Jamie Clift, The Rotunda's longtime features editor, is studying abroad in Valencia, Spain at the Institute of Spanish Studies during the spring 2012 semester. Having stepped down from her position as features editor for the time being, Jamie Clift has charitably taken it upon herself to assume the role as The Rotunda's official Foreign Correspondent. In doing so, she will document her traveling experiences as an exchange student in each issue of The Rotunda.)
I was anxious about many things as I boarded an enormous plane in Miami. I was leaving the country for the first time and getting on a plane for the second; my first plane trip had been only a few hours prior from Dulles. It was a little scary to realize that I had set foot on American soil for the last time in four months.
I thought I would be afraid of flying, but I wasn't. As we left Dulles, the plane flew directly over my hometown. I could see the entire county from the air, from the County Courthouse to the Harry Nice Bridge, which I felt gave me a proper chance to tell it goodbye. After that, I thought flying was much more interesting than scary, and I stared out the window the entire time, except for when I spoke to my accompanying friend Ashton or the very talkative Polish woman next to me.
I was also really nervous about going to a place where English isn't the main language. Mi Español no es bueno. But I found that this also doesn't really bother me. Everyone I have met is very friendly and willing to repeat themselves or speak slowly for me. Our host mom, Esparanza, is especially nice — and I believe she's one of the best cooks in Spain. She only speaks Spanish, but after only two days, I understand almost everything she says.
My biggest fear was living in a big city. Valencia has a population of over 800,000, making it the largest city I've ever seen, much less lived in. I thought I would be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people. This too proved to not actually be a problem for me. The streets aren't any more crowded than those in Baltimore, and Valencia seems much less sketchy. In Baltimore at night, I feared for my life. Shopping in Valencia last night was delightful and not a bit scary. I still kept my guard up, but the well-lit streets and crowds of other shoppers made me feel pretty safe.
There are a lot of small differences between the U.S. and Spain that you wouldn't think of. For instance, where we use commas, they use decimal points and vice versa. Euros look a little bit like monopoly money, and the smallest bill is worth five Euros. Anything smaller is a coin. For some reason, both of these things confused me at first.
Another difference between the U.S. and Spain is the way people eat. Here, breakfast is very light, lunch is like dinner with a very large meal that isn't eaten until 2 p.m. and dinner is smaller and not eaten until after 8 p.m. The food is definitely worth getting used to the different schedule. The tortillas that Esparanza makes put every other tortilla I have ever seen to shame; they are more like potato omelets, really. But with all of the starch in the Spanish diet, it's a good thing I'll be walking all over the city every day.
To me, the most striking difference is while Virginia is proud of its Civil War battlefields and colonial sites like Jamestown, Spain likes to show off its Roman ruins bridges crossed by El Cid. Consequently, I had a lot of history major geek-out sessions yesterday as we took a bus tour of the city.
Upon arriving, Ashton and I were impressed with the plant life. Blocks of plant life dot the city map. Palm trees, birch trees and several types of pine trees are very common, and there are lots of little purple flowers growing on the fences. Every apartment building has window boxes and potted plants everywhere, which give a whimsical look to otherwise drab edifices. Most interestingly, there are orange trees full of ripe oranges on every street in Valencia. They look amazing, but I'm assuming that it's probably best not to eat the street oranges.
There are certainly a lot of things that I'll miss about Longwood this semester, and I'll really miss not being able to go home once a month. But I know these four months are going to be incredibly exciting. I have no idea what else Valencia has in store for Ashton and me, but I'm very excited to find out. This week, I'll be meeting a lot of new people, starting my classes and much more. As I learn about everything from Napoleon to Siestas and become more fluent in Spanish, things will only get more exciting and interesting. My grand adventure has just begun.
