The Adventures of Merrick: Beginnings and Endings

March 22, 2013

I am beginning to really develop a love for ultimate frisbee. Prior to coming here, the only time I've ever thrown a frisbee was when I had a dog way back when. Now, I play 3-4 times a week, and legitimately look forward to every coming practice. And the people. Oh the people! What a bunch of goofballs. Half of the regular crowd are Spaniards, and the other half are "extranjeros". Therefore, every game is both a fun afternoon spent with friends AND a intercambio learning opportunity!

I showed up three hours late to a surprise party for one of the English girls on the frisbee team. Apparently, I missed quite a bit in that first three hours, including the main organizer of our team stripping down to just a frisbee loincloth, complete with mood lighting, and waiting on the couch until the birthday girl arrived. I had been preoccupied with finding an IPA of some sort to save me from another night of unsatisfying Spanish beer, but arrived in time to play a few rounds of beer pong and engage in wonderful conversation amongst a very interesting and diverse group of individuals. It really reminded me of a climbing party. Just minus watching climbing videos.

I think my favorite part right now about frisbee is that I can actually see myself getting better. From when I started to how I have been playing is like the difference between your first time on the slackline and after a month of trying every day. There was one day I was completely on fire though; I was catching everything, blocking everything, and running running running as if my life depended on it! What a feeling! It really has been a while since I've been so into a team sport. I forgot how much fun it can be sharing the victory.

March 28th, 2013

And so ends the Spanish class chapter of this study abroad trip. After three months of language blocks five days a week, three hours each, I am free. Am I fluent? No. Will I be when I come back to the states? Hell no. On a scale of one to ten how much does that bother me? Maybe a 3. I have learned so much in three months that it's only natural that my brain is saturated. The remaining two-ish months of my stay will now be dedicated to conversational Spanish. Additionally, I've officially decided to continue Spanish when I return to ASU. Ideally, this will keep me on the right track to maybe be kind of fluent someday :)

The end of these (and the rest of) classes this week marked the beginning of Semana Santa. This is essentially spring break in Spain, as well as a the beginning of the tourist season of Alicante. The beaches are starting to fill out, summer shops are opening, and the sounds of the crazy oboe instruments that I remember from Carnaval are ringing through the barrios for Semana Santa.

Semana Santa is the Holy Week, celebrated from Palm Sunday and ending on Easter Sunday. There are a few large processions that take place during the week. These processions last for hours, meandering through the smaller calles, up the main La Rambla, and then some. I actually missed the beginning of the first one on Wednesday, caught up to it nearly two hours later, went home, and then saw it ending outside my apartment probably another two hours afterwards. They are pretty neat though. The biggest surprise was actually the costumes; many were dressed in attire that very closely emulated that of a KKK uniform. Now, it's understood that these costumes came before the KKK. The Ku Klux Klan actually chose to enlist similar cloaks and masks because they believed their cause was a righteous one, hence the affiliation to this religious holiday. Past that little surprise, the rest of the procession is complete with large displays commemorating the death, the tomb, and resurrection of Christ.

March 31st, 2013

My climbing is definitely taking one for the team here. I was able to get out to Guadalest with a group on Friday, which was the first time I've been outdoors in at least two weeks. Without a functional iPhone, I end up being out of the loop on WhatsApp on tentative climbing plans. What a pain. But it was a good day of climbing; two 6a's, two 6a+'s, and a 6c. Not bad for so much time off.

Despite being beyond exhausted upon returning to Alicante that night, I decided to go out. Botellon, god-awful karaoke, McDonalds followed immediately by kebabs, La Sede chopito-ing, and mas. Around 4am, we started walking with the intention of dropping me off at home. Somehow we got distracted and watched the beach zambonies hard at work until we noticed that dawn was fast approaching. The natural next step? Head to the top of the castillo for the sunrise. Illegally hopping fences and scaling the castillo walls, we planted ourselves perfectly to watch the sun peak out over the mar and bring a bright new day to Alicante. Unfortunately, neither of us had a camera to document the glory :(

Also unfortunately, this little excursion took a toll on the sleep schedules. The combination of everyone being out of town and not sleeping until 9am the next day resulted in a sluggish semi-conscious way of living for the remainder of the weekend. But hey, going to need my rest for Ibiza and Mallorca on April 9th!

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