Marcos Navarrete- May 22, 2014

           Studying abroad to Valencia, Spain has been so far an amazing experience. The country of Spain has so much to offer such as food, culture, history, architecture, art, and the list goes on. Arriving to the city of Valencia my first impression of this place was astonished how beautiful the city really is. The city of Valencia has many remarkable aspects that makes it a true beauty. Valencia is tightly connected to nature and agriculture but it still ties in a modern metropolitan city feeling. I really enjoy that the city is still a big city, but still contains beaches, parks, and nature embedded. Upon arrival to Valencia, I was warmly greeted by my host mother and went to her home afterwards. My homestay where I’m living is very welcoming and spacious. I enjoy living with my homestay family because we always have conversations about many things and I feel as if we have been knowing each other for a long time. 

​We have had many great opportunities to learn about the culture and historical facts about the city of Valencia. We took a walking tour through Valencia to learn more about the city’s history and culture, we have been to crop fields to learn about Valencia’s vegetation and irrigation, and we have had many adventures to add. We have been to many sites in the city, but one of my favorite of the trip was at a ranch to cook paella. We went to the ranch of Tony Montolui to pick out crops and help out to prepare the paella. I really enjoyed this activity because we got to immerse ourselves in the tradition of Spanish cooking paella, plus being on a ranch and having fun was awesome on my list.

​It has been surreal that we are almost finished with the study abroad program because there is so much we are doing and so far everything has been a blast. I am looking forward to visiting the cities of Barcelona, Madrid, and Toledo to view more aspects of the country of Spain. I’m very excited to visit the city to see it’s architecture, food, and culture. I am also excited to visit the aquarium in Valencia’s famous City of Arts and Sciences, I think it’s going to be an exciting time. The thought of leaving Valencia has not even come across my mind, but the day we depart back to Purdue is going to sad, because I feel I’m not going to want to go back. This trip has been very rewarding and I am very thankful to have joined HORIZONS on this trip and learned a lot about Spanish culture.

Stephanie DeSimini- May 21, 2014

I cannot believe that we have been in Valencia, Spain for over a week now. This past week and a half has been surreal in the sights, foods, and experiences. The sheer amount of things we have accomplished in such a short time is amazing. From the moment we stepped off of the bus into Valencia, I knew my life would never be the same. I would meet new people, eat new foods, and learn to love a whole new way of life. Our host mom (we call her mami or mama) was there to greet us as soon as we arrived. She has been like a mother to us in this new and unknown place.She feeds us meals filled with new flavors and different spices. She always greets us with a smile, and is proud of her artwork all over our cozy home.

We have spent a lot of time seeing the beautiful city of Valencia and trying all sorts of new things. We took a walking tour of old Valencia, and a bike tour straight through the heart of the city. We couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather. We have also had a wonderful opportunity to travel outside of the city to a Paella cooking class. What we thought was going to be just a lesson on what ingredients to include or what temperature to cook it at, instead what we got was a whole different experience! We had to go into the fields and pick our vegetables for the meal, (with help from the wonderful Tony) and learn what really goes into the Paella. Tony was very proud of his farm and establishment, and it was an eye opening experience to see that part of Spain.

Along with all of the amazing fun stuff, we have also been working hard volunteering. We helped at Feria de Primavera, which is a festival that they have every year to raise awareness and support for different mental disabilities. We worked in groups at different stations Saturday and Sunday. When working at the bouncy houses collecting tickets, I talked to all different kinds of people trying to practice my Spanish. In speaking to new people I learned all about Spain and its cultures. On Sunday when I worked at the zip line station, I got to work with little kids and practice a whole different set of skills. The weekend was exhausting but I think my Spanish has improved a little bit, and I know that my cultural skills have improved immensely.

From volunteering, to class time, and other fun and exciting new things, I am filled to the brim with new information and am excited to see what more there is to experience!

Colleen Jones- May 20, 2014

I am forever grateful for this experience and still can’t believe I am here in Valencia. This trip has been a real adventure for me. Being given the opportunity to travel worldwide is something I never had anticipated before in my entire life. I experienced my very first plane ride ever, and I must say that while it was an exhilarating first time experience, being stuck on that thing for 8 hours was slightly torturous.

Initial communication with my host family was extremely intimidating. I do not speak any Spanish and they do not speak any English. Luckily, my four semesters of Portuguese greatly benefited me. Thank goodness for similarities in romance languages! Communication is definitely a struggle, but figuring out ways to get the point is extremely rewarding.

The city of Valencia is absolutely beautiful. I love going to the beach and enjoying the outside weather every second I can. Different parts of the city have very different atmospheres, which I find to be more and more surprising every day. Some parts are historical and have an antique feel to them, while others are very new and modern looking. The vast differences make the views of the city the least bit tiring.

Today we volunteered at a school for our service learning activity. While I wasn’t able to communicate much in Spanish with the children, they made sure to make fun of the English speaking accent I had with my pronunciation of the Spanish words I actually knew how to say.They were very intrigued by the fact that I couldn’t speak their language. At one point, there were six kids around me pointing to my jewelry and tugging at my clothes saying “Cómo se dice en Inglés?!”, meaning “How do you say in English?!” It made me laugh that they were so fascinated by the language barrier.  

My roommate and I live in one of the furthest homestays in the city, and we both unfortunately may be the worst two people on the trip with directions. We have gotten accustomed to getting lost all the time, but we have come to think of it as more of a constant adventure than anythingnegative. I mean, if I have to get lost somewhere I am more than okay with it being in Spain. Because of us getting lost so often, we have seen parts of Valencia that are so far away I am sure nobody else has gotten the opportunity to see.  

I have been thinking about life in general on a much deeper cultural level. Being immersed into an entirely different culture makes you much more aware of both your own culture and other cultures, and increases your grasp of the world around you. I feel like I have become a much more confident and independent person because of the challenges I have come across in the duration of this trip. I truly cannot wait to see what the remainder of this trip has in store for me.  

At the paella farm

The farmer throwing lettuce for us to catch

The streets of downtown Valencia

Alex Meyer- May 19, 2014

It has been a week since we arrived in Valencia, Spain. It is weird to think of it that way though. Since we have been here time has flown by so fast, but at the same time it has felt like we have been here for a long time. What I mean by that is everything around the city seems so much more comfortable to be around and more natural then when we first got here. I am also getting accustomed to the different traditions or culture of Spain. In Spain, people do not eat lunch until around two and the lunches they eat are the biggest meals of the day. On top of this, they do not eat dinner until later than 9. This has been something that has been hard to adjust to while in Spain. However, like everything that is different I am adjusting.

A great part of being in a foreign country is getting to try new things. Since being here I have tried to learn how to salsa, eat many new Spanish foods, and I went to my first futbol game. The futbol game was my favorite event so far. Seeing the excitement of the local fans is acting the same as if the game was a college football game. What surprised me the most was how they wouldn’t stop cheering for long, even when the opposing team scored a goal 5 minutes into the game. Learning how to salsa was also fun, but I have never been a fan of dancing before. The Spanish food has also been amazing. Getting a chance to try so many new foods has also been great.

This last weekend we volunteered at the park for a festival to help mentally impaired people.  The ride I mainly worked while I was there was this rock wall, but when the kid would get to the top of the rock wall instead of climbing back down they would go down a zip line. It was exciting to see how exciting or nervous the children would be, and at the same time helping out the community.

On Sunday this past weekend, I also had a chance to go shopping around downtown, or in the old quarter. The old quarter here is so beautiful with the old architecture, it is so amazing. They also have a market where people sell a mixture of items from tourist items to items that citizens of Valencia could actually use, such as pots and pans and other cooking instruments. It was awesome to be able to see these people selling items in the market. Life in Valencia so far has been exciting and fun, it is sad to think that we are already done with one week, but we still have two more weeks to hopefully have more fun and experience more.

Outside of the futbol stadium

At the game!

The zip lining course I volunteered at

Emily Kozak- May 18, 2014

The time that I have had in Spain so far has been amazing, and a trip that I will never forget. The first week here has been filled with so many great experiences. When we first got here we got to meet our homestay families right when we got off of the bus. I was a little nervous to meet the family that I was staying with, but as soon as I met the mother I knew that it would be okay. She is very friendly and I feel very welcomed in her home. My homestay mom a great personality; she is funny and her facial expressions help when I don’t understand what she is saying. She speaks very little English, which is hard sometimes, but I speak some Spanish, so we can usually have good conversation. I have really enjoyed all of the food here; my mom makes delicious meals that are also very healthy. In our home we have two dogs names Nicolas and Poncho, they are really cute and good company.Nicolas looks like my dog at home which is comforting.

This past week we had a walking tour of Valencia, we got to see the historical side of Valencia and the central city, it is amazing how beautiful everything is. It seemed that every time we turned a corner, there was a new site to see that was just as beautiful as the last. We also got to go on a biking tour of Valencia. We rode our bikes down the river and the scenery was gorgeous. Our group also had the opportunity to go to a paella cooking class at the farm of Toni Montoliu in Meliana, Valencia. We got to see Toni cook the paella and got to help prepare some of the ingredients. Our group got to go on a tour of the farm and got to see all of the fresh ingredients and pick them to put into the food we ate for our meal. The paella was really good.

Yesterday our group had out first service learning activity at the Feria de Primavera (Spring fair). This is a social event for the community to fundraise for people in the community with intellectual disabilities. At this fair there was music, food, and many activities for the children. Sarah and I put hair wraps in the children’s hair, it was fun and nice to work with the kids. Other people in our group helped with face painting, zip lining, rock climbing and other activities for the children. After the service learning we went to a soccer game at the stadium called Mestalla in Valencia. The two teams that played were Valencia C.F. vs. R.C. Celta de Vigo. It was cool to see a soccer game in Spain and I had a lot of fun! This first week in Spain has been more than I could ever ask for and I can’t wait for the next two weeks!

The gelato here is amazing and they even shape it into a flower

This is Glenda, Henry, and I at the paella farm.

The soccer game and the stadium!

This is alongside the bike path while we were on the biking tour

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