It has officially been a week since I left the U.S. and today marks my fourth day of immersing myself in the Valencian culture. I must say, I have not been disappointed by anything in this city so far.
We were greeted upon our arrival on Sunday by our host mom, Cari. She is a widower with two daughters and plenty of space to host eager students like myself. She is also an outstanding cook, which is both a blessing and a curse because I’m pretty sure I’ve already put on about 5 pounds in the week that I’ve been here. Spanish cuisine is supposed to consist mainly of “olive oil, vegetables, and pork” according to the ISA directors, but from the looks of it, its more like pork and lots and LOTS of carbs. I’m about 45% baguette by now. Vegetables happen maybe once a day. Now I’m not a picky eater, but everything that Cari has made us so far has far exceeded our expectations (except the bocadillo she made us yesterday-tuna and olives, what?).
Our host home is in a prime location, about a 20 min bus ride from school, 10 minute walk from the central and historic part of town, and a 5 minute walk from the Turia park. One of the neatest things about this city, and Spain in general is that all socialization happens outside of the home (most are very small, our home is much larger than average from what I can tell) and Valencia is a very outdoor city. There used to be a river running through the city, but it was drained in the ’50s in order to irrigate all of the surrounding plantations and so they took the empty riverbed and turned it into a park that runs about 9 km long.
There are a total of 5 study abroad students living in Cari’s home right now, Ali and me, and 3 Italian students who are participating in some sort of work exchange. The five of us are sharing one bathroom but thus far it has only been a very minor issue. Overall, could not have asked for a better living arrangement.
We have done a lot of exploring this week, and one thing that I’ve learned is that I have an internal compass of some sort because my sense of direction has not failed us once thus far. We’ve gotten turned around a couple of times, but have never failed to make it to our destination and never late either. We have ridden around on bikes (Valencia is a very flat city with a really neat public bike system), via bus and our own two feet as well, but have only braved about a quarter of the city in our 3 days here.
Today the plan is to finally hit the beach, but its been pretty windy outside and the high today is in the mid 70’s, so I doubt I’ll be getting anywhere near the water. ISA has also organized a running club that I may or may not test out. The idea sounds great, and running is a big part of the city culture apparently but I would much rather sit and have a clara and watch all the miserable runners pass by. We shall see.
As far as classes, well I suppose they’re going as well as they could so far. My cine professor is very much a character and uses super realistic about how study abroad works, so I don’t think I’ll have any issues with that class besides the fact that it is 2 HOURS AND 15 MINUTES LONG. My grammar class is, well like any other grammar class. It’ll be good practice and it’s nice to not feel like the dumbest one in the class (thanks Spanish for Heritage speakers 2 lolol) but it is also just as long, so school is going to be another slow and painful death for me but I suppose I should be used it by now.
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So its Saturday again and I’m back to finish my reflection on life as a Spaniard. The biggest thing I’ve noticed is that everyone and everything moves much slower in this country. People will sit and eat and then chat for an hour, no one ever seems to be in a hurry to get anywhere, and punctuality isn’t really a thing either. It has been one of the hardest things for me to adjust to. I’m very much used to having every second of my day booked and constantly running from one place to another to fit everything into my day. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to adjust to the pace of this city, I’m already an impatient person as is.
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Read more from Kassandra at https://salazarinspain.wordpress.com/
Take a look at http://studiesabroad.com/programs/country/spain/city/valencia/duration/17 for more information about the ISA Valencia, Spain: Hispanic Studies Honors Program.
