Today, I learned a few things...

Hey world,

Today I learned:

1. Waking up earlier will help you not scramble for time (like yesterday).
2. MaryAnn eats her steaks on the blue side... and pours the blood from the container onto her rice. umm?
3. Where to get a bus pass and what kind of card I need to get a discount monthly.
4. CAM is a huge bank... and the headquarters are here in Alicante.
5. There are 6.5 million tiles making up that really pretty walkway (Explanada de España) that I took pictures of the first night here.
6. There's an island about 3 miles off of the coast of Alicante where King Carols Charles III put Spaniard prisoners that he rescued from Africa; they soon became Pirates.
7. Every year during some festival that goes around the entire city, there are a few men that carry a HUGE box of roses from the church up in the old, nice side of town down the stairs in that section of town, all around Alicante (to present them to the people of the town), and then back up the stairs (hundreds of stairs) to present back to the church for Virgin Mary. Typically they have to run up the stairs on the way back to the church because their legs would be too tired to make it up walking!
8. There's a really famous coffee shop in town called Valor on the Explanada and an ice cream shop somewhere near by. Apparently they serve their hot chocolate with churros! that's my kind of place!
9. The chairs that are placed randomly on the Explanada are for all of the old people that come down and just sit on the walkway the entire day... especially old men!
   
10. There are some realllyyy cheap shops here in Alicante -- and they have wonderful clothing.
11. Krista's real name is Trisha... she's been lying to us!
    
12. "Kaitlyn" is actually spelled "Caitlyn" :) oops!!
    
13. There's another Sigma Kappa on this trip and her name is Anna! She goes to the University of Maryland.
    
14. The old spices in the back of the cabinet actually help to make some REALLY good spaghetti sauce... mmmm -- Krista and I were the chefs tonight!
15. The little trees on the streets actually have oranges growing on them... I found my afternoon snacks :)
    
16. There are no Baptists in Spain (or at least in Alicante, for that matter).

So, today, in short: We got up and had to meet the crew in the same plaza as before for the tour of Alicante at 11:30. Our tour guide was Sévan and he knew quite a bit about the town -- given he has lived here for 7 years! It's sad though... today when he was telling us about the festivities he said that even though Christians put on the festivities he went because they were fun; not because he had any interest in religions. :( We learned quite a bit and got to see some of the prettiest parts of the town. There is one section of Alicante, one street to be exact, that is SO GORGEOUS!! There are vibrant colors all over the place and the houses are decorated in bright tiles and colorful flowerpots. And the best part, was that it was so high on this hill that it overlooked basically all of Alicante!

We saw mannyy old streets and old buildings... and I got to take a lot of pictures! :) But, not as much as I wanted because the group was HUGE and when I went to take pictures someone would always step in the way. :( MaryAnn, Krista and I decided we'll go out again later and get some good pictures! For now, though... I have just a few to share.

For lunch Krista, MaryAnn, Emma McNeil (the girl from Ecuador) and I all went to 100 Mandatos for lunch and then headed home. Emma branched off and then Krista, MaryAnn and I skipped out on going straight home and went to the shops. We got some bowls for the kitchen (because we didn't have any cereal bowls), went into a few random clothes shops, AND... AND AND AND.... guess what I got? A BLANKET!! I finally found one cheap enough and warm enough so I bought it! It's pink and fuzzy and big and warm and OOOOO I can't wait to try it out.

In fact, I'm going to go try it out now.

First day of classes tomorrow... hello 7:30AM wake-up call!

Sincerely,
Still not unpacked