Caroline comes to Alicante!

Hola! I just had one of the most fun weekends ever in Alicante! Caroline Sweeney who is studying in Rome came and visited me and was my first visitor here in Spain! She arrived on Wednesday night. I had my Marketing presentation around the same time so I wasn’t able to meet her at the hostel. This Marketing presentation is just one of the great things about Spain in the fact that school just isn’t that big of a deal. With the main goal being to pass the class, I do not have to put in as much time into my school stuff like I do at home. My teacher doesn’t really speak English very well so we will just spoke pretty fast, made our slides look legit and he seemed to buy it. Success!

Anyways, I was super nervous about Caroline getting from the train station to the hostel but she got there perfectly fine despite her ability to speak much Spanish! After we met up we headed back to Aurora's so that I could get a change of clothes. Aurora was really excited to meet Caroline so we chatted for awhile while I did my best to translate. Then, Aurora made us chicken and rice. It was so good and I was so happy that she did that for us because I wasn’t expecting it. Caroline got a great view of the apartment and only experienced a brief moment of Spanish culture shock with the pig leg in the kitchen. After a great dinner, we went to the hostel and got ready to go out that night. First, we went to Dos Gringos for their 1 Euro sangria and free guacamole. There we may or may not have receieved a free shot from a nice (not sketchy at all) Spanish man named Mario. We quickly left our new friend and we headed to Mulligans because they were having a party. Some of my friends work at this bar and that Wednsday a company had rented out the bar. So, there were a ton of students there and it was a very fun night just dancing at Mulligans and feeling like VIPs. We met some German guys named David and Arthur on our way out. They asked us where we were from. When we told them Kansas they asked, “Oh my gosh, does this mean you have cattle and that you believe in Jesus?” We laughed and said, “Yes and no.” They gasped, “You have cattle?” Ha! We corrected them that we do not have cattle but do believe in Jesus. It was pretty comical.

The next day we slept in and then went to Subway. We took our sandwiches to the beach and ate them there while just hanging out, living the dream. This weekend was the first really nice, beach weather type of weekend in Alicante meaning the beach was packed with non-Spanairds. The Spanairds still think it is winter and think that we are all crazy. While we are pulling out our flip flops and shorts, they are still rocking the boots and peacoat look. I must say through my thin layer of sweat that I do not know how they do it.

After awhile of laying on the beach, we took on the grand task of climbing the castle. The way that I had planned on taking Caroline was actually closed off because of construction. This castle excursion should really just be a lesson in why I should never be a tour guide. Anyways, we ended up walking almost all the way around the base on the castle in order to start climbing it. Once we did climb it, we decided to take a different way down. We walked almost all of the way down when that too was blocked off. So, we basically reclimbed the castle in order to find the correct way back down. But, we had fun while doing it, or atleast we tried to convince ourselves! Haha. After climbing the castle we went to this little café called Los Mandelitos. It is this café started by three sisters. Their dad is American and their mom is a model from Alicante. They grew up in the US but have lived here for about 20 years and opened this cupcake place. We both got brownie cupcakes with peanut butter icing! We loved them.. So delicious but also a painful reminder of the lack of peanut butter in my life.

Then, for dinner that night we went to Lizarran, my favorite tapas place. Caroline loved it and we of course drank some sangria. The next day we had grand plans to go to a little town outside of Alicante but sleeping in and laying on the beach all day took precedence. All day long we kept talking about how we wanted to get some color but doubted that we were, then we went back to the hostel to find out that both of our faces were a little pink. We then went to dinner at this Italian place which I am sure Caroline has just not had enough of. Haha. Then, we met up with some of my friends to botellón. Botellón is basically just drinking before going out to the bars but it has a very interesting back story in Spain. Basically, the young people do not like going to the bars to drink because the drinks are so expensive. So, they get together in public places with their drinks in plastic bags from the local stores. In Alicante, everyone goes to the port right by the beach and the boardwalk. It is kind of controversial but we enjoy it because unlike the bars we usually go to, here it is all Spanish people our age.

We met up with Erin and Zak at the port and then went to Carpe Diem to dance. It was really fun! The next day we slept in again and then went shopping. That night we met up with Tracy and her boyfriend Geoff who is here this week visiting. We drank some sangria, then Caroline and I went to Lizarran (again, at Caroline’s request, and I did not complain, ha). Then, we met up again with Tracy and Geoff and went to Carpe Diem again. We made some new friends and we danced the night away to a Lady Gaga/Michael Jackson mixture, MJ mainly due to Caroline’s many requests for it.

The next day we woke up, checked out of the hostel and headed to the train station for Caroline’s 2:00 PM train back to Madrid and then flight to Rome. As we were sitting outside of the train station recapping our fabulous weekend and soaking up the Alicante rays, we learned that Europe’s daylight savings just happned to be this Sunday. How convenient! We were no longer 45 minutes early, we were 15 minutes late. Panic ensued.

Caroline Sweeney, ghost writer gives her version right here: After calling Sara Sween calmly (Ha. or I'll let you choose another appropriate adjective here), we made the game plan of catching the next train and then attempting the sprint from the Madrid train station to the Madrid airport via taxi instead of the underground metro and hoping for the best. I sat straight up, extremely tense on my 3 hour train ride to Madrid, flew out of the train station and found one lucky cab driver and said Vayamos!! Vayamos!! And showed him my boarding pass and time. God bless this guy because he freaking booked it. And when I got out of the cab and threw some Euros at him and came up 1 short, he just said, "GO! GO!" I did. I was "that" kid that cut everyone in the security line to run to my gate (nice advice, Heath) and when I finally got there, sweating and having a small asthma attack, I was told my flight was delayed at least 2 and 1/2 hours. So I took my small victory, read some Da Vinci Code, and was happy to arrive in my Roman apartment by 2 am.

While Caroline was doing that, I was hanging out at Aurora’s hoping it would all be ok. Then I received a text confirming that she was going to make it on the flight in time, in fact, as she said her flight was delayed. Thank you Spanish for your lack of punctuality! It was one of my favorite weekends in Alicante. In fact, I was kind of excited at the thought of her having to miss her flight and us hanging out on the beach for another day or two.

My week this week was filled with Semana Santa festivals and parades. Aurora must think that I am a horrible Spanaird because I was not a fan of all of the craziness. Large amounts of people that do not move when you are trying to walk, loud noises and watching people walk by and sing… I wasn’t as impressed as I think I should have been. But, the week went by fast and I tried to be culturally interested. Aurora’s granddaughter came over one day which is always a highlight. I did some shopping, caught up with some friends via Skype, organized some more for my parents and grandparent’s visits and got ready for my cruise.

Aurora attended nearly every single Semana Santa event (diehard) so I kind of had the house to myself this week. I enjoyed it, making myself scrambled eggs every chance I got. But, I also realized how much I will miss her when I leave. I just cannot say enough good things about her, she takes great care of me. In fact, tomorrow, she is buying me a chocolate cake for my birthday and taking me to lunch. So sweet. I am very excited for my cruise, I have never been on one before and cannot wait for my Granny and Pop to be in Alicante! I will update after the cruise! Just passed my halfway point the other day… So crazy, it is going back so fast!

Love and miss you all! Love, Me.