Strides

Side note: Wandering the back streets can be very
fun. There are so many colorful buildings.

After living in Alicante for two weeks, I finally feel settled into the lifestyle here. Sure, there are still high and low moments, but now I feel more in-tune with the harmony of the city.  Last night was by far my favorite night that I have had in Alicante so far.  After a seemingly normal dinner with mi familia, I lingered in the kitchen as usual to ask if I could help clean up. But this time, a few minutes turned into an hour-long conversation with mi madre and her boyfriend.  We talked about everything: family, religion, politics, the economy, and the beauty of the Spanish life.  Mi madre's boyfriend even showed me flamenco songs on YouTube, which are sung by his grandfather.  The best part of this conversation: it was held completely in Spanish. Not a single word of English.  It was so reassuring to me that I could carry on a conversation for that long in a language other than my native tongue.

Still riding the high of this experience, I went out with some friends to the barrio area, which is where all of the action takes place after dark.  We planned on having a mellow girls night  out, but we were approached by some Spanish guys soon after we sat down at a table.  They struck up a proposition that was hard to refuse: they practice English and we practice Spanish.  So, needless to say, we now have some Spanish friends who we conversed with for about an hour.  Different languages were used, but it didn't seem to matter at all.  They had many questions for us about life in the United States, and it was so interesting to see what their perceptions were about America. One surprising fact (at least it was to me) about Spain: they mostly listen to American music. From the clubs to the radio, it's not hard to find any type of American music that you want.  In fact, our new friends asked us about Justin Bieber-- he's popular here with an older crowd, believe it or not.

So overall, this was a great way to celebrate living in Alicante to exactly two weeks now.  Not only was the night very reassuring, but it was just what I needed.  A few days earlier, the brutality of the language barrier was really starting to hit me.  Not being able to constantly express myself was murderous to me (as most of you know how much I like to talk), but I was doing as best as I could. I was even jealous of small children who could speak better than I could. But now I'm realizing more and more that it takes confidence, practice, patience, and a good sense of humor to learn a new language, and it's definitely worth the struggle. I love the classroom-- see picture below-- but there are just some experiences that you can only get when you step out into the world.  From giving directions to helping a friend get medicine, I've made some strides in Spanish this week that have been indispensable in my progress. Although I know there will be days where I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of Spanish vocabulary, I look forward to continuing my language journey. Todo está bien.

The beautiful campus at Universidad de Alicante.