Exámenes

So, life since Sunday has been a little boring.  Everyone's midterms were this week, so no one was really up for doing anything.  I spent the past two days studying for my two exams, and I think they both went well!  I think the only exciting thing that happened to me is that Pablo asked me to play with him, so we did, we played with his Thomas the Tank Engine and train track!  It was pretty fun, and he's finally talking to me (sometimes) which is good!

Reading on la playa!

Life was a bit exciting after exams today.  I went to the Valencia beach with Jordan and Will!  First time to the beach in Valencia, and it was fun.  Although the weather was a tad chilly, the sun decided to come out for us :) and the water was really nice (I thought it'd be cold!)  The Mediterranean Sea is soo much nicer than the Atlantic Ocean (Sorry OCNJ), but I was in up to my shoulders and could still see my feet, the sand, and my shadow cast on the ocean floor.  So different from Ocean City.  And there were barely any people out (granted it was 4 o'clock on a Wednesday, but still!)  And maybe the best part was that Jordan and I didn't get lost on the bus ride back (we kinda just jumped on a bus and hoped for the best... and the best worked out!  Woohoo (although I really wouldn't have minded being lost in Valencia, maybe another time).

Jose y Pablo

Since I don't have anything more exciting to share, I thought now would be a good time to tell everyone about where I'm living and my host family.  First things first, they're great! :)  Natalia es my madre while I'm here, and she is awesome.  Natalia works from home, meaning every day I come home from class to a delicious home cooked dinner.  She always goes out of her way for me, and I'm invited to every family function, which is super nice (I even get to see Pablo's end of the year show!).  Jose Manuel is her husband, and he's an engineer!!  He works everyday pretty late (he's working on a project at the prison), but is always home for dinner (oftentimes he cooks it too) and is home on the weekends.  Both are really patient with

Natalia y Pablo

 me and take time to explain things, repeat themselves, slow down, or if I'm really clueless, they might know the word in English!  Pablo is their three year old son.  He's adorable, but is still a bit timid.  He doesn't always want to talk to me (he thinks I'll make him talk in English since he's starting to learn in school), but he is always up for playing!  And he does say a few things for me (for example, every night before he goes to bed I get like 50 "buenas noches, hasta mañana," and before I'm about to leave the house he says "buh bye").  During the day Pablo is at school, but after school he'll go to the park or the pool or somewhere fun with Natalia (and sometimes me) before coming home to shower, eat dinner, play some, and go to bed.

View out the living room window

So where am I living?  Well, like most Valencians, I am living in one of the gazillion apartment buildings.  Yes, I mean gazillion.  Every street has shops on the bottom and at least 4 stories of apartment buildings on top.  Most have more.  I think my building has 8 or 9 floors (and there's a preschool below us).  My apartment is on the first floor, and it has 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a storage room, and a patio (perks of being the first floor).  The set up is basically one big hallway with all the doors to the rooms on the right side of the hall (with a few exceptions to that rule - the patio is attached to the kitchen behind my bathroom and Pablo's room is at the end of the hall).  While here, I have my own bedroom and my own bathroom!  Imagine that (I've never had either to myself before!)

My room!

In my room, there's a wardrobe/closet, a bed (of course) a night table, and a huge desk (Natalia's brother and sister-in-law are both architects and it's one of their old desks).  I think it's the perfect size, cause it's not too big and not too small!  I also have a little window so I can look out into the patio.  And probably my favorite part of the room is the light switch that is right above my pillow.  That's right, I can lay in bed reading and don't have to get up to turn out the light!  Best idea ever!  The bathroom is pretty big for being all to myself.  There's two sinks and a bathtub/shower, with a separate divider for the toilet and bidet.  While I thought I'd miss having a roommate (or even housemate, like some students do), I'm finding that I like having my own room.  But I know sharing again will come, so I'm going to relish it while I can (is that an English saying?  Every day my English gets worse, and I don't actually know if my Spanish is getting better... here's hoping!)

So yeah, that's a bit about where I am and who I'm living with!  Next on my list to tell you about, the school!!  But that will have to wait for another time ;) Buenas noches!




PS Here's a picture of a roundabout that I promised awhile ago!  Notice how there aren't lines marking the lanes.  In rush hour, there would be about 4 or 5 "lanes" of cars here.

Este fin de semana

Hola!  I'm back, with a few more adventures under my belt.  On Friday, instead of having my art class we went to the Museo de los Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Museum).  This is the same museum that I went to the first week with a few friends, but this time we went back with someone who knew the pieces and could explain them to us (hint: it was our professor).  We first walked through the patio, which was perfectly square and had a fountain in the middle.  My professor was saying something about how this "room" had to be perfectly square and that the ceiling was the sky, to connect the heavens to the earth, but I don't remember why he said this was (something about the church, but I was busy taking pictures and not focusing on what he said).  Around the patio were all different stone figures from different times.  Some were statues, some were pots, but one in particular was a coffin/horse trough.  Yes, you heard me right.  Originally it was constructed to be a coffin and held someone's remains.  However, years later someone else found it, took out the remains, and used it to feed and water their horses.  Talk about disrespecting the dead.

Palm in hand, eyes on plate

Inside the museum there were exhibits from the Medieval Ages through the 19th century.  Even though our class is modern art (meaning end of the 19th century and 20th century), our professor knew an awful lot about the other pieces.  He explained different bits about the paintings with saints (for example, if they were killed because of being Christian, they will ho
ld a palm in their hand.  Also, if they have a plate with a body part, they were killed by means of whatever body part they hold).

Joaquín Sorolla

Later, we went into an exhibit with paintings by Joaquín Sorolla.  This exhibit was a bit more like our class because it was more impressionist.  Impressionism is when the artist paints reality by painting what they see.  It is generally characterized by light, focal points, and distance.  Some parts of the painting are clear, while others are more fuzzy and more of a sketch because they have less light, are farther, or aren't the artist's focal point.  In the picture I have on the left, you can see this in the lack of detail on the horse's outfit, as well as in the leaves (they're just colors, they aren't individual leaves drawn out).  This is different from previous paintings because in prior ages paintings with more detailed were considered better and worth more.

Friday afternoon I went to a dance recital for my host mom's niece.  This family is also hosting a student (Maggie) and Maggie invited me to go with them.  It was similar to the dance recitals I've been in before, except it was a lot shorter (an hour and a half max) and it was a lot more relaxed.  The dance recital was put on by the school the niece and nephew attend.  What's cool about this school is that everyone does some sport and the sport is taught during the day.  So the dancers there learned how to dance (and do some gymnastics) during their school day.  For the boys, there's soccer (of course!), basketball, karate, boxing, and who knows what else!  And the girls can participate in these sports, too!

Catedral while eating tapas

Friday night, I went back to la Taberna de la Reina for more tapas.  I was hoping we'd try somewhere else (specifically a place called Sagardi), but I was late and they had already decided by that point.  The tapas were still good, and the sangria I had there was great!  After tapas, we went to a chocolate shop, and let's just say I was perfectly happy with this choice ;) I got a chocolate covered crepe with chocolate ice cream (it was on the menu, so why not!)  The other choices at my table were more chocolate ice cream, churros with chocolate, and a chocolate covered croissant.

CHOCOLATE!

After eating, we went back to the Festival de las Naciones.  This time I didn't want to eat, so Jordan and I went shopping/browsing at the stands there.  I did buy something, but it's not for me and I don't want to spoil the surprise for anyone.  Also, if you saw my Facebook status you know that some guy was hitting on me.  It was awkward and I'm not going into details, but if you want the punchline check Facebook.  Needless to say, I'm fine and our entire group was cracking up about it the rest of the weekend!

Saturday rolled around and I was off to Xátiva, another castle.  This one was about an hour drive from Valencia (I slept the entire way).  When we got to Xátiva, we first had a tour of the pueblo, seeing some of the most important sites.  The most interesting one was the church there.  This church took some 300 years to build.  Why?  Well lots of reasons.  It was started at the end of the 16th century, but at one point the ran out of money, at another Felipe V burnt it down (this was after the War of Spanish Succession, where Felipe V became king.  Xátiva supported Carlos, and when he lost Felipe wanted to teach them and the rest of Spain a lesson), and at another point in time there was an earthquake that destroyed parts of it.  Three hundred years later, the church was deemed finished, but looking at it it doesn't look finished.  It's still missing a tower and there was supposed to be an arch connecting the two towers, also.  However 300 years of construction make people a bit impatient.  Another interesting fact about the church is that its about a square foot bigger than Valencia's Cathedral.  This isn't supposed to happen, ever!  But when the church in Xátiva was being built, Xátiva didn't want to be a part of the autonomous community of Valencia (or if they were they wanted to be the most important city) and part of that includes have the community's cathedral.  You see, there can only be one cathedral in each autonomous community.  Xátiva, which was the second most powerful city in Valencia back in the 16th century, was vying for that number one spot and hoped that this church would but them there.  It didn't, but it did give them a church larger than the Cathedral!

an upside down Felipe V

After the tour, we had half an hour at the museum in the pueblo of Xátiva before heading up to the castle.  In this museum there is a painting of Felipe V that people traveled from all over Spain to see, and not because it's a phenomenal painting!  Remember how I said that Xátiva supported Carlos in the war?  When he lost and Felipe V became king, Xátiva was required to hang up a picture of their king.  They obliged, but because they still didn't support him, the picture was hung upside down and it still is today.  Clearly Xátiva knows how to hold a grudge.

Bathroom anyone?

My visit to the castle was fun, too, and really made me wish the U.S. had castles!  We hiked up to the top (the hike wasn't nearly as long or as steep as it seemed it would be), however hiking up through the castle was a little steep.  However, the views from the top were pretty, and it was a lot of fun running through the ruins of all the different rooms.  There was even a prison in the castle, and 570 years ago on June 1 (the day we were there), someone died in the prison.  Talk about being a little creepy (we didn't see any ghosts though!)  Another funny "room" was the bathroom.  It wasn't actually a bathroom, but it was were the latrines used to be, and they had them sitting there as if you could use them now!  Looking down, there was a hole in the bottom that drained down the mountain.  After running around for an hour and a half, we hiked back down the mountain and hopped on the bus.  I slept the whole way home!

the Lower Castle

Now, my weekend isn't over yet, oh no!!  Last night (Saturday night), I took a taxi with a few friends - 15 to be exact - to a pueblo named Bétera, about 20 minutes outside of Valencia.  We went all the way out there to see some bulls!  It wasn't bull running like Pamplona, nor was it bull fighting, but it was still bulls and still terrifying and thrilling at the same time!  We got there around 11;30pm or so, and the running didn't start until midnight, so we had a bit of time to hang out and get our bearings.  Where we were was a rectangular plaza type area.  There were streets running down the two long sides, and in between these streets was a lowered pit area (it was about 3 feet down, but there were stairs to get to it and larger steps for sitting on).  Around the outside of the plaza were restaurants and bars.  Now, you could see that this place was ready for a bull because the entrance to every bar and restaurant, as well as the windows, had metal bars across them.  These bars were wide enough for people to get through but too small for a bull.  There were also cages like this in the middle of the pit for people to run into to escape the bull.  The idea was that if the bull were coming your way, everyone raced towards one of these cages to get to safety and not be stabbed by the bull.  Not only would that be bad in a normal situation because of the bulls horns, but these horns were lit on fire!

Bull!

At midnight, a firework went off to tell everyone that they were letting the bull out.  It came out of the truck and was riled up and ready to go.  The horns were lit and the bull released.  This is when people (namely boys in their late teens or twenties) antagonized the bull.  They tried to get its attention and get it to run towards them, before sprinting off or escaping behind bars.  The whole thing was terrifying and exciting.  I wanted to move closer to see and get pictures (Erin's being a tourist), but then the bull would start coming my way and I freaked out and  sprinted towards the bars, being pushed by everyone around me to safety as they were trying to do the same thing.  Some people got really close, but I always kept my distance.  I did get some good pictures though!  :)  I also got to talk with the cutest grandfatherly old man.  He at first heard me and another girl (Emily) talking in English and was teasing us for that, but when he realized we could speak Spanish, too, he told us all sorts of things, about his life, where he's traveled, and other things.  He also warned us like 50 some times that we had to be safe and to watch out for the bull because this specific bull was more dangerous than normal.  It was precious and quite possibly the highlight of my night.

The first bull lasted until about 1, at which point point two cows were brought out to calm him down and rally him back into the truck.  Then, about 20 minutes later, a second bull was released.  This bull was quite a tamer than the first, but this time I was inside one of the cages inside the pit instead of staying on the outside. Boy did that cage get stuffed quickly when the bull came near!  It was definitely exciting and something I'm glad to have experienced here in Spain.  We left before the second bull was done (it was 2ish at this point) and called a taxi to get back home.

Corpus Christi and the musicians

This morning, I went to 10am mass at the Catedral.  This was my first time going to a Catholic mass, and boy was I confused!!  Mass was in Spanish and Latin, and it was sung (the 10am mass is the singing one), which is confusing enough to start, but today was also Corpus Christi, so mass was different from normal.  Corpus Christi is the day of thanksgiving for holy communion and is a relatively big religious holiday in Spain (although not the biggest).  I'm proud to say that I did understand some of the Spanish, but definitely not all of it.  Part of the holiday involves giant figures of people that were sitting outside the church.  I honestly have no idea what they're for, but there were a lot of people out to see them and there were musicians playing as the figures were moved around.

After church, I wandered around la Plaza de la Reina with some friends.  We were shopping at the little stands there and getting souvenirs (or starting to get ideas) for friends and family members.  After that I came home to do homework and write this post.  Later today I'm skyping my family (woohoo!) and then I have to do homework and study for my two exams this week.  I'll let you know what else happens this week!  Maybe I'll have another post this long!

Oh wait, one more thing.  Pablo moved into a big boy bed last night!!  And he did great, he slept there all night long.  Go Pablo!

Los últimos días

Sorry I've been MIA recently.  Nothing super exciting has happened here.  Okay, that's not really true, but it has been calmer than normal!  Classes are really getting underway, meaning I have homework now (yuck!) but at least they're interesting and the homework isn't hard (I have to color a picture for my art class).

Parque de la Cultura

So what have I been up to recently?  Walking!  Lots and lots of walking!  I've been walking around the city both by myself and with others after lunch, going on adventures and figuring out all the different streets.  Tuesday (or maybe it was Monday?  I don't actually remember) I wandered around the streets between Calle de Jesús (two blocks to the left of where I live) and Calle San Vicente Martir (one block to the right).  First I went to a little cafe and did some homework while eating patatas bravas, which are kinda like potato wedges.  The owner of the cafe probably thought I was crazy cause no one orders tapas at that time of day, but I was hungry!  I did a bit of homework there, and then continued my walk.  I eventually ended up in el Parque de la Cultura (remember that from my previous blog post?  Maggie and I wandered there the first day we went out into the city!).  While there I sat and did some more homework while enjoying the sounds of everything happening around me.  There were people walking, dogs playing, and some kids boxing (what?).  And I did manage to get some homework done!

Yesterday, I went to a peluquería (a barber shop) at the mall with Natalia and Pablo.  Pablo needed to get his hair cut, and I tagged along to see something else in Valencia!  The mall, as expected, was pretty much like Park City, except that the level we were on was underground.  The other thing that was interesting is that the parking was underground, too, but I've come to realize that in Valencia that is completely normal.

While speaking of parking, let's talk about driving.  Valencian drivers are CRAZY!  Each major road has at least 3 lanes each direction (some have up to 5), with one of these lanes being specifically for buses and taxis.  The lanes are super narrow and drivers will switch lanes without warning, however I have yet to see any accidents anywhere.  On the main roads, there are stop lights every 20 feet or so, and you have to watch out for all of them and stop when one is red.  If you don't, you'll most likely hit a pedestrian.  Also, instead of stopping before the light, cars are often stopped at the light.  Sometimes the light to go straight is green, but if you're turning, you'll start to turn until, BOOM, red light and pedestrians.  Another thing is that a lot of the roads have a median down the middle, and the smaller roads are only one way, so if you miss your turn (which one of our taxi drivers did) you have to go all the way around to get back to where you need to go.  Speaking of turning, there are a ton of round-a-bouts in Valencia.  And no I don't mean the little round-a-bouts that you'll see at Overlook with one lane, I mean ones with four lanes that lead off to 4 or sometimes 5 streets, with stoplights at every street cars trying to switch lanes so that they can get off at the right time.  Like I said, crazy, but no accidents.

La Catedral

Okay, back from that little tangent... Last night was pretty exciting!  I went on a walking tour through the Valencia with an official tour guide and other students from UVA.  He took us into the Cathedral, el Mercado Central, and la Lonja (it's the old center for trade, merchants from all over Europe would come and it is the most important building in Valencia because it brought so much wealth - normally a city's Cathedral is the most important building).  We also saw the post office, the building for the Generalitat (Valencia's governing body), other churches (there are a gazillion), the Palace of the Archbishop, and several other places.  I have pictures, but I honestly probably can't tell you what everything was.  There are two places I'm hoping to return to, though.  One is a ceramic museum.  Valencia is known for their ceramics and there's this little museum that has a bunch of pieces that our tour guide told us were beautiful.  I think I'm going on Sunday because it's free to visit then, and I'll already be at the Cathedral for morning mass :)  Also, I want to return to L'Almoina (shout out to Ryan for reminding me of the name!)

La Lonja

Inside la Catedral

the Ceramics Museum

but instead of actually going there, I want to go underneath it!  This used to be the site of old houses, but when they were tearing them down to build new ones, they found remains of a bunch of ancient civilizations that lived in Valencia, like the Romans, the Greeks, the Phoenicians, and more.  Now, there is a plaza on top of the ruins, but you can go down and take a tour of them.  Since we just learned about these civilizations in my one class (we were talking about the Iberian Peninsula and how Spain got its name... España actually means land of the rabbits).  Hopefully I'll return to tour the ruins before I leave.

Pinchos!

After our tour, we returned to la Plaza de la Reina and met other people at the front doors to the Cathedral before heading out for tapas!  Tapas are kind of like appetizers and in Spain it's really common to go out with friends before dinner to eat some and chat.  We went to a place called la Taberna de la Reina and had pinchos.  Pinchos are a small snack (or tapas) that you find in bars.  Typically they are served on a piece of bread and spiked with a toothpick.  You can pick and eat as many as you want, then we paid for everything by the number of toothpicks on your plate.  I had three - one was tuna with lettuce, egg and who knows what else,

Dulce de Leche

Today, I wandered around some more after doing some of my homework.  This time I went to find how to get into the tunnel that I drive through every morning on the way to school (it goes under the train tracks and train station).  I knew you could walk through it, too, because I see people walking every
morning, so today I set out to find where the entrance was.  Turns out, all I had to do was walk straight and I found the stairs.  So I wandered down that street (Gran Vía) towards school and turned around when I passed the Starbucks.  On my way back, I stopped at a little pastry shop, called Dulce de Leche, for some café con leche and a chocolate croissant.  Delicious!  I plan on returning some time soon, and bringing friends with me (it's only two blocks from my house!)  Now I'm home and writing this blog, waiting for dinner (sushi tonight).  I'll do a bit of homework later (I have a one pager to write for tomorrow).

Oranges! Everywhere!

Oh, one other quick tangent, there are literally orange trees EVERYWHERE in Valencia.  They cover the streets and the parks!  However, you don't want to eat their fruit.  These trees are wild orange trees, and their fruits are bitter.  So while they make for pretty decorations, go find yourself a cafe with zumo de naranja (orange juice) if you want to taste some good Valencian oranges!

Las fotos!

Vamos al partido de fútbol

Pumped for the game!

The stadium (called Mestalla)

The fan section... Next time I'm sitting there!

¡¡¡¡¡¡Valencia ganó!!!!!!

Celebrating the win with some dessert

El partido de fútbol

Hello again!  So as of today I've officially been in Valencia for a week, and already I've done tons!  Yesterday I was planning on going to church, but wayyy overslept.  I'm going to go next week, though, and the people who did make it said it was awesome!  What I did end up doing yesterday was hanging out with my host family.  We all went to a chalé (I think this is how it spelled!).  Basically it's a summer home.  More specifically its a house (an actual house, not an apartment) with a garden outside in a community where many families live during the summer.  When parents go to work, their kids will stay in the chalé to hang out, go to the beach, play on one of the many playgrounds there, or whatever else it offers (some have pools, this one didn't).  Chalés were really popular for the previous generation but are more expensive now.

The chalé we went to belongs to the parents of some friends, and we met their friends there.  The friends are Irene and Carlos and they have two kids.  Instead of going to the chalé itself, we went to an area with a little restaurant and a playground in the neighborhood.  Honestly, it was like a country club.  While the kids played, I sat and talked with the four parents, and believe it or not I understood most of the conversation.  The kids played on the playground and played some fútbol.

We ate lunch at 2, and guess what we had - PAELLA!!  I was pumped to finally have paella valenciana, since that is the very first thing I learned about Valencia way back in middle school.  It was delicious!  What makes paella valenciana different from other paella is that there is more seafood in it.  My paella had snails in it!  (Along with other things of course).  This was the first time I've had snails, and while I'm not really a huge fan, they weren't bad, but had a really weird texture.

After lunch I went to the beach.  It was really nice out, and there were only 3 people out, so basically I had the entire beach to myself.  I sat and read for an hour before we headed home.  The rest was nice, especially because I needed energy for...

THE SOCCER GAME!

That's right, after I got back for the chalé, I went to un partido de fútbol!  Soccer in Spain is a religion, and we saw that from the very beginning.  I met up with a group of people at the school before heading over to the stadium (which is literally right next to the school).  There were so many people there, and everyone was wearing their red and yellow striped jerseys and Valencia C.F. scarves.  Valencia played Granada, and when the Granada team climbed off the bus there was quite a bit of booing.  Our seats were in the seventh row to the right, so we were practically next to the goal Valencia was shooting at in the second half.

Like I said, soccer is a religion in Spain.  Before the game started there was a band out on the field playing (think a toned down version of a marching band), people were yelling and cheering like crazy, and it was packed.  The season ticket section was almost directly across from us, and boy were they fun to watch.  Every cheer was lead by them, with all the clapping and hand motions in perfect sync.  These guys clearly had it all together and were at every game.  We decided that next time we go we want to sit there!

So I mentioned that my seat was super close to the Valencia goal in the second half, and boy was that lucky.  With some time to go left in the game (there wasn't a clock anywhere in sight), Valencia scored off a beautiful crossing pass and header.  And the stands went crazy!  That ended up being the only goal of the game, so Valencia beat Granada 1-0.  I'm really glad I had a chance to experience the soccer culture in Spain.  I know its not Madrid or Barce, but seeing Valencia play was still a lot of fun!  I also decided that soccer is a lot more fun to watch from the stands than on the TV.

Today, I had classes again, and it rained, but that's honestly about it.  I took a nap (which is completely acceptable here in Spain, #winning) and read a lot.  The nice thing about my classes so far is that I've only had homework once and that's been to take pictures!  Well I'm off to eat dinner, I'll catch ya later!  (Oh and I'll add more pictures later!)

Vamos a la Playa (y a una cervecería!)

La Festival de las Naciones

Hola amigos!  Boy, was I up late last night.  I think I said that I was going back to la Festival de las Naciones, and that's exactly what I did.  Once again the group moved on Valencia time, but it wasn't as bad this time!!  A group of five of us went, meeting in the river and walking up to the festival.  We got there right around 10:30, when the concert started.  The singer was the winner of La Voz (Spain's version of the Voice) and he was pretty good, although honestly we didn't listen all that much.  Instead, my group walked around to all the different stands, looking at the goods they were selling and trying to figure out what we wanted to eat!!  The first thing we decided on was agua de Valencia (a drink not a food).  This is a cocktail made from  orange juice and some kind of alcohol (I think gin and/or vodka, but I'm not positive).  It's called agua de Valencia because Valencia is known for its oranges and everyone has fresh, completely natural orange juice. Two people got larges, but the rest of us got smalls and had refills from the larges.  It was pretty good, but a bit too bitter for me.  Afterwards we got food.  People went to stands from all over the world, but I wanted a sausage and bread from Argentina (sorry I'm boring, but it was delicious!)

Erin's at a bar!

While wandering around, we ran into another group of UVA students, so we all decided to hang out together.  After eating, we went to watch the concert a bit and to dance (we danced to Gangnam Style).  The concert was wrapping up, and the other group had plans to meet people at a bar, so we all went!  The bar is called Beer and we hung out there for awhile.  The guy at the door (he wasn't a bouncer, but was trying to get people to come in) was really nice and was able to help us out.  He told us some of the better discotecas (more on that later) and gave us different deals to get to the discoteca and to get drinks.  While there, I played two games of fooseball.  My teammate was Adam and after winning our first game against two other UVA students, two Spaniards from Barcelona wanted to play us.  We were creamed (9-0 and the game ended in no time at all), but it was still fun!  We hung out there for awhile, chatting with each other and the bar tender.

Around 1:45 or so we decided to head to a discoteca.  A discoteca is basically a club where all the Spanish teens go to dance.  The guy at the door to Beer gave us directions and when we got close we found people who knew where to go and they took us.  At the discoteca, there were tons of people, lots of club music, and many flashing lights.  I ended up not going in because I didn't want to have to pay and one girl wasn't feeling well, but I want to go back before I leave Valencia!  Four of us took a taxi back to our apartments and I went to bed around 3:30.

The Mediterranean Sea!

This morning, at 11am, I had to be at the soccer stadium (Mestalla) to go to Peñiscola.  Peñiscola is about an hour and a half north of Vthis).  We got to Peñiscola around 1 and went straight to the beach.  It was absolutely gorgeous, the water was blue (although cold), the beaches clean and not crowded, and there was a cute town right behind us.  We ate lunch on the beach and then basically hung out until we had to go up to the castle.
alencia.  It is a little town and fortified sea port where Pope Luna resided at the end of his life.  Well, he wasn't really the Pope when he died, someone else was, but he claimed he was the one true Pope! (If you want to find out more about his life and stubbornness, ask me or read

Inside the castle

A few of us left a bit early so we could take our time going up to the castle.  While wandering up, we stopped for a cup of orange juice, and it was delicious!  There was absolutely nothing in it except pure oranges that had just been squeezed.  I can't wait for another glass!  We then continued meandering up the hill, stopping in some touristy shops along the way.  Once we reached the top, we went into the castle.  The inside was what you would expect, lots of stones.  The walls were high and the windows were few, but it was still really neat.  My favorite part, however, was at the top.  Once you got to the top, the view was absolutely breathtaking.  You had to climb really steep steps to get there, but it was totally worth it.  A picture didn't nearly capture everything, but here's a try!  Until next time, I'm off for another adventure!

The view from the top of the castle

Las clases y el río

Hi again! So yesterday classes started (woo! although not really :P)  I am taking Modern Spanish Art and Spanish Culture and Civilization.  First was Spanish art, which starts at 10:45, but before that started I had to get to the school by myself.  Luckily I knew where the bus stop was and the bus pulled up a minute later.  I did however get off a few stops early, but I just walked the rest of the way.  I made sure to leave really early so that I had time in case something like that happened!

My professor for my art class is Enrique Pelaez.  He's also a professor at the University of Valencia and loves art!  In this class we are studying art from the 19th and 20th centuries, starting with the Classic and Romantic periods (Goya) and ending who knows where (it'll depend on how fast we move).  I'm hoping we'll go to an art museum as a class field trip (and if we do I'll let you know!).  Yesterday was just an introduction to the class where we talked about the surreal, dreams, the class, our professor, us, and just about everything in between.  I'll keep you posted on how the class continues once we get going in it.

Spanish Culture and Civilization is at 12:50 and this professor is actually the academic director at the Centro de Estudios.  His name is Eliseo Valle and he's really funny.  Before introducing the class he went around and asked everyone's name and random stuff about us, and he probably teased almost every person there.  He made fun of me because I'm studying engineering and Spanish (cause they go together so well).  In this class we're going to be discussing different aspects of Spanish culture, like the importance of the bulls, Catholicism, the night life here, Barcelona vs. Madrid, and of course, soccer!  I'm excited to learn about the culture here while I'm also experiencing it as well.

El Río

After classes I went home for lunch and then adventured out the the Río.  The Río isn't actually a river.  It was at one point, but is dried up now.  Instead, there are trees, gardens, and paths where water used to flow.  Maggie and I hopped on the bus to the get there (I'm gonna be a pro at this by the end of my trip!) and met up with Jordan (a friend from Chi Alpha!) and Ryan (he goes to F&M).  It was here that I started to learn what Valencia time is really like.  At orientation we were warned that when someone says they'll meet you at 5, it could be 5:30 or 6 before they actually come.  And that's exactly what happened to us.  I told Jordan I'd meet her there at 5, but I didn't leave my house until 4:55.  Then Maggie didn't come out of her's until 5:10 or so.  When we finally got to the river, it was 5:30, and there was Jordan sitting and waiting for us, but Ryan still wasn't around! (oops!)  I think we finally found Ryan around 6 and then got on our way.

La Festival de las Naciones

Walking through the river we saw a lot of dogs, runners, and just people in general.  We also ran into the Festival de las Naciones.  There were stands set up from countries around the world.  There wasn't much going on while we were there, but we're going back tonight for a concert and to hang out more!  Woohoo!  We also saw a pretty looking building from the river, so we decided to go see what it was.  Turns out it was Valencia's Fine Arts Museum.  We got there at 6:30 and the museum closed at 7, so we didn't have much time to explore but did look around some.  There were mostly religious works of art in the parts that we saw, but they were gorgeous!  There was also a sign saying there were Goya works upstairs, but we had to leave before we found them.  I know we're planning on going back some day to look around more, so I'm excited for that to happen.

The Museum of Fine Arts

After the art museum we decided to return to our casas.  Maggie and I decided we wanted to walk, which would have been all fine and dandy except for the fact that we forgot about the train tracks.  The roads go under and over the tracks, however there's no sidewalk on those roads.  We ended up walking and walking and walking until we finally found stairs to cross them!  Luckily the map on my phone still works without WiFi and we discovered that we weren't too far out of the way, but I think next time we'll take a taxi back and forth!

The view from the bridge over the tracks

I got home around 8:30 or so, and we ate dinner at 9:30.  We had soup and then a banana and ice cream for dessert.  Then I did a bit of reading that I had for class and went to bed.

So I'm going to go take a siesta, but I'll let you know how the concert is tonight!  Wish me luck getting to the river!