Jared Andrews- May 15, 2014

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 

Henry Stewart- May 14, 2014

While sitting out the 4-hour bus ride from the Madrid airport to Valencia, I had a lot of time to anticipate what my home stay would be like.  Both negative and positive thoughts, eventually I had to stop myself from anticipating so much, and just accept that thinking about it won’t change a thing.  

We finally get to Valencia, and the bus stops so we can meet our host families and take our bags to our home.  I walk down the steps of the bus and see my host mother standing right there, so I give her the customary kiss on each cheek and I introduce myself.  As she started to waive down a taxi, I was surprised that she didn’t have a car to bring us back home.  I soon accepted that there was going to be a lot of surprises in the next three weeks that I would have to experience.

We walked into the main lobby of the apartment complex, and pressed the button to open up the elevator door to bring our bags and the three of us up to the third floor.  The elevator door opens up, and I can’t believe how small it is.  Jared, my host mother and I and our luggage cram into this small elevator, to which my host mother responded “Everything is smaller here”.  We walk into our new home and I immediately notice how much art is all over the walls.  The TV is smaller than what I am used to at home, and the coffee table in the living room is also used as the dinner table.  The bright Valencian sun makes artificial light unneccesary as there are many windows that are always open that light up our house.  

Initially, I was nervous about having such little space.  But now, as I am halfway through my second full day living here, I’ve learned that what my host family lacks in material possessions, they are rich in personal relationships and conversation.  My host family includes a stay at home mom, a father who works in the afternoon, and a daughter around my age who studies at the University of Valencia.  Conversation is never lacking, for example, my host father was extremely excited to tell me all about the three days he spent with Pablo Picassos daughter and how great of a person she was.  My host fathers brother is an painter himself, and is the artist responsible for a portrait of his “Tatara tatara abuelo” or Great Great Great grandfather.  

 My host family's living room

Family paintings

Emily Tiede May 13, 2014

If you told me five years ago that I would be studying abroad in Valencia, Spain, I would tell you that you are crazy. Hi, my name is Emily Tiede, and I will be blogging about our second day in Spain! So, first of all, oh my goodness, I have never traveled so much, so far, or so long in my life before! But, let me tell you, it was all worth it! It's only day two and I already feel like I've experienced so much! Yesterday was very busy and we processed a lot of information. We met our homestay families for the first time as well and I already love and appreciate my homestay mother!! Even though she speaks barely any English; which I must admit, can get very frustrating because I want to get to know her and tell her about our day but, it doesn't work out so well. Which is okay because we can only improve from here!

 I really am living to the 'try everything once' advice and oh man, there is so much to try! Like last night, we went to a fancy restaurant for dinner and we ate so many different things which included a fried fish. A WHOLE FRIED FISH. There were bones in the fish and we were supposed to EAT THE BONES. Obviously I was not a huge fan of this experience but I will say that I am so glad that I at least tried it! Otherwise I would have regretted missing out on the experience. Some experiences have been more testing than others. For example, my roommate and I are having phone troubles with connecting to communication apps and adding contacts. This gets pretty frustrating at times because we are used to depending on our phones. Another pushing experience has been getting back and forth from our homestay and class, meetings, etc. Valencia is a giant city and very difficult to figure out at times, but we have definitely been improving on our traveling skills. Today was actually pretty testing because my roommate and I woke up an hour late because our phones were not working correctly. So, I didn't get to shower and we had to rush to get ready for class! However, our homestay mother did make us a delicious breakfast which was tea and some type of pastry bar! Very different from home though. Today was the first day of class which I feel went well and we also went on a walking tour of Valencia and it was BEAUTIFUL! I also got to try horchata for the first time and it was muy bueno! I really feel that once we get comfortable with traveling and get our phones straightened out that everything will just keep going up! Besides the few difficulties, Spain has been really amazing and I am forever grateful for the chance to go through this experience. I am also super duper excited for future experiences and cannot wait to become more of a global leader!

 My reaction to eating the creature

Emily K. and I drinking our Spanish horchatas

Listening to our Spanish tour leader Zaray

Josh Milligan- May 12, 2014

We made it! After approximately 8 hours in the air and 6 hours split between two buses we have all arrived safely in Valencia, Spain. We may have arrived tired and hungry but we were excited to be here. Of course having your homestay families waiting for you with the promise of a home cooked lunch will certainly raise the spirits of just about anyone!

Upon our arrival in Valencia our students were whisked away by their homestay families to enjoy two of Spain's most enduring images: the traditional, multi-course lunch and a siesta. Reports from our students informed us that the food was only rivaled by the opportunity to shower and to nap. After everyone had eaten and rested we reconvened at ISA headquarters for a discussion about the program and the schedule of things to come over the course of the next few weeks. We will have a jam packed schedule but it is filled with a wide variety of cultural experiences that will allow for our students to immerse themselves into Spanish culture. In fact, we would have such an opportunity later in the evening at our welcome dinner.

In Spain dinner typically doesn't begin until 9 or 10 o'clock, however, our friends at ISA knew how tired we were so they generously offered to begin our dinner at 8:30! After a short tour of the area surrounding the ISA office we made our way to a restaurant/club that had been reserved for us to experience a traditional Spanish tapas meal. All together we were served nine different tapas plates, among them were: gazpacho, bolas de bascalao, a croissant covered with eggplant, olives, brie, and a tomato marmalade, and variety of fried sea food (calamari, mussels, and sardines).

Our students proved to be quite adventuresome in their eating, trying many dishes they weren't too sure of. This was most clearly demonstrated when a group of students all simultaneously took a bite of sardines, which, if it isn't clear from the picture below, still retained their heads!

Experiencing such a traditional meal their very first day in county would be daunting for any student. But Horizons students are resilient and they met this new experience headfirst (quite literally in this case).

Our first full day in country has come to an end, but our adventure is just beginning. The students have found their way home and are resting up so that they can experience all that Valencia has to offer tomorrow, when they are met with their next opportunity!

 

Purpose

Horizons Student Support Services will embark on their third maymester abroad course on May 12, 2014 - June 1, 2014 to Valencia, Spain! 20 students will journey to Spain to experience culture and language through their homestay experience while studying Global Leadership with their instructors and guest lecturers. Join us as we document our adventure abroad!