Last Days in Valencia

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It is nearly time to go to London!! I leave on Saturday (tomorrow) and will have to make through the trek through the London tube on my own to Regent's Park... should be quite interesting!!

Wednesday night Grace, Sara, and I started our weekend... apparently so do the Spaniards! We didn't get crazy just went out for a couple drinks with some of the people in her program which all seem very friendly. The girls surprised me at my hotel with 3 bottles of wine all for under 3.50 euro!! The wine and water are so cheap in the stores here... one of the few perks of buying refreshments. When I came back I decided it'd be fun to count my money (even though I have written down all of my purchases and kept track) but of the 200 euros I took out of my ATM I still have 173 left! I would say I am doing quite a good job not spending money! Then again the protein bars and tuna I brought from home are definitely helping me out as well! Ha, I love my protein bars... I really can't help it.

I have also been walking to the big park in Valencia every day. It is soooo beautiful here! Blue skies and perfect temperatures... could not be better weather for walking and exploring the city (or sitting by the fountains and reading a book like I did) There was the CUTEST little boy today and he came up to me and the mother tried to speak to me in spanish but of course neither of us could break the language barrier. Nonetheless it was a nice 5 minutes to feel "immersed" in their culture so to speak. Also, it felt good that she did not assume I was American... I must be covering it up fairly well!

Later on in the day I went to Bioparc with my friends because it was one of the field trips for their biology class. I even got in free because one of the students didn't show up! For me it was basically like going to the Omaha zoo... HOWEVER something VERY VERY VERY exciting happened. Ready?! A LEMUR PEED ON MY ARM AND BAG!! Thank God I did not get crapped on because I moved out of the way before he did that! Which reminds me... I should really wash off my bag! Damn Valencia Bioparc... never again! (everyone got a good laugh out of it though!) When I got back from the bioparc I was sitting in my hotel room and heard a protest that lasted for quite some time. There were news crews and policeman on the streets preparing for it when I was getting out of the subway. Kind of scary! That night we went out again and met some other Americans. We even met an Alpha Chi from Baylor which was cool.

Since I didn't get back until 3 AM (we were the first ones in the group to leave!) I slept in quite late on Friday. We went to the beach which was fun. The water felt AMAZING and the beach was beautiful! We went shopping for a little bit after and then went to dinner at 9 PM at the same place we had dinner on the first night. Everyone eats very late here and night life doesn't even start until 12 or 1 AM. Overall it has been a very relaxing four days and wonderful to see my friends and make some new ones as well. But, I am definitely ready for London and to be in a place where I can understand everyone and they can understand me! Signing off from Valencia for now... here I come London! :)

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