Hola Todos!
What a busy first day it's been here in Valencia! Today we had orientation in the morning where we finally got a little more information about our time here. The orientation was just for me and the two other JMU girls here with me from Salamanca. There are other people interning in Valencia through this company, but I got the sense there is no definitive start or end date that everyone follows for the program, so the rest of them must have arrived within the past few days, or even weeks. I will be working mornings Monday through Friday during the week, taking Spanish classes from 6-8 Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings, and attending "intercambio" language exchanges from 8:30-11:30 Tuesday and Thursday nights. I don't think its required to stay for the entire three hours of intercambio (which is basically just a chance to practice speaking to people in Spanish in a more relaxed environment), but even if it just ends up being 8:30-9:30, Tuesdays and Thursdays are going to be long! After the general orientation we took a relatively easy Spanish placement exam to give the teacher of our Spanish class an idea of where we're at. The company that runs the program I am participating in here in Valencia is a small company called Euroace. They are the ones who placed me in my internship, found me my housing, and run the Spanish classes and intercambio sessions. As far as I can tell, there are only three or four people working there, all of whom are fairly young and really nice! After the orientation and placement exam finished, they gave us a very helpful tour of the city and then took us out to lunch for tapas and sangria.
We finished lunch around two and had a short break back at the apartment. Work doesn't actually start until tomorrow morning, but we were supposed to meet our employers today to get an idea of what to expect, exactly what our work hours are going to be, etc.. Unfortunately, my boss had to cancel, so instead I went for coffee with one of the girls from Euroace, and she explained as much as she could to me. She also showed me how to get to my office. Lucky for me, my office happens to be an easy five minute walk from my apartment! The other two girls with me were not quite as lucky, and they have to take a bus or metro to work every day.
As I said, we have a Spanish lesson from 6-8 on Mondays, and today was no exception. Predictably, I got slightly lost on the way there. As a result I had to speed walk to make it to the class on time, and thanks to the unbearably hot weather, I showed up sweaty and gross. With my luck and impeccable sense of direction I would have expected nothing less for the very first day. Anyways, I was a little worried that a two hour Spanish class would be boring, but I actually really enjoyed the class format. There are only six of us in the class, and it seems to be centered around practicing talking. The teacher was very relaxed, yet extremely helpful. While I feel like my listening comprehension improved a lot in Salamanca, I didn't feel like my speaking skills improved too much. However, if every day in Valencia goes like today, both in and out of class, I have a feeling I'll improve my speaking a good deal while I'm here. At least, I hope I will!
After class KC, who is the other JMU girl in my apartment, and I needed to get food for dinner. We were too late getting to the grocery store, so we went out to a restaurant, where I got my first salad in six weeks (I'm not counting the tiny serving if lettuce and tomato I had with most meals in Salamanca...).
All in all it was a good first full day in the city, though I have no photos to show for it, and I still haven't made it down to the beach! Wish me luck on my first day of work tomorrow!
Hasta Luego!
Aubrey
