Oh, Carnaval

Whoa. Biggest weekend of my life.

On Friday, Carnaval began in Alicante. Carnaval is basically a huge fiesta that occurs just before lent starts in the Catholic tradition. It goes from Friday until this upcoming Wednesday, but Saturday is the biggest part of the celebration. On Saturday, one of the major streets here was closed off to traffic, and two stages were set up on opposite ends of the street. In between the two stages? An outdoor bar. These Spaniards really know how to fiesta. Anyway, Carnaval is also a time to dress in costume, and without one, you would surely stand out. So with these basics in mind, I will recount a few highlights from my weekend.

On Friday, I went with friends to an intercambio gathering. This mixer was meant to match up Spanish speakers with English speakers so that everyone could practice using languages outside of their native tongues. My group of friends got partnered with a large group of guys, and we found out later that most of them have been friends since kindergarten. Many of them are studying law at the University, and they are a fun and friendly group. And we all hit it off right away! We spoke only in Spanish with the promise that we will meet again to speak in English another day. However, our night did not end there. After exchanging some contact info, we decided that we would all meet up later to hang out. Fast forward to midnight: there we were hanging out with our new Spanish friends in a local bar. Such a fun night! It was great to get to know our new friends better, and we even talked a little bit in English. They were so nice to us-- true Spanish caballeros (gentlemen). Overall, I probably spent about 5 hours talking in Spanish that night. Fast forward until 4am: still there. So yeah, it was a good night.

One of my favorite photos from the night.
(I was supposed to be a hippie)

Saturday was a gorgeous day, and I was able to go to the beach for a little bit to take in some sun between catching up on sleep and prepping my costume for the evening. And then round two began! My friends and I started our night in an apartment before hitting the streets around midnight (which is actually still considered early in Spain). There was so much to be seen: crazy costumes, parties in the street, two simultaneous concerts, and people-watching galore. There was also a lot of fun to be had: bars, clubs, anywhere in Alicante. Fast forward to 5am: we met with our new friends from the night before. I was so pleased that I could converse in Spanish to arrange our meeting not only at such a late hour, but also after a night of fiesta-ing. Fast forward to 6:30am: finally in bed after an unsuccessful attempt to get a snack. Oh, Carnaval, so much fun but not a lot of rest! Needless to say, I'm using the first part of this week to catch up on sleep before I head to London to visit Kim this weekend. The adventure continues.