A love/hate letter to Lola, my host family's dog.

Dear Lola (my host family's dog),

I had high hopes for you. I really did.

At first I was disappointed that you simply existed when I found out my host family assignment. I didn't want to live with a dog! My friends said I would like you better than the 2 year old. I was doubtful of that claim. I knew that I would love the child more than you.

However, you didn't seem that bad at all. You made strange grunting noises when you breathed, but it was just plain funny. You were a little annoying when I would come home from school and you'd scratch at my brand new gray leather boots. But you made up for this typical dog behavior when I would leave again, and you would stand in the doorway, nearly getting your head stuck in the door because you didn't want to see me go. You even followed me around the house, and got so excited when I said your name.

Of all the dogs I have met in my life (and subsequently hated) you didn't do what they did. You never put your paws on my legs when I was sitting (you were too short, and too fat) and you never ate or chewed any of my personal belongings (yeah, I still remember that dog that chewed my 8th grade yearbook. To that dog: you've made my list). You never barked (except for the rare occasion there was something on TV that you didn't like). You never drooled. All you ever wanted to do was sit in the same room as me and sit on a blanket or piece of cardboard or Dante's counting mat to protect your butt from the cold marble floor as you looked like a cross between a person bobbing to sleep on a bus and a dog who's face was melting as you dozed off.

That's all you wanted to do. Follow me around the house, or sleep. It didn't matter where you slept, but it had to be somewhat warm. Warm, like the Alicante sun on a Sunday afternoon.



When I was in my room and you were on the patio, the sound of me rustling things around would draw you to my windowsill, where you would sit until you saw my acknowledgment.



Even your creepiness was charming, when at night I would go to my room at the end of the hall and you would stand in the hallway, the dim light outlining your silhouette as you watched me retreat to my room for the night and shut the door.




I loved you for all the times I would exit the bathroom into the dark hallway and get jolted out of my skin when you were lurking in the shadows, growling, or as you like to call it, breathing.



You had so many charms, and I had high hopes for you. That is until today, when you threw up on the living room floor.

My new nickname.

There are so many people in this USAC program, that it's just plain HARD to remember everyone's names.

I mean, there is "hot as balls" girl who oh-so-crudely refers to everything "as balls." Example: cool as balls, hot as balls, gross as balls, etc etc.

There is leggings girl, who trades the option of wearing jeans on a daily basis to wearing leggings, whether there be a skirt or shorts to go with it...or not.

There is soccer maniac kid, who (in the first USAC-organized soccer game in February) took his cleats and soccer knowledge and got a little too intense and thus caused many people to secretly despise him.

Etc, etc.

Some nicknames are good, some are bad, some are neutral.

My friend Carly was talking to a USAC-er the other day about me, and she was like "Melissa? Which one is Melissa again?" Carly described that I had dark hair, I was from Chicago, and so on, and the girl's face lit up with recognition as she said "OHHHH! You mean the girl with the weird accent!"

The Chaos that was Carnaval 2010

Brief overview: Carnaval is a huge holiday here where people dress up, hear live music, wander the streets late a night, and get drunk. Apparently drinking in the streets is legal for this and only this day (although youths carrying around 40s on other days would make you think otherwise). The people of Alicante take full advantage of this, even stealing shopping carts to carry their massive amounts of booze. Rocio told me that the supermarkets then spend monday (sundays they are closed) looking for the missing shopping carts, which are by then abandoned in random parts of the city.

First we got together at Sarah P's at 9:30, where I did Carly and Sarah R's makeup. 2 Euro makeup isn't high quality. I strategically placed my phone, cash and ID in my blazer under my suit, kleenex in the suit pockets, and keys and chapstick in the pockets of my jeans under the suit. I also clipped my camera to a lanyard that I wore around my neck under my suit. I loved the practicality of this costume.

We met up with Steve at 11, walked to the Barrio, and saw Drew and his friends. We also saw several AVATARs, many many pirates, and a group of 14 yr olds dressed as Minnie Mouse. The streets were FILLED. There were two stages on either end of the Rambla, playing live music.

We went to the churro stand where Drew bartered the woman down from 6.50 for churros and chocolate down to 3.50. We witnessed the cops chat with a completely out-of-it 18 yr old drunk/drugged guy. We also saw a man dressed as red riding hood with his basket filled with a bottle of rum and Coke.

We walked to the beach, where everyone was standing NEAR, but not standing ON. I don't know if they were afraid of drinking on the sand or what, but it was quite strange. On the way there, we also saw about 4 people with stolen shopping carts filled with gallons of booze. Some of the shopping carts matched the costume, decorated like a baby stroller, or a Vegas gambling table. Some were just shopping carts filled with booze.

We made our way to the Ayuntamiento, where we saw yet another stage of music. It was also very wet on the ground due to it raining earlier that day. It made me concerned that people were splashing in puddles right next to rows of power cords. They didn't seem to mind.

It was at the plaza del Ayuntamiento that I saw the first LOST DHARMA people, and we took a picture. One guy had a machine gun. He also had a fake bloody nose for the time-travel headaches. So in-character. There was also a man in a pink bathrobe and shower cap yelling at me that "LOST es la mierda" aka Lost is shit. I ignored him as he waved a toilet brush at me.

Carly and Sarah jumped on stage when several others did the same and danced for a few seconds until a random woman popped out of nowhere and shooed them off. A few minutes later, I found a man wearing a cow mask and took a picture with him.

We made our way through the city and saw some people dressed as Sims, with floating green diamonds over their head. We walked through the Barrio once again and I pointed out to drew a 40 of Amstel in a plastic bag. He took it out and noticed it was completely full and sealed shut. He took it with him to sell to someone (since all the stores for booze were closed by now) for Kebab money.

We made our way to the Kebab place where Sarah R, Carly and I bought Kebabs. The men who worked there scared Sarah when they loudly shouted "WHAT IS SHE DOING" (in english) when she was reaching around her belly to get at her money belt. And they forgot to charge me for my Fanta, which was a highlight of the night.

We went into some bar temporarily, where they got free shots. We also used it as a bathroom break ( no one wants to use the port-o-pottys on the streets). We stood on the street as a ton of people walked by with shopping carts filled with booze, ringing bells and singing. Amongst them I saw Miles, LeFleur and a random DHARMA workman. When they walked away, LeFleur turned back around and checked me out big time. Carly said he was cute and that I should go for it.

We then headed to Carpe Diem, where Sarah and I walked in, walked to the back, saw Allie (she told us Morgen was outside) then left promptly, all in about 30 seconds. We went outside and saw a group of USACers, where we took a few pics, then split up (some went back to Carpe Diem, some went to the Kebab place next door. I went to the latter). I ordered another Fanta, and Dave, Mike and some others ordered Kebabs. We chilled there until I got a text from Carly, wondering if I went home. I told her I was right next door. She came and bought a 2 euro beer just to use the bathroom. We stayed there for a while, and when I waited to use the bathroom, the "bodyguard" of the bathroom (to make sure only customers used it) asked me for a vocab lesson in English.
Him: "como se dice fiesta en ingles?"
Me: Party.
Him: Pah-dee.
Me: PAR-ty. P-a-r-t-y.
Him: Party. Ah, vale. Pasa.

Then I left the bathroom, I was talking with my friends, and he called me over with a hand gesture.
Him: como se dice "borracho" en ingles?
Me: Drunk.
Him: ah, como "drink"
Me: Si, pero "Drunk"
Him: vale. Y como se dice "mujer borracha" en ingles?
Me: Drunk woman?
Him: Drunk Woman. Vale. Gracias.

We then left this Kebab place and started walking around again. At this point it was Mike, Carly, Sarah and me. We wandered through the Rambla once again and saw more DHARMAs! This time a whole fleet, with mechanics and doctors. I snapped a pic, and some random clowns jumped in front so we had to get another. My favorite part of seeing people dressed up was the couples in costumes that didn't match. For example, Amy Winehouse and a cow. Or a ninja and a Minnie Mouse. Or others.

We walked to the churro stand, where Sarah bought some, and we took them to McDonalds, which was so flooded with people not eating McDonalds, it was a joke. There was a like of 20 people for the bathrooms, and the two-story restaurant was jammed with people looking for warmth. At this point it was 3:30am.

We left because we were getting tired sitting in such a comfortable spot, so we went to wander the streets again. We saw some Converse shoes and I saw another DHARMA. When we got near the northern stage, we stood around, and I saw a giant Lego pirate and a fleet of Mario characters. I always see Marios and Luigis, but this was the full fleet: Wario, Mario, Luigi, gold star, toothy cannonball, mushroom, and Yoshi.

After hanging out here for a while, although I wished I could have stayed out longer till I was a bit more tired, my friends wanted to head home b/c they were either cold or tired. It was 4:30am.

We walked home, and saw more DHARMAs. This time it was a group of 8 or 10, and they had ID tags, DHARMA chocolate bars, and DHARMA messenger bags. They were like "Ah! Otra DHARMA al ultimo momento (another DHARMA at the last minute!) La ISLA ha llegado a Alicante! (The island has come to Alicante!)" Then they gave me a "DHARMA crisped rice" sample. But I am pretty sure he said there was nothing inside.

We continued walking home, and Mike wanted to stop at the 24 hour store to buy some water. The 24 hour store, of course, was closed at this hour. One true sign of being in Spain.

Creeper in the street

The other day when I was meeting up with my friends at 11pm (if you didn't read my blog last year, you now know that Spanish "going out" times begin MUCH later), and there was this guy leaning against the wall of a building, being THE creepiest person he could possibly be.

The street is pretty well lit, but he was standing under awning, which cast a shadow over him.

He was standing in this casual leaning position but...

He was looking down the street from directly under his eyebrows.

In case you can't picture this, I did a similar pose for my friend Carly's camera in my cooking class this past week. Take a look.