Move in Day

So after a fun beginning in Madrid, the group finally started our way to Valencia. Most of us were looking forward to getting settled into our dorms and meeting the other regular students. The bus ride from Madrid was four hours and the scenery wasn't that impressive. Mostly it looked like we drove through the Iowa of Spain. Farms and some small rocky foothills dotted the roadway. As we drove through the out skirts of Valencia we noticed the poorer neighborhoods and how it wasn't exactly what we thought it was going to be. But then the surroundings started to change. The streets narrowed, the architecture turned into what one thinks of when imagining a quaint European coastal city. The building are very old and distinguished looking and all of them are complete with a balcony and french doors.
The Rector Peset (the dorm) we are staying in is deep within the oldest parts of town along very narrow one way streets, so of course the coach bus couldn't pull us up in front of it. I now know why they stress the importance of not having bags that are over the weight limit...for roughly 400 meters we schleped our bags through the winding streets to the entrance the the Rector Peset. Unless you knew it was a dorm, the buildings modest exterior would lead you to believe otherwise. As soon as we stepped in, we saw in the courtyard an assembled group of regular students cheering for us as we walked past them on our way to our rooms. This welcoming made us all of feel a little bit more comfortable because most of us were intimidated about conversing with the students in Spanish.
The dorms at UGA have nothing on the charm or convenience of the Rector Peset. Every room has its own private bathroom, the dorms also have a two lounges, several study rooms, laundry room, gym, separate breakfast and dinner cafeterias, computer labs and, a music room. The layout is still a little confusing because the rooms are blocked of in corners of the building and Im still not sure where everyone else room is. But after getting unpacked, we had our first dinner in the dinning hall, the food was OK. I wasn't really expecting anything better but its pre-paid so I can't complain. I'm definitely looking forward to classes starting and seeing the rest of the campus. I already want to start planning some weekend trips with the group. Hopefully, the classes won't be too hard or too much work.