By Sage Tietjen-Forsythe

Friday was our only full day in Alicante, so we had to make it a good one. Friday morning, we got to sleep in a little, and we left by 10:00 A.M. to go to El Castillo de Santa Barbara. The walk was a little long and there was a lot of climbing, but it was definitely worth it. We spent our time exploring the outside of the castle, along with some cool artifacts that were being displayed. The views from every angle of the castle were breathtaking. I could see enormous mountains everywhere I looked, and the ocean looked gorgeous. My group and I really enjoyed it.

After we left the castle, we had some free time, so my groupmate Adri and I went out and looked for music stores to talk to some employees and see if anything could help me with my project for the seminar, which revolves around how music brings people together. We found two really good people to talk to. The first store we went to was a small record and CD store. There was one man running it, and he didn’t have much time but we had a great conversation with him. He had been working at that store for 20 years, and he loves it because he is so passionate about music. He talked about how music can connect anyone, no matter how much they understand each other or have in common, and that is something I wholeheartedly agree with. The next store we went to was an instrument shop. There was also only one person running it. When we asked him how long he had been working there, we were surprised to hear that he had worked there his whole life. The store had been his dads and it had been handed down to him. We came back to the apartment that day filled with new and interesting knowledge, and ready to find more the next day.