sgabriella

I am a college student looking to study abroad next semester (January-May) in Alicante, Spain. However, I don't know anything about Alicante (besides what I read on Wikipedia and what the study abroad office told me, which was basically nothing). Spanish culture is very appealing to me and I want to soak it in and experience everything while I'm abroad while having a lot of fun. I am also hoping to travel a lot.

Also, I'm afraid that it's going to be too small/boring. I'm accustomed to being in a big city (I grew up in New York and now to go school near DC) so I'm worried that it'll be too "small town" (if that makes sense).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Aduchamp1

Another NY're here but considerably older. We have been to most areas of Spain but not Alicante. One problem with Alicante is traveling elsewhere. If you go to the Vueling, a cheap Spanish airline or Iberia, the largest Spanish carrier, it seems wherever you want to go you must pass through Madrid or Barcelona.

The other thing is that schools usually offer one university in a country and it is not like you can choose Salamanca, Madrid, or Sevilla.

It looks like a very nice beach resort, but the nearby towns they are filled Brits on holiday and Brit pensioners.

What are your school's other choices?

sarahmarie

I was last in Alicante 5 years ago. We enjoyed the small city feel--good restaurants and a downtown shopping area. It also has a castle and a harbor with a promenade area. We had a car and were able to visit many of the lovely beaches just north Alicante, including Valencia which has very interesting architecture and other attractions.
In another visit we took the train (about 3 hours ) to Barcelona which you could enjoy multiple times. There are great museums there and in the surrounding area as well as beautiful beaches.
I remember guide books having very little on Alicante but once we were there we experienced Spanish culture to it's fullest with Moorish influences still apparent.
There is no doubt you will experience the culture and wonderful people of Spain in a place that feels like the city it is. It keeps the hours of bigger cities and seems to have a vibrant night life. As a college student you will surely meet others who will join you in visiting other Mediterranean cities and countries.
I believe I took a direct flight from London to Alicante--but things could have changed. Studying on the Mediterranean is a plus!

Sassafrass

Was in Alicante last Spring, and loved it, though I am a lot older than you. It does not seem at all provencial. I felt I was in a real working Spanish city, with a great market, tons of restaurants and beautiful beaches. It is very clean and pretty, except for the intense building going on in the outskirts of town - with highrises that may, unfortunately, remind you of NY. You will be there only a few months, not long enough to get bored. You can easily visit other places in Spain. I am sure you can hook up with other students, perhaps rent a car and do some traveling. Think like this: Don't you want experiences that are different from your daily life? You may find that sitting for long hours in the evening at an outdoor cafe in Alicante, Spain, discussing the world with some of your new friends, will be the least boring thing you ever do in your life.

lincasanova

ryanair and easyjet have tons of flights form Alicante, more than from Valencia or Sevilla, if traveling by air would interest. you. the weather will be the best in spain. so.. most young people would like Alicante..for the beautiful beach, but it IS a small city but good access to Valencia and Madrid.

don_Quijote

Alicante is a very nice city on the mediterranean seaside, so it will be usually full of people by the streets and "terrazas", day or night.
On the other hand, If you feel it's a small city (that it is compared o NYC) you can travel all the seaside to Valencia or Barcelona which are bigger.
As someone says above it's well connected and I hope you will enjoy it at all.
You can find more info at: http://www.aboutalicante.com/

Egbert

Can you study in Sevilla? It's a fantastic city.

sgabriella

Thanks guys! My school's study abroad program in Sevilla is very language intensive and since I'm not a Spanish major, I cannot apply.

I'm definitely more concerned with the quality of the city over how big it is and am very pleased to hear that there are plenty of thins to see and do during both the day and night.

Sassafrass

Another up-note for you. Surprisingly, some of the best gelato I ever had in the world was in Alicante. I am sorry I don't remember the name of the place, but you can make it a mission to find it for yourself. I do know it was right in the center of the area where they have lots of tables in the middle of the street during the day. When they put it into the cone, they shaped it with a flat scoop, into petals that turned it into a flower like the decorations on a cake. Quite a production for just a scoop of ice-cream.

The market had some of the most beautiful eggs, all arranged in lovely crates, like fancy works of art, along with gorgeous displays of vegetables, fruits and flowers. Of course, lots of European markets are nice, but the way things were displayed there was really exceptional.

The tiled promenade with palm trees on the waterfront is also lovely.

lincasanova

too bad you're not going there now. The city is full of strong, handsome professional sailors from around the world training for the Volvo Ocean Race that leaves from there November 5th! Lots of activities coming up.

Anyone in town should take a look from now til then.

Amicita

Sounds like it's probably too late now, but I studied abroad in Alicante if you still have questions.

bal09008

if there's anything else you could add i would greatly appreciate it!! I'm looking to go to alicante this september and it seems like alicante falls through the cracks and is overlooked by many when going abroad to spain. Are the beaches close enough to go to regularly? Is it easy or difficult to get around? Are most of the people friendly and will I be okay if my spanish is only mediocre?

Amicita

It was only about a 10-15 minute walk to the beach from my apartment, but obviously it would depend where you live. I lived downtown, and I was able to walk everywhere, pretty much, except to school at Universidad de Alicante. I took a bus there. I did constantly get lost walking around, but that's probably just because I have a bad sense of direction.

The reason I went to Alicante is that I didn't want to do a homestay, and the program in Alicante had an option where you could to stay with other students in an apartment. I somewhat regretted that when I got there because I think people in homestays learned much more Spanish and had more of a cultural experience (whereas I spent most of my time with other Americans in my program, speaking English, very unproductively), but I felt like living with a family would be awkward.

The downside of Alicante versus other cities in Spain is that it felt less quintessential Spain, more just generic city. There's not much in terms of touristy things to do. There's the castle at Santa Barbara, the Explanada, and that's about it. If you're living somewhere, you don't really want to be a tourist anyway, but still, it would be nice to have more things to do. Although whenever we got bored with it, we just went on weekend trips, so it wasn't too bad.

On the up side, the weather is supposed to be nice (it was a freakishly cold winter when I was there, but allegedly its usually warm-ish year round), and having beach right there is nice (again, not helpful when its freakishly cold, but I imagine it's normally nice). The nightlife is fun. The city is small enough that you can walk most places. And its pretty easy to travel to other cities.

My Spanish was mediocre when I arrived. I was taking Spanish classes, so it improved while I was there, but I think you can manage with mediocre. I don't think it was one of those places where absolutely everyone speaks English though, but that's true of Spain in general. Alicante gets a lot of British tourists in the summer, so it may be better there than some places.

I'd say people were average friendliness. Not rude certainly, but I have a distinct memory of people in Valencia being SUPER friendly, and it wasn't like that, but people were nice enough.

bal09008

Thank you so so much!! That was more helpful than my entire meeting with my study abroad advisor this morning...

Amicita

No problem. That trip was my first real experience traveling, and I was a little nervous before I left, but it ended up being amazing and so. so. fun. I'm sure you'll have a great time. Let me know if you think of any more questions.