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Published: January 17th 2007
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Beach and Palm Trees!
This is Valencia! Lots of Palm Trees and Orange Trees, and a beautiful, large beach! Yesterday was the second day of orientation, it was interesting, we learned more about classes, and talked a lot about the excursions around Valencia that we can go on, and also the big trips as well. I decided that I am not going on the planned trip to Lisbon, since it is not a top destination, I would rather spend my money on someplace I have always wanted to go, like England and Italy. I will go on the trip to Seville, and also the spring break trip in Tunisia, they both will be very exciting. There are a lot of people who want to travel, so we can get a group together to spend long weekends in England and Italy no problem. I still can't get over how exciting it is to be in Europe and have so many interesting things to do any day.
Yesterday afternoon, we also went on a bus tour around Valencia. It was really interesting, we got to see all the parts of the city, the old city walls, cathedral, and market, and then also the new sections with the City of Arts and Sciences and the America's Cup Port. There is lots of
construction there to clean up for the big yacht races, it is a very exciting time for the city, it is growing like crazy, and they are adding some very nice areas. We also saw the beach...I saw the Mediterranean for the first time!!! It was exciting, we are all excited to be able to go to the beaches in about April!
This morning we started real classes, but we just had spanish class. I am in the advanced class, there are 9 of us, and we all know most of the grammar stuff, so we are just going to go over the things we need some brushing up on, and work more on improving our speaking and understanding through debates and movies and such. I really like the professor, he is very personable, we get to call him Alberto. He is also the professor for history, so I will see him a lot, since spanish is every monday through thursday for an hour and a half, and history is every monday and thursday for an hour and a half.
This afternoon, Miguel (our trip leader and general adviser) took us on a walking tour of the old
Arts and Sciences City
This is a complex of modern buildings designed by Valencian native, Calatrava. They are right on the Mediterranean, and quite stunning! There is an aquarium, IMAX, natural history museum, and a music hall. part of Valencia, and it was really nice. We saw the old gates to the city, the huge Cathedral, the Market, La Lonja (which is a building with a church, a jail, and a market all in one--and very beautiful), the government building, and a beautiful square with a fountain. I took pictures, I am not sure how some of them came out because it started getting dark, but I will post some hopefully tomorrow morning when I get to school and figure out how to use the wireless there. My wireless in my house is very poor quality, and I cannot upload pictures on it, at least not very well.
I LOVE the food that my senora cooks, it is amazing! My roomate and I think it is so good, and it is really healthy! we always have salad, and then a main course. We have had some soups, some pasta dishes, and today for lunch we had vegetable paella, it was really good. She showed us that we should squeeze lemon juice on it, and it was really good. We have a half hour walk to and from school every day, and sometimes twice a day, so
there is a lot of excercise as well. I understand why there are hardly any obese spanish people.
Tomorrow, we have a welcome tapas dinner with the whole group. Tapas are like appetizers that everyone shares, and it is really common for when you go out to dinner. Some are really good (we had them in Madrid), but most are not vegetarian, so it is hard. And they all have specific spanish names, so we have to ask what they are. I want to write down the ones that I like, so I actually remember the names. Then we will go out for the first time, which should be exciting, but a late night, since the discotecas don't even start getting popular until 2, and then go until the early morning! The schedule here is so different, the days seems so long. But I think it is because we have been so busy with tours and such too. Our schedule is to go to school in the morning, I either start at 10:45 or 12:30, then we are done at 2 and the school shuts down, and everyone goes home for the big lunch and siesta time. I have
not had a real siesta yet because we have had to go places at like 4 or 4:30 so we don't have time to nap after lunch. Then there are classes monday through wednesday from 4-7pm, so then I probably won't have time for my nap either, or not much of one. Then dinner is at 9, which is what Kate and I look forward to so much (as well as lunch), since we love the food, and also because it is fun to practice our spanish.
Ok, that is all for now. Hopefully pictures will come tomorrow morning! I just wanted everyone to know what I am up to in the meantime. Hasta luego (until later)--a very common thing to say when leaving, like bye.
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Mom
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Dad likes the sword...are you bringing it home for him? Love the blogging...keep it up, and try to get some sort of sleep schedule...sounds exhausting, but fun, fun, fun!!