Kate Forrestal- May 24, 2014

Our trip has already reached and passed our midpoint and now I feel like we are all under the gun to get as much as we possibly can in these next nine days. I personally feel incredibly blessed to have had the opportunity to take part in this trip and I am so grateful that horizons found ISA because they have made this trip more than I could possibly imagine. Things were pretty rocky at the beginning with issues with our homestay family but that was quickly rectified with the help of ISA. Now being in our new family which feels like the true family setting both Emily and I were looking for. We now have our homestay mom, an abuela, a homestay brother and a sister from Germany, and even Sophie, our dog. We all communicate to the best of our abilities and I see myself keeping in contact with them which didn’t seem like a possibility with Christina, our old homestay mom.

Past all that, I have countless memories to take back to the states with me. From the first night in Valencia to now, our first day in Barcelona, we have fit in an unimaginable amount of traveling and sightseeing. I remember within the first couple of days Josh mentioning that we had already done all of the top five or something like that, things to do while in Valencia. While a lot of that had to do with having such wonderful help from the people at ISA, I also got incredibly lucky to have Emily as my roommate. Just sitting around for the day was not an option for the two of us (and most of the time also Josh). Our expectations for the trip fit together perfectly and each of us wanted to get the absolute most out of the experience. Even now we are trying to cram everything possible into the last couple of days.

Aside from anything having to do with the trip being in beautiful Spain, I feel completely honored and blessed to have been able to share it with such wonderful people. I am baffled by the fact that I have attended the same university with the individuals on this trip for at least a year and I have never had the pleasure of crossing paths with them. After this experience together I could not imagine my life without them. Also the knowledge I have gained is completely unique and I will carry it with me and use it to help me be the best leader and individual I can be for the rest of my life. All in all, this experience has turned out to be more than I could ever imagine and I am eternally grateful to have had been a part of it.

I'm on the left and my roommate Emily S. is on the right

Jabri Boyd- May 23, 2014

It has only been a week and a half and oh the stories I could tell. Since I have been here I have had so many bloggable experiences and to be honest, it was difficult only picking one. But I did it so here we go. So it was the second day of our trip and I didn’t have any toothpaste. Why might you ask (good question), it was taken from me at the airport. I was pretty upset but hey, life goes on. So we get to Valencia and everywhere you look you see signs that read “Farmacia.” So I was like “yes, I will get toothpaste from there and all will once again be right with the world.” So later that day, after class and our ISA activities my roommate and I swing by one of the Farmacia’s on our way home. We spent about 15 minutes in there because she was looking for sunscreen and the employees weren’t too friendly. The first thing I noticed was the prices, they were pretty ridiculous. So Taylor didn’t wind up buying her sunscreen there and I picked up the cheapest tube I could find thinking that toothpaste just must be expensive in Spain.

 The story continues later that night when it was time to go to bed. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth as I would any other night but as soon as the toothbrush hit my teeth I knew something we terribly wrong. I tried to continue brushing for a couple seconds thinking to myself “toothpaste in Spain is different than at home. You need to be accepting of different cultures.” But after about 15 seconds of brushing with that stuff I had reached my limit. I could not take it anymore. I spent the next 30 minutes picking this terrible, sticky, foreign paste out of my teeth and just used Taylor's toothpaste as I had done the night before. I came back in the room and told Taylor about my unfortunate experience and I’m pretty sure she just laughed at me. The next morning I was informed that I had brushed my teeth with…DENTURE GLUE!!! Yes, that’s right. For 30 seconds I rubbed denture glue in my teeth like it actually belonged there. I think it took like 3 days for the glue to get out of my toothbrush entirely. I look back at this experience and laugh so I hard I start to cry. My first  purchase in Spain was glue that elderly people use. I am really happy that I have this story to tell.

Volunteering with Devin on the left and Henry on the right

Paella eating!

Bike riding down the riverbed

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