Michaela Scales
Hoy nos fuimos de un adventura. The day started out bright and early at 10:00am. Today was our first service-learning activity in Valencia. We spent the morning playing sports and games with children involved with a charitable organization in Valencia called IUVE Foundation. They support kids who have difficult home lives and provide them a place to go after school and on the weekends to prevent them from doing other things. Beforehand, I was nervous to interact with the students because I do not really speak nor understand Spanish that well; however, I feel that everyone had found a way to connect with the kids we were working with by the end of the activity. We taught them different games, like duck-duck-goose and other school games, and played sports, like fútbol and basketball. We were able to spend time with these kids to see the different personalities of all the children. It was an amazing experience.
After we finished with the service learning activity we had a picnic and spent the afternoon hanging out at the mall while waiting for the soccer game to start. The mall had four different levels and all types of stores. Most of the stores offered high quality, but expensive products. This mall, however, did not really have doors. There are just giant openings that led you into the mall and there was no roof over top of it, but an awning-like structure. The view from the uppermost level was magnificent. You could see parts of the city and had a close up look of the football stadium next door. Before leaving the mall we had to get some coffee to make up for our early morning, but we were off to the soccer game by 5:00pm.
The soccer game was the last thing on our agenda for the day. I was very excited to learn that we would be going to a soccer game as it was something I hoped I would get the chance to see while in Spain. The game itself was exciting, but the environment of the stadium was exciting as well. There was a section of opposing fans next to us and they were chanting the whole game. It was all very intense as the fans there were very passionate about their prospective teams. The game definitely would not have been as exciting without the environment the fans had created. Thankfully, the Valencia team won and it all ended happily.
After the day ended, Sammy (my roommate) and I were surprised by our host mom with paella. Paella is basically the best known food from Valencia and it is muy delicioso! My host mom has been trying to improve my Spanish since I have arrived in her home. Now she has finally given me incentive. If I can pronounce a certain word by next week, then she is throwing me a fiesta! Estoy muy emocionado!
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| Spending time with the children from the IUVE Foundation |
After we finished with the service learning activity we had a picnic and spent the afternoon hanging out at the mall while waiting for the soccer game to start. The mall had four different levels and all types of stores. Most of the stores offered high quality, but expensive products. This mall, however, did not really have doors. There are just giant openings that led you into the mall and there was no roof over top of it, but an awning-like structure. The view from the uppermost level was magnificent. You could see parts of the city and had a close up look of the football stadium next door. Before leaving the mall we had to get some coffee to make up for our early morning, but we were off to the soccer game by 5:00pm.
The soccer game was the last thing on our agenda for the day. I was very excited to learn that we would be going to a soccer game as it was something I hoped I would get the chance to see while in Spain. The game itself was exciting, but the environment of the stadium was exciting as well. There was a section of opposing fans next to us and they were chanting the whole game. It was all very intense as the fans there were very passionate about their prospective teams. The game definitely would not have been as exciting without the environment the fans had created. Thankfully, the Valencia team won and it all ended happily.
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| At the Levante U.D. match (I'm in between Jenn and Sammy) |
After the day ended, Sammy (my roommate) and I were surprised by our host mom with paella. Paella is basically the best known food from Valencia and it is muy delicioso! My host mom has been trying to improve my Spanish since I have arrived in her home. Now she has finally given me incentive. If I can pronounce a certain word by next week, then she is throwing me a fiesta! Estoy muy emocionado!
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