Valencia

We have just gotten into the swing of things here in Valencia and tomorrow morning will be my second week of classes. I actually have a lot more class time than I was thinking, but I am getting 18 credit hours for this semester so I can't complain too much. I have a literature class, in which I am reading Don Quijote, a modern cinema class, a culture class, and a language class. Right now we are also taking a crash course on Valenciano or Catalán which is another language that is spoken here.

This past weekend we look another excursion through the city and climbed up the long winding staircase of the cathedral tower to get a great look over the whole city.

The cathedral in the Plaza de la Reina

I had no idea Valencia was so big until I got to see this view.

Rosa, the daughter of one of our teachers. She is absolutely adorable along with every other small kid in Spain. The parents dress their kids so nice here and all the girls almost always have some type of bow in their hair.

Life in Valencia

FINALLY IN VALENCIA

After all the traveling around the Madrid area, we finally got settled into Valencia about a week ago. It is amazing how the weather can change so much in just a few hours drive. We left behind the snow in Madrid and came to Valencia to find much warmer temperatures and much more sun. Valencia is right on the eastern coast of Spain and is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea. I haven't been able to visit the beach yet, it's still a little too cold for that, but I can't wait!

HOME

I am living with a host family, Fernando and Maria, and their three children, Maria, Guillermo, and Marc. Things are pretty relaxed here and the food is great! There are lots of good fruits and a lot of vegetables are served with the meals. One thing I will say is that the Valencianos sure know how to cook their vegetables! By the time you get to them with your fork they turn more into a vegetable moosh. At every meal there is a baguette on the table to accompany the food. Oil and vinegar and sometimes salt are also used on salads opposed to those thick fattening dressings that us Americans sure love. The only thing I am still not adjusting to is the difference in meal times. Here they eat a light breakfast, like a piece of toast and coffee, and then have the "comida", lunch, anywhere from 2-3. The dinner, "cena" is then served around 9 or later. No matter how much I eat for breakfast, I am starving by one and still have to wait two more hours to eat. There are also tons of stores, cafes, and restaurants scattered all throughout the streets that are always selling about a million types of yummy breads, snacks and desserts. My favorite is the croissant that has chocolate in the middle of it! I think I could eat one for every meal if I was allowed.

One of the towers, "torres", in Valencia

CITY LIFE

Living in the city is pretty nice because you can pretty much get anywhere you need to go without a car. Since I don't really like to drive, this is great for me. Valencia has a great bus, metro, and train station service available to the public. The best way to get to know a city though is to walk through it, so that is what I have been doing a lot of! I have slowed down a bit the past couple of days because I am figuring out the metro system, but beforehand I was literally walking 4+ hours a day.

the train station in Valencia at night

CANALS

Saturday evening we traveled to another town south of Valencia called Canals. We went in the evening because they were having a festival that celebrated their patron saint. In the town square, there was a large man made tree that probably reached 30 or 40 feet that was adorned at the top with oranges. When we reached the center of town, we encountered tons of other people all crowded into the square. Many were walking circles around the tree in hopes of good luck. Finally, at 9 they lighted the firecrackers which surrounded the tree. The tree quickly caught ablaze and all cheered.

XATIVA

We traveled to a town a little south of Valencia named Xativa. It was quite a bit smaller than some of the others we visited in the Madrid area, but it was just as, if not more, wonderful as the others. The main thing we did there was visit an old castle that was situated up on top of a small mountain. When we finally reached the top after a long hike, the view was just amazing. You could see the whole city from up there.

The old castle

VALENCIA VS VILLA REAL

Before class started, we wanted to make sure we got in as much fun as possible so we went to a Valencia vs. Villa Real game here in Valencia. It was so much fun! Valencia ended up kicking their butts 4-1 and it was a really fun game to watch. I am so glad to be in another country that actually appreciates real futbol!

The group who went to the game Sunday night. We were all kind of hee-hawing if we wanted to go because it didn't start until 9 and we started school the next day, but I think we all could say that it was worth it!

Espana

Well I am embarking on a new journey and I am going to try to keep everyone updated via my blog. This way people can look at what I am up to as they please and photos can accompany my stories.

MADRID

I left this past Wednesday to fly out of Indianapolis to Philly and then onto Madrid. After I tried to pass security in Indianapolis without a boarding ticket, because I forgot to print one off because I was so occupied with suitcases, I finally printed off my tickets and started the journey. The plane rides were all pretty relaxed because I found some other people who were on the plane and that made me less nervous. Madrid was another story. A bunch of us arrived together, all exhausted, hungry and sleep deprived to a very energetic program leader who began to walk very fast and lead us through the airport in Madrid. Now keep in mind that she didn't have any suitcases in hand, I had two; something I will never do again! After being sweat covered from running up and down the airport and up and down escalators, we finally got to the metro station. Then we found some more steps and more escalators and began running some more. When we got to our stop we were greeted by a set of stairs covered in sleet that lead out to the street where our hostel was. Lets just say that this was not the climax of the trip. We finally got to relax a bit and had a nice dinner. The next couple of days we did a little bit of exploring on our own in the city and went to a bunch of art museums; El Prado, La Reina Sofia, y El Thyssen. Some of the parts were boring, but others were absolutely amazing. I actually got to see a lot of Picasso's work. That in itself was worth going to all the museums.

Some friends enjoying the weather that awaited us in Madrid.

TOLEDO

During our stay in Madrid we took a trip to Toledo which is an old city about an hour southish of Madrid. As soon as we arrived, I fell in love with it.It had lots of winding roads and cute cafes and bars tucked in throughout the winding city. There were also a lot of museums and old churches and cathedrals.

A picture of the city looking out from the tower of a church

SEGOVIA

Segovia was a cute town north of Madrid that has aqueducts that were built by the Romans. When we first got there the weather was a little chilly and gross, but throughout the day it warmed up and the city became beautiful. We explored the city for the afternoon and had our pocodillos(sandwiches).

The roman aqueduct

This was a castle that was one of the inspirations for the Walt Disney Castle

Halloween

Halloween is my favorite holiday, so when I found out that I had an away soccer game, you can guess that I was less than pleased. With that being said, I tried to put my frustration with the time of the soccer game away for the night, because I knew that if we won the game, we would make it into the conference tournament. We played against O-WU and were down 0-1 the first half. The second half we made an amazing come back and scored two against them to secure our spot in the tournament. Needless to say, Halloween wasn't ruined. Though most of my Halloween night consisted of riding home on a bus, we all made the most of it. As soon as the game was over, we took showers and put on our costumes. We didn't get back until a little before one that morning, but I still managed to get out and have some fun.

Some of the soccer girls stopping at Wendys to grab a bite to eat.

Frankengirl, the queen from 300, Twister board, Little Miss Muffett and Batgirl all made it to the costume party on the bus. I actually sewed some of the queen's costume on the way home. Needles on buses...not so safe.

The Farm was hosting a costume party that I got to catch the end of.

I even found my partner in crime, Batman!

Batgirl and Storm having a duel.

My friends catching some moves on the dance floor.

This fall has been a tough one when it comes to soccer. I came into the season being really physically fit and uber pumped for the season. Pre-season went great and all was good until about our fourth game, when I got kicked in the heel bone by a girl. I ended up having a bruised heel bone that put me out for about three weeks. I was finally getting back into it and playing again when suddenly in practice I severely sprained my ankle.

Never before have I ever had a problem with injuries, but this year that has all caught up to me. I am just trying to take things slowly now and once again get back into it. We still have five games left this season that I am trying to work towards. I have really gained an appreciation for those who have injuries and come back to a sport, especially something like an acl tear.

Hopefully next season will go a little differently!

Bruised heel bone. This may not look bad, but it is one of the most painfully annoying injuries because you can't put any weight on your heel. I wonder if this will help me to start running on my toes!

This past thursday after I sprained it. When I fell I screamed, but then got up and hobbled back into the wellness building and convinced myself on the way there that it was fine. I was thinking it probably wasn't even bruised at all. I took off my taping from my previous injury and found this huge thing on my ankle. Lets just say it wasn't one of my best moments.

This one was taken a few days after the fall when it really started to color up.

"Especially in Michigan"

So you know it's an amazing trip when you see 11 shooting stars in one night. Whether it was going to the historic Macinac Island, or getting up on water skis, Michigan was proved once again to be an amazing spot to be. It was a last minute summer vacation that me and three close friends took and was the perfect ending to a somewhat stressful summer. After taking Calculus, it was exactly the relaxation and fun I needed before heading back to college.



Three of the four of us at Macinac Island, a pretty cool spot! The entire island is filled with bicycles and horse drawn carriages because no cars are allowed.


Looking out over Lake Michigan. The water was a little chilly, but quite perfect when the sun was out.


Arc Rock, a beautiful rock formation at Macinac Island that resembled the doorway to Narnia.


Karman and Meredith getting some height while tubing. We all had a blast tubing and water skiing and jet skiing.


Out on the boat. Meredith taught us all how to drive.


My favorite picture from the whole trip. This actually was a lot harder of a shot to get than it looks like because there were only three of us after Rachel left a few days earlier. We set the camera up on a pole next to the shore, turned on the ten second timer, and then Karman sprinted down the dock and hopped up on the bench to get the picture we wanted. Thank goodness for technology.

Birthday Surprise

This June, I knew I would be celebrating my 21st birthday, but I had no idea I would get to celebrate with all of my best friends. Karman had told me we were going on an adventure for the weekend but refused to tell me where. I kept getting sidetracked by her intentionally-misleading clues and it wasn't until we reached Indiana that I knew Merry would also be involved. After meeting up with Merry at the airport we then went and surprised Rachel and kidnapped her for a weekend of fun. Finally we arrived at a quaint little cabin by lake Monroe and enjoyed some quality time with each other. The next day we were surprised once again upon arriving at the Murat theatre to see the musical Wicked. It was a better present than I ever could have asked for!

We got a little lost while looking for the cabin

The fantabulous four at the campground by lake Monroe