First day of class!

Last night I had my first dinner made by my senora. It was muy deliciosa! She made Jenna (my roommate) and me pumpkin soup that way so so so amazing. Then we had tortillas espanolas which have eggs and potatoes. It was also really good. Today we also had a placement exam and got to meet our teachers. I'm in advanced so all of my classes will be taught in spanish. Ahhhh! I'm taking:
-The avant guard in Literature, Painting and Film
-Spanish Cinema
-Spanish Culture: History, Art and Tradition
-Spanish Grammar.
My class schedule is way different from the United States. In Spain, there's classes and office hours for all businesses in the morning. Then, everyone has lunch at about 2:30 and everything closes from about 2 to 4:30. Then everything reopens. So I have one class that's at 6:00pm! I had my first class today and it was really interesting. I was actually able to pick up on most of what the professor was saying. I had Spanish Culture. One thing he talked about what was the difference in meal schedules. This goes back to the luch schedule. Even crazier to me is that dinner in mi casa is served at 9:30pm. I'm starving by then! Lunch is the biggest meal but there's a huge gap between it and dinner. During the gap, many people head to bars with friends where they enjoy "tapas" with a drink. Tapas are a variety of snack foods that are cooked and are really good. However, when one doesn't consume tapas, one becomes starved between lunch and dinner. Hopefully my stomach can adjust to the spanish food culture. Having a big lunch is supposed to be better than having a big dinner after all.
My spanish is continuing to improve and I'm using it more because I have to with my host mother...and to listen in class. Also today, me and a few other girls from the ISA program decided to explore a little bit. We went through the parque which goes through almost all of the city and used to be a river. Many parts are beautiful but a lot are under construction and kind of messy. Jenna and I are planning on going running there. There was also this huge playground modeled after Gulliver's Travels where you get to climb like a Lilliputian all over this gigantic person with crazy slides and stairs. It didn't really look all that safe for actual children, so I may have played around on it. We also walked down to the ultra modern science building and aquarium. The buildings are gorgeous and so different and interesting. The weather here is fantastic. It's been in the mid 50s which is winter here so everyone is bundled up. It's incredibly warm for me for january though, especially when you're walking everywhere...which is what we do. Thus far I have a lot more to see and learn about Valencia but so far I love it. The new buildings are beautiful and modern while the old ones are beautiful in a completely different way. There is a much greater contrast in the new world vs. old world than in Madrid. It's warm and when it gets warmer I'll be going to the beach that's nearby! The city itself is much bigger than I'm used to but it's a nice change from Barre and Oneonta. There's also a huge soccer stadium right near my school! it's for the Valencian team and I'm sure that I will go see a game. Until next time, hasta luego.