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Published: August 20th 2008
My time here has been somewhat tainted by Iberia Airlines. They have lost my luggage and tell me that they have no idea where it could possibly be in the world. My first week here I spent shopping to replace all necessities. I guess I have bad luck with luggage… but on the plus side, it won’t be hard for me to travel light through Europe now.
Valencia is a precious city, with intricate streets that don’t even resemble Shanghai in the slightest. I suffered a bit from mentionitis in the beginning, having to restrain myself from talking about how much better Shanghai is in a million little ways. However, I am coming to appreciate Valencia, and to regret not having done that much over the past two weeks since I arrived.
I have made some good friends out here. First, I have my flatmates Eline (who left two days ago) and Thomas (from Germany and France, respectively). We have spent a lot of time together over the past couple weeks. I am proud to say that I went out consecutively for 6 days in a row, Monday through Saturday, this week… all in the name of wishing Eline a good trip home! Tonight I will be going to a futbol game - Valencia vs Real Madrid. And then I plan on sleeping all next week.
Susan is here in Valencia with me, and it has been great! She has a fun set of friends at her school, so I always have someone to be with. We did have a little accident when we were doing botellon (drinking in the streets, or in our case… on the beach) last week. After walking with a bottle of sparkling wine for a few blocks, the bottle was sufficiently pressurized that when it tipped over it seriously exploded. Unfortunately for Susan’s chin, a piece of glass flew up thee feet or more and took a good chunk of her skin with it. Thank god she’s a trooper and is handling her stitches fantastically.
Some things I’ve learned regarding gastronomic delights in Spain: It is always okay to eat chorizo raw, bocadillos are incredible (even if not particularly healthy), getting veggies is so difficult that I have to cook here in casa, it’s possible (if not desirable) to buy a bottle of wine for one euro, and I love horchata (the traditional Spanish drink made of tubers). I live in the apartment of Clemente, who is technically my landlord but really more like a host father. He’s fantastic.
One thing I find fascinating is that, despite the promoting the same mission, Susan and my schools have vastly different social environments. Hers is 2.5 times bigger than mine. The level of English seems to be higher, since all the students speak English or their native language with one another. In my school, we all speak Spanish together, 90% of the time. While almost all the students say that their English is better than their Spanish, they all still prefer to speak Spanish… which suits me just fine. I’ve found a few people I could have a really good relationship with despite the language barrier, and I can feel my Spanish improving. What I really need now is to have real Spanish friends so I can get a handle on the accent and slang.
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jelena!
non-member comment
ahh!
I cant believe i JUST discovered your travelblog. this would have provided me with so much entertainment over the summer. nonetheless, it is very cool and it looks like you have been having a great time in china and spain. i'm jealous of your travels. senior year is great. classes = good. friends = fun. pibv = so many cute new people and great stuff in the works! let me know when you are coming back to ny! i might be going up to ny on the weekend of oct 18th with some other PIBVers to meet up with people we worked with in mexico. perhaps we can rendezvous. i also cant wait to see how you like bain, who you work with and what bay you sit in. burning man bay is the bomb.