Las Hogueras

The students spent the weekend with their host families and got to experience Las Hogueras festival with them. One of our students, Elena Cole Carlo, wrote this blog post to share a bit more about what she thought of the experience:

Las Hogueras is a festival in Alicante that happens every year to welcome the start of summer. It is filled with color, sound, and joy and you can’t help but get swept up by it. 

I celebrated the festival with my host family. We ate churros for breakfast on Sunday (I would highly recommend it, so good) and then we went shopping for bathing suits. One of my favorite parts of the festival is after they burn the Hogueras firefighters come and spray water all over you so of course, we had to get special outfits for the occasion. Las Hogueras brings people together. I got to meet some of my host family's friends and they were the best. We ate and laughed together. So many hours spent on board games and Mario Kart and it was amazing. Of course we got to watch the Hogueras burn which was super cool to watch. It makes me a little sad that they burn such beautiful art but it’s seriously a wonderful experience. We ended our night on the beach watching the fireworks which were so beautiful. I can’t believe that we’re already half way through this trip, it has truly impacted me. I will forever cherish the memories and the people who I have met here. I am forever grateful.