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.