Spain 2011: Its already February

So its already February and it's crazy. I feel like i've been in spain for months even though in fact its only been a couple of weeks. I am really starting to find my way around Alicante and I can't wait for people to start visiting so that I can show them how great this city is! It's still a bit on the chilly side here its' been in the mid to high fourtys with a few days that have broke fifty. ( i know i sound like a conceited spaniard but its cold.) My classes have been going really well i have my language course which is doing all the Spanish that I learned in high school but didn't really grasp fully. My history class is really interesting and i've already learned more about spains recent history than i had known prior. Finally my class in english which is probably the most interesting because it is with students from the University of Alicante, and since this class is a comparative course dealing with culture and communication you can really see the differences between the two different countries and the people that grew up in them.
Over the weekend there was a really important soccer game in Alicante. It was the Hercules (Alicantes team) vs. Barca (Barcelona). Barcelona has one loss this season and it was too Hercules making this a rematch that Barcelona could not lose going into their big match up with Real Madrid in a week. I tried to get tickets but they were like 90 Euro so I decided instead to watch it in a bar with friends. Earlier on Saturday though (the day of the game) I came across the bus for FCBarcelona and decided to see if I could see any of the players because two of my favorites are on the team. Messi who is Argentinian and David Villa who a Spaniard. Those two are my favorites but also on the Barcelona team are Puyol and Iniesta (who scored the world cup winning goal for spain), so I thought it would be pretty cool to try and see the players. I waited for an hour just staring at the bus and the crowd just kept getting bigger and bigger with more and more people showing up to watch the bus pull away. Finally at like 6:30 the bus began to load and i got a glimpse of Iniesta and Villa but i hadn't seen messi which was sad and then as the bus drove past staring out the window in the second to last row was Messi! He waved and made eye contact, it was crazy, even if no one follows soccer i have now in person seen a lot of the best players in the world and I still am going to go to a game in Alicante, maybe when mom and dad are here its just such a cool experience. Barcelona ended up winning 3-0 proving that they weren't going to get beat by the same team again and keeping their record with the one loss, Messi scored 2 goals it was exciting to watch after seeing the team. Here are some photos from waiting for the bus on Saturday:

Then on Sunday the weather was beautiful and I went for a walk up to the castle again, it's reallly relaxing and the weather this time i think was even better than last time. Again I don't have much more to say but i'll leave you guys with some pictures from my hike and the way up to the castle!