Last Friday Dr. Calvo, our adviser/coordinator, met us at the train station and accompanied us to his hometown, Elche. It's about 18 miles or so west of Alicante and I think it only took about 30-40 minutes in train to arrive there. He showed us all of the main attractions of Elche such as the Parque Municipal (Municipal Park), part of the Palmeral (palm tree park/farm) and the Basilica de Santa María (Saint Mary's Basilica). Elche is a beautiful city, and we were so lucky to have Dr. Calvo show us around.
The 6 of us CMU students at the Parque Municipal
Basilica de Santa María
Arroz con costra
I really enjoyed the Parque Municipal, or as some of the locals call it Parque de los Patos (Duck Park) because of ducks of course. But there were other types of birds too such as a swan, pigeons and doves. When we went to the Palmeral we got to see people sewing/knitting with palm leaves; it really cool and all of the pieces were, in my opion, works of art. One of the women there gave us a little demonstration and some of us were allowed to keep some of the things she made (I got a fish for example). Then a man showed us how to climb the palm trees, which people do, not because they are crazy (although they still might be a little), but because they need to trim the leaves off of the palm trees to help them grow better. After walking around a bit more we went to a restaurant and we all tried arroz con costra, a dish native to Elche, which is rice with chicken and rabbit and topped with egg (kind of like an omelette) filled with various types of sausage; it was super delicious. Dr. Calvo had a former student of his, who is a professional photographer, take pictures of us while we were exploring the city, so not all of these photos are mine, but they were too amazing not to share.
A palm leave work of art
Me, Ali, Amanda & Hollie with our "prizes"
The 6 of us with a replica of the Dama de Elche an ancient
statue found near Elche and a source of local pride.
On Saturday, I met up with Ali, Hollie and Amanda and we went to the castle; the three of them hadn't been there yet and I felt like going again and I'm glad that I did because it was a nicer day on Saturday then when I went a couple of weeks ago.
Classes have been going well, I'm really enjoying my translation class, even though the professor likes to point out the many mistakes us foreign students make when translating from English to Spanish. And I am also enjoying my class on the recent history of Europe (1945-present) focusing on the European integration (the European Union in particular) because it's a class I know I would never get the opportunity to take at CMU or at least not from the same perspective, the perspective of actual Europeans living under the European Union system. Plus the professor of this class is super understanding that being from America we know hardly anything about the European Union and is willing to help us with anything we don't comprehend.
Hollie, Ali and I are going to Valencia next weekend and this weekend is Carnaval, or the festival just before the start of lent, a Catholic period of fasting before Easter. It is kind of like Mardi Gras and Carnaval celebrated in Rio de Janeiro but on a smaller scale, of course. So the next week and a half or so is going to be really fun and exciting.
While researching Valencia I found this video that I really enjoyed of the people of Valencia lip-syncing to Happy by Pharrell Williams; it shows some of the main points of interests in Valencia. It makes me even more excited to visit the city!
On Saturday, I met up with Ali, Hollie and Amanda and we went to the castle; the three of them hadn't been there yet and I felt like going again and I'm glad that I did because it was a nicer day on Saturday then when I went a couple of weeks ago.