Primer Dia

On the morning of Wednesday May 15, 2013, I began my trip to Spain.  We left for the airport and I couldn't have been more excited.  At the airport the group of 22 students from Longwood all met at the ticket area before signing in.  Jen, my roommate for the trip and sorority sister from school, and I tried to make sure we could sit with each other on each plane trip.  I ended up sitting next to Jake, my friend since kindergarten, and Jen was able to sit in front of us.  Once we arrived in Atlanta the wait began for our flight to Madrid.  During our wait we got our belongings organized and saw we had the same passport holder called "Lewis n Clarke" so of course I deemed ourselves those names.  I am Lewis and Jen is Clarke and we plan to be just as adventurous as those fellas.  While in the airport, Jen and I spotted a few cute boys who happened to be natives of Madrid.  We lucked out when we saw they were sitting in the row next to us for the next 8 hours ;)

The boys from Madrid are behind Jen next to the guy with his hand on his face hehe :)

The boys were very friendly and gave many tips and chatted with our friend Guillermo during the flight.  We finally arrived in Madrid around 8:30 Thursday Morning where we took a private bus to Valencia.  We stopped half way through the journey and sampled a tortilla de patatas which is a spin off of an omelette with potatoes.

-Around 2 o'clock we finally arrived in Valencia and got to meet our homestay families!  Our family greeted us with open arms and huge smiles; they're names are Gemma y Jamel.  They're apartment is beautiful with a great view and 4 bedrooms and a good size kitchen for the area.

Our room is in the background

While we unpacked Gemma made lunch which consisted of tortilla de patatas, una ensalada, y queso pan y chorizo.  Todo fue fantastico y we were sooo full.  Jen and I then went out and walked around the area to explore.  During our outing the heavens decided to open up and we found ourselves caught in the rain.  So what better way to escape the downpour than to take shelter in a bar? So we sat down and enjoyed a nice Armstel servesa con limon (lemon beer).
 

The beer tasted a lot like a lemon-orange fanta and was very refreshing.  The rain ceased and we headed back to unwind and relax a bit.  As Jen attempted to open our house door, she ran into some difficulties and we thought we were stuck outside until I was able to save the day and get us in :)  We then cleaned up and relaxed until dinner, while fighting ourselves to stay awake...the adrenaline from excitement had officially worn off and the jet lag fully set in.  

After enjoying some fine vino blanco con Gemma y Jamel while watching "Ridiculousness" (a favorite show of Jamel de MTV) we sat down for dinner close to 10 pm and enjoyed a meal called "Tajin."  This dish consisted of chicken, red peppers, green beans, olives, carrots, and potatoes with a large bulb of roasted garlic on top all covered in a plethora of spices and baked together in a large ceramic dish with a pyramid shaped cover.  It all tasted amazing and I'm sure to everyone's surprise...I actually tried everything and liked it!..all except the olives.





After dinner we settled down and tried to read a little before bed...we lasted about 10 minutes before calling it a night and finally getting a good rest!