Plungers

In other words, we who plunge. :)

I guess you could say that treading happily along the surface of anything is just not my style. Sometimes, I´m way too intense for my own good, but, most of the time, it´s a part of the nature of my being that I am very grateful for. It's important to me that I get to the end of my life and say that I tried to, as Thoreau said, ¨live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.¨

With that being said, this experience at CIEE in Alicante has mimicked a complete immersion experience. Spanish is spoken to and around me all day long, and cultural differences surround. Strange how I´m not exactly a study abroad student yet I feel like I've gone through a lot of the same adjustments. See the diagram below (taken from web.sau.edu). It´s a paradigm for culture adjustment, and I can see myself flowing through it, even in only a few short days.



Euphoria is always one of my favorite parts - everything´s new and wonderful. Then, the plunge happens - take Wednesday and the beginning part of Thursday - when you almost feel tormented inside by all the differences, tiny things (like the fact that you couldn't figure out how to open the blinds to your window for 15 minutes) annoy you, you feel completely inadequate, and you just want to hide.

Then, comes the gradual adjustment. You know how to make coffee at work, and what bus stop to take, and how to purchase things at la Mercadona. You suddenly aren't trying to listen so hard, and find that you understand EVEN more Spanish when you're relaxing.

Yesterday was an interesting day in this paradigm and so I decided to put on my headphones and head up the way to a park that Jaime had told me about earlier this week. His only directions were, "just keep climbing." So, that's what I did, hoping I would leave some of my inner craziness behind.



Higher and higher, the remnants of culture shock still under my boots, until I reached the highest spot and looked down.



Looked down over this... The entire city of Alicante at my feet. I'm sure that the view from the castle is going to be spectacular too, but this was such an unexpectedly beautiful surprise.







I put down my things for a second, beautiful music going, and stretched out my hands, and took a deep breath. World at my feet. Everything prickly was gone. The sun started to set while I was there, and I simply stayed and waited for it.



Sitting up at the park I realized that my remedy for (albeit minor) culture shock, is food and a walk. A walk that will lead me anywhere. A walk that might get me lost, I don't care. When there are so many new and beautiful things all around, sometimes it's best to take it in alone, swallow it whole so that you don't forget. So that you can pull yourself out of your funk.



Here's a video I took of the sunset, I hope you like it!