The First Weekend

Well I have a little time this afternoon, so I figured I would write a little blog about my first weekend in Valencia. Marli and I were talking earlier and realized that we have been in Valencia for exactly one week. I cannot believe that it has only been one week--it feels like I've been here so much longer. It already feels like home, and I'm learning my way around the city rather quickly. I've taken taxis, been on the bus, and been asked more than 5 times for directions--maybe I'm starting to look like someone who actually lives here--which is strange because I DO live here.

Let's see--Friday was a pretty uneventful day. I was a little homesick for the first time in a while. I met up with some friends at the ISA office in the afternoon, and we started talking about trips to take during the semester. With the ISA group, we take a trip to Granada (in the south) and to Barcelona. Marli and I are choosing to go on the optional trip with ISA, which is 1 week in Morocco. Besides trips with ISA, we have several long weekends where traveling would be a good idea. Everyone had so many places they wanted to go--and I really didn't care--everywhere sounded good to me. I also know that I have the whole year to travel when most of them only have until December. Looks like I may be going to Greece in October as well as Salamanca--and everyone was interested in going to Prague and Istanbul. Who knows what will actually happen, but for me it was just crazy to think that I can travel to all these places and for not a lot of money. That's the benefit of all the countries being smaller than the US.

Enough about prospective travels...Friday night, Amparo's (our host mom) two sons and the one son's wife (?--we're not sure if they're married) came over for dinner. They spoke crazy fast--but I kept up with most of it. Later that night I went out with friends, and it was a lot of fun. Saturday was wonderful. I slept in and then Marli and I went to the beach and met up with friends. The sky was blue with just a few puffy clouds, the sun was shining, and there was a slight breeze to keep you cool. We spent all day at the beach--laying in the sand--putting out feet in the water--just relaxing. It was wonderful. Then when I got home I was able to Skype with my parents for the first time since I've been here. It was great getting to see them (and Brandy too!). They also got to meet Amparo and Marli over Skype. It was really funny hearing Amparo talk to my parents in English, saying that I am HER daughter here. Saturday night we ended up going to the Valencian version of Oktoberfest. It was held at the Plaza de los Toros (bull fighting ring)--and two of the guys' host dad (a former bull fighter) was putting the event on. I wasn't expecting to have a lot of fun--but it ended up being a good time. There was a huge line--but because we had "connections" we got to enter in front of everyone else. This morning (Sunday) Marli and I got up and went to the beach to see an airplane exhibition. It was pretty cool. And that's what I've been doing all weekend. I'm not exactly looking forward to going to class tomorrow, since I haven't had class since Wednesday. Monday is also my busy day with 3 classes--all of which are 1 hour and 45 minutes. It will be okay though--no worries. All for now.