alicante--no pasa nada

so it's been a little less than a week (have you noticed how everytime i start a new paragraph it's with the word 'so'? i'll stop that now) since i left, most unwillingly, alicante. after spring break i had about a week and a half in florence to chill and get back into the groove of speaking italian again before i launched myself into another country to get by in a new language. luckily i went to visit a very good very old (as in ive known her forever, not that she is 90 years old) friend of mine who speaks spanish pretty much fluently so it was no biggie getting around or doing anything (dude, TMI, but even finding lactaid). to get to alicante i took the fast train to bologna, couldn't figure out the bus system, so nabbed a taxi to take me to the airport (which was AWESOME. he had a tv on his console and we watched an italian game show. so stupid and so funny), was felt up by the lady in the security line who also guffawed at my mismatched socks (at least they were CLEAN, jeez), finally landed in spain after my ipod died halfway throught Easy on Joanna's new album (yes, we are on a first name basis) and the pilot made the sketchiest landing EVER.
anyway. jordan picked me up from the airport and we did one of those romantic movie scenes when you run at the person waiting for you and get the biggest hug ever...it was like that.
jordan is living with a host family that includes her madre Mabel and her little sister Paula. both are some of the biggest characters iv'e met. especially Paula, she has the whole 12 year old attitude, but she looks like she is 19. one evening we took paula, her cousin, and a friend out to go bowling. the bowling place ended up being kind of like chuck-e-cheeses, but in spanish. there were little kids everywhere! one thing we noticed while just chillin and watching the kids was how well they all dress. Like, they are put together little children, thier hair is all done and they wear boots over their jeans and jeez. i was into tiger t-shirts and jynco's when i was that age. boots? psh.

one of my favorite things there was eating dinner with her family and just listening to the conversation. i could understand what was going on most of the time which was soo cool and jordan would translate what i said or details/topics that i couldn't catch. she was our translator, english-spanish-english-spanish. when we weren't eating amazing mabel food, or pigging out on chocolate con churros, we climbed up to the high point that looks over alicante. the high point also happens to be a huge old castle with never ending switchbacks and stairs to the top. it was well worth the climb to see the view of the ocean and the colorful city below.
did you say "so what was the nightlife like?" yeah, i though you did. well before i went i thought i was kind of a badass going out at 10 and staying out until like 2:30in the morning. turns out this is nothing, and if i had a spanish madre she would ask me if i was sick and be thoroughly dissapointed if i came home anytime before 5 in the morning. soooo. my last night we stayed out until the sun came up at 8, hanging out at the beach, falafel in hand, friends by my side. we stumbled into bed and crashed until 2 when it was time to eat lunch (dinner is at 9, you talk for a couple hours, digest, call your friends, and go out again at 11:30). going out with jordan and her friends was so fun and comfortable and i felt completely able to relax and have the time of my life. we danced and met tons of people and jordan (as always) knew eveyone so were able to get in everywhere (ok, except one club that we had to sneak into when the guy was looking the other way) and talk to the bartenders and the djs and jeez. i did not want to leave.
some little highlights: 6 euro boots. yes! falafel falafel falafel. eating lunch while watching people play volleyball on the beach. meeting jordan's friends. wandering the city...street art. not having to wear my big jacket. seeing the sun. mabel's pizza. trying to explain that i didn't eat meat. not even chicken. teaching the kids about the slow clap. being jealous of paula's cousins hair. oh man. and so much more.

my next adventure? family! my mom, dad, chelsea, and my gma bonnie are flying in saturday morning. i am beyond excited to see them, and i wish mat was coming too (stupid work!). all my friends want to meet chelsea and are so curious to see my twin. "there are TWO of you?!" yes, but we aren't identical. "but TWO?!"
i know there aren't any pictures on this post, cause im on the school computer, but i

OH! last night was St. Patrick's Day. Holy cow the entire city was up all night, the beer was green, and if you weren't wearing a tall floppy hat that said "stPATRICKS DAY 2010" you just weren't getting into it. i have no green things. not one. the weirdest part (and probably the best)? i didn't get pinched!