed all of them. My favorite by far was the Cathedral. It was beautiful, I tried to take a picture of it, but it was too big to fit entirely in my shot. Oh well. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Cathedral

this is for you Senora!

on the ride home.

what i found, when i got home. chicken paella. wow. i love my host mom. i was so happy, really i couldn't stop smiling.

I also bought a sword, I am a little nervous in transporting it home...let's hope for the best!

Hasta,
Megan

I know, I know, it's been awhile.

I know, I know it's been a long time since I've updated. Don't be mad...I've got a lot of content to give you faithful readers. If it's any consolation, my computer recently crashed. So I haven't been able to even access the internet. Therefore, within the next few days I will post 3, yes count 'em, 3 posts.

So, here we go with the first post.

Two weeks ago, Alicante had a festival called Carnaval. Now this festival starts the week before Ash Wednesday and ends then, kicking off Lent for this heavily-populated Catholic country. Carnaval happens all over Spain, not just in Alicante, but since Mary-Carmen had her grandsons over for the weekend (another post), I decided to just enjoy what Alicante had to offer.

In a few words, I would compare Carnaval to Mardi Gras (without the beads); there were thousands of people just partying in the streets. It was insane to see.

Now the tradition is to dress up, but it's not required. Our group decided to partake in the tradition. I initially was against dressing up, but MC told me that I should, all her kids had done it. So at the last minute I went to a toy store by my apartment and bought the cheapest/modest costume I could find. Haha...so I went as an Indian, or to be politically correct, a Native-American. I looked ridiculous! Whatever, “when in Rome. The picture that you see is me in my outfit wearing one of the boys' afro wigs. I think it fits me well... "

The party didn't start till about 1 am. We all met up before, but we finally went out around then. The Barrio was packed. People were everywhere. My friends and I went dancing, then got some Churros! Which are so good. They are little pieces of deep-fried goodness. I got super tired around 3:30 and got walked home and crashed. I think I fell asleep the minute I sat on my bed. Definitely not my scene, but I am glad, I got to experience it.

Alright, I think that will suffice for now, more to come tomorrow.

Hasta,

Megan