Spring Break #2?

Day 1 of Spring Break number 2:

This day was fully dedicated to walking the rio (river that once ran through Valencia, but when it flooded the whole city, they diverted it around the city and have now made the old river into a gorgeous park that has many attractions). I met up with Emily in the courtyard as usual, and then we met up with Kelsey Leppert and Jenielle on Puente de Aragon.

We walked a ways, and then sat down in the grass and watched some people do a thriller dance for awhile. Then we pushed on until we came across some fountains. We decided to sit in the grass and eat our lunch… which we did. Then some people sat around by us… they had dogs. We played with two of them. One was a small fuzzy white one, and the other a beagle. They were cute. We also watched a little girl push her dog into the fountain… that was funny.

After a couple hours of sitting in the grass/eating/playing with dogs/soaking up some rays, we decided we better continue on if we were going to accomplish what we set out to do.

So we kept walking on… and made it to one end of the river. There was a pond with geese. (They call it a lake, but it is definitely a pond… haha.)
Then we turned around and started walking back the other direction.
We stopped for a minute and watched some kids play soccer, and some adults play rugby.

Then we pushed on, even though our feet were killing us.
We made it to Gulliver, the playground. It is in the shape of a huge man… stuck to the ground. Like Gulliver’s Travels… It is super guay. We sat on a bench there for approximately 10 min.

Then we pushed on towards the other end…
Finally we arrived at the City of Arts and Sciences.
So, we climbed out of the rio, and went to the mall to get ice cream.
We went to Carrefour, which is basically like Walmart, and we bought a box of Kit Kat drumsticks for 2E. They were delicious and we ate them as we walked back to Puente de Aragon.

Then we made it. We walked the rio… twice actually. Emily google-mapped it, and it was approximately a 20 K. Basically we walked a half marathon today- NBD.
Then we had to walk back home. My feet were pretty much crying, but with a quick stop at Mercadona to buy aloe lotion and sun block, we made it home.

I can now check ‘walk the rio’ off of my list of things to do in Valencia… and I walked it twice. In one day. Can you say accomplishment? (I have 5 blisters on my feet too from today, so I definitely powered through that.)

Then when I got home, put on some aloe to sooth my slight sun burn… it’s not too bad, which surprises me since I was in the sun the whole day. Then Ricardo made me dinner- sweet peas, steak (or some form of meat that I really don’t know what it is, but steak is the closest thing to it that I know of soo…) and bread. Then I let my feet take a break. They are really hurting.

Tomorrow is fully dedicated to lying on the beach. I’ve got my sun block ready so I don’t burn anymore, and my swim suit is out.

I’m excited. This is why I love Valencia…

Day number 2:

Emily and I met up at 9:30 am in the courtyard. We then walked to the metro station… bought a card for multiple trips on the metro (it’s way cheaper than buying a ticket each time you use the metro) since we are going to be going to the beach a lot in the near future. I mean we could walk, however, the neighborhood right before the beach is super sketch. A girl from our program almost had her purse stolen there… luckily another guy in our program, Brendan, threw his backpack at the guy’s head. (It’s a pretty funny story when he tells it.) Nonetheless, by riding the metro we are: a. maximizing our sun time and b. avoiding creepy neighborhood. It’s a win-win situation.

So we took the metro and arrived on the beach.

It was a little brisk yet, but within the hour we were down to the swimsuits. We soaked in the rays (I remembered sun block.) We watched the sail boats in the sea. Did some reading. Ate some lunch. Chatted about life. It was a beautiful way to spend a day!

After awhile, Kelsey Leppert met up with us too.
Then it got a little breezy, so I searched for my sea shell. (Each time I have gone to the beach, I have taken a sea shell… we’ll see how many I have when I come back home.)

Then we decided to call it a day.

I am most likely at a month-of-tanning-at-home level right now. Or ten shades darker than yesterday morning… this is good. I just might reach my full tanning potential in Valencia. : )

So you know, just another day in Valencia- sitting on the beach… in the Mediterranean… no bigs…
I love my life right now!

Day number 3:

Emily and I met up at 10:00ish. We went to the chino store and I bought a beach towel for 4E. (Ya, all I had on Sunday was a hand towel. I was quite sandy once the day was done, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. Nothing is open on Sundays besides Open Cor.)

Then we headed to the beach. While it was supposed to be warmer today than yesterday, there was a stronger breeze today which made our first hour or so really chilly.

The sun and the wind battled for awhile. Finally the sun came out on top.

We basked in the rays for a couple of hours… then we headed home.

We showered, ate, and then met up with Jenielle. We walked to Finac (bookstore similar to Barnes and Noble back home—but with electronics as well). Emily bought a game for us to play while we are waiting in the airport forever in Barcelona. (We are going to get to Barca at 10ish… our flight leaves at 6 something am. Soooo we’re staying up all night and kicking it in the airport. Haha.)

The game is “Erase Una Vez” or “Once Upon a Time”. You have a bunch of cards that have different words or phrases which you must use to create a story. Then there are cards that have sentences that you can use to end the story if you don’t like where it is going… we don’t understand how you win though, so we’re going to figure that out on the trip. Haha.

It’s a good teacher game though! I have to start thinking about what I’m going to get for my classroom someday. I do know that we will celebrate fallas, and make paper mache fallas. And then we will burn all but one of them. And they will listen to the “Valencia en Fallas” song all week… until they are sick of it. (If that’s possible.) Oh, and Emily and I want our classes to be pen pals… and then we’re going to tell them their pen pal is from Spain even though the letters are coming from Pennsylvania and aren’t in very good Spanish. HAHA. Yes… this is what we come up with in our spare time…

Anyways, I did some hand wash tonight so I have clean dry clothes for Ireland. And Elvira commented at how clean and perfect the room is when it’s just me here. And I said, that’s just how I am… I organize things… even Anne’s mess. Then she said that Anne’s just childish and I’m obviously more mature. Plus I got brownie points for buying her bread today, and she has been giving me kisses on the cheek because I’m so tan… haha! Soo… I really don’t think I’m the favorite or anything.

This will be the last entry until I come back from Ireland. Tomorrow I have to pack, and we are getting the European version of the Student Identity card (which is cheaper and more legit than the US version- that’s right LC study abroad office). So, hasta luego.

Did you know?

There are 5 ways to properly cut an orange... (and no peeling it with your hands doesn't count. That's considered barbaric... haha!)

Oh, and P.S. I am offically on Spring Break number two now! I'm going to Ireland next week. Come back a week later- the 8th of April. Then I'll chill around Valencia for a couple of days, we will still be off for Holy Week. The 12th we will still be off of school for Fiesta de San Vicente... then I will have 2 days of class. Then I will be going to Sardinia for a couple of days... I will come back. Have two weeks of class- finals, final presentations, etc. Then one week bumming around Valencia, then three weeks traveling afterwards- Malta, Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice), London, Dublin, and then I come home. Soooo crazy!

And I am working on getting pictures up, but it takes awhile, and I don't have much internet access here... they will get up eventually though.

Going to the Homeland

In a week I will be in my homeland... Ireland.

For once I will fit in over here!!! : )

Fallas Week.

Fallas was amazing. I just cannot believe it. It really was the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life. There are no words to describe it….

Day 1: Shiny Pants

I kind of already said what we did the first day, but we went to the Mascleta. We were pretty far away though.


Mascleta.

Then we went to the bullfight. Guay guay.


bullring



Later that night we met up, had some chocolate con churros, watched the fireworks. Good times. Then we came home and went to bed after that.




falla.


chocolate con churros


watching the fireworks

Day 2: Search for the Holy Grail… fail. Be in a Parade…. Success.

So Emily and I met up later on Tuesday. We slept in.

After comida, we decided to search for the Holy Grail. It’s in the cathedral in Valencia, and apparently it is the only cup that the Catholic Church recognizes. So, pretty cool.

We met in the courtyard as usual and then made our way to the cathedral… we crossed the bridge and then came across a parade of falleros. (girls in fancy dresses, men dressed somewhat like pirates, with a marching band following them around.)



We decided to follow them.

The police stoped traffic for them, and they just kept marching along. At one point we came across another fallero parade… we were then somehow in the parade? Haha. We just kept walking and ended up in the plaza de Ayuntamiento.

Then we decided to meander to Plaza de la Reina to find the Holy Grail.
We walked all the way around the cathedral. We saw St. Vicente de Martir’s arm behind the alter. Interesting.



We continued the search for the grail…I knew it was in a side chapel but not sure which one. Then we finally asked someone where the grail was.



searching for the grail...

Turns out they lock it the chapel for the grail after the morning hours… so that was a bust. We’ll have to check it out some other day not during fallas when a million people aren’t around.

Then I went home, chilled, ate, went to bed.

Day 3: Wait… St. Patrick’s Day?

Wednesday Emily and I met up really early in the morning to go to the book fair. It’s on Grand Via, and the book stands go on for blocks.

We spent well over a couple of hours looking at books. I was in heaven. There were new ones. Pretty ones. Kind of ugly ones. Old ones. Ones with really pretty old covers and ribbons. I was happy.

I ended up buying the complete set of “El Señor de los Anillos” (Lord of the Rings) and El Hobbit. Sooo excited to read them in Spanish.
(Also it is apparently my “goal/assignment” from Jenielle and Emily to memorize the little prologue saying before Ireland…)

“Tres anillos para los Reyes Elfos bajo el cielo.
Siete para los Señores Enanos en palacios de piedra.
Nueve para los Hombres Mortales condenados a morir.
Uno para el Señor Oscuro, sobre el trono oscuro
En la Tierra de Mordor donde se extienden las Sombras.
Un Anillo para gobernarlos a todos. Un Anillo para encontrarlos,
Un Anillo para atraerlos a todos y atarlos en las tinieblas
En la Tierra de Mordor donde se extienden las Sombras.”

Then Emily and I ate lunch on a park bench. Soaked up the sun. (I definitely got some color on Wednesday.) Then Jenielle met up with us and we went to the Mascleta.
After the Mascleta we went to Plaza de la Reina to watch ‘La Ofrenda’. (The offering of flowers to the Virgin Mary.) The falleros walk for a couple of hours with flowers until they get to Plaza de la Virgin. Then they offer the flowers to Mary, and they use all of the flowers to form her dress and decorate the Basilica.





















It was really pretty, all of the flowers, but it kind of surprised me that for something so sacred- bringing flowers to Mary- they just tossed the bouquets of flowers up to the top very nonchalantly to make the dress…

After watching the Ofrenda for a couple of hours we decided to make our way to the other side of Grand Via.

We decided to go to Portland’s and have a drink since, “Oh wait… what? It’s St. Paddy’s Day?” Right. Kind of forgot about that in the midst of Fallas. Nonetheless, we celebrated two holidays on the same day…. Nbd.

There was an Irish band playing in Portland’s though, and Mike was grilling some hamburgers outside. We asked him about them, and he said they were 6E with chips, but he also said that we could probably split it three ways and he’d bring us a knife. So that’s what we did.

It was the best hamburger ever, and the first ‘American’ food that I’ve eaten since being here.



how much would you pay for a hamburger?






we demolished it.

(Almost everyone I know has broken down already and gone to McDonald’s or Burger King for a meal… I still have not. Thank you Mike.)

We spent quite a bit of time in Portland’s, and then decided to grab some chocolate con churros and get a spot to watch the fireworks. We sat on the divider in the middle of the road on the bridge. Ate our churros. And then an hour later the fireworks started. (The first night the fireworks started being shot off at midnight… after that they started at 1 or 1:30 in the morning.)

So we watched the fireworks, and then Powerwalk Sam and Weaving Emily made it home in approximately half the time it normally takes to make it home. Then it was bedtime.


the street by our apartment... yes, it's all from petardos.

Day 4: Night of fire.

So Emily and I met up. Then we came across Angela and her boyfriend. We chatted with them. They were waiting for Julieta. So we waited as well.

Then we started towards Ayuntamiento to watch the Mascleta. We were about a block away when we heard it going off… so Emily and I decided to go to the park nearby instead then.

We sat and ate lunch. Then discovered that there was a Mercadona on Colon near Corte Ingles…this surprised us.

So we went in, checked it out… we didn’t really like the setup. Then we decided to walk to our home Mercadona instead. We wandered around Mercadona for awhile. I bought this cereal that has dark chocolate in the middle.

I really have been missing cereal this past week. So now even though I don’t have milk to go with it, I have been eating cereal. : )

Emily is like me, and drinks at least 2 glasses of milk with every meal… we severely miss milk. We discussed what it’s going to be like to go back to milk… and what we think our bodies would do if we attempted the gallon challenge upon arrival to the states. Haha.

Then we went home. Took a nap. We had plans to meet up and follow her family (who are falleros) to the Plaza de la Virgin.

I was waiting in the courtyard below, as usual, when I received a text that said she had been kidknapped by her family--- shoved in a car and not told where they were going.

So Julieta’s German friends were sitting down there waiting as well… We then decided to go to the Plaza de la Virgin and see if our friends would eventually make it there…






So I hung out with the Germans for awhile, and then Emily called me to tell me that she was in the fallero club’s building and she didn’t think she’d make it to the plaza anytime soon… so I made my way home.

Then Jenielle called me. We decided to meet up. On the way to meeting her, I ran into Marli and Nikki. They said they were going to look at the lights, and see the street that won.







So we met Jenielle, and all of us went together. It was pretty cool.
Then Jenielle and I were going to meet up with Emily, so we said goodbye to our friends, got some banuelos (like churros but doughier- many Valencians like them better than churros, and they are made with pumpkin- quite tasty…)

Then we made our way to meet Emily. It was super crowded… we were going to meet her on the other side of the bridge. We got trapped halfway across. We could not move.
The next 45 min Emily struggled to find us. Right before the fireworks started she found us. She was about ready to cry though… had been jabbed in the ribs a couple of times, been stepped on, stepped on some people, had people not let her through, shove her. It was not good.

Once the fireworks started we were all good though. They were hands-down the best fireworks I’ve ever seen in my life. They actually call them ‘Castillos’ here, because the fireworks are like a castle. They were perfectly timed. We even saw some that went up, came down a bit, went back up, came down a bit, and then went back up… how do they do that? It was amazing.

(I just wonder. There is a lot of sponsorship for Fallas- mostly alcohol and then Nestle- but who funds everything. Who pays for all the fireworks and explosives???)
Anyways, after fireworks it was crazy. Lot’s of people, and lots of people setting off borrachos. (There are petardos, which are your common firecracker. Then there are borrachos which are firecrackers that go off in every which direction… very dangerous. In fact, borrachos are the only thing the police here attempt to control. They don’t care about the massive amounts of people drinking, or smoking whatever it is they are smoking, or the petardos. Only the borrachos...)

Day 5: The burning. Why am I covered in flour? It is raining fire.

So it was the last day of Fallas. The day everyone has been waiting for. The day they burn everything. I woke up, ate some breakfast, and then met Emily in the courtyard. We then walked across town to meet Jenielle.

From there we went to the Mascleta. We arrived an hour early. There were so many people there already. We played ‘never have I ever’ a couple of times while we waited… I always lost.

Then they gave the 10 min warning. Then the five.

Then it started.

May I add that the last Mascleta is the biggest, and that this was the closest I had been to one yet.

The windows were shaking. Your whole body is pulsing with the explosives. I am almost positive that I suffered severe hearing damage. It was crazy. I recorded almost the whole thing. At the end it was SO loud and I was struggling to protect one ear with my shoulder and subsequently pushed the button to turn it off a little soon, but wow, way cool.

After this week, I am pretty sure I know what it’s like to be in a war zone--- minus the blood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REWO18QkSkk (This is the Mascleta--- watch it!!! It's CRAZY!!! and I was standing by the fence...)

So after the Mascleta we loitered underneath the awning of a building to eat our sandwiches. It was raining.

Then Emily and I went to La Alba and had some café con leche. We chatted. Watched the replay of the Mascleta on TV. We were amazed at how close we were to it. Haha.
Then I came home and took a nap and then ate dinner.

After that, Anne and I ran an errand for our madre and then met up with Christina to have one last look at some of the fallas before they were burned.






We first watched an infantile (little one) get burned. I thought it was pretty cool.



Then we grabbed some cream filled churros for a change and sat on a bench/ waited to meet up with Jenielle and Emily.

So Christina had to go to the bathroom and she went off in search of one. Anne and I remained in the park on the bench. It was good meeting point for everyone. All of a sudden these guys come out of nowhere. One is wearing a police hat, one a skirt, the rest are wearing black fro wigs. They are all really drunk. They come up and sit by/on us. I was soo confused. Then out of nowhere appear Emily and Jenielle. They are like ‘what’s going on?’ and we are like ‘we don’t know….’ Haha. So we just stay sitting on this bench (we are still waiting for Christina to come back). All of a sudden another guy comes and starts throwing flour on us shouting ‘bonsai!’

Emily and I lost it. I was laughing sooo hard at the situation. Random guys sitting on us. I am completely covered in flour. And I don’t know why.






Finally Christina came back. We then left them… and we were doused in flour. Haha. As if I don’t look out of place enough on the streets over here…

So we continued on our way. Then we found a big falla to watch burn. We were in the front row. I took a lot of pictures, and then Emily recorded it. It was so BA.
They string it up with explosives. Litterally blow it up and set it on fire.















(So I am sitting on the balcony as I am typing this. Ricardito just came out, asked me to help him set off some petardos. Haha. I lit them, and then he threw them at the courtyard below. Good times with the little kids.)

Anyways, after we watched a big one burn to the ground, we proceeded to the Plaza de Ayuntamiento. This is the mother of all fallas. The big one.

There were again many many people. I don’t really know how many people can fit into the Plaza de Ayuntamiento… but I bet many people didn’t make it into the plaza. We were lucky. We were on the one side, right across from it.

The lights all went off in the plaza. It was completely dark. Then there was a fireworks display. Then it started on fire. It was really cool.

All of a sudden it starts raining chunks of fire. Like softball size chunks of fire. People are running out. The girl’s purse in front of me caught on fire. It was crazy!!!

I recorded most of this. Haha.

So Anne, Christina and Jenielle bolted out of there. Meanwhile Emily and I (being the pyromaniacs that we are) watched it a bit longer. (I’m fine. Didn’t catch on fire or anything…)

The best thing was that while it was raining softball size chunks of fire all around us, they are playing the epic “Valencia en Fallas” song. Great intense instrumental music, (they play it almost everywhere.) We sang along even though we don’t really know the words.

That was the coolest thing ever. Watching the falla burn with intense instrumental music and raining fire around us is actually the reason I came to Valencia. The most BA thing I’ve seen in my life.

Eventually Emily and I made it back home. We walked on Guardia Civil (the pedestrian road that lies between our apartments.) I showed her the garbage can that someone blew up. Then we played on the playground. And then went home and to bed.


Best night ever. So much fire. We officially survived Fallas 2010.

Fallas is amazing.
I will explain everything. time tbd.

Yesterday I definitely celebrated 2 holidays at once... only in Valencia.

Granada. Fallas Week. ¿La Vida Normal? Claro.

This weekend we went to Granada with ISA. The trip was long, but gorgeous. Driving through the mountains.

On the way there we watched a pretty good movie, “Juana La Loca”, a movie about the Reyes Catolicos’ daughter… The Spanish are obsessed with the Catholic Kings… naturally. So there was Ferdinand and Isabell, they had four children. Isabel, Juan, Juana, and Catalina (who went to England and then didn’t bear any sons, Boleyn sisters… bam. Church of England.) So Juana marries Philippe the beautiful. They’re happy at first… then he decides to start messing around with her handmaids… Juana’s brother and mother die, at the same time she finds out that her husband is cheating on her. She goes crazy. Really crazy. In the end Juana is the rightful heir to the throne of Spain… Philippe is from Catalan I believe. They unite kingdoms… Juana’s crazy still. And the whole country knows it… then Philippe continues to mess around. Turns out he has syphilis and then dies. Juana gets crazier yet. Then she spends the rest of her life visiting his corpse. Kisses it? No bigs.

Very interesting movie. Not going to lie. I might find it on Amazon or Ebay when I get back to the states…. Haha.

So we got to Granada then. We stayed in the best hotel ever. 4 stars. Bangin breakfast. Attractive men working at the desk to answer our every question. It was some good times.

We wandered around Granada a bit. We went to the crypt where Ferdinand, Isabell, Juana the crazy and Philipe the beautiful are laying. Saw their caskets… they were some tiny people back in those days. Kind of weird that I was that close to like over 500 year old bodies… but cool. They had all of the clothes, crowns, jewelry, swords of Ferdinand and Isabell too. Super guay!

Then we got some gelato and then went back to the amazing hotel.

We reunited in the lobby with everyone from our ISA program and the peeps from Sevilla were there too. They seemed nice. Chatted a bit. Told them about Fallas. They asked if we were going to travel during Fallas. We responded. “No, it’s only the biggest party in Europe. 3rd biggest in the world… nbd. We’re going to watch the city burn itself to the ground. Palabra.”

So we climbed up to the top of the city, took some pics of the Alhambra. Pretty. From there we went to this cave and watched some flamenco. Also super guay! And muy divertido!

Then we went to a couple of bars. Had some sangria and a beer. (Each time you order an alcoholic beverage in Granada they give you free food.) We got some French fries, pasta and mini ham sandwiches. Pretty guay. No voy a mentir.

Then we went back to the awesome hotel. I took a long shower. It was lovely.
The next day we went to La Alhambra. It was gorgeous. There really aren’t words to describe it. Apparently it is said to be like heaven on Earth… I could see that. I imagine it would be even more heavenly in the summer when all the roses are blooming…( Next trip. )

Then I spent the afternoon shopping. Eve and I went to the “secret” Moroccan market. Bought some good stuff.

Then I met up with Jenielle and Emily. We bought gladiator sandals. I can’t wait to bust those out…. : )

From there we went to a chocolatería. Had some chocolate con churros. Deliciousness. And then we decided to get some ‘real food’ i.e. bread and cheese from Mercadona. I also sprung for the cookies with chocolate in the middle…

We spent the rest of the night chilling in the hotel. It was nice. I took another long shower. I am assuming that was my last long hot shower I will get until I am back in the U.S.---so I definitely made the most of it. Haha.

On Sunday Anne and I woke up early for breakfast. (I miss eggs for breakfast. And cereal… Well just breakfast in general. We don’t eat more than a piece of toast in the morning here, which kills me. If I could, and I do many times at home, eat breakfast food for every meal.) So this hotel had breakfast close to what we had in Madrid. Scrambled eggs. Bacon. Ham. Different kinds of cheese. Croissants and other pastries. Yogurt. Cereal. Rice pudding. Fresh fruit. Ya….. we didn’t need lunch either day.

Then we watched some TV. First I turned on a movie with Renee Zellweger, Bradley Cooper and a creepy child. I think the child’s voice had to have been creepier in Spanish than English…Anne got freaked out when Bradley Cooper died by swarm of flies. So… I turned it off. Then we watched some Scooby Doo, some top 40 before settling on an Animal Planetish show about various animals and their babies in the wild.

Started with penguins. Dads taking care of the eggs, sometimes the mom doesn’t get back in time. It’s sad.
Then lizards giving birth. The babies are on the own after like 2 seconds out of the womb. ‘Learn to grab onto the tree. K bye. I’m gonna split.’
From that it was various chimps. Monkeys. I had a moment where I wanted to really watch ‘Planet of the Apes”… haha.
Then it was seals. Ya, the babies are black, and when the moms go hunting the babies often die from the heat. Or the wolves prey upon them, and the other mom seals watch and don’t do anything. Putas.
On to deer and waterbuffalo. Cute little buggers. Have to learn to walk soon, or mom leaves you to die on the ground….
Then lions. Lion King is like right on. Moms band together. There can only be one dad. If you’re not his kid, watch out, he will kill you.
Hmmm, then it was lemurs. (LOVE them.) But this one left her weak baby to die… it was crying. Quite sad.
Then they went onto rats. I turned it off for a minute. Baby rats are gross. (I turned back on Renee Zellweger/Bradley Cooper/creepy child movie. Anne freaked out again… )
Then Elephants. If I were an animal out in the wild, and a mom, I think I’d want to be an elephant. All the moms get together to help the baby stand up. Put all their trunks together. They’re not putas like the seals… letting the babies that aren’t their own be left behind. Or watch them get killed. So yes, elephants are pretty guay.

It was a fascinating program. We haven’t watched like any TV while we’ve been here… so sorry for the play by play of the program, but it was good.

The last 20 min in our beloved hotel room were spent watching only one of my favorite shows… Storm Chasers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We didn’t have enough time to watch them actually catch the tornado though… kind of sad. But I’ve seen every episode in English, so it was all good. We had to check out.

The bus ride back was long. But beautiful. Lots of mountains. Granada was definitely at a higher altitude. My shampoo bottle spat in my face when I opened it… like when you’re been on a flight. Interesante.

We watched a French movie in Spanish on the way back. “Amelie.” It was cute. Set in Paris. Saw a TON of things that we saw in person only a week before. It was fun. And I miss that beautiful city. No lies.

It was nice to get back though. Valencia is most definitely home. And once again they greeted us with explosives.

Granada was pretty, but small. Not a whole lot to do there… So herein lies my fear of returning to the U.S. To Mosinee, WI. To Decorah, IA. If I thought Granada was slightly boring and small, what’s life going to be like when I return? That thought kind of freaks me out right now….

Anyways, it is officially Fallas week. The city is crazy. Today they put up all the Fallas.

We went to the Mascleta, and then walked through the streets. Then we went to a bullfight. It was interesting. We saw 6 different bulls.

First there are these guys with pink cloths waving them around. There are probs six of them total. Their job is to tire the bull out a bit.
Then two guys with big long sticks with sharp things come out on horses. They stab the bull in the neck. Throughout the whole ordeal, I had the most fear for the horse. They have no say in anything. They are blindfolded…and the bull comes and attacks them… not cool.
After that, three guys come out with two white things. No protection whatsoever. They just have to run really fast. We almost saw a guy get clipped by the bull one time. I enjoyed it. He ran behind the boards for protection.
Then when all the white things are in the matador comes out. These guys have to be pretty cocky, or else they suck, and then they and the bull suffer. We saw one guy who failed at killing the bull. It was like a 10 min ordeal after he stabbed it with the sword. It was horrible.
We also saw a matador that killed it perfectly. 2 seconds after he stabbed it, the bull dropped to the ground. It was well done, and he was the cockiest out of all of them. Go figure.
When the matador does a good job, the crowd waves white handkerchiefs to say ‘good job.’
Then bigger draft horses come out. They hook the bull up to the horses. Drag him around the ring and then out.

It was an interesting experience. When the matatdor did a good job, and the bull didn’t suffer, I really enjoyed it. But when it took forever, and they still failed to kill him, then it was hard to watch. But I liked the cultural experience of it all. I learned a lot.

Julieta split after like the second bull. She didn’t like it.
But Jenielle, Emily and I stayed til the end. Then we walked down Grand Via. Looked the book fair. I’m probs going to buy some books in the near future. I haven’t had my Barnes & Noble fix in forever though, and it’s kind of similar to that. Haha.

I came home. Had some dinner. (Ricardito kept holding Ricardo’s beer tonight at dinner. Apparently he held onto a firecracker a bit too long today… That’s what happens when you let six year olds play with firecrackers all day. ) It’s all over in the streets though.

Then I met up with the gang. We got some chocolate con churros and then watched the fireworks by the river.

I don’t know when I’m going to sleep this week… prolly all day Saturday.
There are firecrackers and other explosives going off 24/7. It’s the background noise to my life now. Besides ‘Bad Romance’ being played in the courtyard down below. We have a Falla in our neighborhood… I don’t know if I’m happy or annoyed with that fact right now...

Pues, !hasta luego!

We’ll be just like Dan Brown… Walkin’ in His Footsteps.

Paris was Amazing. There are no other words to describe it. And apart from the sketchtastic first night we had, it was one of the best trips I’ve ever had. Eve, Kelsey and I… we rocked it.

Wednesday:
So our flight out went quite smoothly. No complications (even with the French protesting), so that was nice at least. We arrived in Orly, which is the airport to the south of Paris, and we immediately went to Information to get a map and figure out how to get to our hostel. We immediately realized however, that neither of us really know French. All I have retained from my semester of French like 2 yrs ago now is: please, thank you, I don’t know, I’m tired, I speak English and Spanish, and some colors and numbers… so that wasn’t going to get us far.

Information told us what metro line to take, and showed us somewhat where our hostel was in relation to it. After speaking with them, we spent the next 45 min or so wandering the airport trying to find the metro. We went back to Information. They told us where to go. Then we had to figure out how to buy a ticket to get us across 3 different lines… ended up paying 9.75 E for that, and then we got on.

The first line just took us straight out of the airport. Then we had to get on another line, and it was closing the doors as we got off, but we just got on and hoped we were going the right direction… the RER line was really dark, and it was dark outside, so we really couldn’t look at the map of the line to see or not, so we got off at the next stop to check.

It was super sketchtastic at this stop. We were on the outskirts of Paris with all our belongings. It was freezing cold. We hadn’t put on our extra layers yet. And we were lost. I came very close to crying… and we were all having minor panic attacks.
Turns out we were going in the right direction though, but we had to wait for 12 min for the next one to come along and pick us up. Luckily Eve had some chocolate for times of emergency… that is what probably kept me from crying.

We got on. It was warm, and we were relieved to not be sitting outside in the sketch outskirts of Paris anymore. We got off at the stop Information told us to, and then switched lines relatively smoothly.

Then we got off at the next stop just fine, and then the adventure began. We looked at the metro map that actually had the street that our hostel was on, and then tried figuring out what streets would lead us there.

The next couple hours of our lives were some of the most terrifying moments of my life. I did not cry though. However, (thanks to my brothers) I kept having parts of the movie “Taken” play through my head over and over again.

We couldn’t communicate with anyone, and really how were we supposed to know that the street “Temple” went off in 5 different directions from the plaza we were in?
At one point we were really frustrated though, and went into a Monoprix (grocery store) and bought food for dinner since it was almost 9. So that was probably a good decision on our part. At least we wouldn’t starve if we had to spend the night wandering the streets.

Luckily we got on a street that had a lot of metro/bus line maps and we were able to see that Temple branched off a different direction, we had been turned around, and then finally we were able to find the street we needed.

Then we had to find our hostel. That took awhile, since it was a bigger street with a closed park running through the middle, but eventually we found it.

When we got there we checked in. We lucked out, because they gave us a double room, and then told us we could take the mattress from another room. So four hours after we arrived in Paris, we had our own room… and we were safe.

We sat on the bed and attempted to not think about what just happened and calm down. We ate our dinner, put on many layers, figured out the game plan for the next day and went to bed.

Thursday:
It was a brand new day. The sun was shining. We went downstairs for breakfast. We had bread, butter (real butter! I had forgotten how wonderful it tastes… we only have olive oil or margarine here), jam, apple sauce, orange juice, and coffee. It was delightful.

Then we went back up the stairs, and put our layers on.

We metro-ed to the Eiffel Tower. It is amazing. Definitely not overrated. I took sooo many pics of it though… got a little camera happy.


Eiffel Tower!!

We walked around through the jardin. Had a guy in a Northface take our pic for us… he had some mad picture taking skills. Then we found this sweet free bathroom that automatically disinfects everything after each use. It was on a side street by the tower.

Then we went on the other side of the river, towards the Palais de Challiot- took some pics there. Then we walked to the Arc de Triumphe. We had to walk underground to get to the Arc. It was cool though.


Arc de Triumphe.

From there we walked on Avenue des Champ-Elyees, came across Northface guy again. He didn’t notice us. We figured if we came across him one more time, then we were meant to be friends... We stopped outside the Grand Palace and the Petit Palace for a bit. Then we walked past the Place de la Concorde (where Marie Antoinette was beheaded… among 1,342 others). We ventured past the Royal Palace and Madeline and then stopped to get some crepes. They didn’t make them fresh though.. that was kind of a letdown.


Outside the Grand Palace... not really sure why the baby is attacking the other one though...?



Place de la Concorde.


Crepes.

(Estefonia in Plaza de la Reina in Valencia makes a mean crepe… maybe she’s just so good the French can’t top that?Idk.)

Anyways, from there we went to the Louvre. Walking in Dan Brown’s footsteps…. Haha. We attempted to get in for free, but they wouldn’t accept our Valencia IDs. Lameness. So we paid 9 Euros or so…




The Louvre...

But we got to see the Mona Lisa. (She does have a very awkward smirk on her face… I wonder why? And no matter where you were in the place, it felt like she was staring us down…) We also saw ‘The Wedding Feast in Cana’ (such a funny painting… I love how everyone in the painting is drunk… it’s a good one to stare at) and a bunch of paintings our Women Writers prof has showed us. So that was pretty cool.


Mona Lisa.

Then we went into a different wing of the Louvre and somewhat stumbled upon ‘Venus de Milo’. The exhibition is kind of a work-in-progress, but it was really cool to see something like that in real life. It was weird because you could walk around it though… I’d never seen it from the side before.


Venus de Milo...

From there we metro-ed it to this hill ‘Monmarte’ to watch the sunset over the city. It was beautiful up there, but cold. (The whole time we were in Paris I wore 2 pairs of pants, a tank-top, a shirt, a cardigan, a sweatshirt, my chupa- leather coat, and a scarf.)



We went into a Basillica for warmth and sat down there. Then we walked around and saw the tourist shops… I bought a picture and a thing to keep it in. (We decided it’d be a good weapon on the streets if need be too…)

Once the sun set it was freezing. It was a sketchier part of the city at night (apparently we were right by the Moulin Rouge… if only we walked a little ways further down the sketchy street... Oh well!) So we found the metro line to take us towards the hostel.

When we got off the metro, we found a grocery store and bought some food for dinner. We grabbed some yogurt for lunch, but we had literally walked around for 12 hours. We sat down twice. Once at the Louvre in front of the Venus de Milo statue, and once in the Basilica… crazy.

So we were some starvin marvins. We inhaled the bread, cheese and tomatoes we bought. Then we went upstairs. Figured out the game plan for the next day. Decided we wanted to see the Opera House from Phantom of the Opera… we then had a jam session singing Phantom for the next 45 min. I’m pretty sure everyone thought we were crazy…. Then it was bedtime layers and bed.

Friday:
Friday we woke up, and lucked out with another beautiful sunny day. We had breakfast, then metro-ed to the Opera House. It was really pretty, and no wonder it inspired what’s-his-face to write Phantom of the Opera. The only letdown was that we didn’t get to see the underground river. We really wanted to see it… it does exist though! We found it in a book in the bookshop.



Then we walked to meet my dear friend Erik Halvorson who is studying in Paris for the semester. Stopped and bought some yogurt on the way. We ate one while we waited for Erik.

Then when Erik met us, we walked through the Jardin de Luxembourg. We ate the rest of our yogurt there. (Rhubarb yogurt might very well be one of the best things I’ve eaten ever. Sooo good! I don’t think Activia makes it in the US though. Sad day!)
From there we decided to see the Catacombs of Paris. Erik hadn’t seen them yet, and we were up for an adventure.


LC represent.

An adventure is what we got. We bought our tickets in this little room. Then without any warning of what you’re getting into, you start to climb down, and down and down. All the stairs in Paris are spiral stairs too… so you get really dizzy after awhile.
Then we stopped climbing down, and started to make our way through the tunnels. They were just rocks though.. nothing special. I led the way too. Joy. It was somewhat lit, but I never knew what would be around a corner. We turned a lot too.

Finally we came to an open chamber. There were no bones yet though. All of a sudden Eve and Erik freak out, they were in the back. There was a rustling noise… it was one of the workers creeping on us. = / Weirdo. Then we looked at this well that was lit green and we threw a rock in it to make sure it was real. It was really eerie. Remided me of HP6. Haha.

Then we came across another chamber. That reminded me of LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring…

We kept winding our way around and then just when we thought we were almost done/wouldn’t get to see any bones, we came across them...



At first it was cool.
Then we thought it was kind of weird that someone would arrange a ton of human bones like that.
I thought it was done when we went through the first section, because it was a lot of bones.
I was wrong.
It kept going on, and on, and on.
Then we were all kind of creeped out by the amount of bones chillin out underneath the city.
And it went on, and on.
Then there were stalactites dripping from the ceiling.
We were getting covered in bone juice. (Gross.)
I was afraid I was going to slip and fall on the wet ground… and have to grab hold of a bone wall… = /
Then Eve brings up her concern from the biological standpoint of the fact that we were breathing in bone dust. Of people that died from some intense fever of sorts.

(Paris ran out of room to put the bodies of the dead in the cemeteries. So they excavated the graves and arranged the bones in weird paths and formations underneath the city… How nice?)

So after a really long time, and getting covered in bone dust/juice, we got out of the bone tunnels.
Then we climbed some more spiral stairs forever, and without much breath left in us, came out quite a ways away from where we started on a random side street in the city.

(I wonder if the people who live across the street know that that little door with no labeling on it leads down to hundreds of thousands of bones chillin out underneath their homes? Just a thought….)

So…I still don’t know how I feel about that experience.
At first it was cool. Then I was really weirded out. Then kind of creeped out. It was interesting to say the least..

From there, we had to figure out where in the world we were, and then we decided to metro it to Notre Dame.

We went inside Notre Dame, and there were a ton of people going in. It was really beautiful though. I loved all the stained glass windows!



Then we went and grabbed a croissant, and Erik took us past the place where Napoleon is buried. Then we decided to walk towards the Eiffel Tower for kicks. The sun was setting, so the sky was all pink and purpley. Pretty. Took more pics.

Then we had to use the bathroom, so we ventured towards the free one that disinfects floors. When we were all done, it was dark already and the Tower lit up. Then the bells of the city chimed 7, and the Tower started to blink and flash lights. Super guay.



From there we took the metro to our Hostel, and then decided to walk towards the Bastille and grab some pizza.

It was good. And the restaurant gave us some strong drinks on the house. Then we ventured back to the Hostel, and said goodbye to Erik.

Then we had a ‘Mamma Mia’ jam session. We all had “Our Last Summer” stuck in our heads for some reason, and then we went to bed.

Saturday:
It was a sad day to wake up. We didn’t want to leave Paris. It was soo beautiful, and there were many things we didn’t have time to see.

We ate breakfast. Put on the layers. And then packed up everything.
We checked out, and with a sigh left our hostel with all our belongings.

We then walked to Notre Dame and waited in line. Keep in mind that we have our backpacks right now.

After half an hour we made it to the front to go in. I whipped out my Valencia ID. The girl was quite confused with it. ( Probs cause I don’t look like I should have an ID for the Universat de Valencia..) Then in English, she asked me how old I was. I responded in Spanish. She was really perplexed… then she let me in for free.
(That’s how you do it.)

Then we climbed up. Saw the Bell. Walked in Quasimodo’s footsteps...

It was really pretty up there. You could see the river, the Eiffel Tower… actually the whole city.





Coming down was a struggle though. On the way up we stopped at different levels… but it was a straight shot down. On the spiral stairs. No breaks. And we had our backpacks.

We got soo dizzy. And halfway down we all thought we were going to vom. Right then and there.

We made it though. Without vomiting. Or passing out. So that was good.

We just stood on the firm ground for a few minutes. Our legs were shaking like crazy!

Then we decided to walk around a bit.
We checked out some souvenir shops. I bought a mini Eiffel Tower.
(My room next year is going to be totally decked out European style. I’m excited!)

Then we bought some yogurt for lunch. This time a variety pack.
From there we found the metro, got kind of confused with the RER lines to the airport, but eventually figured it out.

On the metro, a man was playing an accordion. It was the perfect way to leave Paris. Sitting in silence… listening to the accordion. It was like an ode to our trip.

When we got to the airport we got off on the wrong terminal stop, so we had to get on the shuttle. We got to the right Terminal eventually, and then we ate our yogurt quick. Went through security and then waited around for our flight.

It was sad to leave Paris…. It was beautiful, and we had so much fun.

We eventually boarded the plane, and we had a pretty good flight. No problemos.

Then we took the metro back to our homes.
Paris bid farwell with an accordion.
Valencia greeted us with explosives.


Quotes from our trip:

-“Braderie: Don’t hesitate, just go inside”
-We’ll be just like Dan Brown… walkin in his footsteps…”
-“Does the window lock?”
-“Is this your first hostel experience… Haha”
-“Why would you say that right now… when we’re at the mercy of the bed bugs!?!”
-“All I could think about… was the movie ‘Taken”
-“I’m going to assume that was a happy scream”
-“I’m going to assume those were happy bells and not chains being dragged up the stairs…”
-“I think you’ve got some bone dust on your shoulder… gotta brush that off for ya”
-“Struggle. Is my middle name.”
-“I feel safer when it’s smaller” (That’s what she said.)
-“Legs of steel!”
-“You could hard-core die from that… not just a little dying… A LOT of dying.” (Referring to Meningitis.)
-“Normally you’d do it on the floor.. I think the bed’s hard enough.”
-“It’s called the Embryo dance…”
-“We’re just like little Nomads…”
-“I think I’m going to vom.”
-“I paid enough for this flight, they at least better provide me with a place to piss!” (Remarking on the fact that the airport tried to charge us to use the restrooms.)


Sunday:
It’s kind of weird to be back in Valencia. My madre was happy to have me back. Upset that we lived on bread and yogurt for five days… whatever. I’m fine with it, so she really shouldn’t care. She even made me watch a movie with her after I showered and ate. Funny lady she is.

Then I slept in today… Eve and I went to the Mascleta. That was crazy. I also watched/listened to a group of five six year olds play with explosives underneath my window for five hours this morning… and then they went back at it after lunch when I was napping…

Well… I have been putting off homework. I should get on that. Good news is that I have 3 days of class this week. Then we go to Granada. Then it’s week of Fallas, so no class. No work. Just streets barricaded off with huge wooden sculptures waiting to be lit on fire.

Sorry it’s kind of a long one… but Paris was amazing… and I couldn’t leave anything out.