As I sit on the plane from Atlanta to Houston I find myself indifferent. I loved Valencia. Meeting the kids, traveling around and seeing all of the history that comes with the European town! The ASV was incredible, with all of the children who had so much love, and were so able to play with such a childlike demeanor. Although, they are children they play in a way that is different than American children. They play with such innocence and purity. The children also were very eager to learn. Something you don't find much of in the United States. The kids wanted to learn more about multiplication and practically begged for more practice.

    Madrid was beautiful and a big city! It was a nice change of pace. I wish we could have stayed longer to get to know the city more but it was amazing none the less! I could have spent hours in the Prado roaming around and learning the history of the paintings. Much like the children at ASV, I found myself eager to learn everything I could at the Prado, Reina Sofia, and Thyseen. I have found myself looking at everything in different ways after helping at the ASV.
    This trip has been an awesome experience and I am hoping to come back to student teach. I am so grateful for this opportunity. It has taught me so much more than I need to learn more Spanish, and that "donde seta el banio" are very important. It has shown me how I can organize my classroom, and how a relaxed versus strict classroom is run. As this trip is closing I have found that this experience has been invaluable, it has taught me more than I could ever imagine. 

I love it here! The history that is behind everything in this town is incredible. I love it. I could go to museums and cathedrals for forever. Marella has to be one of my favorite places here. It was so calm and so beautiful. It is the typical small Spanish town. Everything closes on Monday, just about everything is closed for siesta. It is just beautiful. As a group of us sat at a cafe on a Monday afternoon, I people watched. I saw the little old ladies walking to their house for their siesta and the children walking with their mom coming home from school for lunch and a nap. It baffles me that these people take a break from around one in the afternoon to about four. The entire afternoon they spend together, eating, taking a siesta, and talking. The children then go back to school, just like the parents head back to work. Can we learn something from these people? They are not always going, they are not concerned about how much they will loose because they are taking a siesta, they are happy. I think that the US could learn a thing or two from these well rested, relaxed people. 

  

Busy, busy, busy!

Oh my gosh we have been so busy. So we went on a sunset cruise on the catamaran the night before last. The catamaran came with many different characters. The french men brought many interesting conversations about the American culture, including our way of dancing. The conversations we had. Aside from the fact that I got a chance to use my un peu knowledge of the French language, the culture they brought was interesting. I learned about France and the French culture for around three years and I finally got to experience it. I found that the French men and women were much more reserved than us, the loud Americans. Although they did not shy away from asking us to meet them at the beach the next day, they sure did shy away from the music and dancing.  Then we went to the zoo! It was so cool. It was like you were in their habitat, you weren't staring at them through glass very often. The zoo, or biopark as they like to call it is all about giving animals who are trapped into cages their entire life, or are going to be put to sleep a new home! So the zoo takes them in and takes care of them. They had lots of cool animals! I loved it. It was nothing like the zoo's in the states where you are behind glass and they are stuck in a cage! Another interesting experience was Flamenco dancing.  Last nights flamenco dancing was very interesting. It truly was an immersion of different culture.  It was awesome. The man tapped so fast he looked like he was skating across the floor! It was really interesting. This morning we woke up and rode bikes around the city and ended up at the arts and sciences center! It was sooooo much fun. There was a machine that took pictures of you and made it a shadow! We also watched chicks being hatched, and played with wheels, pulleys, spinning tables, stuff like that! Valencia is such am awesome town. I can not imagine having the ability to take your classroom on a trip to such an incredible place. It is fantastic. I love all of the history and the importance of things. Valencia is incredible. 

The first Big outing!

We arrived in Spain several days ago. The history of the town, Valencia, is amazing. It has incredible architecture. The architecture is unlike anything I have ever seen before. Yesterday we had a "scavenger" hunt that got us acquainted with Valencia! It was very interesting to roam around Valencia and see what you can find. Along with the beautiful art we found interesting people. The culture here is very different than any other I have encountered in my short life.

 

Campus was very interesting and nothing like any campus I have seen in the states. It has lots of art, and lots of people. The art was in the most unexacting places. In the architecture of the buildings, in the art on the walls, even in the way the buildings are arranged. 

Today we toured the city center. It was increible. As we walked around we got a chance to taste gillato and go to the flea market. As we roamed around we got to tour the Cathedral of Valencia and in it we saw the Holy Grail. It was very interesting. As I sat in the cathedral of Valencia I started to think of all of the people that must have been in there, praying, worshiping, or touring it, just like we did. It was an overwhelming feeling of feeling as small as a mouse, or part of a puzzle with one hundred pieces. Visiting there, I am now a part of it. I have prayed there, I am one of the thousands that have seen its beauty and praised the Lord there. I am one of many.