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Published: March 19th 2009
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Lunes 16 marzo 2009- Class went well today, even though I had my history of Spain mid-term. The exam was tough and took the whole two hours to answer all the easy questions, but I’m glad that it is behind me. After lunch, I celebrated with a three hour siesta, lol. When I got up, I decided to go on a hunt for sunglasses because it is getting to the point that it is a required part of the attire here. I went to two different Chinese stores (like dollar stores here), but I didn’t find any that I liked. I then continued to one of the local cafés that we frequent to use the internet and chilled with friends for an hour before returning home. To round out the night, I skyped with Will/Mom and called Nana; always an enjoyable way to end my day.
Martes 17 marzo 2009- Feliz dia de San Patrick! Here in Spain, they have plenty of saints to celebrate, so they didn’t really know of this day (but all the Irish pubs in town celebrate it). After class and lunch, I headed to the beach, but it was really windy so few friends were
down there. Seeing that I don’t have classes the rest of the week, I decided to take a siesta instead of doing work. I feel like a real bum seeing that when I get my work done, I either take a siesta or go to the beach, but I really don’t have anything better to do. Back home, when I had free time I would turn on the tv or do work around the house, but neither are options here. This is leading to me being really relaxed all the time because I’m getting a lot of rest and really enjoying myself. However, in my defense, I know that this summer I’m going to have to work hard and the next three years at college are going to be tough, so this semester is a good time to recharge my battery. My siesta lasted a tad too long, so I missed the time Cody and I had set up to skype, but I was able to catch him on his cell. Although I hadn’t talked to him for a few weeks, I love being able to talk to someone from home who can keep me updated on all the happenings
that I’m missing out on while I am here. After supper, I made my way downtown to celebrate St. Patty’s. They didn’t have green beer, so I had to settle with a Guinness, rough I know.
Miercoles 18 marzo 2009- I met the CIEE bus at 9am so that we could go to Valencia, Spain for Las Fallas (the “ll” in Spanish is a ‘y’ sound), the local festival lasts two weeks with each neighborhood having their own falla (huge paper macha statues) that is burned at the end of the festival. It was a 3 hour drive to Valencia, but well worth it because wondering around the city was amazing. Valencia is the third largest city in Spain, but has a wonderful, ancient downtown and as we weaved our way thru the hundreds of thousands of people, we would just happen across these different fallas. CIEE had given us a few Euros to help cover our expenses, so a friend and I decided to put the money to good use and got churros, ice cream, pop and pastries. The big event of the festival other than the burning of the fallas is the daily 2pm Mascleta, a 10
minute explosion of thousands of huge firecrackers. For those of you that have been to Rhythm and Booms in Madison, it is like that but without the visual display, only the sound. A friend and I stayed 2 blocks away because we valued our hearing and it still shook our bodies. During the whole festival, firecrackers are an important of the experience with all the kids being given firecrackers and lighters by their parents, even kids barely toddlers. I talk to my host dad about this when I got home about how in the States this would never happen because of personal safely, let alone the safety of others, but he said that it is a traditional Valencia Community activity and that the kids are very safe with the firecrackers. However, I did see this boy of around 3 walking with his parents that had firecrackers and a lighter in his hands and a bandage on his face, so I don’t that that it’s as safe as my host dad thinks. After a fun bus ride home, I had supper with just my host parents because my host brothers were going to get my younger host brothers twin, Daniel from
the train station. Daniel goes to a classical dance school in Valencia, but I haven’t met him before. They were all excited that he was home for the long weekend.
Jueves 19 marzo 2009- Feliz dia de padre! Today was father’s day, so no one had to go to work or school, so I got to sleep in. When I got up, I met with my friend that I’m spending the second half of spring break with to reserve our hostels in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Turkey. We think that we found some good ones and have a handle on the train schedules in these countries. I got home in time to have a huge paella lunch out on the patio with the family that left me stuffed. During lunch, I would look up and have to really thing who was Daniel and who was Luis, it was so weird having two identical twins as host brothers. The lunch was very similar to family dinners at home other than they took over an hour to eat because of all the talking during the meal, at home we usually eat everything as fast as we can and then we
La Macleta
The mass of people that had gathered to hear the masleta talk. After lunch, I wanted to take a siesta, but I ended up talking to Brady and Dad and then packing for Lisbon, Portugal because I leave at 11pm tonight from the Alicante airport and arrive in Lisbon tomorrow morning in Lisbon. It is a really crappy flight with an 8 hour layover in Madrid, but it only cost 32 Euros to go from Alicante to Lisbon. I will be in Lisbon from Friday thru Monday, so I’m really excited.
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