Bienvenidos a Espana

Ah! Finalmente estoy en Valencia con Internet y un telefono celular. But first I will rewind to the traveling on Tuesday. The plane rides were not as long as I was expecting which was a relief; I think I arrived in London at about 1:00am estados unidos time. Although this means I did not sleep at all on the flight from Chicago to London. In London I met some other students going to Valencia with ISA so we traveled together to Madrid. During that flight was the only time I slept which meant I arrived in Madrid on about 1.5 hours of sleep. Our hotel in Madrid was very nice and served large breakfasts. Aside from seeing el museo de Prado y el museo de reiña sofia we mostly had free time in Madrid so we did some exploring, shopping and lots of eating. The museums were incredible. It is so much more fascinating to listen and learn when the painting is right in front of your eyes; I never knew I could have such an interest in art history. I have liked everything I’ve tried to eat so far tortilla española is translated as Spanish omelet on the menus. It’s basically potatoes and eggs cut into wedges. I’ve also had spaghetti with meat sauce but I have no idea what kind of meat is in the sauces; it tastes fine so I eat it! Spaniards eat a lot of bocadillos which are kind of like sandwiches except they use more of a French baguette type of bread and you can have anything on them… I’ve had calamari, ham, eggs etc. Spaniards love their eggs! But Dad, nothing is spicy!!

After Madrid we went to El Escorial and Toledo. El Escorial was freezing in the morning while we were touring the monastery but we spent the rest of the afternoon following the warm sunshine through the town; I ate my first pizza in Spain that day. Toledo was breathtaking. We did some shopping, exploring, and went to an old cathedral turned night club! I bought 3 scarves in Toledo for only 12 euros. I was satisfied and anxious to get to Valencia after spending 2 days there.

Hopefully now I’ll be able to update more regularly and in greater detail now that I’m caught up and settled in Valencia.

The Spanish lifestyle is very different.

Here’s what my typical schedule is like:
very light breakfast whenever I wake up
9:00 class F
11:30 - 1:15 class MW
2:30 home for lunch: biggest meal of the day
3:00 - 7:00 class TU
9:30 dinner
after dinner we often meet up with friends

So as you can see there is a TON of free time; I’m still trying to figure out what to do with all of it. We have found a couple of cool places near the university where all the locals go so it’s cool to see people our age who aren’t from ISA. I am homesick; its hard to make all new friends in a foreign country but I just keep telling myself it has only been a week.

More to come after the weekend I’m sure!

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