Alicante acclimated.

Hace dos meses llegué a Alicante y I am already acclimated. Two weeks ago, I  would giggle a mi mismo at the old men and women sitting on the Ramble bundled up with scarves, hats and jackets in the 60 degree weather. They were just coming off a 90 degree summer/fall. I understand. 

Now, I laugh at myself. Because I wear my down jacket to school in the mornings when it's no colder than 45 degrees. The same jacket I wore in -60 degrees in Fairbanks, Alaska. I wear layers to bed because I have piel de gallinas.

It's a facade. The tropical flowers are in full bloom, and of course there are the palm trees.

But it's legitimately chilly. And the beach is deserted. A few personas valientes banarse en el mar. Some relax on the beach with a book. 

The other day I took a detour on my run to jog on the beach. Just to say I ran on the beach in December. 

Alicante es pequeño.

Kirkwood, Missouri is a small town. Being born and raised within it has been cozy. Quietly situated far enough away from the big city noise of St. Louis, but close enough to roll around in the ruido if one wanted to. It was hard not to run into anyone you knew when you went out to the local grocery store, gas station, or just out-side.


Columbia, Missouri is a quaint college town where I went school for my Journalism degree. Although it is home of 30,000 undergraduates it was hard to not pass familiar faces on the way to class.


Anchorage, Alaska, the biggest, most populated city in Alaska, even felt like a cat in a fish bowl sometimes. With only 300,000 residence and only 10 go-to bars, you couldn't help but see everyone you wanted to see, and perhaps others you may not have meant to. 


I'm noticing that Alicante, Spain is becoming smaller everyday. There are people that I know, that know people that I know, that know people that I know. And so on. 


My friend Aurora told me the people here dicen: Alicante es pequeño. It's for this reason I'm feeling the big city-ness close in a tid-bit everyday. 


En todos formas, I feel like once a city starts to feel like home, I begin to cozy up with it and it's not so big and scary. Perhaps I'll coin it the "hacer hogar" effect.