09.14.22 More Shopping!
Today was supposed to be my first day of class but it was canceled last minute due to staffing and scheduling issues. My first class will now occur on Monday, September 19th! I am excited to start my sophomore year and get back in the classroom! Since I didn’t have class today, our host dad made K and I sandwiches to have a picnic near Torres de Quart. I left the house a little early to go to the Central Market and buy a cup of fruit salad for lunch. I ended up wandering around until K’s class ended and walked a total of 4 miles beore lunch.
After our lunch, K and I headed home to see our host family and drop off our backpacks. Then, we met up with E to go shopping around city center. We found the Mango outlet and none of us went home empty handed! Once we were tired out from shopping, we decided to find a place for drinks and tapas. We wanted to save money so we were trying to find inexpensive places but thinking about prices here gets so confusing. We decided on “Haus” where we ordered drinks and a plate of chips and guac. It was a nice little filler before our dinner three hours later.
Once we finished up our late afternoon snack break, we headed home to book our flights to Portugal. Since it is less than 2 weeks away, prices were a little higher than they were when we looked a week ago, so we are for sure going to start booking flights now for the rest of the semester to save money. We ended up all eating dinner together, our host dad cooked a yummy meal for us, and then we all decided to have an early night!
09.15.22 Steak!
K and I didn’t have classes today and decided to have a lazy morning in preparation for a crazy weekend. We wrote in journals, cleaned our room, and made coffee. In the afternoon, we headed to the Ruzafa district to explore and walk around a very pretty area. We walked 3-4 miles and decided to stop and enjoy some ice cream from a very cute shop before heading home.
E invited us up for drinks, snacks, and watching “Vampire Diaries.” We visited until K and I returned home for dinner. Our host dad prepared steaks with sauteed onions on top, it was amazing! After dinner, all three of us headed to a friend’s apartment for game night. We all played UNO and then split up with some heading out and others heading home. E, K, and I headed home because we had an early morning the next day. Overall, it was an amazing day!
09.16.22 Peniscola!
ISA had a day trip to Peniscola planned for all of us, starting at 9:00. Since our bus ride to the ISA office is a 30-45 minute trek, we woke up at 7:00 to get ready and be there on time. We were slightly late but everyone was running a little slow that early in the morning. Peniscola is about a 1.5-2 hour bus ride from the ISA office, so everyone fell asleep and woke up when we arrived.
We started our exploring of Peniscola with a guided tour of the castle there. It was very well preserved and the views were stunning. Just look at the pics!
After the tour, we were allowed to explore the area on our own. My group headed to the beach to find a restaurant to order drinks and snacks before heading to the beach. The view from the beach was amazing. Since Europe is known for pickpocketing, we split so that our bags were always being watched. We enjoyed the beach for a while before heading into town to find souvenirs. We were showing up empty handed but still searching when we received the message “we are going now.” When I say we ran, I mean we booked it to the bus and made it just in time.
The bus ride home was silent because everyone was sleeping and exhausted from the amazing day. I will say this day trip was one of the most amazing things ISA has done so far.
K and I took a little nap before dinner. Our dad had prepared oven-baked pasta for all of us, it was amazing! After dinner, the three of us headed to “The Black Turtle ” to meet up with our friends for drinks and dessert. I enjoyed catching up with everyone! We finished up at the restaurant and started wandering around looking for a place to sit outside, this area was packed with people. There was an open table outside a cute little restaurant so we sat down. Right next to us were two dogs! A beautiful chocolate lab and a beagle puppy. They were so cute and everyone was able to pet the cute little puppers!
Today was one of my favorite days with some of my favorite people!
09.17.22 to 09.18.22 Madrid!
This weekend our trip was to Madrid! We left Valencia at 9:30am and arrived in Madrid at 11:30am. When we arrived in Madrid, we were all a little hungry so we headed to a restaurant to order coffee and eat the picnic our host dad had packed for us. Then it was time for our 22 hours in Madrid. We didn’t want to carry our bags around the city so we dropped them off at our hotel, HRC Hotel Madrid, where the receptionist locked our bags in the baggage check room.
Our first stop was “Catedral de la Almudena.” It was free entry but they were asking for 1 euro donations, but I only had 76 euro cents to donate. We wandered around this cathedral for a while looking at the ceiling, the windows, the artwork, and the exhibitions. It was breathtaking.
Next up was “Palacio Real de Madrid,” or the royal palace of Madrid. The line was extremely long to go in and the tickets were a little pricey so we only looked at the exterior of the palace. Even that tiny glimpse of the palace was enough to show us the grandeur of it all. After the palace, we decided to head in the direction of an ice cream shop. On our walk, we strolled through “Plaza Mayor.” It was crazy busy, so I am glad we didn’t spend too much time there. We found a cute shop after about 20 minutes and the ice cream was delicious!
Then it was time for “Parque del Retiro.” This park is huge and a definite must visit. We were able to see lots of fountains, plants, and even were able to visit the Crystal Palace. So far, in Madrid, we were able to avoid paying for tickets to any of our tourist visits. El Retiro is free for everyone and is so peaceful, especially for being in the middle of a major city.
After exploring the park for a bit, we headed towards El Prado to wait in line for a ticket. We arrived around 5:45pm to wait in line and entered the museum around 6:15pm. From 6:00pm-8:00pm on Saturdays, entry to El Prado is free for everyone, that is why the line was so long and kept getting longer! All of us were able to see our favorite artists and artwork. My personal favorite was “Las Meninas” by Velázquez. El Prado does not allow for patrons to take photos so we were unable to capture images of our favorite pieces. We looked at art for around an hour and half before calling an Uber home because everyone’s feet were hurting. The Ubers in Madrid were all under 5 euros.
Once back at the hotel, we all took a short 1 hour nap before getting ready for dinner and a night out. We enjoyed tacos on the rooftop of El Corte Ingles and took cute pictures out on the terrace. To round out our day in Madrid we explore the nightlife in the city!
Our train left at 8:45am on Sunday morning so we woke up at 7:00am to be there on time. We arrived a little early and decided to sit down for breakfast inside the station. It was expensive for cold coffee and stale bread, but I think traveling on an empty stomach would have been much worse. All of us immediately fell asleep on the train as soon as we sat down and remained asleep during the two hour train ride. Upon arriving home, we all once again fell asleep until around 4. The group decision was to make Sunday a lazy day in preparation for starting school on Monday!
09.19.22 and 09.20.22 First Days of Classes!
Today was finally my first day of classes! I started my morning off with a cup of coffee before sitting down to work on my Madrid recap. My class started at 2:30pm and I was so excited. Last semester, at Arkansas, I took the Human Physiology Lab so that I could take the lecture abroad. And I finally started the lecture today!! Prior to departing for Spain, we weren’t sure if I would get to take this class. This class was my first priority to get on my schedule since the University of Arkansas allowed me to split the lab and lecture over two semesters.
It is a super small class, only four students with one professor. The professor has a PhD in Neuroscience, so I am extremely excited to learn from her. Since it was the first class, we got out a little early and decided to head over to a cafe nearby for some ice cream. Then, I headed home to meet up with my roommate and we decided to play “Name that Song.” We chose a Y2K playlist on Apple Music and I lost by like 30 songs so that was not my era at all. To finish off our first day of class, our host dad cooked hamburgers and french fries. It was delicious and a wonderful ending to an exciting day!
On Tuesday, I started my other two classes; B2 Spanish and General Biochemistry. I was so excited for Spanish so I could get the grammar back in my brain. My favorite subject is chemistry, so I was extremely excited to start Biochemistry. As first days go, today was a good one but it did require a siesta, of course. After the siesta, we all met up at a nearby cafe for some french fries after dinner. K and I decided to explore the city at night and walked for a total of 3.5 miles just wandering around.
I am so excited for the mix of traveling and studying this semester!
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