Shannen Chacon '25 on the beach in San Juan!
Florida Southern’s Junior Journey is one of the highlights of the educational experience students can expect at the College. There are a number of trips throughout the year with destinations like Germany and Spain among the most popular. The goal of this blog is to give an insight into what goes on before, during, and after the trip so that future travelers can have an idea of what to expect.
Editor’s Note: This will be a weekly feature, with this week’s entry chronicling Shannen’s first week in Spain.
May 16, 2023
This is my class with one of our awesome professors, Irene
Hola, ¡buenas! My classmates and I have officially spent our first full week studying in Alicante, and I already feel at home. After a long bus ride from the airport in Madrid, we met our host families at La Plaza de Los Luceros (Luceros Plaza) and headed home with them. My friend Caroline and I are rooming together for the trip, and we love our host mom and her two daughters. Our family also hosts Italian students for a different school nearby our school (Proyecto Español) each week, so as our host mom said — we will know many Italians by the end of the month! At home, we are able to practice our Spanish a lot, which is not perfect but has already been improving.
From my Sunday walk with friends.
Another street in the Santa Cruz neighborhood of Alicante. This neighborhood is the oldest part of the city!
On our first day of school, we were placed into different classes based on a placement exam we took before our trip. Classes begin at 9 a.m., and we cover theory and grammar first. After a break, we switch professors with the neighboring class, and then we learn about culture. After our first day of classes and having lunch at home, our whole group took a tour of the city with some professors from Proyecto. We were introduced to La Calle de Las Setas (the Mushroom Street). “Las setas” describes the mushrooms you may have only seen in cartoons: really tall and bright red with white spots. The street has statues of these, which makes for a very unique and fun tourist spot. (If you’re feeling brave — do a quick Google search on the history behind this).
The biggest waterfall at Las Fuentes del Algar (Algar Springs). Swimming under the
waterfall
was something from a dream.
On Wednesday morning, Caroline and I went for a quick run to a nearby park to see the sunrise. We discovered the Santa Cruz neighborhood (in Alicante), which we have since been back to multiple times in the span of a week and explored more trails nearby. After class, we explored the city with two other amigas and explored a couple different grocery stores. Mercadona here is kind of like Publix is at home! On Thursday, we took the tram with more friends to San Juan Beach in the afternoon. The sand is so soft, and it’s absolutely stunning to gaze at the Mediterranean and mountains simultaneously. We will be back soon! Friday morning, our teachers took us to El Mercado Central (The Central Market) to ask people on the street questions about the United States and practice conversational Spanish. Although we may have all been a little hesitant at first, we had a great time with this! It rained Friday afternoon, which is abnormal for Alicante, so we relaxed and walked around only a bit before going to sleep.
A view from Guadalest and its incredibly blue water.
We spent our first Saturday visiting Guadalest, a small but stunning city. We visited Las Fuentes del Algar (Algar Springs) in the afternoon. We climbed rocks, basked in a waterfall, and swam in the spring. The water was quite cold for me as a Floridian, but the views almost felt too incredible to be real. After resting up from our big day Saturday, Caroline and I went for a walk Sunday morning with our friends and their host mom. She showed us around more, and we even got to see a bit of a triathlon that was happening that morning. Later, we hiked more on our own and visited El Castillo de Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara Castle). We also visited the castle with the whole group this past Monday after school, so now we know more of the history as well.
As you can tell, our first week in Alicante has been full. Although we may have been a bit surprised by many stores being closed on Sundays, or for a mid-afternoon siesta, we love how people here seem to appreciate rest. More than anything else, I feel grateful for the chance to discover a new culture and develop my language skills in such an immersive way.
Hasta pronto, Mocs.
This is our whole group all together on the first day of class at Proyecto Español.
