One final entry...

Well. It's finally come to an end. This is my last week here in Spain.

Between graduation, end of the year stuff, the Germany trip, and The Hogueras festival, my birthday kind of snuck up on me. The problem with that is that my birthday was what I had chosen as the event/date that marks the start of the end, because after my birthday, I don't even have 2 weeks left. But I've been spending the small amount of time the way I like to: low-key. Some time with some friends, hanging with Sofia (my best friend here), with the family, enjoying the fireworks festival from the 25th-29th, and the like.

Last night, I finally cooked an American meal for my host family. I had been thinking about it when they asked out of curiousity if I was going to, so I decided then to do it. However, I really didn't want to do hamburgers and hot dogs and french fries or things like that, because that's TOO American, you know? It's just too stereotypical. I ended up asking my dad for the recipe, from my great-grandfather if I understand right, for the meatloaf he makes and his green bean. I made them both, to my apprehension, and my host mom made some veggies, potatoes, fruit, and a red fruit cheesecake to go with it. We invited over a couple from the urbanization that we know, a friend of Elena who lives in the urbanization and her son (who is Luis' age), and my best friend Sofia. It was a complete success. Everyone commented on how good it was, and I must say, it reminded me perfectly of the meatloaf my dad makes, so I didn't end up screwing it up. It was a good night of good food, good people, and good conversation.

Me and the food I cooked. Below, the food.

Lastly, I want to mention how crazy it's been trying to pack. I had no idea how I was going to manage it without adding another suitcase or going overweight. Not to mention the fact that people kept giving me going-away gifts. I was totally stressing out, because I didn't want to leave anything behind, even though all 4 of my parents were telling me I'd have to do that. In the end though, thanks to some creative thinking and reorganizing, I managed to get all the important, irreplaceable stuff (i.e. not the underwear, socks, undershirts, etc.) into the space and luggage I have. It's such a relief to not have to worry about that now.

Well, I'm coming home soon, so the next time I talk to you all, it'll probably be in person.
Thanks for tagging along!
Un abrazo
Erik

Currently listening to:
Song: I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow
Artist: The Soggy Bottom Boys
Album: O, Brother Where Art Thou? Soundtrack

Happy Birthday to me!

Well, since it's my birthday, I thought I'd blog a bit about a few things.

First, I'll explain Las Hogueras. I'm not sure why they celebrate it, but it's THE festival in Alicante, the one not to miss. Each neighborhood builds their "hoguera" (which means bonfire, but is also used to refer to the statues.) and there are barracas and racos everywhere. Barracas and racos aren't much different. They're tents for different groups or neighborhoods or whatnot, that usually have music and a dancing area and drinks and food and tables.
The entire city center is basically blocked off and cordoned off, so travel is a...well, it ain't easy to get there with car or bus. Anyway, every night is a party night starting on the 19th. During the day the barracas are open and they have las mascletas.
Las mascletas are a type of firework show, but instead of focusing on pretty lights, las mascletas are more about the noise and ryhthms and stuff. I love them! My host mom told me about some friends who live on the plaza where they set off the mascletas every day at 2 and how every year, they have to turn in forms to the city hall to get them to replace the windows the mascletas broke!
The night of the 23rd to the 24th, everyone goes out to party on the beach. People build bonfires and drink on the beach. It was crazy. One thing they do is write a wish on a piece of paper, burn in, and then jump the fire. I didn't do nor see it, but they tell me it's done when the fire has burnt down to coals, so it's a little safer. haha
On the 24th, at midnight they "shoot the palm tree" from the castle, which is a firework that looks like a palm tree, to mark the start and then starting at the hoguera statue in the town hall plaza, they go around the city burning the statues.
The following week is a fireworks competition, which I like because I got to welcome my birthday with dinner on the beach with friends the night of the 25th and then at midnight, we watched the fireworks and tonight, I'm going out to dinner with my host family and then we're going to watch the fireworks. So I'm starting and ending my birthday with fireworks. Not too bad, huh?

The hoguera in the town hall plaza.

Above: A street in the city center, blocked off and filled with people, and below: the beach on the night of the 23rd.

The "palm tree" above the castle. It was a little disappointing, because to me it didn't really look like a palm tree, but it was one big firework!

Since it's my birthday, that means it won't be much longer before I come home, so I wanted to talk about what I'm going to miss and what I have missed.
The States:
-> I miss junk food. There is junk food here, but it's not a typical thing to have at home though.
-> I miss having the words match up with the mouths in movies and on TV. I got used to that though, so it's not that big of a deal.
-> I miss driving. You don't know how many times I wish I could have hopped in a car or a on a moto instead of taking the bus.
-> I miss "your mom" and "that's what she said" jokes. They just don't get them over here. haha
-> I miss family and friends and familiarity of places, although I have that now here too, so it's not so bad.
-> I miss watching "Bones" during dinner with my family.

Spain:
-> I'll miss not having junk food around. While I miss snacking, I don't filling my body with all that junk.
-> I'll miss fresh bread every day with lunch and bread with every meal.
-> I'll also miss quantity and diversity of fresh fruits and veggies that we always had in the house.
-> I'll miss how open everyone is here. They're a lot less judgemental about some things here. Also, while sometimes, they might come across as touchy-feely, you get used to it and realize they're just open and caring people.
-> I'll miss the few people I've become close to this year: my host family and a few select friends.
-> I'll miss watching "Bones" and "The Mentalist" during dinner with my host family.
-> I'll miss how basically every window and/or door in the house can be opened up, which is just really nice, for fresh air and to deal with the weather.

I'm sure there were other things I wanted to put on the list, but right now I can't remember them. But it kinda gives you an idea.

Currently listening to:
Song: Home
Artist: Daughtry
Album: Daughtry

An Not-Quite-As-Behind-As-I-Imagined Update

Hey everybody, I know it's been awhile and I apologize. Since it's been awhile, this one might get a little long.

The weekend of the 23rd of May, my host family and I traveled to Granada. We stayed with a cousin there, who was a fantastic tour guide (no sarcasm there at all, he seriously knew his stuff). The main part of the trip was the visit to the Alhambra. It's one of those places you always end up talking about, but rarely ever travel to, so I was excited to be able to visit it.

The next big thing that happened was "graduation." Here, they call them Las ORLAS. A few of the big differences are that the ceremony is slightly less formal. Dress varied from dress shirts and jeans to suits for the guys, although all the girls got dressed up. Also, the majority of the people talked amongst themselves throughout the ceremony, which was in the school's parking lot. Instead of calling each person, they named off the people in the groups that signed up and the groups went on stage to receive their ORLA. The ORLA actually isn't a diploma, just a posted with pictures of everyone from the class. There were also some recognitions of other awards and a speech by class representatives, but that's it really. Then on to the class dinner and party, an aspect I really liked, doing one last thing together as a class (a little easier to do here, with no more than 70 people in my class). The open bar at the class party was interesting, but that's just Spain for you.

Next on the list of news is my Germany trip. An exchange friend was stopping in Alicante on their way to Germany and from there, I was eventually invited along on the trip. We went to Freiburg in the south to visit some of her (Canadian) family's friends and then we went to Berlin. We spent 5 days in Freiburg, just relaxing and enjoying the feel of the laid-back city and then an overnight train to Berlin and 5 days in Berlin, doing as much sightseeing as we could. If you want to know about all the places we went to and the things we did, check out my Germany photos on Flickr. (The word Flickr is the link to the page).


Speaking of Flickr, I got all but my most recent photos up now. So that's the photos from Granada, graduation, class photos (high school and language school) and Germany, as well as some photos from around town too, to give you all, my readers, an idea of where I have been living. (Each name is a clickable link to that specific album on Flickr, for those of you that don't know).

Class photos
Granada
Graduation
Around town photos:
Walk to school
Walk to beach

The Germany link is above in the previous paragraph.

I'd love to go into more detail about each step I listed and maybe even about my day-to-day life, but that day-to-day life is exactly what prevents me from that. 3 days after I got back from Germany, Las Hogueras started. Las Hogueras is THE festival in Alicante, from the 19th to the 24th of June, and what a festival it is! In order not to miss anything, I'm afraid I'm going to skimp a little on this entry. No hard feelings? Alright then. I hope these brief explanations and all the photos satifsy the curiousity of what I've been up to lately.

So, that didn't turn out quite as long as I thought it would, but anyways, I'm off to the parties. Until next time (which should be soon[er than this last wait]).
Erik

Currently listening to:
Song: Come Back
Artist: Foo Fighters
Album: One by One
(Granada)

Song: Keep On Trying
Artist: Poco
Album: Head Over Heels
(Graduation)

Song: Lovestoned/I Think She Knows
Artist: Justin Timberlake
Album: Futuresex/LoveSounds
(Germany - this was kind of the Germany trip anthem, for some reason it was stuck in our heads the whole trip)