¡Purdue Promise Viaja a España!

On our last day in Valencia, my roommate and I started the morning off saying goodbye to the two Italian teenagers who had been staying in the house with us. After this, we went out for one last cup of coffee at the cafe by the university and then bought some snacks for the rest of our journey. Once we got back home, our homestay family sat down for one last lunch with us. We talked about how nice it was to have gotten to meet and get to know one another. Isabel and I also promised to return one day to Spain and pay the family a visit. After the meal, our homestay mom and dad helped us carry our luggage to the car and took us to the fútbol stadium for our bus to Madrid. At the stadium, everyone got to say goodbye one last time to their homestay family and stretch their legs before a long drive. Kylie and Jess's family even brought their dog for the goodbye. While everyone was sad to say goodbye, most were equally relieved to be able to speak more English. With all t

¡DÍA LIBRE! In preparation of returning to Madrid tomorrow and then back to the United States on Sunday, we were awarded a full free day to do whatever we pleased. Troy, Sammy, Michaela, and I met up with David and Kirt around 11:15 to travel to the Old Quarter of Valencia to explore. We decided to tour the Roman Ruins Museum, which only cost us one Euro each with our Student ID. This museum is designed for you to be able to experience what basic roads, artifacts, and ceramics from the Roman Era were like. After we exited the museum, Kirt and David had to part ways for lunch while we continued to the Mercat Central. This is a market where hundreds of various food traders can sell their products, which range from fruit to freshly caught fish. Fun fact: this is one of the oldest markets of its kind dating back to 1839! Once we made a full round of the market, we decided to head to a café called Santutxu for lunch. We ordered a variety of tapas, Sammy had a calamari sandwich, Tr

¡Hola de España! We are nearing the end of our amazing trip and had our last class and guest lecture today. Professor Augustín Reyes-Torres lectured us on culture and higher education in Spain. He ended and started with the quote, "El que lee mucho y anda mucho, ve mucho y sabe mucho" by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra which translates to the one who reads much and walks much, sees much and knows much. This quote showed that applying your knowledge is just as important as constructing it. Some things that stood out to me was that less than 5% of college students are employed during school and that a person cannot be in an undecided major in Spain, it does not exist. He also talked about the admission process for Spanish Universities. Admission is based on the nota de corte which is basically a cutoff on a 1-10 scale. The nota de corte is made up of the average on exams from the last two years of high school and their grade from the university selection exam. After class, w

As I was sitting at the kitchen table sweating while I calmly ate breakfast this morning, I knew that our hike through the Albufera National Park was sure to be a toasty one. Fear not, we were most definitely not let down in this assumption as our high intakes of water throughout the day clearly indicated. After taking two different busses out of the city, we arrived in a small town on the edge of the park where we met our tour guide, Jaime. From the town, we began a short walk through the forest to reach the beach where we continued our walk to our ultimate destination, which was a small boat. After boarding, and receiving exceptionally fashionable hats to help block the sun, we set off on a short and relaxing journey past rice fields to reach the largest lake in Spain. Along the way, many photos were taken as everyone enjoyed the view, the breeze, and the ease of being out on the water. I’ll be the first to admit that there was an extensive photo shoot carried out on the fron

My morning started with a special guest lecture from a professor at Florida State's satellite campus in Valencia. It was incredible. We learned about Spain’s economy and its social and political perspective. Two interesting facts I learned was that Spain has the largest unemployment rate and the lowest birth rate in the world. He mentioned the history of the Spanish reign dating back to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in the 16th century to today’s ambassadors. The three main things I got out of the lecture was what problems Spain was facing today. The first being corruption; people of power and political parties are using their power to influence elections.  Next, Catalonia is trying to gain its independence from Spain. The third topic is education, which ties into the second topic as well. Catalonia is using their charter schools to teach the kids how Spain has been robbing them and they should separate. The charter schools are also teaching the kids more conservative views

After spending the weekend in Barcelona, our first full day back in Valencia had commenced. After having a yummy breakfast of eggs, toast, fruit, and coffee, Mason and I headed over to the ISA classroom where our second guest lecture began. We had a very interesting topic for the day – pop culture. In this lecture, many topics were discussed. In this lecture, we primarily discussed “The Modiva”, which was a cultural revolution during the 1970s and 1980s in Spain. We learned about how the death of the Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco, resulted in this movement across Spain, in which the old conservative ideals were left in the past and the new ideals of expression, freedom, and imagination swept the nation. We learned about how this revolution touched many facets of the Spanish identity including art, television, and music. We watched several video clips from '80s movies, as well as listened to some Spanish music that demonstrated this cultural revolution. This was very interes

Starting the “shortened” free day in Barcelona off right, Ben and I left our room and went to eat a BIG breakfast around 8:45am. Finishing up a wonderful meal, we returned to our room, grabbed our luggage, and then promptly checked out of the hotel and boarded the bus at 9:30am to drive to the meeting place of the group to return to Valencia at 3:00pm. Arriving at the group meeting point, which was the Christopher Columbus Statue, around 10:30, Ben, Justyn, Kevin, Maggie, and myself split off in search of an adventure in the city! Reading the map and talking with Amparo, we decided to go to the Museu de la Xocolata (Museum of Chocolate) first. After walking for about 30 minutes, we arrived at the museum and bought our tickets – edible bars of dark chocolate! Moving past the entrance, I began savoring my chocolate bar while exploring the museum and its multiple structures made from chocolate. From famous structures in Spain like the La Sagrada Família, to famous pop culture lik

Today started off great. We got to sleep in and have a big breakfast! No better way to start the day than with a full 8 hours and some Nutella toast. We got the activities for the day started with a walking tour of Barcelona in the Gothic Quarter. We passed the Arc de Triumph where we snapped some quick pics. We then left the main street to go back in time 2000 years where the Romans used to call Barquino, and is now known as Barcelona. We passed by the Roman wall where we learned only the big stones are the original pieces of the Roman wall, and the rest had been rebuilt. We got to see the one of the oldest pieces of architecture in Barcelona, the temple of D'August, which had been hidden for 2,000 years and was recently discovered 150 years ago. The gothic cathedral is not of traditional gothic design, it is Catalan where it lacks the ornate designs and verticals heights. It is simple because it allowed the simple people of Barcelona to be closer to God. We stood i

Hello everyone! Today is day number 12 of our trip to Spain. My name is Troy Bradley and I am going into my senior year at Purdue in Aeronautical Engineering Technology. Today we said goodbye to our wonderful homestays in Valencia to visit Barcelona. As expected on a travel day we got to get up extra early with some luggage to begin the bus ride to Barcelona. Most people were lucky enough to regain some sleep on the bus, however I was not that lucky when I found myself sitting next to Xavier, Michaela, and Sammy. In addition to them, we played some games later on with others like Maggie, Kevin, Peyton, Cassidy, and Mia. Then we officially made it to Barcelona. We got a quick rundown on the bus of the city and went to our hotel. After leaving our luggage there it was time to explore the city. We got back on the bus to go to see some of the city. We learned a lot about architecture and a famous architect Gaudí. The inspiration behind Gaudí and his effect on the entire city was amazi

Hola! Today we had our first guest lecture. The topics covered were about the European Union and current events. Our guest professor first discussed the four main influences of Europe, which are Greek philosophy, the Roman Empire, Christianity, and the French Revolution. He then discussed the European Union pasts and what the Euro is. We were able to talk about what the European Union actually is and the main issues that it faces today, including internal integration, identity, and leadership, along with external forces such as Brexit, Donald Trump's presidency, and Islamic terrorists with groups like ISIS. We got to take a look into each of these topics before asking questions. Questions were as specific as asking for details on previous matter, to as vague as asking for general comparisons. After class we then went to nearby shops and cafes to kill time before meeting ISA for our scavenger hunt. Armed with my sunburn and my phone, I was ready for this exciting task. The scav

Hola from Spain! It’s the 10th day here for our group, and has been one of my favorites. We started off the day with a very important discussion of how to tell a story.  This may sound simple, but it’s a valuable skill to have when talking with specific groups of people such as friends, family, and even potential employers.  It was very interesting that one of our teachers, Tommy, began the class by describing to us two very important stories that have shaped who he is today and how we can share similar experiences in our life. After class, we had the very fun activity of making hand puppets in the ISA office.  This activity wasn’t originally planned for today, but the scheduling worked out and it was a great experience. After a long time planning, cutting out, and decorating our puppets, we finally finished them.  We had a lot of good ideas, and they turned out really well.  They were made for children at La Casa Grande Charitable House, and we will bring the puppets along wit

Buenos Días Chicos!! Today was a super exciting and fun-filled day spent at a farm that was just a short train ride away from Valencia. We went to a farm that is famous for their Paella. So famous that Dolce and Gabbana had even come to try it. Paella is a traditional Spanish dish that contains rice, your choice of meats, and vegetables. Paella is definitely worth trying, especially at Barraca Toni Montoliu. When we first got there we were able to watch the chefs fry some of the meats on their outdoor stoves while having refreshments in their outdoor restaurant area before walking out to the fields. While walking to the field, the owner of the farm showed us his really cool motorized bicycle and can not only ride it forward, but can also sit on the handlebars, face backwards, and ride the bike as well! In the fields we were able to see some of the animals they own like donkeys, horses, and chickens. Also, we were able to taste some of the Spanish vegetables used in their salads.