Alicante, here I come!

As you are reading this, I am on my way to Alicante (or already there).

You may recall that Alicante is the second city where I studied abroad (in 2010), and it is located in this province so it's not too far. Only a 1h 45m train ride. 

Today is gonna be a busy day: As soon as I arrive, I am walking straight from the station to the off-campus classroom by the port to see Lourdes (my business Spanish teacher and Carly's Spanish grammar teacher). I have her to thank for my knowledge of Inditex (talk about big business...Zara, Bershka, Women's Secret, pretty much half the stores in any given Spanish mall) and Spanish resumes and business plans etc etc. She invited me to come to her class, saying it would be nice to have her students see what people can do after studying abroad. I feel like "show and tell" and it feels awesome.

But I won't have too much time to spend because then I will be hopping on the bus to campus at the University of Alicante (UA) to see Carmen (my teacher for the class prepping me for the Spanish language certificate). I have her to thank for preparing me for my DELE exam which got me the B2 certificate in the Spanish language. She was amazing, and at the end of the semester invited us all over for dinner at her apartment (funny story, I remember Scott popping open the champagne out the window and the cork flew in the neighbor's pool). 

Seriously. There was a lotta booze.

But again, not too long there. As soon as Carmen goes on her lunch break I am off to Radio San Vicente, where I will see Loly (the radio director) and the whole radio station crew. Hopefully I will grab some to-go lunch and have it with Loly at the office.

Then, I will head back to the UA to meet up with Rocio, and we will drive to go pick up Dante from school.  Did you know he is now four. FOUR! Did you know kids grow older over time? I sure didn't. I bet he talks all the time now. I wonder if he remembers me. I wonder if he still has the toy cars that my parents bought him two years ago. 

And then Saturday and Sunday are free for me to enjoy with Rocio and Dante, since Rocio invited me to stay with them in their home. I am super excited.

I also plan on grabbing some cupcakes, too...OF COURSE.

Girl Power!

I made a realization recently that the women that I´ve encountered and grown close to during my various adventures in Spain are strong, powerful women who are pretty great role models without even trying.

 It´s hard not to come across an example as I look back on my three trips to Spain.

 Elena, my host mom in San Sebastian, was a nurse. In true Basque fashion, she was a strong woman. She had strong political opinions that she often shared at the dinner table while sipping on a nice cold beer.

 Patricia, the San Sebastian program director, was not a force to be reckoned with. During the Madrid tour, she showed off a typical “worried mother” side where she instilled a fear that Spaniards will steal your stuff. Not may. Will. And she helped direct us all around Madrid, as well as our new “home town” of San Sebastian, all while effortlessly switching between fluent Spanish and English. Even though that is expected of an educational program director in Spain, I still find it absolutely amazing when someone can be so fluent in two languages and also toggle between the two with no problem at all. And I am pretty sure she also knew Basque.

 Speaking of Basque, my Basque language/culture professor, Natalia, was an amazing person as well. She knew Spanish, English, Basque, German and even some Mandarin. And she was only in her early 30s. She was mature from her worldly travels, yet had the childlike happiness of simply talking about her family and Basque culture. Her class was so exciting and fun because she thought the topic was exciting and fun, and she made us all want to learn more.

 My Alicante host mother, Rocío, was so generous and calm and smart and amazing. She always remained calm and caring towards Dante, never frustrated at even the most hair-greying moments of her 2-year-old´s actions (like jumping off a couch and smacking his forehead on the corner of a table). I never saw her stressed, or upset. She always seemed to be willing to learn, or be patient, or whatever was required of the situation. And when she gathered with friends, she lit up the room with her smile and carefree attitude. She was a professor at the university who provided for her child and boyfriend while he sought out employment. And even now that Carlos (or as Dante and she called him, Koki), has a job and lives in Torrevieja, I see by her emails that she still strives to keep the unity of their family a top priority, as difficult as it may be sometimes in that situation.

 Loly was the program director at the radio station I had an internship at during my semester in Alicante. She ran the office, but it never felt that way. It was a fun and casual atmosphere that was great to work in. She was friendly and approachable, just as you´d expect from an on-air personality.

 My host mom here in Valencia, Cristina, studied pharmaceutics in college and is the director of the microbiology water laboratory. Enough said.