With the ending of Susquehanna’s semester, this will be my last blog post. This blog began as a way for me to continue making money while abroad because I always feel the compulsion to be doing that. It also was a way for me to practice my creative writing skills that have fell by the wayside since leaving high school. Throughout the semester, my blog was an opportunity for my friends and family to get a glimpse into my mind and experiences from an ocean away. I have always found a voice through writing, even if it's just an unstructured thought dump. To any future study abroad students reading this that enjoy writing, strongly consider being a blogger because it was a beneficial experience for me and a very easy way for family to feel like they are being kept up to date (because it’s hard to call everyone each week).
One of the most common things I’ve been asked since coming home is “are you glad you went?”. Even though it can be hard to talk about yourself or hard to brag about something you did without any of your loved ones, the answer to that question is always easy: a quick yes. Studying abroad was a decision I agonized and overthought and worried about for over a year. Even after I had made the final decision to go, the knowledge that I was leaving and all the concerns I had sat like a dark, heavy, scary cloud over me every day and night. How could something so amazing have haunted me so greatly? Overall, one of my biggest anxieties was that my leaving was going to change things at home and I wasn’t ready for that. Whether I was thinking about my relationship, my personality, my family, or outlook on the world, the thought of the consequences of undertaking such a big change was incredibly scary. And now, looking back on those anxieties, I do have sympathy for that version of myself. However, I also am sad for her because so many hours were wasted agonizing when, of course, I turned out to be wrong! That isn’t to say that nothing has changed because I am personally changed forever, my memories and self-confidence and much more. However at the same time, my roots are still firmly planted; I was not ripped away from the comforts of my life never to return to happiness again. My relationship made it through to the other end better than ever and everyone I loved still held that love. So, after all those anxieties and hours spent wondering if I was doing the right thing, it is a massive relief to be able to answer such an easy yes to that common question. Studying abroad is terrifying and wonderful all at once. I am not one of those people that subscribes to the idea that ‘humans should strive to always be uncomfortable because that means you’re growing’. Being uncomfortable does usually produce growth of some manner, but so can being comfortable, as long as you still push yourself to always be learning and trying and making yourself proud. Studying and living abroad is not always for everyone, but I believe it is always worth the experience and is especially only going to be as good as the effort you put into it. For me, it was a perfect method of practice for independence and seeing as much of the world as you can. Please try and see as much of the world as you can, because you also will always be able to say that yes, you’re glad you went too. Thank you for keeping up with me over this semester! Safe travels and happy holidays!
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Two weeks of being home has snuck up on me! Although a quick family trip sped up a few days, overall the two weeks sped by without much of a chance to realize it was happening. And yet, that’s one of the best things about winter break; you get so caught up in enjoying your days that you don’t even pay attention to how quickly they pass. Luckily for us in the Alicante group, our break started early so we’ve barely gotten started! In these couple weeks however, I have found myself missing Alicante in small moments. Seeing an Instagram ad for a store in the town, browsing through old pictures. Even though I’m relishing the physical closeness to everyone I love, this time apart from Spain has really allowed the fact that I am not returning to sink in. That can be a sad thing! In my reflections on my time abroad, I have thought about what suggestions I would give someone getting ready to go to Alicante. So, if you are preparing to go abroad or specifically to Alicante, here are some packing suggestions!
First off, one thing I would’ve changed about my packing is more warm clothes. Before leaving, we were given the impression that it is constantly summer weather in Alicante and the temperatures would only dip in our last bit of time there. Consequently, I only packed a couple sweatshirts and 3 or 4 long sleeve shirts. We were wrong! By the last week of October into early November, the mornings were chilly and wind running through campus buildings didn’t make the days much warmer. In comparison to East Coast winters, it was still warm, but it seemed much colder without access to sweaters or jackets. I bought a jacket from Zara before it was even chilly and ended up wearing it every day as an extra layer. Central heat is very rare in Alicante because of the sky-high energy costs, so the apartments were as cold (if not colder) than the outside especially at night. Haley and I were fine sleeping with down comforters and sweatshirts, but those floors were chilly without carpet or the warm rush of indoor heating. In conclusion, Alicante is still definitely not close to the winter temperatures I am back to experiencing now, but make sure to bring a jacket and some warmer shirts even if you only need them for the last month. It’s worth it! Another packing suggestion of mine is one you will find on all travel sites but I didn’t heed it: leave room for things you will buy! When I was packing for going abroad, I kept telling myself that I won’t need to buy any clothes and any gifts I get will be small, so there’s no real need for extra room. I definitely underestimated myself. Even if you aren’t a big shopper while at home, being in another country is a whole different experience and that feeling of limited time access will convince you to buy things you would likely walk away from at home. My friends and I probably used the phrase “You’re in [whatever country], when are you going to see this thing again?”, a hundred times. It was dangerous. I also ended up buying all my Christmas presents while in Spain, which is making my December much easier but made my suitcases much heavier. In the end, everything was able to fit and the luggage was underweight, so no real damage was done. In hindsight though, I recommend just assuming you will buy more than you think and packing accordingly. My last quick suggestion is remember to bring a gift for your host mom/family! It is not necessarily expected, but is always appreciated and everyone in your program will be doing it too. A gift specific to your town is great and special, though something from America in general is cool too! I brought some Baltimore-specific gifts to my host mom, including an Old Bay canister and speciality candy popcorn. Host families aren’t in it for the gifts, but it is always nice and respectful to give a little something back. Plus it can spark conversation! Hopefully I will be able to put some of these packing suggestions to use again someday if I am able to return to Europe, but for now I hope someone preparing to go abroad will find them useful! I have officially been back in America for a full week now and it has both been very comforting and taught me a lot. Even when you have been away for 3 months in a completely different continent, your muscle memory kicks right back in as soon as you get home. You drop your bags in the same place, go through your night routine the same way, hear the exact same creaks on each stair as you walk down. Home is such a big part of our lives that even with a long time away, it sits here and stays the same waiting for your return. Our travel home was long and tiring but not as bad as we had made it out to be. A lesson from the well-worn traveler: layovers may be annoying but they are much better than sprinting through airports or worrying about delays causing missed connections. No matter how long a boarding took, we never had to be anxious about getting to the next connection. Now, this comfort may not have made our overnight layover in Boston any less uncomfortable or exhausting, but at least we always knew we would be on time. Another quick tip: security closes at a certain hour! Once we arrived at the domestic terminal from the international terminal, we were too late and had to sit in pre-security. To pass the time, we went to a sports pub and ordered as slowly as we could. Funnily enough this Boston sports pub was one of the best places we could have gone to for our reentry into American life. Sitting there eating fried mozzarella sticks listening to American Christmas music and bar patrons bantering with relaxed servers in sweatshirts: it really felt like we were home again. Everything warm and American was right there with us and we felt so comforted. Somehow you miss the ambient noise of a televised football game even without being a football fan! Spending a few hours of our overnight layover in Americana central really helped us get through it and adjust to being back home that much quicker. Our final plane back to Philadelphia went smoothly (although we had some lost and delayed bags to deal with afterward). Reuniting with parents and siblings in baggage claim was just as sweet as you imagine it to be and that’s when the slipping back into normal routines happens so quick, you don’t even realize it. You reunite with other family, lots of big hugs and the constant question of “how tired are you? I bet exhausted”, to which you can only sigh and agree. I found that being back home wasn’t quite as system-shocking or overtly magical as you build it up to be while abroad, but it’s not any less wonderful to be back somewhere comfortable. I’ve been working through my list of foods that I missed and that is definitely fun. I’ve also caught myself a couple times feeling that sense of safety and comfort and realizing “that’s what I missed all that time”. I do miss things about my time in Spain and am sure I will miss more as time passes, but for now home is definitely where the heart is. The time actually arrived- my last blog post written in Spain! The realization of it being our last week seemed to hit us in full force; we imagine it for weeks and then all of a sudden, suitcases are actually being packed. Now that the end is here, it seems to have gone fast. Keeping up constant contact with people at home has helped it not feel too far away, so somehow it doesn’t feel like I’ve been away for very long. However, I’m sure once I see the bare trees and brown grass that I left in summertime, my absence will be much more realized. Our absence from home has also been realized this week with our excitement to come back. Haley and I are both nearly fully packed and it’s only mid-week!
According to us and our other friends from the program, the things we are most excited to return to are a bit more abstract. Of course we are antsy for hugs from loved ones and a big Chipotle bowl, but many people have said they also are looking forward to getting some freedom back in food and accessibility. We have been very lucky to live with host mothers that prepare all of our meals, but many of us, especially those who enjoy cooking, are anxious to be able to cook for ourselves again and be in charge of what we get to eat for each meal. Living with a host mom was definitely the best case set-up for me, but it will be really nice to be able to cook my own lunches again or decide what I actually feel like having for breakfast. Most people are also excited to get back the freedom of being able to drive. I greatly admire Spain’s dedication to public transport because of its cost efficiency and its environmental benefits, and it does encourage me to consider public transport as an option more often. The traditional suburban American in me, however, is greatly looking forward to returning to the ability to hop in my car whenever and go wherever and not have to be crowded in a bus seat or regulated by the walking distance or ticket cost between two locations. Our American privilege is very obvious in comparisons like these, but they are still very specific freedoms that will feel great to get back. Another thing we all are excited to return to is related to the freedoms but doesn’t even require much action; going back to your comforts is one of the main rewarding things about returning from studying abroad. Deciding to study abroad for a full semester is a very big decision and involves the agreement that you’re going to be giving up all that you use to make yourself comfortable for (in our case) 3 months. That’s a long time! Of course there has been Facetime and handwritten cards and favorite well-worn pajamas, but when you use those in a very strange space, they don’t have quite the same effect. This semester allowed us to see amazing and beautiful places, so it’s a very fair trade-off, but being without typical comfort methods is very hard. So now with only a couple days to go until we’re home for good, I think that is the main thing everyone wants to be back to whether they realize it or not. Whether it’s cooking, hugging family, watching a movie in your comfy family couch, all of these are things that make us comfortable and safe. And after 3 months of being thrust into new places with new people, we all seem to be ready to feel that way again. This last week in Alicante is reflective, sad, nostalgic, exciting, and anxious all together at once. There will absolutely be things I miss and am starting to miss already, which brings me more comfort than sadness because it demonstrates to me that I really did have a great time and made the right decision. Missing Thanksgiving, a very family-centered and relaxing holiday, is tough as well but luckily this time change will have us sleeping through a big part of it! Both a lot and not much will happen this week but at the end of it, we will say goodbye to a beautiful place and hello to that comfy couch and those hugs and (most importantly) that big Chipotle bowl. If I had said we were in the homestretch before, that was not much compared to now. Thanksgiving is one week away which means I’m sure the flurry of preparations at home look similar to our beginning preparations to leave Spain. Conversations are filled with jokes about how we will not have nearly enough room in our luggage, questions about COVID tests, and hurried planning of how to fill our last days. As I write this, it is just about 10 days before Haley and I will arrive in the Philadelphia airport, sleepy and dragging multiple overstuffed suitcases. I will talk more about our mixed feelings about leaving later, as the days tick down even further, but for now we are just in planning and prep mode. Our final weekend in Spain is almost here, and while that will be fun, we also have been recuperating from our past weekend: our final trip together for a while!
This past weekend, Haley, two of our program friends, and I went to Italy! We flew into Pisa and got to see the Leaning Tower which felt very surreal. One of those places that you’ve seen pictures of so often that it is very strange to see in person. The Tower is within a little grass park next to Pisa’s Duomo and the area is always filled with pedestrians or tourists getting their own cheesy picture with the Tower (us included). The Leaning Tower is definitely one of those things you marvel at, especially because as an environmental science student, I wonder if an architectural-environmental mistake like that could even happen now. The Leaning Tower is basically the main sight of Pisa, though it does have the beautiful Italian pale-colored houses and autumn colors in the trees. We made our way to the Pisa Central train station to catch our ride into Florence, where we stayed the rest of the weekend. Our Airbnb was beautiful, with brightly colored bedroom walls, a tiny fireplace, and even a skylight! We stayed on the left bank of the Arno River in Florence, just across a bridge from the city center- and there are lots of bridges to choose from! Ponte Vecchio is the main bridge, though you can’t even tell you are on a bridge when you walk across. Ponte Vecchio is filled to the brim with shops, mainly gold and jewelry, and you only get flashes of views of the river between shops before you realize you’ve crossed into town. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much sparkly jewelry in one place! We spent of our two days in Florence walking around and just looking. We saw the outside of the Florence Duomo Cathedral, Piazza Della Signoria, and the Uffizi Museum. We visited Michelangelo’s David in La Accademia Galleria and walked through the Boboli Gardens. We tired ourselves out rushing up the hill to the Piazzale Michelangelo, but the beautiful sunset and panoramic view of Florence was very worth it. We saw lots of sculptures, ancient Italian art, and beautiful old houses among the skinny streets. Most of all (and this was one of my favorite parts), we ate a lot. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen tables for 4 as full as ours always were. We spent the mornings with croissants and Italian lattes, and our afternoons and evenings with pasta. Our first night in Florence, we got wonderful pizza in a little place and even got the pizzas in heart shapes as a compliment from the cook! Once pizza was out of the way though, it was lots of pasta, wine, gelato, and a bit of cheese tasting in there too. We tried multiple different restaurants recommended to us by friends and all of it was amazing. Strangely enough, however, I think our collective favorite pastas were the ones we made by hand! The pasta class was on our final night in Florence, which began with a rush into the Airbnb to escape a quick rainstorm, and then to a cheese and wine flight tasting after a rest. We tried various game meats and cheese with some jams and flights of bubbly wine. Then came the time for our pasta-making class, which ended up being wonderful. We made tortellini, ravioli, and tagliatelle and met people from all over the world. The dough making was harder than I thought it would be, but I think I feel confident making some homemade pasta myself (with a little trial and error). Another chef besides our teacher took our pasta in the back kitchen as we produced it and cooked each one up, the stuffed pasta in a butter and sage sauce and the tagliatelle in a tomato basil sauce. The whole class sat family dinner style at our long table and ate the pasta and carried conversation about where we were from, especially us and a Canadian-French couple at the table. This experience definitely proved things are even better when homemade! Although there was some sadness surrounding our final trip together as new friends from this program, Florence was a beautiful and perfect last location. We ate well and saw beautiful things and got to know each other even better. It wasn’t easy to leave Italy, but made a little easier knowing how close we all are to being back in our own hometowns. For those going abroad, Florence comes highly recommended from me (if I have not convinced you already) Until next time! Hello! Thank you for tuning in again to read my blog this week! The first week of November went by in a blink, and a big reason for that is all my newfound free time this month. For November, I am only enrolled in my two Culture Content classes, one each per day. This means I only go to the university campus for two hours a day, and both classes begin in the afternoon. This week’s blog will talk about what routines I have started to fill my free time in this last month of being in Spain.
Absolutely one of my favorite things about this new school routine is the ability to sleep in. Getting up at 7 every morning was doable but so different from my typical college routine and overall very tiring. Side piece of advice for any new college student reading: only take an 8am class if you have to or if you are a crazy morning person. It is so much harder to get up than you would think, even if you just went through 12 years of getting up at 6am for school. Just don’t do it. Anyway back to life in Spain: since I get to sleep in, my mornings have been pretty relaxed and quiet. Haley, my housemate, usually is gone or on her way out not long after I wake up and everyone at home is asleep, so it has been a lot of solo time. The solo time has been even more rewarding than I would have thought because it feels good to be able to enjoy your own company. Once I actually get myself moving for the day, I have been filling my free time with different things. I’ve taken walks down to the port to journal, gone to the beach before the chilly weather kicked in, watched Netflix, finished homework, and walked among the kiosks of the Explanada to buy Christmas gifts. Even though I have other friends in my program that are home when I am, we all seem to have enjoyed the opportunity during these days to have time to ourselves. It has been a chance to walk around the city I have been living in for 9 weeks and discover little shops or people watch. My solo trips around town have shown me that even though a GO Short would still have been amazing, having only a month of regulated activities would not have given nearly the same experience to become immersed in the Spanish culture and really understand the language and how they live. Beyond my solo afternoons, my friends and I have found ways to fill free time together too at night or on the weekends where we have stayed in town. Because of the late dinnertimes and school the next day, we all almost always stay in our houses after dinner. A couple nights here and there, though, we have gone out to eat together, shop, or take a walk to get ice cream. On the weekends, we have taken small day trips on the Tram to nearby towns such as Villajoyosa or Altea. We also often go out to get cheap drinks at 100 Montaditos, a huge chain throughout Spain that serves tapas and basic mug drinks. It has always been a great location to meet up and not worry about spending too much money. Free time is one of the most important things about embarking on a GO Long. Shorter abroad trips still bring you to a fabulous country and give you the chance to do something amazing, but you don’t really get the chance to live like a local. Even though most Spaniards can tell immediately that we are Americans by our appearances or our accents, we still can give directions within our little area or give restaurant recommendations. 3 months is not long enough to become a full-fledged local, of course, but the things we do and learn during our free time has been what allows us to feel a part of the country even just for a little bit. November is upon us! Fall and Halloween sped on like they always do, and we have reached November aka my last month of being abroad. With just about 3 weeks to go and lots of plans coming up, November is sure to fly by and that means it will be even more important to soak up as many Spanish days as possible. Usually I am not a person that considers November 1st the start of Christmas season, especially being on the coast of Spain far away from any wisps of Christmas-y snow, but this year may start the holiday music a little early. Spain does not celebrate Thanksgiving of course, so Christmas decorations are already starting to appear on the streets and the Starbucks advertisements! Personally, I’m relieved that I will be home for all of the Christmas activities in December, but the holiday in Spain looks like it will be amazing too.
Speaking of the Christmas season (someone count how many times the word Christmas is in this post), my post this week will be about shopping in Spain. My friends and I have ramped up our souvenir/holiday gift buying this past week, slowly collecting many items that will surely complicate the re-packing process of going home. Even though I may have to plead with the airline desk person when they weigh my suitcases in a few weeks, shopping for gifts abroad has been really fun for me because Spain offers so many options. There are the traditional cheesy souvenirs sold in the kiosks along La Explanada, local food products in small stores around the city, anything you could imagine really. Spain’s shopping culture is very diverse and attends to the needs of all kinds of different shoppers. Here in Alicante, there is a large Central Market, two locations of a huge department store, and many little shops, local and brand names. Usually, only the international brand name stores are open on Sundays. Most local stores also close for a few hours for siesta, between 2pm and 5:30pm. This is important to remember if you are in Spain and planning to make Sunday your shopping day; it takes a bit of getting used to, but you eventually learn to make other plans! The Central Market in Alicante is very significant to the city. It is a multi-floor building with turrets and mosaics on the outside, and inside they sell every fresh grocery item possible. The Market is only open until 1pm on weekdays, and is not open on Sundays, so you need to get in there fast! Markets are very important to the Spanish culture whether they are outdoor or indoor, and although supermarkets are still very common, many Spaniards purchase special meats, seafoods, or produce at local markets. The culture of shopping for clothing, jewelry, etc. is not significantly different than that of the United States, although I have not often seen many people shopping alone. A couple other interesting observations about shopping in Spain are that it is much more common to interact with the store personnel when browsing, especially in stores such as pharmacies or specialty food stores. When you walk into a local, small store, it is expected that you greet the store worker when they greet you and you respond honestly when they ask what you are looking for, rather than just say you’ll find it on your own. Store workers anticipate needing to be very helpful, and in stores that are not for clothing, it is not very common to just walk around aimlessly. The other thing I found interesting here is that while they do not celebrate Thanksgiving, they do participate in Black Friday! Black Friday in Spain is similar to Halloween: it’s an American holiday that has only very recently been brought abroad and is not celebrated quite the same way. Stores don’t open at 3 in the morning to stampeding crowds, but they do have significant discounts and large rushes when the stores do open. Black Friday will be our final day here in Spain and I am not sure if that is good or dangerous; it will end up depending on how proactive we are about packing! The holiday season is always a flurry of activity between malls and tiny stores across the world, and while that brings stress, it is also always fun to pick out the perfect gift for someone. Shopping in Spain is a mode of entry into their culture and provides us students with a way of connecting this country to our loved ones back home. Thank you for reading and happy start of the holiday season! Hello and Happy Halloween! The end of October has rolled around, though I think sneaking up would be the more appropriate phrase. With the beginning of sports, school, and colder weather, October always seems to fly by back home. Those Octobers were nothing compared to this one abroad, though. Although September feels like another lifetime, it is difficult to believe it is already the last few days of this month. My weeks were filled to the brim with long days of classes, evenings of homework, and weekends of catching planes and trains. Collectively, all of my group members and I are exhausted. Something they don’t tell you about having an incredible month of traveling and having your classes in Spanish all day? Your brain and body will feel something akin to Jello-O cups. You also daydream about Christmas and lazy snowy days more than you would have thought. Please don’t mistake my gripes about tiredness as regrets about all that was accomplished this month, however. October was incredibly good to me and makes me excited for these last four weeks of living as a Spaniard before those Christmas daydreams come true.
My month began with searching the streets of Barcelona for cheap pizza after our late-night AirBnB arrival before beginning a weekend of seeing the gorgeous sights of the city. Staying the weekend in Barcelona was the best way to kick off our crazy month of traveling. The four friends I have been traveling with and I were able to bond and test the waters of handling transportation and full days together. Barcelona was an exciting and awe-inspiring first weekend of October; it still feels a bit celebrity-like to say I’ve been to Barcelona… Immediately following Barcelona, we entered the new and intense 4 week schedule of classes. For Mondays and Wednesdays, I had class straight on from 9am until 3pm with just short breaks within my first 3 hour class of Spanish. It felt like high school again, though more tiring because there was no lunch and the classes were broken up less frequently. Although this schedule only happened twice a week, the first couple occurrences were very difficult to get used to. I can definitely say I have learned a lot about Spanish culture though, which has allowed me to feel more at place here in Alicante. Tuesdays and Thursdays were slightly less intense, with Spanish from 9am-12pm and then a 4 hour break before my Tourism class from 4-6pm. Because the bus ride between my house and the school is about 30 minutes long, I always stayed on campus for those 4 hour breaks, having lunch and catching up on homework. Taking 4 classes at once made my homework load increase very suddenly, though it was much more mild compared to the homework load I am expecting once we return to SU. School was a difficult thing to deal with this month since I have not handled that many hours of class straight in a few years. However, it also was helpful in filling up my days and meeting new international students. I may have been drained by 4pm most days, but my brain is filled with more Spanish language and culture than I ever expected. The weekends of October were similarly exciting to the first one; our little group went to Athens, Greece for a long weekend on the second weekend of October, we visited the small town of Altea the next, and Granada with our whole program last weekend. Athens, as you may expect, was incredible. Lots of amazing food, ancient architecture and sculpture, even the bit of rain we had felt a bit magical. Our miles of walking in Athens required a little rest each day, but it was nice to have the chance to recharge and feel like legitimate Spaniards taking a siesta! Altea is a very small but gorgeous coastal town about an hour and a half north of Alicante, and we took the tram line up to walk around for a few hours. Altea had white plaster houses, similar to the islands of Greece, that shone against the turquoise water. The middle weekend of October was not an especially busy one for Haley and I, in terms of traveling, but it was important to take a chance to breathe and explore our local areas. Finally, we had a program-mandatory trip to Granada last weekend that was beautiful. Granada is a famous city 4 hours southwest of Alicante where we visited the Alhambra, an enormous palace and fortress that has stood since 889 CE. Granada was an especially cool and relaxed city that carried that sense of age that made it feel important to just be there. In between Altea and Granada, I even got to have family visit me! My grandparents stopped in Alicante for Tuesday-Friday as part of their 2 week trip through Spain and Portugal, and it was wonderful to see them and catch up. Playing tour guide was even more fun than I thought it would be! This was a long winding recap of a month that was more than I could have dreamed of. Even though class often isn’t fun and homework never is, these past 28 days of October proved to me that every day is a fresh set of hours just waiting to be filled with something amazing. They also proved to me that you can go a lot farther and see a lot more in one weekend than I had ever really believed. There were very difficult days in October, especially for my family, but we have made it out to the other side even with virtual love. I am very excited for all of that love to be in person in just 4 short weeks, but October taught me the lesson of not taking any days or weeks for granted because so much can happen in just as few as 28 days. Hello! Another week finished and edging on another month finished too! It is hard to believe that the halfway point is behind me and steadily moving away. Despite my excitement to return to everything I love about home, I feel so grateful for having this semester and know that the last month will be one I never forget. I may wish to be reunited with people and things from home, but I would never wish to have not done a semester abroad. There’s my little weekly thought about time passing and homesickness even though it is always basically the same, and now onto my blog topic. Here in Spain, I live in a homestay. This means that a family local to Alicante hosts me for the duration of my program and is responsible for my laundry, meals, and place to sleep. In my case, and for most of the people here in the Spanish Studies Abroad program, the host family is a single woman with grown children that live on their own. Some are widowed, some divorced, but many of the host mothers live on their own when not hosting international students. Hosting international students is a form of income on the side for them as well as an opportunity to meet new people, learn about where they are from, and help them learn as much as possible about Spain. My host mother is divorced with two grown sons, one that lives in the same building as her and the other lives in Barcelona. She works in a juvenile court center, always having some stories about wild kids that come through her office’s doors. She has hosted many international students throughout the years, both for semesters and summers. She has told us about how no abroad student is the same and every experience is different for her. She has had students practically fluent in Spanish and some that didn’t speak a word of Spanish, the latter of which made a long few weeks one summer. She even once had a Muslim student that came abroad coincidentally during the 30 days of Ramadan, and the student could not eat any of the meals she would prepare! It’s safe to say she has seen a lot and learned a lot through her experiences of being a host mother, but she seems to love it. In my homestay, I have another Susquehanna student here living with me, Haley Muth. Since we found out at the beginning of last summer that we both would be in Alicante, Haley and I had been texting and planning flights together. Only then to find out mid-August, about 2 weeks before we came to Spain, that we would be living together! I have been really glad to have Haley to live with because it eliminated the majority of the awkwardness and loneliness homesteads can bring sometimes. We can talk about Susquehanna together plus our lives together here, and we have each other to bounce off of during dinner conversations with our host mom. It is also exciting to know that we will be on the same campus together in the spring, able to hang out and reminisce and make new memories together, unlike the other American friends we have made here who will scatter across the country in a few weeks. Of course living in a homestay as the only international student is not impossible, and is sometimes preferable for people, so don’t let me scare you off. Having Haley living with me just ended up being the best possible scenario for me personally; it combines the college dorm fun of living with friends and the excitement of living abroad. Living in a homestay always will come with pros and cons. It has been difficult to lose the freedom of food choice for our meals and the chance to cook for ourselves, but these are small negatives compared to all the benefits. We always have a warm meal, don’t need to spend money on groceries, and have our bathroom and laundry cleaned for us each week. Most of all, we have been given a new friend, tour guide, and maternal figure all wrapped up in one in our host mother. The homestay has been a central part of shaping our experience here in Alicante and I am so glad it has all worked out so well. I hope that any GO student reading this is getting excited for their own homestay! The second week of October has ended, marking the halfway point of my twelve weeks abroad! I am unsure how to feel about this milestone, whether it has gone fast or not, but I know there is a mix of gratitude for this trip and the time left as well as excitement to return home. A balance like this is important and normal for spending so long away from home.
It has always been difficult to pick a favorite season, but fall holds a special place in my heart. The crispness in the air, the excitement of holidays upcoming, the colors in the trees, the cool rain that lends to a perfect excuse to set the fireplace and watch a movie; autumn is magical always. It has been difficult at times to accept that I am missing all those things this year, even though living near the beach past summertime has been exciting. Even though those of us abroad are missing a precious Mid-Atlantic autumn and all its colors, the weather here in Alicante has not yet been very different than what my loved ones are experiencing in Maryland or Pennsylvania. Experiencing a different climate here in Spain took some adjusting for sure, but now the weather seems just about right! If you are preparing to study abroad in another continent, it can be very difficult to try and predict what the weather will be like for 3 or more months, no matter how many weather and climate pages you visit online. When we pack for living at college, there is a bit less pressure since there is always the option of going home and switching out tank tops for sweaters once the temperature starts dropping. Living abroad through the changing of seasons can make packing very confusing. Although my experience in costal Spain is very different weather-wise than that of someone living in England or Scotland, I can provide a bit of insight and advice on the weather in Spain and how to pack for it. When we arrived here six weeks ago, it was hot. Hot, humid, sweaty: all of the above. Although the beginning of September in Spain is much milder than July and August, the Mediterranean sun showed us it meant business and was much more difficult to get used to than we anticipated. All the rest of September was warm and sunny constantly, though we physically were able to adjust after a week or so. Therefore, if you are studying in a city like Alicante, pack plenty of short-sleeved or sleeveless shirts because if there is one thing I found, it’s that you will sweat more than you thought- even just during a low-key day of class! Central air conditioning is very rare in normal homes in Spain because of energy costs, so you will even be hot in the house! Summer in Spain includes all of September, so be prepared to enjoy the beach weather longer than any of your family at home. The beginning of October brought some whispers of change with the weather. We gradually no longer needed a fan blowing constantly to sleep and it was more comfortable in the house during the midday heat. Recently, we have even been wearing jackets in the morning and jeans all day! Although I found it difficult to believe my host mother when she said we would be able to wear those jeans and long-sleeved shirts we brought, it is beginning to look like she was right. Since I live in Maryland, a fairly temperate state situated in the middle of the East Coast, the daily highs and lows of temperature at home have not differed too much from those of Alicante. October has brought cooler nights in Maryland than we have here, but during the day it has been generally similar. Here in Alicante, we even have leaves on the ground! It is not quite the same, though, because leaves just seem to die and fall off their branches rather than going through the fantastic color changing we are used to. Although the cold of late November will be a brief shock when we exit the airport doors upon arrival back home, the weather changes from living here have not been too dramatic. Locals seem to respond to the weather in a similar manner to those at home too. They don jeans and light jackets on the cold mornings, and eventually get into the habit of wearing long pants everyday instead of reaching for shorts. The beaches are less packed, we have down comforters on the beds now rather than just a sheet, and the meals change slightly. With the weather cooling down, my host mother has served more warm and heavy meals for dinners. The produce selection has changed slightly, with strawberry season being fully over and mangos being more common for a post-dinner fruit. Overall the culture in Alicante is not severely impacted by the changing of the weather because it is still a tropical coastal town that never experiences snow or drastically cold temperatures, so the locals do not need to change their daily activities much. Every season in the United States has its own traits and things to look forward to, and it is difficult for all of us here studying in Alicante to miss the precious, comforting things about autumn. However, the weather here is wonderful and bright and although intimidating at first, nothing to stress over while packing to come abroad. And holiday time is creeping up soon! |
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