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Published: February 18th 2008
Flamenco
The whole gangWell, It's strange to think I've been here for a month and a day. It seems like I've been here forever, though. I've pretty much stayed in Valencia most of this time, even though I know a ton of other students who have been traveling every weekend -- Paris, London, Madrid, etc., etc. I look forward to taking a few weekend trips in the future, but it's kind of nice to be here and finally know my way around (yes, the map stays in my room instead of in my pocket these days). I'm glad I haven't been gone every weekend since arriving here because I would be so exhausted by now! However, I went to Granada this past weekend on a trip that the program planned for the students, and I had so much fun! I'm also making a list of the places I would most want to see in the future so that I can book it all very, very soon.
So far I'm still doing well. There's an interesting mix of people on the trip, though. Most people are from UVA, but there are a lot from the University of Miami in Ohio (who knew there was a
Miami, Ohio?), and then a small number from other schools. Cliques immediately formed, mostly because there were a lot of people who knew each other coming into this or planned on studying abroad together. Since I always have difficulty adjusting to new things, I wasn't quite sure where or with whom I fit in at first. However, I love my roommate (as I've said) and I've become friends with a couple of other groups of people who are really nice, fun, and outgoing and I'm happy and feeling at home. I'm sad to say there are some people that remind me of why, at first, I wasn't sure I belonged at UVA -- they constantly talk about other people, they try to impress one another by how rich their families are, etc. I was walking with people in Granada and we passed by a cafe in which a whole group of said students were sitting. We smiled and waved at them and they just stared at us, uninterested. Not a smile, not a wave -- nothing. It made me a little mad/sad at first, but later it just made me happy I am who I am and my friends are
who they are, which is nothing like them.
The other negative thing I have to say is that I've had some problems with my hostmom. She can be very irrational and irritating sometimes. For awhile she was giving my roommate and I hardly anything to eat for lunch. She also set a curfew for when my roommate and I had to leave the apartment if we wanted to go anywhere at night because she wanted to lock the door after us. However, she didn't care what time we returned and locked the door after ourselves. This curfew made it really difficult to meet up with people in the evenings. A lot of times my roommate and I ended up sitting around outside for nearly 2 hours, waiting for something to start or to meet up with our friends. Even though we pointed out to our hostmom that locking the door after we left was the same as locking it when we returned, she refused to budge on the matter. We've slowly started to resolve things. They're still not perfect, but they could be a lot worse. At this point, I just think my hostmom is silly and stuck in her
ways. For example, she told my roommate that she needed to wear socks around the house or else she could get electrocuted from walking in a puddle of water by the fridge. She told us that thousands of people die every year from being electrocuted by fridges. Mariel and I looked it up -- there have been zero recorded deaths by refrigerator electrocution. The whole thing made me laugh, though.
Now on to the positive things! For example, I still love my classes! I have this one class that requires I turn in a journal with at least 40 entries about my experiences here in Spain and while traveling. I'm already looking forward to talking about the museums I've seen, the beautiful buildings, the things that are so different here than in the US. So classes are definitely wonderful, but I'm a little nervous about having midterms next week. I'll be fine, though. I always am.
There are times when I'm doing something that makes me so happy and gives me goosebumps, and suddenly feel so content about the fact that I'm here. There are two such times that are sticking out in my mind right now. For example, several
Puppy pile!
This is at a pet store near my school. weekends ago students were invited to go to see a flamenco show at a local bar called "Radiocity." My roommate and I went with a couple of friends and arrived to find a dimly-lit, smoke-filled room with a low ceiling and warm air. There were a ton of dramatic black-and-white photographs on the walls along with pieces of brightly-colored artwork. Although the front bar was well-lit, the back bar was a more darkened room with a stage constructed out of black-painted wood and lit by red lights. The place was completely packed and buzzing with conversation, but it became suddenly quiet when a mad walked on stage and began to play a few melancholy chords on his guitar. He then began to strum and tap his guitar, making a melody and a drum-like beat all at the same time. He played so fast -- it was amazing!! He was later joined by a singer, a flutist, someone playing this box-shaped drum that he sat on and tapped, and a male dancer. Once everything came together, I literally got the chills and was so excited to be seeing this show, mostly because it's something so different from anything I'll ever see
Pretty fountain
Part of the Rio. I ate food and did homework right next to these fountains one day. in the United States.
The second instance I can think of is walking in "El Río," which I've mentioned before is an area that used to be a river which dried up and now is a long, gorgeous area with gardens, fountains, playgrounds, and ponds. Although I'd seen the part nearest my house, I'd never really walked the whole stretch of it. Anyway, I finally did one day and it's so beautiful!! I took a lot of pictures, which I'll put up here. I think my favorite part of the whole thing is this playground called "Gulliver," like in the story "Gulliver's travels" I've never read the story, but I think at one point he travels to a strange place where a whole bunch of tiny people tie him to the ground. Anyway, the playground is in the shape of this giant man being held down by small ropes, who is awakening and struggling against them. Anyway, you can climb all overy him and slide down his sides. There's even his giant hat sitting on the ground, which can be explored. I haven't played on it yet, but should have no doubt that I will. I'm looking forward to it
so much!
I feel like I have a whole bunch of other things to say that can't really form any more of an entry, so I'll just list them:
- People here smoke all the time and will even do so by a no-smoking sign! At the end of the day my hair always smells like smoke just from walking around the city. The funniest thing, but also the most frustrating, is that the bus drivers will stop at random times to take a 10-15 minute smoke break. The buses are already slow enough, but with that extra amount of time added in I've nearly missed some of my classes in the mornings.
- Spain consists of many different Provinces. Valencia is one of them, and I'm in the main part of Valencia called Valencia city. The other provinces are called Andalucia, Catalonia, Aragon, Galicia, Basque, etc. Anyway, each of these provinces has it's own language which roughly resembles the Spanish I speak (regular Spanish which is called Castellano). For example, here in Valencia they have Valenciano, which, like I said, resembles Castellano, but not enough that I can understand it at all. And, what can become confusing is that
El Rio
To the right is a huge building called Palau de la Musica, which means it's a big, fance music hall. There are orange trees inside. To the left is a really pretty fountain. occasionally signs or street names will be written in Valenciano instead of the Spanish I'm used to. In Catalonia, where Barcelona is, they speak Catalán. My host mother was telling me that Catalonia wants very much to be a distinct, separate entity from the rest of Spain and so schools in Catalonia teach only in Catalán, and will not permit kids to speak regular Spanish at any point in time, even on the playground. That must be so frustrating! I can't even imagine. I feel like keeping children from learning Castello is such a hinderance because how will they communicate with anyone outside of Catalonia?
- I had paella, the typical dish of Valencia, for the first time just last week. It's basically a rice-based dish will different types of meat (usually seafood) and vegetables cooked along with the rice in a very flavorful sauce. It was pretty good, but I wasn't entirely impressed. I feel like it must be a lot better in restaurants right by the sea, so I'll have to try some there. I asked a woman (from Spain) at a club the other night what restaurant she recommended and she named one right by the sea
called "Muñeca," so I'll make that my first stop when I venture out to try paella again.
I think there were a few more things I wanted to say, but I can't remember. Oh well. There's always the next entry.....
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