I FINALLY went to the castle!!!

I have officially been in Alicante for exactly 3 weeks today. I can't believe three weeks have gone by already! It is semi pathetic though cause one of the most prominent things in the city is the castle and it took me three weeks to get up to it. It was partially cause the weather didn't permit it but finally Thursday I didn't have a ton of homework and it was a beautifully sunny day with just a little bit of wind so Mandy, Michelle, Britta, and I took a walk all the way up to the castle. It was so beautiful and excellent exercise so we decided to make it a weekly thing.

I felt like going up stairs was kind of a cheating way to start off a hike, but then we walked half way up and realized it wasn't cheating cause it was still pathetically hard for us. Haha we felt so lame when we were tired walking up stairs. All the more reason to make it a once a week thing.

We walked past this futbol field and literally everyone stopped playing, stared at us, and cheered and cat-called at us. It was incredibly hilarious and slightly embarrassing.

There was graffiti all over the place, on every rock, stair, and inch of the wall. Some was just regular graffiti but some like this flower were really pretty and interesting to look at.

I liked how this one was bright colors on a black background.

Still got a long way up...

We went up around 5:30 so the sun was starting to set and the moon came out.

It made for some really awesome pictures including this one.

They were supposed to make tired looking faces but Mandy was the only one who actually did. It makes it funny cause it doesn't look like she is faking it.

I think this was about the half way point.

This is a better one of Mandy. She looks like she is actually enjoying herself.

This is the guard tower for the castle. Michelle decided she wanted to knock on the imaginary door instead of getting in it like I wanted her too. I am glad it made for a funny pic.

So I have decided that this is my new favorite style of taking pictures and I am going to make it my theme for my Europe trip. I just think it is super artist and cute and will look pretty sweet framed next to each other.

Me holding up the guard tower.

We found a set of stairs going down to this little area and just had to go down cause it looked super cool and secretive.

Really I have no idea what it was for but it was a neat place to take some pictures.

The door was locked so it made it even more secretive and that much cooler.

There was also this tree that was made perfect to climb on so of course we had to climb it.

And since Mandy didn't climb the tree she decided to climb up under the bridge.

Still not at the top but it was at a level that had a view that was most definitely picture worthy.

Me and the ocean.

I like this shot with the moon better than the last one.

Mandy's friends made little picture people of themselves so that they could come with her and go everywhere she does on this trip so Michelle and Mandy wanted a picture with them on the cannon.

I don't know what all these flags are but they definitely made the castle legit.

I like this shot. It is the ruins of the old chapel that was there.

Britta.

Seriously?! Still not at the top yet....

I had to take this picture with the seagull it just looked awesome. I know realize that it looks fake but I promise it was a real seagull.

On the stairs that lead to nowhere. Seem kind of pointless but they made for a good picture.

When I looked at this picture after I took it it looked like Michelle was balancing on one foot cause her right foot was on a part that blended into the wall.

B-E-A-UTIFUL. I am super happy we came at sunset cause it made the pictures that much better.

The hotel we stayed at the first few nights is right on that pier.

I just liked the look of the bars, the stonewall, and the moss.

More cannons.

Sunset over Alicante

I want to go up one morning at sunrise to take some pictures. Cause I know that will be just as if not more beautiful.

I love this city :)

That big round open building is the bull fighting arena. I am super excited to go to a bullfight once they start.

I freaked out Michelle and Mandy by doing this. It wasn't really scary just a few 100 foot drop behind me, no big deal. Actually I was looking at pictures from another guy in our group and he did a handstand right here. Now that was just plain crazy. At least I am on both feet holding on with both hands.

When we were coming back down the city lights were beautiful.

On a completely different note for those of you who know me well you know my all time favorite drink is ginger ale. I don't know why it just is. So when I saw it in the grocery store I had to buy it cause I haven't really had anything but orange juice and water for the past couple of weeks. I was super excited to have it after the hike up to the castle but I was completely let down. Unfortunately they make soda different for every country and apparently ginger ale is Spain just isn't as delicious as it is back home. Oh well I guess I will have to keep drinking healthier drinks.

New classes start soon and I have been looking into different trips I can take on weekends and spring break so I will let you know what comes of those. Have a wonderful start to February!

Mi Casa.

So one day when Pepita was out doing who knows what I decided to take pictures of the apartment to share with you all.

So I will give you a tour around my temporary home....

This is the kitchen with the microwave sitting on top of the washing machine.

This is from the other side of the kitchen. We have two refrigerators for some reason. I think it is split one is for vegetables and fresh stuff and the is for the meats and cheeses.

Our hallway.

All of the rooms are off of this one hallway including the front door to the elevator.

This is Mandy and my room. We call it the pink princess room because as you can see everything is pink! And for those of you who know we well I don't really like pink....actually I hate pink :) I don't mind though as long it isn't a hot pink I am good.

My bed is on the right and Mandy's is obviously the left one. My bed is a little messy but it isn't too bad. I keep it pretty clean considering it isn't my house.

We also have a chandelier which makes it extra princessy.

This is our wall of mirrors/closets. I really like that we have these mirrors cause not having a full length mirror kind of stinks.

This is our shelves that we keep all of our toiletries on. Unfortunately we have had a few ants crawling around up here but they seemed to have stopped coming around. Thanks goodness I hate ants!

This is our one bathroom with freezing tile floor. It is a big bathroom but I hate taking a shower right now because we have to turn the water off except to rinse our hair and body and it gets really cold. Hopefully it will heat up here so I can actually enjoy my showers a little bit more.

This is half of the main room.

And this is Pepita's bed in the family room. She gives all of the rooms to us students and has a bed and closet behind this curtain in the main room. It is slightly odd but whatever I don't really care cause I have a room.

This is the other half of the family room. It is actually really big. We have two love seats and as of a week ago 2 couches. I don't know where or why she got the other couch but it is nice for when she has lots of people over.

The wifi router is in this room so when it is important for us to have a good internet connection, like for talking on skype, we come in here and use our computers. This is Mandy doing who knows what on her computer. She has a tiny computer so you can't really tell she has it on her lap.

This table is AMAZING!!!! The first time I sat down on the couch Pepita lifted up the table cloth so I could put my legs under it and boy was I surprised. It has a HEATER in it!!! It comes in handy when we are just sitting there emailing and such especially right now when the weather is so cold.

This is the view from our back deck by the kitchen. It is kind of hard to tell but that is the castle behind all of those telephone wires.

This is looking the other direction from that same balcony.

Our laundry hangs out to dry on the edge of the back balcony. It kind of stinks right now because the weather has been cloudy and semi rainy so our clothes have been taking a really long time to get back to us. It is unfortunate but it isn't anything we can change just hope and pray the sun comes out so we have underwear and socks everyday.

SURPRISE!

Look we actually have two bathrooms. I know who would have guessed Pepita was holding out on us! It was funny cause our roommate Receka told us about it. It came in handy when the other toilet wasn't working the other day. I almost wet my pants and then I remembered I could use that bathroom. It is kind of odd because it isn't even inside. You have to go out on the back balcony to get to it.

This is the beautiful back balcony.

And this is our front balcony that I actually didn't even know we had until I was taking pictures of the place. It is kind of small but cute and has an excellent view.

This is the view one way down the street.

And this the other way.

So that is my house for the next four months. It is a pretty spacious place but you can tell an older women lives here (everything is a little actually a lot bit out dated.) I like it a lot though so far. Hope you are having a fantastic week and be happy it is almost friday!!!