La historia de Sagunto.

Sooooo the school took us into town this week to learn about the ancient buildings.  It so happens that i still don't know enough spanish to be able to truly comprehend what exactly the buildings are and what they were/are used for.  I know that we visited the church and the theater, but i'm not sure what kind of church it was.  The theater was really cool and it was awesome to be able to stand on the stage and hear how good the acoustics were.  The architecture and color is amazing in Spain.  I love just getting lost walking and seeing what i'll run into.  Also, the first week of school is done and so far it's not much of a challenge.  However, i need to challenge myself and talk more with the locals....that's the only way i'm going to learn how to speak spanish.  Anyways, i'm going to London next weekend and i pretty much can't sit still i'm so excited.

Also, i sorry if me english starts to get bad, but i in spanish mode and i guess me head can't comprehend two languages at a time. =)  it's terrible.  since i listen to spanish all the time and attempt to speak it all the time, i find myself writing emails that say stuff like...."the camera of Chelsea," instead of "Chelsea's camera."  i guess that means i'm starting to think in spanish? let's hope so.  happy sabbath!!!

Healthy Hiking.

So...there isn't a whole lot to do on campus, so i have been exploring campus for something to do with my time.  So far, my classes are very challenging, so i have lots of time with not a whole lot to do.  I haven't explored town a whole lot yet, because it's been raining, but the sun finally showed a little today.  So, i'm excited to hit the hot spots in sagunto and valencia soon!!!!  I attached some pictures of the hiking that i've been doing a few times a week, just to say healthy.  Karolina and I were pretty pumped once we got to the top.  I was and still am amazed with how late the sun comes up here.  I have been going on that hike around 7:30 a.m. and the sun is just starting to come up when i return around 8:15 a.m....craziness.

The Weekend.

The weekend is over and now classes are on.  Church was difficult to attend, because unless you plan on listening, thinking, and translating every word, it is very hard to comprehend.  Nonetheless, it was nice to sing praise songs and meet other people.  I had the best hot chocolate EVER on sabbath though.  I think that we were only supposed to have one, but i had 3...don't tell.  I met some really cool people this weekend including this girl Carol, who i think i will become great friends with.  On sunday, we roamed around campus and found these HUGE leaves, which were fun and perfect for fanning ourselves off in the humidty.  However, it was crazy, because in the morning it was beautiful, humid, but beautiful weather and then all of a sudden we saw super bright lightning followed by immediate thunder.  This thunder was the loudest thunder i have ever heard.  It was crazy...i'm pretty sure that we were in the center of the storm.  Following the scary thunder came ping pong sized droplets of rain.  It was like in movies with bad effects where it's a super nice day and then all of a sudden it's starts to pour and if looks super fake and you almost start laughing because it's so unrealistic.  Well folks, it happens for reals, in real life.  I was pretty happy to have experienced that for the first time in my life.  Today was the first real day of classes and i'm excited because i LOVE all of my teachers and i think that having homework will be great for using up some of my free time. 

Trips to Carrefour and the beach.

hola amigos.  today was the first day of classes and my history class was impossible to understand, so i dropped out of it asap and joined pe and guitar lessons.  i'm pretty excited about both of those.  classes weren't too bad, it is going to take a little bit to get back into the swing of school and speaking spanish, but things are looking up.  great news from today.  most of you probably know that i feel in love with this class called buns, abs, and thighs (BATS) this summer and it so happens that the director of the sports here is looking for someone to teach and start an aerobics class.  i talked with him briefly tonight and it looks like i will be teaching an aerobics class here in spain.  I AM SOOOOO EXCITED, so hopefully it all works out.  however, i am going to need to learn all the workout phrased in spanish like, "squeeze those butts, get lower, jumping jacks, and you can do it."  also today, we all went into town to the main market called carrefour, which is similar to wal-mart to get supplies for our rooms or anything that we needed.  i was really hyper when i got there and learned that the little shopping carts are called carritas here....sooo cool!!!!  i was running through the aisles being the typical weirdo that i am.  also, i have been telling you about how starving i have been so today i got the bestest thing ever....nutella snack and drink...it's changing my life.  maybe this year i won't lose 20 lbs, i'll gain them....haha.  anywho, today we also stopped by the beach which was sooo pretty, but the weather was windy so we only stayed for like 10 minutes there.  Tonight, we had vespers and an afterglow with the young people which was the perfect way to start off my first sabbath here.  i'm growing to love this place more and more everyday.  buenas noches.

Our walk into Sagunto.

Every day is better than next.  Today was student orientation and i met tons of people.  We took our placement test and i got placed in the advanced spanish.  I don't exactly think that i am qualified to be in that level, so i may change to the intermediate once classes begin.  After registration and all, some of us girls took an adventuresome walk into Sagunto, the nearest town.  It was quite the experience.  First, spanish people drive like maniacs...tailgating, driving in the middle of the road, and yelling who knows what.  The school is surrounded by orange groves, so we had to walk down the orange grove road, through the tunnels, across the small little river and finally into town.  Once we got into town, we met these cute old men playing bocce ball.  They asked us to play, but unfortunately we didn't have much time, so we had to decline the invitation.  I was sad because i LOVE my bocce time!!!  I'm not sure if i've said it enough, but the food here is terrible so when we were in town we got some food at la bocasteria....it was delicious.  It was like heaven to my poor stomach.

Arrived and Famished.

I'm finally here.  After so much excitement and anticipation I have finally arrived in Sagunto, Spain.  I have attached a picture of the view from the balcony of my dorm room.  It very pretty here, yet a lot different than what my mind thought it looked like.  Today was pretty overwhelming with the lack of sleep, things to do, and the language barrier, however I'm not judging the school quite yet.  I think that things will get a lot better once i start meeting more people and finding a routine of what there is to do here.  However, I have already judged the food...it's terrible terrible terrible.  Today all i ate was a salad with lemon juice and a peach...i'm famished.