My best friend Maura was here all week the week after Dublin. Lucky for her, it RAINED the entire time. I was so, so bummed because I have been talking all this time about how beautiful and perfect it is here, and she didn’t really get to see any of that because of the rain. We did get one semi-nice day where we hiked the castle and walked through the Santa Cruz neighborhood. I love being able to show people around here .. I wish everyone could come see it!

Some highlights of Maura’s week in Alicante:

-          Lots and lots of shopping! We both had some successful purchases and also succeeded in turning Maura a little European .. she bought TWO satchels (which was also my first European purchase when I got here .. haha) I finally got a new bathing suit (they just started putting bathing suits on sale here … at home, they’ve been out since Christmas) so that’s was my exciting purchase.

-          Dinner and Darsena. One of the main and most famous restaurants in Alicante is Darsena. Famous for their paella, Darsena is on the port with beautiful views of the water. It was a little upscale for us but I wanted Maura to get good Paella so we went anyway. It was really good and fun to have one nice dinner!

-          Cuisine class. My awesome program director Luis, said it would be okay for Maura to come to cuisine class and even said it would be okay for her to eat too  (I was a little worried since everyone pays for the class that there might not be enough, but there was plenty!) We made Paella (of course right after Maura and I spent a ton of money on it at Darsena!)  which was really fun! We also made gazpacho (like cold tomato soup) and a rice pudding for dessert. This was our second to last cuisine class and our last time making a new meal. I’m glad we ended with something as good as Paella (I’ll have a big update about the rest of the cuisine classes soon!)

-          Montaditos and Sangria: On Wednesday nights we usually go to ‘dollar-nights’ and Montadito’s, a restaurant near our apartment. Montaditos are little tiny sandwiches and one Wednesday, each one is 1 euro. For every 1 euro sandwich you buy, you get a giant mug of sangria for 1 euro. Maura came with us this week and got to try her first sangria. SOOO good!

I think that’s about if for Maura’s week in Alicante. Even though the weather did not cooperate we still had soooo much fun. We were able to catch up on everything I’ve missed from back home this semester so I feel a little more in the loop.  I wish she was here the whole time!