My first month in Spain has been better than I could’ve imagined. I’m staying with an amazing host mom who has helped me find great restaurants and places to see. For the first month, I’ve been taking an intensive language course, which has really helped me make conversation with all the people I’ve interacted with so far since being here.

I will say the schedule here is a lot different than my schedule in Columbia! We usually have class early in the morning, then the rest of the day we’re free to go to the beach, hike the Castillo or just enjoy our new city. There’s always a restaurant, store or anything you would need in your daily routine very close to home since everything is within walking distance.

I really liked the size of Alicante, it feels big enough that there’s always something to do, but it’s also not overly crowded anywhere. I’ve been able to explore the city a lot in my first month, but I can’t wait to continue exploring Spain more!

The public transport here is great, and there are so many surrounding cities that are just an hour away. We bought a ticket to a nearby coastal city (Benidorm) for four euro round trip! We got to eat ice cream and watch the sunset before going home. We also explored Altea for a day and it was around the same price. It was about an hour-long train ride, and we got to look at all the shops in the city. There were a lot of homemade items that I can’t wait to show my family when I come back. Going to school is also really easy on the train, it’s less than two euro a day.

I’ve really enjoyed walking around the city and you really don’t need a car for anything. You can also fly anywhere in Europe for a cheap price, so we also planned a trip to Portugal for less than $100! It’s been an amazing first few weeks, I’ve already made some great friends and got to see some beautiful places.

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Learn more about this blogger’s study abroad program: ALI Abroad: University of Alicante