El fin de semana segundo

After a few more days of adjusting, I feel much more at home here. I've learned to recognize my way home, even at night, which is definitely important! I'm becoming more of a city girl than I ever thought was possible. This is truly an exciting place to be.

Much has happened since my last update. This past Friday morning I went to the center of town with a group of friends. It was the day of the celebration of Saint Vicente Martir, and there was a procession throughout the city. Aromatic leaves were scattered over the ground, and it smelled wonderful. These were, we think, to line the way for the saints and the procession.
Musicians, priests, church members, falleras (ornately dressed women reminiscent of the Fallas festival in March where elaborate sculptures are burned in the streets), and floats proceeded through the streets of Valencia. While enjoying the festivities, I drank horchata! It tasted of yeast and wasn't as thick as I thought it would be. I'll have to try it another time before I come to a conclusion, but it was an interesting experience for sure. Number 1, CHECK!

The next night I joined some more friends for dinner at a local restaurant. I don't remember the name, but I will probably never forget how delicious the food...well, most of it...was that night. I decided to take part in the "menu del dia," the full course meal, to complete the experience. For my "primeros platos," I tried Paella Valenciana for the first time. Ohhhh my goodness, it was incredible. There were mussels, pieces of chicken, beans, and some sort of crustacean mixed in with the yellow rice. I was in heaven. For my second course, I decided to go with sepia, or cuttlefish. The texture was very strange...it was rubbery like calimari, but much tougher. The flavor was nice but it was so hard to cut that I just gave up. Most of the others who ordered the same thing had similar problems. But when dessert arrived, all was well. I tried coconut mousse, the perfect amount of sweetness to complement a delicious meal.

The weekend also consisted of a relaxing trip to the beach (too cold to swim, but I was still extremely excited to see the Mediterranean sea) and a stop at my new favorite dessert place for chocolate con churros. These are basically long fried doughnuts that come with a cup of creamy, steaming chocolate for dipping. Heavenly. I would post a picture but by the time I took one, there was only one lonely churro left. I was too excited to eat them, haha.

I'm crossing things off my list quickly...I'll have to think of some more to add. These last two have both been about food, which is a passion of mine. Mmmmm. I'll have to think of a way to incorporate that into my career. Food critic? I think that sounds perfect.

Hasta luego :)

GOoooool!

So far I've managed to accomplish number 7 on my "things I want to accomplish in Valencia" at least a thousand times per day. Some highlights include:
-playing fútbol at the University of Valencia
-Smiling at the cutest little kids I've ever seen in my LIFE, no lie
-riding the escalator up through all eight shining floors of El Corte Inglés with my apartment-mate

-standing at the top of an outdoor mall at night and looking out at the sparkling city below

As far as number 9 goes, I'm enrolled in a cooking class for next week. I'll learn to cook paella and flan, and to make sangria. I can't WAIT! More to come.

As for my classes, I couldn't be happier. My professors are absolutely hilarious, and they seem to be extremely passionate about their subjects. I'm in Spanish Culture and Civilization, Intro to Spanish Art, Survey of Latin American Literature, and Spanish Mass Media. After practically an entire day of introducing myself, I now know many of my classmates' favorite foods as well as their deepest, darkest secrets. I hope to get to know everyone even better as time goes by. I'm sure this semester will fly, but for now, I'm happily looking out from the beginning with hope and anticipation. To quote one of my program's administrators, I am "supermega"-thrilled to be here.

Valencian Nightlife 101

1. For stamina, sleep until late in the afternoon before going out. Lunch isn’t until around 3 pm anyway, so no one will miss you.

2. Don’t even THINK of going to a club with friends before at least one in the morning. If you do, expect to be the only ones there.

3. If you can hear someone shouting right in front of you, and can even remotely understand what he or she is trying to tell you, the music isn’t loud enough.

4. Politeness won’t get you anywhere. When traveling through an overcrowded dance floor, don’t be shy. Pushing and shoving your way through is the only way to get where you need to go.

5. Relax, let loose, and have fun. No one will judge you for your (lack of) dancing skills. And you’ll make more friends that way!

¡Estoy aquí!

After twenty long hours of travel, and four planes later, I have made it to Valencia. Everything worked out wonderfully...no issues at all. I even sat next to the Mayor of Valencia and his wife on the plane from Madrid. He gave me his business card and phone number ''because I don´t look Spanish.'' He was looking out for me. He said I needed some time to get used to the city before venturing out alone. So far, I haven't exactly listened! I'm still alive, so I guess I'm ready. haha.
Valencia is absolutely beautiful. In the taxi on the way to my apartment, all I could do was silently take in everything. I probably looked really intelligent with my mouth wide open in awe.

This is the first time I've lived in a city, so I'm not used to such craaaazy driving and so many confusing little alleyways. My apartment-mate and I managed to get lost on two different occasions today. It was definitely mostly my fault! But we made the most of it, and the map helped too :) It was an adventure.

My host mother, Marisa, is incredibly sweet- but she has an intense and very direct way of laying down the rules. Electricity is very expensive here, so there are certain lights in my room that I can't use frivolously. During the day, the window AND blinds must be left open to let in the fresh air and natural light. The beautiful sunny weather this afternoon made my soul happy. I was more than glad to comply. Her food is delicious, but she serves us WAY too much. It's offensive to leave food on your plate to throw away, so we've been stuffed for hours. I guess it's better than the other way around. Today we went on a walking tour after lunch, (pictures to come!) and we passed several bakeries. Everyone else was saying how hungry they were, and how they wanted to return later..but I could't even THINK about food! That's really saying something, because I love sweets.

This morning we went to the school building for the first time. I was a little tired and disoriented since I woke up at 4 a.m. (yay for jet lag) and I watched Finding Forrester, dubbed in Spanish with my host mother until late last night. I didn't pay too much attention to the bus route- hence the getting lost on the way back. The professors and administrators here seem like such a fun, caring group of people. They crack jokes all the time. I can't wait to get to know them better, and to get to the point where I can effortlessly (well, almost) understand their super fast remarks. My Spanish is already improving after less than 2 days! I can only imagine how much better it will be after four months.

Tomorrow, we're all going hiking. I'm pretty pumped! And then there's a welcome fiesta late tomorrow night. I definitely need my rest before then. Let's hope my madre doesn't make this a late TV night again! Although, it was quite humorous to hear a squeaky, high-pitched Spanish voice come out of Rob Brown's mouth.

I'll try to post pictures soon. In the meantime, I hope everyone who's reading this is doing well! With a Valencian goodbye and a double-cheek kiss, ¡ciao!

Soooo close...

I officially leave for Valencia in 2 days. It's so surreal. I have a lot to do before I leave though... I'm desperately trying to finish an intense internship application, see friends and family before setting off, and attempt to fit a semester's worth of stuff into one little suitcase. All I really want to do is daydream!

The only thing I'm really nervous about, honestly, is the fact that (according to what I've read) Valencians sleep very little. It's normal to go out for a drink after dinner (at about midnight), dance or hang out with friends, then go home in the early morning only to wake up in a couple of hours for school or work. Don't get me wrong; I love to have fun and I definitely don't want to miss out, but I NEED sleep! I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually. I want to be open to learning as much about the culture as I can while I'm in Spain.

Anyway, I'm sure these will be MUCH more exciting once I actually have stories to tell. Must get back to painstakingly checking things off my to-do list. My next update will be from Valencia! Yesssss.