La Crema de Las Fallas

"I've got my flippy floppies..."

Ashley, Marissa, Amy, and Natasha at the entrance to the castle!

So this past weekend, 4 friends and I went to Palma de Mallorca, an island in between Spain and Italy. During Fallas, it's supposed to warm up significantly: tshirt and jeans weather. However, the weather decided to be weird and a lot of people are still wearing winter coats and boots. When we booked this trip in the beginning of Feb. we expected to be laying on the beach, getting tan and enjoying life.

While we did enjoy life, it was on the top of a tour bus instead of on top of the sand. The port/dowtown area of Mallorca is really cool and has some really great sites. We did one of those hop on/hop off narrated bus tours which was great! The King and Queen's summer home is in Mallorca so that was cool. Antonio Gaudi (same architect who did all that weird stuff in Barcelona) designed a Cathedral. We got out and explored a castle which was gorgeous. It was on top of a mini-mountain overlooking the harbor.

Our hotel was about 10 minutes by bus away from the port. We heard that Mallorca was a tourist destination for German tourists but we didn't realize how much that affected Mallorca. Most of the signs around our hotel were in German. On Friday night, we went to restaurant down the street from our hotel and were given a menu in German. We had to ask for a menu in Spanish and even then it was the managers hand written copy. All of the street venders spoke to us in German then French then Spanish then English. It was very surreal to be in a Spanish speaking country and not understand the language (German).

Saturday night, we needed a little American fix so we went to the Hard Rock Cafe. I had a burger that was 100% beef (in Spain, you never know if burgers are beef or bull... a little scary so I generally don't order them). It was just like a burger you would get at Sundries (place in Charlotte) or California Dreaming (place at USC). I was very content with my piece of America. We sat and chatted for a while, just enjoying the night, America, and each other.

Mallorca was great, carefree weekend. It was great after Fallas, which is anything but restful, and before the craziness of country-hopping for Spring Break happens.

This is probably going to be my last update before Spring Break but after, expect a LONG update about Athens and Rome!!

Love,

Lizzy

It's Coming Quickly to an End.

Today, the Academic Director sent out the final exam schedule. I can't believe it's almost that time! This is what I'm doing in the meantime.

In 2 hours (3:00 AM) I'm getting on a bus to Madrid to catch a flight to Palma de Mallorca, an island off the coast of Spain for the weekend.

Get back on Sunday.

Have 3 days of class then SPRING BREAK!!!!

April 3 (next Saturday) I'm heading to Athens, Greece for 5 days!!

Then I'm heading straight to Rome, Italy from Athens for 3 days!!

I get back on Sunday April 11.

April 13th I have a Presentation.

April 20th I have a presentation.

The next week is my last week of classes.

Finals.

Hello USA.

SO to recap my weekends: Mallorca, Athens, Rome, Valencia, Valencia, Valencia, Hello Charlotte!

Love,

Lizzy

FALLLASSSS

Lights on a street not too far from my house.

Please notice the Large machine at the bottom and how it is dwarfed by the Falla. Ps. We saw this one burn. It was awesome.

Please notice the people at the bottom. She is gigantic.

Fallas

Observations:

-Old ladies are vicious and use elbows.

-Strollers should be used to carry children, not run over other people.

-Spinning, uncontrollable fireworks should not be given to children. Or drunk boys/men.

-Children shouldn’t have fireworks. Period. Ever.

-People should have more sense than to throw fireworks into a crowd.

So Las Fallas is the big festival in Valencia during the week of the March 14-March 19. However, Fallas starts before that. They have events throughout the year and fireworks at 2 in the main Plaza a week before fallas.

Fallas is fire in some variation of Spanish, Valenciano, and Latin. So everything revolves around fire, which is probably not the smartest of festival themes in an urban area.

Nevertheless, Las Fallas was truly a once in a lifetime cultural experience. There is nothing like Fallas anywhere else in the world.

Description:

*note: falla means about 20 different things during Fallas.

Each neighborhood (not in the sense we think of, its only a couple of streets clumped together) or “falla” has a “falla” or sculpture/art/large piece of artistic building. The fallas (sculptures) are huge- usually the size of an intersection/plaza and 4-6 stories tall. They are HUGE. Each has a message, some are political, many are about the current economic times, others just celebrate Fallas or other cultures. Each falla (neighborhood and sculpture) has a “ninot” or a smaller falla (sculpture)

They start building the fallas the Monday after Fallas ends. So they take about a year to design and build. This is the artists full time job. The most expensive falla this year cost about 600,000 ($900,000 US).

The artist gets help from the falla (neighborhood) and sometimes construction companies to help build the falla (sculpture) in its location. They start building the weekend before Fallas.

Throughout the week, the falleras, like debs but can be any age, offer flowers to a HUGE wooden Mary. In Plaza de la Virgen (Virgin), there are multiple stories tall wooden slat structures to hold flowers as well as the virgin Mary. At the end of the week the Mary has a huge gorgeous dress made of colorful flowers.

On Friday, yesterday, they burned them. Burned them straight to the ground until they are nothing more than a pile of ash. It’s very bittersweet for the artist- he/she worked for a year on a project just to have it burned but it’s also gratifying that their art served its purpose.

Firefighters have to be at each falla when it burns to contain it and make sure it doesn’t burn down the buildings that are about 5 feet away. Firefighters from all over (and not just Spain, we saw firefighters from Andorra) come and help burn the fallas.

Each fire is started by the falla (neigh.) shooting fireworks in the air symbolizing that falla is about to burn. Then they connect fireworks to the falla and start those. The fireworks then catch the falla on fire.

The heat is so intense and the fire so.. fierce. I took a million videos because the fires were so captivating. I felt like I could have stood there all night.

Sorry this took so long to get up, Fallas was intense and I needed some recovery time.

Love,

Lizzy

Video of a Falla Burning. They start the fire with fireworks. Notice on the left side the streaming water. That's a firefighter watering down a building so it won't burn. Also, this is in an intersection of a neighborhood.

Adapting

I knew before I came and am now living it, that in order to survive studying abroad, you need to be able to adapt. You need a "go with the flow/roll with the punches" attitude. When choosing Spain, I expected a slight language barrier. I added "SpanishDict.com" to my taskbar, brushed up on my verb endings, and made a Spanish music playlist. But adapting is more than having a playlist or an instant dictionary- it's eating cornflakes out of a cup because there aren't bowls and haven't a slightly off haircut (its still cute though!) because "inches" is a useless word here.

Usually, I have a pretty good "go with the flow" attitude. I try to blend in with my surroundings- changing my fashion a little, my hair, dressing up for class when I would usually wear a T-shirt. I'm playing pretend Spaniard for 4 months which means changing, adapting parts of myself.

In the U.S. I'm a fairly healthy eater. I eat green vegetables at dinner (the ones I like at least), buy only whole wheat pasta and bread, skim milk, and organic fruits. That doesn't exist here. The health food kick is completely over-run by the Spanish belief that food fixes everything. I have yet to see whole wheat anything and I have no idea what the Spanish word for organic is.

So to compensate for my lack of normal foods, I decided that I should...run. I ran. It was a weird feeling- me deciding that I should run and not being totally disgusted at the idea. I hate running. After playing soccer then field hockey for 15 years, it was hard not to run after something... I had a goal to accomplish, I had someone to beat. Going for a run is more mental for me than physically. It's all about self-motivation. So I'm adapting.

I failed miserably on Thursday night at adapting. In the US, I drink skim milk for every meal, which has enough water in it that I don't get dehydrated. However, skim milk doesn't exist in my house (it's a kind of thick, vanilla-y milk that drinks like cream). So I drank coffee in the morning and nothing else all day, maybe a small glass of water at night at dinner. So I got really dehydrated. REALLY dehydrated. I've been drinking bottles and bottles of water to compensate but in short, Thursday night was interesting.

I think that my "what happens, happens" attitude has helped to overcome any culture shock. The studying abroad program tells us about "Honeymoon, Hostility, Humor, Home" but I truly think I've gotten past the Hostility phase with no Hostility. Things are the way they are and I can't change a culture to suit my needs, so I move on. Eating cornflakes out of a cup was funny. I think having the hairdresser explain back to me what I wanted was funny (no one wants a bad haircut).

It's all about adapting.

Love,

Lizzy

Magic Fountains, Gaudi, and the Right Decision

I traveled to Barcelona last weekend and Madrid the weekend before. I can confidently say, with 100% certainty that I made the right decision to study in Valencia and I chose the right program. While those two cities are incredible in their own rights, Valencia is absolutely the best fit for me. I love the size of Valencia, that I'm constantly exploring new parts of the city but that it still feels small enough to not be overwhelming. I'm glad I don't have to switch trains on the metro or be worried about my safety/my stuff.

Barcelona was an incredible city. I can see how Gaudi and Picasso were inspired by it. The buildings (just regular apartment buildings and hotels) were more ornate than Valencia. It would be incredible to live in the apartments that overlook the Sagrada Familia but you would have to deal with the tourists as well.

I hardly ever spoke Spanish in Barcelona. It is a very tourist friendly city, but as play pretend Spaniard, I want it (the city) to force me to speak Spanish, as Valencia does. I would speak Spanish to the locals and they would speak English back. As I would continue to speak Spanish, they would continue to speak English. It was very frustrating. So if you are thinking about studying abroad and are serious about learning Spanish, Valencia is the way to go.

Some of my favorite things about Barca:

-I found dried apricots!! My favorite snack!

-They had tons of fresh fruit and vegetable stores.

-Gaudi Architecture- You could visit the Sagrada Familia every day and see something new about it every day.

-Ornate buildings with awesome wooden doorways.

-I think my appreciation for ornate wooden doorways comes from our house and church in Charlotte.

I hope everyone has a fantastic week! I know I will (no midterms!!)!

Love,

Lizzy

First Bad Day (Comparatively, pretty awesome)

So today was the first day that could be classified as a "bad day" but comparatively, it's still a good day.

-The hot water heater is a complicated 3 sometimes 4 step process. So today, I didn't have hot water or even warm water for my shower.

-I lost my bus card. I think it fell out of my coat pocket but I don't know for sure. Bummer.

-My teacher was sick today so we talked about the story and answered the questions as a class with no teacher. It was hard because the story was very metaphorical. And we were assigned an essay to do as well because he wasn't there.

-It's midterms week.

-I wrote down the wrong date for my midterm today so I didn't study. I still did okay but I was mad at myself because it would have been easy had I studied.

But some really great things happened. I played soccer (el futbol) with some kids from school, about 20, which was so fun. There was all different types of players from people who play for school to people who have never played before. Generally, soccer is so competitive but it was great to see people so respectful of each other. It was obvious that seasoned players were playing easy against new players while challenging other seasoned players. I felt like everyone was there to have fun and not prove anything. It was SO FUN.

Then it started to rain, and I had my laptop as did most people, so we stopped playing. We went into a building and it stopped raining about 2 minutes later. Unfortunately as soon as we started getting on the field, it started down pouring. It was one of those raining so hard, smelled like rain, rains that you just have to love, no matter if you're carrying a laptop in your backpack that could get ruined.

I finally made it to the bus but my wallet was buried beneath my 5 books, laptop, boots, and clothes. I was carrying my winter coat and a water bottle. So I had to stand at the door of the bus digging through my life in a bag to find my wallet. As I'm doing that the bus driver kindly asks, "So did you take a shower?". I was soaked. I answered "A little". Finally I found my money, but there was no where to sit or stand really on the bus (people who would have walked had it not been raining were on the usually empty bus). So then I just stopped in the middle of the aisle and stuffed my wallet back in my bag, my water bottle in a side pocket.

At this point, I have NO idea if my mascara is halfway down my face. I'm wearing black leggings and a black tshirt and super American tennis shoes. Everyone is looking at me like I'm a drowned American rat, which is exactly what I looked like.

Although that all sounds like the rain would have dampened my good mood from soccer, it didn't. I loved it. I wish I didn't have my backpack and I would have heavily considered walking home in it.

When I got home, Cristina and Madre were cooking dinner. Madre asked me if I got wet. I told her I took a shower in the rain, no problem.

Love,

Lizzy

Oranges, Cars, and Street Numbers

-My madre buys oranges by the crate. So I eat oranges by the crate. And my hands permanently smell like oranges now.

-Parking on the street here is ridiculous. There are no official rules and a ton of unofficial ones. If you car fits parked on a corner, you can park on the corner. If the street is full, it's ok, park on the sidewalk. If the street is full closest to the sidewalk, again it's ok, just park in neutral beside the cars to have two lanes of parking. If someone needs to get out, they just push the car forward or backward. I've seen it happen.

-The one rule cars ALWAYS abide by is stop for pedestrians, even if it means they are about to get rear ended.

-Businesses don't have street numbers, they adopt the closest number of an apartment building. I live in building 9. Azalea, the shop next to my building, is also number 9. When I went to go get fingerprinted the street address was 40. Except building 40 was on the next block with a few buildings inbetween.

Being Open and Close

If you would like to see this post, just ask me.

Love,

Lizzy

Spanish Culture

Yesterday was a really interesting day. We had a presentation in Spanish Culture and Civilization about the Culture of Wine. It was really interesting to hear an entirely different perspective on Wine. My professor said it's perfectly normal to have a glass of wine during lunch, that no one thinks anything of it. People here aren't drinking to get drunk, instead they are drinking to enjoy one another's company. As he said, and I agree, people here respect alcohol. Of course, as in every country, there are alcoholics but in general, no one drinks to get drunk. People here drink wine to enjoy wine, friends, and life in general. They do not care about the side effects of drinking wine, that's just something that happens as an afterthought, not the motive.

It was really interesting to hear such a nonchalant attitude about alcohol and drinking after being in a college culture in which that is not the case. In the United States, college kids drink to drunk and then more. The drink solely for the side effects. Anyone drinking at 12 pm is most likely an alcoholic and 21 is the most important birthday.

I have never seen a Spaniard stumble out of club or fall off a stool. They just don't do that because they respect the alcohol. That being said, I'm trying to write this as objectively as possible. Writing about drinking can be tricky as I don't want to come across as something I am not (a heavy drinker who needs alcohol) nor do I want to seem as if I don't understand a large aspect of Spanish culture. It's a fine line I hope I've stayed on.

Yesterday was more interesting than just the discussion of wine and culture. I took a walk to the U.S. Consulate (I have to be fingerprinted for my job this summer). On Tuesday, I walked there as well but I got a little lost. In the Old Quarter, there is no grid, all of the roads curve and diagonal and criss cross and run-on just like this sentence. It's confusing and I skipped a step in my directions which did not help.

So I walked around the Old Quarter of Valencia which was incredible. I felt such a sense of contentment walking, I was amazed. I saw a lot of interesting things yesterday. I saw a shop called "Bizi Wizi" which, if this summer doesn't work out, I can go work there because it already has my name. I saw an orange tree next to a school, kind of in the cement playground area. Then I saw policemen on horseback walking through the Rio/park. I wanted to ask if I could ride it but I figured they would say no/arrest me. On the way home from the US Consulate, I walked through the Rio again. Again, I felt the sense of contentment, like everything was just peachy or orangey (haha bad joke).

Unfortunately, once I got home I had a lot of work to do. I've had 4 papers due this week, a 15 minute presentation on Monday, 2 more papers due Monday and Tuesday, and a 4 page paper due Tuesday. The workload is intense but it gets easier to write each paper and I can tell it'll really help my Spanish.

Overall, my life is fantastic and I hope yours is too.

Love,

Lizzy

Reminders of Home

Palau de la Musica

Palace of Music

La Ciudad de Las Ciencias y Las Artes

The City of Science and Art

Harrison: I saw a big brother and little sister by the bus station today. The brother kept bugging the little sister. She kept hitting his hands away and screaming at him. Some things are universal.

Friends: J-stuff. JEverywhere. Jeverything. Jclothes. Jsuspenders. Jbags. Jstuff. Jlove for yall.

Simmons: Maria Angeles made fun of me eating my orange today. I was picking off the white stuff and she asked me why I didn't just eat it. If I knew "get over it" in Spanish, I'm sure she said it.

Dad: I saw a guy that looked exactly like you (mustache and glasses especially) except he was wearing a leather jacket. It was weird.

Mom: Madre acts just like you. She always asks how my day is and calls me "Carina" which is Darling.

Linda: My Madre tries to feed me a lot, although it's not pimento cheese, it reminds me of you.

Mar: There is Disney Channel here. And a lot of Disney merchandise. So when I see Hannah Montana, I think of you.

South Carolina: There are a lot of palmetto trees here. It's like being on campus!

It was a beautiful day outside today so I walked home from school through El Rio. El Rio (The River) is a dried river bed that Valencia has made into a park. It's gorgeous! Palau de La Musica and La Ciudad de Las Ciencias y La Artes are both in the park. They are about 3 blocks to the right and 3 blocks to the left of my house. It's great!!

ps. I didn't take those pictures, they're from Google.

Love,

Lizzy

Also, if I didn't include you, that doesn't mean something doesn't remind me of you daily!

Spanglish

I now speak fluent Spanglish. I no longer speak fluent English and I definitely do not speak fluent Spanish. I speak Spanglish. My friend Amy provides the perfect example of this. We went to dinner and were ordering. She said, "Lets do el blanco." Half English/Half Spanish. Then the three of us chimed in "El blanco esta bien" (The white is fine) to the waiter who speaks Spanish, not Spanglish.

We are often finding ourselves with half of the words we need in order to speak are in Spanish and half in English. I feel like I rarely have all of my thoughts in one language or another.

In school, we have to speak Spanish, as I've written before. So I'll start talking to a friend about something madre said that day or something I found out the night before. I get halfway through my sentence and realize I have no idea what the next words are in Spanish. So I try to find a way around it, use context clues, hand gestures, useless noises, and finally say "No se" (I don't know). It's frustrating but extremely gratifying when I finally have a conversation. Half of my day is "I don't know" while the other half is good conversation.

My feelings on my Spanish change from hour to hour, day to day. Some classes, I take notes exactly like I would in the US. I understand everything and can see where the professor is going. Other times, I feel like a blank piece of paper would be more beneficial to me than my notes.

Luckily, at home, I feel comfortable with my Spanish and conversing with my family isn't nerve wracking. I love lunches on Monday, Wednesday, and some Fridays where I eat with Maria Angeles (oldest daughter), her daughter Monica (high school), sometimes her other daughter Maria Angeles (Madres name is also Maria Angeles, see a pattern?), Marissa, and sometimes Madre. I feel like I'm back at the Chi O house eating lunch talking about classes, exams, professors, and whether we like the food. It's very comfortable and homey. And Maria Angeles, the middle one, is a great cook. We have soup a lot because its "really cold" here. It's like winter in Columbia, but to them, it's "really cold". Maria Angeles always makes some kind of dessert (chocolate cake, flan, or the latest was banana cheesecake).

The family also loves to watch the Simpsons. I dislike the Simpsons in the US but it's good for my Spanish. They generally speak slow enough for me to understand and sometimes even catch the jokes. At dinner, we watch these crazy game shows that are combinations of 5 or so game shows from the US. There was one where the contestants had to crack coconut halves together in order to buzz in, think the coconut horseman in Monty Python. Why they didn't just have a button, I don't know.

Ok, I have to get back to writing in Spanish now. Hopefully, it will be all Spanish and no Spanglish.

Love,

Lizzy

ps. If I haven't talked to you lately, send me an e-mail/FB something telling me how you are! I want to know!

Escuela and Life

My Madre and I with my birthday cake

Now that I have a few days of class under my belt, I feel like I can talk about it. UVA owns a building here called UVA Valencia. I think of it like a another UVA campus, like UNCW or UNCA...UVA-V. There are about 75 Americans in my program that attend my school. School's located really close to the other Valencia universities (there are a lot of other universities) so there is always students walking around the neighborhood.

School has a Spanish Only Policy, absolutely no english even when hanging out in the cafeteria. IT's difficult but it definitely helps my spanish. Classes are in Spanish and I'm pretty sure that the professors don't speak english. I'm taking 4 classes (Spanish Culture and Civilization, Latin American Culture and Civilization, Picasso, and Spanish 20th History). Spanish Culture and Civilization and Spanish History are taught by the same professor who seems really legit. Latin American Culture and Civilization is taught by a guy who is pretty nerdy/goofy but he loves to laugh so that's fun. The only problem is he is pretty mumble-y which is hard in English but harder in Spanish. My Picasso professor is odd, but I feel like that's a prerequisite

to being an Art Professor.

It seems like the homework is going to be minimal. The bulk of the work is going to be papers. For example, Latin American Culture and Civilization is 6 (2 page) papers with an 8 page paper at the end. Spanish Culture and Civilization has 40 (1 page) papers and a 15 minute presentation with a partner. I was assigned my topic today: la sistema de educacion (the education system). He said the topic was so hard that he's assigning 3 people to it. We present on Feb 8 (so soon!!). We're the second to go which I feel is a good position.

Life

I can't see myself having a hard time here. Sure, there are differences to adjust to, mainly transportation, but overall it feels very easy. Transportation is difficult because I'm not used to relying on others (bus drivers) to get around. It's difficult to calculate how long it's going to take to get somewhere so I've been late to meeting friends before. It's not difficult to take the bus nor a cab but it's simply another thing I don't have control over.

Losing parts of my independence is the most difficult aspect of living here. I don't have control over food, so if I don't like it I can't go make myself noodles. I can't dictate what time I want a meal. Living in a homestay is a fine line between living in another person's home and a hotel. I do pay to live here so I have to expect to get my money's worth while at the same time, respecting the most sacred place a person can have: a home. So far, it has been easy as my host family is fantastic and my living situation is really ideal.

I haven't been upset by anything yet but I'm sure if I have a hard day in class and have fish with eyes for dinner, I'm sure the culture shock will set in. And yes, the shrimp I was served last night had a head and eyes and red stringy tentacle things. Anything I don't like, either Madre eats like she did with the shrimp or it goes to the dog. So I feel bad saying I don't like something but at least Blue gets a good meal!

Love you and thanks for reading!!

Love,

Lizzy

Ps. Thanks for all the birthday wishes and thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate (in Spain or Cola). I had a blast and couldn't have asked for a better 21st birthday!

Home and School

My Home:

-I have 4 host sisters (not 2 like previously believed). 2 have children, 2 do not.

-2 dogs: german shepard-y type mutt and little white dog (blue and luna)

-Food has been wonderful!! I've only told her i didn't like one thing and it was like a spinach quiche

-Breakfast: french bread cut into ovals with raspberry jam, yogurt (have to put sugar in it and stir it up to make it taste good), and coffee with milk

-Lunch: (to go) basically half a french bread baguette with ham and cheese (bocadilla), banana, apple, and something else like a muffin or if I'm in the house, soup or paella

dinner: soup, chicken, potatoes, broccoli, spaghetti (pretty much everything is normal)

-Breakfast when you wake up, snack at 11, lunch at 1 or 2, snack at 6, dinner at 9 or 930. yes spaniards eat 5 times at day.

-The door knob of my apartment door is in the middle of the door and doesn't turn.

-The button in the elevator doesn't light up when you press it but every other button lights up when you reach that floor when going up.

Life in Spain

-The shops really do close for siesta. Unfortunately, it is impossible to know what time each shop will take their siesta. I've decided it's just best to get any shopping/errands done before 2ish.

-You have to flag down the bus you want at a bus stop otherwise they think you are taking a different bus. You also have to press the stop button on the bus before your stop, otherwise they might not stop.

-You know how when you go to the grocery store to buy Coke, you buy 6 or 12? Here you just rip open the pack or take them off the plastic circles and take however many you want. So people just take two or three and leave the open package in the store.

Hmm, thats all I can think of now.

Love,

Lizzy

Xativa-First Excursion

We had our first excursion set up by the program on Saturday to Xativa (X's are pronounced like J's). Marissa and I made it to school on the bus by ourselves which was a minor accomplishment. The bus ride to Xativa took about an hour. The town is half-idyllic European houses and churches and half modern apartment skyrises and modern shops. We hiked around the town and saw the different architecture of he churchs. We stopped by a museum but the signs explaining the art was not in Spanish- we were thinking it might be Valenciano?

Then we made the massive climb to a Castle which was gorgeous. It overlooked the city completely. We sat on steps inside the castle and ate lunch as we pinched ourselves. Yes we were really eating lunch in a castle in Spain. I spent most of the day with Ashley, Amy, and Marissa (housemate) who are all from Wisconsin.

It was a great bonding trip with the group although I'm sure we looked funny as we paraded through the town in our backpacks and American-ness. There were 72 of us on the excursion!

The program organized a night out for us so that we could enjoy Valencia at night but safely. There was a program staff member there and it was another great bonding time for the group! I met new people that I'd like to talk to more so it was great meeting place.

Today (Sunday) was a lazy day to recuperate from the time change, cultural shifts, and the hike yesterday! My shin muscles feel a little tight today from walking uphill so much!

We just got back from our first Valencia futbol game! Ashley, Amy, Natasha, Marissa and I met at school (although Ashley's bus had to detour around an accident and she walked for almost an hour trying to find our school). We finally were all together at 8:30 and the game started at 9. We were pretty convinced we weren't going to get tickets but we wanted to walk around the stadium anyway. But we got tickets!! Luckily, they had 5 together. All the fans had on their Valencia scarves and orange hats. I guess this is the one futbol season I'll wear orange to a game (boo clemson!). The game was so fun!! I think the final score was 4-1 (Valencia scored 2 more goals but those didn't count because they were offsides). I can't wait to go to another game!

Spanish assessment test in the morning! Good night!

Love,

Lizzy

Ps. We had paella today lunch which is a mixture of rice, beans, green beans and a certain spice. It's a food fairly specific to Spain. We had paella with chicken instead of the usual seafood. It was delicious!!

In Spain!!

So I'm finally IN SPAIN!! It took a lot of luggage and a lot of waiting but I'M HERE!!!

I'll start from the beginning...Honduras.

It was great to see Harrison, his house, his town, his country. That said, Honduras is not my favorite country. Only in Yamaranguila, H's town, did I really feel safe. It's a hard country to travel in, the roads are bad and transportation is unreliable. If Harrison had not been there, I would have cried the second we tried to get a taxi from the airport. But we had some unforgettable experiences. We visited the Pottery Cooperative Harrison works with and got some great pieces. My room next year is going to be an eclectic mix of Malawi, Honduras, Spain, and any other Euorpean countries I go to. We also got a tour of a coffee farm and machinery/plant which was extremely interesting and informative.

Unforunately, a little piece of Honduras (no, not pottery) came back with me. I have had an issue properly digesting of my food. A doctor gave me some medicine which seems to working. Unfortunately, sitting in an airport is not comfortable and I was in pain a majority of the time.

So we came back from Honduras on Sunday. I packed Monday and Tuesday. My flight was at 9 am on Wednesday to JFK. We booked that flight during the huge snowstorms before Christmas so we booked the flight extra early in case anything happened. Of course nothing happened and the flight actually landed early in NY. So I arrived at the airport at 11. The group flight was set for 9 pm that night. The airline desk didn't even open until 2 so I sat in front of security/desks for 3 hours with all of my luggage.

I kept looking around for people waiting with a ton of luggage like me but there was another group traveling to Spain at the same time so it was impossible to tell who was in my group.

I got checked in and went to the gate. I was starving but the doctor order only bland foods so I got a bagel. The gate was empty so I charged my laptop in the corner, the only outlet I could find. This was my first mistake. I was so involved in The Office on my laptop I didn't realize that people were sitting near me in this far off corner because there were no more seats. I had wanted to move back closer to the gate so that I could find and talk to people in my program (we were taking a group flight). By the time I moved, there was no where to move to. So I went back and sat next to the loud Italians and the quiet British people in the corner.

I felt disappointed in myself, that I missed an opportunity to socialize and meet new people. So I got mad at myself, which probably only made my pain worse, and started worrying about getting left out. So I dug myself into a self-wallowing hole fueled by pain. I was desperately hoping that whoever sat next to me on the plane would be a student and my new BFF but no such luck. It was a nice old lady who offered me her People magazine when she finished.

I slept for a majority of the plane ride. My stomach felt horrible so I ate only 2 bites of rice and 2 bites of a roll that really tasted funny. I slept through breakfast but the nice lady ordered me orange juice and grabbed breakfast for me. I ate half a muffin and drank some of the juice but my stomach was still not good.

Life has turned out much better since. I met some people waiting for others getting off the plane and we walked through the glass maze that is Madrid's airport. We grabbed our bags (both of mine arrived, yay!) and went to the charter bus. The bus ride was uneventful, I napped most of the way. I tried to stay awake to see the scenery but my eyes disagreed. I did see a windmill farm (yay sustainable energy!).

My host mom was at the futbol stadium waiting for the bus with her older daughter Christina and her grandson Esteban, who is adorbale. We left in Christina's van (which has doors like a sedan, kinda weird) and she dropped us off at my apartment. The apartment is HUGE! It was a large living room/dining room, a large kitchen (almost the exact size as my house's but the table and appliances are switched). I got to pick my room because I arrived before my housemate Marissa. They are the same really but I picked the one closer to the kitchen. We have our own rooms and we share a bathroom. There is another bathroom, another room (the host sister's), a large office, and my host mom's room.

I told my host madre about my stomach so she made chicken broth with star shaped noddles! But then she also made a whole breast of chicken and french fries... It was legit 2 meals in 1. She hasn't quite figured out that we don't eat that much yet. Like tonight for dinner she made a whole potato sans skins, broccoli which was a little mushy, and 2 smaller breasts of chicken. Again 2 meals in 1.

Today, we took the bus to school, with our madre. We had our picture taken and got on the computers in the lab. We had an assembly about Valencia and school in general. They are VERY serious about only spanish in the center. Even if we are socializing between ourselves in the canteen, only spanish. Then the professors gave an academic presentations. We got our schedule and I'm signed up for 6 classes, 2 are at the same time and another 2 at the same time. So I have to meet with the director and get that fixed. I only want to take 4 because I'm only going to get credit for 4 at USC. This way I'll do better in my classes.

After that, we walked to the Old Quarter and walked around. We grabbed lunch. A friend got a glass of wine and I got a Coke Light (Diet Coke). The Coke Light was more expensive than the wine, which I found odd.

We had a walking tour of the city with one of the staff at the center but it was a big group and I couldn't hear much. The city is gorgeous and love the architecture. I didn't know that was on the agenda for today though and didn't have my camera unfortunately. Oh well, guess I'll just have to go explore again!

We walked some friends home and then Marissa and I walked home. We went to a grocery store and bought shampoo and snacks. Our first foray into shopping! It was great to explore a little bit of our neighborhood.

Sorry this was SO long but that was the past 2 weeks or so and a lot has happened!!! Love each and every one of you and thank you so much for your support and encouragement!!

Love, Lizzy

2 Weeks until Spain!

So it's time to start making lists, mentally sorting clothes, and travel to Honduras. I leave the 3rd to visit Harrison, my brother who is in the Peace Corps, in Honduras. My parents and I will be there for a week until the 10th.

I leave the 13th for Spain. It's okay, I'll just pack my whole life into 2 suitcases weighing no more than 50 pounds. I can do it... right?

I've decided that Google Maps and Google Earth are the best geographic tool ever. I already know what my street and my school look like! So cool!

I'm doing the UVA Hispanic Studies Program in Valencia, Spain for the semester. I'll be back sometime in May. The program ends May 6th but I want to travel a little bit while I have the chance!

Please skype me (ejt241)! I'd love to chat with anyone who takes the time to read this (ps thanks!) . With skype, it'll be like I never left!

Hasta luego (See you later)

Lizzy