Climbing and Connecting in Alicante

Our first week in Alicante, Spain has been full of exciting activities that are not only engaging, but connect our new study abroad students to the culture of this historic and scenic beach-side city. 

Wednesday in particular, after bravely engaging in one of their first Community Conversations with locals in order to practice their Spanish skills firsthand, we set off to go rock climbing! 

While we did this activity indoors, Alicante as part of the Costa Blanca of Spain is known for its high quality limestone routes and crags of varying difficulty!

Although some of the climbs were challenging, the students left feeling accomplished and connected as they cheered each other on.

“Getting to the top and being able to fall safely to the bottom made me feel strong and powerful. I’m starting to definitely feel that way in my language journey as I can understand more and more of what locals say!” - Josh

“Through climbing we bonded in this shared challenge and understood the importance of supporting each other in our new community and families.” -Elle

Our students are also happily taking advantage of all of these activities and opportunities to practice their Spanish speaking skills, as put by one of our students: 

“No he tenido estas oportunidades antes para aprender y practicar mi español y aunque es difícil a veces, ¡es una manera muy divertida de mejorar mi español!” -Oaklee

We are thrilled to see our Global Navigators making connections not only with each other, but with the Spanish language, culture, history and activities that we participate in on a daily basis.