Slowly becoming Valenciano

I'm a couple days late on this post but this week has been quite busy and I have had a lot of homework, but I plan on talking about that in the next post... hopefully that one comes soon. This post is about the Sunday after my birthday, it was yet another eventful day.

I slept in and woke up around 11 am, Sam (my roommate) was gone on a run so I was talking to my Madre and she invited me to go to one of her friends houses with her... there went my plan to do all my homework in the afternoon. Fernanda and I left, picked up some snacks to bring and arrived at Candela's apartment. Candela gave me a tour of her apartment which is more of a museum than anything else. She is an artist and used to be a model back in her day, now she is anywhere in between 65 and 80. Her home was full of her works and photographs, she is very talented. She showed me all of her paintings and then the pictures of her back when she was younger, she was beautiful!... and naked, that was kind of weird for me. She also showed me the revealing pictures of her very handsome son who is now a model.

Slowly filed in the 60 year old women and before I knew it, it was myself and 5 old women sitting on a balcony. They were talking 100 miles per hour about boyfriends, politics, and plenty more. They were rifling questions my way, I was doing pretty well understanding everything but I would be lying if I said I understood everything. I learned a lot of Spanish from it! It ended up being a really fun afternoon, and we are going back this Sunday for paella and to pick fresh food from the garden they all share. I am looking forward to it, and this time Sam is coming so I won't be as out numbered! I will make sure I take pictures to post next time so you guys can see.

At night we went to the last home fútbol game of FC Valencia. It was an absolutely ridiculous experience, I loved it! We went to a bar a couple hours before the game and everyone in there was singing and chanting non-stop, it was sooo loud! An absolutely crazy environment! They taught me one of the chants so I could sing along. Then we took to the streets where they were kicking flares around, waving flags, and attempting to knock down street signs. It was too much fun.

Once inside the stadium everyone was singing and cheering, I was struggling to keep up with everything, my soccer knowledge was not quite up to par. However I did make some friends to help me out named Hugo and Alejandro... they were 7... but very knowledgeable. Valencia won the game 1-0 so that was icing on the cake even thought I was hoping for a few more goals.
It was a great experience and definitely a highlight of the trip!

Flares

Kicking the flares (dangerous)

Ours seats

Los hombres del grupo

Mestalla Stadium

My Spanish Birthday

As I'm sure all of you remembered, on Saturday I finished up my second decade of existence...and what a better place to do it than in Spain! And I have to say, it was one hell of a birthday!!

I will give you guys the insider edition... the whole 24 hours, starting at 12 am, el 25 de Mayo. We started our night in our comfort zone, Portland Ale house. Its an American bar that we have been to that is always busy, and some of the waiters speak English so that is always nice. (I'm going to interrupt right there and let you know that I speak about 50% English and 50% Spanish for those of you who were about to disapprove of me for going to an American bar... also I never shut up so that 50% is a lot!) Around 2:30 am one of the bartenders took us to L'umbracle which is a garden area in the Center for Arts and Sciences. During nights it turns into an awesome night club. On the top level is the garden area with a lot of people just hanging around talking and calmly dancing (like that small side step and head bob thing that guys do.) There are lasers, a creepy dancer that looked like the mad hatter, and music going on as well. On the bottom floor is where all of the young people are. There are dancers (this time women and less creepy) and they play all the new electronic music... it was bumping.

This is the top level of L'umbracle

Lower Level

We left the club around 5 am once we realized how late it was. Everything is pushed back a couple hours here so it is normal to stay at the bars until 2 or 3 and not leave the clubs until 6 or 7 in the morning, but we had an excursion that morning so we had to go.

At 11 we met at the fútbol stadium and left for Xátiva. Its a small city in Spain that has a lot of history especially with the Catholic church as well as a pretty awesome castle. We were all quite tired from our night but everyone was a good sport, especially the girl who puked on herself on the way there. We got there, took a tour and then headed up the mountain to the castle.

The oldest working fountain in Europe (if I remember right)

One of the entrances to the church area

Inside the church, very ornate

One of the towers for the two popes that were from this area

The switch back to get to the castle

Us deciding the switch back took too long and trying to scale the mountain

Entrance to the castle

View from one end of the castle

A good majority of the group, 28 girls, 5 guys

Chilling at the highest point

View from the top

Part of the castle

Random cave under the castle

Birthday Selfie

Sadly, the photos don't do the castle justice. The view was stunning and I couldn't get over the fact that I was in a castle... in Spain... on my birthday ¡Qué Increíble!

We got back to Valencia, took a quick siesta and then most of the group headed over to the río to hang out before went to another discoteca. We headed over around 1 am and walked into a bar with a dance floor, everyone was dancing however we were the youngest people there by at least ten years so we uncomfortably danced our way out of there and asked a younger native where to go. He led us to 43 which is another discoteca with more young people. It was a very good time except the music selection was more fitting of a middle school dance than a popular night club. They played songs like the YMCA and whatever that famous song is by the spice girls. I can't say I enjoyed that kind of music as much as the music in L'umbracle.

However its pretty awesome to have the opportunity to go to bars and clubs on your birthday, they treat you well! The only thing the Spanish bars like more than birthdays are American women...  unfortunately, since I am surrounded by American women I didn't get all of the attention I thought I deserved, I mean, I am 20 now! Nevertheless I had a birthday for the history books! It was an incredible experience and I am so lucky to have been able to spend it with the second greatest group of people I know (all of you guys are the first, feel honored) and in España, the second greatest county in the world!

Until next time,
     Adam

Valencia y la cultura

Valencia was founded as a Roman colony in 183 BCE, its on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and is a big port city. It is the third largest city in Spain behind Madrid and Barcelona. Now it has became the center in Spain for the arts and sciences. Also it officially is a very religious city however recently the ties with the catholic church have weakened. Their is a river, "el rio", that run through the city, however this is very deceiving because the river never has water in it (b/c it doesn't rain here often), it is actually just a 10 km strech of gardens, playgrounds, trails, and many other attractions such as the center for the arts and sciences is at one end of the rio so the Mediterrranean has to be at the other end.

The rio is quite the hot spot for anyone in Valencia. There are beautiful gardens and statues. People are always biking and running up and down it. Soccer fields and playgrounds are scattered throughout the rio as well, it is always a busy place. As I mentioned earlier on one end is the center for the arts and sciences. This is a huge area that is absolutely stunning. The buildings are all very modern. The center houses an art museum, IMAX theater, science museum, some garden building, and the largest aquarium in Europe, I am pumped to see that. I suggest you look at pictures of the center and rio from the internet because my iPhone and photography skills do not do it any justice.

 The food here is very good, only my second dinner has been bad and its because my Madre was leaving and just made hotdogs and very greasy fries that sat out for 3 house before we at them, other than that is has been a great experience. I have yet to have paella but have already had my share of bocadillos. They eat very late here so my stomach has not been happy with me. Breakfast is next nothing, maybe a couple crackers and some coffee. Then around 2-3 we have lunch, normally a bocadillo and between 9-10 we eat dinner. I can't say I am the biggest fan of 7-8 hours between eating. We did learn that many people eat five meals a day here, a small meal every 3-4 hours, however we are only given three meals a day and don't always have time/ money for two extra meals, so we just have to adjust to it.

The public transportation here is excellent. There is a metro, bus system, and the famous valenbicis. Which are bikes you can take for thirty minutes ride to you destination and drop off the bike at the closest station. The valenbici stations are everywhere so it is very convenient and popular.

In Valencia there are two official languages.  Castellano (a Spanish dialect) and Valenciano. They are a little similar but not close enough where if you know one you can understand the other. This can be very frustrating because all of the maps we have are in Spanish and all of the street signs are in Valenciano, this makes it extremely difficult to figure out where you are on a map and is kind of ridiculous. I attribute this to be 80% of the reason we get lost so often, the other 20%, my awesome sense of direction. So far we have gotten lost every new place we have gone and had to ask a local, hopefully that will stop soon.

Valenbici

FC Valencia jersey, we are going to a fútbol game Sunday!

El Rio

Art Museum

Science Museum

Art and Science Center

 

Acclimating to Spain

Its now Friday around 8 o'clock, so far Spain has been incredible. I am loving everything about it.

     We started off Wednesday with orientation, the first day we go with our Madre so she can show us how to get there, we took the bus but it was late so of course then we were late, it wasn't a big deal though. The school is very nice, its a new facility and all of the staff is very helpful.
 
     At orientation we learned the rules of the school. They have a very strict no English rule. If you speak English you get written up and have to talk to the school director, they don't mess around.

     There are 32 students from MSU and then 120 from the University of Virginia. We got our schedules, I have a 8:30 every morning, kill me. So far the 8:30's have been kinda brutal, eventually I am going to have to learn I can't stay out so late during the week. My classes seem like they will be fun. I am in a class about Spanish literature, Spanish culture, and media and conversation. All of the professors have their PhD in whatever subject they teach and are very good at teaching so it makes the classes fun. However we did have a bad first experience with the professor in Spanish culture (who also happens to be our program director, good teacher to piss off, no?), one of the guys in my class kept pushing the teachers buttons until he snapped and reminded us that he has the right to send any of us home when he wants. It was quite uncomfortable, but he does seem like he will be a cool guy.

     After orientation, we took a tour to the historical center, it is beautiful there, lots of cathedrals. It is a very old city that started off as a roman city so there are underground ruins below the city. Here are some pictures from the historical city center

Puerta de los Serranos, the famous entrance to the historical city

Puerta de los serranos, from inside the city

Religious judicial building

They have decorative faces on all of the downspouts. Dad will like this

Two cathedrals, the one to the right is the Valencia Cathedral

Another Cathedral

Bull fighting arena

Silly little policemobile

Arriving in Spain

El Conquistador [kon-kwis-tah-dawr]- An all around bad-ass who takes everything over where ever he is. This is an official definition of this word, trust me. I found this to be an appropriate title for my European adventure this summer because by the time my study abroad group and I leave, we will have taken over Valencia.

I plan to keep my blog posts pretty short but I will add lots of pictures. As we said at brunch a picture is worth 1000 words, but I still doubt I can keep up with Rachel! Hopefully I will keep updating the blog regularly, I will do my best!

So far my trip has gone very smoothly, no real trouble with my flights and all of the airport were pretty easy to navigate. To the right is something I though I should share. Its an awesome fountain drink machine, you can get any coca-cola drink you want from it, and its touch screen.





Now I am at my house, it is very cozy. When I arrived my Madre fed us (spaghetti unfortunately, but I was hungry enough where I enjoyed it).  I have my own room so I got lucky with that. Both my roommate Sam, and my Madre are very nice. Its been a good start to whats going to be a great summer.

Emily Rocking her travel pack

My Bedroom

Bathroom

Dining Room

Living Room