Food, drinks, poo, more food, beach, and more FOOD!

I know the title is a little weird but you will understand once you see all of my pictures.

In class one day my teacher just happened to mention the one Mexican restaurant they have here in Alicante. Of course I wrote it down, went straight home and googled it to see if it was close by. Luckily it is right down the street from where Michelle lives! So one night Michelle, Mandy and I decided we wanted to try it. It was pretty darn good not very spicy though. I mean I don't like spicy much at all, but I was disappointed when not even the salsa had any sort of spice. Besides not having any spicy stuff it was yummy. I was super excited to have normal tortillas!!!!

Note on the menu it is a Mexican CALIFORNIAN restaurant.

I just liked the little Mexican man hugging the cactus and wearing a sombrero.

Since we were in a Mexican restaurant Mandy and Michelle decided to get a piña colada and a margarita. I am not allowed to put this picture on facebook though cause Mandy doesn't want her parents seeing that see drank :) It is legal here though, but whatever.

We shared two chicken cheese quesadillas and two little chips and salsa. And when I say little I mean TINY, there had to be like 15-20 chips max. They were good though, not as good as Chili's but good for Spain.
I put a fork in the picture to give you perspective on how little the quesadillas were.
Then we all split the chicken and beef fajitas! They were so good, the only thing missing was some mixed cheese to go with them.

After seeing Michelle and Mandy with their drinks I decided to get a strawberry margarita. Can I just tell you it is really weird to 1 be able to order a drink and 2 not get carded for it. But it is just normal here having a drink with your meal. Sometimes the water is more expensive than the alcoholic drinks. AND what I thought was super strange is that in a lot of restaurants it is normal for them to give you a free shot too finish off your meal. Strange right?

Another day when Britta, Michelle, and I were making plans for spring break (more details on that when everything is set in stone) we decided to get some helado (ice cream). I just thought it looked cool how they served it so I took a pic.

So here is where that poo comes into play. I know this is slightly disgusting for me to post but it is what I have to see EVERYDAY!!!! That is not an exaggeration either, there is poop all over the sidewalks everywhere. Seriously it is nasty people just let their dogs poop right on the sidewalk and don't clean it up! I don't know what is wrong with people. When I walk anywhere my eyes are pealed to the ground because I WILL NOT step in dog poop.

When I had my phone out to take a picture of my that lovely poo I decided to take a picture of this graffiti that I pass by everyday. I am amazed by how people can paint people with such detail only using spray paint. Even though it is technically vandalism it is still art.

More food. So I got the Mexican food craving out of my system, but what about chinese food? I think asian food is probably my favorite type of food so one day after school a bunch of us went to this chinese restaurant.

Garrett, Michelle, and Erin

Alex, Britta, and me.

It was really neat, when they brought us our check they brought all the girls bracelets.

I got the vanilla ice cream for dessert and had to take a picture cause it was so cute and tiny.

After we went and ate we walked along the promenade, past the marina to the beach.
It was such a beautiful day, definitely a perfect day to sit on the beach and relax with friends.
We got distracted along the way by all the street vendors. They all have lots of cool little knickknacks for fairly cheap.
While we were on the beach Britta fell asleep. It was funny I couldn't resist taking a picture.
This is where the MORE FOOD comes in. We came home that night after having chinese food to the enormous pan of paella. I was so excited because Pepita's paella it so freakin' delicious!

I decided you really had to get perspective on how big that pan was because the last picture just wasn't doing it justice. She had never used this pan before but I didn't mind because I can eat so much of her paella.

Fui a la playa! (I went to the beach)

That is right I am learning me some spanish. I am actually able to write a phrase in spanish!

This trip has already paid for itself :)

This week has been a crazy week getting ready for finals tomorrow. That is partially why there has been a delay on this post. I have been studying and such so I make sure I get a good grade on the test tomorrow.

But before the studying began my friends and I decided to go to the beach on Sunday. It was such a nice day we didn't really have a choice. I hadn't been to the beach yet so it was about time and it was an excellent picture taking opportunity.

It was really weird how the shoreline had formed. There was like a wall of sand that the tide would hit but sometimes it would flow over and it created a little stream thing or maybe more like a tide pool I guess.

The hotel we stayed in is the last building on the left. Pretty sweet if I do say so myself. We probably could have gone with something a little cheaper and saved us some money but nope Cynthia and Armando like us to spend as much money as possible.

See how clear blue the skies were. I felt like I was in AZ again!

I didn't have my flip flops yet so I wore my converse to the beach.

My two cool roommates and the amazing Michelle. They actually sat down and enjoyed themselves. I on the other hand don't really like getting sand all over me so I enjoyed myself standing up taking pictures.

How awesome would it be to live right on the beach like this!

Me at the beautiful Alicante beach!

After I took the picture of me and the beach Mandy decided it was imperative to take some jumping pictures. So here we go:

First it was just me and Mandy and we got it first try. Go us!

Actually go Kat who took the picture for us.

Then Kat got in the picture with us and Garrett was the photographer. Even though I love Garrett he isn't as good of a photographer as Kat, it took us a few tries.

We are barely even getting into the jump when he took it.

(note Mandy, she looks like she is telling us to hold on. it cracks me up)

A little better, at least I am off the ground.

Then I decided to show Garrett how it was done and I got it the second try.

But then of course Garrett needed to show us that he could do it and we needed one with all four of us girls so after one more bad one we got a good one!!!

Garrett y Michelle

I think it was destiny for me and Michelle to meet. We are so similar in things we like and our views and such. Listen to this she loves Disney and 18 kids and counting AND she can name all 18 kids in order like me! How awesome is that?!

I loved how the water in the tide pool rippled with the wind.

I wanted to get a picture of the tide rolling in, but when I looked at this picture on my computer I was kind of bummed that my shadow got in the picture. I looked at again though and realized I actually really like it.

I thought this was cute.

I took the picture in perfect timing. 2 seconds later the tide came and washed it away.

It was hilarious Mandy and I were standing my the shoreline where it was dry and all of a sudden a huge wave came and covered our feet. Mandy was closer to the water so she got it worse than me but my socks and shoes were still all wet.

I love when people take pictures of their foot prints so I decided to take a picture of my converse prints :)

On our way back home we discovered all of this awesome beach workout equipment at the end of the beach. So of course we had to try them all out and we ended up having a ton of fun. None of the things were difficult but I thought they were a neat idea.

Working the legs.

Working the biceps.

Don't really know what this is working.

This was BY FAR the best, most fun, and most hilarious machine they had. I mean seriously it was hilarious to watch people do it.

I think the faces tell it all. Just look how much fun Garrett is having...hahaha.

This one was a little awkward to do. You had to swing from side to side but it wasn't smooth.

Anyone wondering what that cool looking red rope thing is behind them? We were intrigued too so of course we had to go check it out.

Garrett was the first brave one to go and climb it.

Then Michelle and I joined in but Michelle chickened out about where she is in this picture.

I didn't chicken out at all, in fact as you can see I totally passed Garrett up and went all the way to the top!

I was pretty proud of myself incase you couldn't tell.

Then I headed back down and apparently I found something rather hilarious but I don't remember what. Oh wait I remember Michelle was telling Garrett that the next time we do this he needs to wear longer shorts.

It was so much fun and will definitely become a regular thing especially when it gets warmer and we are able to go swimming. I cannot wait for that!

Next week my new classes start. I am taking two business classes Human Resources Management and Retail Marketing. I am excited to take some business classes since I have never taken them before. They are going to be in English thankfully and then I am also taking the next two spanish classes so I can keep learning! I'm not 100% sure what my schedule is going to be like but it should be more morning classes so I will actually be able to take a siesta and not feel like I am wasting my days away.

I am planning on taking the tram to another city close to Alicante for a day trip Saturday so I will keep you posted on where I go and what I do. Have a fabulous Friday and wish me luck on my test tomorrow. Hopefully all goes well so I can move up to the next spanish class. Love you all and miss you much!