Katie Rose Murphy- June 1, 2014

Today is our last full day in Spain.  We spent today and yesterday in Madrid, the capital of Spain.  It’s a lot bigger and more of a tourist city than Valencia.  When we arrived yesterday, we walked around the city and saw some historical landmarks.  Our guide was also a professor so she was very knowledgeable about the sights we were seeing and was able to give us a historical synopsis of the different places.  In the afternoon, we went to The Prado Museum.  Our guide continued with us and made the experience in the museum even better.  She knew so much about the art and how they related to the history of Spain.  After the museum, Jasmine and I walked around the city and went to a restaurant with crepes.  Although they’re a French food, we thought they sounded great.  The restaurant was very small and only one guy was working.  We each got a crepe and they were delicious!  At night, a bunch of us met up to play cards and hang out for one of our last nights.  It’s surprising how close we’ve become in the last 3 weeks with most of us not really knowing each other before the trip.  

Today, we went to the Reina Sofia National Art Center.  This museum shows more modern works made within the last 100 years and is continuously growing.  The same guide from yesterday was with us and again did a great job of teaching us about the art.  I was excited to see this museum because they have many works by Pablo Picasso who is my favorite artist.  They have one of Picasso’s most well known works, Guernica.  It is a huge mural about the attack on the town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.  While in Barcelona, we had gone to the Picasso Museum so I was so happy to see another one of Picasso’s amazing works.  After the museum, we stopped for lunch.  We were all running low on Euros so we found a cheap place but ended up having a really nice meal.  Then we spent a few more hours for our final walk around Spain.  We walked to where we first got off the bus in Madrid, Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor.  It was cool to walk around Plaza Mayor and think about its history.  This area is a square surrounded by a building.  While we walked around, it was full of people shopping and stopping at the cafes. This area used to be used for politics, as a market and even as a bull fighting ring.  This area that was such a key part of Spain for hundreds of years is still a popular spot today.  I can’t believe this trip is almost over.  I’ve learned so much, made great friends and have had fun experiences that I will never forget!

Jasmine and I ate and shopped our way across Spain.

 This is Plaza Mayor, one of the most important parts of Madrid

 Beautiful buildings were behind every corner in Spain

  

My crepe came with ice cream, almonds and caramel

Michelle Lizano- May 31, 2014

The End

Everything must come to an end at some point. I just hate how fast this month has gone by. During the course of this trip I have learned a lot about myself and others. It’s sad that I got out of my comfort zone towards the end of the trip, but I’m usually slower at those things anyways. I couldn’t imagine a better group than this Horizons group to travel with. Each one of us is so unique and passionate about different things, but the best part of it all is that we can share our uniqueness and passions with others in what truly is a no judgment zone. I’m sure we can all agree that this experience has been the best experience of our lives thus far. Someone once said “Life is full of difficulties, some minor and others of more serious nature, there seems to an unending supply of challenges for one and all. Our problem is that we expect instantaneous solutions to such challenges, forgetting that frequently the heavenly virtue of patience is required’. I am proud of all of us .I’m proud that even though we have been up and running since day one we still enjoyed every single minute of this trip. We had the patience to walk for hours among hours, the patience to deal with our host families and the language barriers. We all had the patience to adjust to the culture, but what I’m really proud of is the willingness to try new things. I know that for me patience has always been a difficult concept, but being here has showed me to have more patience and instead of just getting things done to actually take the time to reflect and think about the surroundings. Think about the culture and why it is so different here. Thinking about the culture is only part of the process, the other part is being willing to understand and adjust to it. My favorite moment from this whole trip was at Tony’s restaurant. We all expected to just sit down and watch someone make pallea, but what we did instead was incredible. This experience showed us that things are not always the way we think they will be, which is why we must keep an open mind at all times and not forget our patience. Thank you every one for making this trip absolutely amazing, but most of all thank you to Horizons, ISA, and special thanks to Rosa and Josh because without them none of this would be possible.

Jessica Carsten- May 30, 2014

It is unbelievable to think that our three weeks in Spain are almost coming to an end.  With tomorrow being our last day to experience more components of Madrid, I feel like I have already witnessed countless new and impressive attractions throughout the cities of Valencia, Barcelona, Toledo, and Madrid. I would like to focus on the very first experience I encountered when going to church in a foreign country.

The very first church I went to in Spain was in Valencia and I was guessing that the mass time would be at 8:00 a.m., but I was clearly wrong because I had no idea how to get into the church and a sign on the garage door of the church said that mass was at 9:00 a.m.  I was becoming a little worried because the church looked pretty sketchy on the outside and looked as if the church wasn’t active anymore.  I went and got some coffee and returned to the same church thirty minutes later.  Surprisingly the garage door was open and I felt so relieved that I wasn’t going to have to miss church that day.  As soon as I walked into the church, I seriously felt my stomach drop.  I was so overwhelmed by the beauty of this small church that I began to cry.  I cried because the beauty of the detail in every component of the church was so raw and realistic that I felt closer to God than I ever have before.  I began to take pictures, but no picture could perfectly grasp the beauty I was witnessing before my eyes and how it felt to be witnessing it.  

As I traveled to the other cities in Spain, the churches just grew in their beauty.  In Barcelona, my jaw dropped by how massive the Segrada Familia Cathedral was.  In Toledo, I went to the second largest Cathedral in Europe and I was truly fascinated.  By touring through that Cathedral I realized how God works in mysterious ways.  I could just see many people around me taking in the beauty of all the unbelievable architecture and even if some of those people didn’t believe in God or weren’t Catholic, I could still see sparks of light in every single person.  Even for myself, I felt like I have witnessed something so special that I need to work on growing closer to God and share my experience with others to help others grow closer as well.  I am so thankful to have been able to see such beautiful architecture because just being able to witness those incredible art works has changed  and motivated me as a Catholic even more.

Me and a Rosa- twins!

Inside the cathedral

La Sagrada Familia

Sarah Angley- May 29, 2014

It’s really strange that we’ve arrived in Toledo. It’s not so much that this place is strange, or even that it is weird to be here, exactly. But more, it’s weird to not be in Valencia, and to know that I will not be going back there. Looking back, three weeks really isn’t that long a span of time, and it feels like it’s been far too short, but it also feels like I haven’t been home in years. It just doesn’t feel like this should be coming to an end so soon. I still remember unpacking that first day in Valencia, realizing that while the apartment I was going to live in was fairly large, there was not nearly enough space for all of our stuff.  And I remember meeting my house mother, who speaks just as much English as I do Spanish – none.

It was then that I realized that this trip was not going to be easy. And there were many challenges. From getting stuck on the bus for an hour – twice – to not being able to speak to anyone outside of our group, I was faced with more challenges than I anticipated. And a lot of us were. Most of us didn’t speak Spanish, and so it was a struggle even just to order food. Between phone issues and getting lost over and over again, our group was forced to persevere. And we did, though it was hard at times. But as many challenges as we faced, this trip was also an incredible experience. I tried so many new things and saw sights I will remember for the rest of my life.

I met amazing people and ate amazing food. I learned more about myself and this place, and I have grown as a person because of it. I even traveled through Spain with just two other people, and climbed a mountain to a medieval castle.  

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I am extremely sad for this trip to end. I don’t want to say goodbye to all of these amazing people who traveled almost half way around the world with me. Saying goodbye to my house mother, who I could barely communicate with, was hard enough. And these people, my Horizons family, were amazing. Everyone was so different, but those different personalities didn’t clash like they probably should have. Instead, we all got along and pushed past the problems and tough patches, and made this trip the most amazing experience it could have been. I could not have asked for anything more.

My roommate Emily, our house mother and I the night before we left Valencia.

One of the most beautiful things I saw was Casa Batlló, which was designed by Gaudi in Barcelona.

Castle in Xativa, Spain

Some of those amazing people I mentioned.

Devin Hall- May 28, 2014

Wow. Where do I even begin? Today is our last day in Valencia with our host families and we only have a few days left before we all go home and to our daily routine. This trip has been such an amazing experience and I think I speak for the whole group when I say we are all so blessed to have been apart of this beautiful adventure.

So far we have done so much in these short few weeks. We have taken a bike tour, participated in a movie night and discussion about Shakespeare in Spanish at the University of Valencia, a paella cooking demonstration, service learning projects, went to an aquarium, took a special trip to Barcelona, got make overs by Rosa, and so much more. Instead of focusing this blog on that aspect of this trip, I want to talk about our home stay experience.

For this study abroad trip we were all placed in family’s homes to stay and reside in for the next three weeks as opposed to staying in a hotel or something like that. At first I was a little nervous about the whole situation. I wasn’t sure what to expect at all. I didn’t know how I would feel or act going into someone’s home and living there for three weeks. Looking back now on how I felt then, I feel foolish.

This home stay experience has been something I will never forget for the rest of my life. I have made a wonderful, long-lasting connection with this family and with my roommate, too. The mother, Carmen, has made this whole study abroad trip so great. She has made being away from my mother a lot easier, and I truly thank her for that because I felt so horrible leaving my mother on Mother’s Day. She really treats Jessie and I like we are her own daughters. She has taken care of me when I woke up not once, but twice with a huge, swollen eye from the killer mosquitos here. She always took care of us and made sure we were fed any time we needed. Jessie and I DEFINITELY took advantage of that. We will be going back probably 20 pounds heavier! She was such a great cook, too. One night Jessie and I made dinner for the family to thank them for welcoming us into their home with open arms. Even though she didn’t speak much English at all and we weren’t really fluent in Spanish, we made a connection with her and created an incredible relationship.

This was such a great experience for me and I feel sad for anyone who studies abroad and doesn’t get to experience something this awesome. It is a bittersweet feeling leaving them tomorrow. I can’t wait to get home to my family and loved ones, but I will miss this. I’ll miss my “Valencianhome”.

Emily Strobl- May 27, 2014

I initially went into this trip with notions and expectations which have proven to be in stark contrast to my actual experience, and I could not be more grateful or blessed for the adventure which has unfolded before me. Today´s adventure was one I had been planning for a while now. We were informed even before our departure that we would have one “free day” in Spain. I knew right off the bat that I wanted to take a train somewhere, but where? After talking with our ISA director, Manuel (our amazing contact of endless knowledge) I settled on the ancient city of Sagunto. My roommate, Kate and I ran out the door of our homestay mother´s home early this morning with “Hasta luego! Muchos gracias!” on our lips and a homemade lunch in our hands. Spain has taught me many things, but one of my favorites is that the loving care of a mother crosses all barriers, even the language one! Soon we were on a train to Sagunto with our teacher, Josh. Only 4€ for a round trip ticket and a day of adventure ahead of us. After a fifteen minute ride through gorgeous Spanish countryside I caught a glimpse of ruins peeking out from the mountains. We climbed up, up, up, through a quiet town, followed by ancient steps until we were standing before the beautiful city itself. A kind man at the entranceinformed us, to our pleasant surprise, that the tickets were “gratis”. Excitedly we ran off to explore the incredible history around us. At this point I must admit I´m endlessly grateful for cameras because no matter how I try this is not a sight I could put into words. One of the most amazing aspects of Spain is the breathtaking way the mountainscascade into the ocean; however, I´ve never seen it quite as perfectly as today. We stopped to have our picnic in a little nook carved out of the mountainside; a welcomed rest from the strong Valencian sun. It was in this quiet moment, eating and laughing with two of my dearest friends, that I was overwhelmed with gratitude and joy. This trip has molded, strengthened, and awoke my spirit in ways I never could have anticipated. For this I am blessed, but I´ve had a second realization beyond this. It is not enough to simply be blessed. As global leaders, it is our responsibility to share our experience, and use our new found skills to benefit the lives of others. All this was in my heart as the three of us continued to explore the ruins, and try our best to capture every bit. After roughly four hours of pictures, joke cracking, and a wonderful conversation with a vivacious Englishman-who may or may not have actually been John Lennon- we started down the mountainside to find our way back to the train station.Luckily for us we first found a small restaurant in the back yard of a Sagunto residence where we could rest and have a drink. Here we poured over the day´s photos, relaxed, and as always laughed. The day´s adventure reflected this trip in many ways; I didn´t know what I was getting into, it exceeded every expectation, and it left me exhausted and exhilarated all at once. Spain has been good to me!

 

Jasmine Su- May 26, 2014

This past weekend that we spent in Barcelona was one the most amazing and tiring experiences. I don’t think I have ever walked so much in my life. The pain in my feet would just shoot up when I sat down and I could barely feel them when I was standing. HOWEVER, the cathedrals, parks and monuments I saw were worth every step. My favorite sight-seeing parts of Barcelona would definitely have to be The Guella park and La Sagrada Familia Cathedral. 

The Guella park consisted of a huge hill climb and when Katie Rose and I finally got there, the scene was spectacular. Although we did not pay to go inside the structures made out of tiles, we could see from the outside parts of it and it was beautiful. We also decided to hike up the trail that did not cost money and the view that we saw from the top was breath taking. As we were hiking up there was these beautiful beams and tunnels and there was this statue that looked like it was made out of tiles with horns and it was propped up in one of the caves. Katie Rose and I stood there for some time trying to figure out if it was real. As I was deep in thought staring at this stature, it pops straight out at me and scares the living soul out of me. I screamed so loud and jumped back as fast as I could. Apparently I was the only one that was scared because after I calmed down and got myself together, everyone was just laughing at me, including Katie Rose. After that experience I questioned if every statue I encountered was real or not. 

La Sagrada Familia was one of the most amazing cathedrals I have ever seen. Although it was still being built, the detail that was put into it was so impressive. It had Jesus and his twelve disciples all around the cathedral and parts of the cathedral had color in it which isn’t common at all for these types of Cathedrals. The cathedral had a very ancient looking architecture but modern colors which made it so much cooler. I regret not going into the cathedral because I bet it would have been breath taking but at the time I just was not willing to pay and wait in like a 4 hour long line. Overall, I enjoyed my time in Barcelona so much but I was so glad to come back to Valencia and rest my feet for a couple of days.