Vanessa Garcia- May 17, 2014

I always wanted to visit Spain since I was little, and when I heard that Horizons was offering students a chance to visit Valencia I jumped at the chance to come. And so far this trip so far has been amazing! The sights and monuments are beautiful all around Valencia. I seem to be falling more and more in love with this city and Spain itself everyday.

Our host family is an elderly couple, Nora and Gustavo (or Gus as he likes to be called), in their late sixties early seventies, and they are the most adorable old couple I have ever met. Although Jasmine and I didn’t meet them until our second day in Valencia (they were on a trip that had lasted longer than they had planned, their niece was taking care of us while they were gone), they were so excited to meet us when we had walked through the door for lunch. Our first dinner together was quite interesting trying to figure out what was being said, but we were still able to communicate! My favorite memory of that night was when Gus had asked Jasmine if she was Japanese or Chinese, in which Jasmine replied that she is in fact Taiwanese.  At this both Gus and Nora got super excited and Gus ran to their little bookshelf they have in the living room and pulled out a Taiwan flag and placed it near the American flag. Theirreaction to Jasmine’s reply was priceless.

Jasmine and I aren’t really adventurous, but today we had decided to take a leap of faith and head to the mall with Katie Murphy. And boy was it an adventure just getting to the bus stop to get to the mall. We knew we were heading in the right direction of the bus stop but we couldn’t find it. Eventually we found our stop and headed towards the mall, our next challenge was to find the right stop. I’m telling you it’s never a dull moment with Jasmine and I because we never know where we are going. Once we finally made it we shopped around for a little bit when we came across a McDonalds. Now usually seeing a McDonalds doesn’t faze us, but this McDonalds had a separate little area for theMcCafe where they made the coffee and served little pastries. Now why can’t we have McDonalds like that in America?

 My host mother and father

The flower bridge we walked on while trying to find the bus stop.

Mcafe in the McDonalds

Glenda Hernandez- May 16, 2014

English translation: "You must be so tired! Do you want to fight now?" As I looked strangely at my newly-met host mother, she could tell I was confused. I asked her to repeat herself and I heard her say the same thing, except with hand motions indicating a shower. I then assumed that their word for shower was my word for fighting. A day had passed and I mentioned this to her and then she looked at me weird realizing the confusion. The word to shower is "duchar" and I kept on hearing "luchar." Up until today I still hear it as "luchar" instead of "duchar" due to her Spanish accent. Even though I speak Spanish, it is really strange hearing such a different accent from what I'm normally used to. Other words are different such as oatmeal, bathrooms, and belts.

   

Anyway, this trip has been a blast so far! I have had such a great time befriending everyone in our group along with my host family, Olga and Irene. Olga is an amazing cook and has come up with some great vegetarian/pescatarian dishes for me which are simple enough to make myself when I go back to America. I rode a Vespo for the first time with my host mom which was defintely a fun experience. The classroom time has been really interesting since I've been thinking about my trip in a more educational aspect. Even though this feels like a vacation half the time, it feels great knowing that I'm actually learning things which will make me a better engineer in the near future. I definitely want to be a global leader due to my love for travel and leadership positions. I know I will become a better one due to this study abroad experience which makes this trip more enjoyable than I initially could have ever imagined. 

Overall Spain is simply beautiful! I would definitely recommend this country to anyone who is considering coming here. The people tend to be friendly overall, but be prepared. They speak Spanish rather fast and their accents are sometimes difficult to understand. Running has been extremely enjoyable and each time I go I feel as if I'm running through thousands of Google images of Valencia. I cannot express how gorgeous Valencia and the rest of Spain really is out here. I have made many new friends on this trip although I haven't befriended any locals besides my host family. Vale!

 My host mother dropping me off for class!

At the farm about to eat some Paella

The city of Valencia