{"id":276,"date":"2025-01-17T13:08:16","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T18:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carolineroshelli.com\/blog\/?p=276"},"modified":"2025-01-24T10:21:41","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T15:21:41","slug":"eating-the-worlds-best-burger-and-exploring-valencia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carolineroshelli.com\/blog\/eating-the-worlds-best-burger-and-exploring-valencia\/","title":{"rendered":"Eating the World’s Best Burger and Exploring Valencia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Peset<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Welcome back to week number two of this blog! This was our first week in Valencia, starting on Friday afternoon (1\/10). Our stay here started off with all of us hauling our massive suitcases through the cobblestone streets and stone sidewalks from the bus about 600 meters to the Peset, our dorm building. It is a small gift to know I won’t have to do that again, at least for a few more months! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our dorm room here in the Peset is much larger than the one I lived in my freshman year at UGA, but at the same time, it has made me much more appreciative of the much more sound-proof quality of those rooms. Most of us have taken to using ear plugs or some sort of noise machine to block out the sound of slamming doors, a ringing church bell, and most notably a street that seems to be always bustling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a more positive note, the other students here at the Peset have been nothing but kind and helpful as I have staggered my way through conversations during dinner. The day we arrived, we were peered at and observed quietly from a distance until dinner, when a few students started to chat with us. From there it was a flood of one side of the cafeteria coming to mingle and chat until we were all crowded around a few tables. The dining hall food here has definitely been hit or miss, but as my grandfather would say, the quality of the company that you dine with far outshines the quality of the food. Apart from eating dinner together, we’ve begun to venture into the game room where many of the Peset students like to hang out! I don’t know about the others in my group, but I very quickly became aware that I was no match for the UV students. Anna Rose and I played futbal\u00edn (foosball) with two of the students and were nothing short of handicaps to their playing ability. Nonetheless they were kind and welcoming, and we parted with a promise to practice before the next time we played. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pool in the Game Room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The First Night at Dinner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

My first day of classes was quite busy! Class starts at 9, so we had to be in the lobby by 8:15 to walk over. The alarm went off at 7 and Anna Rose and I managed to shuffle down to breakfast by 7:45. The picture below is of the breakfast cafeteria from the point of view of the courtyard (there’s a separate one where we have lunch and dinner). Breakfast has so far definitely been my favorite meal. I can already tell I’m going to miss the croissants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mondays and Wednesdays for me include three classes back to back from about 9am-1:50pm. All of my professors so far seem absolutely wonderful. This being said, that last class of the day is gonna be a fight to stay awake through! Listening to the rapid Spanish has definitely gotten easier already, but it still tires me out so much faster than a normal class. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A little highlight was our culture professor, Tony, going around and asking our class when they normally eat dinner. Answers ranged from 5pm-9pm. Anything early than 8pm to him was deemed practically a crime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The other night the girls in our group got together and started planning out where we wanted to go in these next few months before time started to get away from us. After searching through flights and hostels and throwing around city ideas for a while, a sudden wave of something I have no other words to describe except “oh this is crazy<\/em>” hit me. I suddenly became aware of how insane it was that I was debating about why we should go to Paris instead of Amsterdam or why we should wait and plan to go to Mallorca this weekend<\/em> instead of that weekend<\/em>. This really has already been such a crazy hectic and wonderful experience, and I have a feeling that it’s not going to slow down anytime soon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In some of our free time since arriving, our group has gone on a few adventures, including a beach trip! The beach is only about a 15 minute tram ride from the local station, which was a huge discovery. By the time we arrived though, we were all ready to head straight to some lunch before actually stepping on to the beach. With such a big group, options are limited. We ended up at this place that was actually a collection of mini restaurants with a shared courtyard\/dining space. Some of our group went in search of bocadillos, or pizza, or even some thai food, all of which looked pretty good. Four of us went in search of burgers. The world’s best burger to be exact. Hundred’s Singular<\/em> burger. The line was long, but we decided to commit. 30 minutes pass and we finally get to put our orders in, and it’s a struggle. No formal Spanish learning preps you to be asked how you want it cooked or what size patty you want or if you’re okay with all the toppings, but nonetheless we persisted. Another 15 minutes passed as we waited for the burgers to be cooked and the anticipation was palpable in the air. The rest of the group had already eaten and left for the beach, and we were left, staring at our buzzers, anxiously awaiting the moment they’d go off. When James’ buzzer lit up, he LEPT from the table towards Hundred, and soon Oliver, Hannah and I followed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The burgers were fantastic. Average rating: 9.5\/10 .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday after class we had a ginkana<\/em> (scavenger hunt) set out for us by Manuel and Dr. Baker. My group was Anna Rose, Kelsey, James, and I. We made it back second, but are still in the running for possibly winning because we found more of the locations. Some brief highlights from the ginkana include: getting help from two little old ladies in a cafe, getting help from a student who pulled up next to us on his bike and said “I was told y’all needed help”, and receiving directions from a handsome and kind man who is now practically a local celebrity to our group. Anna Rose and Caroline Archer ran into him the next day in a shop near us called Suerte Suerte, and he has now since been deemed “Suerte Suerte Man”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of our scavenger hunt locations<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Suerte Suerte Man<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday after classes we had a planned group activity to go and climb the Miguelete Tower and visit the cathedral. The climb up was a narrow spiral of stone stairs that led to the top of the bell tower and amazing views. It was just the most perfectly clear day! Then afterwards our program directors Manuel (pictured below) and Dr. Baker surprised us all with a trip to a local bakery for churros and chocolate, which was the perfect end to the day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rylee, Ava, Me, Caroline A, and Emma
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Manuel and I!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

After churros, a few of us pulled the trigger and bought tickets to Paris for the weekend at the end of the month! So a very fun blog update to come I’m sure! For my readers who have been to Paris, we are looking for any must see\/must eat recommendations that you may have! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of today, Friday (1\/17), was spent on a little day trip to the town of Albufera, a small, quiet town about 13 miles south of Valencia. Its quiet beauty was further muted by the gray sky and cold drizzle that had settled into the landscape. The cold was no great obstacle though, as shortly after arriving we all piled into the back corner of a local restaurant. Albufera is the birthplace of paella, a Spanish dish traditionally made up of rice, rabbit, chicken, beans, and tomato. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The paella was delicious! We had two different kinds, a seafood variation and the classic valencian style. We also got dessert which was a cinnamon icecream with fresh orange slice that had cinnamon sprinkled over top of them. It was delightful. Afterwards while waiting for the bus to arrive, all 20 or so of us curled up into a small bakery where a few people got coffee to help fend off the cold. The woman who was running the bakery kindly gifted us a bag of small butter croissants, and when Mattias attempted to pay her for them, she insisted that he take another bag of chocolate croissants, should he wish to leave the euros on the counter. It didn’t take much convincing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a stomach full of paella, oranges, and fresh croissants, I am going to end this blog post here. Nos vemos!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sincerely, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caroline<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Welcome back to week number two of this blog! This was our first week in Valencia, starting on Friday afternoon (1\/10). Our stay here started off with all of us hauling our massive suitcases through the cobblestone streets and stone sidewalks from the bus about 600 meters to the Peset, our dorm building. It is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-january-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolineroshelli.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolineroshelli.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolineroshelli.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolineroshelli.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolineroshelli.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/carolineroshelli.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322,"href":"https:\/\/carolineroshelli.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions\/322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolineroshelli.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolineroshelli.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolineroshelli.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}