Last Friday, Dolo and I went to Pinoso, her hometown, where her mom made us arroz con conejo (rice with rabbit), a typical dish of Pinoso. This past Sunday, as a break from final projects and papers and as celebration of my birthday which was Monday, Dolo and her friends Raquel and Javier took me to Altea, a small town north-east of Alicante. It's very near to the lighthouse I went to about 2 months ago (the
Faro de Albir), in fact from one of the sightseeing points Altea offers, I could see the lighthouse. I'm not entirely sure, but I believe Altea comes from the word alto, which means tall in Spanish; it makes since because the Casco Antiguo (the Old Center [of town]) is atop a mountain (albeit not very tall compared to others).
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| Arroz con conejo |
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My birthday present from my host mom - a book about
Spain during the reign of Queen Isabel |
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| Thank you everyone for the birthday cards! |
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| The two domes and bell tower of the Catedral de Altea |
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| Valencian for Plaza de la Iglesia (Church Plaza) |
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| Javier, Raquel, me and Dolo (kind of blurry, but oh well) |
Altea is famous for the white houses and buildings that make up the Casco Antiguo; in fact, I don't recall seeing a building that wasn't white in the Casco Antiguo except for the Catedral de Altea (Cathedral of Altea). We mostly just walked around a lot until we ate lunch at this amazing Indian restaurant. Our table was on the rooftop terrace so we had great views of the Mediterranean and the mountains that surround Altea; and to top it all off, the food was so delicious. All in all it was an amazing day.
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| My meal, chicken dhansak |
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| Our table |
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| Our view from the rooftop terrace of the restaurant |
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We saw this in a parking lot in Altea and got a few good
laughs from it |
This week was the last week of regular classes and today I had my very last class! It just makes me realize that my departure from Spain is only getting closer, which I try not to think about too much since I generally become a little sad thinking about leaving, yet a little happy to see my friends and family.
Classes may be over, but the semester is not; we have one week off to study for exams before the first week of exams (the exam period at the Universidad de Alicante lasts two weeks). I don't have exams until the second week of exams, so I technically get two weeks off! During my time off I plan on going to Barcelona (finally) and I still have two papers to write, so all of that should keep my mind off returning home so I won't get sad.
