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G&G picked me and Maggie up around noon and off we went.
Poor Maggie had a cold the entire time we were travelling. It got better as we went along, but she was definitely not at her best.
Grandmother and Grandfather were great to travel with. They brought along the book on tape "The Last Juror" by John Grisham, which we started along our first stretch of highway and finished in the airport parking lot before we went in to eat lunch and part ways.
We stayed in a hotel where we had internet access, so I got to talk to a few people before leaving.
I met a lot of people from the program as we waited for the plane. Overall, most people are from MSU, UVA, and Miami Ohio, but there are also some from other schools around the US.
On the plane we were served dinner (the vegetables were good, the meat was passable, not bad for airplane food) and breakfast. There was not a lot of opportunity for me to sleep because the light above my head WOULD NOT turn off. That was lovely. When we got to Madrid we went through customs which took a surprisingly short amount of time and retrieved our luggage which took a surprisingly long amount of time (3 hours?!) and then got on the bus to head out of Madrid into Valencia. (Side note: the airport at Madrid is really nice! it had a lot of glass walls and escalators and was well lit.)
EVERYONE slept on the bus on the way to Valencia. I fell asleep 5 minutes after we got on the bus and when I woke up 30 minutes later the bus was dead quiet. We stopped for lunch after about two hours and I had a potato bocadilla, which is basically a potato patty (made with onions and spices and such) on a baguette. A lot of people had bocadillos with chorizo. Back on the bus we watched Love Acutally until we arrived at el Estadio de futbol in Valencia where our madres and familias were esperandonos (expecting us) with signs with our names on them. Alicia and I found our madre Lucia and we took a taxi back to her apartment. The first taxi we flagged took one look at our luggage and drove off, the next one loaded it, but was obviously not happy about the large amount.
Lucia led us up to the eighth floor of the building , and when we walked in my first thought was that it looked like it was right out of a movie, or those pictures in our textbooks. Lucia's apartment has 4 bedrooms, one for her, one for guests, one for me and Alicia, and one for her daughter (who is in her 20s but comes home to visit). At the front of the apartment, there is a patio (Since we're on the top floor, it's much larger than the rest in the building) that looks like something out of the Secret Garden. If you look across you can see the Centro Nuevo, which is their big mall, directly to the left is a soccer and track field, and directly to the right is an enourmous parque/jardin. It's a beautiful view, and I'll post pictures asap.
The cocina (kitchen) is pretty typical, it's small and long with a bar and two stools at the end where Alicia and I sit when Lucia doesn't eat with us. The back room, the sala, has a large window, and we all eat lunch together in the sun directly below it. the televisor is by the table and Lucia watches telenovelas (the closer, except in spanish!) noticias (news) and a gameshow called pasapalabra.
Alicia and I unpacked our clothes into the armoir and put our things in the bathroom (we share, Lucia has her own) and went to bed after a quick shower. We were obviously exhausted from the trip.
Coming soon: El Primer Dia en Valencia, ¡Nos Perdimos!
Poor Maggie had a cold the entire time we were travelling. It got better as we went along, but she was definitely not at her best.
Grandmother and Grandfather were great to travel with. They brought along the book on tape "The Last Juror" by John Grisham, which we started along our first stretch of highway and finished in the airport parking lot before we went in to eat lunch and part ways.
We stayed in a hotel where we had internet access, so I got to talk to a few people before leaving.
I met a lot of people from the program as we waited for the plane. Overall, most people are from MSU, UVA, and Miami Ohio, but there are also some from other schools around the US.
On the plane we were served dinner (the vegetables were good, the meat was passable, not bad for airplane food) and breakfast. There was not a lot of opportunity for me to sleep because the light above my head WOULD NOT turn off. That was lovely. When we got to Madrid we went through customs which took a surprisingly short amount of time and retrieved our luggage which took a surprisingly long amount of time (3 hours?!) and then got on the bus to head out of Madrid into Valencia. (Side note: the airport at Madrid is really nice! it had a lot of glass walls and escalators and was well lit.)
EVERYONE slept on the bus on the way to Valencia. I fell asleep 5 minutes after we got on the bus and when I woke up 30 minutes later the bus was dead quiet. We stopped for lunch after about two hours and I had a potato bocadilla, which is basically a potato patty (made with onions and spices and such) on a baguette. A lot of people had bocadillos with chorizo. Back on the bus we watched Love Acutally until we arrived at el Estadio de futbol in Valencia where our madres and familias were esperandonos (expecting us) with signs with our names on them. Alicia and I found our madre Lucia and we took a taxi back to her apartment. The first taxi we flagged took one look at our luggage and drove off, the next one loaded it, but was obviously not happy about the large amount.
Lucia led us up to the eighth floor of the building , and when we walked in my first thought was that it looked like it was right out of a movie, or those pictures in our textbooks. Lucia's apartment has 4 bedrooms, one for her, one for guests, one for me and Alicia, and one for her daughter (who is in her 20s but comes home to visit). At the front of the apartment, there is a patio (Since we're on the top floor, it's much larger than the rest in the building) that looks like something out of the Secret Garden. If you look across you can see the Centro Nuevo, which is their big mall, directly to the left is a soccer and track field, and directly to the right is an enourmous parque/jardin. It's a beautiful view, and I'll post pictures asap.
The cocina (kitchen) is pretty typical, it's small and long with a bar and two stools at the end where Alicia and I sit when Lucia doesn't eat with us. The back room, the sala, has a large window, and we all eat lunch together in the sun directly below it. the televisor is by the table and Lucia watches telenovelas (the closer, except in spanish!) noticias (news) and a gameshow called pasapalabra.
Alicia and I unpacked our clothes into the armoir and put our things in the bathroom (we share, Lucia has her own) and went to bed after a quick shower. We were obviously exhausted from the trip.
Coming soon: El Primer Dia en Valencia, ¡Nos Perdimos!
