El primer día

Today was the first day at the Centro de Estudios (Study Center).  I took the bus over, which was a bit of an adventure.  I had to buy a bonobuses, which is card that I can load rides onto so I can take the bus.  The ride was relatively quick and painless, although my madre came with me so we shall see how quick and painless it is tomorrow.  Once at the center, we had an orientation to see how things work there as well as an academic orientation.  I got my picture taken for an ID card (good thing my hair looked under control today) and had to sign a contract saying that I will only speak Spanish in the Centro.  If I do speak in English, I'll get sent home, and I don't want that to happen.  When signing this contract, we were split into groups based on where we live.  It was nice to find out who our neighbors are, but we didn't really have time to talk.  I do know one girl who lives close by, though.  Her name's Maggie.  She lives two blocks away from me and her host mom is the sister-in-law of my host mom.   We also got a lot of information, like a map (super helpful!) and a map of the buses (also super helpful!).

After orientation, I went with Maggie  on a mini adventure.  We walked around for a little bit and got phones from Yoigo, one of the 4 phone companies here.  We had a bit of a debate as to whether or not we should get them, but in the end decided to so that we have a way to communicate should it become necessary.  It's better to be safe than sorry, and I don't want to end up lost in the middle of Valencia or some other city without a way to call for help.  Going to get the phone, Maggie and I expected to have to talk in Spanish to the seller (and we did) but we had a bit of a safety net because he could speak English if we needed it.  Also, there were a lot of other students buying phones in front of us, so by the time it was our turns we knew exactly what we needed.

Some of the abanicas (fans) that I saw

More abanicas

After getting phones, we took the bus back to our casas.  This wasn't as easy as I just made it sound... we couldn't find the bus our madres told us to take (numero 80) and were wandering around all the stops trying to figure out where we were and which buses could take, but we made it!  While home, we ate la comida (lunch) and droped off our bags, then it was back into the city.  We walked from the apartments to the Mercado Central and all around the area .  First we stopped in the Parque de la Cultura.  There was a museum/shop there that had the prettiest fans, as well as different ceramics and even some instruments.  The fans are a classic Valencian art form, both the making of them and using them.  These were painted with all sorts of pictures, some of women in big skirts standing in parks, others of flowers, and one that looked like a butterfly's wing.  Outside of this museum was a garden with a lot of flowers and a really pretty building. We never figured out what the building was called, but I guess I have a month to do that.

El Mercado Central

From there we continued on to the Mercado Central.  It was closed, as were a lot of other places since it was 6pm, but it was still gorgeous and there were a lot of people out.  Along the streets around the Mercado, there were a lot of little stores selling absolutely everything.  I'll have to go back to get souvenirs, but for now I was just window shopping.  Take a look at the pictures to see what we saw.  After wandering for awhile we went back home for dinner.  My feet hurt from all the walking, but it was a lot of fun!  And it was a great way to get my first taste of Valencia.  For dinner I had a salad with ham, tuna, green beans, tomatoes, and potatoes.  And I think my stomach is finally getting the hang of this new schedule (lunch at 2 or 3, dinner at 10).  Que bueno!  Hasta luego!