Cullera y Mas...

Well the last couple of days have been interesting trying to get adjusted & finding my way around the city. I think it will take some time - I feel like such a tourist always walking around with a map. People look at us kinda funny, but it's easy to get turned around here - I so need my map.
Yesterday my school sponsored an excursion to Cullera, Spain. It's a city to the south of Valencia and is right on the beach. It was pretty gorgeous there - definitely too cold to go swimming or hang out on the beach, but it was fun to walk around. We got to climb up part of this mountain to see the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Castillo. It was so pretty inside - all the artwork! It was so cool to see the beach & the mountains all in one landscape.

On the way home, the bus dropped us off quite a ways from home, so we had to figure out where we were and walk. Amanda and I were walking down this street and heard these loud noises & saw smoke. I thought it was a gun shot & was expecting someone to drop dead on the ground. We were both so scared we like stopped in our tracks and stared at each other. This woman walked by and starting laughing at us. Turns out someone was lighting fireworks off in the middle of the street. Needless to say, I felt ridiculous, but we took a different street just in case. haha.

Later that evening, we were on our way to this place that the school was holding an evening function, but we didn't know where it was. We found it on the map & my host sister suggested taking the bus there, so she gave us the area it ran in & the number. Now, I've ridden the bus once since I've been here (I find it's cheaper to walk :o)). So I don't know the numbers or where they run or what buses come back towards home. Nonetheless we took her advice and got on this bus, the problem was we didn't know where to get off. So we were standing there discussing it & the bus driver turns around and asks where we were trying to go. It must have been pretty obvious we didn't know the city! So Amanda tells him the street, but he didn't know where that was - so he pulled the bus over and asks everyone on the bus if they know where Carrer de Corona is. This one young college student explains it & then the bus driver tells us he can't take us that far. He offers to tell us where we need to get off & then the spanish college student offers to walk us to the place. We finally found it! I thought it was so nice of that guy to help us out; people in spain can be so hospitable!

Today is our free day, so I think we are going to tour some museums because they are free on Sundays. That should be exciting! I also found a church right across the street from my apartment, so I'm going to go to mass later tonight. It'll definitely be interesting to hear it in a different language. I've never gone to mass where they spoke anything but English.

Adios. Kristin