I have arrived!

(Blog written 5 de enero 2013, Published 14 de enero 2013)

Yay!!! Safe travel! We arrived in Spain early this morning, making it more or less an all-nighter. Crazyness.

Insert Tweet here:
"Pulling an all-nighter to kick-off the Spring 2013 semester. #jetlag #studyabroadprobs
or
"Mock my accent, mock my heritage!" (Bethany understands! :)

The journey to Espana was pretty smooth. We had a great send-off group at the airport, smooth flights, and made all our connecting flights. I didn't particularly love the airplane food, so the worst part of the day has been hunger pains. But, thanks to some good ol' peanut butter crackers and a Subway find, I'm going to bed satisfied.

On first flight! 

My first hours in Espana were spent exploring Alicante with Ellen and Josh. So cool! You're basically on the beach- on the Mediterranean coast I might add, looking up at a castle. And it ain't no sand castle.

I think we barely scratched the surface of exploring today, but I'm already so excited to keep discovering Alicante's hidden treasures. One treasure included: a cupcake place complete with coffee, it's got Hayley written all over it, did I mention it was pink? :)

One would think that this was a good day already, but it gets better!!
January 6th is a holiday in most Spanish-speaking countries called "El Dia de los Reyes Magos."
For some reason Hispanic culture zooms in on the three "kings"/astrologers in the Christmas Nativity story. The celebration begins the night before with a parade. (January 5th, aka, my first night in Spain. So, of course, my first thoughts were it was "so sweet of Spain to throw me a "Welcome to Spain" party" ;) )
Anyway...rumor had it that the three kings were suppose to come from the port. So Josh, Ellen, and I went to find these darn kings! We went on a little goose chase. Josh thought they were going to come in off a boat from the port in cinematic style from Italy. Sadly, it was only a rumor, we never saw the kings come from the sea. But we did get to witness the parade of the Los Reyes Magos through the streets of Alicante! This is a HUGE deal! Some would even say it's a bigger deal then Christmas for Hispanic children. I think it's safe to say that most Americans think of a parade as marching through the streets, probably with costumes, music, and throwing candy. While all of that was a reality at the parade, it was even better! Yes, they "marched through the streets," but they did it with giant inflatable characters! 

Check out the Cowboy and the Indian. haha 

The music was blasted from several different stations of multiple speakers, songs in Spanish and English. And yes, there was candy thrown, but there was also soccer balls, pastries, backpacks, books, and more tossed to reaching hands saying, "aqui, aqui!" I'm sure you can imagine  that some of those reaching hands belonged to yours truly. However, Ellen, Josh, and I only walked away with a piece of candy each. Can't win them all!
Great first day, looking forward to more great days ahead!