Fogueras Festival in Alicante

These have been an amazing few days for the students as they experienced the Hogueras Festival (bonfires) with their hosts families. There has been a lot of activity outside the classroom with parades, bonfires, music and more. Who better to tell you all about it than one of the students themselves! Here is a post from Camille V.

¡La semana con la familia! 
This week during our Spanish summer adventure we spent the week hanging out with our awesome Spanish host families! This week also coincided with the Hogueras festival in Alicante. The Hogueras festival is a week long celebration in Alicante to commemorate the end of winter and to let go of last year’s bad things. This week we went to the city to view the beautiful hogueras and attended some awesome fiestas! And Pedro, an Alicante native (my host dad) showed us all of the hidden places in the city. After classes this week we didn’t have any cultural activities with the group, which meant we had some quality time with our families. This week we played uno, went to the pool, spent time at the beach and explored the city. This weekend we visited some barracas (neighborhood gathering filled with music, laugher and culture). We attended the mascletas almost every day. Mascletas are basically fireworks during the daytime that commemorate the beginning of the parting for the day. Tonight (Sunday) they will burn all of the Hogueras to symbolize the end of the bad and a new slate for the year to come. We will get to attend the burning tonight with our families. And don’t worry, there will be plenty of firefighters to keep us all safe. This week was an amazing chance for us to connect with our families and really integrate ourselves into the beautiful Spanish culture here in Alicante.  
- Camille V.