Hello everyone! My name is Jared and I will be blogging about our fourth day in Spain, May 15. I can’t believe that it is already our fourth day here and I feel like I have learned so many things through my experiences in the beautiful city that is Valencia. When I first arrived at my host family’s house, I had mixed emotions when I learned that they spoke little to no English, but after now being here and getting to know them and communicate more effectively, I feel extremely welcome in their home. Their cooking has been magnificent and I have found that they consume significantly healthier food options than we do in the United States. While here, we have also had 3 teenage French roommates living with us until today; Pierre, Flavian, and Antoine. I never thought I would experience the culture of both Spain and France while being in Valencia and having these exciting boys staying in our house for a short period was an absolute blast.
May 15 is also a special date for me because it is my birthday and after getting sprayed with silly string and wished a happy birthday from my new French friends, I was very interested to see what exciting things would happen while being in Valencia, and trust me it did not disappoint. After class this morning, we went on a bike tour around the whole distance of the park in Valencia, where we got to see all of the museums, several monuments, and enjoy the amazing weather while eating a picnic outside. Valencia is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to and the scenery is definitely an asset to the amazing people that this city holds and I have found that the meaningful connections that I am making while here is what I value most out of this trip.Following our bike tour, several of us went back to walk through the city, do a little shopping, and have a bite to eat before heading over to the beach. After Vanessa, Jasmine, and I finally made it to the beach after getting slightly lost on the bus, the beach right on the Mediterranean Sea, was truly amazing. I am extremely blessed to be with a great group of people during my birthday, and it will be one that I definitely will never forget; I can’t wait to see what the rest of our journey holds!
I'm in the middle and my Horizons roommate Henry is on the right of me
We are with our new French friends
This is where we ate our picnic during the bike tour
This is the science center I passed during our bike tour
