Las FALLAS!

So, it's about to get all kinds of crazy in here.... I didn't realize it, but Las Fallas is the 3rd largest festival in the world. First is Carnival, and second is Mardi Gras! So, this is big. Anne and I found a Fallas TV channel today even...

Every day there is a Mascletà, which is a ton of fireworks/firecrackers/just fire in general. This takes place in the Plaza de Ayunamiento everyday until now until March 19th... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg6kytl6D9s&feature=related. It's so your body can get used to the feeling of the explosives!

Els Castells and La Nit del Foc
On the nights of the 15, 16, 17, and 18th there are firework displays in the old riverbed in Valencia. Each night is progressively grander and the last is called La Nit del Foc, the night of fire.

March 15--La Plantà
The day of the 15th all of the falles infantils are to be finished being constructed and later that night all of the falles mayores are to be completed. If not, they face disqualification.

March 17 & 18th--L'Ofrenda floral
Each falla casal takes an offering of flowers to the virgin, and then the virgin's body is then constructed with these flowers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h6mGlHbPOU.

March 19th!!!--- La Cremà
On the final night of Falles, around midnight on March 19th, these fallas are burnt as huge bonfires. This is known as the cremà, i.e. "the burning", and this is of course the climax of the whole event, and the reason why the constructions are called fallas ("torches"). Traditionally, the falla in the Plaça de l'Ajuntament is burned last.

p.s. I leave for Paris TOMORROW! SUPER EXCITED!!! Life is great here. No other way to describe it. Oh, and today in one of my classes we figured out how many class periods we have left. 7. That's it. We never have class... life is a party in Spain. palabra.

I am an Early Bird, and I'm a Night Owl

Today I was talking to Eve, and we were talking about how hard it is going to be to have to go back to normal school after this. I feel like we’re going to have so much work to do, but at the same time be bored out of our minds… basically the opposite of here. Haha.

So this weekend was fun-filled of course. On Friday we did a lot of walking for class, and then ISA took us to see the Niñot exposición. It’s basically all the miniature versions of the Fallas, and then you walk through and then vote on which one should be the lucky chosen one to get saved. They were all really cool, and I voted to save Michael Jackson… so we’ll see if he wins.

Then Kelsey and I went into the centro commercial to do some shopping before Rebajas are officially over. Rebajas are their sales in stores. It only happens twice a year, Winter and Summer, and when they’re not going on, things are a lot more expensive. So I bought a pair of sunglasses, and she bought some boots for 9E, so that was good!

We walked all the way back home from there, and that took us about an hour or so. Since my feet are in a constant state of blistering pain now, we decided to have a chill Friday night. We went to OpenCor and bought some potato chips- (I have not had any since I’ve been over here.) We were also going to buy some alcohol, but apparently they stop selling it at 10:30 here, which is weird because over here the night is still very young--- (most times hasn’t even begun yet). So our friend Don Simon couldn ‘t join us… which was sad at first.

We ended up going to a playground though, and crawling through these ropes several feet off the ground. So in the end it was prolly good we couldn’t get anything. But we had a lot of fun in the playground and definitely played in it for a couple of hours.

Then we decided to go to Portland’s and have a drink since we were really close. So we did that, and then we went home and to bed.

Saturday was our trip to the City of Arts and Sciences. It was Super guay!

First off we saw an IMAX film, “Egipto Secretos de las Momias.”

Ummm it is currently Sunday night as I am typing this out, and there are more explosives going off. They keep on getting louder and longer each day now, and that’s the way it’s going to be until Fallas… it’s been about 10 min now, and it’s at approximately thunderstorm level right now. There are constant bangs, some really loud ones, and some that shake all the buildings! It’s soo crazy and I’m beginning to understand why we won’t be able to sleep for a whole week. But the daily explosives are getting me excited for Fallas, and the pyromaniac in me really wants to see big things burning soon too.

Anyways, IMAX film was amazing, and then we made our way over to the Oceanografic. The Oceanografic was separated by different zones of the world- Mediterranean, Arctic.. etc. So, it was cool, and I really liked walking through the tunnels where the fish are surrounding you, but Eve and I decided that it still doesn’t have anything on the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

We were going to stay for the dolphin show, but then decided that coffee was more of a dire need and so we went across the street to the Centro Commercial. –this one was different from the one we went to the night before.

We got our caffeine fix, and then started shopping. We were looking at boots, because I have worn a hole in the bottom of mine, but I didn’t find any I liked. Kelsey and I bought some clothes for super cheap- matching shirts but different colors. We’re probs going to wear them in Paris this week! : ) We also went into the store CarreFour which is apparently like Walmart back home. I bought a pair of flip flops to wear around the apartment for 2E and then we bought some alcohol to bottelin later. We finally found Bicardi Breezers too, which was really exciting because we’ve been trying to find them! Haha.

Then we made the longest trek ever back to our homes. We walked through the parque del rio and then when I finally got home, I ate dinner quick and crashed for a couple of hours.
Then we all met up again, bottelined it in the park and then headed to Barrio de Carmen. We went to this club Music Box because we got in fo free and then we got these little coupons for free mojitos too. So we used their bathroom, got a free drink, sat on their comfy couches, and then left. Then we met up with some peeps at Café New Orleans, but it was closing so then we decided to go to Bolseria, a sweet club that had roses hanging from the ceiling. We chilled there for awhile, and then we wanted to find another drink.. but we refused to pay for one. (Cause that ‘s how we roll).

So we wandered around a bit, went to a Donner Kabab place. Kelsey and I split one. It was heavenly. Then we decided to make our way back to Blasco Ibañez, which is the street more towards ISA/the university/home for me. It was a little after 4, so we decided that we’d be lame and go home. (It’s the norm to stay out til 7 or 8 in the morning here, and so when I say we were lame going home at 4, it’s like going home from the bar at 11:30 or something in the US). It will be easier to stay out til 7 or 8 during Fallas though, because we can bottelin it more, and then there’s more stands outside.

Then today I woke up after a couple hours of sleep and we went to the Mercado Redonda. There was everything there—clothes, pottery, plants, animals, basically anything you can imagine, someone’s selling. I bought a bunch of gifts for peeps and then came back home. Ate lunch. Slept. Woke up. Ate dinner. When I’m finished with this, I’m going to do some homework and then go to bed.

This week I only have 5 classes. Two are canceled. One I am skipping and going to Paris. It’s a great life, and it just keeps getting better with time.

Historias de San Valentin

Last night I went out with Anne and Christina. We "botellíned" it in the park... (spent some time with our dear friend Don Simon) and then we went to the cine.

We saw "Historias de San Valentin" which was pretty good. Quite the all-star cast. It was weird without Ashton Kutcher or Julia Robert´s voices but... it was good.

It´s beautiful life, and it´s a beautiful world, and it´s a beautiful time to be here... to be here.

So not going to lie, the first three weeks here were really rough. It was hard to adjust to everything so quickly. I missed home, my family, friends, Luther... I really didn´t like Valencia (I thought I might have chosen the wrong city or something) and I wanted to get over with this as soon as possible and get home.

In the past few weeks though I have had a complete change of heart. (basically since we´ve gotten back from Barcelona) I absolutely LOVE Valencia, and it feels like my third home. It´s an amazing city, and I am just wishing I had more time here to do and see more things- and experience Valencia in the summer.

It just kind of messes with my mind when I think about how I was wishing time away, and now I feel like I don´t have enough time here. (But that´s kind of the way life is though I guess.)

Oh and in less than a week I will be in Paris!

We spontaneously bought plane tickets... so we leave Wednesday after our classes. Luckily I don´t have any classes on Thursdays, and then one of my classes is cancelled on Friday. So I´m only missing one class with the whole trip.

And it has been gorgeous here... 70s and sunny. perfect.

Basically, I love life right now! : )

Oh Valencia! How I love thee… Weekend of epic proportions.

Day # 1: (Friday)

It’s still dark here, so that’s a good sign… it might be 5 AM as I’m typing this out…

So Kelsey and I decided we were going to do something tonight, so we wouldn’t just sit inside on a Friday night. Then our roommates (both are named Anne) decided they wanted to hang out with each other… so in the end, we all decided to do something.
I was really tired and Anne B. (Kelsey’s roomie) decided we’d go to this restaurant to have coffee with Bailey’s. It was delicious. I love coffee, I love Bailey’s… put them together, and you have something special.

Anne B. has many amigos espanoles, so we went to bar and said hi to all of them, but then we decided to go to Portaland’s since we have many free drinks there. We chilled there for awhile. I saw one of the guys I talked to on Wednesday- dos besos. We stayed there for a really long time. Finally it was time for Portland’s to close, so we decided to start walking home.


Kelsey and I in Portland's

Then this group of English/Irish/Scottish lads started talking to us… they talked us into going to a bar across the street with them. It was a super guay bar, and then the guys bought us shots. They were quite the group of funny blokes. We chatted with them all- there were only like 10 of them. I was talking in Spanish with some of them, and then the one guy told me that he wishes he could have my Spanish accent… which was funny. (The competition is really improving my Spanish, not going to lie.)

Then the blokes found out I was from Wisconsin, so they were quite excited about that. Apparently they know some people from Wisconsin in Madrid. Then it was about 4 in the morning and the guys wanted us to go to a club with them underneath the City of the Arts and Sciences. The one guy really wanted to have a dance-off with me.

However, being the Americans that we are, we were tired so all of us but Anne B. decided to go home. On the way home, we met some Spaniards. We were waiting at a stop light when they asked us our opinion on calling someone who gives you their number at the bar. (My roomie Anne H. just had a horrible experience with this, so we were indifferent…) Then we got to talking to them since we were walking the same way home. I talked to the girl, Melia, and we found out that we take classes in the same building and we all go to the Universat de Valencia. Pues, when we came across their apartment, we kept talking with them for a good 10-15 min or so on the sidewalk. In the end we exchanged phone numbers, and we are going to hang out to improve each other’s English/Spanish.

So, a random chain of events that has led to one of the most fun and best nights I have had in Valencia…

Day #2: (Saturday)

First off, my roomie Anne H., got up after approximately 3 hours of sleep and went to Alicante today.

I surprisingly woke up around 9:30 AM, so after a few hours of sleep I was somewhat awake. Kelsey and I were going to go to Xativa and we made plans to meet the night before… she text me, and I told her that we should meet later, after more sleep, comida, and that maybe we should just stay in Valencia after all. (I had the blinds closed and I assumed it was horrible weather like we have been having here.)

Then I went to the kitchen, and was surprised by the glorious sun. So, I called Kelsey back and told her to ignore my text and continue on with our plans.

We met up and then went to the train station, bought a ticket for there and back for 6.90 Euros. When we got to Xativa, Kelsey received a call from her roomie, Anne B. who wanted to meet up with us there.

Kelsey and I ate lunch in a park, went to Mercadona and bought a baguette, soda, and chocolate. Then we made our way up the mountain to the castle. (This mountain is bigger than the one in Sagunto… it took us about an hour and a half to make our way up there…).


Making our way up to the castle...


We stopped in a cave to drink our sodas!

Then we were right outside of the castle when we ran into some other girls from our program… so random! Then we went in the castle, and Anne called and said that her friend Fran was just driving her there in his car and that she’d be there soon. So we made our way in, explored around for a bit, and then finally Anne and Fran caught up with us.







We stayed in the castle until it closed and then made our way down the mountain and proceeded to try and find Fran’s car. It took awhile, but we found it. Then Kelsey and I had the choice of either using our train tickets to get back to Valencia, or Fran said he’d drive us back. We decided the car ride sounded nice, and so I rode in my first car in Spain! It was comfortable and warm and if I hadn’t wanted to see the landscape out the window so much, I would have fallen asleep immediately. Then he drove us all home, so we didn’t have to walk in the cold. : )


Sunset.


Kelsey, Anne and I


The city at night...

So, another fun day, but I am exhausted. There is no one home right now, and it’s cena time so I’m debating whether I should stay awake for a little while longer, or just go to bed. Vale.

Day #3: (Sunday)

Today was kind of an icky day… cold, rainy. We caught up on some missed sleep from the other night, and I was going to go to church and the market in the center, but since I’m coughing/sneezing/blowing my nose every 5 minutes I decided that walking 45 minutes to the other side of the city in the rain wouldn’t be a good idea. So I started to read the packet of homework I haven’t started to do yet.

For comida, our madre made us a warm rice dish with chicken, mushrooms, beans, garlic, and a bunch of other random things in it. Not going to lie- Elvira’s been uping her game on the cooking. This past week she made musaca, and the ever-so-famous paella.

During comida we had an intense discussion that started out about smoking. Elvira’s like 71 years, she’s never been able to quit… She talked about how the government keeps telling you it’s bad for your health, but at the same time they love the money that they get from the tobacco industry. It was really interesting. Then she talked to us about prostitution, and what she calls a “puta.” She said there’s a difference between the woman on the street who’s selling her body to feed her kids at home, and the one who loves money so much and has a house, husband, kids but hooks up with the German guy coming into town for the weekend to get a couple thousand Euros (this is the “puta”.)Some very interesting conversation for comida?

Then Anne and I took a three hour siesta. : )

When we woke up we decided that we needed to get out of the apartment for awhile. So we walked to the old part of town. We wandered into the Basilica and there was a mass going on, but it was half over… so then we went to the cathedral and mass was just starting. So we went to mass. The cathedral is SO huge, and the priest’s voice really echos, so at times it was difficult to understand what he was saying. But for the most part it was really nice, and contrary to Brian Doudna’s belief, we didn’t have to pay to go to church in the Cathedral. Haha.

Then we wandered around a bit more. Anne bought some stuff in a shop. Then we saw a bunch of fireworks and we started getting really excited for Las Fallas. It’s like 3 weeks from now! Can’t wait! It’s interesting too, because they are redoing the flooring in the Plaza de la Reina. It’s been going on since we got here… they’re almost done. (They have to be for Las Fallas.) But it really doesn’t make sense to me… they’re redoing it all only to have a ton of people come, trash it, and then blow stuff up on it..? Idk.

But I really love Valencia right now. I kind of wish we would be here for the summer. I bet it’s just gorgeous…

Vale.

This week has gone by quite quickly, it’s hard to believe it’s already Friday. I’m currently working on our trip to Ireland and then we’re trying to figure out a weekend trip to Paris. There are only 2 weekends where I don’t have a plan yet…. It’s going to be crazy from here on out.

The competition is going well. Vale vale.

Wednesday we went to this bar called “Portland’s.” The guy who owns it is originally from the U.S. (Portland, Oregon). Every Wednesday they have intercambios take place- it’s mostly Spanish people who want to improve their English. So we speak English with people, and then the owner of the bar gives us a card for 4 free pints of beer and also gives us food. It’s a pretty good deal, and it was a fun way to get to know some different people. Eve and I sat at a table with 5 guys. One was actually French, but had had a girlfriend in the US, once was a substitute teacher, one worked with Bio in a factory, and the other two were students. It was a pretty good deal, and actually the first time I’ve gone to a bar in Valencia.

Anne received a care package… I might have been more excited for it than she was. It contained: Macaroni and cheese, cappuccino things, a water bottle, 3 Anne of Green Gables books, and TWILIGHT! We watched the movie last night… it was glorious.

Today I only had one class, the other was cancelled. My professor (whom I like to refer to as Slughorn) calls me Sa-menth-a. Like “menta” or mint. So then he’s started calling me peppermint. I had to turn in a card with my picture on it… and then he looked at my picture, and says in front of the whole class- “Oh how beautiful. I bet the Spanish like to kiss you. It’s customary to get kissed twice on the cheek, but I bet you get more….” Awkward. I really didn’t know what to say…. Then he moved on to a girl named Hannah, but he calls her “henna”, and a girl named Colleen that he calls “Cow- leen.” Needless to say, that class is interesting.

This weekend Elvira’s grandson will be staying with us. I am excited! He is a really fun kid.

I think I might do a day trip somewhere tomorrow, but we never plan these things out ahead of time. We just go to the train station and more or less take the next train leaving for somewhere. I always feel really spontaneous on our day trips. It's fun.
All for now- Hasta luego!

“¡A Por Todas!”...o en otras palabras- “Bring it On!”

Right now I’m in a competition with Eve and Kelsey. We are trying to go a whole week without speaking English.

There are 2 exceptions:
1.Talking on the phone/Skyping with parents.
2.Singing to English music. (It’s all Spanish people listen to here anyways.)

We’ll see who will be the winner… but I think if we can all get through the week without English, we will all be winners. Vale.