Monday, January 23, 2012

Xátiva & fun with my intercambio

On Saturday my school hosted a trip to Xátiva, a pueblito (little Spanish town) that has an ancient castle in the middle.  The climb to the top of the mountain was more than I expected, but definitely qualified for my exercise of the day.  It was a bit awkward at first being among more than 60 other students, only one of whom I knew (and not well at that), but as the day went on I mingled with numerous groups of people and began to make friends (awwww, I know- adorbs)
It is pretty weird not knowing anyone & having to start at square one all over again, but there seem to be some pretty cool people here, so I hope things will work out in the friendship realm.
Being in this situation definitely makes me miss my good friends from last semester, I had soooo much fun with all of them & frequently catch myself looking at old fotos and reminiscing the great times & trips I took with them.

Pics from Xátiva:



definitely worth the climb




 Another fun fact about my trip to Xátiva: I accidentally missed this excursion the first time around (last semester) so I'm really happy I was finally able to make it.  ((I was studying & doing projects all day with my friend Jackie, I think it was a week or two before midterms))

Arrived back to Valencia around 5pm, just in time to pick a spanish book off the shelf in my room (which I look forward to slowly making my way through, book by book) and to doze off for a quick siesta.
Later that night I went to my intercambio Carlota's apartment for her birthday dinner celebración which turned out to be a lot of fun.  9 of her closest girlfriends were also there, and since this was my 2nd or 3rd time seeing all of them it was a relief to see familiar faces who already knew who I was.  I finally relaxed enough to get into the conversations and joke the night away while we munched on tapas, an ensalada, and an oreo pie.  (can you guess which was my favorite part??).
We later went to a local bar called Bueno Bueno and met up with my Americano friends from the program.  All in all it was a very fun night, and I didn't end up spending a penny (or euro céntimo), success


mañana is the first soccer game of the semester, I'm really excited to finally play again!
Later this week I'm going to start tutoring a younger spanish student in English, I'll keep you updated.
Aaaand to finish off this entry- my madre just informed me that there are 2 clubs on our street that offer salsa and bachata lessons on Wednesdays and Fridays, hellooooo perfect location!  
(on the educational side- I have already finished my homework for the next 2 days and am attempting to review my notes after class every day to stay up to par)

& I had a great run on the beach this evening, going to try to do that more often and take advantage of being so close to it.

xo


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