I am still getting used to the daily schedule in Spain. It goes something like this: 7:00 AM - Wake up. Shower, eat, get ready for school. 8:00 AM - Leave my house, catch the bus. (I live the farthest to the south from school out of anyone in my group. I have a long commute and am eager to get my bus pass so I don´t have to pay 3 bucks a day just to and from school, plus going out anywhere...) 9:00 - 12:00 (or 3 on wednesdays): Tengo clases. Afterwards, email, errands, etc. Return home for lunch. 3, 3:30 - Eat. This is the big meal of the day, everything shuts down, my señora comes home from work and returns later.... She makes tasty food. Despues, siesta. 5:00 - Stores re-open. 8, 9:00 - Restaurants and cafés open, or if they opened earlier, people begin to go to them. Noise and business in the streets until about 12. This is usually when we eat dinner, which is light; frutas, saladas, bocadillos (sandwiches). 12, 1 AM - bedtime. Weekend schedule is the same, except nobody goes out until at least 10, 2 AM is prime time for nightlife, and people come home at 4, 5, 6, 7 AM.... We´ll see how I fare this weekend. Yesterday our group went to see La Festival de los Moros y Cristanos (Moors and Christians) en Villena. We took a big 2 level tour bus. I sat right up in front of the top on the way... the mountains are awesome. This festival is a huge 5 day party and the second day is a huge huge parade. This one had 20,000 people in it. There is an occasional float, but mostly everything is a group of people walking in step (mostly) with a band. Each group is dressed in fantastic costumes that cost up to 10,000 dollars apiece, and they all represent groups from Spanish history. There are the Moors, the Christians, the pirates, the gypsies, the Jews, farmers, students, nobles, mas y mas y mas, from different centuries, and lots of variation in each of these categories. There is a leader to each group who has a lot of flair and style and is waving around some kind of sword or sickle or crossbow or pitchfork or spoon (the students of the 15th century had giant spoons, since they were poor, they kept spoons with them so if they found food, they were ready.) and following the leader is one or two or three lines of poeple, arm in arm, capes flowing behind them, walking in slow steps in lines that are the whole length of the street. The band is behind them. Every band had a kid pulling two timpani in front and somebody just banging the crap out of those drums. They marched oboes and little old fashioned instruments, the things that oboes are descendents of but I can´t remember the name. Lots of brass and woodwinds.... awesome music. Usually every category of people in teh same dress had a whole set of men first, then women, then kids, and then a float with the little kids throwing confetti everywhere. Everyone was smiling and laughing, people in the parade with drinks and cigars in hand, holding each other up, (you should have seen the pirates) and talking to each other and their friends, really casual. Everyone was in the parade, everyone walking around was in costume because they had participated too.... there were few people just watching. It was fantastic, loud and exciting and breathtaking, really alive. We walked around and met people and had drinks and ice cream and these waffle things with chocolate on them.... ay mí. The parade lasted more than 5 hours. It just kept going, and everyone stayed excited and happy... I´ve never seen anything like it. And those costumes, just fantastic. Amazing. What style. The busload of obnoxious drunken Americans and frustrated-with-the-obnoxious-drunken-Americans Americans got home at 1 AM, and everyone had class at 9. I would have made it on time no problem had I remembered to turn on my alarm clock. I would have been in class earlier had my señora not insisted that I eat before I go. ("¡5 minutos! ¡5 minutos mas!") So I´m going home to sleep and eat and shower, and then we´ll see waht the night has in store for me. Tomorrow at 8 AM I am going to Valencia with the group, so that will be exciting. Afterwards I´m going to the restaurant of my señora´s friend Amalia. Amalia is also hosting a student named Julie who is in my class and who is cool, so the four of us should have a good time. For now, I need to load up on sleep. This is my first real weekend here and I want to enjoy it!

El numero de me telefono movil es: 619.177.358. En los Estados Unidos (USA): 011.34.619.177.358 Con una tarjeta de telefono (calling card): 34.619.177.358

I am connected with the world! I got my movil (cell phone) today. Everyone here has them and they are much nicer than the ones in the states. I got mine for 110 €, just about equal to dollars. The phone is tiny, has every imaginable feature, and came with 60 minutes of local talk time. Instead of having a plan here, you just buy little phonecard things with minutes on them. And when you receive a call, it costs nothing to you no matter where the call is from or how long you talk. I am excited to figure out all the features. A new toy, a new toy! My classes went much better today. Yesterday I had 2 classes with the same profesora who was strict, boring, and hard to understand. Today I had 3 new profesores who were all very enthusiastic and interesting. They seemed really cool and helpful, and I think I followed most of everything that was being said. One of my elective courses is becoming a combined course because of low enrollment. Women in Contemporary Spanish Society is being combined with Urban Development in the Second Half of the 20th Centry: The Mediterranean. Today the teacher from the second course was there, and he was awesome. His style reminds me of Professor Stewart at Macalester, only he doens´t know any English and the rapid Spanish craziness is a little more tricky to follow. It seems like a really interesting class; maybe after this I will be able to understand Ben´s love of geography a little bit more. I don´t know how they´ll combine the two classes. It´s a shame that there wasn´t more interest. Although now that I know the kinds of people in the program, I´m not surprised. The University of Alicante is much more a business school than the good ol´ liberal arts I´m used to, and most of the Americans here are interested in economics and business (and spending money at expensive businesses). In any case, these classes seem good and I am remembering how much I enjoy being a student and learning interesting things. It blows my mind to realize that they´ll all be en Español este semestre.

I am tired. The sun and trying to understand classes in spanish takes a lot out of a girl. Especially when you go from 7:30 to 3:30 without eating. But lunch usually isn't until about 2 or 3 here, and dinner is at 8, 9, or 10. I am enjoying the food though. Today for lunch I had a tortilla (here that means omelet) and a cold salad with beans, tomatoes, green peppers and oil. Plus the usual bread and a pear. IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS. -maps have no cardinal directions marked on them. usually the sea is at the bottom, but it's pretty arbitrary. -keyboards are different, some symbols are in different places, and every keyboard i have used has a different way to get a ' to show up. this is terribly annoying. -girls don't really wear shorts. i am not a big shorts person myself, but it is so damn hot here and people are in jeans and long sleeved shirts. fashion is so important here. -I can't believe the people on my program who complain about the food/houses/people/customs/culture/language. What are you doing here? Mostly talking during the presentations at the museums . -there are cats and dogs all over the place, and instead of saying hello or petting them, people kick them. -warm milk on cereal!? Just a few things I find interesting.

I am out with 3 other American girls. We are walking around downtown, mostly window shopping, but checking out stores like El Corte Inglés and other trendy places. Biggest news of the day: I only got slightly lost on the way home from school, and later made it to meet up with the girls without any problems! Hopefully I´m getting the bus system figured out. The hardest part is that there are no street signs. Some corner buildings have the name of the street on a little plaque, but many don´t. It makes following the map a little more difficult when you have to walk for 3 blocks just to figure out where you are.

I am at home. Today we moved in with our host families, which was a terribly nervous process. 75 students were crowded into a hotel lobby with all of our luggage and parents were lined up out the door. It was crowded and busy and loud and everyone was all dressed up and just waiting for their name to be called. I was the fourth to last. VERY nerve wracking. But I have a wonderful family. Paz is my señora and she has a daughter who is 9 named Paloma. It is just the three of us here in a small apartment, but I think it will work out great. They are very nice and understanding, and once this language barrier (which is quite a barrier right now) starts to break down, I will be just fine. Today I got a nice shiny new sunburn at the beach on my thighs and hips. It smarts, but it was worth it to play with Paloma in the waves and sand. Tomorrow is the language placement test and some orientation stuff at school. I am much more nervous about taking the bus and finding my way through the city than I am about the test. I am directionally challenged in Milwaukee. Cross your fingers for me while I'm here.