Welcome to my tenth blog post! It’s been a busy week and a half since I last updated, and I’m excited to share all that I’ve been up to! I have started to consider banning “busy” from my vocabulary in these posts, simply because life here never likes to slow down too much. Something which I wouldn’t change for the world.
Friday afternoon (2/21) our group took a trip the the University of Valencia’s Botanical Gardens, which were absolutely stunning. They had large greenhouses full of towering jungle plants, and beautiful ponds filled with all kinds of little water lillies. Here’s the website if you have any interest of seeing more of it! Link to the Botanic Gardens Website
Last week, on a whim, Anna Rose, Caroline R, and I got tickets to go and see the Valencian Orchestra perform at the Palau de Música. We nearly ran across the city to make it on time, only for it to start 15 minutes late, or “on time” for Spaniards. It was wonderful! They had a 16 year old guest violinist who absolutely amazing. I’ve never seen someone more their fingers and arm that fast. I swear her fingers flew across the strings!
On Friday we took another day trip with the ERASMUS program to Alicante, a Spanish region to our south. The day started in Villajoyosa, a relatively small but lively beach town about two hours from Valencia. The city is known for Las Casas de Colores, which you can see above. Even with the cloudy sky, it was quite beautiful.
We didn’t have much time in the town, but with the time we did, we explored the narrow streets, a small market, and the port! I grabbed another magnet to add to my collection- I really can’t wait to cover my fridge in everything I’ve picked up. It’s gonna be a bit hectic, but I think the perfect ode to all the adventures I’ve been on! Anna Rose also took some super cute photos here, which have already made their way to my Instagram, alongside a song from Bad Bunny’s new album, DtMF, which has been on repeat for me.
From there we went to Altea, about thirty minutes down the coast. In almost perfect contrast to the colorful buildings of Villajoyosa, the homes of Altea shined a warm white. The narrow streets of the old city were accented by vibrant green doors and flowery blue tiling on balconies. I grabbed a delicious salmon, arugula, brie, and tomato bocadillo for lunch, which I happily chowed down on while watching the waves on the rocky beach. Altea was built on a hill, and at the very top sat a beautiful church. It stood out to me from the others I’ve seen because of the color palette. The major pillars behind the altar were built from this beautiful rosy stone, and the painted angels were dressed in pastel blues, pinks, and greens. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. After we got some gelato at a little shop next to the cathedral, our group reunited down at the beach to skip some rocks. I had very little (to no) luck in getting even a single skip, but Oliver emerged victorious with a record-breaking eight skips out onto the sea. Neil won the “who can throw a rock the farthest” contest by a long shot.
That evening, despite our exhaustion, our group decided to go out to the discoteca. This was highly motivated by the discovery that we could get free tickets through ERASMUS links. A lot of people were out of town for the weekend, so it ended up being a smaller group of us, which I ended up really liking. It was still eight of us, but after spending the past two months in a group of twenty, eight feels like a “small” group. This was my first time properly committing to a night out at the disco here, and it was a blast! I have no clue how on earth some of the students here do it on the regular, though. We went to Mya, arguably the most well-known spot in Valencia. When we first got there, it was English song after English song that I knew by heart (I later came to discover that this is a common thing and that most places play more Spanish music as the night goes on). After a fun-filled few hours of dancing and singing very off key to anything we knew, Neil, Neil’s sister Hannah, Caroline A, and I decided to head back. We very quickly decided we were in need of a snack, and, after grabbing our sweatshirts, headed to Donor Kebab. Donor is something of legend to our study abroad group. Everyone who has had it after a night out swears it’s the best late-night snack out there. It was my first time trying it, and, I must admit, it was pretty darn good. I understand the hype. After all was said and done, I got to bed at about 5:30am. I think that’s the latest I’ve ever stayed up. The next morning at breakfast I told my friend Elena about all of this (she’s a Spaniard) and she immediately goes “Oh! You got back pretty early!”. She was only slightly joking.
Sunday was the start of Fallas, the massive festival that consumes the city during the spring. We’ve spent days of class learning about Fallas and its importance. Our literature professor, Hector, said that understanding Fallas and how it impacts the city at all times of the year is vital for any politician that might wish to become mayor of Valencia. We’ve been told a million times about the scale of this festival, but I think it really hit me on Sunday as we navigated packed streets to see the mascletas in the Plaza de Ayutamiento and the opening ceremony at the Torres de Serranos. The streets were PACKED with people, especially at the opening ceremony. It was like a concert pit, you could barely move. The mascletas too were unlike anything I’ve experienced in my life. They were like fireworks, but without the dazzle, and so. much. louder. They let off colorful smoke into the Plaza, and as each mascleta went off, I could feel the sound reverberate through my chest. The finale let off a rapid fire sequence of the bomb-like things into the air, and the sound ricocheted off of the buildings and the marble-tiled plazas, multiplying. I was so glad I was wearing earplugs. The sound hit me so hard I almost felt like I had to take a step back, and our whole group looked at each other in shock and awe. That happens every day of Fallas, starting on March 1st, and, rumor has it, with increasing intensity every day. The ceremony that evening was much calmer, but it did involve dancers being hung from cranes, high above the crowd. This opening ceremony is known as the “Crida” or “the call”.
I found these images online and I think they do a good job of showing off what it was all like! Those white lines are the dancers!
From Sunday, the week settled down as we got our homework for each class, and I returned to working on internship applications. A nice little highlight though was going to get dinner with Astrid on Tuesday night. I met Astrid about two years ago, during the summer after my senior year of high school, while visiting my sister Liz. At the time, Liz was living in Nelson, Canada, and had amassed an international friend group, including Astrid, who’s from Sweden.
I met her at a pizza restaurant called Omio Banana over in Russafa, a neighbor of Valencia that’s just past the train station. I was a little nervous because we barely knew each other, but I ended up having a great time! The food was also delicious, too. At the restaurant they had mini pizzas, and you could only order mystery pizzas. You could specify dietary restrictions, but from there it was a complete surprise. Everything we got was yummy! I came back and immediately told all my friends that we need to return.
Wednesday night after dinner, Kelsey and Olivia asked if Anna Rose and I wanted to get gelato, and we happily obliged. That’s the delicious looking cup that you can see above.
My computer is about to die, and it’s almost time to leave for dinner (Oliver talked Anna Rose, Caroline A, and I into going to get burgers tonight and then watch a Studio Ghibli movie), so I’m going to take this as a sign to wrap this post up here! I love you all so much, and I hope you had a great week! If you’re feeling up to it you should comment one of your highlights from this past week below!
Sincerely,
Caroline
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