Alicante Spain for the weekend. Is this real life?

real work.

My third week at SWIFT started very slow- not a lot of work for me to do but then by Wednesday I had a "To-Do" list with at least 10 items on it. My first priority was to edit the context and copy of four different online job descriptions that SWIFT was going to post on websites like Monster.com and Linkedin.com. The job postings were for general young college graduates, IT specialists, marketing positions, and finally designers. I had to word each job posting in a language that would be most appeal for each different job posting category. I also had to write two articles for SWIFT's internal website: one was about a new pension plan and the other was a reminder article about employees needing to set up a one-on-one meeting with their managers. The work seems really easy but honestly it takes a lot of research to figure out what type of language I need to write in to attract the different categories of people.

dream vacation.

Last Friday, June 10^th, Lisa, Jordan, Melanie (my roommates) and I left the real world and went on a mini vacation to Alicante Spain! We took a late flight on a cheap airline called RyanAir. I’m not sure if it was the beautiful destination we were headed to or if people were already in the vacation mind-set but the people on our flight were very...happy. They were laughing, cheering, clapping their hands... it was a bizarre experience. Every flight I’ve taken in the States has always been quieter and a lot more reserved. It was kind of refreshing to see happy Europeans.

The view from our hotel...thanks lisa for the picture! 

Once we arrived at our hotel, EuroStar: Mediterranean Plaza, in Alicante we could immediately feel the ocean air. It was glorious. It was so nice to finally be in a country where I could read the street signs and actually understand a restaurant menu.

saturday.

After sleeping in through most of the morning, we headed down to the beach and what an experience that was. The first thing you see at La Playa de San Jose is the crystal clear water. The water was a perfect temperature, not warm and not cold, just somewhere right in the middle. There aren’t any big waves to Lisa and I bought a green floatie and took turns relaxing in our 5 Euro investment.

I know I’m a beach girl. I’ve spent every one of my summers relaxing on a beach. So when it comes to beach, I’m usually in my comfort zone. However, there is one thing that totally slipped my mind while planning this Mediterranean adventure.

Topless beaches.

All I am going to say is this: Going topless on a beach really isn’t a big deal in Europe...it’s a normal act here. However, after saying that, I will still admit: there is no way I will EVER be mature enough to handle it. Never.

Anyway, after getting burned on the beach we took a much needed siesta in our room until dinner. Dinner does not start in Spain until at 8:30 at night so we took our time, had some Sangria and ventured around the city.

sunday.

On Sunday my roommates and I explored a castle. The more I try to explain El Castillo de Santa Barbara, the weirder I make it sound. To keep it simple: it is a huge castle that sits on a mountain right next to the shore line. It was a fortress that was used to defend Alicante whenever ships would invade the city by coming through the Mediterranean Sea. The views were amazing. We had to take an elevator because the castle sits so high up that it would take hours to climb all the stone stairs.

Castillo de Santa Barbara on top of the mountain. 

The castle is so big that it even has a restaurant. Since it was a very hot day and we were tired from all our exploring, we took a little break at the restaurant and ate much needed ice pops.

View from the castle. 

Once our three hour exploration of the castle was over we relaxed on the beach until dinner time.

After dinner, which consisted of paella, sangria, pasta and frits, we walked along the shore and shopped at little stores that lined the boardwalk.

spaniards love life.

Every street in Alicante is different but always full of life. Live music was everywhere. Family and friends were everywhere. Food and drinks were everywhere. Festivals and celebrations were always going on. One night there was fireworks...for what reason..I don’t know... I just know that Spaniards love to live and they love to have a good time. I definitely want to return to Spain sometime in this lifetime. It was beyond beautiful and definitely one of my favorite places I’ve ever been.

***pictures are posted on my facebook. Link to my facebook album.

Jersey Shore? Nope. It's the North Sea!!!

On Saturday, my diva-licious roommate Lisa, my obnoxious other roommate Melanie, and perfect me traveled 75 minutes northwest by train to Oostend Belgium.

getting there.


The train ride was... interesting. Before I start there is one thing we all must remember: life is about laughing through all the nasty stuff that always seems to happen. So anyway, we sat down in our big seats and clean smelling air....and not 10 minutes later we were getting kicked out of 1st class to sit on the floor of 2nd class. We had no idea there were different classes on a 75 minute train ride... also we did not know that the train station sells more tickets than there were seats so.... that's how we ended up on the floor of 2nd class. The Europeans laughed at the stupid American students sitting on the floor...we laughed at ourselves......it was a good time.

where's the beach. 


Once we got off the train we realized ... "Um...where's the beach?" Once we got our "wits" about us we followed the crowd and found the beach.

To answer the questions that I know my nasty-minded cousins are thinking:

No, no one was nude.


Yes, men wore gross speedos. 

Thing I learned about Europe: people have a lot less shame. Good for them. I cheer them on.

The North Sea was...like Jersey...pretty but not beautiful. The water was a lot warmer than I was expecting...it was about the same as the Jersey shore in late June.

As soon as I put my towel on the sand, I was fast asleep. No matter where I am in the world, give me some sand, some waves, and I'll be happy.

The boardwalk around the beach was crowed...a lot of kids...a lot of families. One thing I've noticed here is people do not hover over their children. People let their kids run all over over and they never say a word. I guess that's because the adults themselves do not say anything when they bump into someone. No "excuse me" or "pardon me".... they just glare at you like you did something wrong. As John our American advisor would say, "That's Europe."

That day was probably the best day I've had here. It was nice to have something familiar all the while experiencing something different.

update for SWIFT. 

Today was the start of my 3rd week at SWIFT. Melanie and I pretty much have the commuting thing down---well except for when we fall asleep on the bus and jump up asking "Are you sure this is our stop?"...

My assignment for the week is to update the wording of the job postings SWIFT puts on websites like Monster.com and Linkedin. The work isn't too hard--- its just a lot of creative writing which takes some time but I'll get it done.




*Pictures of my trip to Oostend are posted on my Facebook.