En Valencia! Finalmente!!

Wow, so i realize as i sit here, that i wont be able to fully explain this experience to anyone. haha my mom was right.

soooo let´s see. On sunday night mama, pappa, and jess took me to the airport. i managed to get everything in my suitcases and hiking backpack. the suitcase was 51lbs...haha. On the flight we all began to meet one another and get a feel for who we would be spending the next 3 months with. this went quickly as everyone seemed to be as eager as i was to make some friends.

even though i have made flights of this length many times before, this was INCREDIBLY long. i guess it was a mix of nerves, lack of sleepy, and excitment. Once in paris we all crashed on the floors of the airport, real classy i know, but we were all exhausted. a few hours later we boarded the plane for madrid.

o madrid...this city is amazing and i have already made plans to take a weekend trip back to this city. our hotel was on one of the main drags of the city. once we arrived we were unleashed upon the city. it had a feel much like was is portrayed in films about NYC. the hustle and bustle of the locals and tourist added to the excitment! we had a group dinner and then continued on exploring the town. that night i found a little cafeteria - bar with some new friends and has some cheap, and bad tasting wine...haha.

the next day we went to the town of Toledo. me and stephanie, a new friend whose parents live like 1 mile from my parents...weird, took off to find the cathedral. we spent 2 hours walking around this amazing and gigantic place. they had papal cloaks dating back to the 1500´s bibles from the 1200´s and 13 El Greco paintings! it was freezing in there, tho. afterwards we found a little cafe for lunch and practiced our spanish. thankfully spain spanish is a whole lot slower than mexican so i am understanding basically everything. which is comforting, the speaking needs practice tho.

that night we had a group dinner and headed out to the bars and discotecas...this is a great group we had an awesome time that night. the club we were at played american music and reggaton. dancing and partying went on well into the night.

soo the next morning came quickly and i went to the reina de sofia museum in madrid and saw some dali and picasso painting. i dont really like either of their styles, but i feel like it was an important thing to have seen considering it is a huge part of spanish culture. me and my roommate lost our group...but luckily i had a map and we made it back to the hotel in time to leave for valenica.

the bus ride took about 5 hours. it was fun though, because we are all still getting to know one another. when we arrived at our ¨dorm¨i was dumbfounded with its beauty. we have marble floors, marble staircases, rod iron balconies, computer lab, dining hall, library, cafe, and even en illedged tanning bed, yet to be found. haha. i cant describe how crazy this place is, once i have internet on my computer i will post some pictures. when we arrived the local kids were waiting in the courtyard to meet us and held ups signs jokingly rating us on a 1-10 scale. it was pretty funny, we had to introduce ourselves to the whole crowd one by one.

then we went and got settled. adventured around and had dinner. that night we went to the bar with the spanish students and really got to practice our spanish, a little harder than expected but i happened to find one of the girls on the local soccer team. she called me out and asked if i played soccer so it was quite lucky, apparently i look like a soccer player, big shocker. so i am getting that started after their exams end on the 13th...

i had orientation and classes today. the walk is about 25 minutes to school, but it is through a beautiful park that has been made in a dried out river bed...crazy i know.

ok this is taking a while, sooo this is it for now.

basically everything and everyone are better than i expected - even thought.

my days have been packed and sleep has been few and far between...welcome to spain.