la vida bella

Just got back from a short day of school. I love Tuesdays and Thursdays because I’m done at 11:30. That means I have the whole afternoon to do whatever I want The weather is so perfect right now. It’s about 80 degrees with a slight little breeze. Perfect beach weather, however today I think I’m going to pass.

Two weekends ago USAC organized a group overnight trip to Valencia. I love, love, love that city! Definitely want to go back. I had no idea that the designer of the Sundial Bridge (Redding’s biggest tourest attraction) is from Valencia and he’s very famous in Spain and throughout the world. Everything that I saw of his reminded me of home. It was great to read his biography and read about the bridge he designed in Redding, CA.

Valencia is absolutely gorgeous. Tons of old buildings, cathedrals and parks. On Friday we went the the Museum of Sciences and the biggest aquarium in all of Europe. The aquarium was my favorite (never have been a sciences type of girl) and I got to see baluga whales, an assortment of fish, sharks, dolphins, seals and pretty much any other sea creature you can think of.

After we toured both the museum and aquarium we went to our hotel and slept. That night, the girls and I went to a great Chinese/Sushi restaurante. After walking around the town for a little bit we decided to call it a night and headed back to the hotel. The next morning we took a walking tour of the city and saw a great cathedral and the port of Valencia. We got back to Alicante around 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Since then, I’ve just been doing the regular. Hanging out with friends, learning a ton of Spanish, going to the beach and trying not to think about my limited amount of time I have left here

Next weekend I’ve planned a trip to Portugal and I’m sooooo excited for that! My friend Nelia and I are going to rent a car and road trip it to Lisboa. My host mom said it takes about 10 hours by car because you have to go up to Madrid and then over to Portugal. It will be nice to get out of Alicante, if only for a weekend. We hope to make it to Madrid too at the end of this month. I haven’t been yet and I want to go so badly.

Last weekend was Halloween and it was fun to see the Spanish kids and adults alike dress up. My host parents were saying that up until about 10 years ago, no one dressed up, but since Americans have started to study here they’re starting too. Nelia and I dressed up as Euro-trash study abroad students. Haha. It was original and fun to dress up. It was nothing like Chico with three or four days of costumes, but I guess it sufficed.

Other than that, I’m just hanging out, enjoying my last month and a half here. I can’t believe how fast time has gone by. I hope I can get on the plane….
Love and miss you all <3

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