Orientation with the School & Some Exploring

This morning was my first day at school.  I got up at 7:30 this morning and left the apartment with my host mom to meet up with two other girls and their host moms to walk to the school together. When we arrived at the school, we were greeted by the office staff, Arturo, Isabel, and Laura.  We then received packets with our schedules and information about Valencia.  After all the students arrived (there's only 7 of us!), we had a brief meeting about the school and expectations and such.  
After the meeting, Laura took us on a bus to tour the city.  (This was my favorite part of the day.)  One of the coolest parts of the city is the City of Arts and Sciences (Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias).  Those are the pictures posted below. 

 

Close to there is the beach.  We stopped there briefly to take pictures. 

  

 After stopping at the beach, we drove around the city a little more so we could get an idea of where we will be staying the next couple of months.  We then arrived back at the school and asked any questions that we had.  After that, Megan, Christina, and I planned to go for a walk/run lunch with Rachel, a girl who was also here last semester, also hoping that she would show us around a little bit. 

 We all met up at 5:45 and went to meet Rachel at the school for 6.  From the school, we went to walk in the Jardines de Real.  This is a park throughout the river that used to run through the city.  It's really cool because there are bridges going over top and you get to walk under them.  There are also dog parks and soccer fields located here.  Below is a picture.  

We walked for about half an hour and from where we ended up walking, we almost arrived back at the Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias because we saw the cool buildings in the distance.  
After walking through the Jardines de Real, we walked down Calle  Colón, which is like the 5th Avenue of Valencia.  
That was basically the end of my day yesterday.  We walked back home and I ate dinner, showered, and went to bed because today is my first day of classes.  I will write about that in the next blog, possibly tonight.