Bienvenidos a Valencia!

I finally made it to Valencia! And I had a GREAT last couple of weeks in Texas. I met a bunch of international students studying at UT for the semester (including the two architecture students who are from my school in Valencia!), and I got to spend some time with my family and Josh at the beach in Galveston :)

Goodbyes are always hard, but my last two weeks in Texas involved a LOT of goodbyes. First, I moved out of my apartment in Austin, which was sad because I had a lot really good time living there this past year. Saying bye to my friends and family was also tough... And I had to say goodbye to our house of the past 21 years, because when I come back to Texas in January, my parents will be living in their new place in Austin!

But soon after all of those goodbyes came lots of "hellos"! It's been a bit surreal that I'm finally in SPAIN to live here for the next 4 and a half months. Spain has 17 communidades (like the US states) and this flag is for la Comunidad Valenciana, the community in which the city of Valencia is located. I really like the flag! :)

 These are two of my new roomies, Aldo and María. They have both been so great, but unfortunately María is moving to Copenhagen in a week. She has shown me all around town and helped me so much with my Spanish. I'm seeing a trip to Copenhagen in my near future... Aldo will stay in Valencia, and I have two new roomies coming soon from the Czech Republic.

 It doesn't get much better than a view of the beach and the mountains. We walked down a pier near the port of Valencia and got to see these great views of the ocean.

The hardest part of being in a new country has definitely been the language barrier. I've been pretty surprised by the fact that I can carry on a decent conversation in Spanish (even if my grammar is TERRIBLE), but when I'm in a group, it's a whole different story... The other day we went to this beautiful swimming hole and had a picnic by the water, but while we were sitting around the table, I didn't say anything. Not because I'm shy (definitely not the problem...), but because by the time I was able to figure out what everyone was talking about in Spanish and thought of a response, they had moved onto a new topic. For over an hour, I didn't say a single word. I felt SO antisocial, because that is not me at all...

I was feeling pretty stressed and overwhelmed after spending almost an entire day in confusion, so I decided to go for a run that afternoon. There used to be a long river that flowed through Valencia called Turia, but it was diverted, and the old riverbed has now been converted into a park that goes all through the city. The park is extremely wide (this picture doesn't show it very well) and is absolutely beautiful. What surprised me most was that each part of the river/park was so thoughtfully considered, because around each turn there was some beautifully designed feature: a small sidewalk cafe, a reflecting pool, several playgrounds, a skate park, places to rent bikes, sculptures, art... and it reminded me that truly wonderful design does have an impact on us, whether we realize it or not. Simply being in the park made me feel so much less stressed about my day.

I have one last story, and then I promise I'll stop writing. (See, a lack of things to say is really not my problem... just a lack of things to say in SPANISH.)

So grocery shopping in a foreign country is more difficult than I anticipated. My roommates and I decided to make fajitas because I thought I'd bought chicken... but apparently it was turkey. I am a horrible Texan for making turkey fajitas. At least we had a healthy dinner? Also, I have no clue what kind of cheese I bought... but whatever it was, it wasn't too bad in the fajitas. 

And with that... here are some more pictures around Valencia. Bona nit for now... (Goodnight in Valenciano) :)