Living near the beach

Huelva is not exactly on the beach, but it is close to many. In fact, from my piso's balcón, I can see the high rises of the beach condos at Punta Umbría. Punta Umbría is the most popular/commercial beach around here. Punta is only about a 20-25 minute bus ride from here. I have heard great things about several other less-traveled beaches in the area, but have admittedly only been to Punta.

For someone who has lived in land-locked Western Pennsylvania all her life, living this close to beaches was a big perk (and one of the original reasons why I put Andalusia as my preference when applying for this program). The last time I went on the trip to the beach was with Alex (friend from the US) a week and a half ago! So it was still nice enough out to go to the beach in November, which is fun to brag about. Admittedly, we ditched all crazy ideas about swimming when our toes touched the freezing water for the first time that day, but we still had a great time enjoying the sun and peace. I have gone swimming several times before then, however, and loved it. We are still on the Atlantic side over here. We play beach volleyball and always end up stopping for tapas at the cafe that is on the beach.

Punta is great for sea shells and coral. I have probably taken over a hundred home with me. My apartmentmates don't mind, as our apartment is still pretty empty, and the seashells are great poor people decorations.