Eating tapas at Lizarran for Mohsen's birthday with Zach and Stafford (2 of the Student Managers for the program)
Tuesday 6/28 – Sunday 7/3
Tuesday
Work today was nothing special. I did some more searching for translation websites because at first I gave my boss a list of 16 US companies along with a letter soliciting potential partnerships and he replied asking, “Are there only 16 translation companies in the US? There are 20 in Alicante.” I had to broaden my search, haha. I was glad to have Jose back and we had a good time back at our old breakfast café.
After work I left with David to visit their house. We just hung out and talked a lot about all kinds of different things. While I was there David found out he didn’t pass the English exam he took to get some type of certificate and he was really bummed. It seems like the English classes and exams they take are really challenging because I think David speaks very well, but that’s the one area he didn’t pass.
That night I ate a quick dinner before heading out to our friend Mohsen’s birthday dinner (didn’t want to spend a lot eating out). We went to the popular Lizarran place where you can pick however many single serving tapas you want from the counter or the server’s tray and then your bill is determined by the number and type of leftover toothpicks on your plate. Afterwards we went to the rocks and watched the fireworks again and then chilled for a while before going to Havana. We tried to spice things up with karaoke late that night, but it cost 4 Euros just to sing! I found a new scarf that night and had two lives with Zach, but our 3rd round status did not reflect our skill.
Wednesday
Today was the last day of work and my home stay. Jose paid for my half horchata half límon drink at breakfast to celebrate (which was good because I had 0 cash). The last day was pretty relaxed and I mainly searched for translation companies (I had 101 by the end of the day, so at least that’s better than 16!) and wrote a long report in Spanish about my experience with the internship and home stay for my program director. At the end of the day I went around and said my good-byes to Carmen, David, other David, Jose, and Chema. When Jose and I said goodbye I was all ready to give him a hug (b/c he’s a hug-able guy and always greets his friend other David with a warm hug each day), but it looked like he was going for the handshake. So I stuck my hand out just as he switched to go for a hug and we ended up kind of high-fiving/shaking near our shoulders and then hugging. I hate those awkward guy moments, it seems like I get stuck in a lot of them! There is no standard code. Fortunately when I said goodbye to Carmen knew I could be safe with dos besos (two kisses on either cheek). I wanna bring that back to the states because I think it feels weird to shake a girls hand (mainly in social situations). I also knew that handshake was definitely the right move for bidding my boss farewell. Chema said he was really pleased with the work I did and he would right me a good recommendation. He said we made good progress on some things that really needed to get done: the brochures and the website. The English website is online now at lucentumproductions.com/! Check out the slogan, the wonderfully edited text, and the superbly written descriptions of each individual service under the services tabs. It’ll be cool to be able to look back even when I’m at home and can see and show off the fruits of my labors online.
After work I made a much-needed beach visit. It was especially exciting because it was my first time trying out my new slackline! Slacklining is a sport like tight roping, but on a flat line that bends and moves. Watch this to get a better idea http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPpDN0coscA or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slacklining . It’s really hard and I am still working on being able to walk the whole line. I’ve gotten past the middle though, which is the hardest part! It’s a strangely addicting sport and definitely gets a lot of attention whenever I set it up. I’ve had new people ask to try it all 3 times I’ve practiced, so I guess it’s a great way to meet people. My Scottish friends Kyle, James, and Ross really liked it, so I was bummed that they were leaving the next day and couldn’t get better with me. My goal is to get really good by the end of the summer. I have tried it before because one of my friends (Jon Tylka) has one and I always wanted my own. Then I saw some guy doing it on the beach. I went over to talk to him and try it out and ordered one from the site he told me he got his at the next day. Luckily it was a Barcelona company so it got here Tues. and shipping wasn’t outlandish.
Today I got a couple of steps down, but I'm hoping to practice a lot and walk the line soon. Everyone who tries it can't believe how hard it is and can never keep their leg from shaking like a shakeweight on the line.
That night I had my last meal from mamá. It was actually a disappointing finale. All my friends told me how they had been especially pampered all week and were getting their favorite paella dish for dinner. My mom hadn’t asked me what I wanted, but I told her once that paella had been my favorite and I thought she might surprise me. No such luck! I had the most American dish possible: hamburgers (just patties and fries. I think it was one of only 2 dishes I had 3 times and I had always wished I told her I wanted 3 hamburgers that first time b/c I didn’t know they would only be patties! Ah, well. I treated myself to chocolate milk from a juice box after I got back that night.
Again I went out to the fireworks. This time we were armed with our swim trunks and Hamid, Olivier, and I swam into the ocean to watch the contest winner’s last fireworks display. We were so far out that we were treading the whole time while we watched the fireworks explode right in front of us. Some of the larger ones exploded and the sparks fell around us. Luckily the ones they shot into the sea to explode in the water never got close to us, but they did make really cool noises when they went off. The swim was definitely worth it! We had the best seat in the house and didn’t have to worry about finding a spot on the backed beach. Afterwards we joined our friends ‘on the rocks’ (I’m going to trademark that phrase!) for a little bit. The walk back was a bit sentimental because it was the last time I would have to make the ridiculous hike.
There were a lot of lasts today. I am definitely excited to move on to the next phase of my time in Spain when I go to live in the university dorms and take classes and we are joined by 38 other Mizzou kids. At the same time I really enjoyed this internship part of the trip. It wasn’t all peaches and crème all the time, but I got some good experiences, great friends, and a lot of fun memories. I wouldn’t have done anything differently.
I have been horrible about keeping up with blogging! Sorry. I’m gonna catch up though b/c being behind is stressing me out and it shouldn’t. Things have been so busy here though. Now that everyone is in the same place there is always something to do and barely any downtime unless you consciously make it for yourself.
Thursday
I woke up earlier than I would have liked to do the packing of my day that I had done before. I had told mamá that I was leaving Thurs. and she didn’t have to worry about cooking lunch or dinner for me. Apparently she then told the study abroad placement people she could get another student on Thur. so she had one coming in at 12:30 today right after I leave! Thus, when I told her I was planning to leave around 11, she said ‘can’t you leave earlier? I need to clean your room’ I said I guess I could get out by 10:30 or 10:15. But today when I had everything packed and out of the room by 10:00 she was still griping at me because I didn’t pack the night before like she told me to and she had so much work to do in so little time on the room. I really wanted to make a number of retorts and tell her I didn’t say I could leave early morning and I wasn’t the one who asked for a new student to come at 12:30 the same day, but I didn’t say anything. After dos besos and exchanging thanks and compliments of her services I left at 10:05 to wait on the curb for my taxi.
I split a cab with Quinten to the University of Alicante, which is 7 km from downtown Alicante in the small neighboring town of San Vicente. We were the first ones there and had to wait in the lobby with our student managers (Mohsen, Zach, and Stafford) for an hour and a half because our rooms weren’t ready. Finally we got to move in after they had to switch my assigned room to one that was already cleaned (but this new room was much better because it was right next to Quinten and in the middle of the rest of the students’ rooms). Each person had a single room with their own bathroom and shared an entryway with one suitemate. My suitemate was actually a girl (prolly b/c of the room switch) who is in my business fraternity. The room and “dorm” are incredibly nice. I have a desk, tv, phone to call to other rooms, amazing bed (such an upgrade from my old box of springs), and AIR CONDITIONING! Our “dorm” has a very small workout room, laundry room, movie lounge, basketball and futsol courts, pool, and it’s own cafeteria where we eat all our meals. It’s so much cushier than the homestay! I feel like I’m living at a resort! In fact the keycard says “Hotels & Resorts.” I heard someone say only the high-end students stay at this place, which would definitely make sense.
my room
my bathroom (we even get the travel soaps and fresh towels each week during the cleaning)
So I was in a great mood when I set up camp in my room and enjoyed seeing all my classmates as they came in. Everyone was so excited to be in Spain. I liked feeding off their energy. Later in the day I went running with Quinten and Allan to explore the University and a bit of San Vicente since we are in a totally new part of town. We are all looking forward to this new part of the program but we know it will be totally different being with a big group at all times, speaking English, and having scheduled events planned out for us.
That night we had an orientation and then went downtown (using the bus system :P) to get everyone familiar with the city (bus, tram, and barrio) and highlight all the best bars. The interns chimed in when necessary, but we tried to let the student managers lead and the students have their own experience. However, people have definitely come to us asking questions about Alicante and looking for guidance here and there. I like being able to help them out. After the tour they turned us loose for the night. We took everyone to the rocks and had a great time chilling there. They were fuller than ever! We had heard lots of horror stories about people getting out of control their first night in Alicante. Luckily, everyone behave themselves and by the end of the night we had all split up into taxis (the buses stop running after we catch the last one at 11 to go into town).
There are at least 3 girls to every guy in our group, so the guys have had to play big brother a lot and sometimes fake like we are the girls boyfriends to save them from creepers in the clubs.
breaking it down!
Friday
We had an orientation from the program director, Cynthia, at the University early this morning (11). It seemed to take forever, especially when she held all the interns after to debrief about our experiences and give feedback. By the time we had finished it was too late to go to the beach with everyone else so we just hung around the dorm. I played this basketball game a bunch of the guys from our program in the Beta fraternity play all the time called Beta Ball (if I ever teach it I’ll call it Dank Ball). It’s a really fun modified version of ‘Tips’. I won in only my second game because I’m a champ. After that we played 2v2 soccer (my ball is finally getting some action) and Allan and I came back from 3 down to beat the other team 5-3 because we are champs. After that madness I set up my slackline outside the dorm and practiced for a while. There are always a bunch of “skater kids” (it’s funny that they have the same “alternative/rebel” image as in the states w/ long hair complete with rattails and rock band shirts) outside the dorm and they were very interested to try the slackline. In exchange I practiced juggling their clubs.
The group packs the rocks pretty well. I usually try to find my favorite foot-hole. There are too many people for our normal big circle, but it's fun to make the rounds among the groups.
That night we had another visit to the rocks and ended up the night at a discoteca (dance club) called Avenida 5. Before our group got there it was empty and after we arrived with our group of over 30 we put some life into the joint. The first night (yesterday) I had played it cool and kept a low profile. Tonight I broke out my favorite multi-colored striped hat (M) and was a dancing fool on the dance floor. I guess I was just feeling it and I let the moves fly. Everyone was impressed and I established a pretty nice reputation as a “dancing fool,” haha. I definitely am not one of those people who need alcohol to dance either and I was prolly one of the most sober people there.
Some of our group at the discoteca. Notice my favorite "party hat" on the right.
Saturday
Today on my way to the beach with everyone else I got off the bus near my company and observed one of their dubbing classes I had been invited to. I think they were really happy I visited. The class was pretty cool. They had about 12 people and they all took turns going up to the microphone and dubbing takes of an episode of “Til Death” until the teacher was satisfied. The beach was pretty standard: volleyball and waves. I missed most of our class and ended up hanging with my international friends. Going downtown on the bus I ended up sitting next to this older lady who was kinda dressed like a “hoochie mama” as my friends joked and we had some interesting conversation. That night we went to another discoteca called Swing that made for another great night of dancing. Tonight I donned one of my more vibrant Hawaiian shirts so I am getting a reputation for having the “best wardrobe that I will have to defend for the rest of the trip.
Sunday
Again we slept in after a late night. Today was pretty relaxed. While the others went to Isla Marina Quinten, Allan, and I stayed back and played some b-ball and then 5 v 5 soccer with the Italian guys who were staying there. Our team crushed the other guys. The Italians are great with their footwork, but never want to play defense or pass the ball. I was especially frustrating the other team’s biggest hotshot by sticking to him like glue and using my long legs to shut down his fancy moves.
At night we found the dorm had a movie lounge and relaxed watching How to Train Your Dragon (E).
Hasta Luego,
Cóle
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